Bi Girl Friday

2009-10-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Pride selects out bisexual
as new executive director

San Francisco, CA – 6 October 2009 – The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced today that Amy Andre will be the next person to head the organization as its executive director. The announcement concludes a national search that began in March of this year.

Andre takes the position following the departure of the organization’s previous Executive Director Lindsey Jones who stepped down in July. The organization has been under the leadership of Interim Executive Director Joshua Smith who left the board of directors to assist Pride in the transition of its top staff position.

Board President Mikayla Connell stated,

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Amy Andre to the Pride team with her wealth of talent, experience, and history of activism as we continue planning and preparing for the fortieth anniversary San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade in June of 2010. In the capable hands of Amy Andre and our Board of Directors, San Francisco Pride will continue to build on the momentum that this organization has achieved with the dedicated support of our members, volunteers, and community over the past decade.

Interim Executive Director Joshua Smith stated, “Amy brings together a unique mix of skills, which builds upon our past while preparing us for a bright future.”

Along with an MBA, focusing on nonprofit management, from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a master’s degree in sexuality studies, focusing on LGBT community issues, from San Francisco State University, Amy Andre has over a decade of experience working in various capacities with local and national LGBT nonprofit organizations.

As a Point Foundation Scholar, Andre earned her MBA this past Spring. Prior to that, she worked at Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, criss-crossing the nation to educate thousands of employees and executives at Fortune500 companies such as Wal-mart, Hyatt, and Motorola about LGBT rights. Before coming to Out & Equal, she served as Vice President of the Board at Open Enterprises, a cooperative where she worked for almost seven years.

The co-author of Bisexual Health: An Introduction and Model Practices for HIV/ STI Prevention, a book published by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Andre has articles in Curve Magazine, Alternet.org, and The Bilerico Project, among dozens of other publications. A film afficionada, she is also the director of the internationally-screened documentary On My Skin/En Mi Piel, about a mixed-race transgender man and his family, and volunteers annually to curate the Bi Request program at Frameline’s San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

A lifelong bi and LGBT activist originally from the East Coast, Andre has lived in San Francisco since 1997. She currently resides in the Castro with her fiancée, filmmaker Kami Chisholm, PhD.

Regarding her selection, Andre commented,

I’m honored and delighted by this opportunity to be a part of Pride. Celebrating ourselves is one of the most important, courageous, affirming, and, yes, even political, things we as an LGBT community can do. This year’s theme is Forty and Fabulous. But, of course, Pride has always been fabulous, and we’ve got even more wonderful things in store! I’m really looking forward to working with the incredible staff and Board.

Andre will begin her position as the new Executive Director on October 15.

#####

About San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee (SFLGBTPCC):
The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee (SFPride.org) is a non-profit membership organization founded to produce the annual San Francisco Pride Celebration & Parade. San Francisco Pride is dedicated to education, commemoration of LGBT heritage and celebration of LGBT culture and liberation. A world leader in the Pride movement, San Francisco Pride is also a grant-giving organization through its Community Partners Program. Since 1997, SFLGBTPCC has granted over $1.6 million dollars from proceeds of the Pride Celebration and Parade to local non-profit LGBT organizations and those organizations serving the HIV/AIDS and breast cancer communities.

About the 2010 San Francisco Pride Celebration & Parade:
2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade. The theme for the 40th anniversary event will be, “Forty and Fabulous.” The Pride Celebration & Parade will be held over the weekend of June 26 and 27, 2010. With over 200 parade contingents, 300 exhibitors, and more than twenty community-run stages and venues, the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest annual gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation. The two-day celebration is free and open to all. For more information please visit our website at SFPride.org.

2009-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

Happy V-Day from Suze!

If you were out with your sweetie on Saturday (like I was) and didn't catch Suze on her weekly CNBC show...she sent the LGBT community and our allies a Valentine for marriage equality.

Thank you Suze!!!

2009-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

Newark, Delaware city councilman comes out

Newark, Del. City Councilman Ezra Temko publicly came out as bisexual in an an interview with the Newark Post today. He spoke to the paper about his relationship with his boyfriend Drew.

Since his election to the city council, Temko has pursued city ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

“When we started dating, it struck me how many rights we don’t have,” he said. “I’ve always been very family oriented, so the limitations on our future made me recognize the level of privilege I had been assuming in my life, which motivated me to step up my advocacy in this area.”

Temko, who spoke about his relationship with his boyfriend Drew, made no efforts to conceal the fact that they were dating.

“Nobody ever asked me about my sexual orientation and I don’t believe it has any bearing on my ability to serve,” he said. “When I was running for council, I was single, so it really didn’t come up. Drew and I go to public events together and our relationship is fairly obvious on Facebook. I think everyone who would normally know I’m dating someone knows I’m dating Drew.”

The article reports:

Temko, who grew up in Newark and graduated from Cab Calloway School of the Arts, said he came to a greater understanding of sexual orientation while attending Oberlin College in Ohio.

“During college, I was in a very inclusive environment that embraced everyone, instead of accepting norms as legitimate on face value,” he said. “I was able, in this environment, to explore who I was and realize that I’m bi-sexual. I always assumed I would end up with a girl; then I met Drew.”
…

Temko said he first began by getting involved with organizations that advocate for gay, lesbian and transgender rights in Delaware.

“From that, I began to see what states and municipalities around the country are doing and I asked myself, ‘Why isn’t Newark doing this,’” he said. “I also was approached by a Newark resident who asked me to pursue a city ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Those two things led me to introduce my proposals on Monday.”

In addition to an anti-discrimination ordinance, Temko this week also proposed and won City Council support to add “gender identity and expression” to the nondiscrimination clause in its personnel policy.

Council also unanimously agreed to research a pair of substantially more progressive measures including the extension of city health care benefits to municipal employees’ domestic/life partners and the creation of a city domestic/life partner registry, which would serve as a legally verifiable database. The registry, Temko said, would allows same-sex couples to prove their committed status, thereby qualifying for any domestic/life partner benefits offered by their employer or visitation rights at certain health care facilities.

First published on GayPolitics.com: http://www.gaypolitics.com/2009/02/12/newark-delaware-city-councilman-comes-out-as-bisexual/

2008-10-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Suze says vote No on California and Florida marriage equality bans Prop 8 and Prop 2

I love Suze Orman! Suze came out today against Prop 8, the right wing’s attempt to legalize discrimination in California’s constitution by defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

"I am urging every single person in the Bay Area, do not let Proposition 8 happen here, people," Orman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I am begging you, don't send us back to the Dark Ages. If anyone can turn that around, it is the Bay Area."

She also voted no on a similar proposition in Florida (she’s a resident there and owns a home in Pacific Heights in San Francisco) that is an attempt to do the very same thing Prop 8 is trying to do.

"I am a resident of Florida where they have a proposition which would make (same-sex marriage) unconstitutional," Orman said in the same interview with the Chronicle. "On Monday I flew there to stand in line for 3 1/2 hours and vote, so I knew it could be counted. Obviously, I voted no on that."

So, with only a little over a week left to go, I urge you to vote No on Prop 8 (if you are a Californian), talk to anyone you know who is a California voter to vote no on Prop 8, and if you can please

donate to the campaign or make some time to get on the phone (you can now do it from home!).

Orman was in San Francisco to speak at the

O You! daylong event at the Moscone Center sponsored by O, the Oprah Magazine and featuring many of its contributors, but not Oprah Winfrey herself. The event sold out, but video seminars of the sessions will be posted online at www.oyouonline.com.

Today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Q&A with personal financial guru Suze Orman.

Shameless self-promotion…my interview with Suze: No closets for Suze Orman.

Photo: Courtesy of Suze Orman

2008-06-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Close your windows and shut your curtains girls
You never know who is watching or recording

Rosanne Strott and Emily Niland, Massachusetts College of Art and Design students didn’t know they were allegedly being filmed by two male Wentworth Institute students while the young women were in bed together. The young women discovered the video in April, four months after the video had been in circulation on a Wentworth college Web site, reported ABC News “Video Voyeurs Under Fire for Taping Lesbians” June 13.

The young women are now taking judicial action against Wentworth Institute juniors David Cunha and David Siemiesz, who are suspected and charged by Boston police of filming the two young women while they were having sex and uploading the video on the college’s Web site, who recently appeared at Roxbury District Court.

It is alleged that the young men were able to film the scene from their dorm room, located directly across an alley from Strott’s dorm room, in September.

"When I found out, I immediately vomited," Strott told ABC News. "It was a really strange thing for me. I had never felt so violated without being touched before."

2008-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

18 million cracks

It was hard listening to Hillary Clinton (D-New York) on Saturday when she finally conceded the Democratic nomination to Senator Barak Obama (D-Illinois). Up to this point in time I was slowly letting go of the hope that she would make it to the White House as the first female president of the United States of America. I cried and I've been mourning ever since Tuesday when it became certain that Hillary wasn't going to make it to the Oval office. By the time I shed my tears, my friends had already cried and were painfully moving on to either begrudgingly vote for Obama in November or just taking time off from what has already been a dramatic and dually historic Democratic primary race.

Yet, being the ever optimistic "you can do it" girl that I am, I still hold out hope that Obama will select Hillary as his running mate so that for the first time in history a black man and a woman can enter into leadership together. I can't bare the thought of being told, "You will get your turn," one more time. If history has taught us nothing with the abolitionist and civil rights movements where women stepped aside for black men is that we've been told to be "good girls" and wait patiently for generations for far too long. Can't we step through the doors of the White House together?

Hillary knows this well and finally, finally as she stepped down she drew on those historic roots not only to support Obama's candidacy as the Democratic president, but also with the 18 million cracks, referring to the voters who cast their ballots for her, in the highest glass ceiling in the nation—the Oval office. Why, I wonder, couldn't she have been more candid about gender and race and about the history that was being made during these past 18 months? Was it so bad, her tears being shed in New Hampshire, to use her feminine attributes a bit more in her race for the Democratic nomination? Why did she have to fall back on the clichéd and out of fashion--just as much as big hair and padded shoulders--pantsuit and "woman operating in a man's world" toss back to second wave feminism? Couldn't Chelsea have given her clues as a third wave feminist that it is okay to be feminine and lead as a woman in the modern age?

The realization comes all too late, but as I mentioned before I hope with Hillary's realization of history, girl power, and shedding the mechanical cloak that weighed her down throughout her campaign that Obama will see that in spite of her outdated campaign tactics that she is a modern girl who has been a trend setter for change for 40 years. Hillary's experience is invaluable and should definitely be seriously considered as an asset to the vice presidency.

Photo credit: courtesy and copyright AP.

2008-05-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sexual and gender harassment still prevalent part of teen girls’ lives

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but 90 percent of teen girls experience sexual harassment and sexism a new study reported earlier this week.

The study that will appear in the May/June issue of the journal Child Development surveyed 600 California and Georgia girls between the ages of 12 and 18 from various socioeconomic backgrounds found when girls were asked about sexual harassment that included receiving inappropriate and unwanted romantic attention, hearing demeaning gender-related comments, being teased about their appearance, receiving unwanted physical contact, and being teased, bullied, or threatened with harm by a male that sexism and sexual and gender harassment are still alive and well.

"Sexism remains pervasive in the lives of adolescent girls," said Campbell Leaper, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and co-author of the report in a May 15 news release. "Most girls have experienced all three types of sexism--sexual harassment, sexist comments about their academic abilities, and sexist comments about their athletic abilities."

Leaper conducted the study with Christia Spears Brown, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky.

In spite of the advancements girls have made since Title IX passed 35 years ago, girls continue to report common discouragement about their abilities due to their gender, particularly in traditional subjects such as athletics, math, science, and technology. Seventy-six percent of the girls said they received discouraging comments about their abilities in sports, and 52 percent said they received discouraging comments related to their academic abilities in science, math, or computers. In most cases the sources of the negative comments were from male peers, which Leaper said, “is both understandable and sad. Parents, teachers, and coaches weren’t perfect with their lack of encouraging remarks either, according to the release.

Leaper focused on these areas because traditionally there has been a persistent gender gap, according to the release.

"Our findings on sexual harassment are, sadly, consistent with previous research," said Leaper. "But on the other hand, most girls said they experienced sexual harassment at least once, as opposed to several times."

The fact that girls are experiencing less sexism and harassment and hearing fewer discouraging remarks based on their gender is encouraging, but as other studies have revealed sexism and sexual and gender harassment often go unreported. Age, race, lower socioeconomic backgrounds and exposure to feminism also made a difference in how many girls reported sexism and sexual harassment, according to the release. Feminism, the report found, aided the girls in being able to recognize sexism and sexual and gender harassment.

But being aware of sexism doesn't predispose girls to overreport it, noted Leaper.

"We know from previous studies that people tend to underreport discrimination," said Leaper. "After Anita Hill, reports of sexual harassment increased dramatically in the United States, because it gave people a label for their experience. So, if anything, sexism is probably occurring more than the girls in this study are saying it is. Our research suggests that parents, teachers, and the media can help girls to learn about discrimination and recognize when it occurs."

To learn where girls can get tools to fight sexism and sexual harassment, visit the Third Wave Foundation, a volunteer young feminist organization for girls between the ages 15-35.

2008-05-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Kate’s childhood bi crush

In an interview with E! Kate Blanchett revealed crushes on both Harrison Ford and Karen Allen when she was growing up.

“Huge fan, huge fan, drooling fan,” said Blanchett. “I had an equal crush on Karen Allen. I thought the two of them together was electric.”

Blanchett looks dominatrix deliciously evil in the fourth installment in the adventure series.

2008-05-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Lady Liberty Kissing Lady Justice

A friend forwarded this image to me this morning and I couldn't resist posting it. I don't know who the graphic artist is, but this is one hot picture!

2008-05-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Ellen and Portia!

If you haven’t heard the news yet, funny lady and afternoon TV host Ellen DeGeneres proposed to longtime girlfriend, Portia de Rossi, of Ally McBeal fame and now Nip/Tuck.

I’m sure we will all hear more same-sex celeb wedding bells soon now that California’s Supreme Court open the golden gate for marriage equality May 15.

Photo is courtesy AP Photo/Chris Weeks, FILE

2008-05-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Rebel rousing bi Irish author dies

San Francisco – Bisexual Irish journalist and bestselling author of "Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman," Nuala O’Faolain, 68, died of cancer May 10 at the Balackrock Hospice in Dublin, Ireland, the Washington Post reported today.

O’Faolain lead an extraordinary life, reported Patricia Sullivan in “Nuala O'Faolain; Irish Writer Illuminated Female Isolation,” that included a 15-year relationship with female journalist, Nell McCafferty, among relationships with men. All of her relationships ended, according to the article, she never married nor had children. Nevertheless, O’Faolain (pronounced Noo-la O-fway-lon) lead an extraordinary career that took her from radio and television to print and finally to bestselling author. She also kept impressive company with a circle of friends that included filmmaker John Huston, Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh, and English writer Kingsley Amis.

O’Faolain, the second oldest of nine children, is survived by six of her siblings, Sullivan reported, two of her brothers died of alcoholism.

2008-05-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

Bi Mama takes over Hip Mama

San Francisco – Kerlin Richter, a bisexual married mother, took over as head mama of Hip Mama magazine today, reported Portland-based Just Out magazine.

Ariel Gore, who founded the left-of-center parenting magazine, Hip Mama, as a senior project at Mills College in Oakland, California nearly 18 years ago and kicked off the third wave feminist mothering movement, has matured and is allowing the child she birthed and nurtured (figuratively and literally) leave the nest. Gore’s daughter, Maia, is now 18-years old and Gore herself has moved on to other projects, such as teaching writing at The Attic Writers’ Workshop in Portland and writing well books about writing, such as How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights (2007) and a memoir Atlas of the Human Heart: A Memoir (2003).

