The BEST of Lifelube - "Whole Milk - Never Blend In" From Friday, November 14, 2008

Whole Milk - Never Blend In

Chris Bartlett reviews Milk

[opens nationwide November 26]

Read more from Chris on LifeLube here

I went to see a pre-screening of Milk, the new feature film about Harvey Milk's life, with Sean Penn in the lead role. The movie was fantastic. I was in a theater full of Philadelphian queer activists and allies who represented all generations of our movement. There was the lesbian who helped found Giovanni's Room (our still running fabulous gay bookstore), many of our key political figures, AIDS activists who have been fighting for decades, fired-up youth, people of color, transmen and transwomen. That set the perfect scene for the movie itself-- a celebration of the power of gay communities at their best.

I started crying within the first two minutes of the film. The opening scenes (I'm not giving anything away here) show 1950s era bar raids-- police pushing hapless gay men into paddy wagons; the look of fear and resignation among the gays; and a wonderful moment when one angry queen throws a drink at the camera (go Sister!). Director Gus Van Sant from the very opening paints a picture of the tremendous gains we have made in queer organizing since that time, while also ironically noting that we are fighting many of the same battles of the 1970s. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, and the movie is a remarkable reminder of what has often been forgotten by our gay movement.

It seems almost odd that this film could come out at this time. The ongoing battle against Proposition 8 so mirrors one of the major dramas of the film: Milk's spearheading the efforts against the infamous Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6), which sought to ban gay teachers and their allies. Watching all of the protest, marches, and advocacy was a very spooky deja vu for me. Perhaps the most telling example of this deja vu is a marvelous moment when Supervisor Tom Ammiano, playing himself (as a teacher who confronts Briggs), shouts "you're trying to take away my job!" But it is spooky to see that Ammiano's hair is gray, and that he has not been made up to look 20something. He is the adult version of himself transported by time machine back to the Briggs Demonstration. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's bittersweet, almost, to see that the organizing against the Briggs Initiative succeeds-- it makes a critical viewer wonder what we are doing wrong nowadays.

Delightful moments include the wonderful portrayal of Cleve Jones (of AIDS Quilt fame) by Emile Hirsch. Hirsch brings out the sweet combination of Cleve's youthful bravado, ageism, and love for elders. When Milk first attempts to get Cleve to join in the gay liberation battle, Jones calls him "Old Man" and laughs in his face. But by the end, you can see the beautiful mentorship between Milk and Jones... and you can see the ways that Milk's lessons would live on in Jones' future organizing. It's all there.

Penn as Harvey Milk is really incredible. Milk protégée Anne Kronenberg reported many a double-take during the filming-- they just look so much alike! And Penn also brings out the wonderful paradoxes in Milk's behavior-- the flirtatiousness, the naiveté, the seriousness, the genius, and the bullying. And Penn plays Milk as I always had imagined him-- a mensch on a mission. There is such a sense of self-awareness and destiny. It's also possible from viewing Penn's performance to see what it means to be a leader-- the commitment that is required, the cost to relationships and family, and the charisma and charm that is required to generate a Tribe.

And to me the main story of the movie is the power of Tribe-building. Harvey does it with genius-- including all of the folks who, until the 1970s, had largely been outside political power networks. In the film, we see Milk's deft ability to build a coalition of progressive people-- gays, people of color, elders, union rank-and-file, youth, and others. Though he was a gay leader, he was far greater than that. As he says, he is there to lead "all the people".

The portrayal of the dramatic events leading up to Milk and Moscone's assassination is compelling and direct. I had hoped for a complex portrayal of Dan White (the assassin) by Josh Brolin, and I think he did a not bad job. We get a little picture into his life: the pressures, the conservative background, the police influence. In the end, the senseless assassinations seem unavoidable.

I've seem the documentary "Times of Harvey Milk" numerous times in my life, and there were moments when I felt transported back to that telling of the story. Both films are beautiful and different-- I recommend seeing the documentary before the movie to give you some background that isn't available in the feature. Notably, Van Sant omits the part of the story that occurs after Milk's assassination-- the trial and the dramatic White Night Riot. I was glad that my friend Micah had told me this ahead of time-- so I wasn't disappointed to miss the drama of police cars burning in the night. But I think Van Sant (and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black) were smart to omit the post-Milk trial and tribulation-- because really this story is focused on Harvey-- and when he is murdered, a new story begins.

White House Hold LGBT Health Conference

via Advocate, by Andrew Harmon

PHILADELPHIA — The White House rolled out its first campaign-season LGBT conference Thursday, one focused on health care issues facing the community and headlined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

The conference series was first announced by the White House last month.

Sebelius didn’t break big news on health care initiatives during a morning address at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University.

But the White House’s engagement on the issue, coupled with the HHS secretary’s attendance, brought national visibility to what Sebelius accurately described as a health care system that has been “especially broken for LGBT Americans,” who have lower rates of coverage and have been historically excluded from federal health surveys.

“Given the discrimination that often is faced in the workplace, LGBT Americans often have a harder time getting access to employment-based coverage,” Sebelius said at the conference, also attended by gay White House officials including Gautam Raghavan, the LGBT liaison in the Office of Public Engagement; and John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management.

But “all Americans, regardless of where they live, what age, sex, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity, have a basic right to get the health care they need here in the United States, and that’s a principle we are committed to fighting for in this administration,” Sebelius said.

The speech was similar in tone and structure to Sebelius’s address before the National Coalition for LGBT Health in October, where she enumerated the administration’s regulatory accomplishments over the past three years — most famously a hospital visitation mandate for same-sex couples — and touted health care reform as a major step toward improving health care access for the community. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the law’s constitutionality in late March.

The lack of marriage rights can be a major barrier to care, as Sebelius discussed with The Advocate in an interview published last month.

President Obama has endorsed legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages, though the White House has not budged in recent months beyond talking points of the president “evolving” on the issue of full marriage rights and opposing “divisive and discriminatory” measures against same-sex couples — this in reference to anti-gay marriage ballot measures in states such as North Carolina and Minnesota.

