Nine Utah Cities and Counties Now Ban Anti-LGBT Bias

There is progress to report on ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the state of Utah. Recently, the city councils of Moab, UT and Murray, UT unanimously have enacted local ordinances prohibiting discrimination in housing or employment against LGBT people.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

There are now nine cities and counties in Utah with such ordinances. Equality Utah hopes the number will reach 10 before the start of the next session of the Utah Legislature, where the group has pushed for a statewide anti-discrimination law.

In addition to Moab and Murray, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Park City, Summit County, Logan, West Valley City and Taylorsville ban housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

This means that Equality Utah is just one city away from having reached its goal of having 10 local jurisdictions enact "gay rights laws" before the Utah legislature convenes again and considers a similar statewide measure.

Of course these piecemeal efforts would not be necessary if the 111th United States Congress has passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act--although even then that legislation would just ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression and not address discriminations in housing, public accommodations, credit, education and government services. All of these are areas which are protected under California state law, for example.

There is almost no chance that under Republican control the 112th Congress will pass ENDA, or frankly any LGBT-supportive legislation.

Hat/tip to Trans Griot.

Kye Allums: Openly Transgender NCAA Div. 1 Basketball Player

Kye Allums, is getting a lot of mainstream press coverage about his transition from female to male while continuing to play on the George Washington University female NCAA Division 1 Basketball team.

Official statements from GWU and Allums follow:

Statement from Robert Chernak, Senior Vice Provost and Senior Vice President for Student Academic and Support Services:

“Student-athlete Kye Allums has decided to live as a male student and be referred to as a male. The George Washington University supports Kye and his right to make this decision. Kye has informed the university that he will not begin any medical or drug protocols while a student-athlete. The University consulted the NCAA regarding his competitive status. Kye will continue to be a member of the women’s basketball team. Kye has informed his teammates, and the university, with Kye’s consent, has informed athletics staff and others, as appropriate.”

Statement from junior Kye Allums, male member of George Washington’s women’s basketball team:

“GW has been supportive during this transition. This means a lot. I didn’t choose to be born in this body and feel the way I do. I decided to transition, that is change my name and pronouns because it bothered me to hide who I am, and I am trying to help myself and others to be who they are. I told my teammates first, and they, including my coaches, have supported me. My teammates have embraced me as the big brother of the team. They have been my family, and I love them all.”

Thoughts about this modern example of gender expression and sports? For example, do you think that Kye should be unable to play on the men's team when he completes his transition from female to male? If that should happen then, then why not now?

Cross-posted from #CSP19: LGBT Rights in the Era of Obama and Google.

Obama Beats Clinton's Record Of Openly Gay Presidential Appointees

Amanda Simpson, first openly transgender
Presidential appointee in history

Less than two years into his first Presidential term, Barack Obama has broken Bill Clinton's record of the number of appointees to the federal government with over 150 openly LGBT people in his administration so far.

Back in the 1990s when Clinton was president he made history by appointing the first openly gay person to a position requiring United States Senate approval, Roberta Achtenberg, to be assistant to the secretary for Housing and Urban Development. Noted homphobic Senator, Jesse Helms (R-NC), opposed the nomination and called Achtenberg a "damned lesbian" and "militant extremist" while he tried to stall and kill the appointment.

Now Obama has reached a historic level of  more than 150 openly LGBT appointees in less than 2 years when it took Clinton 8 years to reach 140 openly gay and lesbian appointees.

From the Los Angeles Times report:

Gay activists, among Obama's strongest supporters, had hoped he would be the first to appoint an openly gay Cabinet secretary. While that hasn't happened — yet — Obama did appoint the highest-ranking gay official ever when he named John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the nation's 1.9 million federal workers.

Other prominent names include Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Fred Hochberg, chairman of the Export-Import Bank. Obama also named Amanda Simpson, the first openly transgender appointee, as a senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department. And David Huebner, ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, is the third openly gay ambassador in U.S. history.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye confirmed the record number, saying Obama has hired more gay officials than the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations combined. He said Obama "is proud that his appointments reflect the diversity of the American public."

"He is committed to appointing highly qualified individuals for each post," Inouye said. "We have made a record number of openly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) appointments and we are confident that this number will only continue to grow."

