tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50970079875887904932023-11-16T09:26:46.393-08:00LGBTQ JusticeMCCNY Homeless Youth Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03306784645497590002noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-66395559937065636232010-12-09T09:57:00.000-08:002010-12-09T09:57:25.528-08:00<a href="http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4235/for-transgender-homeless-choice-of-shelter-can-prevent-violence">http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4235/for-transgender-homeless-choice-of-shelter-can-prevent-violence</a><br />
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For Transgender Homeless, Choice Of Shelter Can Prevent Violence<br />
A pilot policy to allow transgender people to choose between men's and women's shelters has reduced violence. But women's shelters are safer for either identity.<br />
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Tiffany Jones is legally a man but identifies as a woman. Thanks to a pioneering New York City policy, she was able to go to a women's shelter when she became homeless. Were she to go to a men's shelter, she claims, "I’d be beaten up or raped."<br />
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Tiffany Jones became homeless when she aged out of foster care last year. Although Jones identifies as a woman and takes female hormones, her legal paperwork identifies her as a man. But Jones was pleasantly surprised when she went to apply for help at a men's shelter last September and was asked if she was transgender and wanted to live in a women’s shelter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-48139627898241047302010-06-10T16:09:00.001-07:002010-06-10T16:09:47.593-07:00Passport Gender MarkerJune 10, 2010<br />State Department Issues New Policy Guidelines on Passport Sex Marker Changes<br />Happy LGBT Pride Month! We are very pleased to tell you that the U.S. Department of State today introduced new policy guidelines on changing the sex marker on passports.<br /><br />Beginning today, when a passport applicant presents a doctor's certification that he or she has undergone treatment for gender transition, their passport will be updated to accurately reflect their sex. Sex reassignment surgery is no longer required to change the gender on an American passport. <br /><br />Transgender Americans face extreme danger when traveling abroad in the many countries that are hostile to them. Many also experience harassment when entering and leaving this country. Adoption of this safety-focused policy is a giant step forward in protecting transgender Americans and in fulfilling the State Department's commitment to protect all Americans when they travel, work or live overseas.<br /><br />Under the new policy, it is also possible to obtain a temporary passport in the appropriate sex if a physician's statement shows that an applicant is in the process of gender transition.<br /><br />The new policy and procedures are based on standards and recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). We are happy to bring you this news and we will continue to update our web site with more detailed information.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-38294398580003197412010-06-01T10:33:00.000-07:002010-06-01T10:37:15.143-07:00Lost in the Crowd Interview on BLOGtalk; Queenz of Media & Susi Graf<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NPH8Xdk-SjM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NPH8Xdk-SjM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-21862513270330408692010-05-29T07:39:00.001-07:002010-05-29T07:40:00.280-07:00Tiwonge and StevenA gay couple who were jailed in Malawi have been pardoned by President Bingu wa Mutharika.<br /><br />Mr Mutharika, speaking as UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited Lilongwe, said he had ordered their immediate release.<br /><br />Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were given 14-year jail terms after being convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts.<br /><br />The case has sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country.<br /><br />Mr Ban said he welcomed the president's decision.<br /><br />Correspondents say Malawi is a deeply conservative society where religious leaders equate same-sex liaisons with Satanism.<br /><br />Mr Mutharika, who has in the past dismissed homosexuality as alien, said he had set them free on humanitarian grounds.<br /><br />"These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws," he said after meeting Mr Ban.<br /><br />"However, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions."<br /><br />Aid donors and human rights groups have been putting pressure on his government to respect the rights of minority groups.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-30787434270466934392010-05-27T11:41:00.001-07:002010-05-27T11:41:41.785-07:00<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l16YH6xCN4c&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l16YH6xCN4c&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-75960481195355139882010-05-25T09:45:00.000-07:002010-05-25T09:46:37.196-07:00Invisible: By Samantha Box<a href="http://www.therawfile.org/stories/invisible.html">http://www.therawfile.org/stories/invisible.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-13019296909224628742010-05-25T06:04:00.000-07:002010-05-25T06:05:58.798-07:00DADTWe've just gotten word. Congress is scheduled to vote this week on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" – and we urgently need your help.<br /><br />The right wing has been gearing up for this fight and their barrage of e-mails and calls has already started. It is critical that your legislators hear from you today!<br /><br />In the House, Rep. Jerrold Nadler has already joined the 190 members of Congress who have said they'll vote to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."<br /><br />If we're going to win this, we need as many New York residents as possible to speak out against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" within the next 24 hours.<br /><br />There's not a moment to lose. Click here to help flood Rep. Jerrold Nadler's office with emails calling for an end to this discriminatory law.<br /><br />Every moment this failed law stands, it not only hurts our military readiness and national security – it insults the dignity and equality of every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender American.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/site/R?i=N35gaEewBQdOYYL7oFp5HA..">Your email today will help us show Rep. Nadler that the residents of New York recognize that – on the battlefield – it doesn't matter whether a soldier is lesbian, gay or straight. What matters is that a soldier gets the job done.