The issue-specific LGBT conferences, ranging from HIV/AIDS to aging-related and antibullying efforts, are slated to take place around the country over the next several months, ending in June.

Invites have already been sent out for a March 9 event in Detroit focused on housing and homelessness.

At the Creating Change conference last month in nearby Baltimore, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, announced the agency had finalized a rule prohibiting antigay and antitransgender discrimination in housing programs that HUD oversees.

The rule, Donovan said at the January conference, “says clearly and unequivocally that LGBT individuals and couples have the right to live where they choose.”

Donovan has stood out in pushing the envelope on LGBT rights in Obama’s cabinet, coming out ahead of the president in support of full marriage equality last November.

The Democratic Party has been urged to follow suit by supporting a pro-marriage equality platform with inclusive language on the issue, as proposed earlier this week by the group Freedom to Marry.

A spokesman for Rep. Nancy Pelosi told Metro Weekly Tuesday that the House Democratic keader supports the proposed language (read the report here).

Another trending topic discussed Thursday was that of cultural competency standards for health care professionals treating LGBT patients.

There are no uniform standards for doctors and medical staff on how (and how not) to treat LGBT individuals.

Sebelius said in January that she does not necessarily believe codified regulation needs to be implemented, though the Office of Minority Health is working to add sexual orientation and gender identity into the language of its Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care standards.


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South Africa Leads the Continent on Gay Rights

via theatlantic, by John Campbell

Unfortunately, much of sub-Saharan Africa is homophobic. Recent legislation, some proposed, some passed, condemns gay marriage and sometimes outlaws gay sexual activity.

Nigeria, Uganda, and Liberia all have such legislation pending or passed, often with the provision of draconian penalties. Such legislation appears to be very popular.

The exception is South Africa, with a constitution that provides among the most comprehensive protection of individual rights in the world.

Last week, a regional court magistrate sentenced four men convicted of murdering a 19-year old lesbian in 2006 to eighteen years in prison, with four years suspended. The sentencing was widely hailed by the human rights community.

The trial and sentencing took place in Khayelitsha, a grim township outside of Cape Town and an area of severe social deprivation.

Certainly there is homophobia in South Africa. The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, was quoted in the South African press as saying, "Traditionally, there were no people who engaged in same-sex relationships. There was nothing like that and, if you do it, you must know that you are rotten."

But, the acceptability of homophobia in South Africa appears to be low. Following outcry, the Zulu Royal Household issued a public statement saying that the king was a victim of a "reckless translation" of his remarks from Zulu to English.

The household spokesman said, "At no stage did His Majesty condemn gay relations or same sex relations."

Meanwhile, in Uganda, where a particularly draconian piece of anti-gay legislation is working its way through parliament again, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said publicly that what consenting adults do in private "is really not the matter of law."

He also recalled that the apartheid regime in South Africa had prohibited sexual relations across the color line, and that it provided the police with the authorization "to raid peoples' bedrooms."


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Much More Than a TV Show

via Advocate, by op-ed contributor Michelle Kristel

"Last week, I bought the gun. Yesterday, I wrote the note. Last night, I happened to catch your show on TV and, just knowing that someday I might be able to go back into a church with my head held high, I threw the gun into the river.

My mom never has to know." So read the email that a gay Iowa teenager sent to Daniel Karslake, a producer here at In The Life Media (ITLM) in 1998.

As the executive director of ITLM — which produces the award-winning newsmagazine, IN THE LIFE — I know that media depicting LGBT people has the power to change lives. It can also, as in this case, even save them.

As ITLM celebrates its 20th anniversary, we reflect upon how far we’ve come — and how far we still have to go for LGBT people to achieve full equality.

We take pride in knowing that, through our unique programming, ITLM has become so much more than a TV show.

Twenty years ago, a group of individuals had a vision: to create a television program featuring LGBT voices and culture. In the days before Ellen or Will & Grace, let alone Glee, it was all but impossible to find respectful depictions of LGBT characters on television.

Real LGBT people were relegated to the spectacle of daytime talk shows. Many of the issues important to our community were not covered by mainstream media in any substantive manner.

Today of course, LGBT visibility in media is commonplace. While this has led to greater acceptance for our community, visibility alone does not equate to social justice.

Discrimination is still prevalent. Countless instances of antigay legislation, policies and behaviors take place throughout this country every day, often with little notice by the general populace.

However, in LGBT communities, the damage of these discriminatory actions is acutely felt.

ITLM has always recognized the imperative of truly educating the public about who we are as LGBT individuals and the very real way issues, ranging from HIV/AIDS to marriage equality to homelessness, affect our community. To us, this is crucial to securing civil rights.

Our programming consistently exposes injustice, challenges perceptions and shatters stereotypes. Here, in fact, “stereotypes crumble before your very eyes,” according to TheNew York Times.
 
For instance, our media is being shown at universities to fight homophobia on campuses around the country. Recently, our work has been used to inform Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, UNAIDS, ACLU, Anti-Defamation League, and scores of LGBT and allied groups, many of whom cannot afford to create these materials on their own.

Our programming not only has political implications, however. It also improves lives in very direct and personal ways. Case in point, we recently produced a Spanish-language Web video for our “Marriage Matters” series profiling Cristina, an American citizen, and her partner Monica, who is from Argentina.

The couple married legally in their home state but, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, Monica faced deportation, since the immigration protections provided for heterosexual couples do not apply to same-sex couples.

With the help of our video, Monica and Cristina won their legal battle and had deportation proceedings against them closed by New York’s chief immigration counsel. This is a first for same-sex married couples.

That is one example of how ITLM is moving to the forefront of video journalism. By developing model approaches to Web-based content, we are leveraging the power of online communications to propelchange for the LGBT movement.

Our provocative, short-form videos created expressly for the Web address issues still ignored by the mainstream, while utilizing the unique functionality, versatility and reach of the Internet.

