Articles in News
Injustice at Every Turn
“Every day, transgender and gender non-conforming people are marginalized because of their gender identity and expression.”
This In The Life video features the personal stories of Ja’briel and Michelle, two trans women. Their experiences highlight the findings of the first comprehensive transgender discrimination study, recently completed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Watch the video:
The study Injustice at Every Turn “brings to light what is both patently obvious and far too often dismissed from the human rights agenda. Transgender and gender non-conforming people face injustice at every turn: in childhood homes, in school systems that promise to shelter and educate, in harsh and exclusionary workplaces, at the grocery store, the hotel front desk, in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, before judges and at the hands of landlords, police officers, health care workers and other service providers.”
There are no laws in Alaska protecting transgender people from discrimination or harassment.
When we allow injustice against a group of people, unstable individuals may feel they have permission to act on that prejudice and cause physical harm, like in the violent attack on a transgender woman in a Baltimore McDonald’s last week.
Jerry Merryman (1938–2011)
Jerry Merryman lived in Anchorage for 17 years and his ‘home away from home’ was The Raven. He died of massive heart failure on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 in Alturas, California. A friend who also used to live in Anchorage sent the obituary to Bent Alaska today. Jerry’s family did not know how to contact his friends in Alaska (and did not acknowledge in the obituary that he was gay.)
Kobe and The Lakers make a PSA for gay acceptance
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers recorded a video message against bullying and anti-gay language as part of GLSEN’s “Think Before You Speak” campaign. After calling a referee an anti-gay slur during a live broadcast of a recent basketball game, Kobe claimed that his use of “f—king f—-t” was not a slur against LGBT people. [WTF?] He was given a $100,000 NBA fine, which he is appealing.
Sara’s News Roundup 4/17/11
Recent LGBT news selected by Sara Boesser of Juneau, Alaska.
1) Leonard Pitts: Rights are rights, not gifts
Middleton Journal, March 23, 2011
2) California May Require Teaching of Gay History
Los Angeles, New York Times, April 15, 2011
3) GOP Antigay Site Vanishes
Advocate, April 12, 2011
4) Coming Out: The story of one openly gay athlete
Boston Globe, April 11, 2011
5) 9 million U.S. adults say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, study finds
Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2011
6) Kristen Chenoweth, ‘Glee,’ ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Project Runway’ among GLAAD Media Award winners
Los Angeles, Canada Yahoo News, April 11, 2011
7) First locally produced lesbian magazine appears in stores
Taipei, Taiwan, China post, April 10, 2011
8) NOM Strategist, Louis J. Marinelli, Declares Support For Same-Sex Marriage
Louis J. Marinelli Website
9) Gay Americans Make Up 4 Percent of Population
ABC News, April 8, 2011
10) Getting Your Numbers Straight, So to Speak
Huffington Post, April 4, 2011
11) Corvino: The meaning of transgender
365Gay.com, April 15, 2011
12) Mississippi Republicans are against interracial marriage
Mississippi, 365Gay.com, April 11, 2011
13) Filmmaker Traces Evolution of ‘Intersex’
Harvard, Harvard Crimson, March 28, 2011
14) Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex
Amazon.com
15) Trans rally to storm Canberra!
Australia, SameSame, March 24, 2011
16) Malaysia Censors Lady Gaga
Malaysia, Advocate, March 17, 2011
Colbert’s extended analogy of gay sex and smoking
On Tuesday’s show, Stephen Colbert poked Rep. Michele Bachmann and Bob Vander Plaats, the leader of an anti-gay Iowa group that she’s in bed with. Plaats believes that same-sex marriage is as dangerous as second-hand smoke, and Colbert works that analogy to comedic extremes.
Watch “Threat Level: Rainbow” (warning: adult humor)
P.S. Jon Kyl is gay. (#NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement)
Note: If you haven’t seen the Pap Smears at Walgreens episode where Colbert first exposed Kyl’s lie and ripped Fox hosts for their ignorance of women’s healthcare, go watch it. It’s not about LGBTs, but it’s one of his funniest.
What it would sound like if all queer students and their allies were silenced
Today is GLSEN’s 2011 Day of Silence.
“Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of middle schools, high schools and colleges will take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.”
Why?
- Because nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment in American schools each year.
- Because 60% of LGBT youth feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
- Because nearly 1 out of 3 LGBT youth missed school in the past month because of safety concerns.
Think about the voices you’re not hearing today.
MSNBC: Anti-gay activist “actually listened to his opponents and changed his mind”
Lawrence O’Donnell did a story yesterday on Louis Martinelli, a conservative republican activist who worked against marriage equality for years, then finally talked to gays and lesbians and saw the harm his work caused. He now supports marriage equality.
Watch the video:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Equality on Trial adds,
National Organization For Marriage defector Louis Marinelli had a front seat for NOM’s “Summer For Marriage Tour.” He had every reason to stick with the bias that surrounded him. But because of pro-equality voices like the Courage Campaign’s NOM Tour Trackers, Louis had a change of heart. He now supports full marriage equality under the law!
His story reminds us to continue telling our stories and making LGBT people visible. That’s how we change hearts and minds.
UAFA reintroduced, bi-national couples sought
Two equality bills were reintroduced in Congress today: Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). ENDA sheds light on workers fired for being gay or trans, and UAFA raises awareness of bi-national couples torn apart by the ban on same sex marriage. (A repeal of DOMA was introduced earlier this session.)
