RA-news Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida November 2006, Vol. 5, No. 2
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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Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Payroll Deduction makes it easy! Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Wednesday November 8 at "Green Plantains" at the Kanapaha Station, corner of SW 34th St and Williston Road. 6 PM for a drink, and 6:30 for dinner. Please RSVP. October Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upcoming Local Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/16 Friends Training, 6:00 pm, Graham Gallery FRIENDS is ally training for the LGBTQ community at UF. Contact: Jen Gresley <jeng@dso.ufl.edu>  11/20 Transgender Day of Remembrance  12/1 Day without Art -- AIDS Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pride Events -- Worldwide Calendar Black Gay Pride Events 11/7 General Election -- GET OUT AND VOTE! Apr 2007 Equality Ride 2007 Aug 2006 - Jan 2007 Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Traveling Exhibition August 16, 2006 - January 27, 2007 Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, FL  Feb 2007 - April 2007 Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Traveling Exhibition February 11 - April 7, 2007 University of Miami Otto G. Richter Library, Coral Gables, FL

Contents Features Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20, 2006 Day Without Art AIDS Awareness New Jersey High Court Affirms Same-Sex Unions Progress in Parental Rights in Georgia Prominent Evangelical Preacher Admits Gay Relationship, Life-long, Struggle and Meth Buy Neil Patrick Harris Comes Out Comment: Foley, Haggard, and Doogie Howser 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

Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20, 2006 The Transgender Day of Remembrance began in 1999 with a candlelight vigil in San Francisco to remember the death of Rita Hester, a transgendered person whose murder in 1998 remains unsolved. The Transgendered Day of Remembrance memorializes all those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) supports TDOR and provides materials to promote and support related events and awareness. Nice site related to TDOR programs at Kansas State University. Learn more from a list of transgendered victims of violence. Video from the 2001 San Francsico vigil and march. Features a reading of the following poem: I wish I looked like Matthew Shepard, I heard them all say, Because maybe then the world would have noticed us. I wish I looked like Matthew Shepard, I heard X say, Because then when I got a request-for-money-from-a-national-gay-and-lesbian-organization-they-would-have- noted-in-their-tearful-letter-from-Matthew's-mom,-Judy,-that-the-20-murders-of- lesbian-and-gays-they-cited-as-a-reason-for-me-to-send-them-money were actually 12 murders of transgendered people, 1 murdered of a bisexual person, and 7 murders of gay and lesbian people. I wish I looked like Matthew Shepard, I heard X say, Because maybe then I could get some recognition in death that I could not get in life. I wish I was still alive, I heard Matthew Shepard say. [top]

New Jersey High Court Affirms Same-Sex Unions On Wednesday, October 25, 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case of seven same-sex couples who sued the state for marriage rights. The court ruled that same-sex couples must be given all the same rights as opposite-sex couples, and gave the New Jersey legislature 180 days to craft laws that would respond to the decision. The court left open whether the contract would be called "marriage" or "civil union," but they made it clear that it must include all marriage rights. New Jersey passed a domestic partner law in 2004, which allows couples to register as partners but grants a limited range of rights. The vote on the decision was 4-3, but support for same-sex marriage on the court was stronger than this vote would imply. The dissenting votes did not represent opposition to same-sex marriage, but a stronger support of it than the majority position. Massachusetts already offers same-sex marriage, but also has a law that prohibits same-sex couples from other states from marrying in Massachusetts if their home state forbids it. New Jersey has no such law. A state legislator in New Jersey has already brought up the idea of sponsoring a referendum in 2007 to begin the process of amending the New Jersey constitution to preclude same-sex marriage. In the mix... A poll in which a majority of New Jerseyans favor full marriage rights for same-sex couples, and by an equal majority favor a state constitutional amendment securing marriage for opposite sex couples! There is still work to do. Cases similar to New Jersey's are pending in California, Connecticut, Iowa and Maryland. Read the Ruling Read about this story in the Washington Post [top]

Progress in Parental Rights in Georgia On September 27, 2006, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a lesbian mother continuing to have primary study of her daughter. The court ruled that a parent's custody or visitation rights cannot be limited just because that parent is gay or lesbian, and lives with their partner, when there is no adverse effect on the child. Read about this story at Lambda Legal [top]