Another example is “Injustice at Every Turn,” our Web-exclusive video based on a report of the same name examining discrimination against transgender people.

Our exposé gave viewers a different perspective than did most media covering the survey, and illuminated a difficult topic in ways that have a real and profound impact on our community.

I am proud to note that this video was used to inform the U.S. Department of Labor about anti-transgender discrimination in the workplace.

Similarly, one of our most recent Web-exclusives, “A Day in Our Shoes,” told the stories of LGBT homeless youth forced to sleep on the streets after having been tossed out by rejecting parents, grandparents and other family members.

The media was used as part of the Campaign for Youth Shelter, which calls on New York City and State to provide increased funding for shelter beds.

The movement has made great strides in the past decade. But the need for media that educates and informs the public about LGBT Americans is as urgent as ever.

We all know that media drives public opinion and ITLM proudly provides a counterpoint to the multi-billion dollar, antigay media machine that LGBT foes have spent decades building.


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Op-ed: Our Groups Need More Color in Their Rainbow

via Advocate, by Jimmy Nguyen op-ed contributor

The rainbow flag, the very the symbol of gay pride, represents both our aspirations and the diversity of our population. 

Yet the top of the gay community’s rainbow — the leadership tier of LGBT non-profit organizations — is more awash in white than any other color. 

At the executive director position, LGBT groups have historically been led almost exclusively by white men. 

A step down at the board level, gay non-profits have tried for years to recruit members who better match the racial diversity of America.

After all this time talking about the need for greater racial inclusion, it’s time LGBT entities did better in finding leaders who represent the full spectrum of colors.

The figures are troubling, especially at the very top.  In 2008, only 4% of executive directors of LGBT organizations were people of color.

That figure comes from The Pipeline Project, a group formed to develop LGBT leaders who reflect our multicultural, multiethnic community. 

It is a far cry from the 36% of the U.S. population who self-identifies as a racial minority.  And our 4% is one-third less than non-profit groups in general. 

While I have not come across more recent statistics, it’s hard to imagine racial diversity among executive directors has dramatically improved in the past few years.

Executive directors act as faces to the public of their organizations and the overall LGBT movement; it is critical that those faces be as diverse as possible.

Because the LGBT population is itself a minority group, it is sadly ironic that our organizations need their own diversity initiatives.

In the boardroom, the picture is better but still lacking.  At the major LGBT non-profit entities, only 25% of board members are racial minorities, according to the 2011 annual National LGBT Movement Report released by the Movement Advancement Project, which studies the health of LGBT organizations. 

Despite efforts to improve board diversity, the 25% figure has not materially changed from the prior year.  While the MAP study does not capture data from all gay non-profit entities, it represents a good cross-section.

The 2011 report (summarizing 2010 data) covered 40 of the most prominent groups that collectively control 71% of the budgets from known gay organizations. 

Luckily, LGBT non-profit entities are doing well at the staff level. 

MAP found that 32% of staff members at participating organizations identify themselves as people of color.

This more closely tracks with the 36% figure for the U.S. population.

Why is the leadership of our LGBT organizations so awash in white?  Let’s begin with the elephant in the room. 

The gay community needs to be more racially inclusive – not just in its organizational structures and political strategies, but in its social fabric. 

Ethnic minority groups still are not as integrated into the gay world as they should be. 

That isn’t to say Caucasian people have no racial minority friends, but it is a fair observation that their social circles tend to be less racially diverse. 

This spills over into the milieu of “A-gay” charity events, where the people who historically run the show (often gay white men) invite people they know (usually more gay white men than racial minorities) to attend, contribute money or support in other ways. 

Trust me, I’ve showed up at many gay fundraisers to find myself as an Asian man just one amongst a limited number of racial minority people in the ballroom.  That results in fewer people of color getting exposure to the good work of LGBT organizations.

In turn, this affects boardroom composition. With leaders of LGBT entities being less diverse, so too are their social circles, which they reach out to for recruiting prospective board members. 

This leads to a spiraling cycle that makes it difficult for non-profit groups to improve their ethnic diversity.
 
Adding to the challenge is the money factor. For executive directors and board members, a big part of their job is to solicit donations from people who have money or strong business relationships to leverage. 

That immediately starts filtering out some people of color from the contact list.  There are, of course, many LGBT racial minorities who are professionally successful. 

But it’s the cold hard truth that an income disparity still exists in America between whites and racial minorities (irrespective of sexual orientation) even with the same level of educational attainment. 

This monetary discrepancy leaves racial minorities less likely to be invited into LGBT leadership.  I’ve experienced this myself during my time on an LGBT board. 

I would look through my contact list to see who amongst my friends had the financial means to make a significant donation or had business contacts that would be valuable. 

Fewer of my racial minority friends fit that bill than my Caucasian colleagues.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having gay, white men at the top (just as there is nothing inherently wrong with straight, white male leaders). 

But we need more color not just for atmospherics; we need itto help win the gay civil rights movement. 


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The Relationship Between Faith and Marriage Equality

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Ross Murray

More than a handful of states are currently debating whether to extend the legal protections marriage brings to gay and lesbian couples and their families.

We are watching with anticipation as states like Washington and Maryland inch closer to treating all families with fairness and equity.

Governors of both of these states have talked about their Catholic faith and their strong relationships with their faith as they pledge their support for marriage equality.

Something is happening, right now, that is calling them to support fairness and equality at this time.

We are in the middle of a watershed moment for LGBT equality.

The time is right for individuals, cities and whole states to start recognizing and respecting the care and commitment of loving gay and lesbian couples.

Over the past few years, as we've seen more states legalize marriage equality, we've also seen public opinion inching upwards. According to several recent polls, a majority of Americans of all creeds and affiliations now support full marriage equality.

And through all of these conversations about LGBT equality and marriage, religion is playing a prominent role. When the movement toward marriage equality started, people of faith were portrayed by the media as being entirely and unilaterally opposed.

