Timothy Palmer is the Director of Policy and Communication at the Religious Institute: Faithful Voices on Sexuality and Religion
or is this another way to control the people by "allowing" Queers to worship?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Self Management
"Most factories {businesses, churches, governments} are like military dictatorships. Those at the bottom are privates, the supervisors are sergeants, and on up through the hierarchy. The organisation can dictate everything from our clothing and hair style to how we spend a large portion of our lives, during work. It can compel overtime; it can require us to see a company doctor if we have a medical complaint; it can forbid us free time to engage in political activity; it can suppress freedom of speech, press and assembly -- it can use ID cards and armed security police, along with closed-circuit TVs to watch us; it can punish dissenters with 'disciplinary layoffs' (as GM calls them), or it can fire us. We are forced, by circumstances, to accept much of this, or join the millions of unemployed. . . In almost every job, we have only the 'right' to quit. Major decisions are made at the top and we are expected to obey, whether we work in an ivory tower or a mine shaft." ["For Democracy Where We Work: A rationale for social self-management", Reinventing Anarchy, Again, Howard J. Ehrlich (ed.), pp. 193-4]
Friday, August 28, 2009
Primer on Neoliberalism
Political Versus Economic Liberalism
There is an important difference between liberal politics and liberal economics. But this distinction is usually not articulated in the mainstream.
As summarized here by Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo Garcia:
“Liberalism” can refer to political, economic, or even religious ideas. In the U.S. political liberalism has been a strategy to prevent social conflict. It is presented to poor and working people as progressive compared to conservative or Right wing. Economic liberalism is different. Conservative politicians who say they hate “liberals” — meaning the political type — have no real problem with economic liberalism, including neoliberalism.
— Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo Garcia, What is “Neo-Liberalism”?, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, January 1, 1997 (posted at CorpWatch.org)
Radical Thinkers
"Since it first started publishing in 1975, Verso has always taken pains to be at the forefront of critical debates. To celebrate this success Verso is relaunching twelve of its classic titles, written by some of their most respected and influential authors.
From Althusser, who overturned the philosophical study of Marx, to Jean Baudrillard who heralded the dawn of the postmodern era, to Raymond Williams who introduced the study of contemporary culture — these are the greats. As well as being landmarks in philosophy and cultural theory that had a profound effect on thought when they were published, they are also classics that continue to stimulate contemporary readers."
A TASTE OF NEW HEAVEN, NEW EARTH: A POST-CONFERENCE REFLECTION
The New Heaven, New Earth: Anarchism and Christianity Beyond Empire conferencebrought close to 250 people together to talk, dance, learn, sing, worship, and fellowship. There were rich presentations on civilization and anarcho-primtivism, explorations in anarcho-primitivist parenting, forthright conversations on race, racism and being anti-racist activists, personal stories of living out God’s gift economy, insights into understanding and practicing jubilee, and an introduction to gospel nonviolence and anarchism to name a few.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Meet Sally Kern's Opposition: A Transgender Oklahoma City Attorney
When we demanded back in June for elected bigot Sally Kern to get the hell out of office, little did we know that a transgender attorney might be the one to help the cause.
Kern, the Republican Oklahoma House member, wasn't Queerty's No. 2 Homophobe of the Year by chance. She's cultivated a niche of hating on gay Americans, with brash public statements and alignments with groups like Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. But now, a challenger to her House seat.
She's Brittany Novotny, an attorney from Kern's Oklahoma City, and she's considering a campaign against Kern for the House District 84 seat. Novotny is in the beginning stages of her campaign, but she is moving forward; she's filed the necessary paperwork to begin collecting funds, reports Gossip-Boy.
"I'm exploring a run for House District 84 because we need a representative who values all families in the district, who is dedicated to bringing good jobs to Oklahoma, and who will work tirelessly to make sure our children are getting the best education in our public schools," said Novotny (pictured on right, with megaphone) in an earlier statement. "I believe I have the experience, drive, and determination to do that."
Lutheran Gay Rights!
Monday August 24, 2009
Categories: Christians, Homosexuality
Drunk gay man sentenced for attacking transgender at dog-racing track
''I think we did OK. But it's a shame that anyone had to go through this.''