</a><br /><br />After years of fighting to ensure that men and women in uniform can serve openly, we've never seen this much momentum for repeal. But our progress has been the right's battle cry – and at this pivotal moment, we can't leave a single vote to chance.<br /><a href="http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/site/R?i=zFGL09nlXN_n4w8sX04mrg.."><br />Click here to tell Rep. Nadler to repeal this law now and include a timeline for implementation that allows the Pentagon to complete its study.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-25531738724223800872010-05-18T10:21:00.000-07:002010-05-18T10:48:09.814-07:00Year # 2 of the 40 under FortyHas a whole year gone by already? <br /><br />Congratulations to the new list of 40 Advocates under 40<br /><br />Chad Griffin<br />Rostam Batmanglu<br />Robert Rave<br />Kenyon Farrow<br />Mia Mingus<br />Gloria Bigelow<br />Brigham Yen<br />Coya Artichoker<br />Alex Nicholson<br />Jamie Roberts<br />Nathan Manske<br />Lamalani<br />Jimmy Nguyen<br />Vincent Jones<br />Larkin Mackey<br />Joshua McBride<br />Ireen Wust<br />James Duke Mason<br />Carl Sandler<br />Robert Garcia<br />Jake Shears<br />Jullian Michaels<br />Asher Kolieboi<br />Dean Spade<br />Robert Aguirre-Sacasa<br />Michael Fluck<br />Molly Schiot<br />Luke Montegomery<br />Nate Guidas<br />Kim Storm<br />Selly Thiam<br />Doug Burkman<br />Ben Burkman<br />Jolie Justus<br />Frank Mugisha<br />Tina Marry<br />Shannon Wentworth<br />Adam Bouska<br />Jeffery Self<br />Jarred ZeringueUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-30678476589917194902010-05-18T08:28:00.000-07:002010-05-18T08:28:48.243-07:00TRAILER.mov<object style="background-image:url(http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/l69kEo4uLP8/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l69kEo4uLP8&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l69kEo4uLP8&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-64115263146413917462010-05-18T08:27:00.000-07:002010-05-18T08:28:14.484-07:00lost in the crowd teaser<object style="background-image:url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/WpBp5W791co/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WpBp5W791co&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WpBp5W791co&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-48347028253353290912010-05-10T14:56:00.000-07:002010-05-10T15:01:33.310-07:00College Team Teaches a Lesson in AcceptanceCollege Team Teaches a Lesson in Acceptance<br />Jonathan Cohen for The New York Times<br /><br />Andrew McIntosh (27) at Oneonta College's final home game of the season. He said being an athlete was an obstacle to his coming to terms with being gay.<br />By KATIE THOMAS<br />Published: May 7, 2010<br /><br /><br />ONEONTA, N.Y. — The Oneonta men’s lacrosse team marched two by two onto the field, sticks held with purpose for the final home game of the season. Beneath their helmets, the players flashed hard looks and cheeks smeared with eye black.<br />Enlarge This Image<br />Jonathan Cohen for The New York Times<br /><br />Andrew McIntosh played lacrosse for Oneonta College. He said teammates accepted him when he announced he was gay.<br /><br />Tough and menacing is the team’s reputation around this State University of New York campus in the foothills of the Catskills. Even Dan Mahar, the head coach, acknowledges his players are viewed as a bit “rough around the edges.”<br /><br />But this season, the team is developing a new reputation — as models of tolerance — after one of its captains announced in an online essay in February that he was gay. The senior, Andrew McIntosh, said he had not heard a single disparaging comment from his teammates.<br /><br />“I was embraced with open arms,” he said. “I had teammates come up and give me handshakes, and people saying it takes a lot of guts to do that.”<br /><br />Sports have long been viewed as inhospitable to gay men. The number of American male professional team athletes who have come out can be counted on two hands. In locker rooms, antigay slurs are tossed around as casually as borrowed towels. Yet for those who follow the increasingly common stories of athletes who decide to come out while in college, McIntosh’s story is not an anomaly, but the norm.<br /><br />“For some reason, people continue to think that gay people in sports will have a rough time, but we haven’t seen in 10 years anyone kicked off their team,” said Cyd Zeigler, the co-founder of Outsports.com, referring to male athletes. The site published the essay by McIntosh and has served as a public home for gay athletes to tell their coming-out stories. Since the Web site began in 2000, Zeigler estimates that more than two dozen college and high school athletes have used the site to reveal that they are gay.<br /><br />Still, for players who rely on an athletic scholarship or are beholden to a coach, “you’re afraid of the unknown,” Zeigler said.<br /><br />That was the case for McIntosh, who started playing T-ball in kindergarten and by sixth grade had graduated to football and lacrosse. As he entered high school, sports became a refuge from what McIntosh described as confusing feelings about his sexuality.<br /><br />“I took sports so seriously because I didn’t have a personal life,” he said. “That was my partner. I didn’t have anything to fall back on.”<br /><br />Sometimes, that single-mindedness came at a cost. McIntosh said he tried to commit suicide after his team lost a football game and with it, a chance at the playoffs — one of several times he said he considered taking his life. He blamed his failure on the field on his attraction to men.<br /><br />“I would think to myself, because you’re thinking that way, you lost the game,” he said.<br /><br />In college, McIntosh’s discomfort with his identity led him on a path across New York State, first as a scholarship athlete at C.W. Post University on Long Island, then as a transfer student at SUNY Plattsburgh. He eventually arrived at Division III Oneonta College in the fall of 2008.<br /><br />Being an athlete, he thinks, kept him from coming to terms with his sexual orientation.<br /><br />“I just thought, you cannot be a gay athlete,” he said. “Gay and athlete don’t go together.”<br /><br />At Oneonta, McIntosh made an impression as a confident, serious player. At 6 feet 2 inches and 215 pounds, he is an imposing defender and quickly became a starter. In the classroom, he earned good grades as an adolescent-education major.<br /><br />Mahar said that bus drivers and high school recruits sometimes confused McIntosh for a coach.<br /><br />“He has just very mature, very likeable qualities to him,” Mahar said.<br /><br />McIntosh was just the kind of player that Mahar was trying to cultivate. Mahar was then in his second year as the coach and was working to improve the reputation of the team.<br /><br />“We have some good players, but none of them are going to be drafted,” he said. “My job is to prepare them to go and get real jobs and to be successful after they leave Oneonta.”