July 17, 2009
Yes, it is an unusual decision — and a welcome one: This is only the second time in the U.S. anyone has been convicted of a hate crime in the killing of a transgender person.
That transgender murders are almost never recognized as hate crimes (when they almost always are) is shameful — and only further proof of the need for a fully-inclusive ENDA.
Still, we’re glad this jury, at least, recognized the murder of Lateisha Green for exactly what it was: a hate crime — even though Dwight DeLee was only convicted of mere manslaughter.
Explains Feministe: “it seems that the jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that DeLee acted with intent to cause serious bodily harm as a result of his perception regarding Teish’s sexual orientation, but not that he had intent to kill as a result of the perception.”
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Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Crime, Hate Crimes, Homophobia, New York, Transgender
June 11, 2009
Considering Cher’s freakout when Chastity came out as a lesbian (which we know now, Chaz wasn’t), we wonder how she’s going to deal with this:
Chastity Bono transitioning from female to male
Chastity Bono, gay-rights activist and child of performer Cher and the late entertainer and politician Sonny Bono, is in the early stages of transitioning from a female to a male and will be known as Chaz, his spokesman said Thursday.
“Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity,” Howard Bragman said in a written statement.
“He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his ‘coming out’ did nearly 20 years ago.” …
Well, what can we say but… Congrats, Chaz! A lot of idiots are going to claim you made this “choice,” when it was never a choice at all, and a lot more idiots are going to assume all butch lesbians (which we now know you never were) really just “want to be men.” We’re just going to congratulate you for being true to who you always were. Well done, sir!
One thing not well done, Chaz: Your publicist is the same Howard Bragman who’s playing House Dorothy for Doug Manchester, isn’t he? If I were you, I’d can his ass ASAP and find somebody you can trust not to sell out the whole community to the highest bigot— er, bidder.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Celebrities, Outing & Coming Out, Transgender
June 7, 2009
Backstory:
KRXQ/KDOT Shock Jocks Condone Physical Abuse of Transgender Children, Call Them “Freaks,” “Abnormal,” “Idiots,” and Worse, June 6, 2009
On the front page of the “Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning” site today:
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Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Business/Economy, California, Hate Speech, Media, Transgender, Youth
June 6, 2009
“They compared the children to ‘fat bastard kids on Maury’ who just needed to be put in their places with verbal abuse and even physical punishment if necessary.”
“[Williams] suggested that his mother tell the boy that wearing a dress is ‘not what we’re doing in this culture.’ He also called transgender people ‘freaks,’ asserting that therapy could steer them away from being transgender, since ‘they were [probably] molested’ as children.”
But there’s good news: So far, ten companies have pulled advertising from KRXQ. (Who says the power of the dollar doesn’t work?)
From the beginning:
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Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Business/Economy, California, Hate Speech, LGBT Organizations, Media, Transgender, Youth
December 23, 2008
Strange, but I have a sudden urge to do the Hokey Pokey:
Pope Says Planet Needs to be Saved
from Gays and Transsexuals
Likening homosexual and transsexual behavior to the environmental crisis, Pope Benedict XVI in a year-end address to senior Vatican staff, said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was as important as protecting the environment, according to a BBC News report.
Defending God’s creation was not limited to saving the environment, the Pope reportedly said, but also about protecting man from himself.
It was not “out-of-date metaphysics” to “speak of human nature as ‘man’ or woman’”, he said. It came from the “language of creation, despising which would mean self-destruction for humans”. …
Oh, really now? Funny, Pappa Ratzi, how you’ve completely rewritten the words of Jesus Christ himself — or have you not read the New Testament yet?
Lemme help you out here, Mister Pope (and never say we ex-Catholics don’t know the Bible — we have to):
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
(And as for transgender people, Ratso, you’d better bone up — pun very much intended — on all the references to “eunuchs” blessed by your god. Man, it sounds like you’ve never even cracked open the “Good Book”!)