But as the conversation has continued, and as more and more people have cited their faith as a reason they support their LGBT friends, neighbors and family members, that perspective is starting to change.

Personally, I applaud the media's attention to the faith perspective on LGBT equality. As a committed Christian and a gay man, I'm excited to see two important aspects of my identity garnering recognition in the media.

Growing up in my small church, I realized that I had an undying love for God and the worshipping community gathered to give glory. I also knew that my being gay was going to be difficult for others in our church.

After reconciling my faith and my sexual orientation for myself, I've worked for years on LGBT inclusion and equality in religious communities. Now, doing the religious work for GLAAD, it is gratifying to see the same faithful conversations about faith, equality and inclusion out in the wider world.

And I know I'm not alone. There are thousands upon thousands of people of faith who are also lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), and who are committed to their faith and its relationship with their sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is exactly why the way we talk about religion and the LGBT population is so important. It should reflect the caring conversation that is happening in places of worship across the country.

The validation from faith already exists and is growing. Religious communities and people of faith are increasingly welcoming and supportive of LGBT people.

According to a recent research note by the Public Religion Research Institute, majorities within most religious groups favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

These religious group with a majority of LGBT supporters include Jews, religious people who identify as neither Christian nor Jewish, Catholics (both white and Hispanic) and mainline Protestants.

Even in religious groups that do not have a majority of LGBT support, affirming people are increasing numbers and working toward LGBT equality both inside and outside their denominations.

Although the coverage has improved, we still need the media to better reflect that reality. Instead of sometimes focusing exclusively on religious opposition to LGBT equality, we need more stories that reflect the truth that people are being called to love and support their LGBT friends and family.

Life is much more complex than the "gays versus religion" stereotype that has been so often portrayed in the media.


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Feds Take Action Against LGBT Housing Discrimination

via Advocate, by Neal Broverman

Speaking Saturday at the Creating Change conference in Baltimore, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan promised new rules against LGBT discrimination in housing and lending.

The rule prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing from inquiring about an applicant or occupant's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Also, lenders offering Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages cannot discriminate against LGBT people  in their borrowing practices, and cannot ask about their orientation or gender identity.

The narrow definition of "family," sometimes used as a way to discriminate against gay or transgender people in HUD voucher programs, will now not take into account marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The new rules will be published next week and go into effect 30 days after.

"Enacting a rule is not enough. Training and education are essential to ensuring rules are followed in communities across the country," Donovan said at the conference.

"And so, HUD and its fair housing partners will work to provide guidance and training on the substance of this rule – and the impact it will have for both how we administer HUD programs and also how we enforce our nation’s fair housing laws more broadly."

HUD's new rules, which piggyback on already-existing LGBT friendly practices, were heralded by the HRC, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Donovan also spent much time in his speech reminding attendees of President Obama's accomplishments, including ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," enacting the Matthew Shepard hate crimes law, expanding hospital visitation rights, and banning transgender discrimination in federal employment.


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MLK Day Reflection for LGBTQ Justice in the Black Church

via HuffPost Gay Voice, by Irene Monroe

Today is MLK Day, and I am proud to count myself among the many people working for social justice today who stand on the shoulders of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Too many people think King's statements regarding justice are only about race and the African-American community, thus excluding the LGBTQ community.

But King said, "[T]he revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice."

Members of King's family also embrace his words, extending them to the LGBTQ community.

For example, in 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same:

"I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King's dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

Like her parents' faith, the Kings' eldest daughter Yolanda's faith in the civil rights movement drove her passion for LGBTQ justice.

"If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you do not have the same rights as other Americans," she said at Chicago's Out & Equal Workplace Summit in 2006.

"You cannot marry. ... [Y]ou still face discrimination in the workplace, and in our armed forces. For a nation that prides itself on liberty, justice and equality for all, this is totally unacceptable."

However, I must say that as an African-American minister having pastored churches, and having worked alongside black ministers and their parishioners, I have learned that whom we shout out and pray to on Sunday as an oppressed people does not have any relation to whom we damn, discard, and demonize, thus making us an oppressor to people marginalized and disenfranchised like ourselves.

The black church is an unabashed and unapologetic oppressor of its LGBTQ community and, consequently, a hindrance in progressive movement toward LGBTQ civil rights in this country.

While King would undoubtedly shake his head in disbelief concerning his brethren, he would applaud the stance the NAACP took on marriage equality.

In quelling the tension between black civil right activists and ministers of the 1960s who still vociferously state that marriage equality for LGBTQ Americans is not a civil right, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. marked the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (when the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 struck down this country's anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional) by stating the following concerning same-sex marriage:

It is undeniable that the experience of African Americans differs in many important ways from that of gay men and lesbians; among other things, the legacy of slavery and segregation is profound. But differences in historical experiences should not preclude the application of constitutional provisions to gay men and lesbians who are denied the fight to marry the person of their choice.

But if King were with us today, he would be sad about how homophobia continues within the black church community, which has a profound impact on the mistreatment of its LGBTQ community, and its inattentiveness to the AIDS epidemic ravaging the black community.

Religion has become a peculiar institution in the theater of human life. Just as the Latin root of the word, "religio," means "to bind," it has served as a legitimate power in binding people's shared hatred. But King's teachings taught me how religion plays a profound role in the work of justice.

A religion that looks at reality from an involved, committed stance in light of a faith that does justice sees the face of the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the dispossessed -- and that also includes its LGBTQ people.


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Illinois Looking Towards Marriage Equality

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Waymon Hudson

A group of Illinois legislators and civil rights organizations has started holding meetings to strategize on moving from civil unions to full marriage equality for LGBT couples.

Illinois state representatives Greg Harris, Deb Mell, Ann Williams, Kelly Cassidy, and Sara Feigenholtz, and state senator Heather Steans, as well as groups like Equality Illinois, Log Cabin Republicans, the ACLU, Lambda Legal, The Civil Rights Agenda, and the Human Rights Campaign, are looking at how to move forward legislatively on marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Representative Greg Harris told the Windy City Times that the legislation wouldn't be introduced until 2013 at the earliest, and he gave some insight into how difficult it could be: "I do not delude myself into thinking this will be an easy process.

