Living: March 2009
The Catch 22 of Transgender Care and Acceptance
Filed by Austen Crowder | March 31, 2009 | 8:00 PM |Finding yourself is financially stupid. Being financially independent is a long-term goal of mine. I'm sure it's on the minds of many people, but I've made a hobby of reading financial advice. Dave Ramsey has helped me turn my finances...Read More
Fred Phelp's Hate Meets Gay Love
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 31, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Guest blogger Kellan Baker wrote about the Fred Phelp's hate machine coming to DC to promote their particularly warped brand of religion. In a burst of creativity the organizers of the counter protest turned Westboro Baptist Church's appearance into a...Read More
Teenage sex criminals, oh my!
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | March 31, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Here you have it -- teens are being prosecuted under child pornography laws for distributing topless pictures of themselves!!! This is particularly troubling: [Wyoming County, Pennsylvania District Attorney] Skumanick told an assembly of students that possessing inappropriate images of minors...Read More
Teenage sex criminals, oh my!
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | March 31, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Here you have it -- teens are being prosecuted under child pornography laws for distributing topless pictures of themselves!!! This is particularly troubling: [Wyoming County, Pennsylvania District Attorney] Skumanick told an assembly of students that possessing inappropriate images of minors...Read More
West Virginia defeats marriage amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | March 31, 2009 | 12:00 PM |West Virginia's House of Delegates squashed a marriage amendment to ban same-sex marriage yesterday. An evangelical group has pressed lawmakers this session to have marriage defined as between one woman and one man. But the resolution needed to put the...Read More
Special (Lack of) Recognition
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 31, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Derek Hartley is a radio talk show host and writer living in New York. He is one half of the radio duo Derek and Romaine, airing weekdays nationwide on SIRIUS XM Radio's OutQ Channel. He also...Read More
Pink with butch rising
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 31, 2009 | 10:30 AM |Emceeing the Gill Foundation's OutGiving Conference in Lake Las Vegas was like being in a three-day graduate seminar on LGBT philanthropy. We heard great talks by the Gill's executive director Tim Sweeney and its founder Tim Gill and the ACLU's...Read More
Kate Kendell talks Prop 8... what do we do now?
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 30, 2009 | 4:30 PM |Bilerico contributor Kate Kendell talked with the Dallas Voice about the chances of winning the challenge to Prop 8: "We're going to lose," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the organizations that...Read More
A Marriage Win in D.C. is a Win for Everyone
Filed by Sean Bugg | March 30, 2009 | 4:00 PM |So I was settling down to judge some martinis at Beacon Bar and Grill this past week with some local notables who were my fellow judges, including D.C. Councilmember David Catania. While waiting for the contest to begin my chat...Read More
Our families count
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 30, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Jaime Grant is the director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She holds a Ph.D. in Women's Studies from the Union Institute and has offered a course in social movements...Read More
LGBT Families on Public Television: the Time Has Come
Filed by Dana Rudolph | March 30, 2009 | 1:30 PM |(Originally published in Bay Windows, February 5, 2009.) Amidst all the talk of potential progress for LGBT rights under President Obama, one opportunity has made few headlines: the prospect of more LGBT inclusive children's programming on public television. Talk with...Read More
Condoms: Why The Hell Aren't You Wearing Them?
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 30, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Zack Rosen is a founder and first full-time employee of The New Gay, an online resource for alternative queer events and ideas based in Washington, DC. Picture this: It's the dead of winter and someone walks...Read More
Poll: Should We Abandon Marriage for Civil Unions for Everyone?
