Four Okla. women continue fight against gay marriage ban
Four Oklahoma women have filed a new complaint challenging federal and state laws banning gay marriage, reports the Journal Record.
One of the couples, Susan Barton and Gay Phillips, were married in California in Nov., British Columbia in May 2005 and a civil union in Vermont in August 2001. The second …
Tags: Banning Gay Marriage, British Columbia, Civil Union, Couples, Gay Marriage Ban, Gay Oklahoma, Gay Women, marriage, Oklahoma Women, Phillips, State Laws, Vermont, Women MarriageSo gay, so what! Melbourne
GLHV is in the process of developing an anti-homophobia poster and needs models.
The idea behind the poster is a montage of photographs of lesbian and gay people of all ages being out and proud with the tag line ‘So Gay, So What!’
Apparently women have been coming forward, but it seems the boys are still a bit shy, says coordinator Sunil Patel.
See So gay, so what!
Melbourne Community Voice
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-gay-so-wha…
On the job and in the closet
Canada may be viewed as one of the world’s most inclusive societies, but a study released Wednesday suggests many gay employees in Canada still face barriers when it comes to career advancement.
The study by the research organization Catalyst is the first of its kind in Canada. Its main findings were based on survey responses from 232 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Canadian employees.
Less than half of respondents said their manager and colleagues are very comfortable with LGBT employees. Fewer than one in ten thought their manager and co-workers are very informed about issues facing gay workers.
The key barriers LGBT workers face at work are discriminatory behaviour, a lack of awareness on the issue, and exclusion from networking opportunities with others, Catalyst said.
“Workplace barriers to career advancement for LGBT employees in Canadian organizations persist,” the report said. “Women and men reported exclusion from the ‘old boys’ club’ and were acutely aware of the career limitations of exclusion from important networks.”
About 12 per cent of gay women say they are completely in the closet at work, versus 5 per cent of men.
This year also marks 40 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada. In 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
The work environment is far more inclusive now than even a decade ago. But many workers remain fearful about the repercussions of coming out of the closet, said Darrell Schuurman, Toronto-based manager of market development for VIA Rail and board member of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
“We all think that Canada is such a progressive place, and it really is relative to other countries, but are we there yet completely? No,” he said. “In terms of feeling comfortable and open, there’s still a lot more that can be done” within the workplace. See On the job and in the closet
Globe and Mail
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Why women are leaving men for other women
Lately, a new kind of sisterly love seems to be in the air. In the past few years, Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon left a boyfriend after a decade and a half and started dating a woman (and talked openly about it).
Actress Lindsay Lohan and DJ Samantha Ronson flaunted their relationship from New York to Dubai. Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl” topped the charts. “The L Word,” “Work Out,” and “Top Chef” are featuring gay women on TV, and there’s even talk of a lesbian reality show in the works.
Certainly nothing is new about women having sex with women, but we’ve arrived at a moment in the popular culture when it all suddenly seems almost fashionable — or at least, acceptable.
Statistics on how many women have traded boyfriends and husbands for girlfriends are hard to come by. Although the U.S. Census Bureau keeps track of married, divorced, single, and even same-sex partners living together, it doesn’t look for the stories behind those numbers.
But experts like Binnie Klein, a Connecticut-based psychotherapist and lecturer in Yale’s department of psychiatry, agree that alternative relationships are on the rise.
“It’s clear that a change in sexual orientation is imaginable to more people than ever before, and there’s more opportunity — and acceptance — to cross over the line,” says Klein, noting that a half-dozen of her married female patients in the past few years have fallen in love with women. “Most are afraid that if they don’t go for it, they’ll end up with regrets.” http://CNN.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-women-are…
Who Supports Gay-Rights Issues?
A new poll from Quinnipiac University gives us a decidedly mixed picture of gay rights issues, reporting widespread opposition to gay marriage (55 percent to 38 percent), support for civil unions (57 percent to 38 percent), and opposition to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy (56 percent to 37 percent).
The military question offers a pretty striking sub-statistic: a vast majority of respondents in military households don’t think openly gay men and women would be divisive for the military (though I haven’t seen a breakdown on whether most respondents were servicemen/women themselves, or whether they were wives, husbands, children, etc.)
There are some interesting underpinnings here to mine, rendering a picture of what kinds of people fall on the “pro” side of gay-rights issues. Quinnipiac tells us it’s women (who are six to 15 points more likely to support gay-rights issues than men), young people (53 percent of 18-34 year olds support gay marriage), Jews (81 percent support gay marriage), people who know someon who is gay (group is split on marriage, but supports civil unions while the “no” group doesn’t), and people with college degrees (support gay marriage 50 percent to 45 percent).
Philosophically, people are more likely to support gay-rights issues if they think people are born gay or straight (65 percent back gay marriage), while those who think homosexuality is a choice are much less likely (15 percent support gay marriage).
So, in sum, groups that are more likely to vote liberal, plus people who know someone is gay.
See Who Supports Gay-Rights Issues?
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-supports-…
Can lesbian-only communities thrive in current era?
Alapine, a private residential community for lesbians in a rural section of northeastern Alabama, and dozens of other similar “womyn’s lands” dating from the 1970s face new challenges for survival as older members pass away or return to the mainstream world. Younger gay women today are less likely to want to live a separatist existence, and the siting of many of these communities in rural areas makes it difficult to attract people who need to work in a conventional office job, according to this article. The New York Times
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/can-lesbian-o…
