RA-news

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Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida June 2004, Vol. 2, No. 9 Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner Meeting, Wednesday, June 16, 2004, 6:30 pm, at "Farah's on the Avenue", on University Avenue just east of 13th Street. Other Dates to Remember: June 29, 8 pm: Hairball Variety Show (more details below) The Rainbow Alliance is the staff and faculty organization at the University of Florida concerned with matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity. RA welcomes all members of the University community who share its goals.

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Contents First Words Understanding the Threat... Features Local Seventh Annual HairBall Variety Show, June 26 National Calif. Court Rules Biological Parent Not Always Legal Parent Federal Court Affirms Protection for Transsexual Employees under Existing Law Virginia Activists Urge Boycott Bush Urges Pope to Increase Pressure for Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage Departments Update on RA Projects Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund Resources How To Join Rainbow Alliance Contributors to This Issue of RA-News

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First Words Understanding the Threat ... You may not be listening to conservative talk radio, watching Fox news, or reading the conservative press. Why would you? The steady drone of anti-LGBT sentiment is hardly encouraging, but sometimes it is instructive. Devotees of talk radio often listen to it for several hours a day. Much of it is designed to keep you company, to alternately outrage and amuse. Talk show hosts develop their performance over this lengthy period by reporting "news" you can't get anywhere else, "news" they develop through their extensive contacts in the halls of power. By listening to them you become an insider, empowered by the truth that other news outlets refuse to report. Much of what talk show hosts "report" is developed by an equal mixture of three elements: slogans, facts, and appeals to that part of us that can never really be sure that there are no aliens. You've heard the slogans, such as "Gay marriage will destroy traditional marriage," to focus on an area of interest. Not "same-sex" marriage, gay marriage -- it picks up overtones of gay lifestyle, gay sex, gay rights... all charged expressions for the conservative community. Many years have been spent indoctrinating conservatives about the "real" meaning of these terms. Let's say you are the conservative talk show host and you're putting together today's broadcast. The issue is gay marriage. You already know what the conclusion is; your show isn't an investigation, it's an exposition. You and your audience are against gay marriage. The slogans are all prepackaged. Your audience already believes that if gay marriage becomes legal, it will destory traditional marriage. "Gay" is the mathematical, physical, chemical opposite of "traditional." It's like matter and antimatter -- they can't coexist. If we allow even the slightest bit of anitmatter in, the entire universe will begin to unravel. The process of toleration toward "gays" has already gone too far. Your audience already believes. All you have to do is preach to them. Of course, you need a few facts to give your argument a veneer of authenticity. These facts don't have to be persuasive. Your audience is already persuaded, but a few facts will give them the confidence that they are right in their beliefs, which is what they thought to begin with. At the end of your broadcast, they will feel better about themselves, better about you, and more resolved than ever to maintain their position. And they are more likely to listen again tomorrow. Your facts are provided by other conservative commentators. They are interesting facts and come from legitimate sources. These facts are about some trends in Northern European countries. These trends are an increase in "out-of-wedlock" births, especially in the Netherlands -- already well known for its very permissive laws, but equally respected for its deeply religious past. What could possibly explain this trend? Interestingly -- no, I should say fascinatingly, compellingly -- the beginning of this multi-year trend coincides with -- you've guessed it -- the legalization of gay civil unions in the Netherlands in the late 90s (full marriage became available in 2000). Now these are the facts. You can't argue with the facts -- and your audience doesn't want you to. They can see what these facts mean even without the additional hours of well-constructed unreason you are planning to give them. Because of your policy of complete honesty with your audience, you tell them that well respected sociologists in the Netherlands have no explanation for the trend in "out-of-wedlock" births, but that is obviously because they do not have the insight that you and your listeners have -- which is typical of academics, who are often too close to the issues to truly understand them. Intellectuals: can't see the forest for the trees; no common sense. Yes, you will tell your audience over and over that the "experts" can't figure it out, and then you will repeat your facts. This trend and its obvious explanation is further proof of how gay marriage is destroying traditional marriage anytime they coexist. The basic reason is that when we allow gays to marry we further delink marriage and procreation, because gays cannot procreate. Once marriage and its primary purpose are disconnected, it creates a social climate in which marriage is devalued and people move into and out of marriage relationships with little consideration. Further, when countries created civil unions to accomodate gays, traditional couples began to opt more and more for civil unions, which have fewer benefits and less commitment. So in a second way, catering to gays has undermined traditional marriage. Can't we expect exactly the same thing to happen in America if we fail to hold the line? Well, that's pretty much it. Good show. You sign off. [top]

