The Education Committee of the Tel Aviv municipality is the first in Israel to require city schools to integrate learning content to change stereotypes about gays, lesbians and gender identity. The program will start next January.

The Education Committee o yesterday approved unanimously the proposal to integrate the Hoshen curriculum into every school.

Hoshen is a professional organization working on education to change existing stereotypes about sexual orientation and gender identity through information and activities within schools.

The upcoming school year will begin a pilot of 10 schools, which will include working with consultants, teachers, administrators and with students.

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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08/06/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Angelina Jolie is constantly criticized for “forcing” daughter Shiloh to “dress like a boy” and thus turning her into a disgusting manly lesbo. Angelina has defended Shiloh in the past and now the philanthropic lady is begginning to sound a littled pissed off. She said in an interview while doing the press rounds for her action film, Salt:

“I think people think kids should be a certain way, but I feel they should wear what they feel like wearing and they should express themselves. Shiloh cried one night and said, ‘Please cut my hair off. I don’t want to have long hair.’ I’m not going to leave it long just because somebody thinks I should…I have a very strong-willed four-year-old girl who tells me what she wants to wear and I let her be who she is.

 I agree with her and not just because I’m a lesbian who loves gender bending women. It’s important to let children be who they are, it’s heartbreaking to hear stories of people who have grown up trying to fit into a mold to make their parents happy. While this is common among LGBT individuals, it is also prevalent in the straight community, like the athlete who wants to impress his dad, the solider who joined the fight because he has a family history of it, the woman who married within her religion to make her mom happy. Parents shouldn’t force their child into a mold, it usually ends in disaster.

Also, our culture of dressing little girls in frills and pink sparkles is getting out of control. Girls are sexualized as soon as they pop out of the womb and are told they need to be beautiful fashion plates before they can walk. They need to be outfitted with heels and wearing designer diapers. It’s disgusting and for once Angelina is a bastion of sanity.

Although I did not report on it, earlier this week, Angelina was criticized for letting her son, Pax, get a mani/pedi. Basically, I like Angie better than ever before. Go on with your bad self, girl. I hope you adopt 100 more babies and seed them throughout the world to help people learn to become more tolerant.

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If you were not around during the 60’s Civil Rights Movement then you may be around for the  2010 Civil Rights Movement.

It has started.

During April I printed my little big vision in an article http://lezgetreal.com/2010/04/the-lgbtqi-pink-plan-liberation-of-usa-gays-and-lesbians-btqi/

My personal vision when I wrote that first article was simple – Build it and they will come of sorts…..   And that is exactly what is happening since this week’s launch of the AMERICAN EQUALITY BILL (AEB) an Omnibus with the ideal of an Amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 –   the inclusion of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity into the Civil Rights Act.

This week we hit the champagne bottle on the ship…

The American Equality  Bill takes the approach that piecemeal bills for various areas of discrimination be supported through recognition of our civil rights, first and foremost and may serve to yield an omnibus bill that will in essence get rid of all discriminatory legislation.  See the draft here   http://lezgetreal.com/2010/07/breaking-first-release-the-american-equality-bill/

It also recognizes that creating separate bills in separate areas breaks the interests of those against discrimination into small, separate pieces that dilutes the strong force of the coalition necessary to pass any bill on the federal level.

This is a critical approach to win Equality. Equality cannot come to fruition without the Benchmark – something specific that carries forth a universal message.  Now that we have the wording and the Goal- we need the BILL.

Bye Bye back door – tralalal piecemeal approach – no more  with domain ownership by organizations who tickle our backs into persuasive complacency, while we dole out more LGBT  dollars for more LGBT reassurances. Use that money to take a day off work and get on the streets.

I decided some time back that no one was going to own the rights I need to fight for and now I am asking that you all jump into the ocean with AEB (American Equality Bill) our wave – as we surf toward the beach where equality awaits under the sun.

This is THE BIRTH OF THE gay Movement. The one that is planning the front door entrance  to the Universe that belongs to us as equally as to any other – hence the beach metaphor.

“Now OUR TIME HAS COME. We have already won the de FACTO fight –  we EXIST – the factual existence – we have won visibility – the fact that we are out and open, the fact that we have created controversy, the fact that we have children – the fact that we are shaking up DADT, the fact that Annette Bening is playing a lesbian – and many more such victories – now it has come time for De Jure – The Legal Victory!  It can Only be done one WAY and that is  this  CIVIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT   http://lezgetreal.com/2010/07/the-launch-of-hope-finally-grassroots-find-feet-the-american-equality-bill/ “

Now that a group of grass-root-sloggers, none of whom are asking for money, have in fact put this together in benchmark formality in the form of  AEB  – it is time to take the street as spontaneously as you want.   It can be organized, it can be random, it can be anything you want- because YOU America- own it.  We own it..all of us own our civil rights and we are ready to demand the newly launched benchmark.

I have nothing invested in what anyone in congress thinks about it. I do not give a damn if you think I am wasting my time.  I don’t care who you think I offend.  I do not give a heck if you laugh and continue to marginalize my entitlement.

I am only invested in demanding it  - it is MINER and I can Demand.  What will be will be!  But at least I was unafraid.    I am not scared of failure I am not dependent on success – I am only concerned about DPING it.    I am not going  to shop AEB around – YOU-  Mr. President and you Mrs. Speaker and all of  Congress and those in the Senate – you must come to us.   We are going on the streets in a big way because NOW we are starting our movement.

To those who purport to represent us and make – deals behind our backs to assert your re-election – carry on thinking your existence is worthy while Americans suffer deep pain of discrimination. “Carry on,” I say.   But I am going on the street.

So yes it has started.  Today my very dear partner in the Civil Rights Claim, Todd Fernandez sent me a note on FB:

“J Todd Fernandez Honey – A tiny band of us in NY have decided to have a NY Civil Rights March 2010 – for SO&GI Equality Now. Can you dig it. xoTif!  Visit Todd on FB to see what is happening…..   http://bit.ly/AEBnow

If you are interested in going on the Street wherever you are just do it…

Start a Petition »

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
FaceBook be my Friend.

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San Francisco;

The Kids Are All Right

We are a two mom family. We have daughters.  Tonight, together with a friend (who took her grand daughter) I took my thirteen year old daughter to see  the Annette Bening and Julianne Moore film, “The Kids Are All Right“  I was unsure if this would be a good idea, especially as it was restricted citing sexually explicit scenes. I was worried; but weighed up the importance of the film, the maturity of my child, and the fact that – at last – a feature movie provided a story line more profound in its normalcy that the concept of the lesbian family, itself.

That said, seeing the film in limited release amongst a San Francisco mixed audience was most telling.  The movie is a comedy coated with emotion and turmoil, as a family is disrupted by the children’s desire to locate their sperm donor.  Lesbians and gay patrons outnumbered the straights , and even in the dark, one could tell who was gay and who was straight by the reactions and laughter to different scenes and character comments.

My daughter loved the movie; as did her friend. The context of the sex scenes required their bold oddness,  to say the least, we walked out of there calling them acrobatics.   However the lesbian couple of long duration provided the audience with a sex scene between Benning and Moore, that only those experienced in the art of bed-death lesbian would understand as romance turned endurance – a very realistic depiction.

Sitting in the fourth row of a very full theater was a challenge, especially as it meant my daughter and I would be sitting that much closer to explicit sex.   I was not sure how to handle it.  Then came the first scene. I glanced over at my teenager – and lo and behold, she had covered her eyes.  She simply did not want to see.

The next such scene, I glanced over at my friends grand daughter and found that this time, the two kids had turned their respective young heads toward each other  sharing “ew yukee”  expressions,  clearly doing everything in the power to avoid looking.

I asked if they were embarrassed and they both said no that it was simply Odd.  Both made t clear that they were referring to scenes that involved men.  They were completely unaffected by the lesbian scenes.

The story is good – my recommendation, on second thoughts, don’t take your younger than 16 kid.  Too much explaining to do….

It was an endearing movie and loved by the audience evidenced by the loud applause at the end.  How refreshing a lesbian long term relationship, loving family, with all the normal accouterments of lifestyle and success – it was real and a great entertainment. Recommended for sure!  Note purposely not giving too much away.

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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By  Melanie Nathan  7-8-10

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional with respect to claims brought by seven married same-sex couples and three widowers from Massachusetts. Under the ruling, the plaintiffs are entitled to the same federal spousal benefits and protections as every other married couple.

Finally  a huge victory for marriage equality when a federal judge in Boston ruled today in two separate cases that a critical portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

U.S. district judge Joseph Tauro , US District Court Massachusetts ruled that Congress violated the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when it passed DOMA and took from the states decisions concerning which couples can be considered married.

The second case,  Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, the ruling was DOMA violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The case was brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), the group that won the landmark gay marriage decision in 2003 before the Massachusetts Supreme Court. GLAD represents eight married couples and three widowers in the suit, says The Advocate today.

Proposition 8 is currently pending a San Francisco  decision, which could come down at any time, relates to State  laws barring marriage rights for same-sex couples.  However in this instance in  GLAD’s lawsuit was a precise attack on DOMA, targeting just one section of the law — Section 3 — that limits the definition of marriage, for all federal purposes, to one man and one woman.

A Highlight The Argument:

GLAD attorney Mary Bonauto told Tauro that DOMA constitutes a “classic equal protection” violation, by taking one class of married people in Massachusetts and dividing it into two. One class gets federal benefits, the other does not.  Just as the federal government cannot take the word “person” and say it means only Caucasians or only women, said Bonauto, it should not be able to take the word “marriage” and say it means only heterosexual couples.

Bonauto said the government has no reason to withhold the more than 1,000 federal benefits of marriage from same-sex couples, and noted that a House Judiciary Committee report “explicitly stated the purpose of DOMA was to express moral disapproval of homosexuality.”

The ruling stems from the lawsuit Gill et al v. Office of Personnel Management et al, filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in March 2009.

“Today the Court simply affirmed that our country won’t tolerate second-class marriages,” said Mary Bonauto, GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director, who argued the case. “I’m pleased that Judge Tauro recognized that married same-sex couples and surviving spouses have been seriously harmed by DOMA and that the plaintiffs deserve the same opportunities to care and provide for each other and for their children that other families enjoy. This ruling will make a real difference for countless families in Massachusetts.”

“I am thrilled that my family will now be treated in the same way as those of my married co-workers at the post office,” said Nancy Gill, who is a plaintiff with her spouse, Marcelle Letourneau. “Marcelle and I married out of love and commitment to each other first and foremost, but federal recognition of our marriage means that we’ll have equal access to important protections for our two children and for ourselves.”

