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by Gatito Grande » Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:35 pm
Out by Miss Ediths Bad Kitty » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:30 am
Quote:
Gay Novel Wins Booker Prize
20 October 2004
(London) Alan Hollinghurst has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his critically acclaimed novel, The Line of Beauty. It is the first time a gay novel has won the prestigious award.
"It's very amazing to me that the long, solitary process of writing a novel should lead to a moment like this," the British writer said in accepting the prize.
Hollinghurst was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994 for his novel, The Folding Star.
The novel, set in 1980s London, tells the story of Nick Guest, who takes a room in the home of a wealthy political family connected to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Guest has a passionate affair with a black council worker before falling in love with a cocaine-addicted millionaire.
In one scene in the book Guest dances with Thatcher at a party while he is high on drugs.
Chris Smith, the first openly gay cabinet minister in Britain, headed the selection committee. He called The Line of Beauty exciting and brilliantly written.
"This was an incredibly difficult and close decision. It has resulted in a winning novel that is exciting, brilliantly written and gets deep under the skin of the Thatcherite 80s. The search for love, sex and beauty is rarely this exquisitely done.”
Chris Smith had feared that everyone would believe that Hollinghurst had won because he himself is gay. But the judges stressed that this was not the case.
Martin Higgs, the literary editor of Waterstone's, tolf the BBC: "Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty is a wonderful book, a sophisticated social comedy with huge dollops of tragedy set against Thatcher's Britain and the rise of AIDS.
"Hollinghurst has previously been known to a literary audience and particularly to a gay audience so I am delighted that this prize will help elevate his writing and give it a much wider appeal, something he richly deserves."
Over and above his prize of £50,000, Alan Hollinghurst is guaranteed an increase in sales and recognition worldwide. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer-bound edition of their book.
The Man Booker Prize is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.
by tybee317 » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:47 am
by MemsMapper » Fri Nov 05, 2004 5:42 pm
We must begin somewhere or we will never begin at all.
The absence of small beginnings will spell the end.
-- Margaret Atwood
by savache27 » Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:06 am
Quote:
No same-sex marriage in Texas textbooks
The Associated Press Updated: 8:01 p.m. ET Nov. 5, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas - The State Board of Education approved health textbooks for Texas high school and middle school students Friday, after publishers changed the wording in their books to reflect marriage as being between a man and a woman.
A day earlier some board members had argued that health textbooks should not contain “asexual stealth phrases” such as “individuals who marry” instead of husbands and wives.
The decision could affect dozens of states because books sold in Texas, the nation’s second-largest textbook buyer, often are marketed elsewhere.
Board member Mary Helen Berlanga asked the panel to approve the books without the changes.
“We’re not supposed to make changes at somebody’s whim,” Berlanga said. “It’s a political agenda, and we’re not here to follow a political agenda.”
But Republican Terri Leo argued that certain books attempted to nullify a Texas law banning the recognition of same-sex civil unions by using “asexual stealth phrases” such as “individuals who marry” instead of husbands and wives.
“I want the reader, the child to know that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Leo said in a written statement released during a board meeting Thursday.
Berlanga noted that one textbook showed a picture of a mother and a father and a young girl and her brother. “We cannot start censoring books because we do not like the terminology,” Berlanga said. “I don’t see two males or two females holding hands.”
The elected board, which has 10 Republicans and five Democrats, is allowed to reject books only because of factual errors or failure to follow state-mandated curriculum.
Randall Ellis, executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said Leo was asserting a religious right agenda into students’ textbooks.
“My bottom line opinion is it’s irresponsible,” Ellis said. “There comes a time when you need to put your own agenda aside and do what’s best for youth.”
by mollyig » Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:51 am
by Warduke » Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:24 pm
Quote:
Teens With Same-Sex Parents Well-Adjusted
By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Nov. 15 -- Adolescents who have two moms as parents are no different from teens growing up with a mother and a father, a new study finds.
On measures of psychosocial well-being, school functioning, and romantic relationships and behaviors, the teens with same-sex parents were as well adjusted as their peers with opposite-sex parents. The authors found very few differences between the two groups. A more important predictor of teens' psychological and social adjustment, they found, is the quality of the relationships they have with their parents.
"This is the first study that has looked at adolescents with same-sex parents in a national sample, and it shows clearly across a wide range of variables that they're doing pretty well," said study author Charlotte J. Patterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
The research, published in the November issue of Child Development, draws data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a school-based study of the health-related behaviors of kids in grades 7-12.
Dr. Ellen C. Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts School of Medicine and an expert on the development of children with gay or lesbian parents, said that few studies have focused on adolescents of same-sex parents. What data there is has been subject to attack. Critics complain that the studies reflect researcher bias and non-random participant selection.
"In this case, neither of those critiques are valid," Perrin said. The new study uses data from a broad population-based survey conducted for entirely different reasons. "That makes it very clean, so to speak; no one could argue that there was any bias involved."
Estimates of the number of teens living with same-sex parents are hard to come by. As of 1990, 6 million to 14 million children were living with a gay or lesbian parent, says the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, a service of the U.S. Administration for Children and Families.
Perrin believes that a majority of these children were born into heterosexual families. "Only recently have there been increasing numbers of kids born or adopted into already stable same-sex couples," she explained.
The study sample included 44 children, 12 to 18 years old, parented by same-sex couples and an equivalent number of peers with opposite-sex parents. The two groups had an equal number of girls and boys and other similarities, including ethnic background, family income, and parents' level of education.
Overall, researchers found no significant differences between the two groups. Teens with two moms, for example, were neither more nor less likely than their peers with two opposite-sex parents to report having been involved in a romantic relationship during the past year or ever having sex. Both groups were generally well-adjusted, with relatively high levels of self-esteem, relatively low levels of anxiety, and good achievement in school.
The study reveals a minor difference: "The kids of same-sex parents said that they feel more connected at school," Patterson said. In other words, they felt their teachers were more open to them, and that people at school were fair and cared for them. "I think that may be a chance finding, frankly," she said.
While family type wasn't a factor in how teens fared, family relationships were. When parents reported more positive relationships with their teenagers, for instance, the teens reported lower levels of depressive symptoms.
"The qualities of teenagers' relationships with their parents are much better predictors of their overall well-being," Patterson noted.
