A Carbondale woman was honored by one of the Midwest’s largest gay rights activism groups this past weekend.

Chicago-based Equality Illinois honored Paulette Curkin, retired coordinator of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, at its annual black tie gala this weekend in Chicago. Other honorees included former state Senate President Emil Jones, state Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago and Kraft.

“It was a real honor,” Curkin said. “I think what it says is throughout the state, providing these kinds of resources is viewed as exceptional and important.” See Carbondale woman receives honor from statewide gay rights group
The Southern, IL 

A Carbondale woman was honored by one of the Midwest’s largest gay rights activism groups this past weekend.

Chicago-based Equality Illinois honored Paulette Curkin, retired coordinator of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, at its annual black tie gala this weekend in Chicago. Other honorees included former state Senate President Emil Jones, state Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago and Kraft.

“It was a real honor,” Curkin said. “I think what it says is throughout the state, providing these kinds of resources is viewed as exceptional and important.” See Carbondale woman receives honor from statewide gay rights group
The Southern, IL 

The furor over “queer theory” and other reseach at Georgia’s public colleges and univesities has grown since this week’s issue of Southern Voice went to press, and shows disturbing signs of developing into a full-fledged witch hunt.

What started with comments from state Rep. Calvin Hill (see my editorial on that here) now includes Rep. Charlice Byrd, who spoke from the General Assembly well late this week to denounce “a major misuse of the state university system’s budget.”

“Did you know that the state universities offer such special interest classes and expertise on “Male prostitution”, “Queer Theory,” and “Oral Sex”? Yes, ladies and gentlemen… you heard right,” Byrd said, repeating Hill’s misunderstanding of topics listed in an “expert guide” distributed by Georgia State University.

 See More anti-gay attacks on Ga. universities
Sovo.com, GA

Missouri state Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, D-St. Louis, was put up for a slot on that body’s Special Standing Committee on Children and Families by the Democratic leadership, but her bid was rejected by the House speaker, Ron Richard, R-Joplin. In a letter to Richard, Oxford wrote: “The only reason cited to me so far as for why I am not on the committee is that ‘some members find me offensive.’ I do not know if this is about my sexual orientation, my stance on Roe vs. Wade, or what.” The Kansas City Star (Mo.)

After a recent screening of Rachel Getting Married at Red River Theatres in Concord, an older woman in the audience commented that the entire film struck her as far-fetched – not because of the grim drama of drug addiction and family dysfunction, but because the wedding at the center of the story was between a black man and a white woman. Those two, she said, would never be together.

Younger audience members reacted to her in puzzled disbelief, as if to say, What on earth are you talking about – it’s the 21st century, for Pete’s sake.

Of course, marriages like that of the fictional Rachel and Sidney were once taboo in this country. In much of the United States, they were illegal. In fact, for generations, marriages between two black people, assuming they were slaves, brought none of the privileges or protections afforded white couples.

Mercifully, times change, and the rules of marriage have changed as well. Black people can marry each other, as can blacks and whites. Both changes faced strenuous resistance at the time – but most Americans today would surely agree that those were changes for the better.

Now comes state Rep. Jim Splaine of Portsmouth, who is sponsoring legislation legalizing gay marriage in New Hampshire. Victory will not necessarily come quickly, nor is his success assured. But as in the changes involving African-Americans’ rights to marry whom they choose, his cause is just. He has taken on a great struggle, but with luck, 10 or 20 years from now, we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Splaine’s effort comes as states across the country are wrestling with the same issue. In Connecticut, as in Massachusetts before it, the court has declared gay marriage legal. In California, a similar ruling was overturned by voters last month via a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexuals. Florida and Arizona passed similar gay marriage bans. The votes were definitive and yet had the feel of a last stand. Most Americans have friends or family or co-workers who are openly gay; discriminating against them becomes less accepted with each passing year.

In New Hampshire, thanks to the efforts of Splaine and others, civil unions for gay couples have been legal for nearly 12 months – an enormous first step toward full equality that granted gay couples many but not all the rights of marriage. Compared with Vermont, the first state to legalize civil unions, the change came strangely, marvelously easily. Nearly 600 gay couples across New Hampshire have joined in civil unions, and life for them – and everyone else – has gone on without strife or unrest.

We’d hope that experience would temper some of the most hateful reaction to Splaine’s proposed bill. But judging from the website comments posted after Monitor reporter Lauren R. Dorgan’s recent story about the legislation, it’s still out there. Readers, largely anonymous, described not just gay marriage, but homosexuality in general with words like “vile,” “disordered,” “unnatural” and “turns my stomach.” At least one confused homosexuality with pedophilia. One writer urged gay residents to “go back into the closet.” All in all, a horrible stew of fear, resentment and anger toward folks just hoping to declare their commitment to each other.

Squeamish legislators and governors may take years to come around to Splaine’s point of view. But treating some residents as second-class citizens will always be wrong. Beginning the debate now is critical.

 See Gay marriage bill begins an important debate
Concord Monitor – Concord,NH,USA