Though the Olympics aren't quite over, I thought it'd be good to bring people's attention to the openly queer athletes who've succeeded in Beijing, despite the stigma often attached whenever sports and sexuality cross paths.
Stories like theirs often slip between the cracks, despite 24/7 coverage of the games. But as long as stereotypes exist about the ability of gay, lesbian, bi, and trans athletes to perform at the same level as their peers, we need their stories to remind us that they can and do succeed.
Here's a quick roundup of athletes who are not only at the top of their game, but also open members of the LGBT community.
Portions XPosted 8/3/2008 11:23 AM PDT on MyDesert.com
According to one of my activist friends, a former deacon of a religious extremist church in Utah, who attends an evangelical megachurch in the Coachella Valley in order to monitor its adherence to the tax code as it applies to its tax exempt status, churches across America today began '100 Days of Prayer' against Marriage Equality and cajolled their members and attendees to vote in favor of Proposition 8 and defeat gay marriage at the polls in November.
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Sure, this generation is not free of homophobia, but this is a generation that grew up with openly gay and lesbian people serving in Congress, acting in films, hosting television shows and fronting rock bands. This generation grew up in schools where students unite in gay-straight alliances and march for tolerance. This generation grew up in a country that shared a common grief over the murder of a gay college student. This generation grew up watching gays and lesbians marry on cable news, bicker on reality TV and compete in pro sports. This generation grew up with gays in the Secret Service, gays in the FBI, gays in the CIA and yes, gays in the military, such as former Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first soldier injured in the ground war in Iraq and a recipient of the Purple Heart.
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I'll be frank, my previous diary on school bullying touched a nerve both here on DailyKos and also at Pam's House Blend. I want to share these comments with my readers and also use this opportunity to respond. Emotions were (rightfully so) very raw on this issue, and to understand the full context I do encourage all readers to check out Part I of this pair of diaries for background. I want to thank every single commenter for sharing their thoughts. More than anything else, I appreciate your time and thank you for adding to this very important discussion.
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I have never endured a more difficult experience than the cliquey, judgemental, make it or break it middle school crowd of my childhood years. I'll be perfectly honest, at 20 years old, those memories are quite fresh in my mind. I'm sure you can relate in some way.
I know, I'm well aware of the demographics of Dkos, however I also am aware of the universality of assholes, bullies and jocks throughout time, culture and class. If not middle school, then high school or certainly college. So many of us Kossacks can recall those dark experiences of school harassment in the form of intimidation, humiliation and sometimes violence.
Some of us, like me, remember those days as perpetrators. I know it may be hard to imagine, but for us reformed bullies, the experiences can sometimes be far worse than anything we dished out. Please allow me to explain.
Discrimination against people who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder (GID), that is, transgendered people, is a hot legal topic these days. Title VII does not expressly protect them and expressly prohibits protecting homosexuals. As a result, the courts and the legal theories are all over the place when it comes to dealing with transgender discrimination. The basic legal conflict comes down to a question whether discrimination based on transgender status is discrimination "on the basis of sex" - something that is illegal under Title VII - or whether, since Congress has not spoken by adding protections based on gender identity while amending Title VII to make other changes, means it does not intend to protect GID.
A June 26 congressional hearing covered many of these issues.
Is helping the LGBT community important to you? Is defending my rights, your rights or the rights of friends and family something you care about? If it is, and you live in New York City, I’m sure you can find 3 or 4 hours to help fight for equality this summer! Please make some time for equality and civil rights and watch our combined efforts win this November! Read below for more info.
On May 17th, 2004 we were victorious in the marriage fight in Massachusetts. As every battle energizes the movement for marriage equality, likewise every defeat sets back our mission for equality by years, if not decades. Our thriving and passionate marriage equality movement stands to face the largest setback in the 21st century this November if California passes an amendment which would wipe out all signs of progress that we have made for equal marriage.
By Eric Francis
This topic is presented in honor of Gay Pride Week, an opportunity for queer folk to celebrate their sexuality and reflect on the coming out process. Enjoy the following editorial on queer sexuality and Happy Pride!
YESTERDAY we brought up the topic of queer, which is actually not a new topic for Planet Waves; we just don’t usually call it that. Queer means different, and it’s not that difficult to be different when it comes to sex. In fact, it’s the easiest thing in the world — we’re all different. However, many factors, such as social condition to act a certain way, or to seem a certain way, so that people think you’re not a certain something else, influence how people act. The truth is, we’re all different and we feel different on the inside. As my friend Beth once said, we’re all baskets inside of boxes.
The military’s need for qualified and experienced personnel continues to grow. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently released data showing the Army has doubled the number of waivers it grants to recruits convicted of violent felonies including manslaughter, rape and kidnapping. In an attempt to meet personnel goals Pentagon leaders have recently relaxed enlistment standards regarding age, physical fitness, education and criminal records. The discharge of lesbian and gay Americans, however, continues.
Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) is the military's ban on openly serving lesbian, gay or bisexual service members. It was enacted by a Democratic President and has been sustained by both Democratic and Republican congresses for over a decade. Like many progressive initiatives, Democrats in Congress, who remain too skittish about being labeled a "Gays before Berets" party, have not brought up the issue in any meaningful, challenging way this session.
Let's be perfectly clear. As a person of Caribbean descent, the LAST thing I want to be in this post is condescending. I admit very upfront that I do not know much about Caribbean culture- or Jamaican culture in particular- however coming from a Guyanese family, with family members scattered throughout the Carribean, I have a vague, but proud, connection to the region.