More information
The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse has more on issues and concerns surrounding gay parenting.
by skittles » Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:35 am
Quote:
Gay Students Force New Look at Homecoming Traditions
By SARAH KERSHAW
SEATTLE, Nov. 26 - Homecoming, the quintessentially American tradition featuring kings and queens wearing satin sashes and sparkly tiaras, is a tumultuous topic on campus these days.
Universities and high schools across the country, driven in large part by protests from gay students, are re-examining the ritual of crowning homecoming kings and queens, titles that often reward student achievement, are sometimes merely popularity contests and occasionally come with hefty scholarships.
Many colleges and high schools began to abandon the tradition in the 1990's, replacing the king and queen with homecoming "royals" and "top 10 students." Some, including Duke University, did away with homecoming in the 1970's, when advocates for women's rights succeeded in arguing that the contests were archaic and sexist and that they promoted stereotypical sex roles.
But elsewhere, including here at the University of Washington and at some campuses in the South, students have clung to homecoming, and now a raging debate, in many ways mirroring the national debate over same-sex marriage, has begun to ripple across the nation's campuses.
At Vanderbilt University in Nashville this month, a gay student who ran for homecoming queen and took his place on the court in drag at a football game caused a huge stir. In October, students at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota elected their first male homecoming queen. That student and the university administrators say they were barraged with hostile telephone calls and e-mail messages from alumni and parents.
"We always get Mr. Heterosexual Vanderbilt and Ms. Heterosexual Vanderbilt to be the perfect king and queen," said Everett Moran, 21, the gay senior at Vanderbilt who ran for homecoming queen.
Mr. Moran did not win the crown, but he was elected to the homecoming court, appearing at the college football game on Nov. 6 wearing a black dress with an Empire waist and elbow-length red gloves, accentuated by the yellow sash draped over each of the 11 homecoming court students. But he made plenty of enemies in the process, with critics loudly criticizing him in the college newspaper and elsewhere.
"When the gay community separates from mainstream, it's a way of disappearing into the shadows," he said. "I really just wanted to put it in everyone's face. I wanted to make alumni and students recognize that on this campus we have gay students, and as much as the administration wants to keep us in the shadows, off to the side and out of the limelight, I'm not going to stand for it."
Some high schools now hold separate gay proms. But gay students like Mr. Moran say that is not enough. They view homecoming as an opportunity to integrate gay students into a classically heterosexual ritual.
It is difficult to nail down a precise number of colleges and high schools that have recently revamped their homecoming tradition to include gay candidates or simply to elect two queens, two kings, a female king or a male queen, straight or gay. But in the last five years, challenges to the tradition have arisen on at least a half dozen campuses, including Hayward High School, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a straight girl was elected king last year; she ran for king because she did not want to compete with her best friend, who was elected queen.
At another high school, Sweetwater, in National City, Calif., a lesbian was elected homecoming queen in 2001 and wore a tuxedo to the celebration. A gay male student was elected homecoming queen at Southwest Texas State University in 1999, the same year that another young man, also gay, ran for homecoming queen at New Mexico State University, prompting that student government, after a backlash, to rule that queens must be female and kings must be male. That rule was overturned in 2002 after a female student applied to run for king.
"First they focused on school prom, and now they're starting to say, 'We want to be included in homecoming,' " said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a nonprofit advocacy group based in New York City.
Mr. Jennings said that in the past year he had heard from a growing number of high school students inquiring about changing homecoming to include gays. "Boys are supposed to be with girls and so forth, but gay people are saying there's another way to be," he said. "For some people that's scary."
At St. Cloud State in Minnesota, tensions were running high among parents and alumni last month, and an online chat room run by the local newspaper, The St. Cloud Times, was flooded with venomous reaction to the selection of Fue Khang, 22, a male senior, as homecoming queen.
"We believe that the homecoming queen should be a female and that Fue should hand over the homecoming crown," said Kim Ferber, 43, whose daughter was a candidate for homecoming queen at St. Cloud and who recently circulated a petition in town to reverse the decision, gathering 500 signatures. "The town is humiliated."
Mrs. Ferber said she thought the homecoming controversy was reminiscent of the debate over same-sex marriage.
"It's like, what's next?" she said. "We've got to draw the line."
Mr. Khang, who has not said whether he is gay but has become something of a cause célèbre among gays over the last few weeks, declined to be interviewed, saying through a university spokeswoman that he was afraid that more news media attention would place him in harm's way.
St. Cloud's president, Roy H. Saigo, who supported Mr. Khang's candidacy, and other administrators distributed a statement on a university e-mail list shortly after Mr. Khang was elected. It said: "College campuses have long been social catalysts in the work of opening up and creating a fair society. They play a key role in supporting social justice, equality and educational opportunity, even when traditions are challenged."
At Vanderbilt, university officials said they had not resisted Mr. Moran's candidacy - although there were meetings to discuss whether he could appear at the football game in drag. The officials said it was ultimately up to the students to decide whether to shake up the homecoming tradition.
And among Vanderbilt students, there were plenty of critics, including a columnist for the campus newspaper who called the move "one more tradition down the drain."
"We're stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Evan T. Mayor, editor in chief of the campus newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler, which found itself inundated with angry letters when Mr. Moran decided to run for queen. "We're trying to be a really diverse top-20 institution, but at the same time we're in the South, a place of deep-rooted tradition. I guess the politically correct thing to do is get rid of it."
Here in Seattle, there was far less rancor as the University of Washington crowned two homecoming queens this month but no king. The "royals," as the university now calls them, were two female students, neither one gay, whose titles were announced before a packed stadium when the Washington Huskies lost to the Arizona Wildcats. The university's students had decided that the $1,000 scholarships should be doled out on a "gender neutral" basis.
"I think that everyone is a little shocked by the change, but I think that it's very monumental," said Emi Nomura Sumida, 20, one of the two Washington royals, shortly after they made their debut at the football game wearing lavender sashes and holding giant bouquets of chrysanthemums.
"My friends were really, like, excited for us," Ms. Nomura Sumida, a junior majoring in communications, said. "But when you talk to other people you don't know as well, they're like, 'Oh, two girls, that's kind of strange.' "
The other royal, Glorya Cho, 19, a sophomore majoring in international studies, added, "I think that the gender-specific titles are becoming obsolete."
Brian Alexander and Eli Sanders contributed reporting from Seattle for this article.
skittles
Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more… He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.. and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!
by skittles » Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:36 pm
Quote:
City demands 'anti-gay' music ban
Brighton will be the first UK city to demand that music retailers ban reggae and rap albums with "anti-gay" lyrics.