Janey Kay, 60, of Tucson, AZ commenting on the verdict reached against a man who attacked her at a dog-racing track. Kay fairly recently had surgery to transition from male to female, and testified that a drunken man who she did not know, Ray Young, approached her and asked if she was a drag queen, then attacked her after she said no. Ray says he is gay and supports gay, lesbian, bi and transgender groups in his area. (Arizona Daily Star)
Monday, August 24, 2009
What is Neoliberalism?
| A Brief Definition for Activists , |
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"Neo-liberalism" is a set of economic policies that have become widespread during the last 25 years or so. Although the word is rarely heard in the United States, you can clearly see the effects of neo-liberalism here as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. "Liberalism" can refer to political, economic, or even religious ideas. In the U.S. political liberalism has been a strategy to prevent social conflict. It is presented to poor and working people as progressive compared to conservative or Rightwing. Economic liberalism is different. Conservative politicians who say they hate "liberals" -- meaning the political type -- have no real problem with economic liberalism, including neoliberalism. |
Of genes, gender and grey areas
| Steve Connor August 23 2009 at 08:43AM | |
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The case of Caster Semenya, the South African teenager who ran to victory in the women's 800m final of the world championships in Berlin and walked into a storm of controversy, highlights the sensitive and sometimes ambiguous nature of gender. Semenya, who took gold on Wednesday in 1:55.45, has nothing to hide, according to her coach, Michael Seme. He even offered inquisitive journalists the phone numbers of her roommates in Berlin - they had seen her naked in the shower, he said. But Semenya's humiliation does not end here. She now has to face a panel of experts convened by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to adjudicate over challenges to her gender. |
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Lack of Coverage on Transgendered Pakistanis Shows Bias in US Media
It probably wasn't the first time that someone had organized an Independence Day cricket match in Pakistan. But it almost certainly was the first time that such a match occurred between a team of professional cricket players and a team of transgendered Pakistanis.
HEALTH-ARGENTINA: "Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 22 (IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Good news for SKorea men seeking sex change
| August 19 2009 at 05:58PM | |
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Seoul - South Korean men who want to legally register a sex change will no longer have to complete compulsory military service beforehand, officials said Wednesday. |
Closet Friends
Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual & Transgender people experience a disarray of treatment from some heterosexuals who are suppose to be their friend. It's an emotional battle within themselves. Friends are suppose to be those people who are there no matter what the circumstances are. They are there through the good, bad and the ugly. The ups and downs. The ins and outs. The majority of GLBT humans are not afforded that same propitious outcome; instead, they are kept secretly and discreetly in their friendly little heterosexual closets. It is the GLBT humans who experience the ostracizing from those in the closet friends, especially when it come to being seen in the public with them.
Man in the middle
| Written by Garrett Bithell |
| Wednesday, 19 August 2009 14:08 |
 He’s been dubbed the first trans man of rock and roll, but Lucas Silveira’s combination of musical chops, courage, and a refusal to be closeted is an example to everyone. The front man of Canadian band The Cliks spoke to Garrett Bithell.“For me to expect people to not want to talk about it would be naive and unrealistic. So while it does somewhat frustrate me, at the end of the day I just have to be thankful I’m in the position I’m in, being the person I am.” |
Fry addresses transgender issues
Transgendered people are not being fully served under the Canada Health Act, a physician and member of Parliament said Monday in Saskatoon.
Sect members apologise to transgender, intersex people
Two members of the Exclusive Brethren religious sect has publicly apologised for offending sexual minorities in Tasmania.
The apology, published today in Tasmania's three daily newspapers, followed a conciliation suggested by the state's anti-discrimination tribunal following a complaint by Martine Delaney.
The Exclusive Brethren members were involved in the publication of a 2006 state election advertisement attacking transgender and intersex people.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
New Hire at DOJ to Handle LGBT Issues
The Department of Justice has hired gay-identified attorney Matt Nosanchuk as point person on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues for the Civil Rights Division.
US government fails the people
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
Monday, August 17, 2009
ACLU Statement on Latest Obama Administration Legal Brief on Defense of Marriage Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Hampton, (212) 549-2673; media@aclu.org
The following can be attributed to Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project:
The brief filed by the Justice Department in Smelt v. United States, today shows that the federal government heard and understood some of the concerns raised by the LGBT community in response to the brief it filed in June. (Smelt is a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to give them equal treatment in federal programs).
