RA-news

Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida
February 2007, Vol. 5, No. 5

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.

Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Payroll Deduction makes it easy!

Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Tuesday, February 13 at Merlion Restaurant on SW 13th Street. 6 PM for a drink, and 6:30 for dinner. Please RSVP.

February Calendar

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upcoming Local Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2/11 UF Women's Leadership Conference -- all day, Reitz Union
2/13 Friends Continuing Education: Black and LGBTQ -- 12-1 pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody Hall
2/21 My Gender Workbook discussion group -- 5-6 pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody
2/28 Friends training for the Levin College of Law -- 12-1 pm, Location TBD (in law school area)
3/7 Friends training for the Levin College of Law-- 12-1 pm, Location TBD (in law school area)
3/21 My Gender Workbook discussion group -- 5-6 pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody
4/4 Kate Bornstein -- 7 pm, Reitz Union Grand Ballroom
Apr 2007 Pride Awareness Month

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pride Events -- Worldwide Calendar
Apr 2007 Equality Ride 2007
 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

Departments

Features

Mary Cheney's Baby

December 4, 2006 – An announcement from the Office of the Vice President of the United States reveals that Vice President Cheney's daughter and her lesbian partner are expecting a baby. Mary Cheney is 37 and a vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL. Her partner, Heather Poe, is a former park ranger and is 45. The couple have been together for 15 years and have residences in Colorado and Viriginia.

December 12, 2006 – Writing in Time Magazine, James Dobson, founder and chairman of the conservative group Focus on the Family, said "With all due respect to Cheney and her partner, Heather Poe, the majority of more than 30 years of social-science evidence indicates that children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father. That is not to say Cheney and Poe will not love their child. But love alone is not enough to guarantee healthy growth and development. The two most loving women in the world cannot provide a daddy for a little boy--any more than the two most loving men can be complete role models for a little girl."

January 24, 2007 – In an interview with Vice President Cheney, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asks a question about conservative criticism of Mary Cheney's pregnancy. The VP expresses support for his daughter and then challenges Blitzer, calling the question "out of line."

January 31, 2007 – In comments at Barnard College, Mary Cheney states, "This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child." Ms. Cheney then said that, although she was not speaking for her father, she had seen the interview with Wolf Blitzer and she felt that Blitzer had "crossed a line."

Mary Cheney may not have intended her pregnancy as a political statement, but it is.

When one of the most conspicuous lesbians in the world becomes pregnant, that is a political statement. When this conspicuous lesbian is also the daughter of the vice president of a country that forbids same-sex unions and in many states forbids homosexual individuals from fostering or adopting children, her pregnancy is a political statement. When this conspicuous lesbian actively campaigned for an administration which represents a continuing effort to deny rights to gay and lesbian Americans and marginalize them politically, that is a political statement. And when this very conspicuous lesbian then makes political statements about her pregnancy, her pregnancy is a political statement.

Mary Cheney may not have spoken for her father in her comments at Barnard, but she certainly speaks like him. As a person of outstanding privilege, she seems to believe that she has the right to define the public discourse about her life and to control it. Her remarks were characteristic Cheney – she did not challenge the conservative groups that criticized her pregnancy, she challenged the reporter who asked about the comments.

So we have this axiom of Cheney communication: It is okay to be a conservative leader and publically call into question whether Mary Cheney's baby will be born into a healthy environment; it is forbidden to ask a question about such comments. This is the kind of twisted logic that has defined communications from the Bush/Cheney administration since its beginning.

Mary Cheney could have thanked Wolf Blitzer for the well-wishes that preceded his interview question. She could have challenged the remarks of James Dobson as to whether her child will be born into an inadequate household. Dobson's comments about family structure and child-rearing are generally absurd, and she might easily have rejected them — after all, her father no longer needs anyone's political support. His political career is over, but clearly his taste for power is not.

It doesn't matter what Mary or Dick Cheney say. When Mary Cheney has her baby, that will be all the political statement gays and lesbians need, but if she and her father continue to try and veil this child with hypocrisy, the statement will be all the more powerful. Isn't that the kind of household that should really concern James Dobson?

