Gay art covered in Canada
A small-town library covered up a gay statue following one citizen’s complaint.
Bay Citizen profiles Prop 8 trial judge’s history on gay rights
Bay Citizen profiles Prop 8 trial judge’s history on gay rights
LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
BOSTON. The largest survey to date comparing the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to heterosexuals and non-transgender residents showed sharp health disparities.
The statistics:
In a survey of nearly 1,600 Massachusetts residents:
- Almost 31 percent of transgender citizens reported considering suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexuals and 4 percent for gay or lesbian.
- Nearly 35 percent of transgender citizens said they were threatened with physical violence during their lifetime by an intimate partner, almost three times the rate of non-transgender residents.
- Just 45 percent of bisexual women said they had never had a mammogram, below the 59 percent of heterosexuals and 58 percent of lesbians.
- Bisexuals reported the most days binge drinking, having four or five drinks in a sitting an average of nearly two times in the past 30 days. Bisexuals also reported smoking marijuana nearly twice as often as heterosexuals.
See LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
Metro.us
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Gay partnership foes turn in referendum signatures
Opponents of a measure that passed the Legislature this year giving same-sex domestic partners all the rights of married people turned in signatures to the secretary of state’s office Saturday in attempt to overturn the new law through a citizen referendum.
Referendum 71 needs 120,577 valid voter signatures to qualify for the fall ballot. Exactly how many signatures the R-71 camp turned in Saturday wasn’t immediately clear. The secretary of state’s office said it received the first batch a little after 3 p.m. Saturday.
Election officials suggest submitting about 150,000 signatures to offset any invalid signatures. Dave Ammons, spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, said usually about 18 percent of signatures checked turn out to be invalid.
He said Saturday that R-71 backers were cutting it very close.
“They’re definitely running on fumes, in terms of trying to get their pad,” Ammons said.
The process of counting and verifying the signatures could go until the last week of August.
If R-71 proponents don’t have enough signatures, the domestic partnership expansion will immediately take effect. If the measure does qualify, voters will be asked to either approve or reject the new law.
See Gay partnership foes turn in referendum signatures
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Human Rights Campaign PAC, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Endorse Anthony Woods For U.S. Congress
The Human Rights Campaign PAC, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to grow the number of openly LGBT elected officials across the U.S., announced today the endorsement of Anthony Woods for U.S. Congress. Woods, who is running in the September 1 Special Election for California’s 10th Congressional District, earned the Bronze Star after serving two tours in Iraq in the U.S. Army. He was honorably discharged after challenging the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
“The Human Rights Campaign is proud to endorse Anthony Woods, a veteran of the Iraq war and steadfast advocate for our community, to become the next U.S. Congressman from California’s 10th district,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Anthony hasn’t just shown his support on issues of LGBT equality, he’s lived them — especially the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Anthony’s support of marriage equality will also be important as we work to repeal Proposition 8, which stripped marriage rights away for California’s same-sex couples. There is no doubt that Anthony will be a role model for LGBT youth, and we applaud his continuing service to our country.”
“Anthony Woods is an exciting candidate with a tremendous record of accomplishment. He’s also running an impressive campaign. Anthony has assembled a solid campaign team that understands what it will take to win this extremely competitive race. We need more leaders like Anthony Woods in the U.S. Congress, so we are proud to endorse him,” said Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. “His will be an authentic voice not only for the people of California’s 10th Congressional District, but for the millions of Americans for whom the promise of equality remains unfulfilled.”
“I am honored and proud to earn the support of Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund,” said Anthony Woods, candidate for California’s 10th Congressional District. “They’re working to make sure America lives up to its promise of equality under the law, which is something I’ll fight for in Congress.”
Anthony Woods was born and raised in Fairfield, California. He is a graduate of West Point and earned his masters degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In addition to his years of service in the Army, Woods has worked on economic policy issues in both the public and private sectors. To learn more visit: www.AnthonyWoodsForCongress.com.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels of government in the U.S.
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Salt Lake City leaders seek to eradicate discrimination
Fair housing was the topic of Debra Daniels’ first high school debate speech.
