Appeals court: No parental rights for lesbian mom

(New York City) A New York State appeals court has ruled that the former partner of a New York City woman has no legal parental rights to a child she helped rear.

The case involved two women, Debra H. and Janice R., who had a civil union in Vermont and then …

Gay rights in Japan blurred on TV

When Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk two weeks ago, he used his acceptance speech to rail against supporters of California’s Proposition 8, which last November repealed a State Supreme Court ruling extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Penn’s confrontational tone was in keeping with his prickly public persona, but it was also in line with his character’s real-life activism. Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States, and the fact that he was openly gay defined his policies and goals.

“Milk,” the movie for which Penn won the Oscar, works better as political history than it does as biography. Harvey Milk’s long-term goal was to help build a society in which homosexuals participated fully without having to hide or deny their sexual preferences. But because he understood that many people abhorred those sexual preferences, he knew such a society could not be built on persuasion. He would have to force the issue through political action, just as the civil-rights movement won equality for blacks.

There was one stark difference, however. Black people couldn’t hide their blackness, while gays could hide their homosexuality. The only way Milk could accomplish his long-term goal was to urge his fellow homosexuals to come out and acknowledge their same-sex preferences to their families, friends and communities. He did this by presenting himself, often humorously, as a militant sodomite (“My fellow degenerates!”); in other words, someone who was going to live his life as he pleased.

The fact that Proposition 8 passed 30 years after Milk’s assassination means that his goal has not been accomplished, but his confrontational methodology has become the standard for gay activism. In the process, gays have become culturally, if not necessarily socially, mainstreamed in the U.S. In movie terms, that development is proved not so much by the Oscars for “Milk,” but rather by the box office success of the crude adolescent comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” in which gay stereotypes and jokes are thrown back at antigay attitudes. “This is America,” says the main character, played by Adam Sandler. “You should have the right to put anything you want up your ass.” It’s something Harvey Milk could have said, and probably did.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to “Milk” when it opens here in April. There have been a few gay office- holders at the local level in Japan, but political action for homosexual interests is virtually nonexistent, mainly because there are no laws that explicitly proscribe homoerotic activity or deny rights to individuals who are openly gay. On the other hand, social pressure against coming out remains strong.

The media reinforces this situation by boosting TV personalities who trade in gay stereotypes without ever actually mentioning gay sexuality. It’s the whole point of the popular Nihon TV variety show “Oneemans,” where homosexuality really is the love that dare not speak its name. Last fall, NHK presented a two-part discussion about LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) on “Heart Talk,” a show that addresses social issues from a perspective of sensitivity. Though the program drew the derision of Shincho magazine, which wondered if LGBT was really a proper topic for a public broadcaster, it received a positive reaction from many viewers, and NHK aired a followup last month. Most of the discussion was about the difficulty of coming out to friends and family, and how important it was for LGBT people to receive support from parents. There was a profile of a Sapporo support group for parents of LGBT, one of whom appeared in the studio with his mother.

The show was basically an appeal for understanding, filled with testimonials from LGBT people about their loneliness and inability to function normally in a society that won’t acknowledge their situation. It was a passive appeal. The LGBT people who spoke out are waiting for society to change. One participant said LGBT should come out only when they were in a positive frame of mind, since doing so out of anger or frustration might create negative feelings. The advice was mostly about being respectful of other people’s — i.e., straight people’s — feelings. Even the example of the lesbian couple who made a point of not hiding their relationship from the neighbors was presented cautiously. The two women would walk through the streets hand-in-hand greeting everyone they met, and after a year or so people accepted them. However, on TV their faces were blurred out, as were many of the other LGBT participants’. They were not scared for themselves; they just didn’t want to take the chance of making friends and family uncomfortable.

The LGBT participants who did not opt for masking had more than a personal stake in the matter: former Osaka prefectural assemblyperson Kanako Otsuji, Setagaya Ward assemblyperson Aya Kamikawa, psychologist Toshiaki Hirata and some LGBT organization representatives. Hirata explained that the government’s new antisuicide measures do not take into consideration LGBT-related suicides, but that was as far as the discussion went into public policy. It was not the purpose of the program.

The purpose was to show how LGBT people feel, and it seemed clear that the main obstacles they need to overcome in order to live their lives freely are society’s fundamental ignorance and their own fears. In that regard, the program’s blurred-out faces and polite deference to straight sensibilities can only be considered counterproductive.

See Gay rights in Japan blurred on TV

The Japan Times

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Judge issues stern warning in nasty lesbian custody case

(Rutland, Vermont) In a long-running legal dispute between two women over parental visitation rights, a Vermont Family Court judge Thursday issued a stern rebuke to a Virginia woman over her latest attempt to deny her former partner visitation rights to their child.

Judge William Cohen denied a new bid by Lisa …

Transwomen sue Illinois for amended birth certificates

(Chicago, Illinois) Citing the need to have an accurate birth certificate for identification purposes, two women born in Illinois asked a court to order the State to issue new birth certificates that reflect their correct gender following sex reassignment surgery.