Gore, authored three parenting guides: The Hip Mama Survival Guide : Advice from the Trenches on Pregnancy, Childbirth, Cool Names, Clueless Doctors, Potty Training and Toddler Avengers (1998); The Mother Trip: Hip Mama's Guide to Staying Sane in the Chaos of Motherhood (2000); Whatever, Mom: Hip Mama's Guide to Raising a Teenager (2004); and edited two anthologies by and about third wave feminist parents: Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers (2001) and The Essential Hip Mama: Writing from the Cutting Edge of Parenting (2004) during her tenure giving birth and raising Hip Mama.

Richter, reported Just Out, was a Hip Mama volunteer and a “fellow writer.” Currently, she is pursuing a master’s of theology degree at Marylhurst University, creating multimedia art, and raising her son. She plans to honor Hip Mama’s values and vision as a progressive parenting magazine, according to the article.

Full disclosure: I am a contributor to Just Out magazine. You can see my upcoming article about LGBT parenting in the May 16 issue of Just Out magazine.

2008-05-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

Altcinema presents

QUEER(Y)ING FEMME

Film screening - FtF: Female to Femme, with short film The Insomniacs

Lecture - "A Brief History of Femme" by FtF co-director, Kami Chisholm, Ph.D.A benefit for Altcinema Productions

Saturday May 24, 20087:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Tickets: $12 advance, $15 -$100 at the door

San Francisco LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street, San Francsico

Come out and support queer cinema!

Purchase tickets online at www.altcinema.com.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact

info@altcinema.com or 415.863.2183.

About FtF: Female to Femme (directed by Kami Chisholm and Elizabeth Stark, Frameline Distribution, 48 min., 2006):

Imagine a world in which the journey toward femme was understood to be as radical as journeys to claim and inhabit other queer bodies. Envisioning more than it documents, FtF: FEMALE TO FEMME celebrates dyke femme identities, combining farce and seduction with analysis and personal history. For years, femmes have forged community and created space for themselves out of edgy performance and authentic parody. FtF recognizes these strategies and builds them into an unforgettable sexy, funny and moving film. FtF features a host of fabulous femmes, including actress/writer Guinivere Turner, novelist/activist Jewelle Gomez, poet Meliza Bañales, rock stars Leslie Mah (Tribe8) and Bitch (Bitch & Animal), professors, activists, artists and dancers. The filmmakers ask these thinkers and performers to use the language of gender transition to talk about femme identity, opening up new possibilities for understanding femininity while reinforcing connections among gender warriors around the world. A wildly original extravaganza, FtF: FEMALE TO FEMME presents a saucy, indelible portrait of a people and a politics central to the gender revolution.

Plus, the new butch-femme romantic comedy, THE INSOMNIACS (directed by Kami Chisholm, 11 min.,2008): Bell has insomnia. So one restless night, she decides to go to the local Insomniac's Anonymous 3 a.m. meeting, and there she meets Helena, the girl of her waking dreams.

About Dr. Kami Chisholm:
Kami Chisholm, founder of Altcinema, holds a Ph.D. in History of Consciousness from UC Santa
Cruz and is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University's Film Production department. FtF: FEMALE TO FEMME, Chisholm's first (co-directed) feature documentary, premiered in June 2006 at Frameline30: The San Francisco International LGBT Festival. In 2007, Chisholm produced and co-edited the festival hit GODSPEED, a short about a trans bike messenger directed by Lynn Breedlove and Jen Gilomen. Chisholm is also the director of over 10 short films, including the recently completed romantic comedy, THE INSOMNIACS. Currently, Chisholm teaches feminist/queer/race theory, sexuality studies, and visual culture at California College of the Arts.
Purchase tickets online for QUEER(Y)ING FEMME at http://www.altcinema.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=51.

2008-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

This month I covered a variety of issues from taxes to trans empowerment to women kicking but in business.

I hope you enjoy the following articles!

Babble.com
“10 Tax Tips: What your family needs to know about the new credits”
As parents, we have the magical ability to make a game out of any miserable chore. In the game "Taxes," the goal is to hunt for credits and deductions that will let you keep the money that belongs to your family. Here are your first ten moves…

ON Magazine
“Transpowerment Gets Boost At” on pages 14 – 15.
Fighting for transgender equality was the main topic of more than 400
people who attended the Third Annual Transgender Summit this March
hosted by the University California, Berkeley.

Transgender leaders from across the United States and activists from
all over California gathered for three days to learn from each other and
network for the first time since the acute division of the GLBT community
over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act…

TheGlassHammer.com
“Golden State Tarnished by Lack of Women’s Leadership”
California has a reputation for its progressive politics as well as being a well of innovative inventions and opportunities, but the golden state doesn’t have a sunny disposition when it comes to women’s leadership…

“MECCA: San Francisco Hotspot for Women’s Networking”
San Francisco’s professional women know where to go for great food, wine and cocktails, entertainment, and socializing: Mecca, a hip restaurant and bar located on the edge of the Castro district at 2029 Market Street…

Bay Area Business Woman’s Newspaper
The San Francisco Bay Area is unique in many ways, but especially when it comes to the faces that deliver the local news daily. When the denizens of the Bay Area tune into the news they are likely to see the familiar faces of one of three veteran women anchors who rule the bay Area’s airwaves at ABC, CBS, and NBC—the top three news stations…

2008-03-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

California marriage equality arguments heard before the California Supreme Court

San Francisco – Today Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Therese Stewart with the City of San Francisco argued passionately before the California Supreme Court in favor of same-sex marriage.

“It is a great privilege to be a part of this historic moment for our state and the tens of thousands of same-sex couples who deserve the same fundamental right to marry that most Californians take for granted,” said Minter in a NCLR statement today. “We are hopeful that the California Supreme Court will affirm that lesbian and gay couples are entitled to celebrate their relationships through marriage.”

Minter and Stewart made the case that domestic partnership isn’t equal to marriage and doesn’t uphold California’s Constitutional mandate for equality.

The marriage cases were filed in March, 2004. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer ruled that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates the California Constitution. In a 2-1 vote, the California Court of Appeal reversed Judge Kramer’s ruling. Shortly after the Court of Appeal’s decision, the California Supreme Court granted review of the cases in order to consider the constitutional questions itself.

Counsel representing California Attorney General Jerry Brown and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger argued on behalf of domestic partnerships providing equal rights to that of marriage as well as leaving the definition of “marriage” up to the California legislature.

Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) the lead author of legislation to bring marriage equality to LGBT Californians that was passed twice by the California legislature, but was vetoed both times by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement today that he is “hopeful” that the California Supreme Court will “reaffirm its position from 1948. That year was when it “historically ended its ban on interracial marriage, saying that, ‘marriage is a fundamental right of free men... any legislation infringing such rights must be based upon more than prejudice and must be free from oppressive discrimination to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection of the laws.’

“I hope the Supreme Court does the same,” said Leno hoping the California Supreme Court will follow the legislature’s lead. “Their decision in this historic case will no doubt have implications on thousands of same sex couples and their families as well as our society for years to come.”

Del Martin and her partner Phyllis Lyon, the first couple to be married at San Francisco City Hall during the “Winter of Love” and who are petitioners in the case, are hopeful that the court will clear the way for them to get married.

“During our 55 years together, we have witnessed enormous changes in California law concerning lesbian and gay people,” said Martin. “At one time, the law treated us as complete outsiders. Today, the law recognizes our existence, but it does not yet recognize our full humanity and equality. We have loved one another faithfully for more than five decades. We wish to marry before either one of us dies.”

Minter and Stewart were assisted by a team of lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, Heller Ehrman, LLC and the Law Office of David Codell and the other attorneys representing the LGBT community.

2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s historic 1948 ruling that found it unconstitutional for the state to restrict access to marriage based on the race of the spouses. That ruling was the first of its kind in the nation’s history, and is now the law of the land across the country. The California NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc., and Howard Law School Civil Rights Clinic have urged the court to apply the reasoning from its 1948 decision to the present marriage cases.

“California sets the course for the rest of the country,” said Jenny Pizer, Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal. “With its landmark 1948 decision Perez v. Sharp, this was the first state supreme court to overturn a law banning interracial marriages. Less than 20 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court followed suit. The rest of the country and, in fact, the world, are watching what happens here today.”

The marriage cases are among the most heavily briefed cases in the history of the California Supreme Court. More than 20 counties and municipalities filed a friend-of-the court brief in support of marriage for same-sex couples, including some of the most populous cities in California: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Long Beach, Sacramento, and Oakland. In addition, more than 250 religious and civil rights leaders and organizations, including the California NAACP, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, California Council of Churches, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and National Black Justice Coalition, filed briefs supporting same-sex couples seeking the right to marry. Numerous legal and bar associations, including the Los Angeles County Bar Association, also registered their support, as well as many of the state’s leading constitutional law scholars and family law professors.LGBT Californian’s will know one way or the other The California Supreme Court typically issues its decisions within 90 days following oral arguments.

Catch today’s oral arguments of the In Re Marriage case before the California Supreme Court at www.calchannel.com.

2008-03-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hillary rocked it on SNL

“Live from New York, its Saturday Night Live!” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered the signature opening for the 32-year old NBC sketch comedy show standing next to Amy Poehler’s identical mock of her.

Democratic presidential candidate Clinton stepped in for an editorial response after the show opened with another mock debate poking jabs at the media’s favoritism of the other presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Clinton’s surprise appearance on SNL clearly was last minute when San Francisco Bay Area ABC7 News 11 p.m. weekend anchorman Alan Wang paused for a second and stumbled a bit while wrapping up yet another story about SNL’s jabs at the Democratic campaign debates and Clinton’s pointing out the media’s hard balling her while soft balling Obama. It seemed, in spite of the three hour difference between the New York City and San Francisco, the news of Clinton’s appearance literally just reached him on the teleprompter just in time for the end of the segment and SNL’s opening sketch.

Switch from ABC to NBC, Clinton appeared poised and somewhat relaxed and casual verbally parlaying quips with Poehler over their identical outfits down to the accessories, but like twin sisters or best friends Clinton jibed, “I do want the earrings back.”

Will her appearance on SNL and scheduled pre-primary appearance Monday on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" help her at the polls? The answer is unclear, but SNL writer James Downey, who wrote the debate sketches, has the media talking and Clinton grabbing the pop culture brass ring in hope for a last minute appeal to voters. In particular, 30- and- 40- something voters who have switch from MTV’s “Rock the Vote” during her husband’s, Bill’s, first presidential campaign. Clinton clearly gets that we’ve grown up since then but we aren’t forgotten. She wants our votes.

And it’s not like SNL isn’t critical sometimes hitting issues right “on the nail.”

"It's like when the mom is in the grocery store and the kids rush up with this brand new cereal saying `We've got to get it, we've got to get it!'” Downey told Associate Press Television Writer David Bauder February 27 about the debate skit that featured “a lovestruck press corps fawning over Barack Obama” and not at all lightly pushing, but verbally shoving Clinton with their questions on the stage.

“The mom is the one who is supposed to read the box, check the ingredients. She's not supposed to go, `Oh, my gosh, this is great! It has marshmallows and chocolates and sprinkles," he continued.

But this doesn’t mean that SNL is endorsing Clinton, but pointing out some standard sexism. Clinton confirmed during her SNL editorial response that the show wasn’t endorsing any particular presidential hopeful. To back this up, SNL featured another cameo appearance by former New York City Mayor and presidential hopeful Rudy Gulliani poking fun at his own failed campaign for president on its “Weekend Update” sketch. In a self-depreciating jab at his own failed Republican presidential campaign, Gulliani blamed the dress that he wore once upon a time during a SNL sketch and not on his “solid” Florida plan.

The Obama campaign is clearly seeing Clinton’s appearances on SNL and The Daily Show as signs of exiting the race for the White House. In today’s New York Time’s headline, “Obama Backers Urge Clinton to Exit if She Loses,” the Obama campaign is clearly indirectly turning up the heat on Clinton.

But the Times is one media outlet that isn’t so awestruck over Obama to take the bait of his charm and charisma to shove Clinton off the ballot. While the headline for Times reporter Brian Knowlton’s article screamed Obama supporters pressure on Clinton, the Times reported, in the same article, the race is still too close to write off Clinton.

Polls show that “Texas a virtual toss-up, while Ohio voters narrowly favor her. In the smaller states, Mrs. Clinton holds a lead in Rhode Island while Mr. Obama has the edge in Vermont,” reported the Times. The Associate Press counted the delegates, according to the Times, and Clinton trails Obama by 109 delegates, with 2,025 needed for nomination. The Associated Press estimated the Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont hold 444 delegates, reported the Times.

Knowlton wrapped up the story pointing out that some political analysts said that despite Obama’s outspending Clinton it appears she’s “made some headway in recent days in raising doubts about his experience and readiness to be commander in chief.”

Is it time for another Clinton miracle? I’ll be watching and waiting. The next big contest isn’t until April 22 in Pennsylvania.

2008-03-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

This month I covered a variety of issues from eating well to building families to aging well and finally, but not least the thing we all need to in order to live, money.

I hope you enjoy the following articles!

ON Magazine
“Get Your Eating Habits In-line Online” on pages 10 – 11.
For several years Carey Craig worked with a personal trainer to improve his health and lose weight, but instead of losing weight he went from roughly 190 pounds to an estimated 217 pounds. Craig, a special events and meeting planner who dabbles in real estate investing, didn’t understand. He was gaining more muscle but he was also gaining more fat. Finally, Craig’s trainer suggested that he see a nutritionist…

“Creating families in the 21st century” on pages 16 – 17.
Today’s gay couples are increasingly enjoying the American dream of a lavender house wrapped in a white picket fence and two biological kids bouncing around inside their eco-friendly SUV…

Oakland Magazine
“Old and Gay”
Before Armistead Maupin’s famed Tales of the City became a book and then a serialized movie, Oakland resident Cheryl Berger, a self-described avid reader, would open the San Francisco Chronicle and read Maupin’s stories about the residents at 28 Barbary Lane…

TheGlassHammer.com
“Voice of Experience: Suze Orman, Personal Finance Guru”
As many of you loyal Glass Hammer readers know, we love the practical and down-to-earth financial advice for women offered by personal finance guru Suze Orman. In a recent interview with a Glass Hammer contributor, Orman explained that she didn’t buy into gender differences regarding how men and women think about and handle their money until five years into her Emmy Award-winning financial show, The Suze Orman Show, on CNBC. After listening to five years of callers’ questions and observing her own friends’ relationships with money, she began examining the differences in how women and men handle money…

2008-02-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

EQCA to honor transgender and marriage equality leaders

San Francisco – San Francisco’s queer community will be dressed up to the nines Saturday, February 9 for the

Equality Awards and to celebrate Equality California’s 10th anniversary.

Theresa Sparks, 58, the highest elected and appointed transgender official in the United States as the president of the San Francisco Police Commission and CEO of Good Vibrations, will be honored with the Equality Leadership Award.

“I’m looking forward to accepting the award literally on behalf of myself, but on behalf of all of the transgender people that have been working on all these issues for many years now,” said Sparks, who said that the transgender community had made progress in San Francisco, but that “we really need to turn our attention national.”

“An award from Equality California is truly an award from your contemporaries who live and work in California,” added Sparks. “That’s a bigger honor than being honored by a national organization.”

Sparks returned a Human Rights Campaign Award she received from the organization in 2004 directly to HRC president Joe Solmonese on January 5 when he was in San Francisco for one of the town hall meetings with the transgender community, reported the Bay Area Reporter. Sparks told the B.A.R. “she could no longer stand to even look at the etched glass award when it was on her credenza.”

The empty space on Sparks’ credenza will soon be filled.

“It was time to honor someone who has been at the forefront of the transgender equality movement and there is no one better than Theresa,” said EQCA executive director Geoff Kors. “It was our honor to honor Theresa.”

Evan Wolfson, 51, founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry and named Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2004, will be honored with the sixth annual Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award.