<br /><br />One afternoon in the spring of 2009, Mahar pulled the team out of practice after some players described one of his drills as “gay.” Mahar said he had been hearing such language on the bus and during practice.<br /><br />“Regardless of how you feel about whether being gay is right or wrong,” Mahar said he told the team, “the language is not appropriate.”<br /><br />For McIntosh, it was a welcome signal.<br /><br />“I had never heard a coach say that before,” McIntosh said.<br /><br />That summer, McIntosh decided to confront his sexual identity. It had been a good year — he had adjusted well, and Mahar had recently named him one of four team captains for his senior year. <br /><br />“I started thinking: ‘What is the matter with me?’ ” McIntosh said. “ ‘Why can’t I beat this?’ That’s how I thought, too: ‘I’m going to beat this.’ And I finally just gave in and just said, ‘This is who I am,’ and I decided I don’t want to live this way.”<br />Enlarge This Image<br />Jonathan Cohen for The New York Times<br /><br />Andrew McIntosh with his father, Robert, and his mother, Cathy. “I figured he'd tell me when he was ready,” she said.<br /><br />McIntosh told those closest to him first: two friends, his sister, his brother, his parents. His sister, who is also gay, directed him to Outsports.com, which McIntosh described as a revelation. Through the site, he became reacquainted with the story of Andrew Goldstein, a Dartmouth lacrosse player who in 2003 revealed to his team that he was gay. McIntosh tracked down Goldstein and sought advice.<br /><br />“I didn’t feel alone anymore,” McIntosh said.<br /><br />McIntosh’s family had known that something was amiss, but “I didn’t know what he was struggling with,” said his mother, Cathy McIntosh. She realized he was gay about a year before he broke the news, she said. “I figured he’d tell me when he was ready.”<br /><br />Later that summer, McIntosh told his coach, broaching the topic first in an e-mail message. For McIntosh, telling Mahar and other athletes presented the greatest risk of rejection.<br /><br />“I didn’t want to seem vulnerable,” he said. “I didn’t want people to think, ‘Oh, he’s not doing too well mentally.’ ”<br /><br />Mahar said he tried to make McIntosh feel as comfortable as possible.<br /><br />“I know that that was a very difficult and anxious conversation for him,” Mahar said. “I wanted Andrew to leave the office knowing he was supported, and this did not change anything as far as I was concerned.”<br /><br />In his online essay, McIntosh wrote that his coach assured him that “if we had a roster of 30 players and 15 of them did not want to play on the team because I was gay, he would tell them to leave the team.”<br /><br />Buoyed by the positive response, McIntosh told the other captains and some of his closest friends on the team. In January, he wrote a thank-you note to Outsports.com. Zeigler suggested that he write his own story.<br /><br />“Everybody has a story that some kid is going to connect with,” Zeigler said.<br /><br />McIntosh agreed. But before it went online, he had to tell his team first. McIntosh asked the coaches to give him some time after practice one day in February.<br /><br />“I just spoke right from the heart,” he said.<br /><br />Several of the players said they were surprised, but ultimately unfazed by McIntosh’s news.<br /><br />“It’s not every day that your lacrosse captain comes out to you,” said Joe Schofield, 20, a sophomore. “I was a little surprised, but it was kind of like, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ ”<br /><br />So how did a team that had once been reprimanded for using insensitive language come to embrace a gay teammate? Goldstein, the former Dartmouth lacrosse player, said the macho atmosphere ultimately did not mean very much.<br /><br />“I think when they find out that the guy next to them — this is his life — it becomes real,” said Goldstein, who briefly played professional lacrosse and is now pursuing a doctorate in molecular biology at U.C.L.A. He was greeted with similar support when he told his Dartmouth team he was gay. “It’s not just some slur that they passed on from hearing from someone else.”<br /><br />Zeigler says the experience of female athletes who are gay is very different. Although they are openly gay in larger numbers than men, he said female athletes had to fight the opposite stereotype — the assumption that all women who play sports are gay. As a result, female athletes who are gay have sometimes encountered harassment from coaches and fellow teammates. For male athletes, however, “the response is either indifference, or it’s positive,” Zeigler said.<br /><br />Mahar said he had heard that a handful of opposing players had yelled epithets at McIntosh during games, and he said one opposing coach falsely accused McIntosh of using inappropriate language before a game — something Mahar said he believed was related to McIntosh’s sexual orientation.<br /><br />Mahar said he planned to address the issue at a conference meeting later this year.<br /><br />But McIntosh said he had never heard anything negative.<br /><br />“It’s really at the point now where we’re just out there to play lacrosse,” McIntosh said.<br /><br />In the locker room, McIntosh said, “it’s business as usual. We talk about life and how is your day going.”<br /><br />If anything, McIntosh and his teammates said, the situation makes for some good jokes.<br /><br />On a team trip to North Carolina earlier this year, “some of us said, ‘I hope a girls’ soccer team shows up at the hotel,’ ” recalled Andy Morris, 20, and a sophomore. “Mac goes, ‘I hope a guys’ soccer team shows up.’ ”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-75368198826690529012010-04-28T16:23:00.000-07:002010-04-28T16:24:06.459-07:00Speaker: Gender issues hurt kids in foster carePosted: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:30 pm | Updated: 12:14 pm, Mon Apr 19, 2010.<br /><br />By SARA GIBONEY Hub Staff Writer | 0 comments<br /><br />KEARNEY — “It wasn’t just the other kids in my group home who were calling me ‘faggot.’ It was the staff, too. I had nowhere to turn for help,” said one child in foster care.<br /><br />A caseworker deems a child unadoptable because of his sexual orientation. Foster parents allow a child to be bullied because he is gay. A lesbian teen in foster care is sent to therapy to “fix” her sexual orientation. A male teen in foster care is forced to participate in masculine activities such as football because he acts femininely.<br /><br />Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender — or GLBT, for short — teens are often bullied, taunted, isolated and degraded when living in foster care, according to Adam McCormick, an associate professor of social work at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.