News
NGLTF's Foreman to Keynote R.U.12? Dinner
Unity Project Meets Goal; Three Levels of Grants Offered
PRIDE Recharged, VT Parade Set for July
The Rest of Our World
The
Rest of Our World
Money
For Adoptions
Seattle, WA - President Bush signed expanded adoption legislation early
last month and was hailed by Families Like Ours, a nonprofit group focusing
on gay and lesbian adoption and foster care issues. Executive Director
David Wing-Kovarik commended Bush: "Overall, this reauthorization
will help place more children in families, regardless of their structure,
including those headed by gay or lesbian parents."
Currently, the federal government pays states
$4,000 per child that is adopted. Under the new legislation, states may
receive an additional $4,000 for each adoption. This will encourage more
placements and may result in good news for gay and lesbian
adoptive families.
Only three states - New York, New
Jersey and California - have made it illegal for public agencies to reject
adoptive parents based on sexual orientation. Currently there are more
than 500,000 children in the foster care system nationally.
Judge Grants Gay Divorce
Sioux City, IA - In an Iowa District Court last month, Judge Jeffrey Neary
granted a divorce to two women who had had a civil union in Vermont, becoming
one of the first judges outside Vermont to dissolve a civil union. The
Iowa women had agreed
to the settlement and did not have children, according to a report in
The Boston Globe.
Neary said he wasn't trying to expand rights
for same-sex couples. "I'm not changing state law here,'' he said.
"I'm not recognizing marriages. I'm recognizing that Vermont has
recognized this [union].''
Other non-Vermont dissolutions have been
less than successful. A Texas judge's grant of a civil union divorce was
reversed. A case filed by a Connecticut man became moot when the man died.
Iowa is one of 36 states that have adopted
the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to the union of
one man and one woman.
NTAC Sponsors Assessment Survey
Washington, DC - A perennial problem for the nation's transgender and
gender-queer community has been the dearth of reliable statistical data
about trans and gender-variant identified persons. In an effort to help
change that, a study has been created to address the community and the
National Transgender Advocacy Coalition is seeking participants.
This study, conducted by a graduate student
at Claremont Graduate University, is open to anyone residing in the United
States, with a particular focus on collecting demographic and experiential
information about gender-variant identified persons. The study is seeking
1500 responses from the transgender community. Participants must be at
least 18 years old and self-identify as a part of the gender-variant community.
The confidential survey can be accessed online at www.trans-academics.org/
(click on "research projects").
MSU Bans Gender Identity Harassment
East Lansing, MI - Michigan State University became one of the first public
institutions in Michigan to prohibit harassment of people based on the
way they express their gender.
Last month, the Board of Trustees unanimously
approved a policy banning harassment based on gender identity, a classification
that includes people who are transgender, transsexual or in the process
of changing their gender.
The policy, however, does not prohibit discrimination
based on gender identity. MSU prohibits discrimination on the basis of
race, gender, disability status and sexual orientation, among other reasons.
"We don't have any laws that protect
us, and we need to have it in the words," said Melissa Sue Robinson,
founder and president of the National Association for the Advancement
of Transgender People. "It's not enough to just not harass us,"
she said.
Naval Academy Alumni Denies Gays
Santa Barbara, CA - The Board of Trustees of the US Naval Academy Alumni
Association unanimously rejected a proposal last month to create a chapter
for its LGBT graduates. As reported by the University of California's
Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, USNA Out had
filed a petition for official recognition on Veteran's
Day.
According to the Naval Academy Alumni
Association's statement, the board denied the request because "the
Alumni Association has never before chartered a special-interest chapter
and does not want to begin that practice." Rather, the statement
says, the Association will sanction chapters on the basis of geography.
Jeff Petrie, president of USNA Out,
noted, however, that the Association has extended official recognition
to at least one alumni chapter that is based on common interests, not
geography: an official "Recreational Vehicle" chapter is not
based on members'
geographic location. According to Petrie, "It is difficult for many
of us gay graduates to participate in the regular chapter meetings, because
we are not welcome. We still take great pride in having graduated from
the Naval Academy."