“I feel truly honored to receive an award named for two pioneers whom I respect and admire so much,” wrote Wolfson in a February 5 e-mail. “Celebrating their marriage in 2004 and our commitment to winning the freedom to marry for all—hopefully in 2008, if we all do our part...”

Kors pointed out that EQCA, an LGBT civil rights organization, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Kors said Sparks and Wolfson “really stood out as leaders of the decade.”

Individual tickets starting at $350 per person is still available. To RSVP for the event at San Francisco’s City Hall click here. The black tie event begins at 6 p.m. with a silent auction. A gourmet dinner will be served at 7 p.m. followed by a special performance by m-pact, touted as “one of the best pop-jazz vocal groups in the world,” according to the Web site, and Broadway Star and TV actress Rachel York and an after party with DJ Luke Johnstone.

The Equality Awards is sponsored by AT&T, Gary D. Soto, Clear Channel Outdoor, Olivia, Stoli, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Hollenbeck Associates, Energy 92.7 FM, and others.

2008-02-03T02:19:00.000-08:00

Sex and the City star to receive Point Courage Award

San Francisco – The Point Foundation announced late last month that Emmy-award winning Sex and the City star, Cynthia Nixon, will receive the Point Courage Award.

The Point Courage Award recognizes individuals who advocate for the future of the LGBT community and lives with the vision that investing in today’s potential will produce a brighter tomorrow, according to the January 30 news release that announced the awardees.

"Not only does Cynthia Nixon lead a phenomenally successful career as an actress, she is also a strong supporter of New York City Public Schools and an advocate for quality education and it is with great pleasure that we will present her with the Point Courage Award," said Jorge Valencia, executive director and chief executive officer of Point Foundation, in the release. "For her position in the LGBT community and pursuit of quality education for today's youth, Cynthia stands as a source of hope and inspiration to potential Point Scholars."

The awards will be held in New York City, April 7 at the Capitale starting at 6 p.m.

Nixon, 41, a child star and New York City native is best known for her role as the no nonsense lawyer Miranda Hobbes on HBO’s Sex and the City. Nixon currently is reprising the Hobbes character for the Sex and the City movie due May 2008, according to the film’s Web site.

Reports of Nixon’s relationship with the education activist Christine Marinoni surfaced in 2004. Nixon somehow managed to “make her coming-out story boring,” reported the New York Magazine in September 2006.

“I never felt like there was an unconscious part of me around that woke up or that came out of the closet; there wasn’t a struggle, there wasn’t an attempt to suppress,” Nixon told New York Magazine. “I met this woman, I fell in love with her, and I’m a public figure.”

Marinoni has since turned union organizer reported New York Magazine. Nixon has two children with her former partner Danny Mozes, Samantha Mozes, 11, and Ezekiel Mozes, 5.

The Point Foundation also announced the Point Inspiration Award honoree Time Warner.

The Point Inspiration Award recognizes a corporation that champions respect and inclusion of the LGBT community, and operates with the vision that the success achieved by talented young people is limited only by the resources and opportunities they are given to help them fulfill their potential.

The Point Foundation is the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit. Point provides financial support, leadership training, mentoring and hope to LGBT individuals who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

The Media Sponsors for the event are Metrosource, Genre, Echelon, HX, and The New York Blade.
Tickets for the Point Foundation Award dinner and program will be held April 7 at the Capitale, 130 Bowery in New York City. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a reception and silent auction and the award dinner award program begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are available for the Doctorate Level Table – $10,000, Masters Level Table – $5,000, Bachelors Level Table – $2,500, Individual Ticket - $500 per ticket.

For more information about the event, visit the Point Foundation.

2008-02-03T00:53:00.000-08:00

First same-sex marriage validated in the U.S. across country and state lines

San Francisco – New York’s appellate court unanimously ruled February 1 that New York must recognize a lesbian couple’s Canadian nuptials.

The first of its kind court decision in the U.S. ruled that same-sex marriages entered into outside of the state must be recognized, according to an ACLU February 1 news release.

"This is a victory for families, it's a victory for fairness and it’s a victory for human rights," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU in the release. “Congratulations to all same-sex couples validly married outside of New York State: You are now considered married in New York as well. Now we need to work toward a New York where you don't have to cross state or country lines to get married."

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed the case, Martinez v. County of Monroe, in the state supreme court on behalf of Patricia Martinez seeking health care benefits for her partner Lisa Ann Golden in 2005, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit Martinez married Golden in Ontario, Canada in 2004 and the couple celebrated a civil union together in Vermont prior to their marriage. The couple has been together since 2000 and in spite of their legal union they were denied extension of health care benefits by Monroe Community College where Martinez has worked since 1994. Golden was employed as an inventory control specialist and had her own benefits until she lost her benefits in 2004. In every aspect of their lives, from owning a home to legally and fiscally being responsible for each other the women’s relationship is the same as opposite sex married couples, according to information outlined in the lawsuit.

"Gay and lesbian couples make the same long term commitments to each other as heterosexual couples," said Gary Pudup, director of the NYCLU’s Genessee Valley Chapter, in the release. "This case highlights the fact that same-sex couples are entitled to the same protection under state law."

This case raised the issue of whether the time-honored "marriage recognition rule," which requires New York State to recognize marriages that were solemnized outside the state, applies to same-sex marriages, according to the release. The court answered with a resounding yes, stated the release, holding that the couple's valid Canadian marriage at issue in the case is entitled to recognition.

"If a marriage is valid in the state or country in which the marriage took place, New York law generally requires the recognition of that marriage," said Arthur Eisenberg, the NYCLU’s legal director, in the release. "This case involved a straightforward application of that principle."

"Today's decision is a great step forward for same-sex couples in New York," added James Esseks, litigation director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project of the ACLU, in the release. "But there is still lots of work to be done here. It’s now up to the state legislature to finish the job it started last year and pass the marriage bill so that lesbian and gay New Yorkers won’t have to leave the state to celebrate their commitments."

2008-02-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

Check out Just Out magazine’s February 1 "news briefs," my article is on page 7:

Conference Held for Queer Youth Advocates
Queer youth advocates working in the legal arena have an opportunity to increase their skills at Juvenile Law 2008: Eyes on the Child. Sponsored by the Oregon State Bar Association, the workshop focuses on a variety of issues concerning queer youth, said Jody Marksamer, director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Youth Project and staff attorney, who is conducting the workshop...on page 7.

2008-02-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Hearts go a fluttering in the February issue of ON magazine, check out the articles I penned for this issue:

“Spain blesses California with tales of same-sex marriage victory”
The two women who convinced Spanish citizens to pass marriage equality legislation spoke in San Francisco recently to share their journey, and to offer support and a sense of hope for Californians who are themselves fighting for marriage equality…on page 13;

“Gay Couples Achieve Big Win in California Supreme Court”
California’s domestic partners kicked off 2008 on a positive note when the Supreme Court upheld a law that allows them to transfer property to a partner in the event of the other one’s death—similar to married spouses…on page 23; and

“Learn How to Work Jealousy in Your Favor”
Jealousy has been known to infect a couple like a disease, but experts say that if handled correctly, it can actually help enhance a relationship.

Jealousy is an unpleasant emotion that is caused by the fear of losing someone…on page 24.

2008-01-25T01:14:00.000-08:00

Al Gore supports LGBT marriage equality

San Francisco – Former vice president Al Gore supports LGBT marriage equality.

In a video statement January 17 on Current TV, an Emmy award-winning integrated Web and TV news platform Gore founded in 2005, he said he supports the rights of LGBT individuals to have the right to marry.

"I think that gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women – to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don't understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage, to allow it by gays and lesbians," Gore said in the video on Current TV. “Shouldn't we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one’s partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

News spread rapidly January 23 as the LGBT community and marriage equality advocates discovered the video.

“We applaud Al Gore’s vocal support for marriage equality and hope more national leaders follow suit in recognizing that fairness and equality should have no exceptions,” said Equality California executive director Geoff Kors in a January 23 news release. “Al Gore clearly understands that full equality for all people includes the right to marry and that gay and lesbian couples should not be excluded from enjoying the dignity, happiness and responsibility that comes only through marriage.”

EQCA Institute launched the Let California Ring, a marriage equality educational campaign, fall 2007. The campaign released a marriage equality ad on National Coming Out Day, October 11, 2007. The organization continues to work toward raising $7 million for the campaign as well as to release the ad on a broader and regular broadcasting scale across California, according to Kors and Seth Kilbourn, political and policy director of EQCA.

Current TV is the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience—young adults, according to the Web site. The goal of the interconnected TV station, according to the Web site, is to connect “young adults with what is going on in their world, from their perspective, in their own voices.”

Photo courtesy AlGore.com

2008-01-22T14:18:00.001-08:00

UC Davis kicks off the first annual

Bisexual Awareness Week

San Francisco – Bisexual students at the University of California at Davis are raising the visibility bar for bisexuals with the first annual

Bisexual Awareness Week.

Twelve bi awareness building educational events are scheduled throughout the week on the university campus starting today, January 22 and ending Friday, January 25.

"There are a lot of stereotypes associated with bisexuality," said Angelique Tarazi, chair of the Associated Students of the University of California at Davis’s Gender and Sexuality Commission and biological sciences major, to The California Aggie Online, UCD’s campus newspaper. “This should be a really good week for exploring [and] explaining reasons for both positive and negative feelings."

Bisexual Awareness Week is presented by the Bi Visibility Project at UCD and co-sponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center; Student Assistants to the Chancellor; La Familia; Women's Resources & Research Center and National Organization for Women, reported The California Aggie.

Forty-eight percent of 1,752 self-identified gay and bisexual colleges students surveyed in 2001 by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States became aware of their sexual preference in high school, while 26 percent found their true sexuality in college. Out of gay and bisexual ment, j20 percent reported, in the same report, they were aware of their sexual orientation in junior high school and 17 percent said they knew in grad school. For the girls, six percent of self-identified gay or bisexual women were aware of their same-sex attractions in junior high school, and 11 percent knew in grade school.

Bisexuality Awareness Week follows Lisa Diamond’s article debunking myths and stereotypes about bisexual women and Utah’s Bisexual Awareness Month.

For more information about Bisexual Awareness Week’s events, visit www.lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu.

Photo courtesy Biflag.com

2008-01-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

Logo and Olivia partner for lesbian viewing pleasure

San Francisco – Lesbians will be seeing more of themselves on TV thanks to a partnership between Logo, the MTV and Viacom backed LGBT cable station, and Olivia, the lesbian travel and entertainment company.

The powerhouse queer entertainment companies announced the partnership January 9. The news is sweet for the 35-year old San Francisco-based Olivia that recently won a legal victory from a multimillion-dollar wrongful termination lawsuit, reported the Bay Area Reporter in November 2007.

Olivia sweeps up in the deal as the exclusive travel sponsor during Logo’s airing of the L Word, which will begin summer 2008, online content where Olivia.com will be the LGBT travel property for Logo’s lesbian-themed entertainment and media site AfterEllen.com with an exchange of Olivia.com’s video travel blogs, and secures placements and promotions around Logo’s online and broadcast content, according to the January 9 news release.

“Olivia and Logo share a common vision,” said Lisa Henderson, general manager of Olivia in the release, “to provide a rich entertainment experience that is relevant and reflective of the lesbian community. For 35 years, Olivia has been delivering unique experiences for lesbians all over the world, which is a perfect complement to the world that Logo creates inside the home.”

Olivia will also provide sponsorship during future episodes of NewNowNext Music, Logo’s music video series, according to the release, a flash back to back to when the company started as a record label.

The company grew to $20 million in 2006, reported GayWired.com, with a growing member base of 300,000. Olivia sponsors top out athletes Sheryl Swoops and Rosie Jones and support a number of women’s and lesbian and gay organizations donating more than $450,000, according to the release.

In turn, Logo will be the featured content provider during several of Olivia’s travel and entertainment events, similar to a recent screening of Exes & Ohs, Logo’s lesbian dramadie, on an Olivia Cruise.

Lisa Sherman, senior vice president and general manager of Logo, pointed out, in the release, “that this is the largest lesbian focused marketing agreement the network has signed to date.”

“This partnership between the two leading brands for the lesbian consumer represents a landmark effort to reach what has too often been an underserved audience,” said Sherman in the release.

Logo was launched June 30, 2005 by MTV Networks with more than 1,000 hours of LGBT content and now has 28 million subscribers across the Untied States, according to the release.

What do you think girls? Does this deal sound sweet or what?

2008-01-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

Mautner Project selects veteran lesbian feminist to head the women’s health organization

San Francisco – A veteran lesbian feminist was announced last week to head the Mautner Project, a national lesbian health organization.

Leslie J. Calman, Ph.D. has a bold vision for the nearly 20 year old lesbian health organization. Calman told the Washington Blade January 14 that her goals are to maintain the current programming, but that growth of the organization “is another priority.”

“We ought to be twice as big as we are,” Calman told the Blade. Financing women’s health, the Blade, reported is one of the areas of concern for the organization.

Calman also noted the lesbian health organization’s local presence in Washington, D.C. where the nearly half million dollar health organization is based. Mautner’s mission is to improve the health of lesbians and their families through advocacy, education, research, and direct service, which is funded by grants from the Center for Disease Control as well as foundations and individual donors, according to the Blade.

“The Mautner Project’s evolution from a local health group that primarily supported lesbians with cancer to the national health organization for lesbians is a phenomenal testament to the depth and breadth of the work that has been completed,” said Dr. Spooner, Mautner Board Chair Dr. Linda Spooner and a practicing physician in Washington, D.C., in a January 14 news release.

“For this ‘go-to’ organization…we could not have made a finer choice for the position of executive director,” Spooner added.

Calman’s goal’s beyond maintaining the lesbian health organization’s current operations and growth is, she told the Blade, to debunk the myth that lesbians don’t need regular gynecological care and to combat discrimination in reproductive health so lesbians don’t feel ostracized.

“Isolation, stigma and the potential for discrimination have been major obstacles for lesbians seeking appropriate health care in the United States,” said Calman in the release. “I am grateful that The Mautner Project’s board of directors is giving me a chance to work on rectifying this issue and others for lesbians across the country.”

Calman comes to the Mautner Project from the International Center for Research on Women where she was vice president for external relations, according to the release. ICRW is a $12 million women’s research, capacity building and advocacy organization to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world, according to the organization’s Web site.

Prior to ICRW, according to the release, Calman was executive vice president of the National Organization for Women’s Legal and Education Defense Fund, now Legal Momentum. She also authored two books and a number of articles on political movements and on women’s rights and was a political science and women’s studies professor at Barnard College in New York. She also served as director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women.

Calman replaces Kathleen DeBold, who stepped down in April after seven years, citing a desire to pursue more hands-on work, reported the Blade. According to the Washington, D.C.-based newspaper DeBold made her decision during a three-month sabbatical volunteering with the Montgomery County Refugee Center, helping people fill out citizenship forms and teaching classes in government and civics.

Calman lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner, Jane Gruenebaum, and her 17-year old son, Ben Calman, according to the release.

Photo courtesy the Mautner Project

2008-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Lambda Literary Foundation announces

record number of nominations

San Francisco – Who says books don’t sell and the publishing industry is gasping for air?—certainly not the queer press in 2007.

Lambda Literary Foundation announce January 10 a record number of nearly 200 publishers nominated 463 books for awards in 21 categories—that is nearly 30 percent from 2007, Charles Flowers, Lambda Literary Foundation executive director noted in the January 10 news release.

"This has been a spectacular year for LGBT publishing in terms of the number of books published and the number of participating publishers," said Flowers in the release.

Categories include: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir/biography, childrens/young adult, romance, and mystery, and others, including the “Bisexual” category, which returned for its second consecutive year.