For more than four decades, Illinois has permitted individuals who have …

Ohio Supreme Court Allows Custody Decision to Stand in Lambda Legal Case Representing Lesbian Mother

‘The Court has expressly shut down arguments that Ohio’s antigay amendment impacts parenting and child custody relationships, rights, and responsibilities’

(Columbus, OH, January 5, 2009) –The Supreme Court of Ohio last week let stand an appeals court ruling affirming the enforceability of a court-approved child custody agreement in a case involving lesbian mothers.

“The Court has expressly shut down arguments that Ohio’s antigay amendment impacts parenting and child custody relationships, rights, and responsibilities,”said Camilla Taylor, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. “The Court correctly declined an invitation to treat gay and lesbian Ohio parents differently from other families, and to deprive the children of these families of the protections and support other children receive.”

Lambda Legal represents Therese Leach in her fight to uphold a court-approved joint custody agreement signed by both her and her former partner, Denise Fairchild, in 2001. After their son was born in 1996, both women parented him. In order to ensure that Therese had a protected legal relationship with the child, the two women signed a joint custody agreement. Such agreements were approved by the Ohio Supreme Court in the 2001 In re Bonfield case in which Lambda Legal participated.

The Supreme Court decision comes after Fairchild argued, at a trial court, and the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth District, that Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman invalidated the court approved custody agreement she originally sought with Leach. All three courts brushed aside Fairchild’s arguments, ruling that court-approved custody agreements cannot be ignored or unilaterally undone by one of the parents. In July 2008, Fairchild asked the Ohio Supreme Court to hear her case, and Lambda Legal urged the Court to refuse. Today’s order from the high court is the final word on the matter.

The case is In re J.D.F.

Camilla Taylor, Senior Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional office in Chicago is lead counsel on the appeal. She is joined by co-counsel LeeAnn Massucci of Massucci & Kline LLC and Thomas Schmidt of Gahanna, Ohio.

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Erin Baer 212-809-8585 ext 267; Cell: 646-752-3251

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

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Wedding expo targets same-sex couples

SHELTON – When Cindy Sproul and her partner decided to get married nine years ago, they noticed that there were no openly gay-friendly resources online to help them plan the occasion.
So they created their own.
RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, a national gay and lesbian wedding resource, provides access to a database with the names of hundreds of companies and organizations screened for their willingness to help same-sex couples plan their weddings.
In a month, the site received a million hits, and the two women knew they had found their niche.
They also began organizing wedding and family expos nationwide, bringing together business professionals, advocates, community leaders, and allies. They put on the second “Same Love, Same Rights” wedding Expo in the state Sunday at the Courtyard by Marriott.
About 35 vendors and organizations gathered, catering to a crowd of 200 area residents.
“You can’t imagine how happy we are that there are events like this,” said Jim Cassidy, a Seymour resident who stopped by with his partner, Louis O’Leary.
“We are planning a big wedding, and to walk through here and know that everybody is OK with the fact that two guys are getting married, it’s just such a relief.”
The couple can now tie the knot thanks to the state Supreme Court’s October ruling allowing gay couples in the state to marry. See Wedding expo targets same-sex couples
Shelton Weekly, CT -

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South Africans still not OK with same-sex relationships

82% of the adult population of South Africa think that sex between two men or two women could be considered ‘always wrong,’ according to the latest South African Social Attitudes Survey.

Just 8% thought it was never wrong.

“Gay and lesbian identities continue to be characterised as ‘un-African’,” according to the report into the survey from the Human Sciences Research Council.

Figures for the last five years show a consistent 80% opposition to gay people.

“The assertion of ‘un-Africanness’ conceals a moral and cultural view that African societies are somehow unique and therefore immune to what is perceived to be a Western and European import.”

See South Africans still not OK with same-sex relationships

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NEWSWEEK COVER: The Religious Case for Gay Marriage – “Religious Objections to Gay Marriage are Rooted Not in the Bible at All”

Newsweek Poll Shows Two-Thirds of People Who See Gay Marriage as a Religious Matter Oppose it

NEW YORK, NY — The latest Newsweek Poll shows growing public support for gay marriage and civil unions, with a number of factors playing a role in swaying people one way or the other. According to the poll, 62 percent of Americans say religious beliefs play an important role in shaping their views on gay marriage. “According to the survey, two-thirds of those who see marriage as primarily a legal matter support gay marriage. On the other hand, two-thirds of those who see it as mostly a religious matter (or equal parts religious and legal) oppose gay marriage.” Religion Editor Lisa Miller examines this issue in the December 15 cover, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” (on newsstands Monday, December 8), and writes that “not since 1860, when the country’s pulpits were full of preachers pronouncing on slavery, pro and con, has one of our basic social (and economic) institutions been so subject to Biblical scrutiny … All the religious rhetoric, it seems, has been on the side of the gay-marriage opponents, who use Scripture as the foundation for their objections.” A mature view of scriptural authority requires the ability to move beyond literalism, as common practice changes and evolves over time. “Religious objections to gay marriage are rooted not in the Bible at all, then, but in custom and tradition,” Miller writes.