Gill is a 22-year employee of the U.S. Postal Service who cannot cover Letourneau on her family health and vision insurance plans, forcing the couple to pay extra to insure Letourneau. Marcelle is also ineligible to receive the federal health benefit given to surviving spouses or to access Nancy’s pension should Nancy predecease her.

The next step in the case is for the federal government to decide whether it will appeal Judge Tauro’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. That decision should come within the next 60 days.

Congress passed DOMA in 1996. Section 3 of the law states that only a marriage between one man and one woman will be recognized for federal purposes. The Obama Administration called the law discriminatory, even while defending it in court.

GLAD filed the Gill case on the grounds that DOMA Section 3 violates the federal constitutional guarantee of equal protection as applied to federal income tax, Social Security, federal employees and retirees and the issuance of passports. The passport issue was resolved in 2009 when the State Department changed its policy.

Co-counsel in the Gill case included attorneys from the firms Foley Hoag LLP, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Jenner & Block LLP, and Kator, Parks & Weiser, PLLC. Details about the case, the plaintiffs, and the attorneys representing them can be found at http://www.glad.org/doma.

Excerpt from the Judgment

“Equal Protection of the Laws “[T]he Constitution ‘neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.’”(   Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 623 (1996) (quoting Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537,)  559 (1896) (Harlan, J. dissenting)).     It is with this fundamental principle in mind that equal protection jurisprudence takes on “governmental classifications that ‘affect some groups of citizens differently than others.’”84 And it is because of this “commitment to the law’s neutrality where the rights of persons are at stake”85 that legislative provisions which arbitrarily or irrationally create discrete classes cannot withstand constitutional……  Read Judge Tauro’s ruling: http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/2010-07-08-gill-district-court-decision.pdf.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England’s leading legal organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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6-23-2010- Written by Rachel Wahba

Lez Talk with Rachel-

Okay now I have seen it all: The infamous Lesbian Separatist Alix Dobkin loves boys! As long as they are her grandsons that is.  Singer songwriter Dobkin (‘Lavender Jane Loves Women,’) is quoted in the June issue of Curve magazine saying:

“I have two grandsons who I love more than anything in the world, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love women and put women first—I do.”

With her odd juxtaposition and outlandish caveat, I was transported back to one highly charged issue of the Dobkin driven magazine, known as “Dyke Quarterly,” published in the mid-seventies.

An entire issue was devoted to skewering Olivia Records for hiring (unknowingly I might add, because I was there) a pre-op male to female trans lesbian feminist —- imagine, that this inflexible perception, an ill conceived ideal in the first place, was devoted to ‘delegitimizing’ and attempting to destroy a groundbreaking lesbian feminist record company with it sole purpose of making lesbians visible in a fiercely male dominated industry.

This was especially hurtful and destructive coming from one of the founding mothers of womens’ music, famous for her “devotion” to women.  Yes that meant having to deny the sons of women; the banning of all Penis bearing infants, toddlers and children from festivals and the like was strictly enforced.

Instead of supporting one of her own, the hatred fueled by what I can only refer to as envy disguised as righteous indignation, was one of the many episodes in the history of Olivia Records and the times.

Now to see Alix ever so proudly loving her penis-endowed grandchildren is a cause to celebrate. Everything changes! Perhaps little boys will no longer be banished (if that is still the case) from the Michigan Womyns Music Festival.

I remember those days and my relief that because my baby girl was penis free we were not lesbian persona no grata, unless we risked shunning overalls for skirts and dresses.  Unfortunately I am not exaggerating. Boys were taboo. I admit there was a moment in history where separatism served its purpose for many of us for a moment in time— until we regained our sense of self as strong/liberated lesbians.

The actions waged by Dobkin and her cohorts traumatized anyone whom they pushed out of the way of their unlikely ideals.

Olivia Records, for example, with feminism as its guiding principle was suddenly made into the enemy. Under the guise of preserving Lesbian Feminism a barrage of rhetoric from Dobkin polarized the lesbian community and it took its toll.

It was demoralizing, invalidating, time consuming, and hurt the small collective of wholesome lesbians, nurtured by the of world validity and consciousness that Olivia Records opened,  while earning close to nothing simply for the love of women and commitment to providing women with unfettered voice; literally, and on vinyl.

So here we are today, Olivia has morphed into Olivia Travel, taking tens of  thousands of lesbians on vacations with week long lesbian entertainment of music and comedy. Lesbians are wined, dined, danced and entertained charming each other, all while enchanted by all that goes into the unique luxurious experience.

So Lavender Jane loves now loves HER boys. How sweet it is to see love transcend dogma. Too bad it took 36 years to get here.

By Rachel Wahba
Columnist for Lezgetreal

Additional Information: Refernces:

Read more about Alix Dobkins – There is a great deal more to her than her feeble attempts at invalidating OLIVIA…

In the 1970s Liza Cowan was the host of Electra Rewired, a late night talk show on WBAI-FM in New York City. She interviewed Maya Angelou, Yoko Ono, Germaine Greer, as well as local feminist and Lesbian activists. She also produced the live music series, The WBAI Free Music Store. While she was working as a radio producer she met and fell in love with Alix Dobkin, a folksinger who went on to produce the first all Lesbian record album, Lavender Jane Loves Women. Cowan and Dobkin were partners for six years.

While she and Dobkin were together, Cowan published and edited DYKE, A Quarterly, a cultural theory magazine. Her business and editorial partner was Penny House. DYKE lasted for three years, publishing two long issues per year. Considered both beautiful and contriversial, DYKE Magazine published articles on Lesbian Separatism, Lesbian Fashion, Dykes Behind Bars, as well as producing theme issues, like the Ethnic Dykes issue and the proposed but never realized issue on Lesbian Cartoons.

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ALIX NEEDED  to ADD a Page for Rumor Control to her website Quote:

Rumor Control

“Alix is a man-hater”

Nonsense! Some of my best friends are men. I certainly have strong opinions about men’s violence, men’s dominance, men’s politics, male institutions, male hierarchies and penis-centered culture (don’t you?), but man-hating is irrelevant in my life.

“Alix is against transexuals”

No way! I look to transexuals to break new ground and not to reinforce conventional gender stereotypes.

“Alix hurts little boys by excluding them from women-only space”

On the contrary, I treasure all children and hate to see any child spoiled by mistreatment and neglect, or misguided by ignorance and disrespect. Teaching little boys universal entitlement and teaching little girls that they have no right to privacy is ignorant and disrespectful.

“Alix believes that women-only space is sacred space”

True.

“Alix performs only for women”

False. I often appear before mixed audiences.

“Alix loves all Lesbians but doesn’t like some Lesbians”

True.

“Alix wants her work to have meaning for everyone”

True.

“Alix is ‘Politically Correct’”

I certainly hope so, and so should you hope to be politically enlightened and untrendy!

Today, together with Amos Lim of Out4Immigration and at the behest of Assembly member Kevin de Leon and under sponsorship of EQCA,  I had the great honor of testifying to the California State Senate Judiciary Committee  for AJR 15, a Resolution in support of Uniting American Families Act, which made it out with 3 votes in favor and at least one opposition vote. The second Republican member was not present but may have shown up later to cast his vote; regardless a 3:2 victory sends the resolution to an almost certain passage in the California Senate.  State Resolutions in California do not require the signature of a Governor.

This was my 2.5 minute testimony:

Madam Chair and Honorable Members of this Committee, Assembly member De Leon, thank you for this opportunity to tell my story, personifying that of tens of thousands of other binational same-sex permanent partners, many of whom are from California, either living in undocumented fear, exiled to a foreign country or in detention awaiting deportation.

Nine years ago I fell in love with Dorit Israel who came to the USA as a student.  We married in July 2008, during California’s window of opportunity. We have a daughter born of this relationship and I have 13 year old  daughter from a previous relationship, in a shared custody arrangement.

Because lesbian and gay partners are excluded by Federal law, I was unable to sponsor Dorit for a green card. We faced untold hardship; and on 4 occasions during our process, I was faced with a choice that no American or Mother should ever have to bear; – leaving my home, my country, my mortgage and my business to go to a foreign country where I do not speak the language or have any viable prospects of survival, paled in comparison to having to choose between my two beloved daughters.  If I were to leave my country, I would have been forced to choose between my spouse and our child, ahead of my first born. If I chose to stay with my 13 year old,   I would be separated from my spouse and my little one.  Worse yet, these young American Citizen Sisters would also be torn apart.

I was not able to make the choice – there WAS no plan B.

To explain what we went through would take too much time, save to say that with the help of Senator Feinstein, we were lucky and finally able to rely on an R1 Visa, after hurdles such as the sunset of the very process upon which we relied.

Had we been a different gender couple our $72,000 five year nightmare would have been over in mere months costing no more than $1500.00.

While our case ended with a remedy, many do not. It is for them that I am here. Through my advocacy for other couples I am privy to many cases of hardship, the brain drain of California doctors, lawyers, Professors, PhD’s and entrepreneurs; the waste of resources and the unconscionable injustice.

The State of California recognizes gay and lesbian couples through equality legislation, yet this great anomaly exists, where but for the passage of The Uniting American Families Act, the equality laws in California are useless to bi-national couples.

I believe that passage of AJR 15, will send an imperative message to Washington D.C. – California cares about its families and that this situation is simple intolerable.

Before the vote, Senator Mark Leno made  a very moving and supportive statement about the hardship and the lack of immigration equality for binational same-sex couples.  He ended his remarks by saying that after what he heard, he could not fathom anyone single person VOTING NO to the passage of the Resolution which supports laws keeping California families together.

The Republican  Tom Harmon (California’s 35th District) when asked his vote  bellowed a resolute “NO.”

Of course I expected no thing different, but surely he may have had an excuse a reason?  So when he walked out of the Chamber, I ran after him. I told him I was curious about why he had voted no.  He looked at me and snapped loudly “I don’t have time for that now.”  I then asked him if I could make an appointment to see him so he could explain at a later date or time. Again he snapped, viciously, “I will NOT do that.”

So there you have it California, Republicans truly do not care about Californian  families and their children.

Based on this, I deduce that if  Harmon and the other lockstep Republicans purport at anytime on the future to be concerned about California Families, then such solicitude is tantamount to saying “I hate Gays.”

That said, Republican Meg Whitman now in the race for Governor and Carly Fiorina, in the race for incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat, have all openly subscribed to this ant-gay equality stance.  To my way of thinking, mere campaign statement by these candidates are tantamount to the offensive and upsetting Bullhorn “NO” VOTE we heard today.

Note: Senator Boxer is a Co-Sponsor of UAFA, The Uniting American Families Act.

