John McCain Done Told Me So!

TransGriot Note: Guest Post by the wonderful Maura Hennessey

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
at 19:27:06 PM EDT

We are clearly losing the war in Afghanistan, and there is a good possibility that Iraq will slip first into chaos and then into the hands of Iranian Shiite clerics. How could we lose the war? How could the greatest nation on earth, with the most sophisticated weapons and a professional army lose?

Simple: Because of the gays. I know, 'cause John McCain done told me so.

Gays break up unit cohesion, out gays create sexual tensions that distract from battle. Gays sap morale out of an army, weaken the resolve of fighting men.

How do I know? 'cause John McCain done told me so.

Now, all of you liberal tree hugging Obama-Socialist sodomitic Al Gore acolytes like HRC and that gay and lesbian servicemen's advocacy group or dating service or whatever are going to tell me that our military gays are safely closeted where they cannot do this kind of damage. Well, they aren't that closeted; they seem to be out all of the time since they are getting thrown out for being gay and we know that the military isn't doing witch hunts.

How do I know? John McCain done told me so.

But, that said, the biggest factor, the greatest danger and contaminant to our brave fighting men and women, the Christian Crusaders of the 21st century, isn't our gays, who remain closeted or we sweep their contagion out of the purified army of Christ. No, the real danger is those nations' forces who have real, honest to god out lesbians and homosexuals serving shamelessly and creating tension every time that their "social experiment" armed forces and our brave, real military men and women are tragically forced to work together. When that happens, their weakened, sex laden and perversion driven hopefuls for a Village People video infect our armed forces with their malaise, their unit division and their poor morale and combat readiness. It has to be so, there could be no other outcome from that kind of contamination.

How do I know? John McCain done told me so.

We must face two choices. Either we pack up and leave both nations to the armed forces of Sodom and Gomorrah or we inform our 'allies' that they must leave, and immediately. They must swish their way out of the war and let REAL, straight, Christian American men and women do battle against the forces of evil. Because, for as long as out armed forces are exposed to theirs, we cannot triumph, we cannot succeed and our military might will just wither like an aging Senator's phallus after the Viagra runs out.

We must act, and now, for every day, every hour that passes that we expose our own outstanding forces to these weakening and malicious influences, these GAYS, our potential to defend our nation turns to dust and we risk the Afghani desert looking like the Arizona desert, filled with headless corpses.

How do I know? What makes me so sure? What makes my position irrefutable and inerrant?

John McCain done told me so.

So, Vanilla Gay Community, Have You Figured Out Who Your Oppressors Are Yet?

This graphic says it all and can't make it any clearer as to who are the gay community's oppressors.

57 Democrats vote for repeal of DADT with 2 voting to keep it. ZERO Republicans vote for repeal of DADT and 43 vote to keep it.



So explain to me once again why y'all are hatin' on the Democrats and President Obama so much?

Now, let me ask the question once again. When are GL advocacy groups such as GetEqual going to confront their GOP oppressors?

It's a question your African-American TBLG/SGL cousins are very interested in hearing the answer to.

When Are GL Advocacy Orgs Going To Confront Their GOP Oppressors?

One of the things that bothers many African descended TBLG/SGL people is the high level of vitriol leveled at President Obama by predominately white GL people over the stalled GLBT political agenda.

While some of that criticism of the president is justified, there are concerns expressed internally by many of us chocolate flavored GLBT people that some of that criticism contains elements of bigotry, racism and sour grapes over the fact that Hillary Clinton, their preferred HRC supported candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary was beaten by President Obama.

So it leads us chocolate GLBT/SGL peeps when we see the disconnect between what his administration has actually accomplished so far for the community and the vitriol leveled at him to wonder why these white dominated GL orgs like GetEqual aren't leveling the same amount of direct action and heated rhetoric at their GOP oppressors?

I see them conducting sit-ins at Speaker Pelosi's offices in San Francisco and Washington, DC, chaining themselves to the White House gates, or interrupting the president's speeches at fundraisers.

But I and the chocolate TBLG/SGL community wonder out loud when we will see those same predominately white GL peeps blasting their GOP oppressors in gayosphere blogs and doing sit-ins in Sen. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner's offices? When will y'all chain yourselves to the doors of GOP headquarters? When are you going to bumrush their fundraisers or picket their conservaevents?

