GLBT News

[The Shadowcat]

I've been posting a lot of articles lately, and don't want to spam the board. From now on, I'll just throw everything in here. Feel free to add articles/links/updates of your own. I post links when able, but a lot of the articles I get are just copy and paste deals.



Here is the latest flop of a court case. We're such a liberal country, I tell you... This one sucks for everyone, straight, gay, or whatever. Louisianna has upheld it's 197 year-old sodomy law. Oh, yay. BTW, sodomy is defined as non-procreative sexual acts, ie. oral/anal sex, and other activities.



www.nola.com/news/t-p/met...omy29.html

Quote:

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Court upholds 197-year-old sodomy law





Privacy rights aren't violated, justices say





03/29/02



By Tara Young

Staff writer/The Times-Picayune







Marking the latest lost battle for gay rights activists, the state Supreme Court refused to strike down Louisiana's 197-year-old ban on oral and anal sex Thursday, saying it would contradict a precedent set by the court on a similar challenge two years ago.



In a unanimous vote, the state Supreme Court said the law does not violate the privacy rights provided to citizens under the state Constitution, as the Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians Inc. charged when it filed its civil case in 1994.



To support its decision, the court revisited a July 2000 ruling involving a criminal case in which a man was acquitted of rape but found guilty of engaging in oral sex.



In that case, the court ruled 5-2 that the law did not violate privacy rights.



Thursday's ruling addressed the civil lawsuit filed by the group that claims the sodomy law is unconstitutional. The suit focused again on the issues of privacy.



Three years ago, when the civil case went before Civil District Court Judge Carolyn Gill-Jefferson, she ruled in favor of the group.



Though the high court reversed Gill-Jefferson's decision Thursday, it returned the suit to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal to address 11 other challenges, including discrimination, enforcement and other perceived stigmas related to lesbian, gay and transgender people that weren't addressed by the appellate court.



New Orleans lawyer John Rawls, who filed the suit, said the law is a political hot potato.



"I am sick and tired of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal and the state Supreme Court punting this case back and forth between them," Rawls said.



"Frankly, the courts of Louisiana should be embarrassed that after 10 years, the longest-running sodomy challenge in U.S. history is nowhere near its end.



"While this case has been pending, the courts of Tennessee, Montana, Maryland, Minnesota and Georgia have all thrown out their sodomy laws, and the legislatures of Nevada and Rhode Island have done the same," Rawls said.



"If the right to privacy doesn't protect a married couple's bedroom, then it doesn't protect anything."



State Rep. Tony Perkins, R-Baker, a leader in the successful legislative fight against a bill to change the law last year, did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday night.



In the past, Perkins has challenged arguments that the law is an invasion of married couples' privacy.



"The heart of this legislation has nothing to do with what married couples choose to do. This has everything to do with legitimizing homosexuality," Perkins said last year.



Randal Beach, president of the Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, said the justices have failed to uphold citizens' rights to privacy as provided by the state Constitution.



The law would have been erased from the books a decade ago if Louisiana's Supreme Court wasn't made up of elected justices, he said.



"They are afraid of retribution at the ballot box," Beach said.



. . . . . . .



The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Tara Young can be reached at



tyoung@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3301.

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Anya: I swear I'm just trying to find my necklace.


Willow: Did you look under the sofa... *in Hell* ?!?!


--Dopplegangland

Edited by: DrG at: 3/31/02 12:06:29 pm

[Banshee]

Actually, i thought that--at least according to Georgia's statue--the sodomy was defined as any genitalia being inserted into the mouth or anus--this is why lesbians haven't been prosecuted under sodomy laws..

Or it could be that good ol fashioned idea that women aren't sexual beings to begin with and, therefore, definately can't be with each other

[maudmac]

What we have are legal definitions of "sodomy" that differ from state to state. Here in Alabama, we have "deviate sexual intercourse" defined as "any act of sexual gratification between persons not married to each other involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another."



So I guess mutual masturbation would be legal. Well, good, I can have some kind of sex. I know I sure don't want to violate any laws.



This is all just so stupid. Can someone please tell me why anyone thinks they have a right to tell consenting adults what they can and cannot do in their own homes? The fact that there are even such laws is shameful.



*takes a deep breath and runs off to Pens to see if Ruth has put up part 5b yet*

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Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
--- Confucius

[Thanatopsis]

maudmac, LOL, I don't see how mutal masterbation would be against the law. Thank god, that is one of my greatest worries, breaking 197 year old laws that are absurd and shouldn't be enforced anymore. My question is, if sodomy is, as TheShadowcat said, non-procreative sex, then technically are people who use birth control breaking the law?