Brighton and Hove City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to write to the managing directors of its three largest stores condemning the music.
It urged them not to stock artists such as Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, TOK, Vybz and Bounty Killer.
The Green Party, which put forward the motion, said the music "incites the murder of lesbians and gay men".
Green councillor Simon Williams, who tabled the motion, said: "This unanimous vote by all parties in the council is a significant victory in the long battle against murder and hate music.
He admitted the council did not have the power to force the three stores - Virgin Megasotre, HMV and MVC - not to sell the music.
But he said the vote "sends retailers a very strong message that Brighton and Hove cares deeply about this issue".
The council said that Brighton and Hove has one of the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the country.
It also told public entertainment licence holders that the council was against such music being played.
And it is to ask the city's three MPs to lobby the government to extend anti-incitement to hatred legislation to include the lesbian and gay community.
'Happy to comply'
A spokesman for HMV said the records were not on display in Brighton and would only be sold to over-18s if they were particularly requested.
He added the company would consider a request from the council and backed any attempt to amend legislation.
"That way retailers would have a strong set of guidelines," he said.
MVC's Brighton branch does not display "anti-gay" albums.
Manager Daniel Shaw said he would be happy to comply with a request for a ban but the final decision rested with his head office.
A spokeswoman there said: "While there is no law to prevent the sale of this material we don't feel that we can censor it, although we are aware that Brighton is a special case."
A spokesman for Virgin megastore said it would "seriously consider" the request to stop selling certain albums.
skittles
Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more… He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.. and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!
by Warduke » Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:07 pm
Quote:
Denying retroactive CPP benefits to widowed gays unconstitutional, court rules
COLIN PERKEL
TORONTO (CP) - Denying millions of dollars worth of retroactive pension payments to widowed gays and lesbians is an irrational and unconstitutional violation of their rights and Ottawa's commitment to equality, Ontario's highest court ruled Friday.
In a strongly worded decision, the Appeal Court sided with a landmark lower-court ruling that the federal government was wrong to refuse the Canada Pension Plan back payments, estimated at about $80 million, when it extended equality rights to same-sex couples in 2000.
"Excluding many of those who were intended to be included is not rationally connected to the objective of the law, which is to end the discriminatory exclusion of same-sex partners from CPP benefits," the court said in its unanimous written ruling.
Gay activists were delighted.
"I always knew that Canadians were interested in fair play and I think the courts have borne that out," said George Hislop, 77, one of five lead plaintiffs in the case.
"The charter says we are all equal and you can't be a little bit equal. You've got to be there all the way."
In Ottawa, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said he wanted to study the ruling before deciding whether to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"This is not a case about same-sex nor is it a case about gay and lesbian rights," Cotler said.
"The implications of this case have to do with the whole question of federal benefits programs and policy."
In 2000, the federal government granted various economic rights to same-sex couples. However, it barred them from collecting CPP survivor benefits if their partners had died before Jan. 1, 1998.
In response, Hislop and others launched a class-action lawsuit. They argued they should have been eligible to collect the benefit retroactive to April 17, 1985 - when their equality rights were enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In December 2003, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ellen Macdonald sided with the plaintiffs.
In its appeal of that groundbreaking ruling, Ottawa said it wanted clarification of Parliament's ability to determine when laws take effect.
It also argued the lower-court decision could hamper the introduction of new social programs if retroactivity was always a factor.
An estimated 1,500 gays and lesbians across Canada are eligible for survivor benefits.
Initially, the amount of retroactivity was pegged at as much as $400 million, but more recent actuarial data suggested it would be closer to $80 million.
Hislop, whose partner died in 1986 after a 28-year spousal relationship, has estimated he would be entitled to receive about $150,000.
The Appeal Court did side with Ottawa in agreeing that it need not pay retroactive benefits to about 200 estates of claimants who have died in the interim.
Quebec was not part of the lawsuit because it operates a separate pension plan.
by Ben Varkentine » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:04 pm
Quote:
Court Declines to Hear Gay Marriage Case
52 minutes ago
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped a dispute over gay marriages, rejecting a challenge to the nation's only law sanctioning such unions.
Justices had been asked by conservative groups to overturn the year-old decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. They declined, without comment.
In the past year, at least 3,000 gay Massachusetts couples have wed, although voters may have a chance next year to change the state constitution to permit civil union benefits to same-sex couples, but not the institution of marriage.
Critics of the November 2003 ruling by the highest court in Massachusetts argue that it violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of a republican form of government in each state. They lost at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in Boston.
Their attorney, Mathew Staver, said in a Supreme Court filing that the Constitution should "protect the citizens of Massachusetts from their own state supreme court's usurpation of power."
Federal courts, he said, should defend people's right "to live in a republican form of government free from tyranny, whether that comes at the barrel of a gun or by the decree of a court."
Merita Hopkins, a city attorney in Boston, had told justices in court papers that the people who filed the suit have not shown they suffered an injury and could not bring a challenge to the Supreme Court. "Deeply felt interest in the outcome of a case does not constitute an actual injury," she said.
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly told justices that voters can overrule the Supreme Court by adopting a constitutional amendment.
The lawsuit was filed by the Florida-based Liberty Counsel on behalf of Robert Largess, the vice president of the Catholic Action League, and 11 state lawmakers.
The conservative law group had persuaded the Supreme Court in October to consider another high profile issue, the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays on government property. The court agreed to look at that church-state issue before Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
He is working from home while receiving chemotherapy and radiation and will miss court sessions for the next two weeks.
State legislators will decide whether to put the issue before Massachusetts voters in November 2006. Voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in November elections. President Bush (news - web sites) has promised to make a federal anti-gay marriage amendment a priority of his second term.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court narrowly ruled that gays and lesbians had a right under the state constitution to wed.
The nation's high court had stayed out of the Massachusetts fight on a previous occasion. Last May, justices refused to intervene and block clerks from issuing the first marriage licenses.
Ben
"One voice is easily ignored or silenced, but when other people add their voices to yours, you become a chorus not easily ignored."--Wil "Just A Geek" Wheaton
by WebWarlock » Thu Dec 02, 2004 7:14 am
Quote:
Being herself
The openly gay kid is now a fact of life at most urban and suburban schools. But what happened at West Leyden High School is remarkable.