The point is, the Republicans are your oppressors, not the Democrats. It's the GOP who tried the pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, passed DOMA, and has been openly hostile and proudly opposing the march to GLBT equality for decades.

So why aren't you using the civil disobedience tactics and your voices to condemn and draw attention to the people who are causing the GLBT community the most harm?

Or is the GL reluctance to picket or criticize Republicans on their abysmal GLBT rights record rooted in wanting to be 'just like them'?

Stop Hatin' On TBLG Students

In a few hours HISD and other school districts in the Houston metro area will begin the 2010-2011 school year. I remember having mixed emotions about it.

While I was sad to have my summer vacation come to an end, on the other hand even with the drama I experienced at times during elementary and sometimes junior high, I was excited to begin a new school year and wonder who my new classmates would be.

But for many TBLG kids, the imminent start of the school year is something they dread due to harassment, bullying or other issues that crop up.

Every year we have some school district official somewhere in the nation that overreacts or has a problem with a trans student presenting in their preferred gender either at the start of the school year or during prom season.

We have other incidents that start because of people pushing their faith based hate at LGBT students. It ends up generating national news involving GLBT students with depressing regularity on many issues.

One of the pieces of new Congressional legislation I was happy to see introduced was the Student Non-Discrimination Act. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and in the House by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and offers remedies for discrimination “based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” in public elementary and secondary schools.

Based on what we've seen over the last few years and the recurring lawsuits that TBLG kids have had to file with the help of the ACLU and Lambda Legal just to stand up for their constitutional rights, the SNDA is sorely needed.

Here's hoping that the 2010-2011 school year is a relatively drama free one for LGBT students. Somehow, I doubt it will be.

You Can't Declare War On Love

When it was on the air, Battlestar Galactica was one of my fave sci-fi shows and I never missed an episode during its four year run. I own all four seasons on DVD, the "Razor" and "The Plan" standalone episodes as well.

I recently entertained myself on a slow news day by watching "The Plan." The story for you non-BSG fans is that Number One, aka Brother Cavil, hates humanity with a passion. He coordinated along with his fellow Number One avatars the genocidal nuclear sneak attack by the Cylons on the Twelve Colonies that nearly wipes the human race out.

During one scene in it, Brother Cavil is ranting to a Number Six avatar about why his grand plan to exterminate humanity and its remaining 50,000 survivors is failing miserably. Number Six listens, then says to him, "You can't declare war on love."

I was thinking about that comment in the wake of the historic news concerning Prop 8. August 4, 2010, will go down in history as one of those marvelous days in which a marginalized group's flagging faith in the Constitution and their status as citizens in this country was restored, even if only for one fleeting moment in time.

This marriage fight reminds me of that particular Battlestar episode. The gay community takes devastating hits, has had some staggering losses, faces situations in which at times they have been outgunned and overmatched, but yet are still standing and moving towards their ultimate goal of finding marriage equality.

And the Religious Right reminds me of Brother Cavil and the Cylons.

Yes, they have a plan. Their plan is make sure that marriage equality never becomes the law of the land and that the TBLG community remains in permanent second-class citizenship status.

And it ain't working. Not only have the underestimated the resiliency of the GLBT community, but how willing we are to do as Kara Thrace said in another BSG episode, "Fight 'em until we can't."

The Religious Right can't deal with people of the same gender or trans people falling in love and getting married. For specious political and religious reasons they want to prevent that by any means necessary.

They have basically declared war on love.

Gay community, don't forget as you're justifiably celebrating this win, down in my home state we have the Nikki Araguz marriage case percolating at the local level just outside of Houston.

That case, just like Perry vs. Schwarzenegger has the potential to become a landmark legal case that will impact how the law treats transgender marriage issues. It also has the potential to overturn the odious Littleton vs. Prange case, and is being handled by one of our community's foremost legal minds in Phyllis Frye.

As your allies, we could definitely use your support in our trans marriage fight. A win for us in the Araguz case strengthens your case as it percolates up through the 9th Circuit and eventually gets to the Supreme Court.

Judge Walker's decision striking down Prop 8 was a masterful take down of legalized bigotry and long overdue. But rest assured, like the Cylons, the faith based haters will be back in overwhelming force to try to overturn Perry vs. Schwarzenegger.

