The Bilerico Project

Weekly Reader: Hugs, Honduras, & Grandma's Dress

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500

While this week brought news that ENDA has been delayed for a few weeks, we didn't let that stop us from bringing you a ton of popular posts about almost every aspect of our community. Here are the best from this week.

Whose Day of Remembrance?

tobi@bilerico.com (Tobi Hill-Meyer) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

This year the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) lists 162 trans people killed. That's over 3 a week. The number is significantly higher than previous years (which had generally been between 20 and 30), and most people are attributing that to being able to better track trans murders, especially those outside the U.S.

When faced with this overwhelming sense of reality, it's understandably difficult to know how to react these deaths. However, more and more often we hear about events put on by cis-led LGBT organizations that utterly miss the point and border on offensive. This year, the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley (GAGV) has caught a lot of attention for their TDOR event, which is a comedy fundraiser headlined by a non-trans performer. It's a move being highly criticized in the trans community, even being called "a minstrel show."

I can't do much more but shake my head in shame. Yet it leaves me questioning the role of Transgender Day of Remembrance in the larger LGBT movement and the role of cis queers in the event.

Continue reading "Whose Day of Remembrance?"...

CA Bay Area: Vigil Sunday for Jorge Steven Lopez-Mercado and Jason Mattison Jr.

jessica@bilerico.com (Jessica Hoffmann) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

This Sunday in Oakland, Bay Area queers and allies will gather near Lake Merritt for a candlelight vigil and open mic to mourn Jorge Steven López-Mercado and Jason Mattison Jr., queer and gender non-conforming teenagers who were brutally murdered last week. While mourning, the gatherers will also "brainstorm ways to keep their community safer from violence," say vigil organizers.

Lopez-Mercado, 19, was mutilated and murdered last weekend in Puerto Rico by Juan Martinez-Matos. Martinez-Matos has said he dismembered and set fire to Lopez-Mercado after discovering that Lopez-Mercado had male-assigned genitalia and was "wearing women's clothing"--a remark many fear is setting up a "trans panic" defense.

Jason Mattison Jr., 15, was raped and murdered during the same week in Baltimore, Maryland.

Details about the vigil and others across the country after the jump.

Continue reading "CA Bay Area: Vigil Sunday for Jorge Steven Lopez-Mercado and Jason Mattison Jr. "...

Florida Competitive Workforce Bill Filed To Add Anti-Discrimination Protections Statewide

nadine@bilerico.com (Nadine Smith) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

I applaud the filing of the Competitive Workforce bill in the Florida House of Representative. House bill 391, filed by Rep. Kelly Skidmore, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Florida's civil rights statues.

Currently, it is legal to discriminate against someone in employment, housing and public accommodations because that person is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). The bill would add these categories into laws that already protect Floridians based on race, age, disability, sex and religion.

"I am proud to be the sponsor of this very important legislation," said Representative Skidmore, "I look forward to working with Equality Florida and all Floridians who believe that discrimination is wrong and ought to be illegal."

As the Competitive Workforce Bill was being filed, the Tampa City Council voted to add "gender identity and gender expression" to its existing human right ordinance, which already includes sexual orientation protections.

"Even as cities and companies across our state adopt policies banning anti-gay and gender identity-based discrimination, Florida law fails to provide statewide protection to LGBT Floridians against workplace discrimination," said Mallory Wells, Public Policy Director for Equality Florida, "Equality Florida is working with fair-minded legislators to introduce this legislation because no one should lose their job because of who they are."

Organizations and businesses can sign online to support the Competitive Workforce Bill.

Ken Hutcherson targets Microsoft for contribution to Approve 71 campaign

joemirabella@yahoo.com (Joe Mirabella) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Rev. Ken Hutcherson made an appearance at Microsoft's annual shareholder's meeting on Tuesday. As usual, Hutcherson was there representing the interests of Thomas Strohbar, founder of numerous anti-birth control, anti-choice, and anti-gay financial organizations.

Strohbar's road to financial security has nothing to do with typical investment strategies. Strohbar invests in stocks and mutual funds that he believes reflects God's portfolio.

From Strobhar Financial:

Thomas Strobhar also provides stock market screening information to a number of large professional organizations. This information helps Catholic dioceses and religious orders comply with the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops' Investment Guidelines. This information has been helpful in avoiding companies involved in immoral business pursuits especially pornography and abortion. Evangelical groups have been especially appreciative where this applies to gambling and corporations that support gay marriage.

Strohbar also invests in companies that he wants to influence with his shareholder vote, such as Microsoft. He and Ken Hutcherson have been after Microsoft for several years.

In 2007, Ken Hutcherson told Microsoft, "I am probably one of the worst nightmares this corporation can have." Despite years of complaints, Hutcherson's so-called nightmare is more like a forgettable dream.

Continue reading "Ken Hutcherson targets Microsoft for contribution to Approve 71 campaign "...

Simply Unacceptable

dana@bilerico.com (Dana Rudolph) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0500

"While we are grateful to the local law enforcement officials for their swift work to apprehend the suspect in this terrible crime, we remain deeply saddened that yet another family should have to suffer the pain of such a tragedy, and that such breathtaking violence continues to be directed at gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people who are simply trying to live their lives honestly and openly.