By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 1, 2004
The homecoming queen wore a tux.
Her classmates said wear a dress, just this once, but Luz Duarte doesn't wear dresses -- or even girls' pants -- and she didn't think the school-wide homecoming assembly was the place to start.
"You know, what? No," she said.
"If I'm going to go up there, I'm going to go as myself."
That approach has worked surprisingly well for Duarte, 18, a senior at West Leyden High School in Northlake and one of the first openly gay students in the Chicago area to be elected homecoming queen.
When she told her classmates she was gay in 7th grade, the reaction was mostly positive.
"Everybody thought it was cool. They had never met a gay person," Duarte says, and their response was, "Ohmigod! Are you serious?"
The interest wasn't all good. "They made me feel like I was an alien from outer space and they wanted to dissect me," Duarte says.
But, still, too much attention was better than the loneliness and depression she experienced when she kept her sexual orientation to herself.
"When she came out, it was like a flower blossomed," says her mother, Maritza, a credit union manager.
At West Leyden, a midsize school with average test scores, Duarte's life continued to improve. As a freshman, she knew a lot of people because she played basketball and softball and ran cross country.
The seniors, in particular, made it clear they knew who she was and respected her decision to come out.
Duarte, who gets love letters from girls she doesn't know, has some obvious qualities of high school social royalty, among them great self-assurance and a winning smile.
"Radiant, very bold, intelligent, generous," is how her friend Luis Borges, 16, describes her. "She's an awesome person."
She's also friendly with all of her classmates, he says, regardless of their social standing.
Kids who are secretly gay write her letters asking for advice: "How do I come out to my parents?" "I don't know if I'm gay or not, what do I do?" "Should I tell my friends?"
Straight kids, too, turn to her in times of trouble.
"They've come to me about guy problems," Duarte says. "God knows, I'm the last person to come to about guy problems. But I do what I can."
Duarte attended high school at a time of rapid change for gay teens. Extremely uncommon 15 years ago, the openly gay kid is now a fact of life at most urban and suburban schools, and some gay teens -- girls especially -- say that their classmates are very accepting.
Still, advocates at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Chicago could name only one other local case of an openly gay homecoming queen. A boy was recently elected homecoming queen at a Chicago public school, says network spokeswoman Hilary Marsh, who declined to give the boy's name.
Leyden High Schools Supt. Kathryn Robbins released a written statement about Duarte's selection as queen, saying, "It says a lot about how well-liked and well-respected Luz is by her classmates.
"I think it also says much about West Leyden students' open and accepting nature and their ability to see beyond the labels that we sometimes put on people."
There have been at least three news reports nationwide of openly gay kids being elected king or queen at prom or homecoming, two in California and one in Washington.
"Even though we haven't seen this very often yet, I suspect that we will," Marsh said.
At West Leyden, the homecoming queen selection process began with a vote by the seniors, who selected 30 girls from a field of about 175.
Duarte, who has close-cropped hair and a pierced tongue, says she was "kind of shocked" to be named one of the top 30, because she is different from past queens, who have tended to fit the traditional cheerleader mold.
After the selection of the 30 semifinalists, the junior and senior classes narrowed the field to seven finalists, with the top vote-getter announced at a schoolwide assembly.
By then, the remarks of classmates suggested to Duarte that she was one of two top contenders, the other one being a cheerleader.
The choice of escort was easy; Duarte planned to take her girlfriend, who is 22, to the prom and she wanted to spend the other major senior social event with Borges, her best friend.
She rented a white tux from a sales clerk who thought she was a boy, and secured the school district's permission to bypass the usual white dress or skirt.
At the assembly, the princesses, including Duarte, emerged from a cardboard castle, walked down an aisle of flower-bearing semifinalists and kissed their escorts.
Then they went up to the stage and the principal announced the queen.
When Duarte's name was called, she thought, "Wait. What?" There was a second of silence and Duarte looked over at the expression on the face of the other frontrunner.
"Oh, yeah," Duarte thought. "I'm queen."
The crowd surged forward. Duarte's classmates threw their arms around her. Her mother screamed and cried.
Duarte was touched, even if the rhinestone tiara didn't feel quite right.
"She wore it one time for one picture," Borges says. "I think I wore it more than her."
On the night of the big dance, Duarte arrived late. She hadn't enjoyed herself at a previous homecoming because, embarrassed by her "terrible" dancing skills, she mostly stood on the sidelines.
But this time people she didn't even know came up to her to congratulate her, and classmate after classmate asked her to dance.
"You know what? I'm the queen and I'm gonna have fun," she said to herself before hitting the dance floor for an hour and a half.
"I'm gonna make the most of my night."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
Web Warlock, web.warlock@comcast.net, The Other Side.
Liber Mysterium: The D20 Netbook of Witches & The Dragon and the Phoenix: New Adventures of Willow and Tara
"But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"
- "Lovers In A Dangerous Time", Bruce Cockburn.
by ElDonia » Mon Dec 06, 2004 8:38 pm
by Miss Ediths Bad Kitty » Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:03 am
Quote:
'We Have To Protect People'
President Bush wants 'pro-homosexual' drama banned. Gary Taylor meets the politician in charge of making it happen
Thursday December 9, 2004
The Guardian
What should we do with US classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Color Purple? "Dig a hole," Gerald Allen recommends, "and dump them in it." Don't laugh. Gerald Allen's book-burying opinions are not a joke.
Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush."
Bush is interested in Allen's opinions because Allen is an elected Republican representative in the Alabama state legislature. He is Bush's base. Last week, Bush's base introduced a bill that would ban the use of state funds to purchase any books or other materials that "promote homosexuality". Allen does not want taxpayers' money to support "positive depictions of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle". That's why Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker have got to go.
I ask Allen what prompted this bill. Was one of his children exposed to something in school that he considered inappropriate? Did he see some flamingly gay book displayed prominently at the public library?
No, nothing like that. "It was election day," he explains. Last month, "14 states passed referendums defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman". Exit polls asked people what they considered the most important issue, and "moral values in this country" were "the top of the list".
"Traditional family values are under attack," Allen informs me. They've been under attack "for the last 40 years". The enemy, this time, is not al-Qaida. The axis of evil is "Hollywood, the music industry". We have an obligation to "save society from moral destruction". We have to prevent liberal libarians and trendy teachers from "re-engineering society's fabric in the minds of our children". We have to "protect Alabamians".