And like Brother Cavil and the Cylons, they will fail once again.

Because not only are they on the wrong side of the moral arc of history, they will lose because you can't declare war on love.

Crossposted from The Bilerico Project

Activists Need To Get Paid,Too

There's an interesting thread and discussion going on at Pam's House Blend which was triggered by a letter Texas Tech student Nonnie Ouch wrote to the Dallas Voice complaining about Lt. Dan Choi's speaking fees and agent.

So what does the TransGriot have to say on the subject?

Activists need to get paid, too. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. got paid for his speeches and essays.

It's hard to do activism if you're worried about keeping a job, a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food in your cupboard.

Add to that in my case the expenses for a gender transition. While most of the heavy lifting in my case has been done, I still have to get hormones and do femme maintenance.

Bear in mind also that if you're holding a job in corporate America, the wingers aren't above fracking with our employment to disrupt our lives if they get the opportunity to do so as I found out the hard way.

It costs money to travel, do conferences, get passports for international conference travel or international speaking engagements, eat, or stay in your state capital or DC hotels to lobby.

Hotel rates get raised in your state capital when the legislature is in session. DC definitely isn't cheap, even if you chop expenses by staying in a budget motel near a METRO line in Maryland or Virginia and ride the subway into DC to the Capitol South Station. METRO passes still cost money.

Money is one of the issues related to why you don't see many POC's speaking at conferences or involved in GLBT activism. Bigotry, transphobia and class privilege is another. The big white dominated inside I-495 orgs don't hire us, and that's especially true for transpeople.

But that's another post.

We TBLG people of color don't get called or asked very often to speak at various events, be it on college campuses, LGBT conventions or just to speak to a college class on GLBT issues.

In my case, I'm a Trinity Award winning activist who has been active since 1998. I can not only authoritatively talk about the intersection of trans issues with the African American community,I can discuss trans history and current events easily as well amongst many others. I've had an announcement on this blog's sidebar for two years about my willingness to speak at those events inside and outside the TBLG community as well, and my phone or e-mail doesn't get blown up as much as I would like it to.

I don't ask for much. I don't mind traveling in coach, staying in budget motels, on campus or even people's homes to help cut costs. If it's for certain trans events such as a TDOR, I don't ask for my speaking fee.

But if you feel like what I have to say is important enough for Moni to be there live and in living color, then respect me and my time by paying for it.

Because if you don't or won't, somebody else will.

But don't think because I have this blog I'm making tons of money. I wish that were the case.

This is a social justice, educational and political commentary blog. In the blogosphere those types of blogs don't make the kind of money a pop culture one does. I get almost 2500 readers a day, many of them repeat readers, and not enough love in the TransGriot tip jar button in the left hand sidebar.

If just 1/10 of the daily readers that visit here left me as little as $5 on a consistent basis it would give me and other social justice bloggers and activists some regular income to do some things,

I'm just getting to the point where I have built up a body of work to where I get honoraria. I'm not anywhere near Dan Choi or Sarah Palin levels, but it's deeply appreciated when it's offered and I receive it. I plow it back into living my life and keeping TransGriot alive.

But if you want your activists front and center out there doing the work to combat the Forces of Intolerance and create a better liberal-progressive world, the reality is we need to get paid so we can comfortably live our lives and fight for you full time.

I'd love to be able to hone my skills at a Creating Change or lobby in Austin or Washington when needed. But to do that, the GLBT community and the progressive movement in general is going to have to get out of this mindset that activism requires a vow of poverty.

Because right now, we're facing an uphill battle fighting a war against enemies who are fully funded. Their only job is to spend their workdays thinking of creative ways to deny you your civil rights,  lie on the network talking head shows and get paid handsomely for doing so.

Will There Be Any Black Trans People At This Year's White House LGBT Reception?

Various leaders in the TBLG community are have begun receiving mailed invitation for a 5 PM EDT LGBT reception being held June 22 at the White House.

If you did receive it, congrats. As for the TransGriot, I have a better chance of receiving a visit from the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol than receiving a White House invite since I've been slimed by the NCTE derriere kissing crew as a 'violent racist' and an 'uppity n****r'.

If it did show up in my mailbox, I'd probably fall over in shock.