In today’s brief, the administration says that it believes the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" is discriminatory. It might seem obvious that denying same-sex married couples all the federal protections that other married couples get is discrimination. But having the federal government finally admit it is a promising sign.
SONG’s first multi-lingual Organizing School for folks across the lovely state of VA!
SONG, in collaboration with fabulous activists from across the state of VA, will be putting on a 4-day training and political space this weekend (led by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans folks!) for people committed to social justice work that is cross-issue, anti-oppression, and meets at the crossroads of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, towards building the local work, unity and interconnection of people in Virginia.
Statement from NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell on Department of Justice Reply Brief in Challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act
08.17.09—The Department of Justice filed its reply brief today in Smelt v. United States, a federal lawsuit challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which excludes same-sex couples from all federal benefits and protections given to heterosexual married couples.
Iraqi Gays Targeted, Brutally Killed: Human Rights Watch
The number of deliberate attacks against homosexual men in Iraq has risen precipitously this year at the hands of Iraqi militias and death squads, according to a report released today by an international human rights organization.
Intimate partners now at risk from HIV - Danton Remoto
BALI, INDONESIA – If you think that having an intimate partner will always keep you safe from contracting HIV, better think again.
More women from the Asia-Pacific region – housewives and career women –are contracting HIV from their intimate partners. These women are either married, or have long-term relationships with men who engage in high-risk sexual behavior. These behavior are found in men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users, and clients of female sex workers.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Are Black People Really Homophobic?
There always has to be someone to blame. So when California's Proposition 8 – the state constitutional ban on gay marriage – was approved by voters on Nov. 4, the story line was set: African-Americans, who had registered and turned out in record numbers for Barack Obama, delivered crucial, even deciding votes for Prop. 8.
Initial reports cited exit polls with seven of 10 black voters backing the initiative. Cue the back-and-forth name-calling. In comments and on blogs, some of the measure's opponents called blacks who voted "yes" bigots. Blacks didn't appreciate being singled out, misunderstood and treated as a monolithic block. Was the LGBT community in California racially inclusive and was there enough outreach before the vote?
Irish Town Goes Gay for a Day - ABC News
Irish Town Goes Gay for a Day - ABC News
Shared via AddThis
The tiny coastal village of Easkey, County Sligo has "gone gay" today in hosting what is thought to be the smallest gay pride event in the world.
Trinidad assault in midst of transgender tolerance
Trinidad, where transgender patients find acceptance, is the site of a brutal attack.
POSTED: 08/16/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 08/16/2009 01:38:29 AM MDT
Friday, August 14, 2009
Ithaca College Film Series To Feature 'LGBT Lives And Stories From Around The World'
ITHACA, NY — The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen series at Ithaca College will show eight documentary films this fall on the theme of “LGBT Lives and Stories from Around the World.” Sponsored by the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Education, Outreach, and Services, the screenings are free and open to the public.
Alameda parents file lawsuit over gender curriculum mandate
Posted: 08/13/2009 01:32:38 PM PDT
Updated: 08/13/2009 10:44:26 PM PDT
A group of parents opposed to a controversial anti-bullying curriculum adopted by the Alameda public schools has filed a lawsuit over the district's refusal to excuse their children attending the classes.
Another Historic Moment – WeHo Creates Transgender Advisory Board
West Hollywood, California (Thursday, August 13, 2009) - Only 25 years young, the West Hollywood again takes the lead in moving human rights advocacy forward by creating the first-ever official municipal advisory body focusing on transgender people.