Progress takes time, and occurs in different areas (administrative instead of legislative) at different rates.

SASOD Files Lawsuit Against Guyana Cross-Dressing Law

Official flag of Guyana

Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that country's archaic law against "cross-dressing."

In a series of crackdowns last year between February 6 and 7, the Guyana police arrested a number of male-to-female transgender persons (MtF Trans) and charged them for ‘cross-dressing’ under the archaic Colonial section 153(1)(xlvii) statute. Unrepresented and completely unaware of their rights, the defendants were detained in police custody over the week-end and then hustled through the legal system. When they appeared before Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson on February 9, 2009, they were further ridiculed and told that they are men not women, before being fined by the learned Chief Magistrate. Seon Clarke, also known as Falatama, one of the persons arrested, said: “It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I felt like I was less than human.” The motion also pleads that the Chief Magistrate was improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations, discriminated against the MtF Trans on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of Guyana as a secular state. Vigorous and wide-ranging calls within and out of Guyana for the repeal of these discriminatory laws which facilitate such injustices have been ignored by the government.

Since then, SASOD has forged partnerships with human rights interests in the local and regional arenas who have been working collectively and consistently on a voluntary basis over the past year to assist this marginalized group to obtain access to justice for the atrocities endured at the instance of the law enforcement authorities. The 2009 ‘cross-dressing’ crackdowns and prosecutions provided clear illustrations of how discriminatory laws are facilitating grave human rights’ abuses, in spite of the existence of an entrenched regime of human rights protection in the Guyana constitution. Leading the research initiatives to support strategic-impact, human-rights litigation in the region, Tracy Robinson of the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP) based at the Cave Hill campus’ law faculty in Barbados described the arrests and prosecutions as “an unfortunate embodiment of the patriarchal use of coercive state power for no clear or rational purpose,” highlighting the need for law reform to ensure social justice and gender equity in Guyana and across the region.

SASOD has mobilized support from local and regional human rights attorneys to provide representation in what amounts to a ground-breaking constitutional case. According to Dr. Arif Bulkan, also of U-RAP and one of Guyanese attorneys involved in the litigation, “unless the wide-ranging constitutional reforms conducted in 2001 and 2003 are to be dismissed as pure window-dressing, then the emphasis placed on non-discrimination during that process should guide the High Court to interpret the expanded equality rights generously in order to protect one of our society’s most marginalised groups.”

Veronica Cenac, a St. Lucian attorney who serves as the human rights focal point on the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition board of governors, lauded SASOD for spearheading the case. “For way too long, we have allowed abuses against the most affected populations to go unchallenged,” she said, quoting the closing words of the UN Secretary-General’s message: “Lack of social justice anywhere is an affront to us all.”

At last year's Global Arc of Justice conference at UCLA Law School I met some Caribbean LGBT activists and heard first-hand from them about some of the indignities suffered by members of the LGBT community living in the British Caribbean countries (like Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana etc) as well as their plans for redress.

I am glad to see the resistance to institutionalized homophobia in these jurisdictions is starting to reach a heightened level of activity (and even mainstream press coverage!) I will endeavor to keep track of the progress of this lawsuit and other efforts to combat homophobia and transphobia in the Caribbean.

Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law Fri Feb 19 at UCLA

Friday February 19th at UCLA Law School, the Williams Institute will hold its 9th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. Entitled "Sexuality and Gender Law: Assessing the Field, Envisioning the Future," the day-long event will feature appearances by some of the most prominent LGBT legal minds in the country, such as (just to name a few that I am looking forward to meeting and seeing again) NYU Law Professor Kenji Yohsino, University of Chicago Law Professor Mary Anne Case, Columbia Law Professor (and former Vice-Dean) Katherine Franke, American University Law Professor Nancy Polikoff, Obama appointee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chai Feldblum, Georgetown Law Professor (and blogger!) Nan Hunter, and Yale Law Professor Bill Eskridge.

There'll be a whole lotta "mad professahs" in the house!