<br /><br />“There really does seem to be, in the foster care system, this denial of existence of GLBT youth in our care or those of us who do acknowledge their existence, a desire for them to remain silent and invisible,” he said.<br /><br />McCormick spoke at the University of Nebraska at Kearney Child Welfare Conference Friday. The theme was “Culturally Sensitive Child Welfare Practice: Putting Children and Families First.”<br /><br />McCormick presented “Maltreatment Experiences of GLBT Youth.”<br /><br />McCormick said 5 percent to 12 percent of youths in foster care identify themselves as GLBT and 20 percent to 40 percent of homeless and runaway youth who us services identify themselves as GLBT.<br /><br />He added that resources on GLBT youths in foster care are limited.<br /><br />“It really does seem to be overlooked and under-investigated,” he said.<br /><br />The number of youths who identify themselves has GLBT is probably greater because many youth don’t feel safe coming out to their foster parents.<br /><br />Many GLBT youths who are not supported run away or are kicked out of their foster home, McCormick said. One in three gay and lesbian youths reported being physically abused shortly after coming out to their caretakers.<br /><br />“GLBT youth, in general, are at an increased likelihood of experiencing some form of abuse whether it be physical abuse, sexual abuse or psychological abuse,” McCormick said.<br /><br /> McCormick said there is an increase in risk behaviors among GLBT youths in foster care. Risk behaviors include truancy, substance abuse, behavioral issues and engaging in criminal activity.<br /><br />Those issues aren’t initially thought to be related to sexual orientation. “But when we dig a little deeper we realize that in many cases it has everything to do with their sexual orientation,” McCormick said.<br /><br />GLBT youths often bounce from foster home to foster home.<br /><br />Seventy-eight percent of gay and lesbian youths in care report that they were removed from or ran away from their most recent placement because of issues related to sexual orientation.<br /><br />“In many cases, their experiences don’t get much better. In many cases, they get much worse,” McCormick said.<br /><br />When youths are punished for coming out, he said, they often experience significant psychological damage.<br /><br />“Essentially, what we’re doing is punishing them when they’re really the only ones who have done nothing wrong,” McCormick said.<br /><br />McCormick said agencies should adopt written, nondiscrimination policies; provide training to youths, staff and caregivers about GLBT issues; address negative attitudes about people who are GLBT; reach out to the GLBT community to recruit agency staff, volunteers and mentors; include GLBT books and magazines in agency resource libraries; use respectful terminology that does not make assumptions about individual’s sexual identity; and work closely with GLBT youths to address their needs.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-25719275555713425232010-04-28T11:52:00.000-07:002010-04-28T12:03:08.449-07:00First public gay wedding in ChinaEarly this month, China celebrated its first gay wedding – unofficial, but the male couple say they will ‘never desert’ each other. 47-year-old Zeng Ge and 27-year-old Xiao Pan tied the knot in a small bar in Chengdu on January 3rd.<br /><br /> "We are no longer hiding any more. The wedding is our happiest and most precious moment. Thousands of gays and lesbians get married in France, Finland, the UK. Why couldn't we?" Zeng, a divorced architect, told China Daily.<br /><br />Zeng met Pan, 27, a demobilized soldier last November at a bar. They fell in love with each other at first sight, he said.<br /><br /> "His bright and enchanting smile almost blinded me. And I am so addicted to his gentle and soft voice."<br /><br />At the ceremony, while most were from Xiao Pan and Zeng Ge's inner circle, there were a couple of onlookers. As they put their rings on each other, some "acted as if they were watching animals, some even kept pointing here and there," said Zeng Ge.<br /><br />Ever since the gay couple made their relationship public in November they have been the subject of revilement from family and friends.<br /><br /> "All the capital in my company has been frozen by my younger brother.<br /><br /> "My sister warned me she would never call me her brother unless I break up with Pan; and I have answered hundreds of phone calls from friends and relatives, who say they feel ashamed of me.<br /><br /> "But we are deeply in love and will never desert each other," Zeng told China Daily.<br /><br />Zeng said the couple feared discrimination and had thus moved to a small town near Chengdu where they were unknown to avoid unwanted attention.<br /><br />Gay sex was legalised in China in 1997, and homosexuality ceased being classed as a mental illness in 2001.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-50222301797030665842010-04-17T14:21:00.001-07:002010-04-17T14:21:38.314-07:00<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/14/transgender.irpt/index.html?iref=allsearch">http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/14/transgender.irpt/index.html?iref=allsearch</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-76783331968298830152010-04-14T08:21:00.000-07:002010-04-14T08:25:17.856-07:00www.kickedoutanthology.com<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRX53LP_1AZCNMtMUxdtX1aXx1-bJDbwbjLNCrhgAgtuMvQFlymU5apMmbY4zjtcQSG1LlIa-zjJ4kvXxwY8zzepbzMry8Q0gH3h9z_JvltJX7ZpyM0RMzHs2EKJZgXo-t9ojmksTtXWs/s1600/kickedout4.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRX53LP_1AZCNMtMUxdtX1aXx1-bJDbwbjLNCrhgAgtuMvQFlymU5apMmbY4zjtcQSG1LlIa-zjJ4kvXxwY8zzepbzMry8Q0gH3h9z_JvltJX7ZpyM0RMzHs2EKJZgXo-t9ojmksTtXWs/s320/kickedout4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460014463283224114" /></a><br /><a href="http://kickjedoutanthology.com"><span style="font-weight:bold;">link here<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span></a><br /><object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10526322&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10526322&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/10526322">Kicked Out: New York Release</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2571891">Samantha Stark</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-7195010712497367322010-04-14T08:10:00.001-07:002010-04-14T08:10:51.567-07:00Pass this on to your networks,Help reverse the damage that will done by this misrepresentation. Please forward widely as this will undoubtedly effect stigma and suicide rates among the next generation of LGBTQ Youth at the most crucial time in their development,<br /><br />-- <br />Lucky S.Michaels<br />--<br /><br />The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) is a small, mostly southern anti-gay advocacy group consisting of notorious activists and angry doctors who have an axe to grind with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). They are upset because the group has a pro-gay stance (and scientific) that claims:<br /><br />Therapy directed specifically at changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.