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 30, 2009 | 9:30 AM |In new post called Marriage vs Civil Unions Bilerico DC contributor John Shields argues that we should abandon the fight for marriage and instead focus on fighting for equal rights. This has to stop. This war of words between "straight...Read More
Evan Bayh's "little lobbyist problem" is bad for Indiana homeowners
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 30, 2009 | 6:50 AM |Does Evan Bayh think Indiana doesn't have a foreclosure problem? I mean, seriously, does he think that Indiana is populated by mortgage industry high-rollers who aren't worried about losing their homes, instead are more concerned with ensuring that no one...Read More
Marriage vs Civil Unions
Filed by John Shields | March 29, 2009 | 1:00 PM |In December 2008 I wrote an editorial in the Washington Blade on the subject of same-sex marriage, arguing that what we really want is equal rights, so why are we fighting over the single word "marriage." The comments, letters and...Read More
Marriage vs Civil Unions
Filed by John Shields | March 29, 2009 | 1:00 PM |In December 2008 I wrote an editorial in the Washington Blade on the subject of same-sex marriage, arguing that what we really want is equal rights, so why are we fighting over the single word "marriage." The comments, letters and...Read More
Love in the Ruins
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 29, 2009 | 9:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Kellan Baker is a DC-based activist and graduate student studying LGBT health disparities in the US and abroad. As a board member of the DC Center, he is perversely grateful to the Westboro Baptist Church crowd...Read More
Why weeding out the Gay is a good thing for the Roman Catholic Church
Filed by Father Tony | March 28, 2009 | 2:30 PM |In the 1980s, I contacted the local seminary to recruit some CCD and Confirmation-prep teachers for my parish. (CCD is Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a program of afterschool Catholic education for kids.) Who better to interact with a bunch of...Read More
Yoots
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 28, 2009 | 8:00 AM |I had to put on a homemade Monty Python hat for this video....Read More
Ex-gay therapy is still common in UK
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 26, 2009 | 4:30 PM |This is unbelievable. 1 in 6? A study of more than 1,400 psychiatrists and therapists in BMC Psychiatry found that 222 (17 per cent) said they had treated at least one client to alter their homosexual feelings at some point....Read More
Call Out Blue Cross Blue Shield's Ridiculous Policy Change
Filed by Sara Whitman | March 26, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recently removed the coverage of gender reassignment surgery from their "covered" list. "Michigan Messenger reported Tuesday that BCBS of Michigan had received permission from state regulators to change insurance coverage offerings, and elimination of...Read More
The Gay Death Wish
Filed by Father Tony | March 26, 2009 | 10:30 AM |Dear Father Tony: I love your writing. and I remember your postings about Vishara. I hope you would consider doing an entry about cruising safely. I spend alot of my time in Cape May county. We are on the...Read More
Health care industry is scared of reforms
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 25, 2009 | 5:00 PM |From today's Wall Street Journal: The health-insurance industry said it would be willing to stop charging sick people more for coverage if all Americans were required to buy insurance. Tuesday's proposal, included in a letter to Senate leaders by the...Read More
Men in Dresses? In the Military? I don't think so!
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 25, 2009 | 3:00 PM |Editors' note: Monica Helms is the president of the Transgender American Veterans Association. The impending repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell hangs over Bigot Americans like a specter of doom that will reach Biblical proportions. In other words, they lack...Read More
Whose Goodwill?