President Obama said in his May 28 proclamation declaring this GLBT Pride Month 'our Nation draws its strength from our diversity,”

That's a lesson often lost on the GL community, especially when it comes to events like this. I'm willing to bet that when this event kicks off, there will not be one African descended transperson in the house our ancestors built.

I predict it will be an event in which once again, African American transpeople will be denied the opportunity to meet a president our votes, sweat equity and money helped put in that office.

And I'm not happy about it.

The TransGriot is definitely interested in finding out who did get invites to this event, and just how diverse it will be.

Judging from the melanin deficient one last year, I'm not holding my breath.

NY LGBT Center Replaces Torched Rainbow Flag

On the morning of April 14, 2010 New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center staff arrived to find a torched rainbow flag draped on the front of their building.

They responded to the ignorance by unfurling an even larger rainbow flag during a 5 PM EDT ceremony yesterday.

This is a statement about the incident from their website:

Acts of hate must not be tolerated! Actions like this are menacing to our community and, if not addressed, can lead to an environment that allows more heinous acts, such as verbal attacks, property damage and physical violence. Showing our solidarity now will empower our community and send a message to the public that we will not be intimidated or threatened.

The Center is a beacon of safety and hope for LGBT New Yorkers and our building stands as an emblem of our community's presence in the city. The Center is visited over 300,000 times every year by people in search of support, safety and transformation. More than 1,000 young people come through our doors annually searching for acceptance and a place where they feel comfortable expressing their true selves.

Cowardly acts of hateful speech must be responded to with acts of courage and unity.


This is the desperate, and despicable act of people who know they are on the wrong side of the moral arc of the universe and history. It is beginning to bend toward justice for GLBT people.

It's our job to make sure its momentum doesn't get blunted by the Forces of Intolerance.

Isis Day of Silence Video

Today is the 15th annual Day of Silence sponsored by GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The Day of Silence involves thousands of students at more than 6000 middle and high schools taking some form of a vow of silence for the day to call attention to anti-TBLG name-calling, bullying and harassment.

My sis Isis King has cut a promo video for it (and y'all know how much I love little sis)



Of course the haters will be out in full force trying to either disrupt it or pulling their kids out of school.

Guess Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, MS will be empty today.

As someone who experienced it firsthand during my school days, may this day be a success one that starts genuine conversations about the serious issue of BTLG school bullying.

We're Paying Our Dues-So When Do We Get The Privileges Of Membership In American Society?

TransGriot Note: My latest post at The Bilerico Project

Today is April 15 as many of you perusing this post are aware of. With the midnight deadline looming to get that check mailed off to the IRS, depending on whether you owe Uncle Sam or are waiting for a nice refund from the Feds, you have mixed emotions about today.

But I'm going to focus on another aspect of taxes. I was driven to ponder it based upon a quote I recently read from an October 12, 1936 speech President Franklin D.. Roosevelt delivered.

He stated during that Worcester, MA speech that "'taxes, after all, are the dues we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society."

Well, if that's the case, to paraphrase FDR, when am I and my African descended trans peeps going to get the privileges of membership in American society for the dues we've been paying into it?

It's been a four decade long battle for transpersons in the United States just to have our humanity acknowledged, and even that is questionable depending on when and what day of the week you take a hard look at it.

For trans people of African descent, we continue to fight a multipronged battle not only just to get that recognition in our own community, but inside the white dominated GLBT one as well.

There are days I ponder where we are in the overarching scheme of things as African descended trans people in this country and across the African Diaspora and wonder, is it ever going to get better for us?

My sisters and Latinas are not only paying our federal, state and local taxes, but paying in blood by taking the brunt of the anti trans violence casualties. Unfortunately our sacrifices haven't been translated into significant representation in the leadership ranks of the BTLG organizations that purport to represent trans concerns.

And far too often the political agendas these organizations adopt and pursue don't address our pressing concerns for jobs, jobs, jobs.

When there's money that needs to be raised or melanin is needed for a photo op to show the diversity of the TBLG community, our phones ring off the hook and the e-mails and text messages freely flow.

But let it be a situation in which people need to be hired for leadership in a GLBT organization, testify at a congressional hearing, get invites to the White House or need someone to speak to the media on trans issues, no e-mail or text messages come our way and our phones are silent.