<br /><br />To counter the AAP’s research-based conclusion, the ACP produced an error-riddled website, Facts About Youth, that grossly distorts research for political gain. To read more on this bastardization of real science check out Box Turtle Bulletin and Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s sites. Worse, the ACP sent a letter to more than 10,000 school superintendents to promote the site. One can only imagine the harm this might do to LGBT youth who come out in school.<br /><br />Today, Dr. Gary Remafedi, M.D., M.P.H., a University of Minnesota researcher wrote a blistering letter to the American College of Pediatricians to hold them accountable for misusing his research. Here is the letter in its entirety. Take the time to read it – it is worth it.<br /><br />TO: American College of Pediatricians<br /><br />Dear colleagues,<br /><br />I am deeply concerned about misstatements attributed to our research on the “Facts about Youth” website of the American College of Pediatricians (http://factsaboutyouth.com/ [accessed on April 12, 2010]), as they appear in the “Letter to School Officials” and “What You Should Know as a School Official.”<br /><br />The first reference to our research in these documents deceptively states: “Rigorous studies demonstrate that most adolescents who initially experience same-sex attraction, or are sexually confused, no longer experience such attractions by age 25. In one study, as many as 26% of 12-year-olds reported being uncertain of their sexual orientation1…”<br /><br />Although the finding (“26% of 12-year-olds…”) is accurately reported, the sentence preceding it invites misinterpretation. Our original interpretation, as presented in the discussion section of the paper, is: “Taken together, these data suggest that uncertainty about sexual orientation and perceptions of bisexuality gradually give way to heterosexual or homosexual identification with passage of time and/or with increasing sexual experience.”<br /><br />The second reference to our research in your handout erroneously states:<br /><br />Among adolescents who claim a “gay” identity, the health risks include higher rates of sexually transmitted infections, alcoholism, substance abuse, anxiety, depression and suicide. Delaying such labeling significantly reduces these medical and psychiatric health risks. For example, researchers find that adolescents who defer “coming out as gay” decrease the risk of suicide at a rate of 20 percent for each year that they delay self-labeling as homosexual or bisexual.15<br /><br />This paragraph is wrong on two counts:<br /><br />1) It incorrectly reports the results of the research and, once again, misrepresents the conclusions. As a matter of fact, we wrote:<br /><br />For each year’s delay in homosexual or bisexual self-labeling, the odds of a suicide attempt diminished by 80%. These findings support a previously observed, inverse relationship between psychosocial problems and the age of acquiring a homosexual identity. Compared with older adolescents, early and middle adolescents may be generally less able to cope with the isolation and stigma of a homosexual identity;<br /><br />2) Citing our work (reference #15) at the end of the paragraph would attribute the content of the entire paragraph to our publication when, in fact, the first sentence (“Among adolescents who claim…”) is not what we have written.<br /><br />As the first author of the two publications in question and the authorized contact for related communications, I am responding to the inaccuracies in your website documents on behalf of the investigative group. However, the following reactions and suggested remedies are from my own personal perspective, and my co-authors may contribute additional thoughts and suggestions at their discretion.<br /><br />I have previously encountered and confronted the problem of misrepresentation of research from other advocacy groups such as yours. However, this episode is especially troubling and egregious because it is led by colleagues within my own profession— who certainly have the ability, education, and experience to access, review, and accurately summarize the Pediatric scientific literature.<br /><br />Our professional code demands of Pediatricians nothing short of the highest standards of ethical conduct in medical education, research, and patient care. Knowingly misrepresenting research findings for material or personal gain is a flagrant violation of this code of conduct. Implicating me in this chicanery is doubly damaging to my professional reputation and career by holding me accountable for misstatements and by associating me with a cause that most ethical Pediatricians will recognize as misguided and hurtful to an entire class of children and families.<br /><br />Please immediately remove any reference to our work from the website. As a suitable remedy, I also would urge you take the following actions:<br /><br />1) Publicly retract your references to our research with a written statement posted on the home page of your website;<br /><br />2) Until then, any donations made to your organization since the “Facts about Youth” website was launched should be either returned to the donors or contributed to the LGBT youth research fund of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.<br /><br />I look forward to your prompt attention and response to these issues.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Gary Remafedi, M.D., M.P.H.<br />Professor, Department of Pediatrics<br />University of Minnesota<br />CC: Robert Blum, M.D., PhD; Michael Resnick PhD; James Farrow M.D.<br /><br />1. Researcher Reprimands Sham Pediatric Group for Distorting Research<br /><br />On April 12, Dr. Gary Remafedi, MD, MPH, a University of Minnesota researcher, wrote a letter to the American College of Pediatricians holding them accountable for misusing his research. The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) – not to be confused with the 60,000 member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – has distributed over 10,000 letters to school superintendents containing factually inaccurate information about sexual orientation and gender identity and promoting unsupported and potentially dangerous “reparative therapies” for LGBT students. The ACP is a small advocacy group masquerading as a legitimate medical organization. Founders of the ACP left the AAP after the organization adopted policy rejecting the use of “reparative therapy.”