Here's the schedule at a glance (see full schedule here):

Friday, February 19

9:00-10:20am – The Difference a Field Makes: The Impact of Sexuality and Gender Law Scholarship on the Law and Legal Scholarship

10:40-12:00pm – Theories Behind Multidimensional Advocacy

1:00-2:30pm – The Impact Sexuality and Gender Law and Policy Scholarship on LGBT Rights

3:00-4:30pm – Intersectionality

5:00-6:30pm – Final Round, 6th Annual Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot Court Competition

6:30-8:30pm – Annual Gala Reception and Awards Ceremony: Honoring Richard Taylor and Announcing Williams Institute National Moot Court Winners
*Click here for tickets.

Saturday, February 20

9:00-10:15am – Sexuality in a Global Culture

10:30-11:45pm – The Many Meanings of Gender

12:00-1:00pm – Next Steps: The Future of Sexuality and Gender Law and Scholarship

Just a few weeks ago I was a guest judge in the early rounds of the 6th Annual National Moot Court Competition on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law. It is a very interesting case which pits religious freedom under the first amendment against equal protection interests based on gender identity in a hypothetical in which national health care has become law but includes a rider which allows a "conscience clause" allowing doctor's to not treat transgender people.

Exemption Protecting Religious Freedoms of Medical Personnel:
No physician, nurse, or other medical personnel shall be required under this or
any other law of the United States to provide hormone therapy, surgery, or any
other medical care to transgender patients that is related to their transgender
status, gender identity, or gender expression if the provision of such care violates
the sincerely held religious beliefs of the physician, nurse, or other medical
personnel requested to provide such service. This provision shall not apply in
situations in which the transgender person’s medical condition is life threatening.

This year's Moot Court problem allows students to go into the details of the Lemon test in Supreme Court jurisprudence for improper governmental establishment of religion as well as the parameters of equal protection analysis involving suspect classes and the evolving nature of rational basis review.

The finals will be judged this year by two sitting members of State Supreme Courts: Justice Carol A. Beier (Kansas Supreme Court) and Justice Joette Katz (Connecticut Supreme Court) and is always a highlight of the entire day.

NY Gov Issues Order Protecting Public Employees On Gender Identity

Governor David Paterson of New York signed executive order No. 33 protecting state employees from discrimination based on gender identity on Wednesday.

The New York Times said:

Though state antidiscrimination law includes gay men and lesbians, it is silent on the issue of transgender people. And while Mr. Paterson’s order will not have the sweep of a statute enacted by the State Legislature because it will apply only to state agencies, gay and transgender rights advocates said it would be a first step toward including gender identity and expression protections in state law.

Advocates for transgender people have succeeded in winning broad antidiscrimination protections in a number of cities throughout the state, including New York, Buffalo, Albany and Rochester. But efforts to add similar protections to state law have so far fallen short. The Assembly has passed a transgender antidiscrimination bill, but the Senate has refused to vote on the issue.

Human Rights Campaign provided background information on the move:

An executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment is the furthest extent to which any governor is able to exercise his or her executive power. Extending protections to private employees must be accomplished by the state legislature. New York joins eight other states in which an executive order, administrative order, or personnel regulation prohibits discrimination against public employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity: Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In addition, twelve states and the District of Columbia prohibit full employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity: California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Nine more states, including New York, prohibit employment discrimination based only on sexual orientation. For an electronic map showing where employment non-discrimination stands in the states, please visit: www.HRC.org/State_Laws.

Now, the Governor says that the New York State Senate should hurry up and pass GENDA already (which would add gender identity or expression to the list of categories which private employers are prohibited from practicing discrimination).

Hat/tip Rod 2.0.

MAP Report on LGBT Right Progress 2000-2009

There's an interesting report out this week called "A Decade of Progress on LGBT Rights" written by one of the smartest (and least well-known) LGBT organizations, the Movement Advancement Project, (with funding from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr Fund) which puts where the LGBT community is now in a useful historical context.

* Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation: The number of states outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation increased 83 percent, from 12 to 22, between 2000 and 2009. The percentage of the U.S. population living in states banning discrimination based on sexual orientation soared from 24.5 percent to 44.1 percent, an 80 percent increase. In other words, today 134 million Americans are now living in states where discrimination based on sexual orientation has been outlawed, an increase of 65 million over the decade. (When local nondiscrimination laws passed by cities without statewide protections are included, the figure is over 50 percent of the U.S. population.) Fortune 500 companies that protect workers based on sexual orientation grew from 51 percent to 88 percent.