But we need to take the first step. We have to be ready to stand up and defend the gains that we've made and to look toward the next steps."

The road ahead for marriage equality in the state does indeed look difficult, but not impossible.
Among the strongest opposition is the highly influential and politically powerful Catholic Church.

In September the Catholic Conference of Illinois announced the formation of a "Defense of Marriage" department, whose sole purpose is to fight any future attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.

The stated goal of the department is to protect the "stature of the nuclear family -- which provides love, stability and confidence to children, as well as organization to society."

The "Defense of Marriage" department has already started throwing out incendiary (and scientifically unfounded) claims about the "dangers" of marriage equality:

"The effects [of same-sex marriage] are evident in the performance of children in school, in truancy and crime rates, and in an ailing culture that too often values feeling good over self-giving, and individuality over the common good."

The Catholic Church's hostility toward equal rights for LGBT people in the state has indeed been ratcheting up. We've seen the drawn-out legal battle between Catholic Charities and the state of Illinois over the organization's state-funded adoption and foster care contracts, and their refusal to grant those services to same-sex couples in civil unions, which ended in a loss for the church.

This has led to a growing tension between the church hierarchy and advancing civil rights.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago recently compared the city's gay pride parade to the Ku Klux Klan, sparking outrage, protests, and an eventual half-apology from the cardinal.

Even Pope Benedict himself has continued the attacks on marriage equality, saying this week that gay marriage was a threat to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself."

With well-organized and well-funded opposition like this, pushing for legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry will be difficult.

But there are concrete examples that can be used to educate the public and legislature about the basic unfairness of the separate and unequal status that civil unions create for gay couples in the state.

The previously mentioned fight between Catholic Charities and the state over the $30 million in taxpayer dollars that Catholic Charities received from the state of Illinois for foster care and adoption services was based on excluding same-sex couples in civil unions.

There was also the case of the Springfield, Ill. Joint Labor/Management Insurance Committee deciding not to cover health benefits for the civil-union partners of city employees.

The committee used the different relationship status of same-sex couples and married heterosexual couples to carve out the exemption to civil-union spouses.

They cited the benefits for same-sex couples being too costly, which is an argument that would never be accepted when applied to a more universally understood institution like full marriage.

Public outrage eventually made them change their decision and cover all couples equally.


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Suit Claims Gay Inmates Denied Access to Rehab

via Advocate, by Julie Bolcer

The Riverside County, Calif. jail system’s policy of separating gay inmates from the general population effectively bars them from accessing a drug rehabilitation program, a lawsuit alleges.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the suit filed by Michael Lamar Salomonson of Palm Springs. A chronic methamphetamine user, he was arrested and charged with burglarizing a home last year.

He was sent to a residential substance abuse program at the Banning detention center instead of a receiving a two-year jail sentence.

“But sheriff’s officials refused to enroll Salmonson in the program,” according to the Times. “Under jail policy, inmates who enter into county jails and disclose they are gay are placed into protective custody and separated from the general jail population.”

The attorney for Salmonson said inmates in protective custody are routinely unable to access the rehab program.

The suit does not challenge the policy of placing gay inmates in protective custody, but it seeks to make sure gay inmates in protective custody are accepted into the rehab program.

Sheriff’s Chief Dep. Jerry Gutierrez, supervisor of the county jails, said inmates are housed together in the intense six-month treatment program, which limits the service to the general population.

Officials want to avoid the “volatile situation” that could be created by enrolling protective custody inmates, a population that also includes individuals with “medical disabilities, victims of jail assaults and inmates convicted of sexually assaulting children.”

The program could be expanded if enough protective custody inmates qualify for rehab, he told the Times.


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A Tribe Called Queer

via Out Magazine, by Jon Roth

Gay couples can’t marry in Washington. But near Seattle, tucked away off the Puget Sound, there’s a sovereign nation whose citizens can marry whoever they choose.

They’re called the Suquamish, and they were there before Washington was a president, much less a state.

The Suquamish enjoy the right to same-sex marriage, thanks to Heather Purser, a 29-year-old lesbian tribal member who grew up near the reservation.

She’d already tried to come out of the closet twice during her childhood, and retreated both times before she arrived at Western Washington University and started attending LGBT events. “I saw that I could be safe there,” she says. “I decided I wanted to have that feeling back home, too.”

Purser began speaking with her tribe about same-sex marriage in 2007. A year later, she addressed the tribal council, which cautiously encouraged her cause.

She did her research: contacting a tribe that had recently passed a similar law, requesting copies of their ordinance, reviewing it with an attorney, and translating it into Suquamish.

After three years, she put her petition to a vote at a council meeting. “Everyone said, ‘If you do that, it’ll kill your dream. We have to do this slowly,’ ” she says.

Purser demanded a vote anyway. In a room of 300 people, not one dissented. In August of 2011, her dream became law.

This isn’t the first victory for queer Native Americans. In 2006, the First Nations Two Spirit Collective formed, creating a political platform for LGBT native people.

In 2008, the Coquille tribe of North Bend, Ore., became the first to allow same-sex marriage. This summer, the Suquamish became the second.

Two months later, the Oglala Sioux tribe of Pine Ridge, S.D., issued a proclamation in support of LGBT equality, declaring it “time to ignite the civil rights movement of the 21st century.”

This may sound progressive, but Native Americans’ recognition of queer people predates Columbus. The Navajo call them nadleeh, the Lakota say winkte, the Plains Cree use iskwekan -- there are almost as many terms as native languages.

One word you probably won’t hear is berdache, a pejorative (something between a catamite and a male prostitute) introduced by early French colonists. In 1990, a queer Native American caucus settled on “two spirit” as an umbrella term to describe indigenous people of alternative gender or sexuality.