Thank you to Assembly member Kevin De Leon,  Senator Mark Leno for co sponsoring the UAFA Resolution in California as well as our host EQCA with Mario Guerrero at the helm.

The Hypocrisy of  “NO”

6/1/2010 – California Senate urges the federal government to quit ignoring the immigration problem.

Harman’s Floor Speech for Immigration Resolution, SCR 108 from CA Senate Republican Caucus on Vimeo.

Senator Harman’s Senate Concurrent Resolution 108 (SCR 108), a bi-partisan measure urging the federal government to act immediately on federal immigration law cleared the Senate today. In a landmark display of unity, Senator Gil Cedillo, a leading immigrant rights activist in the Senate, spoke in strong support of the legislation, agreeing with Senator Harman on the importance of immediate federal action. The measure passed 31 to 1.

“We don’t agree on much here in the legislature, but I am glad we can agree that the federal government should, at a minimum, enforce existing immigration law,” said Harman. “With California facing a $20 billion dollar budget deficit, the legislature would be remiss to not demand action on a federal problem that costs California taxpayers upwards of $10 billion a year.”

Money Is above People..Money Money Money!!!

After today’s vote, Clearly Tom Harmon does not support UAFA ’s inclusion in Federal Immigration Reform  Law

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
Http://visualcv.com/melnathan

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In a letter to Regina Griggs, PFOX’s Executive Director, PTA President Chuck said, “Through our Exhibitors screening process, we have determined that your organization’s mission, goals and objectives are not in harmony with the National PTA’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy; and there for, do not align with our Associations core vales and beliefs.”

“The PTA has become a left-wing advocacy group instead of serving the needs of all children,” responded an unhappy Griggs.

PFOX says is a family organization that educates the public on the message of hope and support for students, families and educators affected by homosexuality, gender confusion, and school bullying.

However, according to long time LGBT activist Wayne Bensen of TruthWinsOut.org, from its inception, PFOX was a tool funded and used by the religious right to deny equality to GLBT Americans and as a way to mock the successful pro-gay organization.

Our research found the PFOX mission is to primarily convince gay people think they can become straight, especially young gay people, and tell folks gays are promiscuous child molesters, who spread diseases and thus need to be cured.

They have especially targeted public school students and their parents for this nonsense and serve as a conduit for right wing legal organizations to threaten schools of they don’t include PFOX ex-gay literature in their schools.

While there is no valid scientific research to back up PFOX’s contentions about people being able to be cured of homosexuality, there are, conversely, numerous studies showing that the “reparative therapy” championed by PFOX is ineffective and even injurious to children.

They also seem to like to be victims and claim there is widespread discrimination against “ex-gays, ” even though most people know there is really no such critter as an “ex-gay.”

“PFOX is not for “ex-gays” which PFOX has not proven actually exist outside politics, but they are simply anti-gay and anyone with common sense knows this, including the PTA”, said Besen, adding “PFOX is far and away the sickest and most profoundly disturbed group of people I have dealt with in more than twenty years of activism. There is not a sane, rational voice within this entire organization and hasn’t been since the group’s founding by the Family Research Council in 1998.”

http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2010/06/9109/

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5-12-10    Melanie Nathan

Kentucky Equality Federation today called for the termination or route change for Jefferson County School Bus Driver Ronell Mattingly and an official apology from Crosby Middle School Assistant Principal Angela Allen.

“The issue centers on the suspension of the child from the bus simply because she was offended when others on the bus were making fun of gay and lesbian people. When she brought this to the attention of bus driver, the driver thought it was humorous and told the child she was a ‘contradiction’ according to the report filed with our organization,” stated Rick Wolfe, spokesman for Kentucky Equality Federation’s Discrimination, Hate Crimes, and School Bullying Committee, and special adviser to the president for youth and discrimination.  “As a result of the child bringing it to the attention of the bus driver, she was suspended for a three (3) day period.

The fact that the bus driver called her a ‘contradiction’ because she was the child of a lesbian couple, in addition to the way the school handled the situation is a serious problem.”

According to the parents of the child, on March 31, 2010 the school bus driver told the child she was a “contradiction,” because she has same-sex lesbian parents and has been subsequently and continuously punished for calling the bus driver a ‘jerk’ because of her remark.

“The fact that anyone still feels they have the right to make judgment calls regarding other peoples life choices is the reason that organizations like Kentucky Equality Federation and COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) exist,” stated Julia Oiler Spiegel, Coordinator of the COLAGE Kentucky Chapter, and Kentucky Equality Federation’s Children of LGBTI Parents Outreach Director. The Kentucky Chapter of COLAGE is also a member of the Commonwealth Coalition. “As a parent, lesbian or straight, I would question the safety of my child while being chaperoned by this bus driver. I cannot help but wonder the drivers response if a child reported being bullied, harassed or assaulted while riding this bus. I commend this child for her willingness to defend her family unit, however that may be defined.”

According to the parents, children on the school bus were joking about gay and lesbian people. This offended the twelve year old child and brought it to the attention of the school bus driver. The school bus driver asked the child to have her parents call her, the parents did and the school bus driver allegedly repeated the statement to one of the parents, Evon Reeves.

Evon Reeves statement: “My daughter who rides the school bus to and from school, recently there were some comments made on the bus regarding gays, my daughter said that word offended her because her mom was gay; the bus driver laughed and replied ‘that’s a contradiction.’ Being 12 years old at the time, she did not know what that meant; my daughter did ask her what that meant and the bus driver ignored her. My daughter did get smart with her which I am not condoning at all and her punishment was suspension off the bus for 3 days and she was suppose to write a letter. The day this happened, my daughter called me at work told me what happened and I really could not believe an adult would say something so absurd.

I called the Blankenbaker Bus Depot like the bus driver had told my daughter to ask me to do; the bus driver returned my call later that night and said the same exact thing to me, which showed me what mentality she actually had. The next day the driver made her sit in back of the bus with High School Students, and would not let any of her friends turn around and talk to her.
I did not receive a call the from school until 3 days later, when I and spoke to Assistant Principal Angela Allen, she stated my daughter had been suspended off bus due to being ’smart.’

Mattingly wanted a written apology which my partner and I didn’t agree with; Assistant Principal Angela Allen stated my daughter should simply ignore such comments and grow some thicker skin. I reiterated that the comments were made to my 12 year old child, from an adult. My daughter has enough to deal with such as peer pressure, growing up, homework, etc. and should not be subject to bigotry from a school bus driver who is suppose to be driving the bus and protecting children, not arguing with a child.

When my daughter returned to school, the driver made her sit in back of the bus with High School Students, and would not allow any of her friends to turn around and talk to her. After that I did not let my daughter ride the bus until April 22, 2010.

When my daughter started to get off the bus the driver stood up in front of her and asked for her apology letter. My daughter told her that her family made the decision that she didn’t have to write it, then; the driver then aggressively held the referral in her face and stated ‘this says you do.’ My daughter explained again she was told not to apologize. The driver then stated she was going to give another referral and hoped she got suspend from the bus for the rest of the year. She has not ridden the bus sense.

The parents turned to Kentucky Equality Federation for assistance after being stonewalled by the school, as well as the Jefferson County Board of Education’s Transportation Office, who has refused to listen to the parents. The child still isn’t riding the school bus because she is now also afraid of the driver.

“The audacity of a school bus driver to say such a thing to a child is appalling and shows the bigotry gay and lesbian parents face,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. “The school bus driver has authority over the bus, and should have asked the students making derogatory comments about gay and lesbian people to stop, or they should have been the ones punished; had comments been made about any other minority group, I believe this situation would have been handled in a completely different manner.” Palmer continued, “The school certainly is not giving ‘an environment that fosters self-discipline and self direction’ as stated on their website.”

Reeves continued: “We have moved beyond ’some type of disciplinary action,’ or a simple don’t let it happen again. My daughter cannot ride the bus because she feels threatened by the bus driver who made her sit in the very back of the bus with high school students after this happened. I want them know they can’t make such statements. I want them to know they cannot do that to my child, or any other child.”

5-5-10  MELANIE NATHAN

Lambda Legal Case:

“This is a terrific outcome for our client and her six-and-a-half-year-old son. New York has recognized the legal parent-child relationship established after this couple entered into a civil union in Vermont.”

(New York, May 5, 2010) — In a decision yesterday, all seven judges on the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that a non-biological mother, represented by Lambda Legal, is a legal parent and entitled to seek custody and visitation based on a Vermont civil union that she and her former partner entered into prior to the birth of their son.

“This is a terrific outcome for our client and her six-and-a-half-year-old son. New York has recognized the legal parent-child relationship established after this couple entered into a civil union in Vermont,” said Susan Sommer, Director of Constitutional Litigation at Lambda Legal. “While this is a great result for Debra and her son, unfortunately a majority of the Court did not go further and overrule its 1991 Alison D. That decision allowed only biological or adoptive parents to seek custody and visitation. Today’s decision only added one new category of protection for families. Children whose parents conceive them using an anonymous donor but haven’t traveled out of state to enter into a civil union or marriage should be protected as well. The legislature should follow the lead taken by many other states and pass legislation clarifying children’s legal relationships with both their intended parents.”

The Court of Appeals ruled that “New York will recognize parentage created by a civil union in Vermont. Our determination that Debra H. is M.R.’s parent allows her to seek visitation and custody at a best-interest hearing.”

With this victory in New York’s highest court, Debra H. now is able to proceed in the trial court to seek custody and visitation with her son, as well as to provide him with financial support. A trial judge will ultimately rule on what is in the best interest of the child.

Today, the Court of Appeals also decided another case, H.M. v. E.T., involving a same-sex couple who conceived a child with an anonymous donor, but in which the non-biologically related partner now argues that she is not the child’s parent and should not be required to provide child support. The high court ruled that Family Court has jurisdiction to hear the case and determine whether the woman is the child’s parent.

Background on Debra H. v. Janice R.

Lambda Legal represents Debra H. in her effort to continue to parent the son she and her former civil union partner, Janice R., planned together. The couple agreed they would raise a family together in a two-parent household and conceived their son using in vitro fertilization. Janice promised that Debra would formally adopt their child, and they met with an adoption lawyer prior to their son’s birth. In 2003, before he was born, they entered into a civil union in Vermont, which at that time was the most legally significant relationship available to same-sex couples under U.S. law. Debra was by Janice’s side throughout labor and delivery and cut their son’s umbilical cord; her last name was included in their son’s name on his birth certificate. In the years that followed Debra gave him the day and night love, nurture and care of a mother. When it came time for the second-parent adoption, Janice, who is a lawyer, advised Debra “as a lawyer” that they didn’t need to get the courts involved and that Debra would always be the boy’s parent. When the couple’s relationship ended in 2006, Debra continued actively to parent her son, who moved with Janice into an apartment only a block away. Debra and her son were together daily, and she often put him to bed.