* Discrimination Based on Gender Identity: There was an even more remarkable increase in states outlawing discrimination based on gender identity and expression, which rose from just 1 state in the year 2000 to 14 states representing nearly 30 percent of the population in 2009. The percentage of Fortune 500 companies that protect workers based on gender identity jumped even more, from just 0.6 percent to 35 percent.

* Relationship Recognition: Similarly exceptional gains were made in the area of family recognition. In 2000, no state extended the freedom to marry to same-sex couples; one state gave broad recognition to same-sex relationships and one offered limited recognition. Now in 2009, five states extend marriage to same-sex couples (with New Jersey and the District of Columbia pending at press time), six offer broad recognition, and seven offer more limited recognition. Overall, the number of Americans living in a state that offers some protections to same-sex couples nearly tripled, from 12.7 percent to 37.2 percent.

* Protection from Violence: The 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is the first federal law to specifically protect LGBT people.

* LGBT Elected Officials: The number of openly LGBT elected officials in America rose 73 percent between 2000 and 2009, from 257 to 445.

* Public Opinion: The percentage of the public supporting the right of openly gay and lesbian people to serve in the military grew from 62 percent to 75 percent. Support for marriage equality has grown from 35 percent in 2000 to 39 percent today; there has been an even larger increase in support for relationship recognition that involves many of the rights of marriage, from 45 to 57 percent.

* Safer Schools: In 2000, only one state had a safe school law that specifically cited sexual orientation *and* gender identity/expression for protection; by 2009 that rose to 13 states. The number of Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs in high schools grew from 700 to 4,700, a nearly six-fold increase.

The report also includes data on areas with mixed or negative results.

· Marriage Opposition: In 2000, 5 states had blocked marriage equality through a statewide vote; today, 31 have done so, including 29 states amending their constitutions to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages.

· Homophobia in schools: The percentage of LGBT students reporting hearing homophobic remarks in school has remained above 99 percent and LGBT students who report experiencing harassment in school edged up (up from 83.2 percent to 86.2 percent.)

· HIV/AIDS: New HIV infections among adolescent and adult men who have sex with men grew 10 percent, from 28,000 to 30,800, as did the percentage of new HIV infections overall that occurred among men who have sex with men, which rose from 51 percent to 53 percent.

· Military Service Ban: In spite of overwhelming public support for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the U.S. military continued to discharge hundreds of gay and lesbian service members, with the cumulative number of discharges under the 1993 policy nearly doubling during the past decade. The only "positive" note was that the number of annual discharges decreased from 1,241 in 2000 to 619 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data are available), apparently because of the urgent need for soldiers to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.

I hope that some of the people who have been screaming obscenities at our friends in power take a sobering look at how far we have come, and think about where we want to be in 2019.

"Two Spirits" Movie About LGBT Native Americans

One of my students alerted me to the trailer for the very interesting film about Native American "two-spirited" people, which is the word used to describe people who have both masculine and feminine traits. Generally, we think of such people as part of the LGBT community. The film is called Two Spirits and the trailer is below:


UPDATE FRI 12/18/2009 09:11AM
I heard yesterday that there will be a special screening of Two Spirits on Thursday March 18th at 7pm at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown LA by the Red Circle Project, a Native American HIV/AIDS agency run out of AIDS Project Los Angeles. I plan on attending and seeing this interesting documentary!

Celebrity Friday: Chaz Bono

Chaz Bono, born as the daughter of singer-actress (and gay icon) Cher, is now Cher's son, an FTM transsexual. He says "gender is in your head, not between your legs."

Morehouse Issues Dress Code That Bans "Crossdressing"

Morehouse College, the all-male predominantly African-American college in Atlanta, Georgia which boats Martin Luther King, Lr. as one of its alums, is back in the news for an LGBT-related issue: issuing a new dress code banning cross-dressing by the students.