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | March 25, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Everyone knows that Goodwill is a racket, right? Their mission is to give poor people job skills, and here's how they operate: rich and middle-class people donate the shit they don't want anymore, so that they can deduct it from...Read More
Civil Rights Death Watch
Filed by Terrance Heath | March 24, 2009 | 6:00 PM |This has been in the back of my mind for a while now, so I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: If the California Supreme Court upholds proposition 8, it will signify nothing less than the death of civil...Read More
There's a book in you
Filed by Wyatt O'Brian Evans | March 24, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Editors' Note: Wyatt O'Brian Evans is a Bilerico-DC contributor. This is part of the series "The Cancer that Slowly Consumes Our Very Souls: Racism" that we're running here on Bilerico Project. One hot summer night, right before Mom passed away,...Read More
The Hoover Dam
Filed by Sara Whitman | March 24, 2009 | 1:30 PM |We went and saw the Hoover Dam last week. It's really quite amazing - built in four years during the Great Depression. It was about pulling together, brilliance of engineering, and a national agenda that pushed forward such mind blowing...Read More
DC for Marriage Update
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 24, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Welcome to issue #2 the DC for Marriage newsletter! Each week we'll give you the freshest news in the fight to win and keep marriage in the District and ways that you can get engaged. Here's what's coming up: "I...Read More
Green Day
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 24, 2009 | 8:00 AM |I'm still a little tipsy from St. Patrick's Day....Read More
IYG needs a bookkeeper
Filed by Bil Browning | March 23, 2009 | 7:30 PM |Passing this along for the Indiana Youth Group: IYG is looking for a bookkeeper! This person needs to be able to work 8 - 10 hours per week (preferably during the day) and be familiar with QuickBooks accounting software. This...Read More
IYG needs a bookkeeper
Filed by Bil Browning | March 23, 2009 | 7:30 PM |Passing this along for the Indiana Youth Group: IYG is looking for a bookkeeper! This person needs to be able to work 8 - 10 hours per week (preferably during the day) and be familiar with QuickBooks accounting software. This...Read More
Going to the Moon and GLBT
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | March 23, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Amid all the noisy debates about how much we'll spend on bailouts, healthcare, education and war, NASA is quietly rocketing its way towards an $18.7 billion budget for 2010, which is $2.4 billion more than it got to spend in...Read More
"I don't understand the economy!" is a feature, not a bug
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 23, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Over the past several months, I've been doing my level best to try to keep up with what's been going on in terms of personal finance, Wall Street criminality, and bail-outs as the American financial system swirls in the toilet...Read More
The Church Is Here Somewhere
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 22, 2009 | 7:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Lisa Larges is the Minister Director of That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) a grassroots organization that advocates for all who are disenfranchised in the Presbyterian church, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. Larges, who...Read More
The Church Is Here Somewhere
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 22, 2009 | 7:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Lisa Larges is the Minister Director of That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) a grassroots organization that advocates for all who are disenfranchised in the Presbyterian church, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. Larges, who...Read More
The Kids Aren't Alright : The Gay Marriage Movement and its Manipulation of Children and Youth
Filed by Yasmin Nair | March 22, 2009 | 4:00 PM |The Religious Right is notorious for its manipulation of children, especially in its anti-gay tirades. The passage of Proposition 8 was prompted in part by the incitement of fear about what children might have to endure: the spectacle of gay...Read More
Should Straight People Be Allowed in Gay Spaces?
Filed by Aidan Tharp | March 22, 2009 | 2:00 PM |With the emergence of Gay-Straight Alliances in high schools and the call for "allies for the cause" one question enters my mind: What does it mean for the queer community when straight people enter gay spaces? As co-president of my...Read More
B16. Not the vitamin. The bromide.
Filed by Father Tony | March 22, 2009 | 1:00 PM |It's hard to justify slapping an old man in a dress, but B16 has earned it. He can't seem to get an inoffensive word out of his mouth. He pardoned a weird English bishop hiding out in Argentina without doing...Read More
Notes from an Arizona radical
Filed by Bobby Parker | March 21, 2009 | 10:30 AM |Statement: Arizona GLBT organizational leadership just cannot get its shit together. Because of that we are miserable failures, patting ourselves on the back now and then for small successes, when we could have set and achieved Heroic Goals. There, I've...Read More
An Ally's Response
Filed by Dana Rudolph | March 20, 2009 | 1:30 PM |After I published my story on the 20th anniversary of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Phillips Academy Andover, I received this letter from alumna and writer Robin Chotzinoff, who now lives in Texas. She shares not only her reaction to how...Read More