"For another young person to lose their life and be taken from their family and community due to fear, prejudice and hatred is simply unacceptable. Each of us who believe in freedom and equality must remain vocal, active, and unrelenting in calling for justice."

--Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, on the murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado

Chaz Bono explains gender on GMA

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Chaz Bono's interview on Good Morning America.

Queer music Friday - Placebo

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500

Brian Molko of alternative rock band Placebo announced a long time ago that he was bisexual, but now he regrets it. More on that after the jump.

But here's "Happy You're Gone," from their newest album.

Continue reading "Queer music Friday - Placebo"...

Irene Vilar's Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict

pschilt@bilerico.com (Paige Schilt) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

The title of Irene Vilar's new memoir, Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict, is a bit misleading. Although Vilar chronicles 15 abortions over 15 years, "addiction" as a diagnostic category is only hastily grafted onto her tale of existential angst. Cynical readers will wonder whether the packaging of this story as "abortion addiction" originated in the writer's workshop or the marketing department.

Whatever the intentions behind the title, it has provoked pro-life ire--one blogger refers to Vilar as a "serial killer"--and pro-life smugness--a spokesperson for Americans United for Life points to Impossible Motherhood as proof that "abortion is part of a very sad story for women."

There has been favorable coverage of the book as well--most notably a Washington Post story that portrays Vilar, now a mother of two daughters, as a woman who has finally "embraced the role of motherhood" and given reign to her "maternal instincts." The accompanying slide show features romantic photos of Vilar in the nursery, surrounded by her children and their toys. In coverage like this, we can witness the power of motherhood as redemptive fetish.

Continue reading "Irene Vilar's Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict"...

Protect the sanctity of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Maybe the folks working to end DADT ought to draw attention to the folks who abuse DADT. This is from a lesbian in the military:

Looking for a way out of the service isn't a new idea. Since 9/11, soldiers have been going to extraordinary measures to find the quickest way out of a deployment including intentional pregnancies and cutting off fingers. Hell, my unit's chaplain (who was gay, by the way) went AWOL! He ran away with his lover to Canada the night before we left for Iraq. That's a nice morale booster for the soldiers.

During my time in the Army, a large percentage of the DADT investigations were caused by straight soldiers playing the homosexual card to get out of going overseas. These guys would go to the extreme, staging photographs and videos of themselves with other men, or maybe even making out in front of their commander. They were using DADT as a potential free ticket out of a deployment.

Last year I was talking to a single, straight man in the military who was complaining that he got deployed three times more than other officers in his unit because he was single and didn't feel like coming up with an excuse to get out of something he signed up to do. There was still bitterness, though, towards women he said would start a family to get out of deployment, married men who would say that their wives had "mental health issues" that could never be diagnosed so they needed to stay home and care for them, an officer who herself developed a series of undiagnosable maladies, preferential treatment to folks with "families," and colonels sending assignments they were more qualified for down the chain of command.

All because, deep down inside, many people who join the military really don't want to go to war.

Continue reading "Protect the sanctity of Don't Ask, Don't Tell"...

Interview w/NGLTF Exec Dir Rea Carey (part two)

adambink@gmail.com (Adam Bink) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

TThis is part two of an interview with Rea Carey, the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Part one focused on the No On 1 campaign in Maine, the push to repeal Prop 8 in 2010 in California, and the marriage equality movement in general. This part focuses on the state of LGBT rights at the federal level, the Obama administration, and Congress.

Among the highlights:

Rea refusing to accept any half-measure on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Although criticizing the Obama administration in many respects, Rea declining to call on the Obama administration for an apology over numerous slights towards the LGBT community
Rea commenting on the AMERICABlog donor boycott

The one comment I have is that I disagree on the refusal to call on the administration for an apology over what we all agreed were horrendous mistakes, with the rationale of "I don't know that the administration sees those as mistakes" (see the transcript for more). Glenn Beck called the President a racist, and he should apologize, regardless of whether he saw it as a mistake. LGBT advocates should call for the same from the Administration if serious mistakes were made.

Overall, though, NGLTF is taking a pretty strong stance in terms of language regarding the slow pace of LGBT issues in Congress, on Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and with the Democratic Party in general, which is great.

Full transcript below the fold.

Continue reading "Interview w/NGLTF Exec Dir Rea Carey (part two)"...

Sarah Palin-style: Tom Tancredo goes rogue

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Sarah Palin madness is sweeping through the teabagger jet set and the latest victim appears to be Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo. As Palin's new "autobiography" (put in scare quotes because she didn't really write it herself and memoirs are usually non-fiction) tops the bestseller charts, Tancredo has decided to imitate the former Alaska Governor's successful leadership style.

He's threatening to run for Colorado Governor not because he wants the job, but because he has to push the conservative "agenda." Oh, those anointed ones; they're so self-sacrificing until they quit. Tancredo, of course, is already willing to throw in the towel on his pseudo-gubernatorial bid if someone will throw him a bone.

Unlike Palin though, Tancredo doesn't want money, he wants power. A lot of it too.