And this from the Pope who didn’t have the integrity his predecessor did to resist becoming a goose-stepping member of the Hitler Youth — and who’d rather see us dead than married.
And some people wonder why I left the Church of Unholy Roman Inquisition.
What’s with the title reference to Pope Gregory IX? Shorthand: He was “The Inquisition Pope.”
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Catholicism, Civil Rights, Homophobia, Radical Religious Right, Random Stupidity, Transgender
December 11, 2008
Via email:
Today, I testified at the Senate Committee on Public Safety’s informational meeting to explore issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the California prison system.
Shockingly, almost 70% of LGBT inmates report abuse. And transgender people are 13 times more likely to experience assault than others in prisons.
The meeting focused on the unique issues LGBT people face while incarcerated and explored issues related to prisoner classification systems, harassment and abuse, access to healthcare and reentry into society.
EQCA helped organize this historic event with NCLR, Transgender Law Center, Just Detention International, TGI Justice Project and today’s chair, Senator Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles). The meeting was also attended by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), a member of the LGBT Caucus. Senator Leno, incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, planned to attend but was called to a last-minute Senate budget hearing to address potential cuts to essential health and human services programs.
This was a critical first step in the legislative process. EQCA has used similar events in the past to successfully craft and pass legislation that extends rights and protections. And it is my hope that this meeting will spark new policy proposals to address this very significant problem.
Warmly,
Alice Kessler
Government Affairs Director
Equality California
Sadly, I’m not shocked at all.
Kudos on the messting, tho’.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: California, Crime, Hate Crimes, Homophobia, LGBT Organizations, Mark Leno, Transgender
November 25, 2008
LGBT leaders respond to pattern of attacks
across local and regional radio
November 25, 2008 — In response to Media Matters for America’s recent report on “radioactive smears,” which exposed the prevalence of hate speech on a wide variety of topics on local and regional radio stations nationwide, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (WI-02), co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, and Neil G. Giuliano, President of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), released the following statements:
“This kind of hateful speech is more than offensive,” said Rep. Baldwin. “I applaud Media Matters for conducting the study ‘Radioactive Smears’ and exposing the homophobic comments that aim to divide our nation and deny equal rights for all Americans.”
“No fair-minded person can look at these statements and believe that these prejudices have a place in our media. The dangerous message that programming departments and producers send by continuing to embrace this anti-gay rhetoric is that there is no downside and considerable benefit for those who use vulgar slurs and promote homophobia,” said Giuliano. “We call on other media outlets to continue to take broadcasters to task when they promote these kinds of vulgar slurs toward any group of people.”
The Media Matters report demonstrates a pattern of homophobic rhetoric that extends across multiple radio hosts, stations and syndicators:
• Michael Savage: “If you’re insane, hate the family … hate your mother and father, hate the Bible, hate the church, and hate the synagogue,” you oppose CA gay marriage ban
• Jim Quinn: “Gay sex produces AIDS”; “They should charge homosexuals more for their … health insurance”
• Dan Caplis again asserted that gay “conduct is not natural” and is “immoral”
• Brian Sussman invited guest to talk about his claim that “gay and lesbian radicals actively recruit through our schools and the media”
• Michael Savage: “The children’s minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia”
Since the release of the “Radioactive Smears” report, Media Matters has also documented the following radio attacks against gay, lesbian, or transgender Americans:
• Chris Baker: Media have “blood on their hands” for murder of transgender woman because they created “false sense of reality”
• Bill O’Reilly suggested that without Prop 8, “a man can have 27 wives”; CA Supreme Court disagrees
• Jim Quinn trivializes same-sex marriage effort, claiming: “[G]ays never wanted to get married until … about five years ago”
Click here for the full report
Click here for an audio montage of right-wing radio
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: California, Civil Rights, Hate Speech, Homophobia, Marriage, Media, Press Releases, Proposition 8, Radical Religious Right, Republicans, Tammy Baldwin, Transgender
November 21, 2008
• Josh Brolin is pissed about Prop 8.