Bi-national couples have one partner who is an American or a legal permanent resident, and the other partner is from another country. Several bi-national same sex couples were in the news lately when a partner was about to be deported, sometimes to a home country where they may be targeted for being gay. Because of DOMA, Americans cannot sponsor same sex spouses for citizenship.
Tom works with Immigration Equality, an organization fighting to end discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans and legal permanent residents in our nation’s immigration laws. He is working on building support for UAFA from Alaska’s members of Congress, and looking for more bi-national LGBT couples to share their stories.
When UAFA was introduced last year, Tom (working on the same issue but for a different group) explained the importance of UAFA to Bent Alaska and asked us to contact Senators Begich and Murkowski. Recently, Tom wrote to us again, about his current project sharing our stories for UAFA:
“Dear Friends,
Judy and Karin are spending their retirement traveling among 4 countries – missing family birthdays, hospital visits, and weddings – so that they can be together.Although Edward started a business in the United States and cares for his ailing partner, he could be deported at a moment’s notice because John, an American citizen, can’t sponsor him for residency.
Jaylynn and Shirley have been together for over two decades, and are raising twin boys – but even as an American citizen, Jaylynn worries every day that her wife will be sent back to the Phillipines.
Do you have a story like these, or know someone who does? We are working with Immigration Equality to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their foreign born partners for residency in the United States – and we need your help.
Stories like yours, and those you’ve just read, are the most powerful weapons our community has – whether we are fighting for marriage equality, non-discrimination laws, or immigration rights. Your story makes a difference to members of Congress, to the media, and to other couples fighting for equality. Please take a moment to visit Immigration Equality’s website and submit your story.
If you would like to find out other ways that you can help pass Uniting American Families Act, please contact Tom Tierney of Immigration Equality, at ttierney@immigrationequality.org
Thank you for all you do for equality.”
UAFA finished the last Congress with 162 co-sponsors in the House and Senate. That was a record, and they want to set another record this year. Neither of our senators is a co-sponsor of UAFA.
Please call Senator Begich and Senator Murkowski at the Capitol switchboard: (202) 225-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) this year.
Speak out for the hate crimes bill
Nobody should have to go through what happened to Cody: coming out gay only to be rejected, bullied and even assaulted – which is bad enough – and then the police let the attacker go free after only one night in jail, with no further investigation or charges, free to attack again.
Senator Bettye Davis introduced a state hate crimes law this year that includes LGBT Alaskans. It was considered and approved by the Judiciary Committee, and sent to Finance. But a second hearing was not scheduled, although all of the documents that were requested were delivered.
It’s time for the Finance Committee to hold a hearing on SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes bill. How do we get them to schedule a hearing and vote? You know the answer to that: We contact them. All of us.
Fred Traber of Anchorage wrote to the legislators in support of SB 11. He told the Finance Committee:
“With less than three weeks left in the session, thousands of constituents around the state are concerned about the fate of SB 11, the Hate Crimes Bill.
Two weeks ago in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a joint statement co-sponsored by 85 countries – YES – 85 countries – calling for “Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based On Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.”
And SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes Bill, has been held in the Senate Finance Committee since February 28.
Is there support for SB 11? Are your fellow legislators so much busier than the delegates from those 85 countries that they can’t find time for SB 11? Or don’t they care? Or maybe issues like the personalized pro-life license plates and designating the pre-1964 Winchester Model 70 caliber .30-06 caliber rifle as Alaska’s state gun are just more popular issues. Or is there another agenda here?”
Go, Fred!
Traber also notes that “SB 11 is one of the least complicated, non-financial issues before the legislature this year.”
Senator Ellis is the only committee member who replied:
“I am a cosponsor and have requested movement on the bill, as has the prime sponsor [Senator Davis]. I will continue to push. More Alaskans need to speak out for hate crimes bills to pass.” [emphasis mine]
It’s your turn to speak out.
Please contact the senators today and tell them to approve SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes bill.
Don’t let what happened to Cody – or worse – happen to other LGBT Alaskans.
– Thanks to Fred for being an active citizen and sharing his letter with us.
Sara’s News Roundup 4/11/11
She’s back from vacation! Recent LGBT news selected by Sara Boesser of Juneau, Alaska.
1) 10 countries now allow same-sex marriage
New York, 365Gay.com, March14, 2011
2) NBJC featured in a Groundbreaking Lesbian Soldier’s Story in Essence Magazine
National Black Justice Coalition, February 17, 2011
3) ‘Glee’ goes Gaga with expanded, 90-minute episode
Los Angeles, Advocate, April 7, 2011
4) Intersex Babies: Boy or Girl and Who Decides?
ABC News, March 17, 2011
5) Excellent Young Adult book with transgender character
Review by David N. Parker of PFLAGTNET, Feb 10, 2011
6) Daughter of bisexual bishop shares memoir, ‘uncloaking’ her father’s sexuality
Spectator, March 9, 2011
7) Black Church Leaders Ask for Forgiveness From the LGBT Community
Washington, The Root, March 3, 2011
8) US hails world move to end violence against gays [bi’s and trans]
Washington, Yahoo News, March 23, 2011
9) Bio Details Malcolm X’s Gay Life
Advocate.com, April 5, 2011
10) Lesbian families and co-mothering
Gay City News, March 23, 2011
11) Ohio Gay, Children’s Choruses: It Gets “Beautiful”
Ohio, Advocate, April 4, 2011
