Queer News

[Allison W]

Originally Posted by Kobi

that article asking whether gay men and lesbians should be bracketed together

A complicated issue, to be sure, but I honestly believe that Ms. Power is correct that political cooperation between gay men and lesbians on sexual orientation issues is useful.

I halfway disagree that it's an entirely separate issue from sexism, because I honestly believe it (along with transphobia and lots of other shit, hence the LGBT coalition) largely flows from the same patriarchal well, even if lesbians are in a position to see it far more clearly than gay men do. (Sadly, too many gay men seem to think they can join the patriarchy, when hatred of gay men frequently stems from the belief that gay men are womanlike, and the belief that this makes them a failure of masculinity that needs to be punished lest manhood be "degraded.")

[Kobi]

NEWBERG, Ore. — The U.S. Department of Education has granted a Christian university a religious exemption from federal anti-discrimination laws after a transgender student filed a discrimination complaint because the school would not allowing him to live in the men’s dormitories.

PQ Monthly reports that George Fox University obtained the exemption in its effort to deny the student, Jayce Marcus, a place in the campus’ single-sex residence halls on the basis that it is a “Christ-centered community.”

Portland attorney Paul Southwick filed a Title IX discrimination complaint with the DOE in early April on behalf of Marcus, a junior at the Christian university in Newberg, Ore., who has medically, socially, and legally transitioned.

Southwick said the DOE closed Marcus’ complaint earlier this week, granting George Fox an unusually speedy “religious exemption.”

Exemptions historically take years to get, according to Southwick, but George Fox received theirs in just a few months. He says the school applied for the exemption “in secret” while still negotiating the housing dispute with Marcus, and “a mere four days before Jayce filed his complaint” with the DOE.

Title IX, passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. In 2010, the DOE issued guidance clarifying that Title IX also protects LGBT students from sex discrimination, which would apply to complaints such as Marcus.’

But the law also includes a broad exemption for educational institutions which are “controlled by a religious organization.”

School officials said their Christian theology makes it necessary for their residential facilities to be single gender.

The exemption comes only weeks following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, which many LGBT rights advocates fear will be used by religious organizations to discriminate against LGBT people.

“This is worse than Hobby Lobby because George Fox is largely funded by taxpayer money,” says Southwick, who added that he believes George Fox “is the first Christian college to ask the federal government for a permission slip to discriminate against transgender students.”

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/c...udent-housing/

[Kelt]

Geez, I didn't even know this thread was here. Talk about head in the sand.

*subscribing and going back to read through*

Thank you Kobi!

[Kobi]

Less than 3 percent of U.S. adults identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to the first large-scale government survey measuring Americans’ sexual orientation.

The National Health Interview Survey, released Tuesday by U.S. Centers for Disease Control, found that 1.6 percent of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent consider themselves bisexual.

An additional 1.1 percent declined to answer, responded “I don’t know the answer” or said they were “something else.”

The survey, conducted in 2013, included nearly 35,000 adults and is the federal government’s premier tool for annually assessing Americans’ health and behaviors.

The latest report marks the first time since the survey began in 1957 that it has included a measure of sexual orientation. The survey did not ask about gender identity, due to the much larger sample size needed to gain an accurate assessment of transgender Americans.

But the survey does offers insight through the lens of sexual orientation on measures critical to public health, such as smoking, drinking and health insurance status.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/l...ual-americans/

See the actual report here.

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Not being a math/statistics person, I'm not sure one can say this was a "large" sample or even a statistically significant one. The sample size was less than 35,000 people to represent the reality of the 318,449,914+ people in the USA. Some math/stats/research person needs to weigh in on this.

It was fun to find the US and World population clock tho.

[Kobi]

MINNEAPOLIS — Major League Baseball has appointed former outfielder Billy Bean, who came out as gay after his playing career, to serve as a consultant in guiding the sport toward greater inclusion and equality.

Commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement Tuesday before the All-Star game.

Joining Bean and Selig at a news conference was Lutha Burke, the sister of Glenn Burke, who was the first MLB player to come out as gay after retiring. Burke died in 1995.

Bean will provide guidance and training related to efforts designed to support the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community throughout baseball. He’ll work with players and front office personnel through the major and minor leagues.