With the release of a report Tuesday detailing incidents of discrimination in Salt Lake City, Daniels is still talking about the need for equality some 35 years later.
“I am surprised today, in 2009, that we are still asking that our citizens be allowed to move into a neighborhood, to … access employment and health care … and they’re being denied based on who they are,” Daniels said on the steps of the Salt Lake City-County Building.
The report by the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission found discrimination based on race, faith, class and sexual orientation happens often in the city.
See Salt Lake City leaders seek to eradicate discrimination
Deseret News -
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Homosexual Haitian Migrants Focus of UA Doctoral Student’s Research
Erin Durban spent time in Haiti last year initiating her field research about individuals who immigrate to the United States. While there, she worked to immerse herself in the culture, which included learning about vévé, religious symbols used during rituals, from a Haitian vodou priest, Edouard Glissant.
Erin Durban, center, is making her second trip to Haiti to learn about the decisions homosexual Haitians make in immigrating to the United States, but then opting to return to their home country.
Erin Durban, a doctoral degree candidate in the UA’s gender and women’s studies department, will travel to Haiti to study the decisions homosexual Haitians migrants make when they leave for the U.S. but then return home.
As an undergraduate in Denver, Erin Durban began to study the conditions of Haitian immigrants and ways the United States has been embroiled in the history of the country.
Now a University of Arizona doctoral degree candidate in gender and women’s studies, Durban is studying the immigration of “queer-identified” Haitians who choose to leave for the United States, but then opt to return home.
Perplexing to Durban is the idea that the United States has a reputation for offering “more liberated spaces” to people around the world seeking asylum – whether for political, economic, religious reasons or because of sexual orientation – and yet certain populations of Haitians decide to return to a county that has offers little protection against sex-based discrimination.
Durban, whose research interests are in sexuality, migration and cultural studies as well as social and economic justice, said she is interested in studying way Haitians interpret the relationship between the United States and Haiti within the context of what is defined as “home.”
She recently received a Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute grant for her project, “Desire to Return, Desire to Leave: Investigating Queer Haitian Migration.” The institute, which operates out of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, promotes research in the college.
The project will take her later this month to the country of more than 9 million inhabitants, where she will spend several weeks conducting research in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince to better understand the complexities association with the migration of Haitians who are homosexual.
Her investigation, she said, may also help to shed more light on the ways in which economic, political and social interactions and pressures influence certain people.
One challenge she’ll face is the limited amount of information about homosexuals in Haitians, said Durban, who intends to publish an article about her research and incorporate her findings into her dissertation.
“Surprisingly, there is not a lot of research about queer migration in Haiti,” Durban said, noting that of existing literature and documentaries, most tend to focus on gay men or the vodou, or voodoo, religion, which tends to be more accepting of homosexuals.
The focus, too, tends to be on the turmoil in Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Durban’s interest in these issues was heighted about five years ago with the announcement of the United Nations’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti, a mandate established in response to armed opposition in the country. The United States is among the countries offering military and police personnel in the effort.
“Everywhere I went it seemed I was hearing about Haiti and I found it very strange that here is this place that is really close that no one ever really talks about,” she said. “But when they do, all we ever hear about is corruption, violence and disease.”
Durban said it is important to understand – outside of the typical contexts of violence and poverty – how gender and sexuality are shaping the experience of migrants.
She was encouraged to begin studying what she described as “the coexistence” of two seemingly conflicting beliefs about migration after visiting Haiti last year.
One belief describes the desire by gays and lesbians to leave Haiti for the more “progressive” United States, whereas another describes a strong desire to return to Haiti once in the United States because of a preference to live in their home countries.
Her research, she said, may help explain the role that family obligations, work-related struggles, the pursuit of citizenship, homophobia, the stigma associated with being an immigrant, “the heightened anti-immigrant fervor post-Sept. 11″ and other factors play in migrants choosing to leave the United States.