Our taxes paid in many cases have not translated into the political jurisdictions in which we live doing the right thing and passing laws to protect us.

Thanks to the odious tag team of Janice Raymond and Jesse Helms low income trans women since the 80's are barred from using the Medicaid/Medicare system our tax dollars help fund to pay for SRS.

I have yet to see passed the ENDA bill that address our most pressing concern as transpeople of color and give me and every transperson residing inside the United States a fair shot at obtaining gainful employment.

We only just witnessed a few months ago the passage and signing by President Obama of the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act.

And our lives are disrespected, mocked and treated as wedge issues and political footballs by our so called allies and our enemies.

So I ask the question again I posed at the beginning of this post.

We're paying our dues. When do we not only get the privileges of membership in American society enshrined in the Constitution, but a return on our significant investment in it?


Crossposted from the Bilerico Project

What's the Student Non Discrimination Act of 2010?

It's HR 4530, and was introduced by Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado on January 27 in the wake of multiple instances of GLBT students being discriminated against.

"Like Title VI for minorities in the 60s and Title IX for women in the 70s," Congressman Polis said at the time of the bill's introduction, "my legislation puts LGBT students on an equal footing with their peers, so they can attend school and get a quality education, free from fear.”

HR 4530, Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010 in summary:

Would prohibit public school students from being excluded from participating in, or subject to discrimination under, any federally-assisted educational program on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates. Considers harassment to be a form of discrimination. Prohibits retaliation against anyone for opposing conduct they reasonably believe to be unlawful under this Act. Authorizes federal departments and agencies to enforce these prohibitions by cutting off the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating them. Allows an aggrieved individual to assert a violation of this Act in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees should they prevail. Deems a state's receipt of federal educational assistance for a program to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for conduct prohibited under this Act regarding such program.

The bill so far has 82 co-sponsors so far and is in the following House committees:

House Education and Labor, chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-CA)
House Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education
House Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness

On Feb 23, 2010 it was referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.

It's still early in the process, but we can get busy supporting the passage of HR 4530 and making sure this bill expeditiously becomes the law of our land.

In the countless instances of discrimination directed at GLBT students I have documented on TransGriot's pages, I can say with certainty that Congressman Polis' bill is sorely needed.

In Africa, A Step Backward On Human Rights

TransGriot Note: From a March 12 op-ed in the Washington Post

by Desmond Tutu

Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity.

It is time to stand up against another wrong.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their community have suffered. In Malawi, men have been jailed and humiliated for expressing their partnerships with other men. Just this month, mobs in Mtwapa Township, Kenya, attacked men they suspected of being gay. Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counseling services to all members of that community, because the clerics wanted gay men excluded.

Uganda's parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda and Burundi.

These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa.

Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear.

And they are living in hiding -- away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. That this pandering to intolerance is being done by politicians looking for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. But it is a great wrong. An even larger offense is that it is being done in the name of God. Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God.

"But they are sinners," I can hear the preachers and politicians say. "They are choosing a life of sin for which they must be punished." My scientist and medical friends have shared with me a reality that so many gay people have confirmed, I now know it in my heart to be true. No one chooses to be gay. Sexual orientation, like skin color, is another feature of our diversity as a human family. Isn't it amazing that we are all made in God's image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people? Does God love his dark- or his light-skinned children less? The brave more than the timid? And does any of us know the mind of God so well that we can decide for him who is included, and who is excluded, from the circle of his love?

The wave of hate must stop. Politicians who profit from exploiting this hate, from fanning it, must not be tempted by this easy way to profit from fear and misunderstanding. And my fellow clerics, of all faiths, must stand up for the principles of universal dignity and fellowship. Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice


The writer is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Loudoun County VA Latest To Add GLBT Employmemt Protections

After a heated discussion full of the usual Republican lies and scare tactics, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted on January 5 in favor of adding language to the county’s equal employment opportunity policy not permitting the government to base its hiring or firing practices on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles), the maker of the motion, explaining he heard from several members of the community on the matter and thought it was time to include the language in county policy.

After learning his proposal would not be welcomed by all of his fellow board members, he added: “It’s a shame anyone would put energy into resisting this.”