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Features

Seventh Annual HairBall Variety Show, June 26 Don't Miss out on HairBall 7 on Sat. June 26 at 8:00pm at the Thelma Boltin Center in Gainesville! That's right folks, the month of June is LGBT Pride Month. It's time to bust out the rainbow flag and show the world what you're made of! As you may be aware, cities across the nation host major pride events, festivals, and parades in celebration of the Stonewall riots of 1969 that marked the beginning of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement. Although Gainesville's major events are not scheduled until October, we are proud to announce Gainesville's very own June Pride Event, the 7th Annual HairBall Variety Show. In 2000, we moved the Pride Festival and Pride week to the month of October because the weather is so much nicer and to include many of the UF students that are not traditionally here during the lull of the summer. But we haven't forgotten our roots! Join us on Saturday June 26th for the Hairball Variety Show featuring many of Gainesville's most talented acts and a few special surprises from some familiar faces. Doors will open at 7:30pm and the show begins at 8 PM. This year's show will be held at the Thelma Boltin Center, 516 NE 2nd Ave. Tickets are available on a sliding scale between $10 and $20 (whatever you can afford) at Wild Iris Books, from board members, or at the door. Light refreshments will be served. The Hairball Variety Show is a fundraiser for PRIDE. The money we raise helps us to put on other events such as Pride Week. Clear your calendars and tell your friends. THE HAIRBALL IS COMING. For more information about HairBall or about Gainesville Pride Celebration activities go the Web site at <www.GainesvillePride.org>. [top]

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Calif. Court Rules Biological Parent Not Always Legal Parent An appeals court in San Francisco ruled against a California woman, identified as K.M., in her effort to assert parental rights over eight-year-old twins. The children were born when eggs donated by K.M. were fertilized and implanted in her former partner's womb. The court upheld a lower court decision, deciding that only the lesbian parent who gave birth to the twin has parental rights. The birth mother and the twins now live in Massachusetts. The court said that adoption would have provided objective proof of the "parties' parental intentions." K.M. had never applied for adoption, assuming that, as the biological parent, she would not need to do so. K.M.'s attorney stated that the "legal system hasn't caught up with the modern-day facts of this case." Attorney for the birth mother praised the decision, stating that the decision "beautifully upholds the freedom of choice of same-sex partners on whether both partners will or will not be the parents." Shannon Minter, an attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said if the genetic mother was a man, she would have been awarded rights to the children, pointing to a 2002 California Supreme Court decision granting a non-biological father rights to a child he helped rear.   [top]

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Federal Court Affirms Protection for Transsexual Employees under Existing Law In Smith v. City of Salem, Ohio, et al, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- which covers Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee -- ruled that Title VII protects transsexuals and that the sex-stereotyping doctrine covers people who change their sex, marking the first such ruling by a federal appeals court. The plaintiff, Jimmie Smith -- a pre-operative, pre-transitional transsexual -- was working as a firefighter in Salem, Ohio, when Smith began to transition from male to female. After Smith informed supervisors of the transition, Smith's supervisors met with city officials to devise a plan to terminate Smith's employment. Salem's safety director called the plaintiff after the meeting. According to the Court, the safety director called the Defendants' scheme a "witch hunt." Following the meeting, the city unfairly disciplined Smith and attempted to either force Smith out or terminate employment. The lower court threw out the plaintiff's claims under Title VII and another civil rights statute. But the 6th Circuit ruled today that the trial court erred. Randi Barnabee -- who argued the case on Smith's behalf -- applauded the historic ruling. "In the 6th Circuit, it is no longer permissible for an employer to discriminate against an employee on the basis of stereotypes about gender nonconformity, even when the sole basis of nonconformity is the mere admission by a person of self-identification as a transsexual... They can no longer get away with sex discrimination against a gender-non-conforming person simply because that person can be labeled transgender or transsexual."" "This type of victory under Title VII is long overdue, because it is so clear that the sex stereotyping of transgender people is blatant sex discrimination," says Shannon Minter, a board member of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. "This decision represents basic fairness." Historically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has not been interpreted to cover transgender people. However, most of those cases were decided before 1989's Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins -- the first Supreme Court case to conclude that Title VII prohibited sex-stereotyping. Read the original story from the Human Rights Campaign. More about Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. [top]