Following the publishing trend 18 nominations were made for 2008, up by seven nominations in 2007, its first year, nearly a 40 percent increase. Nominees for 2008 include noted bisexual authors: Jennifer Baumgardner, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Emma Donoghue, Farley Granger, Rebecca Walker and others. For a complete list, visit Lambda’s “Bisexual” category.

Lammy’s will be presented May 29 at a gala event at the Silverscreen Theater at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on the eve of Book Expo America, the annual booksellers’ convention.

Books must contain LGBT content in order to be eligible for a “Lammy” nomination by a publisher or its author.

Ticket information will be available in January 2008. The City of West Hollywood, according to the release, provided “generous support” for the event.

For more information, contact awards@lambdaliterary.org.

Interested in discussing the 2008 bi nominees, join the Bi Book Club list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BiBookClub/.

What's your queer lit pick this year? Why?

2008-01-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

Judge upholds religious schools rights to expel alleged teen lesbians

San Francisco – A Riverside County judge found no legal basis for a lawsuit against a Christian school brought on the behalf of two girls who were kicked out of school for an alleged lesbian relationship.

Judge Gloria Trask found the girls' discrimination lawsuit had no legal basis under California's anti-discrimination laws January 11, reported the San Diego Union Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News January 19.

The attorneys for the two unnamed girls attempted to apply California’s anti-discrimination sexual orientation laws in business settings to the religious school, but Trask disagreed with them, reported the local the Tribune.

John McKay, attorney for the California Lutheran High School in Wildomar, “applauded the decision, and said the religious school has a right to expel sinners.”

“You can't infringe upon the basic rights of a religious group and their right of association by forcing them to accept people who don't believe in their values,” McKay told the Tribune.

The girls and their parents sued the California Lutheran High School in Wildomar after their 2005 expulsion when the school suspected the then 11th-graders were having a relationship, reported the Mercury.

The school’s code of conduct, according to the Mercury, that “students can be removed for behavior that contradicts ‘Christian values.’"

“We are confidant that things will continue to proceed according to the Lord's plan,” said, Steve Rosenbaum, the school’s principal, who told the Tribune “he was pleased with the ruling.”

The girls’ attorneys couldn’t be reached for comment, reported the Tribune. McKay told the paper that he expects them to appeal the decision to an appellate court.

Under the California constitution, reported the paper, the ruling in Superior Court does not settle the same issue in other courtrooms, but an appeals court ruling would apply across the appellate court's jurisdiction area and would influence cases all across the state.

What do you think? Do you think the school is providing a public service or because it's private has the right to accept or deny any paying parent or student they want to? Or, should the girl's appeal now that the anti-discrimination code that includes sexual orientation and gender is in the educational code?

2008-01-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Lesbian political bombs dropped

in Cambridge and Houston

San Francisco – The New Year definitely started off with a political bang in

Massachusetts and Texas. In a historical move earlier this week, Cambridge elected the Unites State's first black lesbian mayor and Houston elected a lesbian for vice mayor for the second time.

Out black lesbian E. Denise Simmons (D) broke yet another glass ceiling Monday after the election was delayed for a week after the City Council “deadlocked” January 7 when votes were first cast for the ivy league city’s mayor.

“It feels really great,” Simmons told the Cambridge Chronicle January 14. “When I first came to the School Committee, one of the things I always said was that I wanted to be mayor.”

Simmons, 56, a nine year veteran of Cambridge’s city council takes the mayor’s office held by outgoing three terms black openly gay mayor Ken Reeves, reported the Advocate. And she is the first woman to serve as the city’s mayor since Sheila Russell reported the Cambridge Chronicle. Russell held the office from 1996-1997, according to the local newspaper.

"We are enormously proud of Mayor Simmons,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and chief executive officer of the Victory Fund, in a January 16 press release. “Like Mayor Ken Reeves before her, she is among our community's trailblazers. Today is a day to celebrate another broken glass ceiling."

While Cambridge deadlocked on Simmons, Houston’s City Council elected openly lesbian City Councilmember Sue Lovell (D) January 2 to her second term as vice mayor pro tem.

This win is a morale booster for the Texas gay and lesbian community after the state overwhelmingly adopted an anti-gay state amendment last month,” the Democratic Party congratulated Lovell on her election in an undated statement that referred to her second term as vice mayor.

Elections were tight for both women, according to news reports, but in the end they were unanimously elected to their positions by their City Councils. Both Cambridge’s and Houston’s mayors and vice mayors are elected by its City Council.

Both women were supported by the Victory Fund.

What do you think? Is this the year of queer women and women in general politically?

2008-01-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

And the nominees for SF Pride 2008 will be…

Up to LGBT community members who will be e-mailing or mailing in their choices for grand marshal nominees for individuals, organizations, and the notorious “Pink Brick,” which is awarded to an individual who has harmed the LGBT community, to the the

San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committtee Inc.

Nominations are due by January 31. Public voting will take place around San Francsico in March.

Nominations must include the full name of the individual or organization being nominated, contact information (phone and e-mail address), a photo (if available), and a brief explainition of the reason the person is being nominated.

For more information, visit www.sfpride.org.

Photo courtesy of San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee Inc.

2008-01-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

SF HRC seeks

LGBT community activists

The LGBT Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Commission announced earlier this week that it is accepting applications to serve on the active committee.

The deadline for applications is Thursday, January 24, 2008, 5:00 p.m.

LGBT Individuals who are San Francisco residents and community activists are encouraged to apply for the LGBTAC.

One of four standing HRC committees, the LGBTAC identifies and addresses the issues and concerns of San Francisco’s LGBT and HIV-affected communities and advises the Commission on the communities’ issues and needs. LGBTAC meets on the third Tuesday of every month.
The LGBTAC is seeking an estimated 10 new members, said Commissioner Cecilia Chung, who is LGBTAC co-chair along with Mark Dunlop.

“There is a lot of room for growth and for the community to provide leadership and vision on issues that affect the larger community, as well as communities that are less visible,” said Chung. Chug, who was appointed to the commission by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 and was elected vice chair by the commission September 2006, pointed out that historically ordinances such as: the equal benefits, the domestic partnership, and the transgender protection all began as discussions on the LGBTAC.

Community activists knowledgeable and skilled in such areas as racism, AIDS/HIV, anti-violence, civil rights, class, disability, diversity, education, gender, intersex, health, women’s, senior and youth issues are encouraged to apply. Chung emphasized that the committee is looking for individuals from the transgender and bisexual communities, people of color, youth, seniors, women, and immigrant. She added that LGBT allies who don’t identify as queer are also encouraged to apply. Individuals interested in applying should submit an application along with a letter of intent detailing reasons why they want to serve on the LGBTAC, community involvement, areas of expertise, and other qualities they could bring to the LGBTAC.

Applicants must be able to make a firm commitment to attend LGBTAC meetings at 5:30 p.m. and to spend time on special projects.

LGBTAC has worked on a variety of issues in the LGBT community including: racism, immigration and asylum, issues in the Native American community, transgender and intersex issues within the LGBT community, and outreach activities.

LGBTAC will continue its work examining and strengthening LGBT human rights policies in San Francisco, in particular for communities of color and racism in the coming year.

“We are looking forward to the coming year,” said Chung, in a January 7 news release, “in which the LGBT Advisory Committee will provide a monthly forum for gathering information and discussing the challenges facing LGBT people of color.”

Applications and letters of interest should be mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to Larry Brinkin, SF Human Rights Commission, 25 Van Ness Ave., Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94102-6033; fax (415) 431-5764, or e-mail: larry.brinkin@sfgov.org.

For more information, visit LAGBTAC or e-mail Larry Brinkin at larry.brinkin@sfgov.org.

2008-01-09T00:56:00.000-08:00

Ride on Dykes!

San Francisco – Rev your engines girls and wear your name proud. “Dykes on Bikes” got the United States Supreme Court’s approval Monday to trademark the name when the court denied without comment a petition seeking review of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s approval of the catchy name.

The high court’s denial of the petition allowing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision to stand affirmed the “Dykes on Bikes” trademark and the San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent’s right to its exclusive commercial use.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final registration of the trademark name “Dyke on Bikes.”

“I am delighted the Supreme Court denied review and that ‘Dykes on Bikes’ will be protected under law,” said SFWMC president Vick Germany in a January 8 news release. “We have used the name ‘Dykes on Bikes’ for over 30 years as a mark of pride and dignity, taking it away from those who formerly used it as an epithet. Thanks to yesterday’s ruling by the Supreme Court, our long battle to use a name that reflects our strength as women and as lesbians is finally over.”

Michael McDermott, who challenged the trademark application wasn’t pleased with the high court’s decision January 7. McDermott, a self-described men’s rights advocate from Dublin across the bay, quoted Justice Antonin Scalia that the U.S. Supreme Court “has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle January 7. Scalia said the now famous dissenting phrase in response to the court’s 2003 ruling overturning state sodomy laws.

Opposition to the “Dykes on Bikes” trademark initially surfaced in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s when the board originally denied the group’s 2003 application believing it to be “disparaging to lesbians.” A team of pro-bono lawyers stepped in with expert declarations from scholars, linguists, psychologists, and activists, according to the release, that demonstrated the word “dyke’s” own ugly duckling story evolving from being a derogatory epithet to a term of pride. The patent and trademark board reversed its decision and published the mark January 2006.

The SFWMC was represented pro-bono by Brooke Oliver and Pablo Manga of Oliver-Sabec, P.C., Gregory Gilchrist, Gia Cincone, and Raquel Pacheco of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

A month later, McDermott challenged the patent and trademark’s decision to approve the SFWMC’s exclusive use of “Dykes on Bikes.” McDermott alleged in his February 2006 appeal to the trademark that “it is disparaging based on the inclusion of the term ‘dykes,’” and that it is “compromised of scandalous and immoral material…associated with a pattern of illegal activity.”

Nearly a year and a half later, the patent and trademark board denied McDermott’s allegations. In July 2007 the patent and trademark board stated McDermott was not “implicated” by the trademark of “Dykes on Bikes” just for being a man. Second, McDermott was unable to demonstrate support for his position in spite of “sufficiently” pleading a “real interest.” The patent and trademark board and the SFWMC didn’t deny that.

“We are delighted with the ruling. It is now clear that asserting pride in being ‘Dykes on Bikes’ does not impact others negatively,” said Oliver, lead attorney on the case, in the release. “A lone person with a political objection to women’s political speech does not have standing to object to a trademark. More broadly, this decision protects every company’s trademark applications from being challenged by random individuals with an axe to grind.”

The women’s motorcycle group that kicks off the annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade down Market Street started when 20 to 25 women motorcyclists gathered at the head of the 1976 parade, according to the organization’s Web site. The Chronicle picked up the phrase “Dykes on Bikes,” coined by one of the women in the contingent and the rest is history.

Dykes on Bikes® grew into an LGBT community institution during more than three decades of roaring down San Francisco’s Market Street on the last Sunday of June. LB Gunn, Kalin Elliot-Arns, Christine Elliot, Sabine Balden and Mel formalized the loosely run group as the Women’s Motorcycle Contingent in the 1980’s, according to the group’s Web site. Today, the organization “supports, encourages, and motivates women motorcyclists everywhere,” according to the group’s Web site, and has more than 400 registered bikes for the San Francisco Pride Parade.

The Supreme Court case is McDermott vs. San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent, 07-7126.

Photo courtesy of the Women's Motorcycle Contingent

2008-01-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Cornell law school alumni honors transgender litigator and advocate

San Francisco – The National Center for Lesbian Rights announced today that one of their attorney’s will receive the Cornell Law School and Cornell Law Association’s third Annual Exemplary Public Service Awards.

Shannon Minter, NCLR legal director, will be honored in New York in New York City on February 7 at the Cornell Club at 6 East 44th Street, New York in the Ivey Room. The reception begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by the program at 7:45 p.m.

Minter, 46, a transgender man, was selected for his “work in advancing the human rights and safety of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families,” according to a January 7 news release.

Minter was selected out of seven alumni nominations submitted by fellow alumni, according to the release.

“I am delighted and honored,” wrote Minter in a January 7 e-mail to Bi Girl Friday. “I am also grateful for the wonderful education and mentoring I received as a law student at Cornell and very proud of my fellow honorees.”

NCLR is a national legal advocacy and litigation organization based in San Francisco that works to advance LGBT rights through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.

As legal director of NCLR for more than 10 years, Minter has “litigated many impact cases” on issues relating to employment discrimination, marriage rights, parental rights and relationship rights across the United States, according to the release. Currently, Minter represents 15 same-sex couples in In Re Marriage which is pending before the California Supreme Court. The court received more than 250 amicus briefs on behalf of marriage equality for same-sex couples in September 2007.

Prior to In Re Marriage, Minter was lead counsel in many ground-breaking cases including Sharon Smith's wrongful death suit following the vicious dog mauling death of her partner Diane Whipple in their apartment building.

Smith, in what has become known as the "dog mauling case" in San Francisco, received the assistance of NCLR and attorneys from Cardoza Law Offices and Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe in filing a wrongful death suit against her neighbors Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel. Whipple was mauled to death January 26, 2001 in the hallway of her apartment building by dogs belonging to Noel and Knoller. After two years of court hearings in the civil case (Noel and Knoller served time in state prison after being convicted in the criminal case), Smith and Whipple's mother, Penny Whipple Kelly, settled in December 2002. It was the first time in history that a same-sex partner was able to obtain a civil judgment recognizing a surviving partner as a family member.

“Shannon’s contributions to the law and legal status regarding LGBT folks in this country cannot be overestimated,” said Kate Kendell, NCLR executive director. “It is an honor for NCLR for him to receive this well-deserved recognition and it is a privilege for me personally to have had the pure pleasure of working with him for over 13 years.”

This past fall Minter was one of three transgender advocates honored by the Gender Odyssey conference in Seattle “for their work promoting a positive image and advancing transgender rights,” reported the Bay Area Reporter in September 2007. Minter has also been honored, according to the release, as one of 18 people to receive the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” award (2005) and he was awarded an honorary degree from the City University of New York School of Law for his advocacy on behalf of same-sex couples and their families (2004). He has also received the Anderson Prize Foundation Creating Change Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the distinguished national service award from GAYLAW, the bar association for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lawyers, law students, and legal professionals in Washington, D.C.

Minter received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993.

Minter serves on the boards of Equality California and the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. He is co-editor of Transgender Rights, the first comprehensive book on the transgender civil rights movement.

Other honorees include: Jamie Andree, managing attorney of Indiana Legal Services in Bloomington, Indiana; Joe Iarocci, senior vice president for Strategic Support – Care in Atlanta, Georgia; Rosemary Pye, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Boston, Massachusetts; John Tobin, executive director of New Hampshire Legal Assistance in Manchester, New Hampshire; Lisa Wolford, staff attorney of New Hampshire Public Defender in Concord, New Hampshire; and Saman Zia Zarifi, Asia research director of Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C.

To RSVP for this event are being accepted until February 5, for more information, visit Cornell Law School 3rd Annual Exemplary Public Service Awards or call 607-255-5251.

For more information, visit NCLR.

Photo courtesy National Center for Lesbian Rights

2008-01-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

American Legacy Foundation Accepting Applications

for Dr. Alma S. Adams Scholarship

Deadline: April 15, 2008

The American Legacy Foundation ( http://www.americanlegacy.org/ ) is now accepting applications for the Dr. Alma S. Adams Scholar- ship for Outreach and Health Communications to reduce tobacco use among what the foundation calls "Priority Populations." Priority populations are those populations which are disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry, or which often lack the tools and resources to combat smoking in their communities. Identified priority populations are Native Americans/Alaska Natives, Hispanics, African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Low SES, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities.

The Adams scholarship will award a total of $10,000 annually for up to two candidates to pursue undergraduate or graduate studies at an accredited institution of higher education in the United States. The scholarship will be awarded to individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to community service or used the visual arts or media to convey culturally appropriate health messages on behalf of a disadvantaged population.