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The Other F-Word

"Grey's Anatomy" is one of the most popular shows on television. A medical drama now in its third season, it has a devoted following, a lengthy entry in Wikipedia, and plenty of fan sites. The inner workings of the show and the activities of its stars are of interest to millions of people all over the world.

So when rumors began to circulate in fall 2006 that one of the show's stars (Isaiah Washington) had called another one (T.R. Knight) a derogatory name referring to a gay person and beginning with the letter "f," there was a certain amount of media interest. Whatever Mr. Washington was feeling about the story, he certainly raised the stakes when, during the presentation of Golden Globe Award to the cast of the show and on national television, he approached the mike and stated, "No, I did not call T.R. a f*****." His easy used of the term in such a public context – even though it was a denial – gave credibility if not proof to the original story.

The public were already well-primed for "celebrities behaving badly" stories after the angry remarks of actor Michael Richards made in a Comedy Club, and widely circulated on television and the Internet. Because Mr. Richards was on record, there could be no denial phase to his story. Instead, he went on to explain, apologize, meet with leaders in the offended community, and seek professional help.

This in turn followed fairly closely the Mark Foley affair, which had already established some paradigms of guiding one's reputation through a dramatic public humiliation. Mr. Foley denied, then a spokesperson appeared, then there was a rapid removal to private rehabilitation accompanied by the revelation of contributory factors in Mr. Foley's past.

This in turn drew on the granddaddy of all public exposures in recent years – the revelation of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

We now have a vocabulary of public revelation. "I did not have sex with that woman" might be called the Lewinksy moment – a public, definitive and totally incredible public denial. The endless repetition of the cell-phone video of Michael Richard's on-stage melt-down (an element of the vocabulary established many years ago by the Rodney King beating; remember that?) might be called the Michael Richard's moment. The magical disappearance into rehab might be called the Mark Foley moment. Washington drew on all these in tour-de-force performance. Once this vocabulary is more clearly defined, I can even image a Golden Globe Award for the year's most arresting example of each "moment."

But I digress.

The Isaiah Washington moment not only fits into the vocabulary of public humiliation, it may also take its place as a watershed moment in the public dialogue about gay and lesbian people. In that dialogue, I would assert there have been two great moments in recent years.

The first is the Ellen DeGeneres moment. By coming out on national television, DeGeneres made one of the most powerful and empowered affirmations of being gay in this society. She continues to make a powerful contribution through her very popular television show, and she will soon be the first openly gay host of the Academy Awards.

The second is the Matthew Shepard moment. Matthew's horrific death was the ultimate example of the kind of risk that many LGBT either fear or actually face. It was galvanizing moment in the culture, an act that no reasonable person could defend. It still reverberates, and its power is reflected in efforts to undermine the injustice of Matthew's death by attempts to undermine his motives and actions that may have led up to the event.

To these, we might add the Washington moment – not at the level of the DeGeneres moment or the Shephard moment, but it was an opportunity for stars of Grey's Anatomy, officials in its production company and hosting network, "Hollywood" itself to publically acknowledge that gay-bashing is not acceptable.

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LGBT Legal Progress -- State by State

Marriage continues to be the hallmark issue of LGBT equal rights, and in many ways, 2006 was not the best year, based on that measure. However, if one looks at the full range of legislation, 2006 was a positive year for the LGBT communities. The Human Rights Campaign has compiled a comprehensive report that documents that documents the gains and losses, "Equality from State to State."

Some highlights from the report are:

  • Nationwide, 242 favorable bills were introduced, of which 34 passed. 137 unfavorable bills were introduced, of which 10 passed. These numbers are almost identical to 2005, except that number of favorable bills passed increased from 24 to 34.
  • At the end of the year, 26 states had amendments that prohibited same-sex marriage. In several states, such amendments died in the legislature.
  • Petition drives in Florida and California to get anti-marriage amendments placed on ballots failed to gather enough signatures. In Florida, the Republican party gave $150,000 in an attempt to gather the required 600,000 signatures.

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Which Colleges are Friendliest to Gay People?

Good question. The Princeton Review has attempted to answer that question in its most recent survey of 361 colleges and universities. Based on responses from over 100,000 across the country, the survey contained questions about academics, politics, quality of life, parties, and several other categories.