Early in May of 2008, when the child was four-and-a-half-years-old, Janice abruptly refused Debra any further contact with him. Debra immediately filed for emergency joint custody and restoration of parental access. The trial court ordered interim regular ongoing visitation and allowed Debra’s petition to proceed to trial. When Janice appealed, Lambda Legal entered the case in early 2009 on Debra’s behalf. The case was argued in the Appellate Division, First Department in March 2009, and on April 9, 2009, the trial court decision was reversed. The New York Court of Appeals then accepted the case for appeal and heard argument on February 17, 2010. Many prominent legal and child welfare experts filed friend-of-the-court briefs on Debra’s side, including the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the National Association of Social Workers, child advocates and 45 family law professors on the faculty of every law school in New York State.

The child’s court-appointed attorney also asked the court to give Debra the opportunity to protect their parent-child relationship.

Susan Sommer, Director of Constitutional Litigation at Lambda Legal, argued the appeal on behalf of Debra. She is joined by co-counsel Bonnie Rabin and Orrit Hershkovitz of Cohen, Hennessey, Bienstock & Rabin, P.C. and by Lambda Legal affiliated attorney Jeremy Sanders. Debra’s son is represented by Anthony Parisi, III and counsel Jennifer Colyer of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, who argued the case in the Court of Appeals.

Posted by Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

4/19/10-by Paula Brook
There was no drama Saturday night as Bleckley County High School senior Derrick Martin was escorted to his high school prom on the arm of his boyfriend.

Martin, who is gay, had made headlines after he asked school administrators in the Georgia town of Cochran for permission to take a same sex partner to his prom.

Initially Martin was refused permission to do so, but after further discussion officials eventually granted the go-ahead, saying they had no policy in place against it.

“You don’t have the right to say no,” Bleckley County principal Michelle Masters said.

The decision prompted some controversy and a little hardship for Martin. A small group of students held an opposition rally in front of the town courthouse to protest and there were rumors that a separate prom would be held. Martin’s parents also kicked him out of his home after the publicity.

About 7:45 p.m., couples started to arrive at the high school in a line of stretch limos, a bus, a John Deere tractor and even carriage and buggy, and afterward walked through a crowd of parents and friends who snapped photos.

“I wonder if they realize what they’ve done,” said Arturro Beeche, a San Francisco professor who flew into Georgia on Friday and drove Martin and Goodman to the prom. “Once it happens in small-town America, it will inspire so many,” he said.

via Bleckley prom goes smoothly – Education – Macon.com.

But in the end, despite the fact that security was tight and at least 15 sheriff’s deputies were stationed outside the school, it was pretty much a non-event, a few parents whispered as the couple stepped onto a makeshift “red carpet” and their names were announced, but many in the crowd also gave them a small cheer.

And the world did not come to an end because two boys went to prom together.

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4/14/10-by Paula Brooks
A former transsexual student of a Gary, Indiana High School, who was denied permission to attend his prom in a dress, has apparently reached a settlement agreement with the school system.

According to the Gary Post-Tribune, Kevin Logan, a gay and transsexual student, sued the Gary Community School Corp. in 2007 in U.S. District Court in Hammond, claiming the district had violated his First and 14th Amendment rights when the West Side High School principal blocked Logan from attending prom his senior year.

In his lawsuit, Logan said he had worn female attire during school throughout his junior and senior years and went by the gender-neutral nickname of K.K. No one ever bothered him because of how he dressed, he said in his lawsuit, and he even spoke with the assistant principal and principal before prom.

The assistant principal told him there should be no problem with him wearing a dress. Then-Principal Diane Rouse, however, told him he couldn’t wear a dress and instead said he could wear a female pants suit. Logan showed up at the May 2006 prom at Avalon Manor in Hobart, wearing a long pink dress and $200 worth of manicure, pedicure and hair styling.

Rouse “stretched her hands across the entrance and advised Logan that she would not permit Logan to enter,” the lawsuit says.

Another West Side student, a female, was allowed to attend prom wearing a tuxedo.

The district later provided a copy of school policy that said students were banned from wearing clothes that express sexual orientation, which Logan’s lawyers challenged as illegal.

According to court documents filed Monday, the school district has agreed to pay Logan an undisclosed amount to settle the case.

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“You have displayed in your young life more courage than in my 69 years,”~ Rev. Rhett D. Baird of High Street Unitarian Universalist Church.

4/10/10-by Paula Brooks
According to Macon.com, about 100 people turned out last night for a rally Macon, GA, in support of a gay Bleckley County High School Honors Student who will be taking his boyfriend to his high school prom next month.

The rally, sponsored by the Macon chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, held to support 18 year old Derrick Martin, and came in response to a prominent church in the youth’s hometown of Cochran, GA announcing  its plans to organize a segregated prom for students.

Earlier this year, Martin asked his school principal if he could take his boyfriend to his senior prom, set for next Saturday. At first, school officials said no because the town of Cochran, with a population of 5,200, wasn’t ready for a same-sex couple at a school prom, but later reversed that decision and eventually granted his request.

A similar request by a lesbian student in Mississippi to attend her prom with her girlfriend was denied, and the school’s prom was eventually canceled there after Constance McMillen enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberty Union to force the local district to reverse that decision.

For his stand, however, Martin was subsequently thrown out of his parent’s house for being gay and the local church offered to hold a private segregated prom for Bleckley County High School students.

Edric Floyd, chapter co-president of PFLAG Macon had said last nights rally was a chance to counter the opposition by showing support for Martin and appreciation to Bleckley County High School for making the right decision, despite the reaction from some in the community.

Martin, who attended Fridays rally with his boyfriend Richard Goodman, told the crowd he has faced discrimination similar to that McMillan experienced in Mississippi, including from a prominent church in Cochran organizing a segregated prom for students.

“I’ve called the pastor and youth minister and they say the same thing: ‘We can’t be part of an event of a lifestyle we don’t support,’ ” Martin said. “It confuses me for people to say they don’t want to be in the same room with me.”

People from as distant as Australia and Africa have so far donated $5,000 to help cover Martin’s prom costs, college and living expenses.

“You have displayed in your young life more courage than in my 69 years,” said the Rev. Rhett D. Baird of Macon’s High Street Unitarian Universalist Church.

Macon NAACP President Al Tillman said gays are now facing the same levels of discrimination that blacks did decades earlier.

“Our community needs to recognize we are made up of all types,” said Tillman. “Unfortunately, this world has only changed because of holding protests or rallies of this form.”

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3/29/10-by Paula Brooks
The Mississippi school district that canceled its prom to stop a lesbian couple attending has decide once again that civil rights are not something they worry about after they suspended transgender student Juin Baize was within hours of his first day at Itawamba Agricultural High School.

The school gained notoriety this year after it canceled their prom to exclude 18-year-old Constance McMillen attending with her girlfriend.

Baize, who  prefers male pronouns, moved to the town of Fulton with his mother and two sisters early this year to live with his grandmother. However on his first day at Itawamba, Baize was given a suspension note with no explanations as to why he was being kicked out.

The American Civil Liberties Union, who backed McMillen through her entire case, also sent a letter to the Itawamba school board asking them their reasons for suspending Baize, in order to challenge the suspension, but got no response.

After the story appeared in their local newspaper, Baize and his family were kicked out of his grandmother’s house, and moved to another friend’s home, only to be kicked out again. The 16-year-old Baize has since been sent him to Florida to live with a close family friend.

However, Kristy Bennet, legal director of the ACLU Mississippi, said the group would not be pursuing the case, “Juin not being in Fulton makes it difficult for us to pursue any kind of legal action here. And personally, I feel it may be a better decision for Juin to relocate and move on with his life.”

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3/27/10-by Paula Brooks
The Harford County Public School District in northeast Maryland has stopped filtering student access to LGBT-related web sites, after it was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union on the issue.

The schools systems filter system had prevented students from accessing many well-known state and national LGBT groups, including the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, as well as a variety of religious organizations that support gay rights, but had allowed access to sites that condemn homosexuality.

According to the DC Agenda, Alli Harper of Baltimore’s Brown, Goldstein & Levy law firm, which cooperated with the ACLU on the issue said,

“One of the problems with Harford’s filtering scheme is that it only allowed students access to information on one side of the public debate on LGBT issues.”

Harper noted that one student was blocked from researching a paper “arguing the ‘pro’ side of the marriage equality issue and had to get an extension to do the assignment outside of school, while students making an anti-gay argument were able to access the information needed on school computers.

In a March 19 letter addressed to Robert Tomback, the district’s superintendent, and Mark Wolkow, who leads the district’s board of education, the ACLU said, “We have brought together a group of concerned HCPS students, parents, teachers and alumnae to continue to brainstorm how we can work with you and to make our school system a safer and more supportive place for our LGBT and allied community members, and added “This is a positive step toward inclusiveness in HCPS policy.”

via DC Agenda.

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3/27/10-by Paula Brooks

Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Good folks from all over the world are coming to the aid of the Homeless Voices for Justice program in Maine after officials of the Catholic Church withdrew funding over its supposed position on Marriage Equality in that state.

But I have to say two of those Good Samaritans have made me really proud of them.

Preble Street, a Maine social service agency that provides staff support for Homeless Voices for Justice, voted later in 2009 to join a coalition opposing the repeal of Maine’s same-sex marriage law. However, Homeless Voices for Justice, which makes its own decisions on such matters, explicitly decided to stay out of the same-sex marriage fight.

Nonetheless, within weeks of the church-led repeal of the statute, both Catholic Charities Maine and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development notified Preble Street that its support of the same-sex marriage law had violated the Homeless Voices for Justice grant agreement.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which by then had sent $15,000 to the program, asked for the return of any unspent cash and cancelled its second $15,000 award. Catholic Charities Maine, meanwhile, simply demanded the return of its $2,400.

Last week after this story began to circulate, folks from around the nation began sending checks to Preble Street to replace the Catholic Church pulled and the agency’s director said that since Wednesday, about 150 new donors have given nearly $10,000 to assist Homeless Voices for Justice.

However, they will need more, so yesterday I was preparing an article to ask Lez Get Real reader to help out even more.

I was raised Catholic and I know what Jesus taught. I remember well the parable of the Good Samaritan and have been plenty annoyed at the Church for pulling this money.

There are many are parables in the Bible, but this is one has always been one of my favorites and while not a practicing catholic any more, I thought the lesson of this parable was an important one to teach my twin three year old girls Halie and Kyma. So earlier this week I pull it up on line and made the girls sit with me while I read them the Good Samaritan Story….