This connection, as I continue to discover and nurture it throughout my life, encourages me to speak out against the ills existing in my ancestral homeland. As progressives, we show our love and pride for our roots by always seeking out the better in those very things which give us meaning and comfort. As I explore the highly emotional details of rampant homophobia in Jamaica in this post, I do it out of love for the Caribbean region, which has thrived despite a history of colonialism, natural disasters, slavery and the shackles of contemporary neo-liberalism.
Check out this video of a brutal police beating in a police station. A Memphis police officer didn't like the fact that Duanna Johnson, a black transwoman, didn't respond to the names "faggot" or "he/she," so he beat her with handcuffs and sprayed her with mace, and no one, not even the nurse who was sent out, helped her.
(Sorry, I can't embed the video format here and I can't find it on YouTube. But it's working on my site so please check it out there. And the text news report is after the jump.)
The LGBT rights movement long ago has invested itself in a state by state election strategy. National politics has disregarded our concerns for decades, literally, with no national legislation on LGBT rights ever being passed and signed into law. What little we have made progress on, like support behind the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has been severely tarnished by the move by centrist LGBT leaders and some allies to give generous exclusions to religious institutions from the bill and take out the rights of transgender, gender variant and gender non-conforming individuals from the Act.
2008 will hold the fight for the presidency and congress in the spotlight, but left at the margins of societal consciousness is the state by state fight LGBT people will be waging to either preserve their newfound rights or to prevent their already unprotected status from becoming even more marginalized by the electoral power of bigots, marriage amendments and ignorance. This post is a start at covering some of the battlegrounds for the LGBT rights movement this fall. It's more than California and marriage equality, as important as that issue is to many in the LGBT community. Below the fold I outline 2 battle fields, though there are certainly many more, that I intend on involving myself with this year:
This past Thursday, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed into law SB200. This bill adds transgendered people to the list included in the state’s non-discrimination law. In the weeks preceding the passing of this bill, and the few days since Governor Ritter has signed it, the right wing websites and blogs have have been ablaze. I’m not going to quote them here, if you’re interested in reading what they have to say, a Google search for Focus on the Family, Colorado Family Action, Family Research Council, WorldNetDaily and Americans for Truth (About Homosexuality) will keep you busy for quite a while. Their missives about this bill are laden with incorrect use of male pronouns for post op male to female transsexuals and excessive use of quotes around "names" and "gender identities". They seem to be particularly focused on M2F transsexuals and cross-dressers terrorizing women and girls in public restrooms.
XPosted 5/21/2008 7:47 AM PDT on MyDesert.com and Calitics.com
Greg Pettis, in his 14th year as Cathedral City Councilman, former-Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City, and Democratic Candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District, has received the endorsements from every member of the California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus in Sacramento. Pettis has widespread support in the LGBT community Nationally, State-wide, and locally because of his progressive stands on issues important to the LGBT communities: Pettis fully supports the HIV/AIDS communities, universal healthcare, a strong local economy, good local schools and responsible academic oversight, a healthy environment, equality and justice for all Californians, and mentoring other members of the LGBT community.
Objection to DSM-V Committee Members on Gender Identity Disorders
On the Task Force, named as Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Chair, we find Dr. Kenneth Zucker, from Toronto infamous Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH, formerly the Clarke Institute). Dr. Zucker is infamous for utilizing reparative therapy to Ccure gender-variant children.
Trans activists have expressed concern over appointments to a task force which will oversee revisions of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Diagnosis of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
The manual lists different categories of mental disorders and the criteria for diagnosing them. It is used worldwide by clinicians and researchers, as well as insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and policy makers.
Recently, thousands of Flight Attendants of Aloha and ATA airlines have been laid off, due to their respective companies going out of business. As any working person can contend, this is a terrible time to be unemployed. Covered by contracts negotiated by the Association of Flight Attendants, these flight attendants leave stable wages, health care benefits, and a path to retirement behind for the unemployment line.
Right now I am currently in the stages of moving. The Announcement I have is when I do move I will no longer be a Transgender here at kos. I plan to see a counciler about starting Hormone therapy. Yes I am finially moving into the stages of beign pre-op.
For many who do not know SRS surgery is the final outcome for those wishing to change gender. I have known since I was 17 that I was Transgender. For about 10 years I have debated on how far I wanted to go. Some options have open up for me.
When I move I will be living with someone who has lived with a Transsexual before. The person accepts who I am and is encouraging what I feel comfortable with. I do not know how long it will take for the SRS surgery due to the price of it, but I do plan to start down the path.
As an American I am honored to have protection from the nation's most advanced military.
As a valuer of critical thought I worry about my protection- our military- becoming a force of imperialistic ambitions.
As a student of history I am glaringly aware of the sordid misuse of our armed forces.
As a descendent of a worldly family I recognize the military as my family's ticket from third world poverty into American prosperity.
As an activist I realize the disproportionate amount of racial minorities and working class individuals in our armed forces.
As a queer I understand the need for queer individuals to be able to openly serve in our armed forces.
The Left's relationship with our armed forces is both deep and estranged at the same time. Many of the left's proudest moments: the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Vietnam War movement and the Chicana/o movement- in large part were made possible by returning veterans settling back into their communities and realizing that the social order could not remain as it was before they left to fight overseas.