The informational brochure and application are available at the Legacy Web site.

RFP Link:
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10010538/americanlegacy

For additional RFPs in Substance Abuse, visit: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_substance_abuse.jhtml

2008-01-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

Money for international sexual minorities

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Accepting Applications for International Fund for Sexual Minorities

Deadline: February 1, 2008

The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice (http://www.astraeafoundation.org) works for social,
racial, and economic justice in the U.S. and internationally.

Astraea's International Fund for Sexual Minorities supports groups, projects, or organizations working toward progressive social change that are led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans- gender, and intersex communities and which directly address oppression based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity/ expression.

To be eligible to apply, groups, projects, and organizations must be based in Africa, Asia/the Pacific, Eastern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America/the Caribbean, or the Middle East; led by and/or for LGBTI communities (non-LGBTI-led groups must demonstrate how they address LGBTI human rights issues and how they involve LGBTIs in organizational and programmatic decision-making); working toward social change on issues affect- ing LGBTI people and/or people who are penalized, persecuted, or harassed for their gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual orientation; be a nongovernmental or not-for-profit group or the equivalent; have an organizational budget of $500,000 or less; and generally have been active for at least one year.

In the past, the average grant size has ranged from $2,000 to $6,000 each, with the maximum size grant roughly $10,000. Org- anizations may apply for general support or project support.

Visit the foundation's Web site to download the complete Request for Proposals.
RFP Link:
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10010528/astraeafoundation

For additional RFPs in Civil and Human Rights, visit: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_civil_rights.jhtml

2008-01-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

January is Bisexuality Awareness Month in Utah!

For the entire month of January, the Utah Bisexuals Support Group will host several events open to all Utahns that bring awareness to all the diversity within bisexuality, create a sense of community, and break down some negative stereotypes surrounding the B in GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender).

The Utah Bisexuals Support Group has their meetings at the Utah Pride Center on the second Thursday of every month from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. For more information, please contact the Utah Pride Center at www.utahpridecenter.org or the support group´s website http://utahbisexuals.bravehost.com/index.html.

http://www.biresource.org/index.php?p=747

2008-01-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Scholarships Available for GLBT Youth

The 2008 LEAGUE Foundation scholarship program is now receiving student applications until April 30, 2008. Since 1996, LEAGUE Foundation has continued to grow in its mission of providing financial resources for America´s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender youth to attend institutions of higher learning. Now in its 12th year the LEAGUE Foundation has awarded its 64 scholarships and applications have been received from students from all 50 states. Financial support has been received from corporations, individuals, and other GLBT organizations.

Applicants should graduate high school in 2008; identify themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender; have achieved a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; are actively and substantially involved in community service; live in the United States; and have been accepted to attend an accredited college or university in the United States.

Scholarships currently open for applications are:

Matthew Shepard Memorial Scholarship
Laurel Hester Memorial Scholarship
LEAGUE Foundation Scholarship

Additionally LEAGUE Foundation has developed a new and improved user friendly website: www.LEAGUEFoundation.org

Information on the site includes: background, history, scholarship descriptions, previous winners, student resources, scholarship application, donation information, and news articles.

Contributions or questions can be directed to LEAGUE Foundation, c/o Charles Eader, 1 AT&T Way, Room 4B214J, Bedminster, New Jersey 07921.

http://www.biresource.org/index.php?p=748

2008-01-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

Bi Request is back for a second round

Great news: Bi Request is happening again in 2008!

Bi Request is the bisexual short film program at the annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious LGBT film festival in the world. This is the festival that sets the standard for film fests on a global scale. If a film is shown at the San Francisco International, it often gets requested by dozens and dozens of other festivals, many of whom create their roster in part by going through the program guide of this festival. That means big exposure for the film and the opportunity for the filmmaker to share their art with LGBT people around the world.

A couple of years ago, the B and the T were added to the end of the SF International name - but I noticed right away that that didn't correspond to having any bi films in the program. I riled up a bunch of bi folks and our allies and turned into a major squeaky wheel about this! Frameline, the organization that puts on the festival, was quick to respond, and worked with me to actively solicit and promote bi material in last year's festival. Yay!

With Frameline, I volunteered on projects around bi-inclusively, including: helping update their submissions form to include an emphasis on the search for work by bisexual film-makers/ about bisexual people; sharing information with them on how to see bi content in films; and curating the first ever Bi Request program.

Bi Request was a huge success, with a packed theatre and fabulous short films about bisexual lives and by bi film-makers from around the world. Five of the film-makers were in attendance, including one who flew all the way from Australia to proudly show her work.

And now, we're doing it again! Frameline has asked me to volunteer again this year to curate Bi Request, and I jumped at the chance - it's so much fun! So please help me spread the word. Bi film-makers (and film-makers who have make films about bisexual lives/ featuring bisexual characters) can send their short films directly to me for consideration in Bi Request, or they can go through Frameline. If they want to send their films to me, the deadline is February 15th, and the address is:

Amy Andre
PO Box 14821
San Francisco, CA 94114

Let your film-making friends know about Bi Request. And, if you're in San Francisco in June, please make plans to attend Bi Request, too!

Here are some links of interest:

To send a submission to Frameline: http://www.frameline.org/filmmaker-support/festival-submissions/
(You’ll see the new statement about looking for films from underrepresented communities - including bi folks!)

To read about my "squeaky wheel" dialogue with Frameline: http://www.amyandre.com/film.html

To read about Bi Request: http://laughingsquid.com/squidlist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=168645&year=2007&month=6

And info about Bi Request in Wikipedia, of all places!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frameline

Cheers,

Amy

2008-01-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

Check out January's ON Magazine and start 2008 off right.

This month I took a hard look at our health and well being in “AIDS isn’t the only disease killing gay men” on pages 16 – 17 and “Wake up call for lesbian and bisexual women” on pages 18 – 19 that I wrote.

2008-01-05T02:01:00.000-08:00

Miss America gets a reality check

The last time I really watched

Miss America was somewhere during the incredible 1980s that included Vanessa Williams being crowned and decrowned the first African American Miss America in 1984. I guess American’s didn’t want to see their princess for a year in the buff in Penthouse Magazine.

A year later pageant protestors succeeded in booting the Miss California Pageant out of my home town Santa Cruz, California. Santa Cruz hosted the princess event for six decades, according to a 2005 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Since then my Auntie’s friend, a former Miss America judge, never misses an opportunity to tease me about my disapproval of a contest that encourages women to be Barbie…even though I liked Barbie when I was a girl because she was a glamorous career woman from astronaut to doctor to even the first woman president.

Times have changed, but apparently Miss America is stuck in a time warp. The Learning Channel stepped in to give 52 Miss America contestants a hard core makeover on Miss America: Reality Check.

The show premiered January 4 and the tiara tears have already spilled. Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of TLC’s What Not to Wear already gave a few girls their scathing reviews after riffling through their luggage. But the most interesting part of the first show was when the girls hosted a dinner for “controversy.” Yes, real topics from birth control to same-sex marriage. Yes, it was on the hot plate and the discussion was heated.

America can watch the deconstruction and the meltdowns one removal of sequins challenge after yanking off fake eyelashes challenge after another Fridays at 10 p.m. All of this bleeding mascara leads up to the TLC broadcast of the crowning moment.

Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie hosts the new Miss America boot camp with celebrity judges Mark Liddell, celebrity photographer; Dina Sansing, West Coast editor for Us Weekly Magazine; and Jeannie Mai, makeup artist and founder of the Doll Service.

The best part, Americans have a chance to “really” get to know the beauty queens vying for the honor and to vote for the 16 finalists who will compete for the crown.

So feministas and queer folks here are our best bets based on the platform issues the girl with her state’s crown selected in her profile:

Miss Alaska Cari Makanani Villareal Leyva
Platform issue: Empowering women of all ethnicities to embrace cultures and promote self-actualization.

Miss Colorado Maggie Ireland
Platform issue: opening the door to optimism.
Note: Okay, I don’t know what exactly that means, but I’m throwing my four leaf clover into the ring because she's Irish and does Irish Step Dancing, according to her profile. Erin Go Brah!

Miss DC Shayna Rudd
Platform issue: Best Friends Foundation: Empowerment and Healing Our Urban Communities
Note: Okay, she’s a journalist and minored in African American Studies, according to her profile. I need to give props to us news chasers.

Miss Illinois Ashley Nicole Hatfield
Platform issue: Breast Cancer: Action, Awareness and Advocacy

Miss Kansas Alyssa Anne George
Platform issue: Bullying: the bystander effect
Note: Could that include LGBT youth?

Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund
Platform issue: Raising awareness for eating disorders

Miss New Mexico Jenny Marlowe
Platform issue: Learn to be powerful against physical and sexual assault

Miss North Dakota Ashley Anne Young
Platform issue: Stop bullying in schools: saving the spirit of a child
Note: Could that include LGBT youth?

Miss Rhode Island Ashley Bickford
Platform issue: The kNOw HIV/AIDS Campaign

Miss Vermont Rachel Ann Cole
Platform issue: building bridges through literacy: closing the education gap.
Note: Okay, her platform doesn’t scream feminist, but during the premier show where the women were asked to host a controversy, same-sex marriage was thrown onto the hot plate. Miss Vermont stood strong for marriage equality as she should coming from one of the few states that have Civil Unions on the books. I know it’s not marriage equality, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Miss Virgin Islands Janeisha John
Platform issue: Domestic Violence: awareness, prevention, and recovery

Miss Washington Elyse L. Umemoto
Platform issue: Embracing diversity, empowering women

My queerdare didn’t go off for any of these femmes, but maybe because I like butches. No matter. I’m tunning in to see if America selects a real Barbie to represent women.

2008-01-03T00:53:00.000-08:00

Extra, extra! It's hot off the presses!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I covered a gay man’s hit and run death: “Suspect charged in hit and run death”; I covered the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s name chagne: “Mixed reaction to NGLTF's name change”; I profiled Dana Rivers: “Trans teacher changing lives in SF jail”; and I round up new LGBT-friendly laws: “2008 ushers in new laws.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2008-01-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

MySpace queen Tila Tequila is single for the New Year

Well it wasn’t because she is bisexual that Bobby, the guy Tequila selected on her hit MTV show

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, dumped her right before New Years, according to a Jan 1 MySpace bulletin post. It was because of her “crazy lifestyle.” It’s not like people couldn’t see that one coming a mile away due to some of Bobby’s behavior on the show and during the after show, A Shot At Love: The Hangover, where Tequila and Bobby were reunited. It was clear that Bobby had jealousy issues during the show and during the after show he seemed to be rather uncomfortable and awkward when he put his arm around Tequila.

A Shot at Love was the first of its kind bisexual dating show broadcast worldwide this past fall. Tequila, the first bisexual object of desire for 16 lesbian and 16 straight contestants twiddled down her selection eliminating one key to her heart each week (except in the beginning) to one straight guy and one soft butch just before Christmas.

Gracious, Tequila wrote in her post, “I still think Bobby is a great guy and I wish him the best.”

Meanwhile, Dani Campbell, the “futch” of Tequila’s heart, is living a bit of the Tequila lifestyle on her own. The “futch” firer fighter from Florida is quickly gaining her own following since the final “Shot at Love” episode December 18. Dani is being splashed across lesbian magazine covers and club fliers for parties she’s hosting across the United States, not to mention picking up her own MySpace following. She’s even selling her own “futch” merchandizing. As Tequila wrote in a December 19 MySpace blog post, Dani is becoming famous.

Tequila wrote in her blog December 19 that she didn’t select Campbell because she respected her too much and wanted to keep her as a friend. Nearly a week later on the “Shot at Love” after show, Tequila explained that she didn’t select Campbell because she didn’t want to disrupt her life, which is pretty set and stable.

But, Campbell was in New York City for Tequila’s 2008 masquerade ball. It is unknown if Campbell is soothing Tequila’s broken heart…especially now that she’s showing that she can not only keep up with Tequila’s “crazy lifestyle,” but also compete.

Photo courtesy TilaTequilaHotSpot.com 2002

2007-12-28T23:24:00.000-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I follow up on San Francisco’s LGBT senior housing changes: “Openhouse housing plan changes”; I profiled a gay San Francisco district attorney administrator: “DA taps gay man to admin post”; and I followed up with Horizon Foundation’s 2007 awardees: “Horizons awards grants and honors donors.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-12-20T19:56:00.001-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on San Francisco Bay Area LGBT’s giving to queer organizations: “Only 2 percent of area gays give to LGBT groups”; I followed upon 55 Laguna development plans: “Vote delayed on UC Extension project”; and I followed up with the marriage equality battle: “LGBTs need to step up in marriage fight.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-12-10T21:29:00.001-08:00

Check out the December issue of ON Magazine for my profile of the National Center for Lesbian Rights executive director Kate Kendell: “Passion for Justice, Passion for Justice page 2” and BABN’s 20th anniversary celebration: “BABN 20 years of community service”.

2007-12-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on San Francisco’s newly approved ID cards: “SF ID cards to help TGs”; I profiled the new director for the LGBT Alliance of the JCF: “New LGBT Alliance director for JCF”; and I reported on the radical right’s legal attack on SB777: “State sued over student law.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-11-29T01:36:00.000-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on the Department of Homeland Securities proposed travel rules for HIV-positive travelers: “New rules for HIV+ travelers raise questions”; I reported on Latino families and LGBTQ Latino youth advocates response to Mental Health America’s study: “Changing Latino families wade into gay issues” (companion article to last week’s “Latino survey draws support and criticism”); and I announced Bay Area events for World AIDS Day 2007: “Bay Area events mark World AIDS Day.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-11-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on Vallejo’s mayor’s pre-election partying: “Cloutier in booze bust”; I reported on the leather communities charity: “Leather events spread the wealth”; I reported on Latino parents’ attitutes about bullying, prejudice, and sexual orientation: “Latino survey draws support and criticism”; and I reported on gays rallying to save rent control: “Gays rally against anti-rent control initiative.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-11-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Check out my article about the Miller Brewing Company’s and Coors Brewing Company’s announced merger in ON Magazine on page 23.

2007-11-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

Are we through with being exploited? I say yes!

Why is it that whenever there is a show about bisexual women it has to be sensationalized or worse really cheesy? Tonight I’m pointing my bi finger at Bisexual Girls, on Logo. The show fell on the lower end of “exposing” bisexual women.

The “documentary” that is part of Logo’s Real Momentum documentary series Bisexual Girls follows four British bi-curious girls: Debbie, Linzi, Beth, and Ellie around the old English country and London as they sort out their girl-on-girl attractions. The exception was Ellie who already had her bisexuality figured out.

My big questions are, what is it with cutting to skin footage (not necessarily the naughty kind) and images of a cherry being dipped into a woman’s mouth or women wearing bright red glossy lipstick kissing each other between stories or while the women were talking about their sexual desires? What is it with interviewing a woman, Debbie, in bed with her boyfriend, Orville, or even lower interviewing two women, Angela and Ellie, in a bubble bath? Logo described the couple on its Web site as two lesbians, but in the show one of them, Ellie, turned out to be bi. Oh and let’s not forget, Linzi, the bi-curious stripper by night and horse farm owner by day. I loved when Linzi was giving Debbie a lap dance while two obviously staged women snuggled up voyeuristically martinis in hand watched obscured by other patrons from across the dance stage.

Thank God they had one “normal” bisexual woman, Ellie, happily in a relationship with Angela. Ellie and Angela, who lived in London, helped out Debbie who was struggling with her bi-curiosity, by taking her around to the all girl hot spots. This was all against her fiancé’s wishes, but Debbie was determined. I emphasized with the guy being a monogamous person myself, but I lost respect for him when he called her during her first outing in London.

All in all, you think that the LGBT community would do us bisexuals better than the straight community when presenting “this is what a bisexual looks like” to the rest of the world. Then I forget, not so long ago we were shunned by our own queer community. The show was just in bad taste from beginning to end.