According to Frank Leon Roberts, a NYC-based blogger writing in Keith Boykin's Daily Voice website, here is the full text of Morehouse's Appropriate Attire Policy:

It is our expectation that students who select Morehouse do so because of the College's outstanding legacy of producing leaders. On the campus and at College-sponsored events and activities, students at Morehouse College will be expected to dress neatly and appropriately at all times.

Students who choose not to abide by this policy will be denied admission into class and various functions and services of the College if their manner of attire is inappropriate. Examples of inappropriate attire and/or appearance include but are not limited to:

1. No caps, do-rags and/or hoods in classrooms, the cafeteria, or other indoor venues. This policy item does not apply to headgear considered as a part of religious or cultural dress.

2. Sun glasses or "shades" are not to be work in class or at formal programs, unless medical documentation is provided to support use.

3. Decorative orthodontic appliances (e.g. "grillz") be they permanent or removable, shall not be worn on the campus or at College-sponsored events.

4. Jeans at major programs such as, Opening Convocation, Commencement, Founder's Day or other programs dictating professional, business casual attire, semi-formal or formal attire.

5. Clothing with derogatory, offense and/or lewd messages either in words or pictures.

6. Top and bottom coverings should be wor[n] at all times. No bare feet in public venues.

7. No sagging--the wearing of one's pants or shorts low enough to reveal undergarments or secondary layers of clothing.

8. Pajamas, shall not be worn while in public or in common areas of the College.

9. No wearing of clothing associated with women's garb (dresses, tops, tunics, purses, pumps, etc.) on the Morehouse campus or at College-sponsored events.[emphasis added]

10. Additional dress regulations may be imposed upon students participating in certain extracurricular activities that are sponsored or organized by the College (e.g. athletic teams, the band, Glee Club, etc).

11. The college reserves the right to modify this policy as deemed appropriate.
*All administrative, faculty, students and support staff members are asked to assist in enforcing this policy and may report disregard or violations to the Office of Student Conduct. "

Apparently, the College's gay student group, somewhat bizarrely going under the moniker "Safe Space" has endorsed the dress code.

It is item #9 which has garnered the College the most notoriety, recently.

As Frank says, "I must be missing something. Is there some kind of growing, critical mass of high-heel wearing, gold-tooth rockin' boys threatening to take over the campus? (if so, Big Up)."

Indeed!

VIDEO: CNN Report on Iraqi LGBT Killings

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Trans-Inclusive ENDA Introduced in U.S. Senate

Freshman Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 1584) on Wednesday which would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity anywhere in the United States, if enacted and signed into law.

“For me, one of the huge issues that I’ve cared a lot about is equality under the law and fairness to all Americans, and this was just a core part of the way I view the world,” he said.

Merkley said he was designated as the lead sponsor of ENDA because he championed a similar non-discrimination bill in Oregon as a lawmaker in the state House, as well as legislation enacting domestic partnerships in Oregon.

As of Wednesday, Merkley had 37 co-sponsors to the legislation, including Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), according to a statement released by Merkley’s office.

Merkley is a member of the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, which would hold hearings on the legislation and fine-tune the bill before it reaches the Senate floor. But whether the committee will hold hearings on the legislation, Merkley said, has “yet to be addressed.”

“That is certainly one of the things that I’ll be pursuing with Sen. Dodd and with Sen. Kennedy’s team,” Merkley said.

Interestingly, looking at the 38 original co-sponsors of the bill, it struck MadProfessah that almost none of the Senators come from a state that does not already prohibit sexual orientation discrimination (but not necessarily gender identity discrimination) in employment. The 38 co-sponsors are:

Sen Akaka, Daniel K. [HI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] - 8/5/2009
Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] - 8/5/2009
Sen Burris, Roland [IL] - 8/5/2009
Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] - 8/5/2009
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Collins, Susan M. [ME] - 8/5/2009
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] - 8/5/2009
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 8/5/2009
Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Franken, Al [MN] - 8/5/2009
Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] - 8/5/2009
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Inouye, Daniel K. [HI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] - 8/5/2009
Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] - 8/5/2009
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] - 8/5/2009
Sen Levin, Carl [MI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] - 8/5/2009
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 8/5/2009
Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] - 8/5/2009
Sen Murray, Patty [WA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Reed, Jack [RI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] - 8/5/2009
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 8/5/2009
Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] - 8/5/2009
Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] - 8/5/2009
Sen Specter, Arlen [PA] - 8/5/2009
Sen Udall, Mark [CO] - 8/5/2009
Sen Udall, Tom [NM] - 8/5/2009
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] - 8/5/2009
Sen Wyden, Ron [OR] - 8/5/2009