<br /><br />Last week, the AAP sent letters to state chapter leaders warning them about the letters and the activities of the ACP. This week, AAP state chapters will be distributing letters to state education officials, advising education officials that the ACP’s campaign, “does not acknowledge the scientific evidence regarding sexual identity, sexual health, sexual orientation, or effective health education." The letter also directs education officials to a report, Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel, a resource developed by the AAP in collaboration with the American Psychological Association (APA) and other prominent national professional associations. The AAP urges education officials to reference this document in communications to school superintendents and other educators in their states.<br /><br />Information: To read the letter by Gary Remafedi, go to http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2010/04/8136/.<br /><br />To read the report Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth, developed by the AAP, APA, and other prominent national professional associations, go to http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/just-the-facts.pdf.<br /><br />To read a recent blog post from HRC Family Project Director Ellen Kahn on HRC Back Story, go to http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2010/04/ideology-trumps-childrens-well-being/.<br /><br /><br />-- <br />Lucky S.MichaelsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-46928688884006311162010-04-09T09:31:00.001-07:002010-04-09T09:36:44.971-07:00Jamaica Stages First Public ‘Gay Pride<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Dckn2r0OQnygEZLF-g_A4TqTgE61jM2v22hr5brW5sqHN5aCnNsHCRTuUBP4K9AiGIrMH7VriLdXKkgIEpDUrm9i-BLoG4Hf6wvyJDtv8WiEGOnKERBttNxCsfNb1VPlA73pSQ-5Wh4/s1600/JamaicaPride011.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Dckn2r0OQnygEZLF-g_A4TqTgE61jM2v22hr5brW5sqHN5aCnNsHCRTuUBP4K9AiGIrMH7VriLdXKkgIEpDUrm9i-BLoG4Hf6wvyJDtv8WiEGOnKERBttNxCsfNb1VPlA73pSQ-5Wh4/s320/JamaicaPride011.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458177574545709106" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygKv72BZpvjk_pwwHxZunKxRmGjAvQHcDsaiNfheCPkSjx0WlvAd7nkiLiUK_dS61719949czYniWXKZQePvvPie2FmgLeiZMCHRO8I954PoR8R3TPLe0e-SyFoLf8NauNCJAddgJDrM/s1600/JamaicaPride002.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygKv72BZpvjk_pwwHxZunKxRmGjAvQHcDsaiNfheCPkSjx0WlvAd7nkiLiUK_dS61719949czYniWXKZQePvvPie2FmgLeiZMCHRO8I954PoR8R3TPLe0e-SyFoLf8NauNCJAddgJDrM/s320/JamaicaPride002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458177466079127058" /></a><br />MONTEGO BAY, April 8, 2010 – Imagine. Gay Pride in Jamaica. The words of William Urich, the chair of InterPride Committee on International GLBTI Human Rights, on the first public Pride even on the Caribbean island which was staged yesterday.<br /><br />Officially, it was the Walk for Tolerance from Howard Cooke Park, along Howard Cooke Boulevard and ending on the beach.<br /><br />“Yesterday was an amazing day, here in Montego Bay,” he told UK Gay News. “My eyes well up at the very thought of the day's outstanding and astounding success.”<br /><br />Encouragingly, the walk had police support, Mr. Urich added.<br /><br />Around 100 took part in the walk, which was headed by Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson, the openly lesbian presiding bishop of the International Movement of Metropolitan Community Churches.<br /><br />One participant commented: “I never thought I would live to see the day that this could happen in Jamaica.”<br /><br />And other ‘buzz phrases’ heard at the event included “I'm exercising my rights”, “I feel so liberated”, “I have validation”, and “exuberant”<br /><br />The Walk for Tolerance was organised by Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) is Jamaica’s oldest and largest Non-Governmental Organization working in the area of HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and care.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-14312037286919844032010-04-09T09:24:00.000-07:002010-04-09T09:43:50.776-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxInK507a-31iA821Oa6eEmBFUATWTwWug7Ru-XRhHfjXHj2EDFxW_YPEGKl-wVH_ZmOEnKE44e6Q0XLwj770bhDglhqHdpXEP-2RNBL7LY1NVPAjgfLFtHABMLjolG9aXwP91Uwo1GKw/s1600/JamaicaPride027.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 294px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxInK507a-31iA821Oa6eEmBFUATWTwWug7Ru-XRhHfjXHj2EDFxW_YPEGKl-wVH_ZmOEnKE44e6Q0XLwj770bhDglhqHdpXEP-2RNBL7LY1NVPAjgfLFtHABMLjolG9aXwP91Uwo1GKw/s320/JamaicaPride027.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458179220143724978" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-17740402033392902832010-04-02T10:06:00.001-07:002010-04-02T10:06:12.702-07:00Maranatha: Riversiders for LGBT Concerns presents a discussion on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer ministry. <br /> <br />Sunday, April 11, 2010<br />1:00 p.m.<br /><br />The Riverside Church<br /><br />Room 411 MLK<br /><br />Wendy Sealey, Rev. Melvin Miller and Rev. Pat Bumgardner will be speaking from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Room 411 MLK on April 11th. They will address youth, homeless outreach, and ecumenical issues regarding LGBT ministry.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-79150259613194401312010-04-02T09:49:00.000-07:002010-04-02T09:50:22.225-07:00Kicked Out of Prom - Kicked Out of Home.http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/2/852587/-WLGB-Presents:-Kicked-out-of-prom,-Kicked-out-of-homeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-80781299158891436472010-04-02T09:48:00.000-07:002010-04-02T09:49:19.106-07:00Supes told of LGBT harassment in city shelters NEWSPublished 04/01/2010 <br />by Seth Hemmelgarn <br />s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com<br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br />Orlon Ryel, with his dog, Armani, speaks at the Board of Supervisors' Government Audit and Oversight Committee about his treatment in San Francisco's homeless shelters. Photo: Rick Gerharter <br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Print this Page <br /> Send to a Friend <br /> Share on Facebook <br /> Share on Twitter <br /> Share on MySpace! <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />San Francisco Supervisor David Campos was among those expressing support last week for an LGBT-friendly shelter after dozens of people testified at a Board of Supervisors committee hearing about harassment in San Francisco's shelters.<br /><br />The abuse is often met with indifference by the facilities' staff, many said, and nearly everyone testifying called for a shelter for LGBTs.<br /><br />After the Thursday, March 25 meeting of the supervisors' government audit and oversight committee, Campos, who is openly gay, told the Bay Area Reporter that there's "clearly a need" for an LGBT-friendly shelter and supervisors "need to think about it as we're looking at next year's budget."