Teacher, what should I do so I can go to Heaven and live forever?”

Jesus replied, “What is written in the Bible? What do you think?”

The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. But who is my neighbor?

The Good Samaritan children’s story.

Being 3 year olds, I got a few questions about the story from Halie and Kyma, but it had not really seemed to me that they got their heads around the deeper moral points being made in the Good Samaritan story and I came away from the experience thinking that, to Halie and Kyma, the story had no more impact that if I had read to them from Dora the Explorer’s site. But it had made me feel better for having read it to them anyway.

Let me tell you, I was way off base in my assessment of just what Halie and Kyma had come away with from our story time that day, because yesterday, as I was doing the research for this article, my girls walked into my office and with them they had their cow bank.

They said to me, “Mama will you send this money’s to thems poor peoples?”

Needless to say… they kind of floored me at first, because I sure never saw that one coming.

Then I asked them, since this was all they money they had, if they were sure about this, and wouldn’t they rather buy something for themselves?

But they assured me this was exactly what they wanted to do with their money because they “wanted to go to heaven.”

I hugged them, and then I cried at the selflessness of their act and at the fact they actually listened to me, and took to heart a very important moral lesson I thought they had completely missed.

Let me also tell you, it makes a mom proud to know when their children get it.

Today this proud mommy is writing a check to Preble Street in the amount of five dollars and sixty-seven cents for two Good Samaritans named Halie and Kyma Brooks.

We can only hope, a little child shall lead them… .

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About a dozen Bleckley County High School students staged a rally at the Bleckley County courthouse in Cochran, GA to protest their high school allowing a gay student to take his boyfriend to the prom.

Last week Bleckley school system officials said they would allow gay honor student Derrick Martin to bring his boyfriend to the high schools prom. “You don’t have the right to say no,” Bleckley County H.S. Principal Michelle Masters said. “As a principal, I don’t judge him. I’m taught not to judge. I have to push my own beliefs to the background.”

However some of the student protest were saying they did not want there town to become known as pro-gay and that the school’s decision to allow Martin to attend the event with his boyfriend has brought too much attention to their small town.

According to Macon.com:

“People who don’t know the area will think it reflects on everybody,” said John Smith, a grandfather who owns an air-conditioning business in Cochran.

Before he stopped by the rally, he asked county officials Thursday if a separate prom could be held at the city’s recreation center, he said.

The rally’s organizer, Amber Duskin, sent text messages to high school students Wednesday asking them to show up.

The senior said she asked her high school to return her prom ticket money and does not plan to attend because of Martin.

“I don’t believe in going up there and dancing with gay guys like that,” she said. “It’s also not just him bringing a boy. It was bringing all this attention to it.”

via Students protest Bleckley prom decision – Education – Macon.com.

While Martin, who came out as gay during his sophomore year in high school, said the rally did not changed his plans to attend the prom with his boyfriend, the media attention brought by this story has gotten Martin put out of his families home. Martin’s father is a math teacher at Bleckley County High and is the school’s Teacher of the Year.

The boy is currently staying with friends.

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Photo: Woody Marshall/Macon Telegraph

The parents of an 18-year-old Georgia honors student who won the right to bring his boyfriend to his high school prom, have kicked him out of the house.

This week Derrick Martin, a student at Bleckley County High School in Cochran, GA, won the right to bring his boyfriend to his high school prom after he pressed local school officials on the issue after hearing about Constance McMillen, a Mississippi lesbian who asked to take her girlfriend to the prom, and who’s request lead her school eventual canceled that event rather than allow to happen.

Now, Macon, Georgia-based news site, macon.com, is reporting the school’s decision to allow Martin to bring his boyfriend to the prom and the resulting media attention have resulted in Martin being asked to leave his families home and he was now staying with a friend.

Supporters have rallied around Martin, and are offering to help pay for everything from boutonnieres to a stretch limo for Martin and his boyfriend, but so far there has been no word on anyone helping Martin find a new place to live.

http://www.macon.com/2010/03/24/1070478/gay-rights-backers-reach-out-to.html#storylink=omni_popular

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But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these~ Matthew 19:14

According to 9NEWS.com in Denver, Colorado, a Catholic preschool in Boulder, Colorado is throwing out a 5-year-old because the child’s parents are lesbians.

According to teachers at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School, a meeting was held Tuesday to discuss the issue. The staff was told a student would not be allowed to re-enroll because of his or her parent’s; sexual orientation. The staff members were also told not to talk to the media.

In a statement sent to 9NEWS, the Archdiocese said, “Homosexual couples living together as a couple are in disaccord with Catholic teaching.”

A statement on the Archdiocese website also said, students in Catholic schools are expected to have parents who abide by policies of the school and church. The Archdiocese as well stated students with gay parents in Catholic schools would become “confused.”

The Archdiocese however didn’t say whether students whose parents are divorced, non-Catholic or might use birth control will also not allowed to attend the preschool as well.

Father Bill's Inspiration?

Father Bill Breslin, the pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus School, addressed the school and parish community in a letter posted to his blog, that in part said, he was protecting the child, apparently from the Church’s bigotry, and added “the Catholic Church invests in parish schools so as to assist children in becoming disciples of Christ and to stand as a light shining in the darkness that has rejected Christianity and the truth of being human, including the meaning of human sexuality.”

Notwithstanding the Archdiocese explanation for the child’s ejection and Father Bill’s platitudes, some parents are considering pulling their children out of the school anyway and parents with children attending Sacred Heart plan on meeting next week to discuss the issue.

Father Bill’s Linkedin Page

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Adoptive parents, Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith, who now live in San Diego, were living in Connecticut when they obtained an emergency adoption decree in New York state court to adopt the baby who was born in Shreveport, La. in 2005. The baby’s mother had transferred him to Adar and Smith’s care shortly after the boy’s birth.

A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the state of Louisiana to issue an amended birth certificate for the child of the men stating that the State of Louisiana is ordered to  put the names of both fathers on the new certificate.

The ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2008 ruling by US District Court Judge Jay Zainey.  He ordered the Louisiana Office of Public Health and Vital Records and registrar Darlene W Smith,  who had overtly discriminated against the parents, to supply an amended birth certificate for the boy that shows Adar and Smith as his parents, Courthouse News Service reports

Lambda Legal, a national civil rights organization based in Los Angeles, represented Adar and Smith sued on behalf of the couple in October 2007, saying Louisiana Vital Records Registrar Darlene Smith violated the U.S. Constitution in denying them an accurate birth certificate, which threatened the boy’s enrollment in a health care plan and treated him like a second-class citizen.

Clearly showing an aversion to the fact that the boy had two fathers, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, appealed the Zainey decision, arguing that state law wouldn’t have allowed such an adoption in the first place. The Vital Records office claimed that it would have supplied a birth certificate if just one of the parents had been listed in the New York record as adopting the boy.  This shows the Office of vital records attempting to assert its own ideas as to

Adar and Smith are the adoptive parents under Louisiana law, wrote Judge Jacques Wiener Jr. for the panel of three,  because the state “owes full faith and credit to the New York adoption decree that declares [the infant] to be the adopted child of Adar and Smith.” Because New York law allows adoption by unmarried couples, Louisiana had to follow those rules.  The registrar have the discretion to refuse to make a new, correct birth certificate for a Louisiana-born child,  when the New York adoption decree “indisputably satisfies” Louisiana requirements.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, called Caldwell’s decision to fight the birth certificate request discriminatory.

“It was shameful that Attorney General Caldwell took such extreme measures to deny a small child a proper birth certificate simply because he didn’t like the boy’s parents,” said Esman, in a statement. “Hopefully this decision will make him think twice before wasting taxpayer money to defend his anti-gay activism.”

PICTURE;  Kenneth D. Upton, Jr. , Supervising Senior Staff Attorney

“We’re pleased the court agrees that it’s wrong to punish children just because the Registrar doesn’t like their parents.”

By Melanie Nathan.
nathan@privatecourts.com

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Rumors that Hollywood’s first lesbian power couple is breaking up are flying around the internet. Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge are the ultimate lesbian couple. They married in 2003 and Tammy gave birth to their twins in 2006. They also have two children from Melissa’s previous relationship. The two women have always been gracious celebrities, kind to their fans, the media and their fellow celebrities. However, they may not be being so kind to each other. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton tweeted yesterday:

Trouble with Melissa Etheridge and her wife Tammy? I’m hearing so.

The problem with this tweet is that the source is probably Tammy herself. Tammy keeps a blog http://hollywoodfarmgirl.blogspot.com/ where she has been posting some really shady posts. The posts are really veiled, passive agressive attacks on Melissa. One post says:

people treat you the way you treat yourself
so if you are the type to put the oxygen mask on someone else, before yourself
they won’t put the mask on you, they’ll take care of themselves first, taking their cue
from you and your prior actions

if you give and give and give and take care of someone
until plenty spill-eth over-th
then why should your partner give any more?
you’ve given enough for both?

Tammy also took down a post she put up yesterday that is even more condemming:

well here she sits
the truth eating at the flesh like acetone to fake nails
melting
disfiguring disforming
soon she’ll be handicapped from all this withholding
all this restraint
to save what? for why?
how unpopular
to voice the truth that does not match the super hero
the cape
the theme song
the tv show
the movie
the image
she wonder how long one thinks she will swallow
one’s comings and goings
and say nothing

My first problem with these posts is that this is really awful poetry. Like, borderline illiterate poetry. My second problem is that I (and celebrity bloggers in general) will be put on blast for perpetuating these break up rumors of everyone’s favorite couple. But, Tammy is bringing this on herself. She is putting her relationship problems on the website. She is attacking the partner that she has built a life with and is raising children with, online for the world to see. It’s childish. It’s vindictive. Tammy knows exactly what she is doing. She knew that people would catch onto her whining and start broadcasting the rumors. Maybe this is a ploy to gain some media attention to herself and Melissa, but most likely it’s a call for sympathy. I’m not going to cry for poor Tammy who sits at home alone while Melissa is out singing to hot women. If Tammy has a problem, she should put her big girl panties on and deal with it privately, with her wife, not with the entire world.

UPDATE: As of 4/14/2010- Etheridge and Michaels have ended their 9 year relationship.

UPDATE: 4/25/2010- On Friday Melissa Etheridge appeared on Oprah and stated that the breakup was “as mutual as these things can be.” She also stated that she will always love Tammy as the mother of her children. She quipped, “I don’t know why people say there is no gay marriage because I have two ex-wives.” Tammy responded to this on her blog, writing:

this will be the only place
where you will get the truth
Hollywood Farm Girl
is the only one
who gets
it right
who won’t spin
won’t lie
won’t act like there was
drifting
and that’s all.

