RA-news Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida February 2006, Vol. 4, No. 5

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Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Febraury 8, 6:30 pm at Macaroni Grill at the Oaks Mall. Please RSVP. Upcoming Local Events  2/15 Sexuality Conversations: Katrina Schwartz, "Homophobia, Christian values, and the politics of extremism in Latvia" [Details]  3/1  Deadline for Rainbow Alliance Awards Applications  3/29  Multicultural Student Awards  4/1-30  Pride Awareness Month  4/9  Orange-Blue Game  10/7  Homecoming (against LSU) Other Events  2/3-5 Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Conf. & Assembly, Tampa  2/12-18 9th Annual Freedom to Marry Week  3/27-4/3 23rd World Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (Geneva, Switzerland)  4/2006 Florida Collegiate Pride Conference, Univ. of Central Florida  4/5-8 "Transgender 2006," International Foundation for Gender Eduation (IFGE) Annual Conference, Philadelphia  5/18-20 GenderYOUTH Leadership Summit (Washington, DC)  7/15-22 7th Gay Games, Chicago  7/29-8/5 1st World OutGames, Montreal The Rainbow Alliance is the organization for University of Florida faculty, staff, and alumni 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 Features State . . . . . . . . . Florida Marriage Restriction Petition Effort Fails National . . . . . . . . . National Black Justice Coalition First Annual Conference for Transsexual African-Americans Gay Couple Wins Reality TV Show – Which Will Not Be Shown Maryland Judge Invalidates Same-Sex Marriage Ban International . . . . . . . . . Czech Parliament Approves Gay Partnership Rights Book . . . . . . . . . Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino BTW.... Ending bias in language from APA also, race and ethnicity, disabilities There are 1049 rights and benefits to marriage China bans Brokeback Mountain Lots of good reading from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Departments Help us Build the Rainbow Alliance Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund Resources How to Join the Rainbow Alliance Contributors to This Issue of RA-News

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Features

National Black Justice Coalition Many groupd weighed in during the recent fight over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the US Supreme Court. Many of these groups produced ads, and among these ads, one of the most striking was from the National Black Justice Coalition. The ad presented a photograph pf Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia. Justice Thomas is black, and his wife, Virginia, is white. The photograph carried the tag line "Offense before God?" The ad stated that, "Before 1967, laws would not allow Clarence Thomas, a black man, to marry his wife Virginia, a white woman. Opponents of interracial marriage cited the Bible to justify this discrimination. In 2006, laws do not allow two men or two women to marry each other. Opponents of same-sex marriage cite the Bible to justify this discrimination." (Read the rest of the ad on the Daily KOS) The ad and the outrage it fostered in the opposition to same-sex marriage provided the first occasion for many to hear of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC). The NBJC was founded in 2003 by Black, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and allies dedicated to fostering equality by fighting racism and homophobia. The coalition works for social justice by educating and mobilizing elected officials, clergy and media, among others, with a focus on Black communities. NBJC faces some serious challenges. A core institution of many black communities in America are churches – and a core reality for the black community is the growing HIV infection rate. These factors have worked to keep LGBT black in the closet, underground, on the down-low... a situation which fosters more prejudice, fear and infection. At a summit held in Washington, DC last September, these and other issues were discussed. To start the summit, participants viewed a slideshow of the fallen – black leaders and activists who had dies from violence or from AIDS over that past 40 years. The list was long and "bittersweet" according to MetroWeekly, a Washington, DC gay and lesbian magazine. But the presentation provided a backdrop for the days of discussions at the summit. Summit attendees eventually arrived at three broad goals: finding ways to encourage more gay African Americans to be public about their sexuality, crafting ways to deal with homophobia in the black church, and combating the alarming increase in HIV among African Americans. National Black Justice Coalition Black Out 2006: National Coming Out Initiative [more here] Black Same-sex Households in the United States based on the 2000 Census [top]