“In traditional communities, ‘gay’ wasn’t even a category,” says Dr. Karina Walters, an out member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Director of Washington University’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute.

“Quite often there were third gender statuses, sometimes up to seven,” Walters notes. “These relationships weren’t homosexual, they were heterogendered.” Two spirits often inhabited the in-between spaces, working as medicine people and mediators between rival factions, living on the outer ring of camp to serve as buffers from outsiders.

Some two spirits were even present in Washington, D.C., during treaty negotiations. At best, they were revered. At worst, they were tolerated, sometimes teased.

Like smallpox and whiskey, homophobia was a Western import, codified once the U.S. and Canada became nations. Government-run boarding schools spearheaded this reeducation: Students were given Western names, clothes, and haircuts, along with a set of foreign values.

Dylan Rose, 24, who describes himself as a mix of Plains Cree, Scottish, Irish, and French, deeply resents the lasting cultural impact of those schools, which flourished through the 1970s.

“They taught us not to be Indian,” he says. “We’re devalued because of same-sex relationships now, and that’s not how it used to be.”


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The LGBTQ Community Needs to Be Its Own 'Person of the Year'

via Huffpost Gay Voices, by Natasha Dillon

2011 was a good year in many ways. Some of us now have the right to half-marry in the fine state of New York (has this milestone been outplayed yet?!).

Others can still marry their first cousin in 26 states. So, all seems to be right in the world -- the United States. Oh, and Time named its Person of the Year: the Protester.

2009 was not a good year. In December the New York State Senate voted against the LGBTQ community's right to marry. And I, by default of my conscience, became a protester.

I think it may have taken me a solid year to actually call myself that. Nevertheless, I was surely in the minority of the minority.

There was a small, and I mean small, group of us that decided to ditch the safe, harmless lobbying ways and begin raising some hell for our equality.

We certainly weren't being voted person of the year. If there was an Amoeba of the Year award, we would have at least been nominated by the LGBT community. Let's just say it was "frowned" upon. Self-hatred is a dangerous thing.

So now we are all the 99 percent (well, 99 percent of us are). That is a whole hell of a lot of f-ing people. We are all but 1 percent of over 307 million documented people in the United States alone.

That seems like a pretty broad umbrella to align myself with, especially when a majority of the other people who fall under that umbrella do not support, let alone fight for, my equality.

So, yes, I'll proudly own the fact that my salary doesn't exceed $1.5 million a year. Fighting for money is far less important to me than fighting for my equality. I hate money. I love my community.

My heart breaks every time I hear that a child killed themselves because they were bullied for being queer. Every time a teen is kicked out of their home because they came out or were outed.

Every freezing winter night that the same teen has two options: freeze to death on the street or sell their body for a bed. Every time a friend of mine has their heart ripped out because their partner has to leave this country due to unequal federal marriage laws.

Every time someone gets fired from their job and has absolutely no legal recourse. Every time a lesbian is raped to be "fixed." Every bit of shame that we all feel as a community is shame that 89 percent of the 99-percenters will never feel.

I have no desire to be divisive, and I fully support and unify with the rest of the 99-percenters; I do the same with all 100 percent of my fellow Americans.

However, I hate to see our causes, our struggles, our fight be drowned out. We cannot forget that we are still a minority, suffering daily as unequal citizens. We are the 9.9-percenters, people whom I feel empowered to stand up and fight for.

A community that doesn't have the voice of 99 percent of the population. A community that faces down multi-million-dollar organizations that are formed solely to strip our rights away and, with hatred in their eyes, harm our children.

A group that is not only suffering from economic injustice and income disparity but legal and social discrimination and violence, too.

I have ultimate respect for everyone who stands up for what they believe in, but I feel reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and become one of the persons of the year.

Instead, I want to fight for the people who need all the voices we can get. I understand that it is human nature to want to be a part of something, to fit in. However, we were dealt a different set of cards, and it is our duty to fight for our equal set of cards.


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The Case for a Second Term

via Advocate, by Andrew Harmon

WASHINGTON — In a public relations video released late last month, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius enumerated the accomplishments and key news from her agency in 2011.

Two notable developments did not make the final cut. The first was her controversial decision in December overruling a Food and Drug Administration recommendation that Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive, be available without prescription to people under 17.

The second was far less headline-grabbing — if perhaps far more impactful and not the type of achievement that HHS has otherwise shied away from touting.

Under Secretary Sebelius, HHS has taken a hard look at the breathtaking disparity in health care access that LGBT Americans face.

How those who do have access to care are treated in the system seems to vary widely: One striking survey released in 2010 by Lambda Legal reported high rates of myriad negative experiences among gay and transgender respondents, including health care professionals using abusive language or even refusing to touch patients.  

With LGBT antidiscrimination legislation and a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act not expected to move anytime soon in a divided Congress, leadership on LGBT health issues from the executive branch has proved crucial.

Some of that progress, as outlined by Sebelius in an October address to the National Coalition for LGBT Health, easily translates into media attention.

For example, an Obama administration mandate that forbids hospitals receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in their visitation policies is “due in no small part” to people like Janice Langbehn who have experienced the tragic consequences of unjust rules, White House officials wrote nearly a year ago when the rule went into effect.

In 2007, Langbehn was kept from her dying partner’s side in a Miami hospital along with the couple's children.

President Obama awarded Langbehn the Presidential Citizens Medal in October for her advocacy on the issue ever since.

Putting a face on other positive steps forward can be difficult.

Questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, for instance, have historically been excluded from federal health surveys that factor other demographics such as race and ethnicity, as detailed by a groundbreaking report in 2011 by the Institute of Medicine.

Collecting such information on surveys is essential to establishing research priorities and sound health care policy, experts widely agree.
HHS released a two-year data collection plan last year to help close the gap.

“The Department of Health and Human Services decision to collect health data on the LGBT population will allow public health professionals to understand for the first time patterns and risks for disease among LGBT people, as well as how to design the most effective interventions,” said Ilan Meyer, an expert on LGBT health and a senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute.