I ask him, again, for specific examples. Although heterosexuals are apparently an endangered species in Alabama, and although Allen is a local politician who lives a couple miles from my house, he can't produce any local examples. "Go on the internet," he recommends. "Some time when you've got a week to spare," he jokes, "just go on the internet. You'll see."
Actually, I go on the internet every day. But I'm obviously searching for different things. For Allen, the web is just the largest repository in history of urban myths. The internet is even better than the Bible when it comes to spreading unverifiable, unrefutable stories. And urban myths are political realities. Remember, it was an urban myth (an invented court case about a sex education teacher gang-raped by her own students who, when she protested, laughed and said: "But we're just doing what you taught us!" ) that all but killed sex education in America.
Since Allen couldn't give me a single example of the homosexual equivalent of 9/11, I gave him some. This autumn the University of Alabama theatre department put on an energetic revival of A Chorus Line, which includes, besides "tits and ass", a prominent gay solo number. Would Allen's bill prevent university students from performing A Chorus Line? It isn't that he's against the theatre, Allen explains. "But why can't you do something else?" (They have done other things, of course. But I didn't think it would be a good idea to mention their sold-out productions of Angels in America and The Rocky Horror Show.)
Cutting off funds to theatre departments that put on A Chorus Line or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may look like censorship, and smell like censorship, but "it's not censorship", Allen hastens to explain. "For instance, there's a reason for stop lights. You're driving a vehicle, you see that stop light, and I hope you stop." Who can argue with something as reasonable as stop lights? Of course, if you're gay, this particular traffic light never changes to green.
It would not be the first time Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ran into censorship. As Nicholas de Jongh documents in his amusingly appalling history of government regulation of the British theatre, the British establishment was no more enthusiastic, half a century ago, than Alabama's Allen. "Once again Mr Williams vomits up the recurring theme of his not too subconscious," the Lord Chamberlain's Chief Examiner wrote in 1955. In the end, it was first performed in London at the New Watergate Club, for "members only", thereby slipping through a loophole in the censorship laws.
But more than one gay playwright is at a stake here. Allen claims he is acting to "encourage and protect our culture". Does "our culture" include Shakespeare? I ask Allen if he would insist that copies of Shakespeare's sonnets be removed from all public libraries. I point out to him that Romeo and Juliet was originally performed by an all-male cast, and that in Shakespeare's lifetime actors and audiences at the public theatres were all accused of being "sodomites". When Romeo wished he "was a glove upon that hand", the cheek that he fantasised about kissing was a male cheek. Next March the Alabama Shakespeare festival will be performing a new production of As You Like It, and its famous scene of a man wooing another man. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is also the State Theatre of Alabama. Would Allen's bill cut off state funding for Shakespeare?
"Well," he begins, after a pause, "the current draft of the bill does not address how that is going to be handled. I expect details like that to be worked out at the committee stage. Literature like Shakespeare and Hammet [sic] could be left alone." Could be. Not "would be". In any case, he says, "you could tone it down". That way, if you're not paying real close attention, even a college graduate like Allen himself "could easily miss" what was going on, the "subtle" innuendoes and all.
So he regards his gay book ban as a work in progress. His legislation is "a single spoke in the wheel, it doesn't resolve all the issues". This is just the beginning. "To turn a big ship around it takes a lot of time."
But make no mistake, the ship is turning. You can see that on the face of Cornelius Carter, a professor of dance at Alabama and a prize-winning choreographer who, not long ago, was named university teacher of the year for the entire US. Carter is black. He is also gay, and tired of fighting these battles. "I don't know," he says, "if I belong here any more."
Forty years ago, the American defenders of "our culture" and "traditional values" were opposing racial integration. Now, no politician would dare attack Cornelius Carter for being black. But it's perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people for what they do in bed.
"Dig a hole," Gerald Allen recommends, "and dump them in it."
Of course, Allen was talking about books. He was just talking about books. He never said anything about pink triangles.
by Patches » Thu Dec 09, 2004 9:05 am
Our wedding vows: Life Love Everlasting, Always Intertwining. - Sunday June 27, 2004 :)
by Kieli » Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:38 am
Before it's too late!
Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.
by Patches » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:19 pm
Our wedding vows: Life Love Everlasting, Always Intertwining. - Sunday June 27, 2004 :)
by skittles » Sun Jan 09, 2005 8:23 am
Quote:
Catholic schools split on kids of gay couples
Parishes vary on admission policies
By Vincent J. Schodolski
Tribune national correspondent
Published January 9, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- When two boys were enrolled at a Roman Catholic school in Southern California at the start of the school year, word quickly spread that they were the sons of a gay couple.
Parents of other children at St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa demanded the boys be removed from the 550-student elementary and middle school. Eighteen parents wrote a letter complaining about the presence of the boys and arguing their admission violated Roman Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.
The case, along with a similar one at another Roman Catholic school, have raised questions about the church's policies regarding the education of children of same-sex couples.
In the California case, the parish's pastor agreed to keep the two adopted sons of the gay couple in school. But in the second incident in Eugene, Ore., school officials refused to admit the adopted daughter of two lesbians. The mothers have sued the parish and school officials.
Experts and advocates for gays and lesbians believe that such incidents are even more widespread and that there will be a growing number of such cases as the number of same-sex couples increases.
"I would think so," Rev. Jim Schexnayder, the resource director of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries, said about the increase.
594,000 same-sex couples
According to the 2000 census, an estimated 594,000 same-sex households could be found in the country-- about 301,000 were male couples and about 293,000 females.
Schexnayder said he was aware of many such confrontations in Roman Catholic churches across the country, but said he was not at liberty to discuss specifics.
He said in most cases the disputes were resolved quietly and favorably for the children, who were allowed to attend classes.
"The gay or lesbian couples have to be sensitive to the feelings of other parents," he added.
The views of other parents were at the core of the dispute at St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa. The two boys involved have not been named publicly and neither have their parents, who have declined interview requests.
But the objecting parents said they felt their children could not receive full-fledged instruction on faith with the two boys in the school.
They said they could not see how a teacher could fully explain the church's policies on homosexuals without causing the two boys anxiety over their fathers' lifestyle.
But the pastor, Rev. Martin Benzoni, said the right of the children to an education was paramount and allowed the boys to stay.
"It has to do with the rights of the children regardless of the choices their families made," said Schexnayder.
