National LGBT Articles of Interest

Windy City Media Group

Tutu speaks to LGBTIs

In a historic development, hundreds of supporters gathered at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the 2008 Outspoken Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission ( IGLHRC ) , according to an organizational press release. During his half-hour address, Tutu said that he felt it necessary to speak up “when people were frequently hounded ... vilified, molested and even killed as targets of homophobia ... for something they did not choose—their sexual orientation.” Tutu also congratulated LGBTI ( lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex ) people for being “compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing and refusing to be embittered.” In addition, he apologized to that very same demographic, saying that the church is wrong in criticizing and alienating LGBTIs. The event also featured Transcendence, the nation's first transgender gospel choir, which sang at the ceremony..


DU Clarion

Biblical teachings and homosexuality debated

The debate on homosexuality attracted 40 participants Thursday evening when students and faculty met in Lindsey Auditorium for a screening of the documentary "For the Bible tells me so."

Some students wept as the film documented prejudices encountered by five real-life Christian families. The difficulties of parental and self-acceptance, in a culture based on biblical teachings was one of the topics discussed.

The film focused on how many gay and lesbian people are forced to live in two different worlds. One of the families in the film, which rejected their daughter's sexual orientation, remained cut off from her until her suicide.

Those attending stayed to discuss the film and its personal and social reverberations. The free event was hosted by the University Chaplain, Center for Multicultural Excellence and DUPB and included a dialogue between the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning (GLBTIQ) community and biblical experts.

There was a general agreement that "the core principle of the Bible is love." Most encouraged a collaboration between the Bible and homosexuality as presented in the film by speakers like Bishop Desmond Tutu.

The film stressed the importance of contextual readings of the Bible, including Leviticus 20, which forbids the mixing of cloth, the planting of two kinds of seeds in a field and tattoos. Most people pay no mind to these laws, but choose rather to make "homosexuals the new 'other,'" according to the film.

The inspirational thread of the movie included the election of the first gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, and the acceptance by the Lutheran Reitan family of their homosexual son, Jacob.

The film stimulated conversation about GLBTIQA acceptance and support, especially on the DU campus.

Freshman Carly Schlotterer said, "You have to sit down and actually have this conversation with people."

We saw very much the same reaction from those who attended our recent showing and the panel discussion which followed. (O.M.)

Advocate.com

LGBT Students Rally for Safer Schools


About three dozen students rallied at the California state capitol in Sacramento Monday to call for new protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, in hopes of preventing further tragedies like the shooting death of gay Oxnard teen Lawrence King.

In addition to rallying, they met with legislators to urge the passage of a measure informally known as "Larry's Law," which would require teachers to make a report to their principal any time they observe a student being harassed. The students also met with representatives of the California School Boards Association and the state Department of Education to ask that school districts develop guidelines to assure the enforcement of existing laws prohibiting discrimination against LGBT students. "LGBT students at California schools are not safe," said Rick Griswold, a Fresno-area high school senior who appeared at the rally, according to the Ventura County Star.

"The law is on the books," Carolyn Laub, executive director of California's Gay-Straight Alliance Network, told the Star. "But there's a really big gap between the law and the reality."

It is particularly crucial, Laub said, to protect students whose gender expression does not match their biological gender. King, 15, a student at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, was not only openly gay but sometimes wore makeup and high heels to school, and he was a frequent target of bullying. He had also professed to have a crush on fellow student Brandon McInerney, 14.

McInerney is now accused of fatally shooting King February 12 in a computer lab at their school. McInerney is charged with premeditated murder and with a hate crime, and is set to be tried as an adult.

Protections for LGBT students need to be strengthened, Laub told the Star, to make sure "that what happened to Larry King in Oxnard doesn't ever happen again in California schools."

Three gay members of the state legislature appeared at the rally, along with West Sacramento mayor Christopher Cabaldon, who recently came out as gay and is running for an assembly seat this year. According to the Star, he told the students, "I gave up 20 years of my life pretending to be something that I wasn't. I wish that as a young gay kid I would have had the courage each of you is showing."
(The Advocate)


ToledoBlade.com

Lucas County bans bias based on sexual orientation

Lucas County commissioners yesterday unanimously approved an employment policy that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.The commissioners also passed a resolution supporting a bill being considered by the Ohio legislature that would broaden those protections statewide. Both resolutions were supported by Kim Welters, a program manager at Equality Ohio. She said Lucas County is now one of the few counties in Ohio with such a policy.The resolution only affects workers employed by the county and does not affect the county’s benefits policies.


Xtra.ca

Deck stacked against Winnipeg trans youth
TRANS YOUTH / Activists chipping away at multiple barriers

Before coming out as transgendered, 14-year-old Mackenzie Sawatzky walked six hours from her town of Stonewall. She spent three nights writing and sleeping on the streets of Winnipeg to find reprieve from a community that did not understand who she was or what she was going through. Two years later, Sawatzky goes by the name Reid Spence and confidently speaks about transitioning from female to male in a town, where until recently, such a thing was unheard of.

"Being transgendered is a big burden to bear, especially in a community that is so set in its ways about how society should be," explains Spence. There are no resources in his hometown for transgenders and finding support from the people around him has been difficult. He has had a bible thrown at him while walking down the street and has received verbal and physical abuse from some of his classmates and teachers.

Although he deals with discrimination and resistance from the people of his community, Spence feels "blessed" for having a supportive family and a physician who is encouraging of his transitioning process, two factors which he realizes are uncommon among other trans youth.

Spence is one of an increasing number of young people who are coming out to their friends, families and teachers as transgendered and encountering the effects of a system that is not fully prepared for them. In Manitoba, where there is little public awareness about gender-identity issues, physicians and school systems are scrambling to provide the resources and the support that these young people are looking for.
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