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Prominent Evangelical Preacher Admits Gay Relationship, Life-long, Struggle and Meth Buy In March 2003, a Colorado preacher and rising evangelical star, Ted Haggard, was appointed president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which claims to represent 30 million American evangelicals – that's one tenth of the US population. Shortly thereafter, according to allegations of one Michael Jones, a former male escort, Haggard contacted Jones and initiated what would become a three-year relationship involving sex and methamphetamine use. The allegations first appeared in late October 2006. Events moved quickly during the week. Haggard stepped down from his position as leader of a 14,000-strong congregation in Colorado. His case went before a governing board for review. He then admitted publically that he knew Michael Jones and had recevied only a massage from him, and that he had purchased methamphetamine from Jones, but claimed he threw the drug away without using it. The governing board then announced that Haggard had admitted to indiscretion. On Friday, November 2, Haggard was permanently removed from his ministry. On Sunday, November 5, a statement from Haggard was read to his congregation admitting a life-long struggle with immorality. Haggard has wielded influence in the Bush administration, including weekly participation in an advisory council. He has also helped lead a nation-wide, state-by-state effort to ban same-sex marriage. According to Michael Jones, about six months ago, he learned for the first time who the man he knew only as "Art" actually was. He also learned about Haggard's stance on same-sex marriage and homosexuality. At that point, Jones decided to expose Haggard, and he chose the week before the election to make a political point. Jones claims that he told no one, not even his close friends, of his plans. Jones claims that he and Haggard met monthly for almost three years and that their arrangement ended in August 2006. In these monthly meetings, Haggard and Jones engaged in sex and haggard regularly used methamphetamine to intensify his sexual experience. Haggard admits that he contacted Jones and bought $200 worth of methamphetamine through Jones, but that he later realized that the drug use was wrong and he threw away the drug. Callers on AirAmerica's Randi Rhode's show on Friday were astonished that a first-time used would buy so much drug for experimentation. A blogger stated that Haggard had built his ministry by "saving" homosexuals. Haggard's admission of purchasing methamphetamine has initiated an investigation by the Denver police. Jones has tapes that he claims are Haggard arranging a drug buy, and he has an envelope with two $100 bills in it that he claims are from Haggard. Read more about this story on Rocky Mountain News Read the Harper's article about Haggard (May 2005) [top]

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Neil Patrick Harris Comes Out Actor Neil Patrick Harris has come out of the closet. The star of CBS's How I Met Your Mother tells People.com, "[I] am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest." The 33-year-old former star of Doogie Howser, M.D., says he came forward because of recent "speculation and interest in my private life and relationships." (The Advocate) [top]

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Foley, Haggard, and Doogie Howser This year's National Coming Out Day was on October 11, and it began an unparalleled national "celebration" of coming out with ingredients worthy of the Twilight Zone. Like any good episode of the Twilight Zone, we begin with the facts: Mark Foley represents Florida's Congressional District 16 (West Palm Beach). On September 28, 2006, ABC correspondent Brian Ross revealed e-mails that Foley had exchanged with teenage boys serving as pages in the US House. The e-mail messages were provocative, but in succeeding days, a series of communications, including Instant Messages, showed that Foley's interactions with certain pages were explicitly sexual. A number of former pages came forward and it became clear that Foley had been using the page program as a source of sexual opportunities for many years, since at least 1995. It also became clear that many leaders in the House and in the Republican party knew about Foley's activities and protected him. The number of Republican leaders in the house who knew not only that Foley was gay but also knew of his activity with pages grew until the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, was under siege. A congressional investigation is now underway. Elsewhere in this newsletter, you can read about Ted Haggard, one of the top leaders of the evangelical movement in America. He has been accused by a male escort of a three-year affair, complete with sex and drugs. Haggard has denied the substance of the allegations but admits to buying a massage and a bag of meth. He is no longer a top leader. Add to this, the release of David Quo's book, Tempting Faith, in which he reveals that the White House used evangelicals for its own purposes, treated them contemptuously in their absence, and callously used the highly touted faith-based initiative as just another tool for coercing political support. Space does not permit a full analysis of the layers and layers of hypocrisy in these stories. The question is: where does all this activity leave the LGBT community? You can check my syllogisms, but 30 million evangelicals and 30 million LGBT people (not necessarily exclusive categories) are now in the same boat. Both have been used and abused by the party in power as mere symbols in the soulless "neoconservative"campaign to promote and retain power and privilege. For the first time in many years, sincere people in both camps can look across the divide and see what they have in common. High betrayal strips away – perhaps it will be only briefly -- what evangelicals thought was their deserved access to and alliance with the temporal powers. Betrayal should also strip away some illusions. In the public dialogue, many evangelical commentators have talked about refocusing on their mission of faith. Their expeditionary force in Washington has come up against politics more complex and deceptive than their Bible studies prepared them for. It indicates a retreat to the gospel of grace and good works. Truly, evangelicals, what is Caesar's will always be Caesar's. The last month has also put the issue of "closet coercion" on the table as well. People who have to keep a secret are under a lot of pressure. That pressure creeps out into all sorts of mischief. Apparently, Foley's homosexuality was something of an open secret, but guarded by that etiquette under which we simply don't talk about it, because in most circles, we don't know how to talk about sexuality. After the Foley revelations, there were noises about purging Washington of its "gay network." But there were just as many noises about the damage staying in the closet causes. That brings us to Doogie Howser. At the end of this episode, Neil Patrick Harris, better known to many as Doogie Howser, MD, came out in People magazine, stating that he was gay, that he was proud, and he wanted to end any rumors to the contrary. I think we'll see more and more public people quietly and definitely coming out. Not being honest about who you are in an environment where it matters less and less – or perhaps I should say where honesty matters more than sexuality – is a greater and greater liability. What Foley and Haggard have broken is trust, and they have become a metaphor for the deception that has led to the squandering of lives and money. They have become exemplars of deception as the main mechanism of political power of the current majority. Before you are allowed to preach to us, we must know who you really are, and that is true whether you are a preacher, a president, or a movie star. [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]