In response to the question "Is there very little discrimination against homosexuals?," the survey determined that the following schools were the gay-friendliest:

1. New York University (New York, NY)
2. Eugene Lang College--The New School for Liberal Arts (New York, NY)
3. New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
4. Macalester College (St. Paul, MN)
5. College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME)
6. Simon's Rock College of Bard (Great Barrington, MA)
7. Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)
8. Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, MA)
9. Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, PA)
10. Bennington College (Bennington, VT)
11. Emerson College (Boston, MA)
12. Lawrence University (Appleton, WI)
13. Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, CA)
14. Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA)
15. Smith College (Northampton, MA)
16. Wesleyan University (Middletwon, CT)
17. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
18. Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
19. Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY)
20. Reed College (Portland, OR)

On the flip-side, the WORST 20 schools were:

1. University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
2. Hampden-Sydney College (Hampden-Sydney, VA)
3. Brigham Young University (Provo, UT)
4. Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
5. College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA)
6. Baylor University (Waco, TX)
7. Texas A&M University (College Station , TX)
8. Grove City College (Grove City, PA)
9. University of Tennessee--Knoxville
10. Samford University (Birmingham, AL)
11. Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ)
12. Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, IN)
13. Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA)
14. Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA)
15. Miami University (Oxford, OH)
16. Trinity College (Hartford, CT)
17. North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
18. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
19. Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI)
20. Providence College (Providence, RI)

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UF Study: Sexual Stereotypes Influence Behavior in Adult Bookstores

UF sociology graduate student, Dana Berkowitz, recently published a study of behavior observed in adult bookstores. Her work was published last October in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. An article about her work was featured on the University of Florida homepage in early February in the Research News section.

Berkowitz said that her study examines how people present themselves in adult bookstores. She noted that most studies look at how images of sex influence behavior or how these shops are linked to prostitution, drugs and gambling. Berkowitz study adds to the growing body of literature on gender performance, or how people display their gender identity. The novelty of this owrk is that it looks at this subject in the "highly sexualized space of the adult book store." Berkowitz examined the behavior of both men and women, alone and in groups.

“These findings are important because they help us look at what it is about groups of men that encourages physical and verbal violence against women and, in even worse forms, against gay men,” she said. “We see it in fraternities, we see it in sports and we see it in the military. On the other hand, what is it about some women that make them uncomfortable with their sexuality?

Dana won a Rainbow Alliance Award in 2006 for her work on how gay men develop an awareness of their own potential roles as fathers, and to what extent their heterosexual surroundings affect the way in which their procreative consciousness and identity are shaped. Dana has conducted interviews with gay men in four states for this groundbreaking research, and she has already published sole-authored articles in two scholarly journals.

More gender research from the University of Florida

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Evangelical Pastor Ted Haggard Now "Completely Heterosexual" After Reparative Therapy

The New York Times and other news outlets reported that evangelical pastor Ted HAggard had completed three weeks of "reparative therapy." According to a leader in Haggard's former church, the 14,000 member New Life Church of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Haggard is healed and now "completely heterosexual." Haggard was preacher at the New Life Church and president of the National Assocation of Evangelicals before it was revealed in October 2006 that he had been invovled in a three-year sexual relationship with another man. Extensive use of methamphetaimne had been part of that relationship.

In January, Haggard and his wife, Gayle, went to Phoenix, Arizona, to enter intensive therapy for "healing" from Haggard's sexual misconduct. According to officials at the New Life Church, the therapy was to consist of extensive counseling. Haggard's therapy was conducted by a team which included the Rev. Tommy Barnett. Barnett leads the Phoenix First Assembly of God, which has a typical attendance of 10,000 and is considered one of the most influential churches in the country. Haggard's process has been most often referred to as a restoration.

Haggard and his wife plan to leave Colorado and have stated that they will take master's degrees in psychology -- on-line. They have been offered positions in Missouri and Iowa.

****

Despite the claims of evangelicals and their apparent political clout, the world of evangelicals -- a world in which the names of Haggard and Barnett and their churches are well-known -- is one of which the great majority of Americans know little beyond stereotypes delivered by Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, or occasionally as above, by evangelicals themselves.