Miller writes that the argument against gay marriage involves the idea that the Bible and Jesus define marriage as between one man and one woman, and homosexuality is in opposition to Scripture. To which there are two obvious responses: First, neither the Bible nor Jesus says any such thing. And second, no sensible modern person wants marriage — theirs or anyone else’s — to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes. “‘Marriage’ in America refers to two separate things, a religious institution and a civil one, though it is most often enacted as a messy conflation of the two. As a civil institution, marriage offers practical benefits to both partners: contractual rights having to do with taxes; insurance; the care and custody of children; visitation rights; and inheritance. As a religious institution, marriage offers something else: a commitment of both partners before God to love, honor, cherish each other — in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer — in accordance with God’s will.” Miller argues that the Bible offers no reason why gays and lesbians should not be married, in both civil and religious terms — and a number of excellent reasons why they should.

“We cannot look to the Bible as a marriage manual, but we can read it for universal truths as we struggle toward a more just future,” Miller writes. “The Bible offers inspiration and warning on the subjects of love, marriage, family and community. It speaks eloquently of the crucial role of families in a fair society and the risks we incur to ourselves and our children should we cease trying to bind ourselves together in loving pairs.”

Also in the cover package, Senior Writer Lorraine Ali tells the story of a custody battle between two women who were joined in a Vermont civil union. Their relationship failed, one partner decided she was no longer gay and now they’re fighting for custody of the daughter they both love. The case, Miller v. Jenkins, has important implications for gay parents everywhere.

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Court rules against lesbian in gay divorce case

An effort by two lesbian women to overturn Oklahoma’s legal ban on homosexual marriage has been denied for a second time in a Tulsa courtroom.

The bizarre case started when two women, reportedly “married” in Canada filed for divorce in Tulsa. The divorce document, which had initials instead of first names, didn’t show that the two parties were both women.

Cait O’Darling used the name “C. O’Darling” in filing for the divorce from “S. O’Darling,” who was later identified as Stephanie Meissen. O’Darling claims they were “married” in Toronto in 2003.

A judge unwittingly granted the divorce, thinking it was a man and a woman. He later vacated that decision and the two women appealed.

Had the divorce been granted under Oklahoma law, it would have been tacit recognition of homosexual “marriage.” Radical homosexual groups around the country were hoping for a legal precedent to develop around the case in Oklahoma. It’s also being tried in other states.

See Court rules against lesbian in gay divorce case
Tulsa Beacon

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Verge Communications launches online film festival at www.GirlsShorts.tv

Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 6, 2008 - Imagine what it would be like to find quality lesbian short films in one central location on the web. GirlsShorts.tv has now made this possibility a reality.

GirlsShorts.tv is a new online community created to promote lesbian, bisexual and transgender short films, music videos, film and book trailers and more. It will provide affordable pay per view, pay per download and free ad-supported content to an international audience, and internet exposure to professional, semi-professional, and amateur lesbian, bisexual and transgender filmmakers.

“The internet has made web video a reality, but finding real lesbian content can be quite difficult (and sometimes icky!). This site should have great potential for both creators and those of us hungry for content.”

- Angie Beauchamp

GirlsShorts.tv is owned by Verge Communications, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and operated by two women with a passion for film: Angie Beauchamp and Nina Knapp. The owners have a history of experience in promotions, marketing, and active involvement in filmmaking including making their own films.

“For the past two years, we have volunteered on the screening committee for the Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival here in Albuquerque. What struck both Angie and I was how many good films were submitted, and how few would find their way into the festival program.”

- Nina Knapp

“Many filmmakers find distribution to be a difficult and daunting task, but their short films are just as deserving of an audience as those films accepted for national and international film festivals.”

- Angie Beauchamp

Knapp and Beauchamp decided to form a partnership, Verge Communications, and to launch a new online community dedicated to bringing lesbian, bisexual and transgender short films to a global audience, while supporting the filmmakers through a revenue sharing program at the same time. Thus, GirlsShorts.tv was born.

- Angie Beauchamp

The goals of GirlsShorts.tv are:

· Provide global exposure to filmmakers;

· Provide a revenue stream to filmmakers through our revenue sharing program;

· Provide a venue for filmmakers to promote all their works;

· Find a new life for older films;

· Provide exposure to comedians, musicians and authors through performance clips and book trailers;

· Allow filmmakers to retain all rights to their work.

“GirlsShorts.tv is the most exciting thin I’ve heard about in a long time. Part of that is the profit sharing that can occur by having your work on the site, and the other part of that is just by having another platform to launch your work…Particularly with our niche market, the lesbian and queer population worldwide,…having a way to make more films by earning revenue on the short films you’ve already made is an incredibly delicious idea.”

- Rosser Goodman, Director, Producer, HOLDING TREVOR – KGB Films

GirlsShorts.tv accepts video content up to 35 minutes in length in avi, mpg, wmv, dat, mov, or flv formats. We prefer content be submitted on DVD, but VHS, VCD, or CD are also acceptable. Content in PAL must be submitted on a DVD.

“We look forward to creating a diverse community celebrating lesbian, bisexual and transgender film!”

- Angie Beauchamp

For more information please email nina@vergecom.com,