I believe only Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Carl Levin of Michigan and Robert Casey and Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania represents states that have not (yet) passed what is commonly known as "a gay rights law." There are currently 21 states which have such a law on the books, and ENDA would provide federal legislation to strengthen protections in those states as well as states which have no gay rights laws (or openly LGBT elected officials, which is often a first step in getting a law-making body to make that step).

Note that most of the states that have legalized marriage equality (MA, CT, CA, IA, VT, ME) have both senators on board (except for Iowa's Republican Senator Chuck Grassley).

Mariah Carey In Drag As A Man!

These shots of the pop star dressed as a man are for the video to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed," the first single from her next album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.

hat/tip to TowleRoad.

Delaware Legislature Passes LGB Rights Bill

It seems like state legislative sessions are extending forever this year. Well, better late than never: the Delaware legislature has completed passage of Senate Bill 121 (26-14 in the House and 14-5 in the Senate), a bill which would prohibit discriminmation on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, insurance and public accomodations.

The bill now goes to democratic Governor Jack Markell, who is expected to sign it into law.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God, who notes that the bill does not include protections based upon gender identity.

Note also, that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act introduced in Congress this week, while it covers sexual orientation and gender identity, only applies to employment thoughout the United States, and would extend those protections to the 31 states which currently do not have gay rights laws.

Black Same-Sex (Trans) Couple Gets Married in NY

According to TowleRoad, a couple with names Hakim (Kimah) Nelson and Jason Stenson were issued a marriage licence and married by a city clerk in New York City on May 26. Of course, the journalist-challenged New York Post is on the case:

After The Post's inquiries, the city's marriage bureau stopped two more people with male names from marrying Friday, requesting birth certificates.

Stenson, who has two children by his former domestic partner, does not consider himself gay. He sees his new spouse as a woman.

Experts say the marriage is not legal.

"Gay marriage is not lawful here in New York, so they're technically not married," said matrimonial attorney Raoul Felder.

Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry, a local advocacy group devoted to legalizing gay marriage, saw the Stenson/Nelson example as "one more illustration of why the New York Senate needs to move quickly to pass the marriage bill and end this discrimination in New York."

The "newlyweds," meanwhile, have already run into trouble. They took their new license to the Adult Family Intake Center in Manhattan hoping to qualify for couples' housing. But Nelson's name immediately drew suspicion.

"Are you a man or a woman?" the intake officer demanded.

"I'm a transsexual," he lied.

For now, the pair is living as a married couple in a Brooklyn shelter.

"People in Albany can say, 'Look, it's already happened, so let's just make it legal,' " Stenson said. "We're all human beings. What makes me and my wife different?"

What do YOU think? Will this help or hurt the fight to get marriage for same-sex couples legalized in New York?

International Day Against Homophobia

Today is May 17th, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is also the anniversary of the date the Goodridge decision went into effect in Massachusetts, legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time in the United States. May 17, 1954 was the day the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v Board of Education was released.

However, the official reason for picking May 17th by the founder and organizer ofthe day, Professor Louis-Georges Tin is that in 1992 the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as  a mental disorder.

Today also happens to be Long Beach Pride. Happy Homophobia (and Transphobia) Day!

Real World Brooklyn Features Gay and Transgender Members

J.D. (Latino gay man)


Katelynn

MTV's Real World stopped being in my DVR a looooong time ago but I may have to put the 21st edition of the show, Real World: Brooklyn because not only do they have a (cute!) gay Latino man in the cast but also a transgender named KateLynn who (along with a third castmember) all volunteer at the New York City Gay and Lesbian Community Center during this season.

What do you think? Are you gonna watch the show? There's also some dish around JD: He may or may not be Anderson Cooper's ex-boyfriend.

RuPaul as Michelle AND Barack Obama

hat/tip LOLDarian.