I would imagine that for most people, the story of Ted Haggard simply reinforces their growing awareness that sexuality is complicated and very individual -- that people can feel free to make choices about their identity but that something about our sexuality is innate and that fighting with it is probably an unproductive battle.

Because Haggard was such a vocal opponent of gay rights, it is hard to read his story with compassion. However he would characterize his sexuality, his three-year relationship was an arrangement with a former male prostitute -- a carefully controllable safety valve for something inside him which he was able (as far as we know) to direct away from his congregation. Apparently, his arrangement was a complete secret for three years, and only came to light because his supplier of sex and drugs came to resent Haggard's hypocrisy and made the decision that his client should be exposed. His inner life was unknown to his wife or any of his Christian "brothers," which says a lot about the power structure he established in his church. Regardless of his affability -- a natural facility of many successful preachers -- he created a world in which he could not be questioned or known.

Despite hsi very public fall and the embarrassment he has caused evangelicalism at large, Haggard is too valuable a property of the evangelical world to be allowed to simply slip away. The New Life Church he built in Colorado Springs is the envy of many and a demonstration of abilities that many of other churches would be eager to employ. If along the way he stumbles and falls, well, he's only human. Perhaps any of us would allow him that.

The proper next act in Haggard's play is that his own failing teach him compassion and humility. But there is also a version of his story in which he becomes a poster boy for restoration, hardens his attitude toward homosexuals and redoubles his efforts to oppress gay people. In the first version, Haggard takes a step toward his own humanity, whatever sexual orientation he chooses to live out. In the latter version, he becomes just another tool of those for whom belief is the pure defiance of reason and humanity.

Time will tell.

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"No Way Renee" -- Newly Released Memoir By America's Most Famous Trangendered Woman

In 1976, Renee Richards, a highly accomplished tennis player, was denied entrance into the women's U.S. Open. The United States Tennis ssociation took this position because Richards had been born a man, and at the time of the open had only been a woman for a year or so. Richards sued the USTA, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor in 1977.

Richards was born in 1934 as Richard Raskind, but from a very early age she felt a dualness with herself. Throughout the 60s, she vaccilated, going on and off hormone therapy. In the late 60s, she traveled to Europe as a woman with the intention of going a gender reassignment clinic. Instead, she came back to the U.S., married and fathered a child, Nicholas.

Then in 1975, Richards completed her gender reassignment and the rest is history.

Richards wrote about her experiences in the 1986 book Second Serve, which was subsequently made into a movie starring Vaness Redgrave. Now, Richards has completed a second memoir, No Way Renee: The Second Half of My Notorious Life.

From Amazon.com:

Tennis star turned transsexual, Richards retreads much ground from her 1986 autobiography, Second Serve, while opening a window on the consequences of her choices. Born in 1934, Richard Raskind was a Yale tennis star, had a navy stint and became a well-known eye surgeon. Always feeling that he was a woman, Raskind was on and off hormone therapy from the early 1960s, but married in 1969 and fathered a son. Six years later, he underwent sex reassignment surgery and became Renée Richards. What's new are the personal elements of Richards's life since then: her friendship and coaching experience with Martina Navratilova and her evolving, often conflicted relationship with son Nick. Holding Rastafarian beliefs and resenting his father, Nick skipped off to Jamaica at the age of 13 and had to be kidnapped back to the U.S. While the family fights and complications of surgery take place in the context of the author's transsexualism, they are mostly ordinary, as is much of her current life as "an old-fashioned American." More interesting is Richards's discomfort with current radical transgender identities and politics and her searing list of regrets at the end of the book, where she finally opens up emotionally. B&w photos. (Feb.) -- Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

More about Renee Richards ...on Wikipedia ...at GLBTQ.COM ...in the New York Times

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Christian University Fires Transgender Professor

John and Joanne Nemecek prayed, talked and scoured the Bible for months and concluded that transgender is a medical condition that requires treatment. They chose treatment that would help John live as a woman, rather than suppress it. John became Julie Marie Nemecek.