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2/6/10-by Paula Brooks
Two Iowa GOP State Representatives, Jason Schultz, and Matt Windschitl, this week, co-sponsored legislation which seeks to remove LGBT students from the 2007 Iowa Safe Schools Law that protects students from harassment and bullying in Iowa’s schools and the measure has been referred to the Iowa House Education Committee for consideration.

Iowa’s Safe Schools Law requires both public and private schools to establish policies prohibiting harassment and bullying against students by employees, school volunteers, or other students.

Sexual Orientation and Gender identity are currently covered under the Safe Schools Law, but the bill introduced by Schultz, and Windschitl would strike those protections.

Said Ryan Roemerman, Executive Director of Iowa Pride Network, “When our state is facing record budget deficits and unemployment, House Republicans feel their time is best spent picking on Iowa’s LGBT youth,” “There is no better example as to why we have this law, so youth in Iowa don’t grow up to be like these bigots.”

via Iowa Pride Network: House Republicans Seek to Bully Gay Students.

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1/29/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Rosie O’Donnell is doing the media rounds as she promotes her new HBO special, “A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration.” She first made headlines, at least during promotions for her HBO special, when she announced on Oprah that lesbians can stay better friends after breakups than heterosexuals. Now, she is talking to LocateTV, with her son, Parker, by her side.

O’Donnell admits that she is not looking for a full time position on TV. Her family is her first priority. The interview shows a different side of O’Donnell, who is frequently over exposed. O’Donnell and her son show a genuine affection for each other and come off as very down to earth, despite their wealth and stardom. Parker says of his mother:  

LOCATETV: What’s your relationship with your mom? Does she know as much as maybe you thought she did a few years ago? (laughter) How do you guys get along?

PARKER: I’m going to get in trouble.

ROSIE: No, take it. Say the truth.

LOCATETV: Be honest now. (laughter)

PARKER: Well, me and mom have been close probably, yeah, since I was born. (laughter) Yeah. So I would probably say I talk to her a lot about a lot of stuff that’s going on. And she probably knows most of the stuff that she needs to know. (laughter)

 If you are interested in Rosie (not all of us are) you can read the rest of the interview here:

http://www.locatetv.com/blog/mamas-family-rosie-odonnell-style/

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ROSIE O'DONNELL- CREDIT: ABC/ DONNA SVENNEVIK

What is a family? Sometimes it’s a mom and dad and their kids. Or it might be kids with just a mom or dad. Or it could be kids who have more than one mom or dad. While the answer varies, all families share one vital ingredient: love.

A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY, A ROSIE O’DONNELL Documentary set to premier on HBO JAN. 31 (7:00-7:40 p.m. ET/PT), is a moving portrait of the remarkable diversity of families today that challenges stereotypes, highlighting same-sex parents, mixed-heritage families, single parents and stories of adoption. Children speak from the heart about parents, siblings, marriage and love in the exclusive documentary.

In the special, Rosie O’Donnell also talks with her daughter Vivienne Rose about how their family which includes sister Chelsea, brothers Parker and Blake and parents Rosie and Kelli came about. Following her recent separation from Kelli, O’Donnell reaffirms the importance of family in a talk with Vivienne Rose, saying, “Even though Mommy Kelli and I aren’t living in the same house anymore, we’re still a family. Family is forever. And family is love.”

In A FAMILY IS A FAMILY, kids offer touching, profound and often funny insights about what being a family means to them. Among those featured are: children with two fathers or two mothers; a girl whose mother and father adopted her in China; three brothers who live with their mother and grandmother; a pair of mothers who are getting married to make one big family; and families with adopted kids and children born through in-vitro fertilization.

Interspersed with these portraits are musical performances and animated interludes, including: reggae star Ziggy Marley, his mother Rita Marley and sister Cedella Marley performing “I Love You Too”; four-year-old Najorae and her father singing their original song “Love Is the Thing;” 11-year-old Martin and his seven brothers and sisters performing “Cario (My Love),” nine-year-old Joey singing “Raised on Love,” a song he wrote with his mom and dad; and folk musician Elizabeth Mitchell performing “Blue Clouds” with husband Daniel Littleton and seven-year-old daughter Storey.

O’Donnell’s tongue-in-cheek performance of “My Science Project” tells the animated story of a young girl whose class project describes the scientific way she came to be. And Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “Too Marvelous for Words” is accompanied by an animated sequence of a sperm in top hat serenading a glamorous egg.

The soundtrack of A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY also includes original songs written for the special, among them: “And Mom and Kid,” by They Might Be Giants, “My Family,” by Sweet Honey in the Rock and “A New Generation (Conner’s Theme),” by Charles Strouse. In addition to “Too Marvelous for Words,” classic recordings featured are “Baby Mine,” sung by Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was) and “A Bushel and a Peck,” performed by Doris Day.

A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY is directed and produced by Amy Schatz, whose credits include such award-winning HBO family productions as the “Classical Baby” series and the special “Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepy time Tales.” Some of the recordings are brought to animated life by Emmy(R)-winning animator Maciek Albrecht, whose previous HBO credits include the “Classical Baby” series and numerous other productions.

A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY: A ROSIE O’DONNELL CELEBRATION is executive produced by Rosie O’Donnell and Sheila Nevins for HBO Documentary Films; directed and produced by Amy Schatz; produced by Beth Aala and Sabina Barach; edited by Tom Patterson; directors of photography, Alex Rappoport and Joel Shapiro; animation by Maciek Albrecht; music supervisor, Linda Cohen; production executive, Susan Benaroya; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover.

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San Francisco Posted by Melanie Nathan and reported by Gregg Cassin – (by Blackberry) Gregg is reporting from the court Room – I have kept the words as I have received them. This is a very moving and heart wrenching day. Thanks to the witness and his courage. here at LGR- we hope the Whitehouse is listening to the way we are treated in this country.   He must do more to undo the harm bestowed on our community by the allowances given the riligious right during the BUSH administration.  It is NOT only about economic, medical insurance and  foreign policy mess – its about the invalidity of an American Minority.  If President Obama issues an executive Order NOW for the repeal of DOMA – this would all change………. 

“i am here listeing to the testimony of a gay man and his coming out story to his parents.  and how they forced hi m as a child into reparative therapy…to avoid burning in hell forever……

this is in a courtroom in sf ca today.  the future of gay peoples lives ……..

The power of this testimony ws through tears.  every word spoken through tears.  the silence in the courtroom , the shaking of heads and the occasional sniffle as people listened.  we sat witnessing  a version of what so many of us went through.  the fear of being an outcaste, being disowned by those you rely on.

 his testimony …

my mother and father sent me to this center to change me from gay ….and i lived there from 14-16 yo.  when i would come home for a visit my mother would scream at me and tell me i was going to hell, that she wished she had had an abortion. that she wished that i had been retarded, with downes syndrome. she wished and told me…that i was dead.

in orde to survive i surrendered my self to childres protective services…. at 16.

they began a case of neglect against my parents

i gave up all that i had…alone at 16.

now we re listening to an expert social scientist…..

talking abtthe messages the gay community gets every day by society politics etc…..

example  how obama states that he is a fierce ally yet has taken no steps to promote the rights of gay/les people yet.

that a senator can compare homosexuality to bestiality and have it heard by a nation and the media and no outcries of injustice, prejudice, etc…..

that studies show that no class of people except undoc aliens (a distant second) has had more legislation directed towards them

We are looking at article that speaks of a conference call of 1700(!!!) MINISTERS, PREACHERS, CHURCH-LEADERS….to design a concerted effort to pass prop 8.  they are trying to establish the powerlessness of a class of peoople.  to have churches joining together to deny an entire class of people their  civil rights. (Referring to the Mahattan declaration)
 

Thanks to

Gregg

Gregg Cassin  

AIDS,Medicine & Miracles

“…life-changing empowerment programs for ALL people affected by HIV/AIDS…”

www.aidsmedicineandmiracles.org

For his extraordinary and unique reporting – for Melanie Nathan. 

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Photo by Back2Stonewall.com

Lt. Dan Choi has been scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Iowa’s 5th Annual Governor’s Conference on LGBT Youth on February 18th, 2010 at Drake University.

Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq veteran fluent in Arabic, attracted national attention last March when he came out publicly on an episode of The Rachel Maddow Show.

Since coming out, Choi, has been notified by the Army that discharge proceedings have been brought up against him, even though Lt Choi was one only of only eight soldiers from his graduating class who majored in Arabic and personnel with language skills considered critical to the military’s mission worldwide.

This year’s conference is expected to attract hundreds of educators, parents, students, social workers, counselors, psychologists, policy makers, and others concerned about the safety of LGBT youth in Iowa.

In addition to Choi, Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Lt. Governor Patty Judge, and Congressman Leonard Boswell have also been invited to address the conference.

The 2010 Governor’s Conference is themed Proud to Change the World, Creating an Accepting Future. LGBT students and students from LGBT families have many different barriers that do not allow them to join such career fields as the military, politics, or business. While in school and at home, we often times teach our children that they can become whatever they want to and that they will change the world. It is important to address the different barriers facing LGBT students including discriminatory policies, homelessness, HIV risk, bullying and harassment, and suicide risk.

Workshop Topics this year will include HIV/Aids, Transgender Transitioning, Sexting/Social Networking, Raising a Transgender Child, Communities of Faith, LGBT Youth Homelessness, anti-bullying programs for schools, and several others related to LGBT youth and youth-serving professionals.

Exhibitor booths that will be available will include Iowa-based resources, organizations, and communities of faith, corporations, plus other important information for anyone working with students.

For more information or to register for the conference…. go to www.iowasafeschools.org

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Senator Dianne Feinstein permits Joriene to sit at her desk.

If you are able, and if you want your rights. Take your kids to D.C.   Show up at the doorstep of your Senator and Congressional representatives.  Take your children and let them speak.   Our Representatives want to hear our stories.   If you have a Republican Senator or Congress rep, go and see them and allow them to see who you are. Take photo album, children’s report cards, team participation, letters from your congregation denoting the acceptance of your family and your participation in your American Life..  You do not need an issue- you can show up and say- I want equality.  If you want to promote a particular issue. Search the web and see what grabs you.  Marriage Equality, Immigration, EMployment, Social Security, Hate Crime, Dont Ask Dont Tell.   Make sure you are polite – no MATTER what and make sure you  represent our community as best you can.   You can also push your State legislation for resolutions that represent your interests.  