Liveblog: Presbyterian Church lesbian court case
Filed by Bil Browning | March 20, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Lisa Larges, a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, was blocked from ordination in 1992 by a court decision of the Presbyterian Church (USA) because she was honest about being a lesbian. Larges has continued seeking ordination and today -...Read More
Intimate Partner Violence: That Other Epidemic
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 20, 2009 | 9:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger David Phillips is a poly Leather shaman, kink evangelist, and Queermen's health advocate living in Arlington, VA. A survivor of relationship abuse, David co-founded the Rainbow Response Coalition, addressing intimate partner violence among LGBTQ people in...Read More
Breaking: Cincinnati LGBTs protest over police/media inaction on gay hate crime
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 19, 2009 | 8:00 PM |Editors' Note: Jere Keys is a long-time community activist, most recently working with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, but is now an aspiring lawyer living in Cincinnati and blogging at Blind Prophecy . Barry Floore is a nursing student and...Read More
The "Rent" Must Go On; But So Must the Lawsuit
Filed by Prince Gomolvilas | March 19, 2009 | 4:30 PM |After controversy erupted last month when a high school principal cancelled a production of Rent, the School Edition, amid allegations of homophobia and discrimination (read the story here), she eventually reversed her decision, and the show will open on April...Read More
Obama, Education, and America's Teachable Moment
Filed by Terrance Heath | March 19, 2009 | 3:00 PM |There is one person in particular I hope got to hear President Obama's recent speech on education. There was a teachable moment in that speech applicable to all of the challenges we're facing and essential for Americans to understand if...Read More
Transgender students face a high rate of bullying and harassment in schools
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 19, 2009 | 2:00 PM |GLSEN has a new report out that asked nearly 300 trans students about how they're getting along in school: Nearly nine out of 10 transgender students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation...Read More
Tell me what to blog about next week
Filed by Bil Browning | March 19, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Y'all know that I always love doing small experiments on the site. Today I've got one we haven't tried yet. In the comments section, leave me topics you'd like me to blog about. I can't guarantee I'll get to all...Read More
LGBT Employment Discrimination in Virginia
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 19, 2009 | 12:00 PM |In the state of Virginia, subject to certain exceptions to be discussed below, a person--whether gay or straight--can be legally fired or refused a job by a private employer on the basis of that person's real or perceived sexual orientation....Read More
Gaytheism
Filed by Father Tony | March 19, 2009 | 10:30 AM |From this recent post on Bilerico comes a question from Roxanne in her comment: Are all gay/bi people atheiest? Or just don't believe in the bible or something? I dont understand how some gay people can say they are Christian,...Read More
Ernestine and Vito
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 19, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Nothing like Boston's Women's Fenway dinner to kick the end-of-winter-blues to the curb. The yearly dinner to raise money for Fenway Community Health is a pleasure to attend and tons of fun to emcee. This year's honorary chair Katherine Patrick...Read More
More Signs that Times are Changing in DC for LGBT Americans
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 19, 2009 | 9:00 AM |Editor's Note: Guest bloggers Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications in Washington, and Wes Combs, President of Witeck-Combs Communications, advise Fortune 100 companies and nonprofit organizations on gay business and market research issues. Together they wrote the first business book...Read More
Only Rich Christians Should Marry?
Filed by Waymon Hudson | March 18, 2009 | 5:30 PM |The folks who brought us Florida's horrific Amendment 2 are back in the business of interfering with people's private lives... again. John Stemberger, head of the Florida Family Policy Council and the Yes2Marriage Campaign, now wants to make it harder...Read More
Bravo à la France!
Filed by Brynn Craffey | March 18, 2009 | 4:30 PM |Leave it to the French to have the balls to respond to the Pope's heartless and idiotic misinformation campaign against condoms! The Roman Catholic Church says marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of...Read More
AIG bonuses: Shaking down the peasants
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 18, 2009 | 2:30 PM |I was going to just avoid the scandal of the week here on TBP since it isn't particularly LGBT-specific, but I need some sort of outlet after reading this atrocious column from Ruth Marcus on the AIG bonuses. After a...Read More
Help prohibit discrimination in Florida
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 18, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Editor's Note: The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We know you'll agree...Read More
Girl will go to prom in tux in Lebanon
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 18, 2009 | 9:30 AM |The Indiana ACLU and the principal of Lebanon High School say that they've reached a deal in the case of the anonymous, female high school student who wanted to go to prom in a tuxedo: "School policy for this year's...Read More
Arrested in Miami Beach, a Delaware drifter confesses to strangling Larry Ellison.