He said the sincerity of the families' faith should determine the admissions policy, which differs from parish to parish. The minister noted some Roman Catholic schools admit non-Catholics and even non-Christians, while others admit only Catholics.
In the second case, Lee Inkmann and Trish Wilson tried to enroll their adopted daughter in kindergarten at the O'Hara Catholic School in Eugene.
At the start of August 2003, Inkmann went to the school to seek information that could help her decide if she wanted to enroll her daughter, according to a complaint filed in circuit court in Lane County, Ore.
When the tour was over Inkmann told Principal Dianne Bert that the child's other parent was also a woman.
Concerns over lifestyle
"Defendant Bert became upset and said the school had never enrolled an `out' gay family before," the complaint states.
The parents reportedly were informed that the girl would not be admitted because her having two mothers would be too confusing for other pupils.
The complaint states that plaintiffs were also told that the same-sex couple lifestyle was contrary to Vatican teaching and that the school needed to adhere to papal edicts.
The two women, who are seeking compensation of up to $550,000, declined to be interviewed.
Martha Walters, their attorney, said that under local ordinances the school, although private, is a place of public accommodation.
"It is like a restaurant," she said. "It is a private business, but the public has access."
Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., said, he could not comment on the lawsuit.
Gay and lesbian advocates said they expect church school access to be a growing cause of concern among same-sex couples with children.
"All parents, gay or straight, want a quality education for their children," said David Tseng, an attorney in Washington who had worked with Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a national advocacy group.
"We are at the cutting edge of a civil rights movement," he said. "There are people out there testing the waters."
While there have been confrontations, many stories of harmonious relations exist among homosexual couples and the Roman Catholic Church.
Five years ago, Diana Buchbinder and her female partner sent their son and daughter to a Roman Catholic high school in San Francisco.
"They never flinched throughout the whole process," she said of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. "In fact they seemed to be more concerned about our being Jewish.
"The issue of having lesbian parents never really came up," she said of the experience her two children had at the school.
Since the city lacked a Jewish high school at the time, Buchbinder said she chose a Roman Catholic school rather than a public or a non-sectarian private school.
"I felt [it was important] having a school with a moral center," she said.
skittles
"The problem with political jokes is how often they get elected."
"Closed minds always seem to be connected to open mouths"
by Warduke » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:25 am
Quote:
Supreme Court Sidesteps Gay Adoption Case
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday by four men who challenged Florida's ban on adoption by gay couples, avoiding another contentious fight over gay rights.
Florida is the only state with a blanket law prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children, but the high court was told that other states could now feel free to copy the ban.
Opponents argued that the 1977 law, passed at the height of Anita Bryant's anti-homosexual campaign, was irrational because it excluded potential parents for thousands of abandoned children.
Supporters contend the state has the power to promote traditional father-mother families.
The high court's refusal to hear the case, made without comment, avoids a second showdown over gay rights there in two years. Justices, in a historic civil rights ruling, barred states in 2003 from criminalizing gay sex. The court said then that states "cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime."
The ruling set off a firestorm of criticism by conservative and religious groups. Three justices also complained that the court, generally known for its conservatism, had gone overboard in pandering to the "homosexual agenda."
The latest case involves gay foster parents in Florida who want to adopt children in their care.
The American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, representing the parents, argued that that the state unconstitutionally singles out gays, based on discrimination.
"The plain and well-understood purpose of the ban was to tell gay people to go back into the closet," ACLU attorney Matthew Coles told justices in a filing.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has maintained that the children, often products of troubled and unstable backgrounds, should have a father and a mother.
"It is rational to believe that children need male and female influences to develop optimally, particularly in the areas of sexual and gender identity, and heterosexual role modeling," justices were told in a filing by Florida's attorney, Casey Walker.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled against the men a year ago. In July, the full court declined on a 6-6 vote to reconsider the case.
Florida allows gays to be foster parents, but not permanent parents.
The Child Welfare League of America had urged the Supreme Court to review the restriction and defended the parenting abilities of gays. League attorney Stuart Delery said that Florida allows singles, divorcees, people which disabilities, and even in some cases convicted criminals to adopt. The state had more than 8,000 children awaiting adoption in fiscal 2002, while there were 126,000 nationwide, Delery said.
By excluding gays, he said, "Florida ensures that many children will never have a family of their own."
The case is Lofton v. Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, 04-478.
by Gatito Grande » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:38 pm
Quote:
Florida is the only state with a blanket law prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children, but the high court was told that other states could now feel free to copy the ban.
The high court's refusal to hear the case, made without comment,
Out by WebWarlock » Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:04 am
Quote:
Gay rights bill advances
Illinois Senate OKs bill; House approval expected
By Ray Long and Christi Parsons, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter Erika Slife contributed to this report
Published January 11, 2005
SPRINGFIELD -- For the first time ever, the Illinois Senate approved a controversial measure Monday that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in matters of housing and employment, clearing a long-standing hurdle to passage and inspiring one key sponsor to proclaim a victory for "fundamental freedom."
With only two days left in the term of the outgoing General Assembly, the Senate sent the House the proposal under pressure from Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the governor's sister-in-law, gay activist Deborah Mell.
Senators passed the bill 30-27, with one member voting present.
The measure now heads to the House, where sponsors vowed to pass it. The lower chamber pushed the same measure through committee Monday and now has it queued up for a floor vote on Tuesday.
If sent to Blagojevich and signed into law, the measure will add "sexual orientation" to the list of reasons for which people cannot discriminate in housing, lending and employment. The measure specifically states that the law would not require any employer, lender, real estate agent or landlord to give preferential treatment or special rights to people based on their sexual orientation.
"It sends a message that we in the Illinois Senate and Illinois believe that everybody has the right to equal protection," an enthusiastic Sen. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago), the sponsor of the measure, said after the vote. "We're a state that cares about that. We're a state that values certain fundamental truths, and a certain fundamental freedom."
Breakthrough for activists
Passage in the Senate was a landmark achievement for gay rights activists, who have been working on this issue in earnest for more than a decade. After twice winning passage in the House over the last dozen years, they have watched as the legislation died under more conservative leadership of the upper chamber.
But after years of seeing the proposal bottled up in the Senate under Republican and Democratic majorities, Jones managed to muscle the measure through the upper chamber at the end of his first two-year term as Senate president.
