RA-news Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida September 2006, Vol. 4, No. 12

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Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Wednesday September 13 at "Ballyhoo" at Royal Park on Newberry Road. 6 PM for a drink, and 6:30 for dinner. Please RSVP to Greg Allen. Upcoming Local Events 9/6 UF LGBTQ Welcome Assembly, 7 pm, Reitz Union 9/29 Dedication of Women's Studies Center (Ustler Hall), 10:30 am 10/7 Second Annual LGBT Homecoming 10/6-15 Pride Days (Pride Celebration of Gainesville) 10/6 - Awards Banquet 10/14 - Parade and Festival 10/11 National Coming Out Day Other Events  9/5-10 20th Annual Womenfest Key West, Florida 9/14-16 Out & Equal Workplace Summit Pride Events -- Worldwide Calendar Black Gay Pride Events 11/7 General Election Apr 2007 Equality Ride 2007 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 Local . . . . . . . . . LGBTQ Welcome Assembly, Wedneday, September 6 New LGBT Director for UF National . . . . . . . . . Equality Ride Seeks Participants for 2007 Event Victory Fund Pension Protection Act Back-to-School Resources for LGBT Families California "Closes Gap" in LGBT Protection BTW... The GLBTQ Resource Guide: Gainesville Windy City Queercast: Queer and Now 92% of Fortune 500 Companies Have LGBT Protections 89% of Americans Favor LGBT Workplace Protections Was Karl Rove's Stepfather Gay? 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

LGBTQ Welcome Assembly, Wednesday, September 6 Please come out to the LGBTQ Welcome Assembly -- the community celebration that kicks off the new academic year. Students, faculty, and staff are invited, as are friends and family. Speakers include University of Florida President Bernard Machen and other leaders from the UF LGBTQ family; former UF student Ivanna Black will give the keynote address. The assembly begins with a resource fair at 7pm, and our program will start promptly at 7:30. Help get the word out: please pass this information to anyone who might be interested and forward to any list-serves you can. Thanks! [top]

Equality Ride Seeks Participants for 2007 Event The Soulforce Equality Ride is a continuing journey to change the hearts and minds of America on the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. Following in the footsteps of the Freedom Rides of the 1960's, the Equality Ride uses principles of non-violence to confront military and religious colleges and universities with policies banning enrollment of openly LGBT students. Soulforce Equality Ride is now seeking participants for the second annual ride in March and April 2007. The 2007 Equality Ride will double the size of the 2006 event -- two buses will depart from Minneapolis. Each will embark upon its own path, visiting conservative Christian colleges and universities as well as American military institutes. With over 200 accredited institutions of higher learning that ban the enrollment and subsequently, the attendance, of openly LGBT students, there is a lot of ground to cover. Equality Ride hopes that you can see yourself as part of the 60 young adults who will hold these schools accountable for the damage their policies cause for their LGBT students and faculty. For more information, to read stories for the 2006 event and to apply for 2007, visit the Soulforce Equality Ride Web site. [top]

Victory Fund Supports LGBT Candidates Nationwide The Victory Fund is the nation's largest LGBT political action committee and one of the nation's largest non-connected PACs. The Victory Fund provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly gay candidates and officials. The Victory Fund gives you a very practical and directed way of supporting opnely LGBT candidates across the nation. The Fund is supporting one canidate in Florida, Ken Kreech, who is running for County Commissioner in Broward County. Ken Keechl, is a regional director for the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus and past president of the Dolphin Democrats. Ken is in a tough fight. If he wins this election, he will become the highest-ranking openly gay legislator in the State of Florida. Learn more about Ken at the Dolphin Democrats Web site. [top]

Pension Protection Act In August 2006, President Bush signed HR 4, The Pension Protection Act. As more and more private pension funds go bankrupt and corporations cut back or eliminate retiree benefits, the Act is intended to shore up the private pension system. The Act also includes provisions useful to same-sex couple nationwide. The first provision, called "Non-Spousal Rollover": -- Allows the transfer of an individual's retirement plan benefits, like a 401(k), to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) for a non-spouse beneficiary like a domestic partner, sibling, parent, cousin or anyone else when the individual dies. -- In the past, unless you were the legally recognized spouse of the deceased, you were forced to withdraw the amount as a lump sum and you faced immediate tax penalties which would eat away at the savings amount intended for retirement. The second provision, known as "Hardship Distribution": -- Allows individuals who list their same-sex partner or other non-spouse beneficiary under a 401(k) plan the ability to tap into their retirement funds in the case of certain medical or financial emergencies of the beneficiary. -- In the past, the federal law only permitted such withdrawals for employees' legally recognized spouses or dependents. For more information, read the story on the Human Rights Campaign Web site. [top]

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Back-to-School Resources for LGBT Families Back to School: Building Family Equality in Every Classroom (PDF) -- Gives concrete, easy to execute strategies to educate school communities about the unique needs of children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] parents in the classroom. A product of Family Pride, the only national non-profit organization dedicated to securing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and their families. TwoLives.com publishes and distributes books about GLBT families. New for this year, they have created age-appropriate diversity packs that are valuable both for GLBT-headed households and as a resource for classrooms and libraries. The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network strives to ensure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. GLSEN has a line of resources for elementary-school age children. Download their guide, Is This the Right School For Us: A Guide to Assessing School Climate for LGBT Parents of Elementary-Aged Children. The Families All Matter book project, created by aMaze, allows children to explore diversity issues through reading. Women’s Educational Media created the highly effective That’s a Family video and curriculum, part of a series that includes It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School. The curriculum provides “how-to” instruction for introducing the program into the school, including practical tools such as a flyer template and a sample letter for parents. Opening Doors: Lesbian and Gay Parents and Schools, produced by the Family Pride Coalition, is a handbook that offers instructive suggestions and practical information. [top]

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California "Closes Gap" in LGBT Protection On August 29, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 1441, which protects all Californians who utilize public services such as police and fire protection, financial aid, social services and food stamps. The measure also protects those associated with a person receiving services who has, or is perceived to have, any characteristic covered by the bill. Despite significant opposition from right wing conservative organizations, today Governor Schwarzenegger signed Equality California's (EQCA) Nondiscrimination in State Programs and Activities Act, SB 1441. The EQCA-sponsored measure, authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), bans discrimination in state operated or funded programs on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. "We greatly appreciate the governor signing this EQCA-sponsored legislation authored by Senator Kuehl prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in government programs and services. This bill will help to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians are treated equally by our government and is an important step towards our goal of ending discrimination in the Golden State," said Geoff Kors, EQCA executive director. More form Equality California [top]

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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]