Filed by Father Tony | March 18, 2009 | 9:30 AM |This is an update about the murder of Larry Ellison. Police have 27 year old Gabriel Nock of Dover, Delaware in custody. He had escaped from a work release center in Delaware. He had built an obvious trail of purchases...Read More
Dire Straits
Filed by Wyatt O'Brian Evans | March 17, 2009 | 3:00 PM |Editors' Note: Wyatt O'Brian Evans is a Bilerico-DC contributor. This is part of the series "The Cancer that Slowly Consumes Our Very Souls: Racism" that we're running here on Bilerico Project. NaNa is an American citizen who is half-African American,...Read More
NBC's 'Kings' takes up gay interpretation
Filed by Matt Comer | March 17, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Well... at least slightly so, that is. I watched the premiere of NBC's allegorical "Kings" over the internet last night. Work at the paper on Sunday evening kept me away from the debut and my favorite weekly viewing pleasure, "Big...Read More
DC Council Hears Testimony on Needs of LGBT Seniors
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 17, 2009 | 12:30 PM |On March 16th the DC City Council held an oversight hearing looking at the Department of Aging. Alan Dinsmore, co-chair of the Elder Think Tank, delivered testimony on the needs of LGBT seniors including ways that the DC government can...Read More
Limbaugh Lower Now
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 17, 2009 | 8:00 AM |Vacation's over - time to work out, freak out, help out... PS: I meant eighteen thousand. But I'm not in charge of Treasury either....Read More
We're Making History in Tallahassee!
Filed by Nadine Smith | March 16, 2009 | 4:00 PM |You could hear their roar while they were still blocks away. At 11:45AM today, hundreds and hundreds of LGBT students, families and our allies poured into the capitol square chanting, "What do we want - Equality, When do we want...Read More
National LGBTI Health Summit 2009
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 16, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Planning for the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit to be held August 14 - 18, 2009 in Chicago is already well under way. Among those organizing the summit is FOB (Friend of Bilerico) Jim Pickett, the kick ass Advocacy Director...Read More
How progressive are you?
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 16, 2009 | 2:30 PM |The Center for American Progress has a quiz up to determine how progressive you are. Here are my results: Don't really know how I feel about this... I mean, "progressing" towards what? Then again, I'm glad that they're trying to...Read More
Rally in Tally Speech from the Florida State Capitol
Filed by Michael Emanuel Rajner | March 16, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Editor's Note: This is Michael's speech from today's Rally in Tally. Good afternoon all ye who Rally in Tally! My name is Michael Emanuel Rajner; a gay man living with AIDS and Director of HIV/AIDS Education and Policy for the...Read More
Phillips Academy GSA: 20 Years of Friendship and Activism
Filed by Dana Rudolph | March 16, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Originally published in Bay Windows, February 26, 2009. I did this piece to cover a local event, but I thought it might be of wider interest. Phillips Academy Andover has the second-oldest gay-straight alliance in the country—though it is perhaps...Read More
Bisexuality: Who's Using Whom?