Bisexual Girls reminds me of last year’s Women Seeking Women: A Bicurious Journey, which was also a sensationalistic “documentary” about women who are attracted to other women, but hadn’t had the Sapphic experience. The cure to their curiosity was a Wild Women Vacation to Jamaica at Club Hedonism. Wild Women Vacation is a bi and bi-curious women’s and their partners’, men, vacation package.

I’m really starting to feel co-opted with these exploitative one-hour cinema vérité-style documentaries. These shows are just ridiculous. No wonder why a majority of people don’t understand bisexuals and have all of these bi myths and phobias.
In light of these “documentaries” reality show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila is starting to look more like a “real” honest perspective of a real bisexual woman than sensationalism. Almost.

We can do better. Just look at Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski co-authors of The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, and Lists for Those Who Go Both Ways and Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics. While these are successful recent books representing bisexuality in a realistic and positive way I’m sure the efforts that bisexuals are making on film, like the ones shown at this year’s Bi Request series at the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival, can make it to a wider audience at some point.

2007-11-15T00:19:00.000-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I profiled a new executive director for Lavender Seniors: “Lavender Seniors hires new director”; I followed up on the TRANS Project re-opening: “Transgender drop-in center is reborn”; and I announce Medicare’s open enrollment period: “Medicare enrollment period opens today.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-11-09T00:51:00.001-08:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on a popular women’s bar’s attempts to maintain saftey after apparent gang-related shootings outside: “Crime spree worries bar owner”; I followed up on Miller and Folsom Street Fair’s brouhaha: “Miller, Folsom fair apologize for poster”; and I reported on the Bay Area’s longest running bi organization’s platinum anniversary: “Bay Area Bi Network turns 20”; and I followed up on MCC-SF’s pastor elections: “News in Brief: MCC-SF elects pastor.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-11-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

Bi Girl Friday makes it onto the Christian network

Happy Sunday! Yours truly is being passed around by the right-wing…I feel so clean and holy or is that dirty and devilish now?

Needless to say, through a posting that was sent to me with the link below and an e-mail I received directly from the Family Policy Network it seems like the right-wing and I are having a little fun at the moment. They think I’m spreading their good word to the “homosexual” community so we can be “cured” into a straight or celibate life rather than exposing their hate mongering delusional twisted ways.

The benefits of this cross-over is, I hope somehow some questioning Catholic or Christian queer person will find some enlightenment by being linked to our friendly and smart LGBT paper in the Gay Mecca.

Thank you Family Policy Network for getting my article out to your constituents!

SAN FRANCISCO’S PRO-HOMOSEXUAL WEEKLY: FPN’s Hope Banner Flies Over Sinful Celebration

The following are excerpts from an October 4, 2007 article appearing in the Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco’s weekly, pro-homosexual newspaper. http://familypolicy.net/nation/?p=682

2007-11-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

Bay Area Bisexual Network 20th Anniversary Brunch

Please join BABN as we celebrate 20 years of bringing bisexuals together! Founded in 1987, BABN's mission is to develop a healthy, vibrant, multicultural bisexual community in the Bay Area and to promote a better understanding of bisexual lives and issues within the larger lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community and the public.

Sunday, November 11, 2007
11:30 am – 2:00 pm

At the:

Lake Merritt Hotel
Barbary Lane Senior Communities
1800 Madison Street, Oakland
Off Lakeside Drive at 17th Street
Ample street parking
Near 19th Street and Lake Merritt BART stations and buses.

Tickets/Sponsorships

Purchase tickets to the 20th anniversary brunch:

Individual ticket(s) at $50 each
Low-income ticket(s) at $35 each

Sponsor BABN's 20th anniversary celebration:

Binary Buster ($1,000 sponsor) Fence Sitter ($250 sponsor)
Switch Hitter ($500 sponsor) Kinsey Slider ($150 sponsor)

Meal options available: Vegetarian, Vegan, or Omnivore

To purchase tickets or get more information about the brunch or program ads, contact Lani Ka'ahumanu at aloha2@mindspring.com or (415) 821-3534 or purchase tickets at www.babn.org by Wednesday, November 7.

2007-11-01T01:35:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on a new study about LGBT families in the Bay Area: “Study: Gay families more likely to earn less”; I profiled It’s Elementary’s Brandon Rice: “It's still elementary for Brandon Rice”; and I reported on school safety: “Civil rights groups call for end to school harassment”; I reported on a community vote for a new exterior color for the LGBT Community Center: “Vote for Fallon Building's new colors”; and I profiled SF DA’s director of the child assult unit: “Gay man heads DA's child assault unit”; and I follow up on the government’s attempt to clamp down on sexual images on the web: “Court strikes down adult social network restrictions

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-10-18T00:59:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on the MillerCoors merger: “Mixed reaction to Miller, Coors merger”; I announced good news for San Francisco’s Metropolitan Community Church: “Pastor candidate named for MCC-SF”; and I reported on the inaugural results of the Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index: “LGBT health care movement gains momentum.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-10-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I followed up on the anti-marriage equality California constitutional initatives: “Anti-gay ballot backers miss June target”; I followed up on the Junior Reserve Officers’ Corps in San Francisco schools: “JROTC likely to get another year in SF”; I report on how people could celebrate the 20th anniversary of National Coming Out Day: “Coming Out Day marks 20th anniversary of first march”; and I announced the first ever conference addressing transgender incarceration: “'Transforming Justice' forum.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-10-04T00:27:00.001-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on the forthcoming article about controversial sex researcher J. Michael Bailey: “Controversy dogs sexuality researcher”; I followed up on Good Vibes good news: “Good Vibrations announces merger”; I followed up on the right-wing’s attacks on Folosom Street Fair’s ‘San Francisco Values’: “Right-wing groups continue attacks on Folsom Street Fair”; I announced CUAV directors appointment to California’s domestic violence advisory council: “CUAV director named to state advisory council,”; I announced New Leaf’s forthcoming executive director: “New dir. for New Leaf,”; I covered the opening of the nation’s first justice system supported center for women ex-offenders: “Sheriff opens center for women ex-offenders,” and I reported LYRIC’s new grant from San Francisco’s Children and Family Services: “News in brief: LYRIC receives $200,000 grant.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Bi Top Chef

Well, thanks to Dorothy Surrenders, the lesbian blogger that has bidar, she posted a live video of season three's former Top Chef contender, Lia Bardeen’s, own outing during the taping of her interview for the show.

Bardeen, the 28-year old Brooklyn cutie, was quickly given the knife, but you can catch her on BRAVO reruns.

Lia Bardeen
Photo courtesy of BRAVO TV

2007-09-29T01:24:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I covered the upcoming Folsom Street Fair: “Folsom's 'San Francisco values'”; I reported on the right wing’s attack on the Folsom Steet Fair: “Folsom art draws fire from the right”; I reported on special needs trusts pitfalls: “PWA's benefits jeopardized by special needs trust”; and I reported on the new director for the Out & Equal Institute: “Out & Equal institute hires first director.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

International Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Today, September 23 is the 8th annual International Celebrate Bisexuality Day. According to a Wikipedia.org entry, International Celebrate Bisexuality Day was started in 1999 by bisexual rights activists Wendy Curry, Vice President of BiNet USA, Michael Page, and Gigi Raven Wilbur, to combat bi invisibility and erasure.

So, I hope we are all going to do a little something today to celebrate International Celebrate Bisexuality Day. One of the things that you can do is support your local bisexual organization.

To find your local bisexual organization, visit http://www.binetusa.org/ or the Bisexual Resource Center at http://www.biresource.org/.

For those of you who are in the San Francisco Bay Area, you might be interested in the Bay Area Bisexual Network’s 20th Anniversary event Sunday, November 11th 11:30 - 2 p.m. at Lake Merritt Hotel/Barbary Lane LGBT Senior Housing. Contact Lani Ka'ahumanu at aloha2@mindspring.com or to make a donation, contact Emily Drennen at emilydrennen@yahoo.com.

2007-09-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

The little star pimps its burgers again update

Apparently, Christian rights groups and feminists agreed about the little star's denigrating TV ads. According to an e-mail action alert sent out by Donald E. Wildmon, founder and chairman of American Family Association, not only has CKE Restaurants, Inc., owner of Carl’s Jr., Hardees, and other restaurants, pulled the offending ads from TV, but they allegedly are taking the ads off of their Web sites as well.

Here, here for once we agreed and something good came out of it.

2007-09-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

San Diego Mayor signed resolution

to support marriage equality

To read my officemate’s, Matthew Bajko’s, breaking news story, click on “San Diego mayor backs same-sex marriage.”

To watch the broadcast of the press conference, click on “Raw Video: San Diego Mayor Supports Gay Marriage.”

2007-09-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported UPS’ surprising perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and Bay Area companies with “A” status: “UPS scores big on HRC corporate index despite earlier troubles”; I followed up on the Burning Man suicide to separate the facts from rumors: “Rumor stemming from Burning Man suicide untrue, officials say”; I reported on an early morning shooting outside the Lexington Club: “Apparent gang-related shooting outside lesbian bar”; and I reported on San Francisco Pride’s 2008 theme and news from their annual general member meeting: “News in brief: Pride theme selected.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-20T00:04:00.000-07:00

Chasing Amy Social Club blacklists Bi Girl Friday

It turns out that I’m not member material for the Chasing Amy Social Club, a bisexual women’s social group in San Francisco. No it’s not because I drink red wine or that I smoke (outside only) or that I’m transgender (which I’m not)—one of the many disqualifying criteria on a long list of who can and cannot be a CASC member. (See the end of this article for a partial list of member criteria that Amy Larson, the founder and organizer of the CASC, sent to me during an e-mail interview August 20 and a link to the CASC Web site.)

My CASC membership card was yanked because I’m a journalist who covered CASC’s anti-trans women policy, “Bi social club bars some trans women,” in August, after it was discovered in July by Charlie Anders, a bisexual pre-op transgender woman, who wanted to be a member but was bared because of her pre-op status.

“It feels like having a fox in the hen house to allow a journalist who wrote such a controversial article about us to be a member of this group as well,” wrote Larson in an e-mail September 19 responding to an e-mail I sent September 18 enquiring if I had missed any e-mails or if the club was on hiatus.

Yet, she failed to inform me of my unacceptable member status “journalist” when it wasn’t in her favor. Mind you, this whole incident happened after CASC enjoyed glowing publicity twice this summer in articles that I wrote: one covering bi visibility, “Bisexuals show increased visibility,” and the other publicizing CASC’s stance on bi erasure during San Francisco Pride’s global broadcast, “Biphobia claimed in Pride Parade Web, TV coverage.” Larson had no problems agreeing to participate in these articles and reap the benefits of free publicity.

No, I had to enquire, because as Larson wrote, “I have been thinking long and hard about what I wanted to say to you about this, because I am not a fan of confrontation…I removed your e-mail address while you were writing the article in August, because I felt extremely uncomfortable with the idea of you reading about my private life while you were writing about me so publicly.”

Larson continued, “It seemed like a conflict of interest to allow you to remain on the list, and some of the women in the group who regularly attend events expressed that they wouldn't feel comfortable attending events if you were to be there. They felt like their privacy would be compromised. I can understand that and relate.”

Hmmm…the article was written and published August 23, that’s almost a month ago. I have a feeling that if I hadn’t asked, Larson would still be thinking long and hard about deleting me from her e-mail list. Regarding the other members' privacy being compromised, it is completely unfound, as I mentioned to Larson in response to her e-mail September 19 confirming my suspicions of being blacklisted. I didn’t abuse the apparent hypocrisy of her no dating policy, while I was working on the controversial article, and she sent out pictures of two CASC members marrying each other the weekend before. Larson attended the wedding. (Larson clarified on September 21 that the CASC members who wed met outside of the club. She also reneged her "no dating" policy.)

Actually, until now, no article prior to the controversy wasn’t without Larson’s full and enthusiastic participation and knowledge. We had a sit down interview and she sent me photos to include with the both articles bi visibility and bi erasure. Furthermore, when I was interested in the CASC campaign against KRON4’s erasure of bi floats in this year’s global broadcast of San Francisco’s Pride parade, which I saw on her MySpace page and received in a CASC e-mail, I approached her first and asked about covering CASC's letter campaign to KRON4 before pitching the article to my editor. Larson enthusiastically participated and landed on the front page of the Bay Area Reporter.

Writing up the trans policy
Up until July, I was unaware of CASC’s anti-trans policy and so were many other people. The policy wasn’t posted on the CASC Web site under the club’s member criteria until the day before the article I wrote was published. Larson wasn’t transparent about all of her policies.

I openly admit that I became aware of the policy when Ray Rea, a transman, who hosted “Not Queer Enough,” a transgender and bisexual reading event at San Francisco State University, in July mentioned it when I told him before the event that I couldn’t wait to see Larson. Rea told me that Larson wasn’t going to read because it was in conflict with CASC’s transgender policy. Larson mentioned nothing to me earlier that day during an e-mail conversation that she wasn’t going to be at the event, nor anything about CASC having a transgender policy.

The three of us, my friend, who I’m withholding her name to protect her privacy, and another woman, I don’t recall her name, looked at each other quizzically as we hung out before the event started. I was disappointed about Larson’s not being at the event. Everyone in our small group said “that’s too bad” upon learning about her reason for not attending the reading and followed up with “I didn’t know they had a trans policy, did you?”

Of course, perhaps I would have been enlightened about the policy if I actually attended a CASC event during the year that I was a member. I perpetually missed events, announced by e-mail, due to work or being too tired from work.

But it wasn’t because I failed to attend CASC events that caused me to lose my good standing as a member, it’s because I’m a journalist who had the audacity to write an article that put CASC in a bad light three weeks after I became aware of the policy. It wasn’t my knowledge of the CASC anti-trans policy that sparked the article, but a tipster.

Larson accused me in her e-mail “…you've made it very clear in writing that article that your professional goals come before everything.”

Then why did it take me three weeks to cover the controversy? Would I have even covered it if my editor wasn’t tipped off? If I wasn’t so casual and “in my personal life” when the news crossed my path, may be I would have jumped on the story, but it didn't and I didn’t. When Rea announced the changes in the lineup of readers no one seemed phased. Perhaps Carol Queen and the dazzeling trans and bi talent destracted the audiece or more likely word of the CASC anti-trans policy hadn’t spread—yet. I watched people’s responses and listened to the crowd to see if anyone was outraged. No one seemed outraged—at least at the event. The policy got lost in the fog of my memory as other pressing issues needed to be covered.

Until the tipster dumped Anders’ blog that was circulating on a list on my editors desk and she brought it over to me to cover. I had to confess that I was aware of the policy and when I was aware of it. If it wasn't for the tipster, who knows if the story would have ever seen the printed page of the B.A.R. Needless to say, my editor wasn’t exactly congratulating me on my journalistic chomps for the taste of a story. My editor was even less thrilled to learn that I hadn’t jumped on the ADYKE situation that happened this past spring when lesbians gave bisexual women the boot from that group. It was a hairball of a battle on lesbian and bisexual list serves that I quite frankly had no appetite for and therefore didn't gobble up, more like I said, “No thank you mam,” and deleted screaming e-mail one after another.

Now really, if I was more concerned about my career as a journalist, I should be concerned now, because I didn’t do what I was supposed to do…grab the story and run with it. Where’s that gut hunger for the story??? Where’s my need for going for the jugular? It’s not like I’m covering how to bake the best bread or decorate the perfect muffin…Martha?? No, I’m covering the queer community: The sassiest, funkiest, glamtastic, and sometimes quite down and dirty and lusty queer community in the “Gay Mecca.”

So, when the CASC story landed on my desk and due to my acquaintance with Larson she got it good. I wasn’t completely impartial, even though I covered the controversy critically. I handled it with a lot more caution and care than when I covered the Chicago Hellfire Club’s anti-trans policy, earlier this year, “Chicago SM club under fire for anti-trans policy.” I didn’t know these people personally.