In her grant proposal, Durban noted that her research could potentially “rethink the idea of the United States as a site of ‘liberation’ for queer people of the world from a new vantage point.” Of particular concern are ways in which racism, xenophobia and homophobia affect and influence the decisions of Haitian migrants.
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‘I am a gay American, and I am a second-class citizen’
Courtney Deckard | IDS
Members of the Bloomington Gay Recruiters group conduct a marriage equality sit-in on Thursday morning outside the Monroe County Justice Building. Along with signs, the group also chanted “1,138 federal rights denied. I am a gay American and I am a second-class citizen.”
Honoring the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City on June 28, 1969, Bloomington residents Lillie Aydt and her group Gay Recruiters led Bloomington’s first-ever sit-in for marriage equality Thursday at the Monroe County Justice Building downtown. The Stonewall riots occurred when members of the LGBT community in Greenwich Village at the Stonewall Inn fought back against the
oppression they faced from various government-sponsored systems.
Gay Recruiters was formed in response to the Proposition 8 Supreme Court decision, which upheld the illegality of same-sex marriage in California and thus established what Aydt called “an Orwellian precedent, allowing certain gay citizens more rights than others.” See ‘I am a gay American, and I am a second-class citizen’
Indiana Daily Student
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Human Rights Campaign Statement on Death of San Diego Area Sailor
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, released a statement today in the death of Seaman August Provost, 29, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, CA. According to local media reports, the Navy and Marine Corps confirmed that a sailor’s body was found on the base at about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. A military spokesperson confirmed that there was evidence of foul play in the killing and that the case is a murder investigation. It is also understood a “person of interest” is in custody at Camp Pendleton but has not been charged with a crime. Local activists report the victim may have been targeted because of his sexual orientation.
“Our thoughts are with the Provost family at this time as authorities work to learn what happened in the early morning hours this past Tuesday,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “The Human Rights Campaign has confirmed Congresswoman Susan Davis has been in touch with officials at the base and is tracking the investigation. We know that every day members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are targeted for simply being who they are. Furthermore, our gay or lesbian soldiers struggle with the extra burden of not serving openly and honestly based on the discriminatory policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ As we monitor the investigation, our community must continue to raise awareness on a law that we know hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers at risk.”
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
See Human Rights Campaign Statement on Death of San Diego Area Sailor
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Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban
Whatever Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker winds up deciding on Proposition 8, it’s clear he wants an airtight trial record to support it.
Holding his first hearing Thursday on the controversial measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, Walker repeatedly stressed the importance of establishing a record that will stand the test of time.
He told a packed courtroom that he was “reasonably sure” that the challenge launched by two high-profile litigators is “only touching down in this court” and merely a “prelude” for things to come.
“How we do things here,” Walker said, “is more important than what we do.”
He noted that other courts have rendered decisions on same-sex marriage without holding full trials, which he suggested was a “problem.”
Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 09-CV-2292, was filed in May by Theodore Olson, who represented George W. Bush in the landmark Bush v. Gore case, and David Boies, who represented Al Gore. Boies wasn’t present on Thursday. The suit attacks Prop 8 on equal protection and due process grounds.
Walker had already issued a tentative order allowing Prop 8 proponents to intervene and denying a preliminary injunction (pdf). He stood by both orders during Thursday’s 50-minute session.
Olson, a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C., office who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 55 times, nonetheless made a fleeting attempt to persuade Walker to change his mind on the injunction.
“Every day that Prop 8 is enforced perpetuates a tragic injustice” on gays and lesbians, he argued, saying it “brands” them as “second-class citizens, unworthy and different.”
“The Supreme Court,” Olson argued, “has held again and again and again that the right to marry is the most important relationship in life.”
Representing the Prop 8 proponents, Washington attorney Charles Cooper, who was a top Justice Department lawyer during the Reagan administration, warned that the lawsuit could “sweep away” not only Prop 8, but the definition of marriage in 43 states and the federal government.
The Cooper & Kirk partner also argued that marriage has by tradition always been the union of a man and a woman, and said that every Supreme Court case that describes marriage has noted that its central purpose is procreation.
See Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban Above the Law
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