• When Mormons start getting murdered just for being Mormons, and when somebody throws a Molotov cocktail into one of their worship services, we might feel a little more sympathy about a lousy wall getting tagged.
• There were more protesters at the Mountain View No On 8 rally than I thought.
• Marching in not-so-gay-friendly neighborhoods is a good idea, but do we really want to descend on South Central waving posters of Coretta Scott King? Seems to me that would inflame the shaky “blacks-hate-gays” myth (yeah, myth) — and anyway, a lot of people are marching through territory that really is gay-hostile. (Even San Jose, which is considerably safer for queers than, say, Jackson, Mississippi, doesn’t have a gayborhood [unless you count the DeFrank Center building as a “neighborhood”]; we were downtown, and near downtown, three times in one week.)
• Politico reminds me I’m still pissed at Barack Obama for sucking up to Rick Warren.
• Here’s some more real family values, courtesy of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.
• Two words: Mark Foley. No, make that three words: Mark Foley, slimebucket. Oops, that may be four words.
• When we saw the phrase “rabid Holocaust denier,” we thought the article was going to be about Scott Lively. It’s not. But even after reading about this piece of filth called Frederick Toben, we still can’t decide who’s worse. We also think that the radical religionists who keep screaming about same-sex marriage being some sort of “threat” to their free speech ought to be forced to live in Germany for a while; they could spend their time pondering real restrictions on free speech as they while away their time in their prison cells.
• Cleve Jones thinks there are lots of undiscovered Harvey Milks among us. I’d like to think he’s right, but I haven’t met any yet.
• The cop we saw beating down Duanna Johnson on video pleaded not guilty to violating Johnson’s civil rights. That was Wednesday. I’d give you a link, but I still won’t link to AP. (OK, so I read the story. BFD.) Anyway, no surprises about the cop’s plea. What I didn’t know until now is that Duanna Johnson was murdered on November 10th. She was shot to death and left on a North Memphis street.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Barack Obama, California, Celebrities, Civil Rights, Crime, Europe, Free Speech, Harvey Milk, Hate Crimes, LGBT History, Marriage, Proposition 8, Race/Ethnic Issues, Republican Sexcapades, Transgender
November 17, 2008
WASHINGTON — November 17, 2008 — The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, issued a statement earlier today on the murder of Teish Cannon, 22, who was shot and killed Friday night, according to local authorities in Syracuse, New York. The alleged shooter, Dwight R. DeLee, 20, has been charged with second degree murder. This afternoon, Human Rights Campaign learned from sources working with the family that Cannon was a transgender woman and did not identify as a man.
“The senseless killing of Teish Cannon is a clear example of why we need to redouble our efforts on education and awareness aimed at ending hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We commend the Syracuse Police Department for its swift action in investigating this as a crime of hate. Hate crimes rend the fabric of our society and fragment communities because they target a group and not just the individual victim. The purpose of our government, first and foremost, is to protect all of our citizens — whether they are black, disabled, Christian, gay or transgender.”
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
Original story:
Syracuse Man Murdered for Being Gay; Police Investigating as Hate Crime, November 17, 2008
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Crime, Hate Crimes, New York, Press Releases, Transgender
October 6, 2008
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — October 6 — Lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men face violent abuse, including rape, in Kyrgyzstan, both in family settings and from strangers on the street, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today. The report calls on the Kyrgyz government to acknowledge the problem and protect the victims, and on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other European institutions to step up their response to violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Based on detailed interviews, the 49-page report, “These Everyday Humiliations: Violence Against Lesbians, Bisexual Women, and Transgender Men in Kyrgyzstan,” tells of beatings, forced marriages, and physical and psychological abuse faced by lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men. The government refuses to protect them or to confront the atmosphere of prejudice in which the attacks take place.