I don't believe in tiny Jewish Santa anymore.

[WiccanBex]

stupid laws.



i just wanna know how such a law can be enforced... what do they do? walk around peeking through the bedroom windows of unsuspecting couples, hoping to catch them out??



it's all very confusing...



sod the law... ermm... lol...

I was Gay Now once... honest...

[Epicurus]

Hmm wouldn't wearing a condom be considered a "non-procreative sexual act"?



"man was acquitted of rape but found guilty of engaging in oral sex."



Someone needs to get their damn priorities straight.



"The heart of this legislation has nothing to do with what married couples choose to do. This has everything to do with legitimizing homosexuality,"



I can’t believe people can get away with saying shit like that.

So married couples can have rights and the government gets to decide what is a legitimate or illegitimate act of love.

[DaffyQDuck]

There's an interesting article in the Washington Post magazine about a deaf couple setting out to have deaf children. The subplot is that they are lesbians. I'll paste the link & hope it works. www.washingtonpost.com/wp...Mar27.html

I'm Cletus the slack-jawed yokel - Willow

[La]

That was a really interesting article. Thanks for putting up a link!

~La

********

"No one can resist the golden lasso. It binds all who are encircled and compels them to tell... the truth!"
~Wonder Woman

[ninjitsugrrl]

this so has nothing to do with the thread but, La, i just had to tell you that i love your icon. my friend and i just rented the rainbow brite movie last night (poor college girls and kids movies are free) and i am now obsessed with the show again. your icon is cute, cute, cute!

Tara: Do you mind if I keep the light on? I was gonna look up some spells.
Willow: That's fine, I don't need to be snuggled...
Tara: Vixen!

[The Shadowcat]

This is why I am afraid to travel today. Not because I fear terrorist, or plane crashes, or accidents. No, I fear being harassed for no reason. I fear having to show my id to a cop. I fear being made to prove that little "F" on my drivers license. My id actually has been rejected on several occasions. And it's not just transsexuals that get harassed. I know plenty of butch women who have horror stories about airport security. It needs to stop.

Quote:

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============================================================

GenderPAC Speaks Out Against Gender Profiling in Wake of Sept 11th

============================================================



[Washington, DC : 1 Apr 02] GenderPAC Executive Director Riki Wilchins today spoke out against the gender profiling of American travelers in the wake of September 11th.



"Gender profiling" occurs when a person is singled out for investigation or discrimination solely because the perception that they fail to conform to traditional gender norms.



Examples are security officials' use of gender stereotypes in determining which travelers should be stopped and searched as potential security risks, and the targeting of individuals for harassment or assault because they are perceived as being insufficiently masculine or feminine.



"We understand and support enhanced security," said Wilchins. "However, we are seeing a pattern of travelers being targeted by airport security personnel, and singled out for especially harsh treatment, simply because they don't meet someone's ideal for a real man or a real woman."



One such case involved boy-identified dyke, Katie ("Zak" Szymanski, a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter, who had recently undergone a prophylactic mastectomy due to a family breast cancer history. "It wasn't just that they made a big deal about which sex should pat me down. But they spent a lot of time searching my breasts -- not because I had any place left to hide anything there - - but because they couldn't figure out why there wasn't more ME there. I was still healing, and it was really painful."



"How many fundamentalist terrorists... have sex-reassignment surgery?"



In another case, a transsexual traveling first class was pulled out of line as she was about to board, subjected to a pat-down and luggage search, and mocked by security personnel while they examined her (female) ID. Airline management on the scene declined to respond to her complaints. "How many fundamentalist Islamic terrorists did they think traveled first class and have had sex-reassignment surgery so they can be female?" she asked. "They just didn't like that I was transgender."



Genderqueer author and trans-identified lesbian Daphne Scholinski found herself gender profiled at the San Francisco airport, in one of the most liberal cities in the US. "Nobody questioned my ID; my luggage had passed through X-ray. But they said my belt-buckle was a problem and made me undo my pants -- in public, right by the X-ray machines -- and pull them down to my thighs.



"You just have to stand there and take it."



Explained Scholinski, "If I try to defend my rights or talk back, they can label me a 'trouble-maker,' and have me strip-searched in custody while my flight takes off . You just have to stand there and take it."



Notes Managing Director Gina Reiss. "Even in the best of times, travelers who transcend gender stereotypes face increased scrutiny or harassment. However, since September 11, the reports of gender profiling we've received have jumped to a whole new level."