<br /><br />"The current shelter system is not addressing the needs" of homeless LGBTs, said Campos. Having an LGBT-friendly shelter would be "an important step."<br /><br />Campos is not on the committee but had asked for the hearing.<br /><br />Problems in the shelters have been well-known among queer homeless advocates, but the supervisors appeared shocked at the testimony and grilled a staffer from the Human Services Agency, which oversees the shelters.<br /><br />People testified about being called "faggot," being afraid to use bathrooms or showers, and dealing with staff who at times participated in the harassment, among other problems. Many people said they would rather sleep on the streets then stay in one of the city's shelters. <br /><br />Jason Skerik testified that on his first night in a shelter he was called a "faggot" and he was pressured to give up his bed. He left the shelter and stayed on the streets. <br /><br />"Staff had no control over the situation," he said, but "they were doing the best they could."<br /><br />Orlon Ryel, a transsexual man, discussed the separate quarters for men and women in one shelter and said when he had asked staff where he could stay, his request was met with "giggles and grins."<br /><br />"They really had no idea what to do with me," Ryel said. <br /><br />He also said during his shelter experience he couldn't find a safe place to shower, go to the bathroom, or sleep, and he felt under "constant threat."<br /><br />Beck, who goes by one name and identifies as transgender/queer, is the youth program coordinator for the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. He said he deals with up to 300 queer homeless youth a year, and it's "high time this issue be addressed." <br /><br />He said every day, someone gets off a Greyhound bus in San Francisco, seeing the city as "a beacon of light," but it often takes months for them to find housing.<br /><br />Beck said nothing is being done about the harassment people face. Staff can be transphobic, he said, and there's a lack of training. He said youth need a chance to evaluate their own services, and there should be a queer and homeless youth board.<br /><br />Marcus Arana, a transgender man who's also known as Holy Old Man Bull, is a contract compliance officer for the city's Human Rights Commission. He said the commission has had dozens of trainings for the shelters, but they're hearing some of the same complaints about the same staff members. <br /><br />He said from 2003 to 2010 there were 40 recorded complaints related to LGBTs. Those included complaints related to transgender women being segregated unnecessarily into separate shower times from non-transgender women; staff and clients using incorrect pronouns or using pronouns in a mocking way; and clients making threats of violence out of the hearing of shelter staff, so that the transgender person felt intimidated and could not sustain a complaint because shelter staff didn't witness the offense, he wrote in an e-mail after the hearing.<br /><br />Arana also said dozens of other cases were often resolved with a phone call or an e-mail to the shelter. <br /><br />Tommi Avicolli Mecca, a longtime queer activist who works with the Housing Rights Committee, said the hearing was "amazing" but also said "we need more LGBT-specific housing and we need it now." He added the people present barely scratched the surface of LGBTs who have had problems at the shelters. <br /><br />There are currently only a handful of housing slots specifically designated for homeless queer youth. Avicolli Mecca and others pointed out there are housing needs for all age groups.<br /><br />Karen Gruneisen, associate director of Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, was one of the few shelter representatives to speak at the hearing. Gruneisen said her agency should be held accountable, but noted employees have due process rights, and said "we can't get rid of homophobia in our community." <br /><br />After testimony from three other people, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell expressed concern about Gruneisen's testimony.<br /><br />"If you're getting our money, there's really, really no excuse" for inaction, said Maxwell, who sits on the committee along with Supervisors Eric Mar and Carmen Chu. "As a city, and as a county ... if I'm looking at budget issues, I want to know something's being done" about harassment of LGBTs in the shelters, she said.<br /><br />In a phone interview the morning after the hearing, Gruneisen told the B.A.R. , "discrimination on any basis is not tolerable in our shelter or anybody else's shelter." She said staff "work to create a culture of respect and understanding" through policies, trainings, and other means.<br /><br />She and Maxwell had met after the hearing, and Gruneisen said, "I think we came to a better understanding of what I was saying and what she was reacting to." Maxwell didn't respond to a request for a follow-up interview about the hearing.<br /><br />Gruneisen said that since July 2009, there have been 10 to 15 complaints related to transgender women. Those included complaints from clients who wanted transgender women assigned to a different area.<br /><br />A 'disconnect'<br /><br />Scott Walton, manager of adult programs in the housing and homeless division of the city's Human Services Agency, testified that policies and procedures are in place addressing verbal threats, physical assaults, and derogatory language.<br /><br />But Campos said there was "a very clear disconnect" between the policies and procedures Walton described and the reality that people accessing the system seemed to be experiencing.<br /><br />Maxwell eventually told Walton, "When people come and the room is full, we have a responsibility to find out what's going on."<br /><br />In his response, Walton said, "We're hearing things today we're not hearing through our complaints and grievance procedures." <br /><br />According to Walton, most shelters in the city have reported that no LGBT-related concerns or complaints have been raised in the last nine months.<br /><br />After the hearing, Campos mentioned the possibility of putting a working group together to address the issues brought up at the hearing that would include people from the LGBT community and city departments.