Photo by WeHo News. |
The West Hollywood City Council recently re-designated the Transgender Task Force to become the first-of-its-kind Transgender Advisory Board
West Hollywood was barely born in 1984 when the Mayor and gay activist Morris Kight marched into Barney’s Beanery to take down the offensive ‘Fagots (sic) Keep Out?” sign that hung behind the bar. Photo by WeHo News.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Trust the Task Force
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Defining Genderqueer
Also found under the Transgender Umbrella—besides Transsexuals—are
Genderqueers. As defined by Wikipedia Genderqueer is a “catchall term for gender identities other than man and woman. People who identify genderqueer may think of themselves as being both male and female, as being neither male nor female, or as falling completely outside the gender binary. […] Genderqueer people are united by their rejection of the notion that there are only two genders…” Since Genderqueer has such an open-ended definition I decided to interview six people from different backgrounds to learn what being Genderqueer (or even toying with idea) means or has meant to them
Genderqueers. As defined by Wikipedia Genderqueer is a “catchall term for gender identities other than man and woman. People who identify genderqueer may think of themselves as being both male and female, as being neither male nor female, or as falling completely outside the gender binary. […] Genderqueer people are united by their rejection of the notion that there are only two genders…” Since Genderqueer has such an open-ended definition I decided to interview six people from different backgrounds to learn what being Genderqueer (or even toying with idea) means or has meant to themFLA.GOV. ASKED TO ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING GLBT DISCRIMINATION
(West Palm Beach, Florida) The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has requested Florida Governor Charlie Crist to issue an Executive Order to provide "equal employment opportunity in state employment to all qualified individuals regardless of personal characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, familial status, or marital status."
Delaware Gov Markell extends workplace protection
By executive order Tuesday, Gov. Jack Markell broadened anti-discrimination bans in state government workplaces to include gender identity and expression.
HRC Statement on National Equality March in Washington
Statement of Human Rights Campaign on National Equality March in Washington
“With thousands of LGBT people and allies coming to Washington to make a difference, it’s our mission to help them become the citizen lobbyists that they want and need to be,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
RIGHTS-ASIA: Transgenders Assert Identity At AIDS Meet
By Lynette Lee Corporal*
BALI, Aug 13 (TerraViva/IPS) - "There has been so much confusion going around transgenders. We are not MSMs [men who have sex with men] and don’t lump us under the transvestite [category either] because we have different needs," declared Kartini Slemeh at the 9th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) here.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The fight for LGBT equality on the job
reports on the latest version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
August 11, 
A vigil in front of the federal building against dropping transgender protections from ENDA (Sasha Magee)
'Don't ask, don't tell' policy challenged in Phoenix
| Reported by: Brian Webb Email: bwebb@abc15.com Last Update: 12:12 pm |
 |
Mass. transgender inmate denied electrolysis
BOSTON — A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday denied additional hair-removal treatments for a murderer who is seeking a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation, saying the inmate has failed to prove she will suffer "serious harm" without further electrolysis.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Do hate crime laws work?
, a writer for AlterNet.org and a member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, looks at whether proposed legislation against hate crimes directed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is something that the left should support.
August 10, 2009
A vigil for victims of anti-LGBT violence. Will tougher sentencing deter similar hate crimes?
"We have seen a man dragged to death in Texas simply because he was black. A young man murdered in Wyoming simply because he was gay. In the last year alone, we've seen the shootings of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Jewish children simply because of who they were. This is not the American way. We must draw the line." -- President Bill Clinton, final State of the Union Address, January 27, 2000
Transgender Issues 101: Do trans people want to do away with gender?
August 10, 7:27 AM
Transgender Issues ExaminerMatt Kailey
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Transgender Issues ExaminerMatt Kailey
Some non-trans people wonder if transgender and transsexual people want to do away with or change the concept of gender as it is recognized by mainstream U.S. culture.
You will often hear trans people speak of the “binary gender system” — the two-gendered system under which our society is structured — and the strict limits that this system imposes on gender identity and expression.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Transgender Issues 101: What is a transition? Part three
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A frequently asked question: If you were always male inside, why did you have to “learn” male behaviors when you transitioned? Wouldn’t that just come naturally?
Why Gays Can Trust Obama
Read the interview where Joe Sol can now read President Obama's mind. I sure wish Joe could read my mind right now.
By Dan Gilgoff
Posted August 7, 2009
As president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, Joe Solmonese is the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community's top liaison to the Obama White House. The job comes with huge power—and pressur.............
Thursday, August 6, 2009
This is no time for a vacation.
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© 2009 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
Contact us at ActionFund@theTaskForceActionFund.org or call 202.639.6312. |
Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
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