This summer Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado took their twin boys to DC to plead their cause – our cause. Until we have 100% equality we all own each other’s causes. Posted by Melanie Nathan

 The entire article can be read here http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-elizabeth-smart18-2009nov18,0,6807810.story 

The idea came when I  looked up my new office location on  the National Sex Offender regisrty to find a competing bevy of sites all claiming to have the ultimate access and accuracy.  Punch in your zip and up pops the message – “we have found ten sex offenders in your area…. give us your credit card number and pay $$ and then we will show you who they are.”

Amazing how many sex offender registries sites are online, the  LEZ BE SMART amongst us find that all you need do is go to this website at the Justice Department and there will be no charge at all for the same information. 

http://www.nsopw.gov/Core/Conditions.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

In naming this  column Lez Be Smart Iplan on reporting on ALL consumer related matters, including matters of safety.

Posted by Melanie Nathan.

Exerpts  from the story: 

“Despite my promise to my daughter to keep hush, “I flew like a bat out of hell” to see the Principal, who, ironically an “out” lesbian, was not surprised to see me show up on the issue; she mentioned that I was the fourth parent to complain about this lack of discretion on the part of the teacher. I explained that my child was extremely conflicted in trying to reconcile her respect and admiration for her teacher with her love and pride for her family.” 

” The advertisement had clearly hurt my child; its viciousness was not something she had been subjected to before. What could be worse than adults lashing out like that at children? It was direct and personal and having heard it before, was not personally outraged as when I realized the irresponsibility and how damaging those lies were to my babies.”

“I have to show my child that our family is worth fighting for and that anything short of complete equality is simply not good enough.  I think this story illustrates the far reaching effects of de jure disqualification and the de facto reality of inequality. Whether we receive equal rights or not, nothing will derogate from the fact that we are here; us, our spouses and our kids and nothing can or will ever change that simple fact.”

Petition to President Obama:

The Obama administration was absent in yet another critical fight for the soul of our nation. His failure to speak out forcibly against Question 1 in Maine is unacceptable. Sign our petition. Then, ask everyone you know to do the same.

President Obama, I urge you to immediately file a brief in the federal court challenge to Prop 8 and ask the court to rule that it is unconstitutional to allow a majority to take away the rights of a minority.   www.eqca.org

 PLEASE HELP AND SIGN THE PETITION

The suit alleges that the Mohawk Central School District violated the students rights under the 14th Amendment; Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, and state human rights and civil rights laws, by failing to protect him from harassment, physical abuse and threats of violence from his fellow students, that the according to court documents harmed the his academic performance and mental health.

The plaintiff is seeking changes to school policies and practices to address the harassment, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

The student, a 14 year-old boy simply called Jacob in court papers, claims while attending Gregory B. Jarvis Junior/Senior High School over the past two years he has endured escalating harassment for his sexual orientation and for not conforming to masculine stereotypes.

He also claims that he has suffered continually verbal assaults, has had his personal property defaced and broken, and he was regularly pushed and had things thrown at him. The suit as well says the student has been physically assaulted claiming, a student knocked Jacob down the stairs and sprained his ankle and another student brought a knife to school and threatened to kill him.

The suit also says that while district officials were aware of the harassment, they failed to formerly investigate, discipline students, or inform the student and his parents of their rights to file complaints under the school’s grievance procedures.
The suit names the Mohawk Central School District; Joyce Caputo, superintendent of schools; Edward Rinaldo, the school’s principal; and Cynthia Stocker, the district’s equal opportunity compliance officer as defendants.

“Jacob, like all students, has a right to be safe at school,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “No child should live in fear because of their sexual orientation, or because they look or act differently than others. That the principal and other school officials would turn their backs on this vulnerable young man is unconscionable. What’s more, it’s illegal.”

The Students father, Robert Sullivan, says in the suit that he had called Principal Rinaldo regularly regarding these incidents and threats. Additionally, the student’s mother and stepmother also claim they spoke to Rinaldo several times over the phone and in person. Each time, Rinaldo promised to look into the harassment allegations, but he never reported to Jacob’s parents on any steps taken to investigate incidents, the outcome of any such investigations, and any subsequent corrective or disciplinary actions.

At a June 9, 2009 meeting, Rinaldo allegedly told Sullivan that he could not guarantee the boys safety at school and stated that the harassment would likely continue in the upcoming school year. Rinaldo and Sullivan agreed that for the plaintiff’s safety, he would not attend school for the remainder of the year except to take his final exams.
District policy requires the school’s equal opportunity compliance officer to interview all relevant persons involved in a harassment complaint, Yet the suit further claims that Cynthia Stocker, the compliance officer, interviewed neither Jacob nor his father about the incidents the, nor did she file reports on each incident as required by the policy. In addition, neither Stocker nor Rinaldo ever reported the harassment complaints to the proper authorities, in violation of the policy, claims the boy’s father.

“We didn’t want to file this lawsuit, but we had no other choice to keep our son safe,” said Robert Sullivan, Jacob’s father. “But this lawsuit goes beyond Jacob. We’re doing this for all of the kids out there who need help.”

Said NYCLU staff attorney Corey Stoughton, lead counsel on the case. “By behaving as though they were powerless to stop the threats and abuse, they not only discriminated against our client, but also violated their own policies and practices for preventing harassment and discrimination.”

The Mohawk Central School District is located in Herkimer County, NY, northwest of the State Capitol of Albany and is part of the Utica-Rome, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

http://www.nyclu.org/node/2554
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Jacob_Complaint.8.18.09.pdf
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Affidavit_RobertSullivan_Jacob.pdf
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Affidavit_Jacob.pdf

The national conversation about the dangers of medicating our children is heating up once again. Personally, I’ve always been wary of putting kids on drugs. Its just such a sensitive time for our bodies, and we’re growing so much, it just seems like an unnecessary risk to give these chemical cocktails to them. I mean, can you imagine growing up on pills from before you can even remember. Does that set you up to be dependent on Big Pharma for the rest of your life? Just my thoughts, I guess worries would be more correct to say.

This new study confuses me more than ever. The study shows a risk of sudden death because of really young kids taking these ADHD drugs, but then it says its not a reason to stop taking them. They say the test was too limited to be sure enough to stop the widespread use. While I definitely understand that no one should ever ever ever suddenly stop taking a prescription, it does make you wonder how we got to this point in our culture. When I was growing up, I thought it was a big time faux-pa to drug your kid. Everybody I knew was pretty hard set against it. How did this change-over happen? Anyway, here’s some info on the study:

By Salynn Boyles @ WebMD Health News

Is the problem in the prescribing and monitoring?

“On November 17, 2008, on the popular Furious Seasons website, Philip Dawdy reported that Zyprexa had killed 3,455 people between 1997 and early 2008, based on a review of an FDA staff document with a summary of adverse events in the agency’s database.

From 1993 through the first three months of 2008, 1,207 children on Risperdal suffered serious adverse events, including 31 who died, according to a report in the November 18, 2008 New York Times.

The deaths included a 9-year-old child, receiving Risperdal for the unapproved use of ADHD, who suffered a stroke twelve days after starting the drug. At least 11 of the deaths were in children whose treatment was for an unapproved use.” ~By Evelyn Pringle at CounterPunch.

And what really struck me as I researched this was the number of kids in the Foster Care System on these drugs. In state after state the numbers were upwards of 50%.

AJC.com writes:

“Children and teens taking ADHD stimulant medications were seven times more likely to die suddenly than their peers, the study found.

“What we found — to our surprise — is that even if you take out confounding factors, the association between stimulant use and sudden death was still significant,” said study author Madelyn Gould, a professor of clinical epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City. “I’m confident the association is real and significant, but it’s very rare.”

The researchers sifted through mortality data from 1985 through 1996, and found 564 cases of sudden death that occurred in children aged 7 to 19, and they compared them to 564 youths who had been killed as passengers in automobile accidents.

After ruling out factors such as a history of known cardiac problems; known causes of death, such as asthma or an accidental death; and other conditions, such as sickle cell anemia or cerebral palsy, Gould and her colleagues found only 10 sudden, unexplained deaths in children taking stimulant medications.

When they compared those 10 youths to age-matched controls who had died in car crashes, they found that the odds of sudden death were 7.4 times higher for children taking stimulant medications.

“Stimulants do increase blood pressure, and there have been reports of them changing heart rates,” noted Gould.

“This report is quite helpful,” said one of the authors of the accompanying editorial, Dr. Benedetto Vitiello, a psychiatrist and chief of the child and adolescent treatment intervention branch at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. “It rings a bell for everyone to be more attentive and less cavalier about the use of these drugs.”

And then In my research on the foster kids angle of this, I was horrified to see this headline on MSNBC: AIDS VACCINE Tested On Foster Children from back in ‘05. Obviously, there are some wolves in the healthcare industry who see these poor kids as defenseless guinea pigs.

“The research was conducted in at least seven states — Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas — and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late teens, according to interviews and government records.

Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress AIDS or other medicines to treat secondary infections.

In one study, researchers reported a “disturbing” higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.”

Sick. How is it that there are scientists who can carry out this kind of experimentation? I just can’t imagine ever doing that to a child. This is certainly not the way to help kids. I think the real problem with the “Healthcare” Industry is that they really seem more interested in paying off corporations than helping patients.

Again, I want to make it abundantly clear that it is critically important not to stop use of any prescription suddenly. Always consult your doctor if you feel the need to step of the medication safely. Suddenly stopping can even prove to be fatal, so please, just take the time to educate yourself, and talk with your doctor.

“Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.”~ Washington Post.

Mercury causes brain damage. I kind of figured somebody was saying something bad about corn syrup since all those adds saying how it was good for you and natural popped up. The FDA is a joke, and to prove it to yourself, here’s an experiment you can do at home:

“”Even at low levels methylmercury can harm the developing brain. The last thing we should intentionally do is add to it,” Wallinga added, in an MSNBC article also covering the story. I think we’ve seen the gutting of the FDA under the Bush administration, and we’re suffering the consequences. We should not be worrying about poison in our soda, salmonella in our tomatoes and spinach, and hormones in our milk.

Our way of creating, and safeguarding our food supply is changing dramatically day by day. Companies like Monsanto are now patenting living organisms, like the corn they are being forced to grow in Iraq. Monsanto, also an Obama supporter, has been destroying farmers around the world with their mutant GMO seed. Did you realize that you’ve probably already eaten Gentically modified food? Did you know they’re pushing hard just to get labels on beef from a GMO cow? I’ve got a container of organic milk in the fridge bragging right on the front label how there’s no cloned cow milk in it!

There is a lot to look into. But we all have a responsibility to ourselves, and our families to get involved in this issue. New laws are being written that hurt our agriculture, not help it. You can do something about it! Get in contact with your local representatives. I know we’re about to start knowing these guys on a first name basis, we have to contact them about so much stuff, but that’s what they’re there for!