"The balance of power has shifted dramatically in favor of security personnel. The usual prejudices evidenced by a small number of homo-and-gender-phobic employees are becoming more frequent, and having more serious consequences."



(If you believe you've been the victim of gender profiling when traveling in the domestic US, please email a brief, 150-word description of your experience to stopgenderprofiling@gpac.org)

---

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Anya: I swear I'm just trying to find my necklace.


Willow: Did you look under the sofa... *in Hell* ?!?!


--Dopplegangland

[urnofosiris]

Well that certainly helps me get over my fear of flying.

[Kalita]

Quote:

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So married couples can have rights and the government gets to decide what is a legitimate or illegitimate act of love.

---

I once again thank my lucky stars I live in Canada; we got rid of all this cr@p 30 years ago.



Then-Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau put it so very well: "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."

[The Shadowcat]

When can you get your id changed, Garfield? If it's all in order, you shouldn't have problems...



There's really not too much I can say. It's not a good time to travel for TG folk.

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Anya: I swear I'm just trying to find my necklace.


Willow: Did you look under the sofa... *in Hell* ?!?!


--Dopplegangland

[urnofosiris]

Oh I was going to start that road today, but my headache is stopping me from doing much more than occasionally glance at the board and bitch at my cats.

[Dumbsaint]

*gives Garfield two aspirin, a cookie, and nice hot cuppa smut*

Shiver me timberless.

Edited by: Dumbsaint at: 4/2/02 8:43:54 am

[urnofosiris]

Julia, bless you honey, the aspirin isn't doing anything for me, but smut cures everything.

[Puff]

Thanks for all the articles Shadowcat They make very interesting reading.

-----------------------
You know, it's a real deal relationship and that's why people can relate to it
Amber Benson

[BabyJune]

As I haven't come across mention of it on the other boards, I thought I should bring up the National Day of Silence Project. On April 10, student in high school and colleges across the U.S. will remain silent for an 8 hour period to show their support for LGBT equal rights. If you would like to know more about the project, go to the website http://www.dayofsilence.org or e-mail me @ scooter685@yahoo.com.

[tommo]

I honestly cannot believe the moronic attitudes I've read in these articles. Sometimes you know, I think there must be more to life than making other people feel uncomfortable about who and what they are. For God's sake.



I think I'm still a little rant-y from last night. But hell, what goes on in these people's minds?

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Hey Grrrrlfriend! Yoo hoo! Over here! It's me...Flaming Joel!

[Charlie]

I think a rather confused fuzz in most cases... There's certainly nothing rational or intelligent going on up there.

---------------
Never anger a dragon, for you are crunchy and you go well with Brie...

[Cipher]

I found this quote at www.glsen.org/templates/n...ecord=1240 from following links from www.dayofsilence.org/

Quote:

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Nicolet parent Linda Cole said that while she appreciates the school promoting freedom of speech and social awareness, she cringes at the thought of allowing students to opt out of their education - even for one day.



"You cannot spend your school day dealing with everybody's causes," she said. "The purpose of the school day is learning."

---

She's missing the whole point of course. Those affected by harassment have no choice about dealing with this cause every day, and it can certainly interfere with learning. The only way to promote learning is to end the harassment, and that means promoting understanding and tolerance.

[maudmac]

...for a change.



For the first time, a majority of Americans support gay adoptions. The story here, from abcnews.com, with charts and stuff. The text here:





More Americans Support Gay Adoption

The Educated and Young Show the Most Support



Analysis

By Daniel Merkle



N E W Y O R K, April 2 — Public support for allowing gay couples to adopt children has risen to a slim plurality in the latest ABCNEWS.com poll.



Supporters of same-sex adoption now outnumber opponents, if only slightly, for the first time in 10 years of polling on the subject. Forty-seven percent think gay couples should be legally permitted to adopt while slightly fewer, 42 percent, disagree.



Opponents, once firmly in the majority, now hold a minority view. Their ranks are down 23 points since a 1994 poll and 15 points since 1998.



There has been renewed debate on this issue since talk show host Rosie O'Donnell spoke out last month against a 1977 Florida law that prohibits adoption by homosexuals.



Big Splits on the Issue



There are large cleavages in the American public on this issue. Most younger adults, women, and those with more education support adoption by homosexuals. Older adults, men, and the less-educated don't.



There are also regional differences. Majorities in the East and Midwest are supportive; most in the South are not.