<br /><br />He said he hoped for another hearing in the next few weeks, once the Human Services Agency and others have had time to collect more informationUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-61580368053397066292010-03-31T11:44:00.000-07:002010-03-31T11:46:02.544-07:00Argentine Congress to talk with Trans IndividualsThe Argentine Congress debate the laws of identity for people transShare .. Yesterday at 10:48 a.m. <br />LGBT Federation ATTTA Argentina (Association of Shemales Transsexuals and Transgender) invites an encounter between the trans concerning the country and deputies as the nation. <br /><br />The aim of the conference is to present the identity projects for trans people (transvestites, transsexuals, transgender) presented in the National Congress of the Federation and Argentina LGBT Rep. Silvia Augsburger. Also will discuss the projects submitted by the National Institute against Discrimination at the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights. <br /><br />The meeting will be held on Wednesday March 31 at 10:30 pm. Heads in the Hall of the House of Deputies. <br /><br />Trans people have hindered, if not forbidden, our right to identity in Argentina. From very small we are assaulted at school, and for our own family, usually ending, at an average age of 12 years on the street for the sole use of sex work, for our livelihood. At this point we restrict access to health, education and work, among other rights, result of which our life expectancy is 35 years (data reported by the Office of the Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires .) <br /><br />This is one case in which discrimination clearly a situation of extreme exclusion and marginalization that restricts access of people to their human rights and basic civil. To end this situation, we must first remove all legal obstacles that make trans people see we are prevented from freely exercising our right to identity. This requires: <br /><br />- The repeal of the Code of Misdemeanors and Misdemeanor <br />- Adoption of a law authorizing the Trans Identity modification of the registry changes without sex reassignment surgery or judicial authorization <br />- Adoption of a law of health care for trans people to authorize treatment and sex reassignment surgery without judicial authorization <br /><br />To converse with the trans concerning about this situation and the proposals in Congress to advance the recognition of their rights, we invite you to talk with us. <br /><br /><br />For more information: <br /><br />Maria Rachid, president of the Federation LGBT Argentina: 15 6548-9608 <br />Marcela Romero, ATTTA Coordinator and Vice President of the Federación Argentina LGBT 16 64764182 <br />Claudia Pia Baudracco, ATTTA Coordinator 15 62642973 <br />Esteban Paulón, Secretary General of the Federation LGBT Argentina: 0341 15 6068171Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-65866242631895201592010-03-30T15:30:00.001-07:002010-03-30T15:30:19.123-07:00Advocate To Partner With NBC News<br /><br />The parent company of The Advocate announced today that they have inked a partnership deal with NBC News. Via press release:<br /><br /> Here Media and The Advocate, the world’s leading gay news source, announced today their new affiliate deal with NBC News Channel, an NBC News unit that provides content services to NBC television affiliates and other selected news outlets around the world. It’s the first partnership of its kind between NBC News Channel and an LGBT news outlet. The award-winning Advocate.com will now utilize NBC News Channel’s worldwide resources to create daily news segments that will air online and on air. The new collaboration continues The Advocate’s strategic overall expansion. The brand now produces its iconic print publication, breaking news and video content on Advocate.com, and The Advocate On-Air, a television and online newsmagazine.<br /><br /> “Media continues to evolve, and The Advocate continues to grow and deliver news and entertainment across all platforms,” said Paul Colichman, CEO of Here Media. “The Advocate’s partnership with NBC News Channel allows our brand a unique opportunity to focus an LGBT lens on issues important to gay and lesbian Americans and their families. Our editors and expert journalists look forward to breaking new ground in a diverse media landscape.” Advocate.com will host daily video news reports using footage from NBC News and its local television affiliates. Additionally, NBC News can access America’s most trusted gay news source by using Advocate talent and content when reporting on important gay issues to its predominantly mainstream audiences.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-72166229149022529012010-03-30T05:51:00.001-07:002010-03-30T05:51:33.540-07:00MOHAWK — <br />A federal judge today approved a settlement that includes a series of reforms for the Mohawk Central School District in a gay student’s harassment lawsuit. <br />As part of the settlement, the school district agreed to the following: <br />Working with the Anti-Defamation League and to hold staff training on appropriate ways to address issues of harassment; <br />Reviewing its policies and procedures governing harassment based on sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation; <br />Reporting to the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Department of Justice on these efforts as well as its ongoing response to complaints of discrimination and harassment.<br />The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the school district in August on behalf of a student who alleged that he was repeatedly harassed, threatened and physically assaulted at school for being gay and not conforming to gender stereotypes. The civil rights lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, maintained that district officials were aware of the bullying and did nothing to stop it. The school district denied the allegations in the complaint. <br />The student, identified by his attorney’s only as Jacob. was entering the ninth grade at Gregory B. Jarvis Junior/Senior High School when the lawsuit was filed earlier this school year. He has since transferred to a high school in another district. <br />The lawsuit drew the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed a motion to intervene in the case on Jacob’s behalf. That motion was pending when settlement negotiations commenced. <br />Under the settlement, Jacob has agreed to dismiss the lawsuit against the school district and its employees, and the Justice Department agreed to withdraw its motion to intervene. <br /><br />Copyright 2010 The Observer-Dispatch. Some rights reservedUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097007987588790493.post-83671291091424867482010-03-19T12:45:00.001-07:002010-03-19T12:45:32.302-07:00Kicked OutHi Everyone!<br />Just wanted to remind you that the NYC release of Kicked Out is TONIGHT 7pm at The Center! (208 West 13th St.) in room 310<br /><br />I would really love to see you there. This book has been in the making for over two years. Its release has been a long time coming and I really value the support that you have given to me during that time and want you to be there to celebrate with me and the rest of the local contributors<br /><br />There will be incredible readings from local authors as well as beautiful art on display.<br /><br />Hope to see you there!<br /><br />SassafrasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0