“No one should have to confront brutality or danger because of who they are or whom they love,” said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “It is time for the government to protect these communities instead of denying they exist.”
The report notes that the OSCE, which conducts programs in Kyrgyzstan, works to combat hate crimes and identity-based violence throughout Europe. However, the United States and the Holy See have blocked including sexual orientation in its mandate.
Several people interviewed for the report said they had been raped to punish them for not conforming to gender norms, or to “cure” them of their difference. One lesbian told how, when she was 15, her girlfriend’s brothers raped her brutally, saying: “This is your punishment for being this way and hanging around our sister.”
Another woman told Human Rights Watch that an acquaintance locked her in a room and allowed several men to rape her. The men promised the acquaintance “that they would help her to ‘cure’ me” of being a lesbian, she said.
Pervasive social prejudice in the Central Asian country leaves the victims with little hope of government protection, the report says. The police themselves sometimes abuse lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men. Police have also raided and harassed organizations that defend the basic rights of these groups.
In all of Kyrgyzstan, only one shelter for survivors of domestic violence — run by a nongovernmental organization — offers specific services for lesbians or transgender people.
A sweeping law passed in 2003 should protect all victims of domestic violence. However, the report found that much more needs to be done to carry out the law, including training criminal justice officials to investigate domestic violence and educating the general public about the law’s provisions.
The government has ignored the need to address issues of sexual orientation or gender identity. In some cases, officials have actually endorsed hatred and violence. In 2005, a Ministry of Interior official said of lesbians and gay men at a human rights roundtable: “I would also beat them. Let’s say I walk in a park with my son. And there are two guys walking holding each other’s hands. I would beat them up too.”
While Kyrgyzstan has made efforts to respond to violence against women overall, some groups are still ignored or excluded. Human Rights Watch called on Kyrgyz authorities to improve direct services for lesbians and transgender men; to train state officials in issues of sexual orientation and gender identity; to educate the public about domestic violence and sexual-rights issues, and to create measures for legal identity change to respect and recognize each person’s self-defined gender identity.
Human Rights Watch also urged the OSCE to address human rights issues, including discrimination and violence against lesbians and transgender men, in its trainings for police and other programs in Kyrgyzstan.
“Programs to stop violence will not work unless they reach everyone who is vulnerable,” Dittrich said. “Europe should not join Kyrgyzstan’s government in turning a blind eye.”
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Asia, Former USSR, Hate Crimes, Homophobia, Press Releases, Transgender, Women
September 12, 2008
Got an interesting question from a fellow who read one of my GayWired.com articles (probably this one), and figured y’all might be interested in it, and in my reply. I’d also like to get feedback from any bisexual folks reading this — did I do right by you? I think I did, although I wonder if there was anything I left out, or could have put differently.
Hi Joyce,
I read one of your articles and it prompted me to ask you a question that, despite my efforts, no one has been able to answer. So many gay-rights work [not all] uses as a base for its reasoning that gays and lesbians can have monogamous relationships like heterosexual couples. What puzzles me is that these arguments for gays, lesbians and transgender people include bisexuals. Isn’t it impossible, by definition, that a bisexual live in a monogamous relationship? Just an honest question. Would love to hear your thoughts if you have time.
Thanks,
Ron T—
Hi, Ron,
I see two different questions here: one about LGBT equality based on the fact that gay, lesbian, and transgender people are no less monogamous than heterosexuals, and one about bisexual fidelity.
Let’s deal with the second question first: “Isn’t it impossible, by definition, that a bisexual live in a monogamous relationship?”
You may as well ask if heterosexual men aren’t completely incapable of monogamy — after all, they are attracted to women, and there are lots of women out there, so how could anyone reasonably expect a man to be faithful to just one?