Partisanship plays a large role in these views. Most Democrats and Independents support adoption by gays, while Republicans oppose it by a 2-1 margin.

------------------------------
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
--- Confucius

Edited by: maudmac at: 4/2/02 3:02:37 pm

[Epicurus]

What's this I see? A positive article dealing with gay issues? Who woulda thought. It was getting really depressing with all these harassment stories.



Most younger adults, women, and those with more education support adoption by homosexuals. Older adults, men, and the less-educated don't.



This just goes to show that there should be more women in positions of power. We just have to get these conservative, old men out and the young, educated women in.

An open minded younger generation can only lead to good things for the future.

===============================

"Over? How can it be over? I just found her!"

Edited by: Epicurus at: 4/2/02 3:04:24 pm

[La]

I was quite surprised to open up my copy of The Korea Times today and see this article:

Quote:

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Gender Changes Should Be Legally Recognized: Judge

By Soh Ji-young

A senior judge has proposed that changes of sexual identity be legally recognized, for the benefit of the increasing number of transexuals who are coming out and braving social backlash.



In a recent paper presented to legal experts, Judge Koh Jong-chu of the Pusan District Court stated that transsexuals who meet a certain criteria should be allowed to legally change their gender to ensure their right to pursue happiness and maintain human dignity under the Constitution.



"The distinction of sexes cannot be applied in just a biological context but through mental and social ones as well," said Koh.



So far, the Supreme Court has not given legal recognition in such cases, maintaining that despite the performance of sex change operations, chromosomes themselves do not change.



Almost all of the related lawsuits have been turned down by local courts, with the rare successes mostly consisting of cases concerning abnormal biological behavior, such as anomalous sex chromosomes.



Some European countries, such as Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, have already bestowed legal recognition to transgendered people, according to the judge.



"As transsexuals cannot be recognized legally in South Korea, they go through enormous pain and suffering," he told the Korea Times.



"The success of the popular transsexual model Ha Ri-su is a rare exception. Most transsexuals are forced to work in seedy nightclubs, as they cannot get employed elsewhere and have no way to pay for the expensive sex-change operations and hormone shots," he explained.



After reaching a public consensus on the issue, Koh said that transsexuals who fit certain requirements should be legally recognized for what they are.



Besides having a sexual orientation that is opposite that of their biological gender, he said that they need to have undergone sex=change operations and lived as a transsexual for a set amount of time.



They also mucst be over 25 years old, single, and able to perform social roles appropriate for his or her changed sex, he added.



According to the Korean Medical Association, approximately 4,500 transgendered people are in South Korea, but the actual figure is extimated to be much higher.

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This looks good initially, but some of Korea's homophobia still shows through: "Besides having a sexual orientation that is opposite that of their biological gender ... and be able to perform social roles appropriate for his or her changed sex...". The model the article talks about, Ha Ri-su (she's really quite beautiful) is straight and the reason given to me by my host sister for her change was that when she was younger, she was attracted to a man, but because she was male at the time, she knew that wasn't right, so she wanted to change her sex. So it's definitely a step in the right direction, but there are still bits of it that could be better. If Ha Ri-su were attracted to women, I don't think she'd be as accepted as she is.

~La



"No one can resist the golden lasso. It binds all who are encircled and compels them to tell... the truth!"
~Wonder Woman

[Italiangirl]

Okay, I read this last week on PlanetOut and I have yet to see any national news coverage about it. I'm angry, and scared, and alarmed by the growing number of anti-glbt hate crimes perpetrated against children by children.



Here is the link to the PlanetOut clip, which discusses a 17 year old lesbian who was attacked by three teenage boys last Tuesday; they carved anti-gay slurs on her body and sliced her face and tongue. It happened in the middle of the afternoon, in the daylight, blocks away from her house.



Here is the link: www.planetout.com/pno/new...02/03/28/1



Now, I have to go on an angry rant. To me, this incident was not small potatoes. Why is there no national news coverage? I think that this is particularly frustrating because it falls in the wake of all of the attention Matthew Shepherd's death has been getting with the network movie about his death and the HBO release of the Laramie Project, as well as Rosie's recent coming out interviews. WTF!!! Is it because she is a child, and people don't want to confront children who are gay and lesbians? Is it because she is a female? Is it because she didn't die, or because her crime wasn't heinous enough in the eyes of the newsmedia?