First Annual Conference for Transsexual African-Americans The first annual "Transsistahs and Transbrothas Conference" was held at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, KY from September 14-18. Participants discussed topics that included spirituality, African-American transgender images in the media, African-American transgender history makers and reasons why they are not mentioned in overall GLBT history, transgender people in prison, medical issues and transition tips for college students. SONG and Louisville's Fairness Campaign co-sponsored the conference. The conference was put together by a team of African-American transactivists headed by 2000 IFGE Trinity Award winner Dawn Wilson and Monica Roberts. From the onset they wanted transmen involved in the event planning and transmen Louis Mitchell and Joshua Holiday played major roles in shaping the conference. (IFGE: http://www.ifge.org/) The speakers included Southerners on New Ground (SONG) Executive Director Mandy Carter, Dawn Wilson, and Jordana LeSesne. TSTBC 2005 Co-Chairs Louis Mitchell and Alexis Whitman made moving speeches that challenged the participants to put what they learned into action when they returned home. The conference was reminded of the disproportionate numbers of transpeople of color affected by transphobic hate violence when Jordana retold the story of her 2000 attack in Kent, OH. (SONG: http://www.southnewground.org/) Next year's conference will be held in Louisville, October 4-8, 2006. [top]

Gay Couple Wins Reality TV Show – Which Will Not Be Shown "Welcome to the Neighborhood" had a familiar pay-off... you win a house. The deal is you and your partner have to complete with several other couples in a Survivor-style series to win. And the judges? Several couples who will be your new neighbors if you win. What was different about this show was that one of the contestant couples was Steve and John Wright, two men with an adopted son. What else was different? Among the judges were some very conservative types who were dead-set against Steve and John? What else was different? The gay couple won! And what else? The show was cancelled even before it aired. The show was due to air around the time that ABC's parent company, Disney, was due to release a major film, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on the book by C. S. Lewis. "Narnia" is a fantasy adventure involving small children, talking animals and a battle for civilization as they know it. The movie has been very successful at the box office, and was generally well-received critically. It has received several Oscar nominations. The seven-book Narnia series is also strongly allegorical of the Christian faith, and Disney marketed the movie extensively to churches, hoping that they might see the film (and hopefully its numerous sequels) as a faith-alternative to recent blockbusters such as "The Lord of the Rings." (Note: Disney has already announced plans to produce the first sequel "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" for release in 2007.) The release date of "Narnia" and the projected air date of "Welcome to the Neighborhood" wasn't the only coincidence. Several evangelical Christian groups also dropped their multi-year boycotts of Disney theme parks in advance of the "Narnia" release. ABC has rejected any suggestion that a conflict over gay issues resulted in cancellation of "Welcome," but the producer of the show, Bill Kennedy said that, "the protests might have been most significant as a diversion that allowed the Walt Disney Company, ABC's owner, to pre-empt a show that could have interfered with a much bigger enterprise: the courting of evangelical Christian audiences for ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'" the New York Times reported. By all accounts, the reality show was more confrontational than many, with judges and contestants speaking openly for the camera about their stereotypes and prejudices. The Wrights said they went into this game to change minds – and they did. Their most severe critic among the judges, himself a staunch evangelical Christian, eventually came to be one of the Wrights supporters, and he speaks openly about how wrong his attitudes were at the beginning of the series. His experience even led to an acknowledgment of and reconciliation with his gay son. The Wrights accomplished that much. But they hoped to affect hearts and minds throughout America with their story and by letting viewers get to know them as typical same-sex partners and parents. That opportunity will not be provided by ABC. Read more... Are churches being rewarded for excluding gays? [top]

Florida Marriage Restriction Petition Effort Fails In February 2005, and organization called Florida4Marriage began a petition drive to collect 611,00 signatures in order to place an amendment to the Florida constitution on the November 2006 ballot. The intent of the amendment is to define marriage in Florida as a contract between one man and one woman. The deadline for acquiring the necessary signatures was February 1, 2006. On that date, the Florida Department of State certified only 456,336 signatures, almost 155,000 less than needed. The number of signatures needed for such a ballot measure was raised by the Florida Legislature in 2004 in response to concern in several states with citizen-initiated amendment processes that the process was too easy. Florida's recent experience with constitutional amendments, including the high-speed train amendment which was passed by the Florida voters in 2000 and repealed in 2004. The signatures gathered for the proposed amendment are valid through 2008, and leaders of Florida4Marriage plan to pursue addition signatures and place their measure on the 2008 ballot – a presidential ballot. In the meantime, six couples, working with the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, filed a petition asking the Florida Supreme Court to throw out the proposed ballot initiative because it violates Florida's Constitution. The couples argue that since Florida law already prevents same-sex marriage, the real purpose of the amendment is to prevent the establishment of legal rights to civil unions. Polls show most Floridians support civil unions. The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on February 8, 2006. Gays Sue over Marriage Amendment [top]