The same goes for bisexuals: They’re as capable as anyone else of choosing to be faithful to one person (or not); the only difference is that they have a wider range of prospects. Being bisexual may, as Woody Allen once said, increase one’s chances of a date on Saturday night, but bisexuality doesn’t equal automatic promiscuity any more than heterosexuality does.
Remember that there is a difference between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. Just as you are (I assume) straight, you were straight before you ever had sex, and you will continue to be straight if you never have sex again. Bisexuals may be attracted to both sexes, but they don’t have to act on that attraction (nor are they any more compelled to act on an attraction than we “monosexuals” are).
What might be confusing you is the polyamorous relationship that 1) involves more than one sex, and 2) in which all participants are involved (romantically/sexually) with one another. In that case, such a relationship would require that at least one of the participants be bisexual — but not all bisexuals are polyamorous.
Then, of course, there are people who identify as heterosexual, but have same-sex experiences on the down-low (think: Larry Craig); these are people who really are gay or bisexual but for whatever reason (religion, usually) feel compelled to portray a heterosexual lifestyle.
All of which takes me far out of the realm of offering an informed opinion; I am neither bisexual nor polyamorous, but a lesbian, and quite a traditionally monogamous one.
Here’s a good, short FAQ addressing the issue of bisexual monogamy:
http://www.lanikaahumanu.com/biqa.shtml
As far as including bisexuals in “gay-rights work,” I take it you’re referring to the issue of same-sex marriage — and through that narrow lens alone, there are certainly bisexuals who may desire to marry a same-sex partner. But why make marriage — or monogamy — a prerequisite for equal rights, for everyone?
You’ve actually answered your own question here: “So many gay-rights work [not all] uses as a base for its reasoning that gays and lesbians can have monogamous relationships like heterosexual couples.” You’re right — not all “gay-rights work” uses monogamy as a basis for reasoning, because not all “gay-rights work” is limited to rights for same-sex couples in committed relationships.
“Gay rights” goes far beyond marriage (and thus far beyond the monogamy mandate). Just as a gay or transgender person can be denied housing or employment (or medical care, or the right to serve his or her country, or more rights that heterosexuals take for granted than I care to list) where there are no protections against such discrimination, so can bisexuals.
In the end, while there are subtle but distinct differences among homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia, the overlaps are much greater than the differences, and the results are exactly the same: institutionalized oppression, societal ostracization, anti-gay/anti-trans/anti-bi violence, etc.
Of course bisexuals — whether they opt for monogamy or non-monogamy, or end up with a same-sex partner, an opposite-sex partner, or any combination — belong with lesbians, gay men, and transgender people in the fight for equality. In the end, the one constant we all (L, G, B, and T) share is that we’re perceived — and treated — as if we’re not as deserving of the same rights as any heterosexual (no matter how many 55-hour “marriages” Britney Spears enters into, or how many out-of-wedlock babies Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter has).
Here’s an excellent article by Robyn Ochs (a bisexual woman legally married to her same-sex partner) that addresses many of these issues, and more (including biphobia within the L/G community, which I won’t pretend for a moment does not exist):
http://www.robynochs.com/writing/essays/biphobia_short.html
I hope I’ve answered your question(s).
Best wishes…
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Bisexuality, Civil Rights, Down-Low/MSM, Heterosexuality, Homophobia, Marriage, Polygamy & Polyamory, Transgender
September 9, 2008
Remember David Benkof? If not (or just for a refresher course), read “David Benkof: The Mysterious Disappearance of the Tragic Anti-Gay Gay” before you continue reading here.
All done? OK…
So, David has a new op/ed out — and is he ever (still) pissed at the Radical Religious Righties behind California’s anti-marriage equality initiative, Proposition 8.
Has David awakened from his own anti-gay coma? Nahhhhh, no such luck. David still doesn’t believe that any gay person — including himself — deserves the same right to marriage as straight folks; he’s mad because he figured out that the Christian fundamentalists behind Prop 8 don’t think too highly of Jews, and were using him as merely a “useful idiot” in their war on LGBT equality. (David, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s my read.)