Critics of the proposal claim the activists' ultimate goal is not just to end discrimination but to shift social norms about acceptable behavior. Some conservative religious leaders say if the gay rights bill passes, a push for gay marriage will be next.
Sen. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) warned his colleagues that they were opening that door.
"To vote yes, and to say, `Oh listen, I just voted for this very narrow thing.' Oh, no. Oh, no," he said. "We're voting on a much, much, much bigger agenda than that."
The measure passed with 27 Democratic votes and three Republicans: Sens. Pam Althoff of McHenry, Christine Radogno of Lemont and Dan Rutherford of Chenoa. Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis (R-Zion) voted present.
Gay activists expect the House to approve the measure. Rep. Larry McKeon (D-Chicago), the only openly gay member of the legislature, said he thinks he has more than the minimum 60 votes needed to pass the measure.
Four years ago, when the proposal was last before the House, no fewer than 63 lawmakers committed to vote for it, he said.
Whether they have a strong opinion about homosexual behavior or not, McKeon said, many House lawmakers think the measure is simply a matter of fairness.
"I know firsthand the extent of discrimination in employment and housing," McKeon said. "It's usually those with the least amount of resources that are impacted. The whole issue is quite real. ... I will sleep very comfortably when I know that this last bastion of sanctioned discrimination has been wiped out."
In trying to persuade other senators to vote in favor of the measure, Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago) took issue with social conservatives who say it would be supportive of the homosexual lifestyle.
Cullerton, a Roman Catholic, quoted a priest who made what he found to be a convincing point: The real immorality, he said, is in discrimination.
"[What if] somebody says, `You know what? We just don't rent to people like you.'" Cullerton said. "It's wrong."
To send the measure to the governor's desk, the lower chamber must act before the new legislature is sworn in on Wednesday. Aides to Blagojevich say the governor, who called several lawmakers Monday to push for the bill, plans to sign it.
Passage of the gay rights legislation would be a crowning achievement for Democrats, who took control two years ago of the Senate, the House and the governor's office for the first time in a quarter century.
Shortly after they were sworn in, the governor and General Assembly approved a lineup of left-leaning social issues that long had stalled as Republicans controlled the Senate and the governor's mansion in the decade before Democrats took control.
Rarely a hotbed of liberal social activism, the legislature has voted to raise the minimum wage and require equal pay for women. While ideological liberals feel that they are finally getting their say, left-leaning lawmakers still have failed to get through the statehouse the long-stalled Equal Rights Amendment and a measure to abolish the death penalty.
Senate backs court districting
Also Monday the Senate approved a plan to divide the court jurisdictions of several suburban and Downstate counties into subdistricts, a move aimed at putting more minorities and more Democrats on the bench.
While Democratic authors say the plan would bring election of judges closer to the grass-roots level, Republican critics say it is strictly about politics.
At the same time, some Latino lawmakers think the districts could have been designed to help elect more Hispanic judges.
Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), who voted present in committee on the subcircuit proposal, maintained the Senate Democratic proposal failed to draw boundaries that would give Hispanics a better chance of winning seats in Lake and, possibly, Kane Counties.
Del Valle, who was one of the leading proponents of the original subcircuits in Cook County, said he consulted with Hispanic lawyers who have concerns about Waukegan and the Elgin and Aurora areas.
Saying he supported the concept of subcircuits, del Valle still called for lawmakers to take more time to redraw the lines to give Hispanics a better chance.
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
Web Warlock, web.warlock@comcast.net, The Other Side.
Liber Mysterium: The D20 Netbook of Witches & The Dragon and the Phoenix: New Adventures of Willow and Tara
"But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"
- "Lovers In A Dangerous Time", Bruce Cockburn.
by Repost Moderator » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:12 pm
by Warduke » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:26 pm
Quote:
Bush won't push for gay marriage ban in Senate
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush will not actively seek to ban gay marriage in the United States during his second term in office -- a stance certain to anger the social conservatives who helped re-elect him.
In an interview, The Washington Post daily asked Bush if he would aggressively lobby senators during his second term in office to pass an amendment outlawing marriage in all 50 states.
"I do believe it's necessary," Bush said. But he went on to imply that pursuing it in the US Senate, which must approve a constitutional amendment by 67 of its 100 votes, would be futile.
Many Senators think the Defense of Marriage Act, an existing law that allows states not to recognize gay marriages enacted in other states, is sufficient, according to Bush.
"The point is, is that Senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen. I'd take that admonition seriously," Bush told the Post.
Bush voiced active support for a gay marriage ban during the 2004 presidential campaign, whipping up support from social conservatives including Evangelical Christians who turned out in droves to re-elect him.
Immediately after his election victory his top political strategist said the president would "absolutely" continue his fight on the politically and socially divisive issue.
"Without the protection of that amendment, we are at the mercy of activist federal judges or activist state judges who could, without the involvement of the people, determine ... that marriage no longer consists of a union between a man and a woman," Karl Rove told Fox News.
One of the president's top advisers, White House counsellor Dan Bartlett, told US television Sunday that the president remained committed to seeking a change in the US Constitution enshrining marriage as existing solely between a man and a woman.
But Bartlett said Bush was realistic about the chances for success of accompanying legislation in the US Congress, where minority Democrats retain a significant number of seats.
"It requires 67 votes in the United States Senate for a constitutional amendment to move forward. That's a very high bar," Bartlett told CNN television.
"This does not change President Bush's view about amendment, the need for an amendment. And he'll continue to push for an amendment. But what he was speaking to was the legislative realities in the United States Senate in getting those 67 votes," Bartlett said.
"He'll continue to work to convince people and convince members of Congress that it is necessary now. He will spend political capital to do so. It is an important part of what the president believes," he added.
"He believes the institution of marriage being defined as between a man and a woman is important for our civil society," Bartlett said.
by Ben Varkentine » Mon Jan 17, 2005 2:10 pm
Quote:
By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page A03
The November elections seemed to spell trouble for the gay equal rights movement, what with 11 new state laws banning same-sex marriages and wins for social conservatives in Congress.
Now, after weeks of soul-searching and much internal, and even public, debate over how to navigate the current political waters, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations, known as LGBT rights groups, have a plan: to advance an ambitious agenda, including marriage rights.
To underscore their determination, 22 LGBT organizations, representing a spectrum of political goals and strategies, have, for the first time, released a joint list of priorities. They include pushing for equal employment opportunities; adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes law; fighting for protections for children of LGBT couples; overturning military restrictions on gay soldiers; opposing anti-gay state and federal legislation; and fighting for the freedom to marry.