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 16, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Ellyn Ruthstrom is the President of the Bisexual Resource Center and the Calendar Editor of Bi Women Boston. One of the things I really value about the bi community is the way we provide a wonderful...Read More
DC Goverment's Response to AIDS Epidemic = EPIC FAIL
Filed by Michael Crawford | March 16, 2009 | 11:00 AM |You know that things are beyond bad when the HIV/AIDS rate in DC is compared to such Western African countries as Uganda and Kenya. At least 3 percent of District residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that far surpasses...Read More
Smokin'
Filed by Monica Roberts | March 16, 2009 | 9:30 AM |When I began going out to Houston clubs not long after my 18th birthday in 1980, one of the things I noticed was that when I compared and contrasted my experiences in GLBT clubs vis a vis non GLBT ones...Read More
A Murder in Fort Lauderdale
Filed by Father Tony | March 15, 2009 | 5:00 PM |The body of Larry Ellison, a 68 year old resident of Wilton Manors, was found in his home by friends who wondered why he had not arrived for dinner with them. He had been murdered. The police and media reports...Read More
Reality vs. Ideology: A Closer Look at HIV Testing for Pregnant Mothers
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | March 15, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Recently Bilerico aired the Colorado Senate's hot debate over SB 179 and HIV testing of pregnant mothers. Both parties focused on ideology. A lone wing-nut Republican voted against the bill, insisting that it promoted "sexual promiscuity." But Democrats and Republicans...Read More
Social Currency: Leveraging Status
Filed by Nina Smith | March 15, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Since watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I bought the audiobook version at iTunes and listened to it on my iPod. In one chapter, he recites a story about the time his wife hit one car while it was sitting in...Read More
Porn for Education
Filed by Tobi Hill-Meyer | March 13, 2009 | 6:00 PM |Sex education is an under-discussed topic in our community, so I'm really glad to see Alex's week-long series on the subject of abstinence-only education. With such poor education in the schools, it's no wonder so many people are getting their...Read More
The Austen that furry built
Filed by Austen Crowder | March 13, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Okay. So before we go any further with this topic, let's get the Big Three Questions out of the way. Yes, I own a fursuit. No, I don't have sex in it. And no, I don't believe I'm an animal...Read More
The Coleman Cooler
Filed by Sara Whitman | March 13, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Jeanine reminded me of the funniest story this morning... if you work at Berklee, you cannot read this. I was taking her to work and we passed the Fenway building. Fenway Community Health is a fabulous organization that serves the...Read More
Skylarface: Happiness is a warm lap
Filed by Nathan Strang | March 13, 2009 | 9:30 AM |I'm always amazed at Skylar's ability to be comfortable in the most awkward positions... then again, I'm a cuddle monster too, I'm known to snuggle up in weird ways myself... just without my legs in the air... cause that'd be...Read More
Out, Proud, and in Elected Office
Filed by Waymon Hudson | March 12, 2009 | 5:30 PM |The past few days have been a whirlwind here in sunny South Florida for my husband Anthony Niedwiecki and me. Hopefully you've heard by now that Anthony was elected to the City Commission in Oakland Park, a part of the...Read More
Drawing the line: girls wearing pants
Filed by Bil Browning | March 12, 2009 | 3:00 PM |A lesbian student from has sued Lebanon Schools after her principal told her she couldn't wear a tuxedo to prom. The Indianapolis Star includes this explanation of the lawsuit: The Lebanon High School senior, whose name is not revealed in...Read More
Judge throws out confession in Angie Zapata case
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 12, 2009 | 1:30 PM |The judge has thrown out the confession of Allen Ray Andrade, who's accused of beating Angie Zapata to death when he found out she was a transwoman. In the taped confession, he allegedly told investigators that he grabbed Zapata's crotch...Read More
Dr. Susan Love Recruiting an Army of Women
Filed by Dana Rudolph | March 12, 2009 | 11:30 AM |It's LGBT Health Awareness Week. I therefore thought I'd post a piece I wrote (with slight variation) for Bay Windows as advance coverage for Dr. Susan Love's appearance at Fenway Health here in Boston this coming weekend. Dr. Love is...Read More
Summer Fashion Rx for the Geritol boys
Filed by Father Tony | March 12, 2009 | 10:30 AM |Dear Father T, I'm feeling old and out of date. No one looks at me. What should I do? Model T...Read More
The Amber that furry built
Filed by Austen Crowder | March 12, 2009 | 9:45 AM |Okay. So before we go any further with this topic, let's get the Big Three Questions out of the way. Yes, I own a fursuit. No, I don't have sex in it. And no, I don't believe I'm an animal...Read More
Commie homo-loving saints