Still, David appears to be a lot less hostile toward the LGBT community as a whole, and even grants LGBT families and transgender people some recognition as actual human beings.
I’m not about to give David Benkof an inch until he really wakes up, but there are signs that something reached him enough to cause a restless stir from deep within his coma. And that’s great — even if that something came in a roundabout way.
Following are just the bits pertinent to LGBTs; hit the link to see David lambaste the Right on guns, medical marijuana, and ethanol:
Discrimination. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, so I supported the man-woman marriage Proposition 8 in California - until I discovered the Proposition 8 campaign tolerates discrimination against Jews. ProtectMarriage.com’s legal counsel, the Alliance Defense Fund, has in effect a “No Jews Need Apply” policy for legal and even secretarial positions. They say they’re not a law firm, they’re a “ministry” and thus have a right to discriminate against Jews and other non-Christians. But even if that’s true, Proposition 8 had hundreds of law firms to choose from. The fact they chose one that refuses to hire a Jew like me is very disturbing. Interestingly, Jesus himself was a Jew, so when a group has a policy that would lead them to refuse to hire their own Messiah, you know something’s seriously wrong. …
Marriage. I have long opposed same-sex marriage. In fact, there are overwhelmingly good arguments for overturning same-sex marriage - based on the welfare of children, religious freedom, and preserving the monogamous ideal, for example. But the people defending man-woman marriage in California and elsewhere tend to use really dumb and sometimes offensive arguments. For example, the ProtectMarriage.com Web site, used to refer to a same-sex “family” (their quotes). Reasonable people can differ as to whether two men can form a “marriage,” but only a jerk would claim two lesbians and their baby are not a family. And do they really have to emphasize this attitude as part of their basic argument to fair-minded undecided voters? …
Transgender. I think it’s appropriate to treat transgender people as the sex they believe themselves to be - whether or not I believe that deep down they are really still their birth sex. I completely respect that some people disagree. But are these values more important than everything? For example, transgender women are at high risk for rape (and thus contracting HIV), because they are the only women in a violent, predatory, predominantly heterosexual male environment. Recently, I wrote the Family Research Council to encourage them to endorse my proposal to stop rapes and save lives by housing transgender women in women’s prisons. Their response? “To paraphrase our Policy team, housing ‘transgender women’ (that is, men) in a women’s prison would be conceding too much.” In Judaism, saving lives is more important than nearly everything. But apparently to the Family Research Council’s religio-political system, ideology is more important than preventing rape. Sigh.
You’re not quite there yet, David, but I have hope for you. 
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Alliance Defense Fund, California, Christianity, Election 2008, Family Research Council, Judaism, Marijuana, Marriage, Parenting, Proposition 8, Radical Religious Right, Transgender
August 26, 2008
So, take a screenshot of this post; it’s one of those rare moments I’ll say he’s right (and not just “Right”).
In discussing the 2008 Democratic and Republican campaign platforms, Crain is the one of the very few gay bloggers I’ve seen so far who hasn’t waxed poetic over the oh-so-”inclusive” Democratic platform, instead calling it like it is: another crumb to the queers, which doesn’t amount to… well, anything more than a crumb.
Granted, Crain is a conservative, so he’s going to be far more critical of the Dems — but does it always take a conservative to show us where our own house needs cleaning?
Four years ago, the [Democratic] party platform read like a good GOP plank would this year: “repudiating” Bush’s marriage amendment and saying the states should decide. But the platform was silent on civil unions as an alternative, much less advocating the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act — even though John Kerry, the nominee, had voted against it back in 1996.
Barack Obama made a point of distinguishing himself from Hillary Clinton by favoring DOMA’s full repeal, so the platform should make that explicit. Much more important, however, would be a plank that specifically lays out what the Democratic nominee has said repeatedly about gay relationships — whether recognized by the states through marriage, civil unions or not at all — being afforded fully equal treatment to heterosexual marriage under federal law.