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Virginia Activists Urge Boycott Virigina is one of many states that have laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. The law is titled the Affirmation of Marriage Act. This year the Virigina legislature amended the act to ban civil unions and any arrangements "purporting to bestow the privileges of marriage." Activists fear the new provisions will interfere with other legal means LGBT people in Virginia use to make their relationships more secure, such as legal contracts, such as powers of attorney, medical directives, and wills. The new ban takes effect July 1, and gay rights group Equality Virginia plans a legal challenge. Atty. Gen. Jerry Kilgore, a Republican, has vowed to defend the measure's constitutionality. Gay activists in Richmond, Va., are urging a boycott of the state because of a new ban on civil unions and other partnership arrangements for same-sex couples. Supporters have created a Web site about the boycott called Virginiaisforhaters.com -- a take-off on the Virigina tourism slogan, "Virigina is for lovers." Another group, Make Love Legal, is developing strategies for boycotting the 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Jamestown in 2007. "This whole idea is: Don't spend your money in a place where people hurt you," said Diane Horvath, a Richmond attorney who is spearheading the Jamestown initiative. "This is a national issue," said Jay Porter of Seattle, who with his partner created the boycott Web site. "Someone came up with this really punitive legislation and got it through the state legislature, and in my mind, that could happen just about anywhere in the U.S." Visit www.virginiaisforhaters.com. [Note: This link takes you to Google's cached version of the Web site. For some reason, the Web site is not accessible at its original address. -Ed.] [top]

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Bush Urges Pope to Increase Pressure for Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage John Allen, Jr., wrote in the National Catholic Reporter, an independent journal for Catholics, that President George Bush has specifically "asked the Vatican to push the American Catholic bishops to be more aggressive politically on family and life issues, especially a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman." Bush implored the Pope to increase Catholic condemnation of gay marriage in the weeks leading up to the election, and that the request also was made by the president to senior Vatican officials. In a private meeting "with Cardinal Angelo Sodano and other Vatican officials, Bush said, 'Not all the American bishops are with me' on the cultural issues. The implication was that he hoped the Vatican would nudge them toward more explicit activism." Allen reports that Sodano did not respond to the request. The head of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the report "mind-boggling." "It is just unprecedented for a president to ask for help from the Vatican to get re-elected, and that is exactly what this is," the Rev. Barry W. Lynn told the New York Times. Even liberal Catholics said they were shocked. "For a president to try to get the leader of any religious organization to manipulate his fellow clergymen to support a political candidate crosses the line in this country," Linda Pieczynski, a spokesperson for Call to Action, a Catholic advocacy group, said. In another article, Allen recently wrote in the Reporter that Catholicism has made significant gains in Africa, Latin America and Asia, but that Europe has seen a serious decline in church participation and in church influence. He cites as evidence "that 12 European nations now have some form of civil registration for same-sex unions, and three offer full marriage rights." In his article, Allen poses the question: What pastoral strategy is best suited to revitalize Christianity in the developed world? Inclusion might be an answer. Source for this story. Read John Allen's article in the National Catholic Reporter, including his views on four candidates for the next pope. [top]

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Departments

June 2004 Update on Rainbow Alliance Plans If you haven't had a chance to attend a dinner, it might be difficult to keep up with the progress of 2004 projects. We'll try to keep you current with a monthly update. 1) Rainbow Alliance Fund at the University of Florida Foundation The Fund (established March 2003) is the only one of its kind at the UF Foundation specifically dedicated to the support of the LGBT community at UF. The Fund needs continuing support if we are to realize our goals. As always, details about contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund can be found at the end of the newsletter. Details about payroll deduction will be e-mailed to RA members soon. 2) Work will continue to identify LGBTA alumni. We have been working with Pride Student Union on this. New Gator Graduate and Rainbow Alliance Member Phillip Perry has contacted the Florida Foundation about adding "LGBT" as an interest area that alumni can select. Good work, Phillip! 3) Of course, we'll continue our monthly dinners. We hope to see you there! 4) We're working on outreach to LGBT faculty and staff at other universities and junior colleges in Florida. If you have any contacts who would like to be on the Rainbow Alliance mailing list, please send them to cmb@ifas.ufl.edu. We're very interested in what is going on on other campuses. Maybe we can support and help each other. [top]