Before the vote, Loudoun’s EEO policy made no mention of sexual preference, but only said the county did not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, age or disability. Also, it was learned during the meeting that the county has never received a complaint on the language not being part of the policy, and that sexual orientation was already not considered in employment matters, though it was not spelled out.



The 6-2-1 vote split along political lines, with the most outspoken conservative on the board, Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), voicing his opposition the loudest, accusing Miller of “sneaking” in the proposal without public input.

“Cross-dressing rights: that’s what we're talking about at this meeting,” Delgaudio said, his voice rising as he gestured toward Miller. “This would put men who wear dresses in county bathrooms without public notice!”

He went out to accuse Miller of having a liberal agenda, while saying that his proposal was a “kick in the teeth” to "moral people."

“This is freaky. This is bizarre. This is fruity!” he concluded.

A proposal by Delgaudio to schedule a public hearing on the matter was rejected.

Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), who called the matter politically driven, also voted against Miller’s proposal, citing a ruling in 2007 by former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore that the Fairfax County school board needed permission from state lawmakers to enact a similar policy.

“This issue needs some additional review and exploration,” she said. “You are inviting lawsuits unless you have firm, legal footing.”

In 2006, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) made an executive order barring state agencies from discriminating against people based on sexual orientation.

Waters said she wanted the county to first consult with Virginia’s incoming conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli (R) before proceeding. That request was also rejected by a majority of the board.

Chairman Scott York (I-At large) was the only board member to abstain from the vote, explaining that the matter was never an issue until Miller brought it up. “It was a waste of 20 minutes,” he said of the discussion.

As for the proposal’s backers, many said the change is evidence that Loudoun is open to everyone.

“We are sending a message today that discrimination will not be tolerated in the Loudoun County government,” said Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac).

Board Vice Chairman Susan Klimeck Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) said the change puts on paper what is already happening—that no one is being turned away for the company they keep.

“This codifies existing practice,” she said. “We already don’t discriminate. We are just putting words to it.”

And thank you Loudoun County, VA for doing so.

California LGBT Prisoner Safety Bill Passes Crucial Assembly Committee

I talked about a bill last year designed to help protect GLBT prisoners that passed in the California Assembly and the California Senate, but was vetoed by the Governator.

I was advised by Jay Davis of Equality California that the bill, AB 633 was recently reintroduced for this session and on January 12 passed by a unanimous 6-0 vote in the California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety.

AB 633 is sponsored by Equality California (EQCA) and was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). The bill is designed to prevent violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the state prison system. The bill was vetoed by the Governor last year but was recently reintroduced.

“We must put an end to the brutal assaults LGBT prisoners so often face,” EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors said. “Passing this bill would be an important step toward preventing violence against LGBT prisoners and ensuring they have access to the same safeguards under the law as other inmates. We have already started discussions with the Governor's office about why this bill is needed and why the current procedures are not working. We are hopeful he will reconsider his position and sign the bill if it passes this year.”

According to a study by UC Irvine commissioned by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 69 percent of transgender inmates report sexual victimization while incarcerated.

It's not just a California problem. Abuse of transgender prisoners happens across the country and around the world to the point where trans prisoners have to be segregated for their own protection. In Italy a transgender only prison was just opened in the town of Pozzale.

By amending the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act (SADEA) of 2005 to include self-reported safety concerns related to sexual orientation and gender identity on the list of factors for consideration when classifying and housing prisoners, the legislation promotes safety for and prevents assaults against LGBT people in the prison system. The list of factors currently includes age, type of offense and prior time served.

"All people deserve basic protections — including those serving time in our state prisons," Assemblymember Ammiano said. "No prisoner should fear for his or her life or be the target of abuse because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity."

The bill originally developed following a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting held in San Francisco in December 2008 and is chaired by Senator and former Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). The meeting, which was sponsored by EQCA along with Just Detention International, the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, exposed the dire issues facing LGBT people in California prisons in order to produce concrete solutions. The LGBT Prisoner Safety Act is an important step toward ensuring the safety of this highly vulnerable population.

Let's hope the bill fares better in this California legislative session than it did last year and actually becomes law.

DC Set To Vote For Marriage Equality Bill

Despite the best efforts of Bigot Harry Jackson, Jr., the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the District of Columbia City Council is set to give the city's gay residents an early Christmas present and become the first jurisdiction south of the Mason-Dixon line to approve marriage equality.