For this gay American, stuck living in exile because of unequal immigration rights, the plank would include specific support for the Uniting American Families Act, which allows us to sponsor our partners for residence the same way heterosexuals do in the U.S. — and as both gay and straight citizens can in Canada, Australia,* Brazil and almost all of Western Europe.
Trans activists will also be pressing hard for including their agenda in the Democratic platform, since they were turned away by the Kerry camp four years ago. This time, with lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin on the platform committee, they’re likely to get a much more welcome reception.
Even so, any trans rights plank should avoid taking sides in the bitter fight last fall over whether gay measures like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should only be adopted if the votes are there for “gender identity” as well.
Lisa Keen puts it even more bluntly:
Heading into the Democratic National Convention … the LGBT community is confronted with two stark ironies:
One: Under the presidential nominee who has uttered the words “gays and lesbians” in a supportive way more than any other candidate on the campaign trail, the Democratic Party has completely eliminated those words from its platform.
And two: A long line of LGBT leaders have only praise for the platform that dares not speak their name.
That’s right: The 54-page Democratic platform for 2008 does not mention the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual,” or “transgender” even once.
And yet Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), a lesbian and a champion of inclusion, calls it “by far the most pro-equality platform in Democratic history” and one that “makes very clear our party rejects discrimination … including, very explicitly, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
True … But the 2008 platform is the first time since 1992, when the party first included the word “gay,” that the document has omitted explicit mention of the words or any identifiable acronym for the LGBT community. …
The 2000 and 2004 platforms promised the party’s support for full inclusion of “gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation,” compared to the 2008 platform, which supports “all families.” …
And unlike the 2004 platform, the 2008 platform promises Democrats “will fight to end discrimination based on race … sexual orientation, gender identity … in every corner of our country, because that’s the America we believe in.”
But the 2008 document also includes a new section, “Fatherhood,” that reads more like a platform statement from the Republican Party. The section claims that “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and are more likely to commit crime, drop out of school, abuse drugs and end up in prison.” The sweeping nature of the statement, while perhaps true of families headed by heterosexual couples, is not supported by research that has examined the well-being of children in families headed by lesbian couples. …
Yes, by comparison to the Republican platform, the Democratic platform is fabulous.
But it’s not good enough.
* That Australia has fully-inclusive same-sex immigration should instill deep shame in the United States; Australia also has the sort of federal, constitutional ban on same-sex marriage the Repugs yearn for here — yet (and even with its long history of treating immigrants as criminals) still manages to recognize the validity of de facto same-sex unions between its own citizens and their foreign-born partners. Meanwhile, we can’t even get the UAFA passed.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Democrats, Election 2004, Election 2008, Immigration, Marriage, Parenting, Republicans, Tammy Baldwin, Transgender
August 20, 2008
By David Mariner, Temenos.net
Transgender Women of Color are rarely seen on reality television, as are LGBT People of Color. But two African-American transgender women are changing that and breaking barriers on reality television this season.
When “America’s Next Top Model” starts in September, Isis will be competing along with the other women. Isis is the first ever transgender contestant on the popular reality show. And even though the show has yet to begin, Fox News has already started with the inappropriate and ill-informed commentary.
Laverne Cox, however, seems to have slipped by Fox’s radar screen for now. Laverne is currently competing in the reality show “I Want to Work for Diddy.” In this new VH1 reality show contestants compete for the opportunity to be P. Diddy’s personal assistant.
Laverne, who frequently posts at MyVH1Friends.com, tells Gay.com: “Mr. Combs is giving me an opportunity that can change the way people see trans people of color. I have a dream and am very ambitious, but if I can change the way people perceive trans people of color in this country, that’s something hugely important to me.”
© David Mariner. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Filed Under: Celebrities, Guest Articles, Media, Race/Ethnic Issues, Television, Transgender