Bean played for Detroit, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego over parts of six seasons and hit .226. He dedicated his autobiography to Burke.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/m...sion-equality/
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They mean well. Hopefully he is part of a team of diverse people working on this project. One white gay guy can not possibly know and represent all the complexities involved under the diversity umbrella.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Yesterday the California Assembly passed bill AB2501 by a 50-10 margin, and it is now headed to Gov. Brown for signature.

California is the first state to say that "gay panic" is not a lawful excuse for killing someone.

I have a super hard time reposting from my ipad, so if you want to read the full story, go to LGBTQNation.com for the details.

[Kobi]

The Wyoming State Historical Society will honor a controversial book about Matthew Shepard that claims he was killed in a drug deal gone wrong instead of the conventional belief that he was killed because he was gay – a move that’s raising some eyebrows.

“The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard,” by Stephen Jimenez, an investigative journalist who is openly gay, will receive an honorable mention in the nonfiction book category at a luncheon in Gillette on Saturday, said Linda Fabian, the Wyoming State Historical Society’s executive secretary.

“If the award was for a fictional book, I certainly would have no objection to it,” said Albany County Undersheriff Robert DeBree, who was the lead investigator in the 1998 murder of Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student.

Rick Ewig, president of the state historical society, said the nonprofit organization’s goal is to promote study of Wyoming’s history. Shepard’s murder is part of the state’s history.

The book’s publisher nominated the book, he said.

“It doesn’t mean we accept the interpretation of that book,” he said, noting that the historical society has been open to the more conventional belief that the murder was a hate crime, too.

Tom Rea, editor of Wyohistory.org, a project of the historical society, has published two accounts of Shepard’s murder written by Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which was established by Shepard’s parents.

One account is a description of the events in Shepard’s murder. The other is a more personal take on the murder.

Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson both received life sentences for murdering Shepard, who was 21 at the time of his death.

After meeting at a bar and possibly indicating they were gay, the two men drove Shepard outside Laramie, punched and pistol-whipped him, tied him to a cattle fence and left him unconscious. They took Shepard’s wallet, identification and shoes.

In his police confession, McKinney described Shepard in unflattering gay terms.

But “The Book of Matt” claims that McKinney believed Shepard could lead him to a delivery of $10,000 in methamphetamine that he could steal from Shepard. Outside town, McKinney lost control, the book claims.

The book criticizes the media for mythologizing the motives.

Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley, who investigated the murder in 1998, said Jimenez’s book should have been called “The Book of Lies.”

“Those of us who actually lived the situation know what is fact and what is fiction,” he said. “In my opinion, this ‘work’ is fiction with a few factual innuendos thrown in.”

Marsden, the director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, didn’t respond to the news of the state historical society award. But he said the book is an attempt to rewrite history based on untrustworthy sources, factual errors and rumors.

He said the foundation doesn’t react to “innuendo, rumor or conspiracy theories.”

“Instead we remain committed to honoring Matthew’s memory, and refuse to be intimidated by those who seek to tarnish it,” he added.

Jimenez continues to defend his book, which will be released in paperback Sept. 16, the same day as an international edition is published in England, Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan.

Jimenez wrote a new 20-page afterword with new sources who have corroborated the claims made in the book, he said.

The book started with a piece he did for ABC's "20/20" that won two awards. He continued reporting after the piece aired in 2004, and he said he learned more about the drug connection.

On Friday, he said he was traveling to Gillette with his partner to accept the award.

“The fact that this has been labeled as anti-gay is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I have been out since the 1970s.”

Former Albany County Attorney Cal Rerucha, now the Carbon County attorney, said the book is correct. The case Rerucha said he tried was felony murder and the motive was robbery.

He remains adamant that Shepard's death wasn't a hate crime.

"If methamphetamine wouldn’t be in this case, we wouldn’t have had a murder,” he said.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regio...f2917a217.html

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

Yesterday the California Assembly passed bill AB2501 by a 50-10 margin, and it is now headed to Gov. Brown for signature.

California is the first state to say that "gay panic" is not a lawful excuse for killing someone.

I have a super hard time reposting from my ipad, so if you want to read the full story, go to LGBTQNation.com for the details.

Governor Brown signed this Bill ino law this week!