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 12, 2009 | 8:00 AM |I'm celebrating Ash Wednesday. Or is it Slumdog Millionaire's win at the Oscars?...Read More
Fairness West Virginia launches: Sniping starts immediately
Filed by Bil Browning | March 11, 2009 | 3:00 PM |Yesterday's mail brought word that West Virginia has established their first state-wide LGBT organization. Fairness West Virginia has an immediate goal of recruiting 1000 new members in their first twenty days - an ambitious target for a state not known...Read More
Land Hos
Filed by Kate Clinton | March 11, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Argh Mateys, I've just returned from the blissful twitterless seas on an Olivia Cruise. Did I miss anything? Jimmy Fallon's sweaty late night debut? Dang, I hate to miss one minute of more late night testosterone. Ken "Jean Valjean" Starr's...Read More
H8 Vigils and the Pacific Altar
Filed by Michelle Marzullo | March 11, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Proposition 8 was heard by the California Supreme Court on March 5. My partner and I participated in a candle light vigil at the San Diego City Hall the night before. It was one of many such vigils held around...Read More
TAVA Update
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 11, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Editors' note: Monica Helms is the president of the Transgender American Veterans Association. She blogs at Trans Universe. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote "Transgender veterans and navigating the VA system" about the two wonderful articles written by Carol...Read More
Another Consequence of Taxation Without Representation
Filed by K Travis Ballie | March 10, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Washingtonians have been following the time honored Beltway Olympic sports of media-sniping, political back-stabbing and public humiliation by committee hearing for the past few weeks. I'm not talking about the Hill however, bastion of deceit and betrayal that it is....Read More
Respect versus acceptance
Filed by Austen Crowder | March 10, 2009 | 10:00 AM |I changed someone's opinion about trans-women the other day. This guy had originally called me disparaging names and trolled my online accounts because I was transgender. When I gave him a harsh "don't-screw-with-me" conversation, he apologized. I surprised him by...Read More
Who Murdered Robert Wone?
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 10, 2009 | 8:30 AM |Editor's Note: Guest bloggers Craig Brownstein, David Greer, Doug Johnson and Michael Kremin are creators of the site Who Murdered Robert Wone? Two and a half years ago, August 2nd 2006, Washington attorney Robert E. Wone was found murdered at...Read More
Obama versus the Catholic Church
Filed by Bil Browning | March 09, 2009 | 4:00 PM |President Obama (God, I still love typing that!) signed the Scientific Integrity Memorandum and Stem Cell Executive Order this morning allowing researchers to use embryonic stem cells for research again. Former President Bush had forbidden research to appease his right-wing...Read More
Change, Coming from the Heartland
Filed by Steve Ralls | March 09, 2009 | 2:00 PM |During his campaign for the White House, President Obama was often fond of reminding Americans that "change doesn't come from Washington; it comes to Washington." Significant change, he told the country, doesn't usually originate in the halls of Congress, but...Read More
Out of the Closet, in Wilton Manors
Filed by Father Tony | March 09, 2009 | 10:00 AM |It seems the new look for men's spring fashion is a resartus of the 1940s/Clark Gable/Howard Hughes/Harrison Ford thing. The key is rumpled comfort. Fabrics that require ironing, have received ironing, and have then had their creases interrupted by wrinkling...Read More
IL: another murder suspect cites 'gay panic' defense
Filed by Pam Spaulding | March 08, 2009 | 2:00 PM |In Bloomingdale, IL, suspect in a first-degree murder where the gay victim was beaten with an automobile shop tool until the assailant's arm was tired has confessed -- and is floating a gay panic defense. Timothy Bailey-Woodson, 23, is accused...Read More
Helping Families Saves Their Homes
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 08, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Editor's Note: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz represents Florida's 20th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. The congresswoman wanted to share her thoughts on an issue that effects everyone, including the LGBT community- the housing crisis. Foreclosure rates...Read More
You should hate yourself for being human
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 07, 2009 | 12:00 PM |This week, I put together a series of posts unpacking the findings of the new Wiley and Wilson study on Texas abstinence-only education. While legislatures talk from on high about what should and shouldn't be going on in the classroom,...Read More
Been Awhile
Filed by Monica Roberts | March 06, 2009 | 1:00 PM |January 28 was my one year anniversary as a blogger on the Project and it's been awhile since I posted over here. I know you Projectors have inquiring minds and want to know why it's been several weeks my last...Read More
Support LGBT Issues and Look Good Doing It!