Larson, because of our acquaintance was given the opportunity to spin the negative publicity in her favor. A list of questions was sent to her by e-mail and she had three days to respond. She was given my full attention through several long and dramatic phone calls that she made to me. One of which, she told me that if I wrote the article she was going to close the club and it would be my fault. She provided some CASC members to interview, one of which harassed me by e-mail after she didn't meet the deadline I provided. One of her comments via e-mail after the deadline ended up in the article.

When the article landed on the newstands, Larson called me and thanked me for the article and told me that the first e-mail she received after publication of the article was one of support from a trans woman. It took her another couple of weeks to delete the link of my profile to her's on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/heathercassell. In an e-mail to me on September 20, Larson wrote that the harassment she received prior to the article being published ceased. Discussion of the anti-trans policy returned to the B.A.R.'s "Letters to the Editor" page, columns, and the blogsphere.

Larson and one of her members has accused me of being an "unethical journalist." I let my readers decide, now that I've filled in some information I originally left out when I posted this blog on September 20.

Because after all of this drama, quite frankly my dear I don't give a damn! As a journalist it is my responsibility to remain an independent critical observer when I cover stories, even when acquaintances are involved. I disclosed my membership and status at the end of the article, but I kept my personal feelings out of my reporting. It's not my responsibility that you are permanently stained in newsprint by the controversy. I’m not the one who went public and was hiding a discriminating policy. If that makes me a callous story hungry reporter then so be it. I’ve arrived.

CASC rambling member criteria
In an e-mail interview with me on August 20, Amy Larson, the founder and organizer of the CASC, clued me into other criteria to be a member of the CASC:

“…the CASC also doesn’t meet the specific needs of those who would like to engage in political or religious discourse or activism at events, indoor smokers, vegans offended by the presence of animal products, those with serious cat allergies, red wine drinkers, folks interested in partaking of drugs during events, women under the age of 18, women seeking a singles hookup environment or sex club, and a wide variety of other things…”

http://www.chasingamysocialclub.com

2007-09-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on a pending federal regulation that can affect adult social networking Web sites: “Feds seek to limit sexual images online”; I covered Good Vibration’s shakey financial times: “Vibes aren't good for sex toy retailer”; and I reported on honors given to three TG leaders: “Seattle confab honors three SF trans men.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-08T00:25:00.000-07:00

MTV airs bi bachelorette dating show

Love has gone the bi way on MTV.

Bisexual list serves and online bulletin boards lit up like Christmas today after an announcement on Tila Tequila’s, the “Madonna of MySpace,” as she was reportedly called by Time Magazine, posted on her blog September 6 that MTV will begin airing her show A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila starting October 9.

That’s right MySpace is moving into MTV with the bi pop queen who has taken MySpace by storm with “over 2 million friends,” according to her MySpace page. Tequila’s MTV reality show, A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, will pit 16 boys against 16 girls who will vie for Tequila’s heart. The show starting October 9 at 10 p.m. on MTV with 10 one hour episodes is just in time for National Coming Out day for LGBT History month.

Tequila wrote in her announcement on Thursday that she’s excited to represent the LGBT community, in spite of the fact that none of the contestants were aware that she is bisexual. The producers leave it up to Tequila to disclose her sexual orientation to her suitors and suitettes, according to the message.

“…the show will be about me finding love as a BISEXUAL!!!!! THAT IS CRAZY RIGHT?....the only twist is that these guys and these girls have NO IDEA that I am bisexual and that they are competing against each others sexes!!! GUYS AGAINST GIRLS....WHO WILL I END UP HOOKING UP WITH????? WILL I BE STRAIGHT OR LESBIAN IN THE END?????”

Okay. Will she be straight or lesbian in the end? How about bisexual? Isn’t that an option? Be prepared for some sensationalized mega drama…who ever thought that bisexuality wasn’t “edgy” enough obviously wasn’t paying attention…especially when MTV the mother of reality TV with the Real World and Road Rules and their siblings the Flavor of Love is bringing us bisexual dating. Of course it’s with a cute, young, femme, Vietnamese, bi pop princes, but it wouldn’t be interesting otherwise…at least now the radical right can stop pointing their fingers at the LGBT community for recruiting and start pointing their fingers at MTV and VH1, which aired Women Seeking Women: A Bi-curious Journey in October 2006.

In some sense this is exciting...a bisexual dating show. Tequila is ready to take us and the world along on the heart wrenching rollercoaster ride.

“…it's all Craziness and drama and sexy times all on my new journey to find true love as a bisexual!”

In true youthful fashion Tequila gushes:

“I AM EXCITED TO FINALLY COME OUT AS A BISEXUAL FOR THE FIRST TIME TO THE WORLD….NOBODY IN TELEVISION HISTORY HAS EVER DONE SUCH A GROUNDBREAKING SHOW AND I AM HAPPY TO BE THE ONE TO PAVE THE WAY TO OPEN UP PEOPLE'S MINDS ABOUT THE LESBIAN AND GAY COMMUNITY! LET'S MAKE MY SHOW THE BIGGEST, MOST WATCHED TELEVISION SHOW IN HISTORY OK????”

Are we ready to tune in? Yes, just out of curiosity to find out how bad or good the image of one of us being shot out into the universe is.

2007-09-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on Equality California Institute’s bold and broad campaign for marriage equality: “EQCA raising money for ad buy”; I covered the intrim replacement for the James C. Hormel LGBT Center at the San Francisco Public Library: “Acting manager named for Hormel Center”; I reported on a suicide at one of the gay camps at Burning Man: “Burning Man suicide was at gay camp”; and I reported on arrests for a series of muggings at a local gay cruising spot: “Arrests made in Windmills muggings.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-07T23:08:00.001-07:00

The little star pimps its burgers again

Should we expect anything less from Carl’s Jr. than a sexist ad to push their burgers? No. But I’m still offended by the blatant

ad that popped up on my TV screen between news updates.

This ad hides nothing when it comes to objectifying women. A female teacher stands at the front of the room explaining when the world was discovered to be round, not flat. The woman turns to a profile, when the frame freezes an outline of her figure is drawn. Some pubescent white boys then break out into a rap about her figure.

This recent push to get adolescent boys to buy Carl N. Karcher’s burgers to fill the coiffeurs of conservatives is really quite sickening. This year’s first quarter earnings for CKE Restaurants, Inc., which runs Carl’s Jr., as well as, a number of other fast food franchise chains, was just under $1.6 million, according to Market Watch. And guess where that money is going…

For those of you who don’t know, Karcher is devoted to giving his fortune from the franchises he’s built under CKE Restaurants, Inc. to conservative causes. His money has gone towards battling against abortion and queer rights. Karcher was the biggest supporter of the Briggs Initiative in 1978. The ballot measure that would have required termination of gays and lesbians from working in public schools was defeated by over 1 million votes.

So, it really shouldn’t be a surprise, especially with Carl’s Jr. ad campaigns of recent years that have included Hugh Heffner and Paris Hilton, which were demeaning to women and offensive as well…but honestly this new ad is really over the top.

To protest this ad, contact:

Andrew F. Puzder
President and CEO
CKE Restaurants, Inc.
6307 Carpinteria Avenue, Suite A
Carpinteria, CA 93013

2007-09-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I covered double discrimination by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission: “HRC report on Native Americans draws criticism”; I covered the first day of school for kids with queer parents: “Kids head back to school”; and I compiled a list for LGBT and queer kid back to school tools: “School resources.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-09-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Transgender girlfriend the next TV political scandal

Dirty, Sexy, Money, ABC7’s new racy show, promises to deliver on its title this TV season kicking off with a raising political star’s affair with a transgender girlfriend.

The girlfriend to the New York Attorney General, played by William Baldwin, is played by real life transgender actress Candis Cayne, who was born Brendan McDaniel in Hawaii.

Cayne, a veteran performer made a name for herself at New York City’s hot gay night spot Boy Bar and was crowned 2001’s Miss Gay Continental U.S.A., according to IMDb, she will appear on five episodes of the new show that is promising to be hotter than the money soaked ‘80s nighttime dramas Dallas and Falcon Crest.

The drama follows a hard pressed young attorney as he tries to rescue America’s third wealthiest family from themselves. The cast is star studded with former Six Feet Under star Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Baldwin, and Blair Underwood will appear during the first five episodes too.

A trained dancer, Cayne recently played Annaka Manners in this summer’s queersploitation movie Starrbooty, with RuPaul, that was a hit at queer film fests around the U.S. This wasn’t the first time Cayne made the big screen in a drag movie. Cayne played herself in an appearance in the 1995 drag cross country road trip movie To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, which starred Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, and a host of star cameo appearances. She was also in the 1995 documentary, Wigstock: The Movie, with Alexis Arquette.

Cayne isn’t giving up her live shows for the big or the small screen. According to IMDb, Cayne continues to perform live in New York City’s queer lounges and bars, such as the Viceroy, Brite Bar, Barracuda, Ritz Bar, and Opus22.

Dirty, Sexy, Money begins on September 26.

2007-08-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

Bisexuality gets a positive review

ABC News, child of Disney, took a look at bisexuality last week, giving it a somewhat happily ever after ending.

In an article on ABC News’s Web site, “Young women defy labels in intimacy with both sexes,” in a surprising turn of events bisexuality was given a wink or a nudge towards being okay.

The opener to the article was the typical sensationalism around bisexual women, referring to them as “recreational lesbians” then launching into Anne Heche’s and Angelina Jolie’s public bisexual displays.

I thought the article was doomed as another sensational look at bisexual women, but then the author of the article, Susan Donaldson James, stated that the stars who “flaunt” and then “change their minds” about their sexuality make it difficult for young women exploring their sexuality. Close, but not quite I cringed.

I continued to be skeptical as I continued to read the article and didn’t see actual commentary from bisexual activists, experts, and organizations in the article. James interviewed Roberta Sklar, director of communications of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Kaaren Williamsen-Garvey, director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at Carleton College in Minnesota, and two bisexual young women. It is unknown if any of the experts who contributed to the article are bisexual.

Why were bisexual experts, when there are so many, not included in the article? The answer is unknown, but they could have contributed greatly to James’s article. Bisexual author Jennifer Baumgardner, who wrote Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics, about young women’s bisexuality and the exploration of this aspect of their sexuality, or Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski, co-authors of The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, And Lists for Those Who Go Both Ways, who wrote a hilarious guide through the twist and turns of being bisexual. Nor did James contact any of the bisexual organizations, BiNet USA or the Bisexual Resource Center, to interview them for the article.

Despite the omission of bisexual experts, the article took a positive turn acknowledging that sexuality was complicated and that it was okay to explore sexuality. The article went further when James quoted Williamsen-Garvey who stated, “It’s hard to maintain bisexual identity without a community [of support].”

By the end of the article, James changed her tune about Heche’s and Jolie’s fluid sexuality that has been splashed across the tabloids during the past 15 or so years. She thought it might be good. James even mentioned Eleanor Roosevelt’s alleged bisexual affairs, suggesting that bisexuality is somewhat new, but not quite so new.

The article ended on an open note projecting into the unknown future of sexuality. James quoted Sklar, “We are seeing something out there that is different than what we have seen before.”

I don’t know if bisexuality is something that different than what has occurred throughout time, but we do have a name for it whether we like it or not and we are becoming visible. That’s nice to know.

2007-08-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

I made it onto SFist, a liberal commendary blog in San Francisco, for my story about the Chasing Amy Social Club's anti-trans policy:

http://sfist.com/2007/08/24/a_bitransgender.php

2007-08-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on bisexual discrimination of transgender women: “Bi social club bars some trans women”; I covered a hit and run in the Castro: “Castro resident killed in hit and run”; I covered the Board of Supervisors landmarked the UC Berkeley Extension campus: “LGBT senior housing unaffected by supervisors' landmark decision”; and a man with AIDS in a tangled web of lawsuits over a house: “PWA stuck with mold-filled house.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-08-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

Transgender Identity Development Survey

I am writing to ask for your help with what will be the largest non-clinical study of the lives of transgender people in the U.S. (in the first ten days, we have had more than 600 participants, and are aiming for more than 2,000).

While much has been written about individual transgender experiences, there has been little trans-positive research on the processes by which people come to see themselves as MTFs, FTMs, crossdressers, genderqueers, and other transgender and gender diverse identities.

The researchers are a genderqueer college administrator (me!) and a queer campus diversity specialist (full bios are below). We are undertaking this study because we feel that high school and college administrators, therapists, doctors, and other professionals who work with transgender people often have a limited understanding of transgender experiences, which leads to poor treatment and discrimination. We hope that our findings will help foster a greater awareness of transgender people.

You can take part in the study by completing the survey at https://web.survey.psu.edu/transgender/* (it is a secure server). Thequestionnaire will take about 30 minutes to fill out. It is completely anonymous and responses cannot be tracked back electronically to the sender.

Please feel free to forward the study's web address to other transgender people you know who might be interested. And please feel free to contact me with any questions.Thank you very much! I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

brett genny

*Bios of the Researchers

*Brett Genny Beemyn, Ph.D., is the coordinator of GLBT Student Services at the Ohio State University, co-chair of the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education, and a board member of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. Brett has published and spoken extensively on transgender college students and trans-inclusive campus policies. Dr. Beemyn's most recent publications include "Trans on Campus: Measuring and Improving the Climate for Transgender Students" in *On Campus with Women*;"Transgender Issues on Campus" in *New Direction in Student Services: LGBT Issues in Student Affairs*; "Cross Dressing," "Transsexuality," and "Transgender Students" in *Youth, Education, and Sexualities: An International Encyclopedia*; "Genderqueer," "Transgender Autobiography," "Transgender Issues in Education," and "Transgender Issues in the Law" for www.glbtq.com <*http://www.glbtq.com*> ; and a special issue of the *Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education* on "Trans Youth."

Sue Rankin, Ph.D., is a Senior Diversity Planning Analyst in the Office of the Vice Provost and Assistant Professor in Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University. She has presented and written several papers and books on the impact of sexism, racism and heterosexism in the academy and in intercollegiate athletics. Dr. Rankin's current research focuses on the assessment of institutional climate and providing program planners and policy makers with recommended strategies to improve the campus climate for underrepresented groups. In her role as a consultant, Dr. Rankin has collaborated with over 50 institutions/organizations in implementing assessments and developing strategic plans regarding social justice issues and concerns. Her most recent publications include: "Campus Climate for Sexual Minority Students: Challenges and Best Practices" in *Toward Administrative Reawakening: Creating and Maintaining Safe College Campuses*; "Climate for LGBT College Youth" in *Youth, Education, and Sexualities: AnInternational Encyclopedia*; "Slow but Steady: Administrators Taking Heart to GBT Safety, Services" in *GLBT Campus Matters: Guidance for Higher Education*; "Campus Climate for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender People" in *The Diversity Factor*; "Campus Climate for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender People: A Legal Perspective" in *Focus on Law Studies*. I am writing to ask for your help with what will be the largest non-clinical study of the lives of transgender people in the U.S. (in the first ten days, we have had more than 600 participants, and are aiming for more than 2,000).