Other agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, have also moved to incorporate LGBT data collection.

In a recent interview with The Advocate, Secretary Sebelius spoke about the year in LGBT health at HHS, the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act expected later this year, and how marriage rights (or lack thereof) may affect the health of LGBT Americans.


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Marriage Equality is a Trans Issue, Too

via Advocate, by Trudy Ring

When Nikki and Thomas Araguz were married in Texas in 2008, she had been married and divorced once before, and she had legal documentation identifying herself as a woman.

Although Nikki, born biologically male, didn't have her gender transition surgery until a few months after the ceremony, she had no reason to think their marriage wasn't legal.

In 2010, Thomas, a firefighter, died while battling a blaze. When Nikki tried to claim her share of his death benefits, a judge ruled their marriage invalid.

Though laws governing the marriage of trans men and women who've undergone gender-reassignment surgery vary from state to state, the ruling, now on appeal, is a rare instance of a transgender person's marriage being voided.

"In the vast majority of cases [involving marriages of transgender people], nobody has any problem," says Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who has handled many marriage-related cases.

"Nobody even questions the validity of the marriage. Now there have been a handful of cases in very conservative states that have come out badly."

The reason? "Courts in these states have been so homophobic," says Minter. "They don't want to even come close to recognizing a same-sex marriage."

Cases that have ended badly include that of Christie Littleton in Texas, where an appeals court ruled in 1999 that she could not bring a wrongful death suit after her husband, Jonathon, died; even though she had undergone gender-reassignment surgery, the court deemed Littleton male and her marriage invalid.

In Kansas in 2002 came the only such ruling at a state supreme court level, in which J'Noel Gardiner, another transgender woman who had been widowed, was denied inheritance rights because the court did not recognize her marriage.

Several years ago, Minter represented Floridian Michael Kantaras, a transgender man who sought custody of his children when his marriage ended.

The trial court ruled that Kantaras was male and his marriage valid, and awarded him custody, but the verdict was reversed on appeal.

However, the Dr. Phil show then paid for mediation for Kantaras and his ex-wife, resulting in shared custody. "So that was good," Minter says.

There was encouraging news last year in Texas, one of the last states to allow proof of gender reassignment to get a marriage license.

A Republican-backed bill that decreed that, for the purpose of marriage, gender is assigned at birth and cannot be changed even after gender-reassignment surgery, died in the legislature.

And in November a Dallas County judge refused to invalidate trans man James Allan Scott's marriage to Rebecca Robertson, allowing the dissolution of their marriage to proceed as a divorce and giving Scott a chance at a share of the couple's property, says his lawyer, Eric Gormly.

Though Scott had transitioned before their marriage, Robertson sought to nullify the union on grounds that he was born female.


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Op-ed: Let Your Money Talk to Help LGBT Organizations

via Advocate, by Jimmy Nguyen, op-ed contributor

I repeatedly hear and see criticism of LGBT organizations and their leaders.

The chatter machine gripes about why the Defense of Marriage Act hasn’t been repealed yet, why transgender persons are not always included in proposed legislation, and even why there is a glut of gay charity summer pool parties.

LGBT people sure like to talk about the work of gay social justice groups; but far too often, they criticize without doing much to help.

While serving on the board of directors for Equality California for the last few years, and while helping support other groups financially or otherwise, I found myself immersed in dialogue about the LGBT rights movement.

I’m all for constructive criticism. No entity or person is beyond reproach, and feedback from the community is always good.

But much criticism comes from people who donate no money to any LGBT group (let alone contribute time to serve).

In 2010, less than 3% of LGBT adults in the U.S. gave money to any national LGBT organizations; the number of donors who gave $35 or more to LGBT non-profits dropped 12%.

These disheartening statistics were reported by the Movement Advancement Project in its recently released 2011 National LGBT Movement Report. (Fortunately, the report found LGBT organizations remain fiscally healthy due to support from other sources.)

If the LGBT community wants progress toward full equality, the other 97% of us need to financially support the organizations that fight our fights.

With the holiday season and tax year-end upon us, now is the perfect time to contribute and let your money talk for you.

Why don’t LGBT people give money? Let’s debunk the most common reasons I hear.


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Op-ed: The Legacy of the Bush War on Gay Iraqis

via Advocate, by Melanie Nathan, op-ed contributor

With the lowering of the American flag, finally off Iraqi soil as it returns home to the United States, and the ecstatic familial greetings of soldiers returned, the Bush Iraq War is over.

It may always be regretted by LGBT  Iraqis. They have suffered alongside all Iraqis, not only as a result of the vanquished Saddam Hussein regime, nor only collaterally from American bombing that comes with the brutal nuances of that particular war, but also because of adversity imposed by being “outed” by militias, and because of brutality by religious fanaticism that has taken hold of post-Saddam Iraq.

While none will debate the imperative demise of Hussein, many Iraqi gays may well have preferred that brutal reign to what they have since faced.

With the war, quiet non-disclosure and occasional homophobic targeting gave way to a voracious endeavor by lawless militias, and they unleashed violence against gays in unprecedented fashion.

Trillions of dollars, blood, limbs and lives are all part of the mayhem that provides the context for this added persecution.

Gay Iraqis had to run, and they are still running. One estimate cited by Gay Middle East says that more than 700 LGBT people have been killed since the U.S. led invasion, with thousands more suffering violence, discrimination and abuse on a daily basis.

Dan Littauer, executive editor of Gay Middle East, told me, "While under the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’ath party, LGBTI people lived under an unwritten rule akin to a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, but in post-Saddam Iraq, this has become nearly impossible.”

LGBT Iraqis fled in multitudes to Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries, now only to be caught up in local revolutions that have caused them further risk and at times violence.

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Iraq's unwanted people from Gay Middle East on Vimeo.

UN First LGBT Report Cites Human Rights Violations

via Queerty, by Evan Mulvihill

It’s been a good year for making strides toward international gay rights, all things considered.

