After Ten Years, Hate Crimes Legislation Finally Signed Into Law
Published October 29, 2009 @ 05:06AM PT
It's been a long decade, spanning Matthew Shepard (the University of Wyoming student killed in 1998 for being gay) to Jack Price (the 49-year-old Queens resident who was beaten into a coma two weeks ago by thugs who targeted him for being gay). But finally, LGBT rights advocates got to watch yesterday as President Obama signed expanded federal hate crimes legislation that includes protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability.
As a result, civil rights took a major leap forward yesterday, and the federal government has finally done something to curb the rising statistics of hate crimes committed toward members of the LGBT population.
Obama gave a short speech after signing the bill into law (the bill itself was attached to a larger defense spending measure), where he said that nobody in America should ever feel afraid to walk down the street holding the hand of the person they love. And though the President has been hit or miss on many of the issues facing the LGBT world, the man had his game on yesterday in his comments.
"We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear," Obama said. "No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability. At root, this isn't just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another -- whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus."
Five Gay Rights Questions Oprah Winfrey Should Ask Sarah Palin
Published October 28, 2009 @ 06:53AM PT
Sarah Palin is about to go rogue. On November 17, the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate and current star of the GOP speaking circuit is set to launch her first book, Going Rogue. She's dabbling with some speaking engagements to support the book -- most notably attending an extremely anti-gay college in Missouri that actually disciplines students for holding hands with someone of the same gender -- and the day before the book launch, Palin will sit down on the world's most famous couch, right next to Oprah Winfrey.
There's no word on whether she'll Tom Cruise it up and jump up and down, but it's certainly bound to be one of the more interesting hours of television this Fall season. Oprah was a huge Obama supporter, so that already creates some fun tension, and then we all know how Sarah Palin gets when the TV cameras turn on (the Katie Couric that will live in infamy comes to mind...).
Since Oprah will have the biggest GOP celebrity on her set, here's hoping that the issue of LGBT rights comes up at least once. Given Palin's rhetoric on the subject, it would be nice to see someone press the former Governor to ask her why she thinks the way she thinks about many things related to gay and lesbian Americans. Perhaps Oprah is the person who can do it. Here are our five gay rights questions that we'd like to see the Queen of Daytime Television ask the Queen of the Republican Party.
Scholastic Reverses Decision to Exclude Gay Friendly Book from Fairs
Published October 27, 2009 @ 09:15PM PT
During the past 48 hours more than 4,000 Change.org members joined in calling for Scholastic Books to reverse their decision to exclude a book from Scholastic's popular book fairs, simply because the book featured two moms raising a child. The book in question is Luv Ya Bunches by best-selling children’s book author Lauren Myracle. If this book isn't on your must-read list yet, it should be simply for its ability to spark conversations about the role LGBT parents play in our society.
Late today we got word, after discussions with Scholastic representatives, that the company has decided to reverse their earlier decision and include the book in their spring book fairs. That's an awesome victory from one of the biggest and most influential educational book publishers and book retailers in the world, and it sends the clear message that there's absolutely nothing wrong with two men or two women raising a child.
You can read Scholastic's full statement right here. The statement doesn’t speak to the reasons they initially excluded Luv Ya Bunches from their book fairs (which was because Myracle included same sex parents and refused to include a heterosexual couple when that was requested by Scholastic), but it does make clear that not only will they be including Luv Ya Bunches in their spring fairs, but they have also affirmed that they “are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.”
That’s great news, and we applaud Scholastic’s commitment of not discriminating against books with LGBT characters moving forward. It’s also worth noting that their response is part of a larger trend where companies have to act fast in order to respond to the calls from activists to respect equal rights. This is the fourth occasion in less than 6 months here on the Gay Rights blog in which companies have changed their ways in response to actions from the Change.org community. Whether it's ROCKSTAR Energy Drink, Tim Horton's Coffee, Live Nation or Scholastic Books, the message here is pretty clear: people will not tolerate anti-gay business practices, regardless of the intentions behind them.