In the city where I live, there is a small group of high school students trying to form a LGBT & Friends support group through the school. They were recently squashed by the school administration, who told them that there wasn't a "gay problem" at their school, and they were inciting hatred themselves by trying to be "in people's faces" with the issue of homosexuality. The situation has ignited a firestorm of angry letters written to the newspaper, mostly by outraged parents damning the group of students for their perversion and sin. Out of around 35 letters written so far, besides mine there has only been ONE letter supporting the students. Some of them have gone so far as to threaten the students involved if they continue their efforts.



I keep going back to a statement from the Laramie Project, in which one of the women says that people in Laramie wanted to believe they did not grow children who committed that kind of crime, but aparently they do. Apparently, here in Ashland, Ky. we do, too. I'm at a loss, and I'm greiving people's capacity to hate and spread violence and discord.



I want the generation of gay and lesbian children who are coming behind me to be safer and more free of harassment.



I want our newsmedia to be pointing fingers at the behaviors of adults that teach our children it is okay to be perpetrating these horrific acts.



I want mainstream America to know that greiving for Matthew Shepherd and expressing proper outrage is not enough, because glbt hate crimes did not stop with him, they are happening every day, everywhere, and not being talked about.



I want to have more faith in people than I currently do.



Right now, it's just hard. I think I will be observing the April 10th day of silence.



Sorry to be a big downer, but I just need to talk about these issues. I know I'm preaching to the choir.

"You're in my blood like holy wine

You taste so bitter, and so sweet

Darling, I could drink a case of you

And still be on my feet;

I would still be on my feet."

-Joni Mitchell

Edited by: Italiangirl  at: 4/2/02 6:56:29 pm

[Wiccagrrl313]

Woo and Hoo!!! Glad to hear some positive news.

Tracy

******************


VILLOV

I troost yuu. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!

[sundae]

Oh, dear- this thread is a downer (aside from a few positive articles). I've only recently fully come out as being gay, and this scares me so much. Is this what I have to look forward to? A lifetime of discrimination and narrow-minded people? Being seen as some sort of deviant? I know that I shouldn't care, but can't help it. Is this what people teach their children???



Sorry for the rant- just had to get that off my chest.

[Kalita]

Italangirl, I know I saw this *somewhere*; I can't remember if the source was mainstream or not-so-, but it did get some coverage.



I'm pretty sure...

[La]

Quote:

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sundae said:

Oh, dear- this thread is a downer (aside from a few positive articles). I've only recently fully come out as being gay, and this scares me so much. Is this what I have to look forward to? A lifetime of discrimination and narrow-minded people? Being seen as some sort of deviant? I know that I shouldn't care, but can't help it. Is this what people teach their children???

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Oh, don't be scared! There is so much support for you on this board and within the GLBT community. And seriously, not everybody is narrowminded. And things are changing for the better! Just look at how far things have come in 30 or 40 years or so. Things will continue to get better, even if there are some bumps along the way. Sometimes people tell me I'm overly optimistic, but someone's gotta be!

~La



"No one can resist the golden lasso. It binds all who are encircled and compels them to tell... the truth!"
~Wonder Woman

Edited by: La at: 4/2/02 9:46:17 pm

[Judy]

Well, I think I am usually the voice of pessimism or cynicism at this board so it's funny to be in this role, lol. But I wanted to offer some hope to the beleagured kitties. While discrimination, hatred, acts of oppression, and violence happen frequently, I also get to witness community building and social change among young lgbt people at my job every day. I see lgbt youth participate in peer education programs, write and publish beautiful poems celebrating themselves, speak out about being lgbt to other youth and adults at conferences and schools, form Gay-Straight Alliances at their schools, challenge themselves and each other to reflect on their internalized homophobia and other biases, and educate themselves. The youth I work with are mostly of color and have been written off consistently. They are also YOUTH in a world that generally dismisses what teens think, feel, value. And yeah, they can be major pains in the ass because that's part of their job as teens LOL. I am there for them to challenge authority (me!) as they work out identity, community, and power issues -- and to be a role model, a supporter, an ally, an educator. Sometimes this is exhausting; sometimes I screw up big time; but mostly it is empowering and inspiring. I feel privileged beyond words. And I wouldn't do this if I had no hope, no belief in change and in the innate resilience of human beings.



So while the daily onslaught of horrific crimes committed against lgbt people, ignorance, hatred, and misuses of power are very real, I did want to say that there are communities of people who are dedicated to not only reacting against negativity but striving to create a new world. The "smallest" act means something. And sometimes we don't see the fruits of our labor, but I believe that the seeds that get planted take root -- maybe when we are no longer here. Please, take heart, Sundae and others.