Continue reading "Sarah Palin-style: Tom Tancredo goes rogue"...

Historic Declaration of Christian Conscience?

donnapandori@bilerico.com (Donna Pandori) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Today at noon national religious leaders will be releasing a 4,732-word statement signed by Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical leaders, The statement dubbed Manhattan Declaration

issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences.

Oh boy here we go.

UPDATE: Full text of "Manhattan Declaration" follows.

Continue reading "Historic Declaration of Christian Conscience?"...

Reject 71 campaign tries to spin history

joemirabella@yahoo.com (Joe Mirabella) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

You would think the Reject 71 campaign won in Washington from their first message to supporters after their resounding defeat by the Approve 71 campaign.

In the Reject 71 Campaign Manager Larry Stickney's typical truth bending style he wrote:

Not that we didn't expect it, but the R-71 campaign was handicapped by the bias of our incredibly liberal and increasingly shameless statewide media complex. Like a mantra, the ACCEPT R-71 campaign's talking points were reflexively repeated by nearly every Washington State newspaper, radio, and TV station. How many times did we hear or read that "SB 5688 and R-71 is not about marriage, but domestic partnerships...period"?

It is true, we ran a very effective campaign that earned the endorsement of every main stream newspaper in the state. However, to call those newspapers "incredibly liberal" is blatantly false.

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ND's Senator Kent Conrad: Legislator of the Day

jillian@bilerico.com (Dr. Jillian T. Weiss) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0500

North Dakota is a key state in the fight for ENDA.

North Dakota's Senator Kent Conrad may be a supporter of ENDA, but his vote is unconfirmed.

Please call him today to ask for his support of S.1584.

Facts and contact info after the jump.

Continue reading "ND's Senator Kent Conrad: Legislator of the Day"...

Interview w/NGLTF Exec Dir Rea Carey and Dir of Organizing & Training Dan Hawes (part one)

adambink@gmail.com (Adam Bink) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -0500

I've been writing a lot on what happened in Maine (most recently this piece yesterday in Frontiers in LA magazine), and where our movement should go from here. NGLTF had run much of the field program in Maine, as well as within the No On 8 campaign in California, so I sat down yesterday to do an interview with Rea Carey, the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, to address some criticisms and her thoughts on the marriage equality movement. We were joined by Dan Hawes, Director of Organizing and Training, who heads up NGLTF's national field operations and ran the field program in Cumberland County, the most populous in the state.

This is part one related to the No On 1 campaign in Maine and the marriage equality movement in general. I'll be posting the second part, related to LGBT rights at the federal level and the performance of the Obama administration.

Among the highlights:

Dan commenting that the campaign "could have had a more direct message", "more lengthy conversations at the door with voters", and done more persuasion rather than "just trying to GOTV our supporters"
Rea commenting on marriage equality at the ballot box "we simply don't have enough people to win at the ballot box yet"
Rea and Dan declining to say whether re-run campaigns in California and Maine could have won, or definitively whether marriage equality is winnable in the short-term
Dan defending against criticisms made with respect to the field program in Maine, and praising various aspects of the campaign
Rea and Dan arguing that provided there is a plan and the time is right, despite the movement's recent losses and overall record at the ballot box, donors will "step up" to contribute the tens of millions necessary to win a Prop 8 repeal effort in California

Full transcript below the fold.

Continue reading "Interview w/NGLTF Exec Dir Rea Carey and Dir of Organizing & Training Dan Hawes (part one)"...

SEXXX Tapes for Jesus!!! Carrie Prejean Interview

buck@bilerico.com (Michael Buckley) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0500

Thanks for watching! I hope you enjoy my interview with Carrie Prejean.

Thoughts on Miss Prejean? LOL Anyone.....anyone? TV Guide says this week, "15 Minutes has never felt so long."

Between the Ears

dana@bilerico.com (Dana Rudolph) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0500

"To me, gender is between your ears, not between your legs. I've felt male as far back as I can remember. As a child, it was really clear. I felt like a boy."

--Chaz Bono, on Good Morning America

Transgender Day of Remembrance

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Transgender Day of Remembrance is today. 117 transgender people were killed for being who they are this past year.

Good news or bad ideas? KY, MI, OH, TX re-examine marriage amendments

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:30:00 -0500

The marriage equality drumbeat has rumbled on with news that several states will be attempting to re-examine their state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and/or civil unions. Surprisingly, this hasn't received as much attention as I assumed it would in the LGBT blogosphere.

Ohio state representative Tyrone K. Yates (D-Cincinnati), Kentucky state representative Mary Lou Marzian (D-Jefferson), and Michigan House Speaker Pro Tem Pam Byrnes (D-Washtenaw County) have all introduced legislation to repeal their state's respective marriage amendments.

Texas Attorney General candidate Barbara Radnofsky, however, has discovered that the state's amendment also inadvertently "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages. A Texas judge ruled the state's amendment was unconstitutional last month.

None of the four states are known for their LGBT-friendly laws which raises an interesting conundrum. Will the four states re-examination of their marriage equality amendments actually help the LGBT community or will it hurt us instead?

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