"We plan on working in a coordinated fashion," said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay advocacy organization. "The moment that we're in now in our civil rights movement is acknowledging that we play different instruments and have different strengths, but we want to hear from that orchestra together."
The groups banding together include the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which focuses its efforts on depictions of gays in the media; Log Cabin Republicans; National Stonewall Democrats; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; and others.
Their list of priorities is a call to arms in the culture wars. Marriage, obviously, is the most controversial item on the agenda. The spate of same-sex marriages in San Francisco and other cities last year sent religious conservatives into action. They made unprecedented efforts to get out the vote for President Bush, who supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and are now focusing on winning 15 more state referendums to ban same-sex marriage, as well as on lobbying for federal judges who will bolster their conservative agenda.
"We were amazed at the amount of grass-roots support for the state marriage amendments," said Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus on the Family, which helped bolster turnout among evangelical Christians in the November elections.
Focus on the Family is among several conservative religious groups that meet weekly to plan strategies to prevent same-sex marriage from becoming accepted in the United States. As they see it, their side is on a roll. Last week, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging Florida's ban on adoption by same-gender couples, and Pope John Paul II condemned same-sex marriage, calling it a threat to the family.
But LGBT groups are also savoring recent victories. In California, the new year ushered in the strongest domestic partnership benefits in the country. In Montana, the Supreme Court ruled that excluding same-sex partners from dependent health benefits offered to state university employees violated the state Constitution's equal protection requirements. In Illinois, the legislature passed a bill banning discrimination against gays, joining 14 other states with such laws.
Advocacy groups say they are optimistic. It was only 18 months ago, after all, that the Supreme Court struck down Texas sodomy laws, which extended the right to privacy to same-sex couples. And, within the last year, thousands of same-sex couples married in San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and other cities, and same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. An agenda that includes legalizing same-sex marriage is not as far-fetched as it may seem at first, said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
"We're going to keep on doing what we've been doing as a movement for 35 years -- pressing forward for equal rights," Foreman said. "There's one national goal, and that is to make sure Congress defeats any form of constitutional amendment seeking to prohibit same-sex marriage. That's the number one national goal. After that, everything is a state-by-state strategy."
The statement of purpose does not specify how the groups plan to coordinate their efforts. But leaders of several organizations described a multi-pronged strategy, including fighting vigorously in the courts, launching a campaign to inform the public about the inequities LGBT couples must confront and lobbying politicians for incremental changes that might get through a Congress or state legislature hostile to same-sex marriage.
"We are always fighting on multiple fronts," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The organization, based in San Francisco, helped draft two bills that would legalize same-sex marriage in California and is a lead counsel in a case of several same-sex couples suing the state attorney general after nearly 4,000 same-sex marriage licenses were ruled void. The suit argues that barring same-sex marriage violates the state Constitution's anti-discrimination and privacy clauses.
When people become aware of the ways that LGBT families are denied rights that others enjoy, including the ability to petition for a foreign spouse to remain in this country, and the more than 1,000 federal benefits that married couples enjoy, they tend to support equality, Minter said.
One obvious difference, Minter said, is the ability to get Social Security benefits as a surviving spouse. "That, for many families, is the difference between poverty and the ability to provide for your children," he said. "There are a significant number of same-sex couples where one partner is staying at home and the other is working. Those are exactly the couples who need the protection. There are a lot of federal benefits associated with death that kick in: the ability to inherit a partner's 401(k) and other pension benefits without a tax penalty."
Stachelberg of the Human Rights Campaign said some groups will focus on policy, some on media, some on legal issues, some on the state level, some in combination. With the new statement of purpose, organizations that have competed and clashed have in effect announced that they plan to put aside their differences to work for a common goal. "It's historic," Stachelberg said. "This is a very big deal."
The Human Rights Campaign, which has focused primarily on effecting changes on the federal level, is facing emboldened congressional conservatives who favor the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The measure failed last year after heavy lobbying from the campaign and similar groups.
After the election, the campaign seemed to publicly fret about what to do next. It had to defend itself against most other LGBT organizations after the New York Times reported that campaign officials said they planned to focus less on same-sex marriage. Its officials also seemed to indicate that they might be willing to support Bush's plan for partial privatization of Social Security in exchange for certain benefits for domestic partners. The suggestion prompted 50 prominent LGBT organizations to send a letter to every member of Congress denouncing the idea.
The campaign then issued a release declaring that it did not support Social Security privatization and had no plans to back down on the marriage issue.
Ben
"One voice is easily ignored or silenced, but when other people add their voices to yours, you become a chorus not easily ignored."--Wil "Just A Geek" Wheaton
by Gatito Grande » Mon Jan 17, 2005 5:09 pm
Quote:
"We are always fighting on multiple fronts," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
One obvious difference, Minter said, is the ability to get Social Security benefits as a surviving spouse. "That, for many families, is the difference between poverty and the ability to provide for your children," he said
by Andreia17 » Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:28 pm
by ElDonia » Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:59 am
by Patches » Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:30 pm
Our wedding vows: Life Love Everlasting, Always Intertwining. - Sunday June 27, 2004 :)
by Warduke » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:42 pm
Quote:
U.S. Christians Issue Gay Warning Over Kid Video
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites.
The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity.
But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.
"A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality," wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association.
The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song "We Are Family" using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and 100 TV cartoon stars. It was made by a foundation set up by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks to promote the nation's healing process.
Christian groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the foundation's Web site which asks people to respect the sexual identity of others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.
"Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary but it crosses a moral line," Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement on Thursday.
Rodgers was astounded at the attack. "That is so myopic and harsh. You have really got to look hard to find anything in this that is offensive to anyone. The last thing I am going to do is taint these characters," he told Reuters.
Dobson was quoted by the New York Times on Thursday as having singled out the wildly popular SpongeBob during remarks about the video at a Washington D.C. dinner this week.
SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was "outed" by the U.S. media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise was popular with gays. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that although SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters as asexual.
It is not the first time that children's TV favorites have come under the critical spotlight of the U.S. Christian right. Tinky Winky, the purse-toting purple Teletubbie, was in 1999 declared a homosexual role model by Rev. Jerry Falwell.
by ElDonia » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:57 am
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