The goal of the presentation was to start a dialog in Arizona about how to improve the school situation for LGBT students and families.

A few months ago I wrote about Chris Quintanilla, a student in the Peoria High School District that had been told by his school that he could not wear a rainbow wristband that said “Rainbows are Gay.” After the ACLU got involved and wrote a letter to the district that matter was resolved favorably and Chris has been able to wear the wristband.

The problem is, the school never really wanted to deal with Chris’ sexuality. They wanted to try and hide it and make him conform to how everyone else looks and acts. Many of the students in attendance spoke of a similar problem at their school. The common theme with the students was that the teachers and administrators were not supportive or too scared to be supportive. Since in Arizona one can be fired for being gay many teachers are afraid of losing their jobs if they are assumed to be gay.

I had taught High School for a short time. Back in 1995 students at the High School asked me to help them establish a gay-straight alliance. I was more than happy to sponsor it. While that story should be it’s own post some day, I did gain valuable experiences that I could pass onto the students and empower them. I suggested that they try and get the teachers on board by treating it as a sexual harassment policy. All schools must treat name calling using fag, dyke, etc. as sexual harassment. If the teachers and administrators are failing to stop it and follow the necessary discipline procedures then they can be reprimanded.

Besides trying to give tips on empowering the students, I was able to share HRC’s latest program called Welcoming Schools.

The concept of the program is to start teaching diversity in the elementary schools. This includes teaching about all types of families. My daughter is in 1st grade. For the past two years during the first month of school they do projects about your family. This means each year she has to “come out” to her class that she has 4 mommies (I had her with my ex). This can create questions from the students.

How those teacher handles the conversations will be key in how my daughter is accepted by her peers. This is what the program is designed to do, give the teachers training and tools to be able to handle these types of discussions. The program also deals with bullies. We know that bullying happens very young so by having a program that educates teachers on what to do hopefully we can begin to improve the situation.

The program was well received. Thanks to some educators and board members in the audience I think we are going to try and bring the program to Arizona.

All the co-sponsors help to put on a great event and I hope we will see more of these events in the future.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.

Riots exploding in Europe, the economy continuing it’s endless plunge, air force one and fighter jets terrorizing New York? I mean what is going on here? And then this Swine Flu stuff on top of it?

Remember the old system of constant reporting the color code of terror all day every day? Remember: “We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen!” Remember that? Now it’s: “This wasn’t the big one, but next fall we’re going to have the greatest crisis human kind has ever faced! It’s coming!”

I am not trying to be one of these fear mongers. I am not trying to scare you into buying something, or doing something for my benefit. I am simply trying to say that this company that makes this stuff is criminal, and should not be trusted.

The company that has requested to make the swine flu vaccine is called Baxter.  On March 6th 2009 multiple sources, including the Times of India, reported that they sent out the virus H5N1 to labs instead of a regular human flu in several different countries. The scientists who discovered this were shocked that they were shooting up their lab rats with a virus capable of mutating into a global killer, especially since they had already been using a human flu strain on them. That kind of cross contamination would have had grave consequences like… creating a virus like swine flu.

Baxter is supposedly under investigation for this by the WHO, but they do not seem all that concerned. It is, at the very least, criminally negligent. Do not trust these guys with your health, I’m telling you. Do not let them scare you into vaccinating your kids.

There is no current vaccine that will work against Swine Flu. That includes Tamiflu (which is being reported to cause severe mental disorders in teens).

If you go to the WHO website, they advise you:

The best scientific evidence available today is incomplete but suggests that seasonal vaccines will confer little or no protection against influenza A(H1N1).

All the hype to go get flu shots is nonsense. History does repeat itself.

In 1976, the first outbreak of Swine Flue killed just one person, but the vaccine killed twenty-five, and sickened thousands more. Don’t believe me? How about congressman Ron Paul, he’s in the government, he should know right?

In 2006 the UK  announced plans to inoculate every person in the country with Baxter’s vaccines in the event of a pandemic. Here in the states, they’re running mass inoculation practice drills on children in Alaska.

Please remember parents, that there is NO LAW that can require you to have your children shot up with this stuff. Do not be bullied. Do not be coerced by fear tactics, or threats. Make your own decision, and never let anyone make it for you.

Jenime is an artist living in the SF bay area. You can watch her musings and ravings any time by visiting her channel on YouTube.

Buddy G: My Two Moms and Me is a cartoon especially for gay families with a website to match found at www.BuddyG.tv. I was able to watch a clip of the first episode of the Buddy G cartoon on the website, and I have to say I was excited to see another cartoon where families like mine are represented. I was even more excited when I found that the Buddy G TV website also offers printable cartoon pages, online jigsaw puzzles, and related videos for LGBT families. I printed out a few of the coloring pages right away, and slipped them into the pile of pages during coloring time, then put them on the fridge for the world to see. Since then, many visitors to my home have commented on the Buddy G coloring pages, and how cool they are. I feel like they walk away with a little more of a sense of how normal gay families really are.

When I ventured in to learn a bit more about Buddy G and how I could get the DVD, I found that Buddy G has received a lot of press and media attention, while promoting other two-mommy media such as the DVD Dottie’s Magic Pockets. I fell in like with Buddy G right away and he is now a friend of mine on MySpace. *smile* I learned from Donna, Margaux and Grayson, the family behind Buddy G, that one little girl carries the DVD in her backpack to prove to other kids that “there are lots of families like hers – they even have a cartoon!” This is awesome to know, because children of lesbian moms are being validated as equally as special as all the other children in the world since they are represented in a cartoon. The Buddy G DVD and website is great for showing children of lesbian moms that they are not the only children in the world with two moms, and helps to reinforce a positive view of LGBT families. Plus sharing the coloring pages with my nieces and nephews shows them that their Aunties aren’t the only ones with a two mommy family.

Here is what the Buddy G website says about how the show came to be:

We know we are a minority and that most kids have a mom and a dad, but for little guys like our son we thought wouldn’t it be grand if there were something more available to them. Something like a cartoon, like a Caillou with two moms or dads. The more we talked about it the more important it became. It was almost like, if we didn’t do something about it after we had this fantastic idea, then we were somehow being irresponsible parents. So out of that, “Buddy G” was born. It took longer, cost more and was way harder then we thought it would be, but we couldn’t be happier or more proud of the cartoon and the potential it represents. “Buddy G” has added incredible joy to our family and we hope he adds a little happiness to yours.

Sincerely,

Margaux, Donna and Grayson

I feel a sense of relief that there are people out there like Donna, Margaux and Grayson who are brave enough to fill the void in the LGBT community for two-mommy media, and provide tools to help lesbian moms and their children to raise awareness for LGBT families in a fun and positive way. It’s also good to know that the Buddy G website is expanding in the near future to provide even more Buddy G fun and games for the kids. If you are a lesbian mom, there are also fun things for you at the Buddy G website too! You can find videos and more for LGBT parents here. In the meantime, you can order the DVD below plus you can add Buddy G as your friend on MySpace here.

I am really looking forward to the expansion of the Buddy G TV website, and for other two mommy media products to provide awareness tools for their products such as coloring pages and online games for the children. Even something as simple as seeing a two mommy family on paper helps make the world more aware of how normal an LGBT family really is. Thanks Buddy G!.

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.

MYTE stands for Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment and is a group that is “committed to improving the quality of life for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth by providing a safe, affirmative environment for peer interaction and by enlisting informed, productive and positive role models.” The group is open to LGBTQ youth and straight allies between the ages of 13-18 and I ran into them while out and about over the weekend raising awareness for The LGBT Community Call to Action. My wife, the kids, and I took a drive over to The Center looking for a No on Prop 8 yard sign, and we were happy to see the MYTE youth group waving signs and passing out bumper stickers outside of The Center in efforts to raise awareness for the No on Prop 8 campaign. The Community Outreach Coordinator, Rikka Racelis, was a very gracious hostess to me and my family, and allowed us to hang out with the group and talk with them for a little while after they were done waving signs.

I was happy to see their generation getting involved in raising awareness for equality, and was proud of them as role models for my children.

They were eating pizza, and my children had some juice and cheese crackers. The group was planning to play a game of ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ and my children were suprised about that. When we left, my son said that he felt really comfortable there, which was nice since he is usually “bored” when we go new places. Overall it was a good experience, and in talking with Rikka Racelis I learned that the group gets together to raise awareness for issues affecting the GLBT community, but other activities include leadership training, academic mentoring, and career building. You can read more about the MYTE GLBT youth group here or visit their blog. You can also email Rikka Racelis at rikkar@centerlb.org for more information.

At The Center in Long Beach you can find:

The MYTE Drop-in Program
Open to youth ages 13-18
Monday – Thursday – 2:00 – 5:00 PM

The Coming Out Support Group
All ages welcome
Fridays, 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Alongside the MYTE program, The Center offers a wide variety of services for the GLBT community.

Here is a list of the services offered at The Gay & Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach:

Information and Education
- Community help desk for referrals
- Housing and roommate postings, job postings and employment assistance,
- LGBT library, educational workshops, speaker’s bureau, community calendar
- CyberCenter providing eight state of the art computers for community use.
- Training in computer use.
- Financial Planning workshops

Health and Well Being
- Mental health services (counseling and referrals)
- Women’s Health
- Breast Cancer Screenings
- Men’s Health
- HIV testing
- “Coming out” support.
- Transgender support
- Legal counseling services
- Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment (MYTE Youth) program.
- HEAT – Health Education Action Team.
- HEAL grief support group meets the second Monday of every month

Social and Cultural Activities
- LGBT film festival, fun events, outings and classes.
- Art shows and other cultural seminars and workshops
- Marriage Equality
- Hate Crimes Hotline
(in cooperation with the Long Beach Human Dignity Office)
- Voter registration and education
- Diversity trainings and community outreach on LGBT issues

All of these services are critical resources for the GLBT community here in Southern California, and The Center depends on individual donations to operate.

There are many positive role models for our GLBT and questioning youth (and our straight allies!) to be found at The Center in Long Beach. My family and I are planning to take a trip there again when they have activities planned specifically for gay families. In the meantime, it’s great to know that the younger generation of GLBT community members have such great resources available to them when they have questions or need a little support. In order to help keep The Center in Long Beach a vibrant part of the community, you can make a donation online or if you are in the area you can help by volunteering time. Either way, the MYTE youth group and all other services offered by The Center are powerful tools for the Long Beach LGBT community, and me and my family are thankful to have them so close to home.

**Thank You to the MYTE Youth who allowed me to include their photo in this post, and to Rikka Racelis as well for her help and kindness during our visit.**

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.