The bill cleared its final hurdle on November 10 when it passed out of committee on a 4-1 vote. The committee also stripped language out of the bill that would have eliminated domestic partnerships and broadened the religious exemption.

While there are few roadblocks left for opponents to prevent its passage, it's not like they haven't been busy trying. The Washington DC Ethics Board quashed two attempts by Bigot Harry Jackson's Stand4MarrageDC group to stop it citing the city's 1977 Human Rights Act and its prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Ethics Board also cited the same sexual orientation discrimination prohibition when it denied a request by Jackson's group to place a referendum on gay marriage on the ballot.

Meanwhile, at the NOM ranch, they were trying to work the Capitol Hill angle in terms of suppressing the soon to be passed law. Congress has 60 days to review laws passed by the District Council, but even NOM Executive Director Brian Brown, commented in the Washington Post, "It's a difficult thing for Congress to actually overturn a law in the District."

And of course, in the public commentary on the bill, the haters were in full effect.



While Councilmember David Catania's bill would not require religious organizations to perform gay weddings, the Catholic Church has reacted in a thuggish manner.

The Catholic Church has threatened to shut off programs serving Washington's poor and homeless if the city does not include an exclusion that would allow individuals, including private business owners, to refuse to provide goods and services related to the nuptials of gay couples.

That threat was decried by the Democratic governors of Maryland and Virginia, who both happen to be Catholic. It also had the opposite effect of hardening the DC Council's resolve to pass the measure.

The bill is supported by ten of DC's thirteen council members, so its chances for passage look excellent barring some Twilight Zone level shenanigans. Mayor Fenty has already stated he would sign it, and the Democratically controlled Congress is not inclined to interfere with it either.

We'll see in a few hours if the District of Columbia City council says 'I do' to same gender marriage.

Bishop Yvette Flunder Speaks At 2009 Creating Change

Thanks to my good friend Louis Mitchell, I became aware of Bishop Yvette Flunder and her 'radically inclusive' City of Refuge Church in San Francisco.

Here's the video for your viewing pleasure of her speech at the 2009 Creating Change conference in Oakland.

Haters Lose In Kalamazoo! GLBT Rights Law Passes!

Haters lose Haters lose!

With all 19 precincts reporting, the Forces of Intolerance were handed another crushing defeat as they sought to use their reprehensible tactics to attempt to overturn Ordinance 1856.

Just as the voters of Gainesville, FL did earlier this year, 62 percent of Kalamazoo voters approved Ordinance 1856 by a vote of 7,671 in favor to 4,731 against. This margin is larger than the number of outstanding absentee ballots that are currently being counted.

The passage of this ordinance adds protections for gay and transgender people to the city's nondiscrimination ordinance.

In addition, the mayor and the six members of the Kalamazoo City Commission who voted to unanimously pass the law back in June were all reelected.

“Our campaign started with a very basic idea, and today voters confirmed that we are One Kalamazoo,” One Kalamazoo campaign manager Jon Hoadley said in a written statement.

But the bottom line is that the rights of minorities should NEVER have to come up for a vote in the first place. Maybe our side needs to push a constitutional amendment to ban the practice.

The fair minded voters of Kalamazoo, MI have spoken and handed the bigots another bitter defeat. The politicians who voted for it all got reelected.

Thanks, Kalamazoo.

Fairness 10th Anniversary

This weekend those of us in the Louisville GLBT community will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the passage of our inclusive GLBT protective rights ordinance we call the Fairness Ordinance.

The Fairness Ordinance was passed by the Louisville Board of Aldermen.on October 12, 1999. It was groundbreaking at the time because it not only was the first time a GLBT rights laws passed in a Southern city, it was also inclusive as well. The sad trend at the time was to cut transpeople out of them and pass them for gay and lesbian people only.

Ten years later the sky hasn't fallen in 'Sodom on the Ohio' as our Reicher opponents call the city. Two other Kentucky cities, Lexington and Covington have their own GLBT rights laws on the books as well, and Lexington's passed on a 12-3 vote.

But not everyone in Kentucky has these protections. The task is to pass a statewide law so that all GLBT people within the state can enjoy the same rights as the people residing in Louisville, Lexington and Covington do.