Maryland Judge Invalidates Same-Sex Marriage Ban On January 20, 2006, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Brooke Murdock ruled that a 1973 Maryland law which restricts marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the state constitution. The judge stayed the decision until it can be reviewed by a higher court. The state attorney general is appealing the decision to an intermediate court. Opponents of same-sex marriage in the Maryland legislature have proposed an amendment to the Maryland constitution to ensconce the restriction. The case was brought by Lisa Polyak and Gitanjali Deane, who have been together for 25 years, and several other gay men and lesbians. Polyak and Deane have each borne a child through artificial insemination. It was when Deane was in the delivery room that their legal status became an issue. The doctor ordered Polyak to leave the room before Deane could receive an epidural. Subsequent issues convinced them to file the suit. In a further development, the legislative attempt to put forward a marriage-restricting amendment to the state constitution failed in committee on February 2. The defeat was achieved through a parliamentary move, and supporters of the amendment have vowed to fight on. The situation is politically complex because many Democrats do not want to go on record voting effectively in favor of same-sex marriage at this time. Maryland's governorship and a US senate seat are in play this fall, and the Democrats are concerned about voter backlash in moderate-to-conservative districts. Read more at Equality Maryland Web site [top]

Czech Parliament Approves Gay Partnership Rights On January 25, the upper chamber of the Czech parliament voted to grant some legal rights to same-sex partners. Forty-five of the 65 lawmakers present in the 81-seat Senate voted in favor of the law. The law must now be signed by President Vaclav Klaus.\ The legislation allows couples who register their partnership with authorities to have inheritance and health care rights similar to those granted now to heterosexual married couples. The law, however, does not allow marriage or adoption of children by same-sex partners. If signed into law, the Czech Republic would become the 13th nation in the European Union to offer protections to same-sex couples. [top]

Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino Everyone covers. To cover is to downplay a disfavored trait so as to blend into the mainstream. Because all of us possess stigmatized attributes, we all encounter pressure to cover in our daily lives. Given its pervasiveness, we may experience this pressure to be a simple fact of social life. Against that conventional understanding, Kenji Yoshino argues that the demand to cover can pose a hidden threat to our civil rights. Though we have come to some consensus against penalizing people for differences based on race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and disability, we still routinely deny equal treatment to people who refuse to downplay differences along these lines. Racial minorities are pressed to "act white" by changing their names, languages, or cultural practices. Women are told to "play like men" at work. Gays are asked not to engage in public displays of same-sex affection. The devout are instructed to minimize expressions of faith, and individuals with disabilities are urged to conceal the paraphernalia that permit them to function. In a wide-ranging analysis, Yoshino demonstrates that American civil rights law has generally ignored the threat posed by these covering demands. With passion and rigor, he shows that the work of civil rights will not be complete until it attends to the harms of coerced conformity... [More] [top]

Departments

Help Us Build the Rainbow Alliance 1) UF Faculty and Staff: We want every LGBT staff or faculty member and ally to be a Rainbow Alliance member. Tell interested friends and colleagues about Rainbow Alliance. They can check out the Web site at <www.ra-online.org>, or bring them along to a monthly dinner. They can join by sending an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>. 2) Alumni: Our mailing list of UF alumni is growing. Alumni are a vital part of the University community. Anyone with an interest in improving the LGBT envrionment at the University of Florida should look into Rainbow Alliance. Working together with Pride Student Union and the Director of LGBT Affairs, we are working to keep alumni informed, to help them connect, and to draw on their expertise. 3) Contribute: The Rainbow Alliance Fund at the University of Florida Foundation (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. A word to out contributions: Your donation is fully tax-deductible, and the RA Fund is not used to support operations of the Rainbow Alliance. Learn more below. 2) Statewide: Help us connect with staff and faculty on other Florida/Deep South campuses working on LGBT issues. We have some unique challenges in the South. Maybe we can support each other and collaborate on progress. [top]