Friday, September 28. 2007NYC Birth Certificate Policy Unfair to Transgendered
By Dennis DeLeon and Pauline Park, originally published on the September 07, 2007 issue of New York Blade
 Transgendered people who live in a gender different from the sex assigned to them at birth face pervasive discrimination in employment, housing, social services, health care, and public accommodations as well as travel when their personal identification documents appear inconsistent with their gender presentation.In 2002, New York City became the 43rd jurisdiction in the United States to enact a statute explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression; today, there are 95 such jurisdictions, including 86 localities and nine states. However, non-discrimination legislation does not address one important aspect of public policy: issuing new birth certificates to those who are living in a gender other than that assigned to them at birth. The birth certificate is the governing identity document in our legal system, and those who cannot get the legal sex designation on that document changed still face the possibility of discrimination even if they have been able to get that “gender marker” changed on other documents. Continue reading "NYC Birth Certificate Policy Unfair to Transgendered" Thursday, September 27. 2007The Matthew Shepard Act Has Passed the Senate!!!
But we're not done yet. Before I get into that, though, here are some links to news stories: Senate attaches hate crimes measure to Iraq spending bill, Guardian Unlimited, September 27, 2007 U.S. Senate Passes Hate Crimes Bill By Huge Margin, But Bush Veto Looms, EdgeBoston, September 27, 2007 Senate Passes Matthew Shepard Act, Queerty, September 27, 2007 The important thing to note is that this is as far as the MSA got in 2004. It then got stripped when the House and Senate were putting together the final war spending bill that would actually get on the President's desk, because they knew he would veto it (and all of the attached essential legislation). So what do we do now? Continue reading "The Matthew Shepard Act Has Passed the Senate!!!" Saturday, September 22. 2007Larry Craig and the ACLU Want You to Lick Your Lips at a Police Officer Just when you thought the world couldn't get any weirder, a homophobic, anti-Marriage Equality, conservative, Republican senator might just make it safe for queers to cruise in public bathrooms, parks, rest stops, truck stops, saunas, gyms, and locker rooms!When the whole Larry Craig thing started going down, I was (as you've all probably guessed or read) pretty cranky about the whole thing. And by cranky, I mean royally, er...senatorially pissed! Pissed at Craig, at the police, at our sex-panicking society, and at other queers for actively participating in the latest faggot freakshow simply because it would get an anti-gay senator out of the Senate. Two weeks ago, the only silver lining I could find on this cloud was that the word "toe-tapper" was ironically reclaimed in about the same short time that it had become a slur. I, for one, get tired of spitting out bitch, cocksucker, fudgepacker, cum slut, and fag -- thank god for the addition of toe-tapper to my repetoire! And then came the ACLU. Continue reading "Larry Craig and the ACLU Want You to Lick Your Lips at a Police Officer" Friday, September 21. 2007Fag Bug: A roadtrip against homophobia On April 18, 2007, my VW bug was tagged with the words "fag" and "u r gay" on the hood and driver's side of my car for sporting a rainbow sticker. Rather than get it fixed, I decided to embrace what happened and keep the words on my car to evoke a dialogue with the general public about homophobia and hate crimes. Often times people think this type of thing doesn't happen because they don't see it. Not only did I want America to see it, I wanted help coming up with a solution so I launched a 58 day cross country trip with my car that is now known worldwide as the fagbug.Continue reading "Fag Bug: A roadtrip against homophobia" Thursday, September 20. 2007What do you think?Tuesday, September 18. 2007Free state decides against freedom to marry It's a sad day for freedom in the Free State. The Maryland Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) handed down a decision that upholds the current state law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman thereby rejecting a lawsuit by 19 queers who were fighting for the right to marry their same-sex partners. As this is the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals decision is final and can not be appealed since it deals with the Maryland constitution.The sadness is poignant and resonates with this writer who was born and raised in Maryland and whose great-grandparents settled in the state in pursuit of freedom from the institutionalized persecution they were subjected to in "the old country". While Alanis Morissette may define irony as rain on your wedding day, I would propose that irony is actually being denied the freedom to marry in a state that's nickname is The Free State. Continue reading "Free state decides against freedom to marry" Thursday, September 6. 2007Comment threadWednesday, September 5. 2007At Least He Knows How to Apologize Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Get Their Fag On As you might remember, I've been keeping my eyes peeled regarding how and why and when people (particularly straight folks) use "faggot" and its variations in public discourse. So here are a few news tidbits on Jerry Lewis' recent fumble into maligning the faggily-inclined: Jerry Lewis Echoes Isaiah, Apologizes (E! Online), September 4, 2007 GLAAD goes after Nutty Jerry (Queerty), September 4, 2007 Jerry Lewis Apologizes for "Fag" Slur (Towleroad), September 4, 2007 What's particularly weird about this one is that it was during a Telethon to raise money for children. In what universe is the usage of any slur in that situation even close to okay? Could you imagine him running up and down the stage going: "Here's Candy, the 'spic ho. And Larry, the nigger lardass..." What a world, what a world. Saturday, September 1. 2007And Big Mouth Said, "Let Them be Straight..."
Let 'em. "Why?" you ask. Because they are. Once again we find ourselves in the midst of another gay freakshow where the scandalous misdeeds of a dishonest, promiscuous, sexually out of control faggot, who can't keep his dick in his pants (or at least pointed at a urinal solely for purposes of waste elimination) is being shoved into the public eye in order to sell papers. The problem with this characterization? Oh, yeah, he's not a fag. As Craig stated after thanking everyone "for coming out" (Fastlad's preposition of the year): "I am not gay. I never have been gay." And once again, I say let him be not gay. Them. All of them. Because when I think of LBGTQ 'n' Q people, of pansies, of faggots, of fudgepackers, rugmunchers, poofs, dykes, and homos I think of the out, proud, smart, sexy, and fun-loving bunch I call my friends and neighbors. That's gay to me - not an ugly, self-hating white guy who lies to his family, constituents, country, and Self. So if LC wants to hit it on the DL, dawg, then why argue with him? A gay person could never do what he's done. Who could do it? A straight person. A person so straight that he should be writing posts for Big Straight Blog. So straight he should be the standard bearer for assholes so into maintaining a bigoted, hate-fueled social order that he would turn against himself. So straight that he could live a life of lies that no real gay person ever could. I mean, if he'd just identified as gay 40 years ago (or earlier or later), the life he's leading now wouldn't have been possible. He would be a strong, proud gay dude, not a weak, lying straight fucktard.Continue reading "And Big Mouth Said, "Let Them be Straight..."" |
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The third time truly is a charm! After not passing in 2002 and then passing the Senate but getting stripped out of a larger spending bill in 2004, the push to condemn hate crimes against GLBTQ 'n' Q Americans has been validated on a Federal level.
Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, et al.
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