Black Coalition Supports Gay Marriage
Washington, DC - An ad hoc group of African-American gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender leaders has come together as the National Black Justice
Coalition. Early last month, the group launched a national campaign opposing
the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposal that would permanently deny
same-sex couples the rights, benefits, responsibilities and protections
of civil marriage.
NBJC leaders announced a major fundraising
drive to generate black support for marriage equality. The goal of the
$100,000 campaign is to advertise in the black media, and to develop a
website to counter right-wing misinformation about blacks and same-sex
marriage. "The right-wing fired the first shots in this battle, but
today we fire back," said Coalition member Donna Payne. She added,
"Permanently denying the rights, protections and responsibilities
of marriage to same-sex couples in this country does nothing to strengthen
our families."
The coalition announced the support
of Coretta Scott King, Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Carol Moseley
Braun, Rev. Al Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg, and several other key African
Americans who are in favor of same-sex marriage.
Homecoming Queens?
Big Piney, WY - When Amanda Blair and her female date arrived at their
rural high school homecoming dance last September, they were met by police
officers and escorted off the premises without explanation.
Blair is heterosexual but chose to
attend the dance with a female friend as her date in order to support
lesbian and gay students.
In response to the ACLU, the School District
made assurances that students can bring same-sex dates. The ACLU cited
a 1980 federal case which established that students who want to bring
same-sex dates to school dances are not only protected under the free
expression provisions of the First Amendment, but that schools must take
steps to ensure their safety. In the 23 years since the case was decided,
students throughout the U.S. have brought same-sex dates to school dances
without incident.
Gay Is Not a Dirty Word
Lafayette, LA - Seven-year-old Marcus McLaurin was disciplined at school
for telling a classmate that he had two mothers and explaining that gay
meant "when a girl likes a girl." The ACLU has intervened.
As reported in The New York Times early
last month, McLaurin was lined up for recess when a second-grade classmate
asked him about his parents. Marcus responded that he had two mothers,
not a mother and father. When the other child asked why, Marcus responded
it was because his mother was gay. When the other child asked what that
meant, Marcus explained, "Gay is when a girl likes another girl."
Marcus's teacher scolded him, told him that "gay" is a bad word,
and sent him to the principal's office. He was referred to the school's
behavior clinic where he was ordered to
write the sentence "I will never say the word 'gay' in school again"
over and over.
The ACLU contacted the Ernest Gallet Elementary
School in Youngsville, LA, demanding that it remove all mention of the
incident from Marcus's record, refrain from restricting his speech in
the future, and apologize to the child and his mother. The School Board
has voted to refuse any apology.
A book drive protest has been organized
by the Family Pride Coalition. Family Pride is asking community members
to purchase children's books that include and celebrate LGBT-headed families,
and donate them to their children's school, or to the district in which
they live, in support of the Marcus McLaurin family. Details of the drive
are at www.familypride.org.
No Name-Calling Week
New York - The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in conjunction
with Simon & Schuster and almost forty other partners, late this fall
announced a new initiative called "No Name-Calling Week." During
the week of March 1-5, 2004, schools serving grades five through eight
across the nation will be asked to take part in educational activities
aimed at stopping name-calling and verbal bullying of all kinds. Former
NFL player and activist Esera Tuaolo is the official spokesperson.
The project was inspired by James
Howe's novel The Misfits, in which four outcast students run for student
council and come together to end name-calling in their school. Partners
in this project include Amnesty International, Big Brothers/Big Sisters
of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Planned Parenthood Federation
of America.
Polygamist Claims Lawrence Rights
Salt Lake City, UT- A Utah man with five wives argued early last month
that his bigamy convictions should be thrown out following last summer's
Supreme Court decision decriminalizing gay sex. The decision struck down
the Texas sodomy law, ruling that what gay men and women do in the privacy
of their homes is no business of government. It's no different for polygamists,
argued Tom Green's attorney to the Utah Supreme Court and reported in
the Associated Press.
"It doesn't bother anyone, (and with)
no compelling state interest in what you do in your own home with consenting
adults, you should be allowed to do so," Green's attorney said.
The state said the court should reject the
appeal because Green failed to raise the issue during his trial two years
ago or at any time since then.