It's complicated enough, but John was an ordained Baptist minister, a preacher, and a dean at Spring Arbor University, a conservative Christian college near Jackson, Michigan. The college has fired Nemecek becuase she chose to "persist with activities that are inconsistent with the Christian faith." In their prepared statement, college officials said: "We expect our faculty to model Christian character as an example for our students."

Nemecek, who has worked for the university for 16 years, was told in December that she had violated an updated contract that included a ban on her appearing as a woman on campus or in the town of Spring Arbor, a city of 2,200 located 95 miles west of Detroit.

Nemecek began her transformation in 2005 with estrogen therapy. Soon after, the college prevented her from teaching in classrooms, interviewing prospective employees or attending graduation ceremonies. Nemecek has worked out of her home for more than a year, directing online classes.

Nemecek and his wife were also pressured to leave their church in Jackson. As Nemencek moved through the transition, leaders and members of the church became increasingly uncomfortable. Eventually, the Nemeceks sought another church. Through a friend, they found the Westminster United Presbyterian Church, where Nemecek was welcomed as Julie.

Nemecek's wife Joanne remains committed to their relationship and their love. Their three sons are coming to terms with their father.

Julie has no plans to undego gender rassignment surgery. For her, the issue is purely one of gender identity. She has applied to legally change her name. And she has filed a discrimination claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"I have worked hard for this university, have been praised for my performance, and I have done nothing immoral or sinful," Nemecek said.

Extensive story on Michigan Live

Original Story on CR Daily

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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.

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Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund

Please consider making a donation to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. It is fully tax deductible. If you are a University of Florida employee, it is very easy to set up payroll deduction. Request a payroll deduction form by writing info@ra-online.org.

Whatever you wish to contribute, including a few dollars a pay period, will really help. Ten dollars a pay period, for example. For most of us, it isn't that much, but it adds up to over $250 dollars a year. If we all gave just that, the Fund would thrive. Call the University of Florida Foundation at 392-1691 and ask them to send you a Payroll Deduction Form. Use the information below to fill out the form.

Contributions will be gratefully accepted from anyone; non-UF individuals who contribute $50 or more will become honorary members of the Rainbow Alliance for one year.

To contribute by check,

(1) Make out your check to the University of Florida Foundation,
(2) Note on the check "Rainbow Alliance Fund 011369",
(3) Send your check to the following address:

UF Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 14425
Gainesville, FL 32604-2425

To contribute with a credit card, call the Annual Giving office at 1-800-279-6796. These contributions are tax deductible.

Your contribution will fund the following:

  • Competitive LGBT Research/Service Awards to be given in Spring semester.
  • Purchase of materials for the collection of LGBT resources currently housed in the Dean of Students office.
  • Rainbow Alliance makes a contribution annually to LGBT student groups to support specific programs.
  • Lay the financial foundation for the University of Florida LGBT Resource Center.

If you have any questions about the Fund or for more information > Charles Brown: cmb@ifas.ufl.edu

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Resources

 UF Local
 State
 

Florida Universities  
Florida Atlantic Univ. (Boca Raton) Lambda United
Florida Gulf Coast Univ. Sexual Orientation Diversity Assoc. (no Web site)
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida International Univ. GLBTA (Faculty and Staff)
Stonewall (GLBTA)
The Diversity Initiative
Florida State Univ. LGB Student Union
New College of Florida Diversity and Gender Center
Univ. of Central Florida (Orlando) GLBSU
CF Resources Page
Univ. of North Florida (Jacksonville) UNF Pride
Univ. of South Florida (Tampa) Pride Alliance
Univ. of West Florida (Pensacola) UWF Gay-Straight Alliance

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How To Join Rainbow Alliance

Membership in Rainbow Alliance is available to all staff and faculty at the University of Florida. Graduate students will be considered for membership. Health Science Center staff and faculty are also welcome to join Rainbow Alliance. Individuals not associated with the University may become honorary members of Rainbow Alliance through an annual contribution to the Rainbow Alliance Fund of $50 or more.

To become a member, send an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>

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Contributors

Charles Brown, editor
Greg Allen
Chuck Woods

Corrections, comments, copy > <info@ra-online.org>

RA-news, newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida, copyright 2007

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