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 06, 2009 | 10:30 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Amber Crowder is an Indiana native and a writer by trade. When she's not discussing LGBT issues she is writing science fiction and working as a telecom researcher. Dr. Rodney Anderson has been a Godsend for...Read More
Right-wing politics: Part of the Real-life Abstinence-only Curriculum
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 06, 2009 | 9:30 AM |One abstinence-only curriculum used in 19 Texas school districts proclaims: There are over 29 common STD's that today's teenagers are facing. 5 of them are incurable. A generation ago there were only 2 and both were curable!" Part of how...Read More
Pictures from outside the Prop 8 hearing
Filed by Bil Browning | March 05, 2009 | 3:00 PM |Photographer Jeff Sheng has graciously agreed to provide us these shots from outside of the Proposition 8 arguments before the California Supreme Court. Jeff also sent pictures out (with commentary) via his Twitter account. So how do you think the...Read More
The Gay Men's Health Agenda 2009: Making our Voices Heard
Filed by Dr. David Fawcett | March 05, 2009 | 1:00 PM |As the new administration in Washington massively shifts national priorities, an opportunity has presented itself for the LGBTQ community to speak up and to be certain that our long-neglected healthcare needs are both recognized and addressed. The Gay Men's Health...Read More
Keep Your Enemies Closer
Filed by Father Tony | March 05, 2009 | 10:30 AM |This week, I thought I'd use this space to see if something can be learned from the 158 comments that have been left to date on my YouTube video of the gay protest at the Mormon Temple in New York...Read More
Unsafe Sex: Part of the Real-life Abstinence-only Curriculum
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 05, 2009 | 9:30 AM |I didn't have much sex ed when I went to school in Indiana. We got a film strip, circa 1948, in 5th grade about puberty. And then I remember a gym teacher in 9th grade had the boys write a...Read More
Sexism: Part of the Real-life Abstinence-only Curriculum
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 04, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Although I don't really see how it helps reduce teen pregnancy and transmission of STD's, many of these abstinence-only programs try to push rigid gender roles onto students in which women are empty-headed and obsessed with marriage and men simply...Read More
Religion: Part of the Real-life Abstinence-only Curriculum
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 03, 2009 | 9:30 AM |To the right is an actual worksheet used in a Texas public school district as part of an abstinence-only education program. (Click to enlarge) While the the religious handout isn't a state-wide standard, it's far from alone. According to the...Read More
Finally A Good Bank: Bank Ad Teaches Transgender Inclusion
Filed by Jeremy Bishop | March 02, 2009 | 2:30 PM |A friend passed this you tube posting of an Argentinian bank advertisement that is simply jaw-dropping and touching. What an interesting take for an advertisement - a bank being generous to you, makes you reconsider your own bigotry and lack...Read More
Homophobia: Part of the Real-life Abstinence-only Curriculum
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 02, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Abstinence-only education is inherently homophobic, since it teaches to wait until marriage for sex when same-sex marriage isn't recognized in most states. Also, the idea that sexuality is an icky urge to be bottled up and controlled until the state...Read More
Deep in the doghouse
Filed by Sara Whitman | March 01, 2009 | 5:30 PM |I can be such a jerk. I've been miserable all day. Mad. Angry. Just out of sorts. Jeanine and I were due at a friend of hers tonight for dinner. I whined. Okay, deep down I was looking forward to...Read More
Parents need to get used to diversity
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 01, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Via Feministing, a children's BBC show hired a presenter who's missing part of her right arm. Some parents didn't like the hire that much: Disparaging comments by adults about a children's presenter have led to an angry backlash in support...Read More