Hillary Clinton made a great speech before the UN in Geneva championing gay rights as synonymous with human rights last week.

And today, more progress, as the world’s top governing body has released its first-ever report on the status of human rights (full PDF here).

After reviewing reports of the violence and oppression that LGBT people have endured in various corners of the globe, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that,”a pattern of human rights violations emerges that demands a response… Further action is now needed, especially at the national level, if individuals are to be better protected from such human rights violations in future.”

And what are they going to do about it? Well, the High Commissioner recommends that UN states “investigate promptly all reported killings and other serious incidents of violence perpetrated against individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity… and hold perpetrators accountable, and establish systems for the recording and reporting of such incidents.”

We’d prefer that he mandated such actions, but we’ll take incremental steps forward over big steps backward any day.

Now how do we get the nations that were not quite tickled pink by Clintons speech to read the damned report?


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HRC's Equality Index

via Advocate, by Neal Broverman

The Human Rights Campaign released the 2012 Corporate Equality Index today and, thanks to a more stringent ranking criteria, 148 fewer companies received a 100% score than last year.

Though 10 of the top 20 Fortune-ranked companies received a 100% score on the index — which rates corporations on LGBT-inclusive policies — only 190 corporations in total received that ranking.

Last year, 338 businesses received a 100% ranking. The CEI now uses more rigorous criteria that takes into account corporate giving and health care coverage for transgender employees, alongside long-time factors like employment opportunity policies and equal employment benefits.

J.P. Morgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Intuit, Kraft, Office Depot, Herman Miller, and Levi Strauss are some of the corporations who received a perfect score on this year's CEI.

Even with the decrease in 100% rankings, HRC says huge progress has still been made — only 13 businesses received a perfect score in 2002, the CEI's first year.

Many in-roads were made in 2011 for transgender employees — people can still be fired in 34 states simply for their gender identity (gay and bisexual people can be legally fired in 29 states).

The CEI found that 50% of Fortune 500 companies now have nondiscrimination policies covering gender identity — a growth rate of 1,567% from 2002.

Companies offering comprehensive health care coverage to their transgender workers increased to 207 from 85 last year and 49 in 2009.

Looking back at the start of the CEI shows huge advances when it comes to domestic partnership benefits — the number of Fortune 500 companies offering domestic partnership benefits increased 76% since 2002.

"Corporate America is leading the charge for equality in the workplace,” HRC president Joe Solmonese said in a press release. “We commend the businesses that participated in the CEI. They understand that LGBT-inclusive workplace policies are the right thing to do and good business practices." 

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Queer, Undocumented, and Unafraid

via HuffPost Gay voices, by Julio Salgado

When the topic of gay rights arises, gay marriage and Don't Ask, Don't Tell are the go-to issues, but for some of us queers in the United States, immigration rights are a top priority.

For two years, undocumented youth have been coming out of the shadows and using their status to empower themselves and bring attention to the Development, Relief and Education for Minors Act, better known as the DREAM Act.

The 10-year-old piece of legislation, which has seen its share of watered-down adjustments, would give undocumented youth who came to the United States at a young age a path to citizenship if they go to college or join the military.

There have been sit-ins, hunger strikes and countless calls to lawmakers to stop the deportations of undocumented students who have been in this country most of their lives. Oddly enough, a movement within this movement has surfaced.

You see, a lot of the young people at the forefront of this movement also happen to be gay.

Not only are these students proud to scream, "Undocumented and unafraid," but some have challenged the status quo even further by coming out as queer, undocumented and unafraid.

From 2010's Trail of Dreams, where three undocumented youth and a legal U.S. resident walked from Miami, Fla. to Washington, D.C., to the first-ever civil disobedience at the Tucson, Ariz. office of Sen. John McCain, undocumented gay activists have been key movers and shakers in actions that aim to bring attention to the DREAM Act.

At times, they risk death and deportation.

This was the case when Mohammad Abdollahi, who, along with undocumented students Yahaira Carrillo, Tania Unzueta, Lizbeth Mateo and legal U.S. resident Raul Alcaraz, participated in the Tucson action.

Abdollahi, an undocumented gay student from Iran, risked deportation to a country where homosexuality is punished with death.

Undocumented queer activists Carrillo and Unzueta sat next to Abdollahi, and all three contemplated the possibility of being deported to countries they barely remembered.

Not all students have been openly gay from the beginning. Much like the late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, some queer undocumented activists were asked to downplay their gay identities for the sake of their role in the movement.

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Our Aging LGBT Parents

via BayWindow, by Dana Rudolph

How do we help our parents as they age? For adults with non-LGBT parents, there are plenty of resources on how to help parents through the various legal, financial, and emotional issues of growing old. Search the web or your favorite online bookstore for "aging parents," and you’ll be swamped with results.

For adults who wish to help their LGBT parents, however, the resources are far fewer. And while many of the issues older LGBT and non-LGBT people face are the same, some are not.

Let’s not forget: LGBT parents have been choosing to have children together for over 30 years. Those who had children in previous non-LGBT relationships may have had them even before that. Those "children" now in their 30s or older have parents who, if not in their "golden years," are at least starting to turn silver.

Scott French, program manager for the Caring and Preparing program of Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), said one of the most important things adults with LGBT parents can do is "to have conversations about making sure that your parents have a health-care proxy, a power of attorney, a living will," and a document (called by various names) about what they want done with their bodies after death.

"These are important for everyone, but they’re really important for LGBT older adults, especially if they’re partnered," he said. Unlike opposite-sex spouses, "there is no person who automatically gets to make those decisions" for LGBT older adults.

He also encourages people to talk with their parents about a will. Many people think they don’t need a will if they aren’t wealthy, French said, but noted, "Wills aren’t predicated on somebody who has wealth. They’re essential to be able to dictate what you want to happen to your possessions, whatever they may be."

And for people in same-sex couples, "you don’t always have the same protections, so it’s always better to have it in writing."


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