2007-08-19T12:59:00.001-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported on San Francisco’s new superintendent: “New schools chief reaches out to LGBTs”; I covered the sudden departure of the LGBT Library center’s program manager: “Hormel Center director departs”; I covered the American Bar Association’s resolution to support foster youth “aging out” of the system: “ABA gets behind foster youth”; and I follow up on the arraignment of a S&M murder suspect of a San Francisco activist: “Murder suspect pleads not guilty.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-08-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I reported about gearing to defend same-sex marriage: “Gay group quietly preparing for initiative fight”; I covered Chris Daly’s propbably run and Mayor Gavin Newsom being “insulted” by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club’s endoresment questionnaire: “On eve of Milk Club endorsement, Chris Daly mulls mayoral run”; I covered the lose of the transgender prisoner’s case against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: “Trans ex-prisoner loses suit, plans appeal”; and I announced the Transgender Law Center’s new leadership: “New TLC leaders aim to widen agency's reach.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-08-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I cover a gay protest at the UN Secretary-General’s forum: “Gays 'zap' UN head during SF visit”; and I cover the sudden departure of and new executive director for a LGBT senior organization: “Lavender Seniors director quits after two months.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-08-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Take the Advocate suvey

The Advocate, the award-winning newsmagazine for the LGBT community, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by honoring 40 gay heroes. Advocate.com is featuring a survey asking readers to pick their favorite 40 gay heroes from a list of 100 notable nominees. The Advocate team will determine rankings based on votes plus editors' input, and the top 40 heroes will be featured on the cover of the anniversary issue coming out in September (the top vote-getter will be featured on the opening page of the story and will be celebrated in the issue.)

We'd like to get your help getting the word out about the poll. Here's the link:
http://www.advocate.com/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=19

The survey will end on August 15. Let me know if you need any more information.

Rich Rodriguez, PlanetOut Inc., rich.rodriguez@planetoutinc.com

2007-07-29T17:11:00.001-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I cover the Girlado vs. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation trial: “Former trans prisoner's trial opens”; I cover sexual misconduct of another trans prisoner: “Officer charged for sexual misconduct with TG prisoner”; and I write about San Francisco activist’s murder’s connection to the gay community: “Police seek gays' help in activist's murder.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-07-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I report on inform consent legislation for HIV/AIDS testing: “Bill would reduce informed consent requirements”; I follow up on the unrelated Castro Halloween shooting case: “Guilty plea in gun case”; and I write about an Iranian candle light vigil: “Vigil to recall executions”.

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-07-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

RESEARCH PROJECT OF FTMS WHO TRANSITIONED 20+ YEARS AGO

•Were you born female bodied?
•Do you currently identify as a man, FTM, transman, transgender, or transsexual?
•Did you transition more than 20 years ago?

If you answered YES to all of these questions, you are needed for a research project exploring the transition experiences of FTMs. It involves only one 90-minute interview and participation is voluntary and confidential. A gift certificate of $10.00 to a book store will be given after the interview. For more information call Adam Yerke at (415) 820-1603 or e-mail at t_yerke@hotmail.com.

2007-07-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

Biphobia punk rock style

In a completely offensive and ignorant rant, Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto launched a biphobic attack against Angelina Jolie.

Tittle-Tattle™: Dishing Hollywood Dirt Daily reported the biphobic spewing in an article, “Beth Ditto Blasts Angelina Jolie, Not 'Bisexual' Enough,” on July 5. In the article Ditto, 26, a self-described "fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas," according to CNN, allegedly states that she’s “unconvinced by Angelina's same sex boasts” pointing to the fact that Jolie, 32, started a family with Brad Pitt. No self-respecting bi woman would adopt and give birth to children with Pitt. It’s so shameful! Please sweetie, she could have done worse.

In the same article, Ditto is quoted “fuming,” "If she were a lesbian, or had lesbian tendencies, she'd be with a woman not a man."

Hmmm…if she were a lesbian…I almost feel a punk rock tune of the bi persuasion coming on. That’s the point. Jolie is not a lesbian. She has been very publicly open about being bisexual, but for those skeptics I guess they will have to hear it from the ex-lesbian lover’s lips or pen.

Former Calvin Klein model and Jolie’s Fox Fire co-star Jenny Shimizu, 39, was reported in January in Tittle-Tattle Too that a tell-all-book is in the works. And according to the article, Jolie wasn’t the only bi celeb rolling around under the covers or wherever with Shimizu. The article quoted Shimizu stating that she was Madonna’s on-call “sex slave.” This girl gets around.

Will this be proof enough of Jolie’s Sapphic ways for you Ditto?

Ditto did not respond to a request to speak with her about her biphibic comments.

2007-07-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Gay Rights in Iran

If you are interested in the queer movement in Iran this is a really good documentary: http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2007/03/030407_1.html.

2007-07-12T23:30:00.001-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I report on LGBT senior housing updates: “Moves under way for site of proposed senior housing”; I cover the start of transgender prisoner’s trial: “Judge delays trans prisoner's trial”; and I cover queers protesting a new condo development: “Queers protest housing project”.

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-07-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Employment Opportunity

Women of Color Resource Center

Job Title: Executive Director
Location: Oakland
FT Regular

Job Description:
The Women of Color Resource Center (WCRC) is looking for a skilled, energetic and resourceful manager and leader strongly rooted in cutting edge feminist analysis, economic and racial justice politics and social transformation at both the national and international levels. The ED will bring leadership to an important organization providing education, strategy and resources on key issues facing women of color.

Agency Background
Founded in 1990, the Women of Color Resource Center (WCRC) is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its mission is to promote the political, economic, social and cultural well being of women and girls of color in the United States. Informed by a social justice perspective that takes into account the status of women internationally, WCRC is committed to organizing and educating women of color across lines of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, class, sexual orientation, physical ability and age.

WCRC has four main program areas: Economic Justice and Human Rights, Peace and Solidarity, Research and Social Analysis, and Popular Education and Leadership Development. With our strong track record, we envision that WCRC will continue to play a critical role in the social justice movement. In the next year, the Board of Directors, in collaboration with staff, is planning to map out our future strategic direction. Our next Executive Director will be an important partner in this exciting exploration. For more information go to www.coloredgirls.org

Job Profile
The Executive Director is responsible for providing leadership and management that ensures the consistent achievement of the organization's mission, strategic goals and financial objectives. The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors and works collaboratively with staff and the board to develop and implement programmatic, administrative and resource development objectives as well as manage the annual budget of approximately $600K.

The Executive Director supervises a small staff that currently consists of five full-time staff members. The ED must have a deep commitment to staff involvement, participatory decision-making, and leadership development among staff. It is anticipated that the ED will travel moderately to represent the organization.

Our ideal candidate has a history of engagement in social justice movements and will be able to speak to diverse communities. She is passionate about providing mentorship and has a successful track record in fundraising and program development.

Specific responsibilities include:

Program Development and Management
1. Ensures that WCRC's programs are in alignment with the agency's strategic plan and vision and are achieving identifiable goals and outcomes through consistent program evaluation. Supervision and Management
2. Provides oversight, guidance and direction to program staff. Supervises staff to ensure that management, leadership, personnel policies and decision-making models are in alignment with WCRC values and principles. Attracts, hires, and develops talented and diverse staff. Fundraising/External relations
3. Develops and implements fundraising plan with staff and board. Expand and diversify WCRC’s relationships with individual donors, public and family foundations, and community leaders. Provides oversight for donor communication, grant writing, proposal submission and grant management. Publicizes the programs, goals and activities of the organization. Builds and maintain partnerships, and alliances with other organizations. Financial Management
4. Develops annual budget for Board approval and manages organization's resources within guidelines. Ensures implementation of sound fiscal management and accounting procedures including regular financial reports to Board of Directors Board Development and Strategy
5. Works with the Board of Directors to lead the organization in the development and implementation of strategic plan. Supports national board strengthening capacity for organizational oversight and fundraising, including board recruitment. Provides board with timely and accurate reporting on the organization’s financial status, programmatic initiatives, staff and organizational relations.

Communications
1. Writes and edits social and political analysis on a broad range of issues. Works closely with the program directors to represent WCRC to funders, peer agencies, academic organizations, media, and the general public.

WCRC seeks a candidate who possesses a broad range of talents, attributes and experiences, including: Highest priorities:

· Rooted in cutting edge feminist analysis, economic, social and racial justice.
· Proven track record in raising funds from sources similar to those of WCRC.
· Ability to write and speak to local and national audiences and organize across generational lines. Strong interpersonal skills.
· Management experience with similar staff size and budget.
· Deep commitment to staff involvement and developing a participatory organizational culture
· Other priorities:
· Strong progressive community experience in developing leadership and constituencies among low-income women of color.
· Policy advocacy and campaign experience to advance programmatic goals
· Ability to use technology to strategically communicate WCRC’s mission and goals
· Computer skills, Mac and Microsoft Office.
· Visionary, collaborative, charismatic, energetic, and balanced.

How to Apply:
Submit a cover letter summarizing interest, qualifications and experience (2 pages max) with a current resume via email to wcrc.edsearch@compasspoint.org

Organization Web Site: www.coloredgirls.org

2007-07-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

Coming Out of the Closet Again:

Queer Women on Loving Men
(SuspectThoughts Press, due out in 2008)

Editor: Cheryl Burke

Email: libi_women@yahoo.com

Deadline: October 15, 2007. But please let me know ASAP if you're interested in submitting andwhat you would like to write about.

Payment: $25, plus two copies of the book

I'm interested in women with personal stories of coming out again andwomen who identify as lesbian/queer-identified bisexuals.

- Did you start dating a man after you were out as a lesbian?
- Are you a lesbian with a boyfriend?
- Are you a woman in a relationship with a man who still identifies asqueer?
- Are you both bi and dyke?
- How do you maintain a queer identity while you are being perceivedas straight?
- How have those around you reacted to your coming out again?

Submit well-written personal essays/nonfiction, 5-12 double spacedpages. Please include a brief bio, and your contact information withyour submission.

If you would like to discuss essay ideas/topics or if you have anyquestions, please contact me at libi_women@yahoo.com.

2007-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR ART by Latinos
Women’s Cancer Resource Center – Oakland, CA

We’re looking for several local (Alameda country preferred – other SF Bay Area OK too) artists to participate in the following group show at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery in North Oakland. Please read through all of this information before submitting.

Art must be suitable for our setting - our clients have asked that the work not be "upsetting." Our preference is for colorful and/or meaningful work. We have shown paintings, drawings, quilts, gourds, ceramics, bamboo, collage, masks, etc. 3-D work needs to fit on top of book shelves - we don't have pedestals but if you do we can use them in the show as they fit in the space. 2-D work must be framed/mounted securely and wired across the back.

The Salud Health and Art fair drew over 250 people last year. If your art is on exhibit we expect your attendance at the reception and hope that you will invite your, friends, family and fans. We will have music, entertainment and food at the reception. We will produce a color postcard for you to use for publicity. We will hang the show, make labels, and assemble a binder of information about the artists. You may sell your work or not, as you wish. If you do sell work we ask for a (tax deductible) 20% commission and you are welcome to donate a higher percentage (also deductible) if you are able.

The easiest way for us to see your work is to look at websites or jpgs. If you are submitting jpgs - please send work that you have available to show. If you send a link to your website please let us know which work you are submitting if there are several bodies of work included. Other ways of submitting and other information about the gallery and arrangements are located here http://www.wcrc.org/guidelines.htm To view art from past shows see this link http://www.wcrc.org/pgallery/index.htm

You may also submit a paragraph or two about why you’d like to show at WCRC. Statements and bios are very welcome and can be informal in nature.

August/September 2007 – ¡Salud!

This (3rd annual) show will feature the work of local Latino artists. We’d especially like to have submissions that relate to health or healthy living but other themes welcomed too. Looking for art to place in the gallery as well as artists/vendors ($25 charge to have a table in the Mercado) who want to sell their work in the outdoor Mercado that took place during the reception. Last year the outdoor Mercado was comprised of artists and health organizations. Our first ¡Salud! drew over 250 people who came out to buy art, hear live music and enjoy a complimentary lunch. Slots will be filled as work comes in so please submit as soon as possible. Please let us know if you’d like us to send you a vendor application for the Mercado.

Saludos,
Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss

Community Outreach Manager
Art Gallery Curator
Women's Cancer Resource Center
5741 Telegraph Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 420-7900 x 111
http://www.wcrc.org
REPLY TO margo@wcrc.org

2007-07-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I report on Pride’s biphobic media coverage: “Biphobia claimed in Pride Parade Web, TV coverage”; I follow up on the anti-marriage equality and domesic partnership initiatives: “California looms as marriage equality battleground”; I cover a city employee’s biblical harassment: “DPT employee accused of preaching on the job”; and I report on the city’s new transgender services: “City provides new trans services.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.

2007-07-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Transgender Woman rape survivor sues california state prison SYSTEM

Community United Against Violence (CUAV) and the Transgender, Gender Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) are encouraging community individuals, groups, and social justice organizations to show their support for Ms. Alexis Giraldo. Ms. Giraldo is a young Latina transgender woman in the California prison system. For three months Ms. Giraldo repeatedly sought protection from prison staff after her cellmate threatened to rape her. After numerous denied requests for assistance, Ms. Giraldo’s cellmate raped her in early 2006. She is suing the state of California for failing to protect her. Ms. Giraldo is asking the court to require the State of California to develop guidelines to better protect transgender people in prison. Unfortunately, the State Attorney General lawyers representing The Department of Corrections continue to refer to Ms. Alexis Giraldo as “he” and “him.”

CUAV and TGIJP are requesting community presence and attendance at Ms. Giraldo’s trial. Community presence in court will demonstrate our belief that the state must be held accountable for continually placing our community in life-threatening danger.

Ms. Giraldo, who will be present to give her own testimony, and her attorney Greg Walston, are requesting that the community attend the court proceedings and wear RED. RED has been chosen as a symbol of the hurt and pain caused by the violence and discrimination against our communities, as well as a way to express power in loving solidarity. On the behalf of Ms. Giraldo CUAV and TGIJP are also requesting that community members sit in silent solidarity in the courtroom. For more information about trial times and dates please go to: www.tgijp.org.

When: The trial is tentatively set to start on Thursday July 5th, 2007 and a press conference is set for Monday July 9th, 2007 from 8:00am-9:30am outside the courthouse
Where: Civic Center Courthouse at 400 McAllister Street @ Polk, Room 206, in San Francisco
Time: The trial will continue every day from 9:30am to 5 pm until approximately July 11th.

Please Wear RED!

Please let CUAV & TGIJP know which dates and times you are able to attend by emailing Tina D’Elia, the Hate Violence Survivor Program Director at CUAV, or by calling Alexander Lee at TGIJP.

For more information:
Court Watch Coordinator (inquiries about participating in the court watch):
Tina D’Elia, Hate Violence Survivor Program Director at CUAV - tina@cuav.org

Court Case Coordinator (inquiries about the case):
Alexander Lee at TGIJP (510) 677-5500 for updates go to: www.tgijp.org

To learn more about the case also see last week's Bay Area Reporter for the article "TG prisoner sues corrections dept." that I wrote about this case.

2007-06-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

OUT magazine is looking for

nominations for this year's "Out 100."

Follow the link to nomination your fave queer or queer ally:
http://www.out.com/takeSurvey.asp?surveyid=7

2007-06-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

UCLA Same-Sex Couples Study

We are a team of researchers from UCLA interested in better understanding the life experiences of same-sex couples.

In this research you will be asked to complete a set of online questionnaires regarding your relationship and your social interactions.

To participate, you must be:
- At least 18 years of age
- *_Currently in a same-sex romantic relationship_*
- Currently living in California

A donation will be made to one of several charities in return for participation.

To participate or to learn more about the research and the researchers, please go to the following web address: _www.same-sex-couples-study.com_**

If you have any questions, please email Adam Fingerhut, M.A. at awf@ucla.edu or Natalya Maisel at maisel@ucla.edu.

UCLA IRB #G06-06-097-01

2007-06-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

This week's Bay Area Reporter is on newstands!

This week in the Bay Area Reporter I report on after Pride: “A relatively calm Pride, police say”; I covered an important case for transgender inmates: “TG prisoner sues corrections dept.”; I followed up on an HIV-positive man’s housing issues: “HIVer can stay in apartment”; and I reported on the city’s new campaign to educate about gay male rape services: “City launches 'Men Surviving Rape' ads.”

For more news and entertainment visit the Bay Area Reporter online or pick up an issue at your local independent or queer bookstore.