Any company, like Scholastic, that wants to attract a large mainstream group of customers needs to not only reject anti-gay policies, but also to instill a corporate culture that will prevent the “lapses” and “mistakes” and encourage thoughtful decision making in the first place.
The author of Luv Ya Bunches, Lauren Myracle, perhaps said it best: "Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents...It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away."
In just 48 hours our community did a great job coming together to send that very message. Special recognition should also go to Dana Rudolph at Mombian for initially alerting the community, School Library Journal for raising awareness across the web, GLAAD for their support, and the Family Equality Council, the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, and Democratic Underground for writing about the controversy and linking to the petition.
This was a victory for us all -- not only for getting a business to respect LGBT rights, but to send a larger message about the dignity of LGBT families around the globe.
(Photo courtesy of Playful Librarian's photostream on Flickr.)
LGBT People Like Saving Their Planet More Than Straight People
Published October 27, 2009 @ 07:18AM PT
If Mother Nature had her way, the world might be run by LGBT people. That's because a new poll out shows that LGBT Americans think and act in more green-friendly ways than straight people. The statistics are even more stark when it comes to believing whether global warming is a significant threat to the planet, or that people should support environmental organizations and environmental causes with some money.
There's also a tinge or irony here that while anti-gay forces are busy trying to repeal marriage rights state-by-state or shift Anglicans into the Catholic Church, it's actually LGBT people on a whole that show more concern for the future generations of this world, at least when it comes to environmental sustainability.
The study, by Witeck-Combs and Harris Interactive, concludes that while on a whole everyone is doing more these days to protect the environment and save the planet, there's definitely a gap between LGBT people and straight people.
Arlen Specter Tweets About Repealing DOMA
Published October 26, 2009 @ 08:59PM PT
Oh, the things people do to stay in political office. Sen. Arlen Specter -- who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, championed it during his tough re-election GOP primary in 2004, and as late as 30 days ago was telling his constituents that he believed traditional marriage was the right way for society to go -- has potentially come around full circle and announced via Twitter that he wants to see a repeal of DOMA.
It's a welcome sign, for sure, but it certainly seems a little bit of politics as usual. See, Sen. Specter's opponent in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Rep. Joe Sestak, has long championed a repeal of DOMA. Rep. Sestak even has a "Repeal DOMA" section of his Web site, and penned a piece here on change.org where he said that not only does he want to see DOMA eliminated, he also wants to see "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" done away with, too.
Specter's words are, of course, still good. Here's what he said in 140 characters that sure would've been nice to hear in 1996 when he voted for DOMA: "Just as we were finally able to pass hate crimes legislation, it's time to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act."
The Military is Ready to Lift the Ban on Gay Soldiers. Is Obama?
Published October 26, 2009 @ 11:16AM PT
The new United States Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, issued a statement this weekend that said the U.S. Army is ready to lift the ban on gay and lesbian soldiers, a fixture of the U.S. military since the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was put into place in the early 1990s. McHugh said that the predictions of "doom and gloom" that gay soldiers would disrupt the military are unfounded, and insulting to the integrity of the Armed Services.
"Anytime you have a broad-based policy change, there are challenges to that,” McHugh told the Army Times. “The Army has a big history of taking on similar issues, [with] predictions of doom and gloom that did not play out."
McHugh is right. Our U.S. Military is capable of a lot of things, the least of which is being able to serve with perfectly capable soldiers of different sexual orientations. The military can easily handle a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Quitting Scientology Because of Homophobia
Published October 26, 2009 @ 07:21AM PT
Hollywood director Paul Haggis, whose film "Crash" won best picture several years ago (over "Brokeback Mountain," no less) has penned a heartfelt and poignant letter to the leaders of the Church of Scientology, breaking with the religion over what Haggis sees as homophobic actions in the debate over California's Proposition 8 -- the ballot measure passed last year that rescinded the rights of gays and lesbians to marry in the state.
Haggis writes in his letter that in the lead up to Prop 8, and in the wake of its passage, the director urged the official church to distance itself from the discriminatory ballot measure, and issue a statement saying that it respected the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. After almost a year of run-around from church officials, Haggis made his resignation from the body official with a letter to the church's spokesperson, Tommy Davis.
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