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File this one under good news.
In a landmark Indian Supreme Court ruling today, Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah struck down Penal Code 377, overturning a colonial-era law criminalizing "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal."The victory is a historic step forward for human rights only days after people worldwide took to the streets for gay pride, particularly in a country where LGBTQII individuals face discrimination, stigma, and violence on a daily basis.
While the original petition against 377 cited its adverse impact on HIV/ AIDS prevention efforts, the Supreme Court ruling statement was far more progressive, citing the value of an inclusive society:
"The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognising a role in society for everyone... It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality, and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster the dignity of every individual."
While reports indicate this will only impact New Delhi, it may open doors for the rest of the country as well.
More from community blogger bifemmefatale here.
NorthEast Two-Spirit Society and Audre Lorde Project's Executive Director seemed to have been forcefully kicked out of the NYC Heritage of Pride march this past weekend.
Just before 2PM, Lieutenant Connoly of the Midtown Taskforce demanded that the People of Color Contingent leave the parade. The reason given was that a delay of 6 blocks existed between the People of Color contingent and the contingent in front of them. NYPD raised the issue of the gap once and POC contingent marshals were in the process of closing the gap. Kris Hayashi, Executive Director of Audre Lorde Project (ALP), and Loyda Colon also of ALP explained to Lieutenant Connoly, that they were in the process of closing the gap and Lieutenant Connoly refused to listen. Lieutenant Connoly then insisted that the POC contingent leave the parade, and attempted to arrest both Colon and Hayashi. Lieutenant Connoly then ejected Harlan Pruden, the driver of NE2SS' support vehicle and co-founder of NE2SS, other members of NE2SS (who led the People of Color Contingent), and Hayashi from the parade. Hayashi was physically dragged off the parade route."It should have been a day to celebrate and have fun," Harlan Pruden, Co-founder of NE2SS.
First off, having a six block gap seems like a weird reason to be kicked out of the parade. Secondly, I think this speaks to an inability to see people of color as a fundamental part of the pride festival. The conference organizers said that NE2SS can rejoin the parade, but I do think that the police are their to protect the ability for marchers to march in safety and what they feel is appropriate membership in the parade.
Whatever the reason may be, both NE2SS and the ALP are amazing organizations that should be part of Pride and it is sad that they were not able to participate without being harassed and kicked out by cops.
In a historic move the Department of Health and Human Services has issued regulations that will start the process to lift the HIV travel and immigration ban. The ban is from the 80's and has stigmatized and restricted the movement of people with HIV. The ban is based on discrimination, hate and fear. Andrew Sullivan writes,
Once the ban is lifted, the US will be able to become a venue for AIDS and HIV research conferences again (the US has been unable to host such events because of the ban for years), and leave behind the tiny number of countries - from Yemen to Saudi Arabia - that still actively stigmatize and penalize people with HIV in travel. It will remove a measure that discourages honesty about HIV, and promotes a stigma around the disease that makes effective prevention and treatment much harder. It will save lives. It will save relationships and marriages. It will place America where it belongs - at the forefront of global AIDS and HIV leadership. And because all immigrants have to prove they will not be a public charge and have private health insurance, and because a fee was added to the visa application to pay for the costs of enforcement, the fiscal effect is minimal - and offset by taxes legal immigrants like yours truly will continue to pay.
This is great news.
The NY Times writes last week about marriage, infidelity and Mark Sanford,
Despite strong social riptides working against it -- the liberalization of divorce laws, the vanishing stigma of divorce, the continual online temptations of social sites like MySpace or Facebook -- the marriage bond is far stronger in 21st-century America than many may assume. Infidelity is one of the most common reasons cited by people who divorce. But surveys find the majority of people who discover a cheating spouse remain married to that person for years afterward. Many millions more shrug off, or work through, strong suspicions or evidence of infidelity. And recent trends in marriage suggest that the institution itself has become more resilient in recent years, not less so.
The article looks at statistics and finds that since more people are staying married, despite the temptations to get divorced or cheat, marriage is working. It ignores one key fact, that perhaps less people are actually getting married, but more often just live together. The article does acknowledge that since people get married older, they are more clear about what they want and are better equipped at "making it work."
Firstly, if it is true, that people stay together after infidelity, looking at examples of public officials is not a good gauge of this since public couples have more at stake to stay together and not be destroyed by the public eye and the news media. They want to make an example of how they can overcome obstacle in their relationships, even if it is at great personal cost.
Secondly, if people are staying together despite infidelity, it could be for a variety of reasons. One, the pressure of marriage, culturally and financially doesn't allow for all the transgressions we think our "free" society allows and second, our view of monogamy has shifted and we can accept when someone falls off the path of heteronormative monogamy. I am sure there are more open marriages now than there were say 30 years ago.
But that doesn't change the main argument in the article which is really about how marriage is a resilient social institution. And I think it is safe to say the fact that marriage has become a booming industry, increasing cultural norm in almost retrograde terms and the government's re-commitment to keep it between a man and a woman are not innocent players in this supposed resiliency. So I guess the question is, has anything really changed? Has feminism helped at all in helping women not buy into the industry of marriage?
Well, interestingly, it seems that feminism is part of what is keeping marriage working.
Some of the same social changes that have unsettled traditional 1950s-era marriages have seemingly deepened them in the 1990s and 2000s. Today women are contributing more financially to relationships than earlier generations, and men are contributing more to the domestic duties. Compared with earlier generations, men and women today are more likely to marry someone like themselves, with a similar educational background, experts say. The relationship is less about dividing economic and domestic duties and more about shared interests and mutual happiness.
That is something I can buy, but I still take issue with the "who" of these articles. Only a handful of my friends are actually getting married. Many of them may want to, but many of them are having kids without husbands and they are not getting married. Some because they don't want to, or they haven't found someone to marry or they don't have access to the means to have a wedding. I am over studies that are just about how middle class people stay married and cheat or do not cheat. What are the relationship habits of people that don't marry, that try alternatives, that don't have social access to marriage (the queer community, poor people, etc), what are they doing? Their behavior will tell us much more about the institution of marriage than just looking at statistics of how many people are staying married.
Check out some pics I took from this past weekend's amazing NYC Pride Parade. And be sure to share your stories and experiences of Pride in comments!
On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, June 28, Fort Worth police raided The Rainbow Lounge and made numerous arrests. Here's an excerpt of an eye witness account:
My name is Kayla Lane. I am a Ph.D. student at UC-Santa Cruz, staying with my sister, Kelly Lane, for the summer. We and a few of our friends went to the new Rainbow Lounge last night to dance and have some fun. I was in the VIP section when police officers started coming up there. The first arrest (that we saw) was right in front of me in that section.They asked the guy if he had been drinking, and he said some, and they snidely replied, "Well, we'll see how much!" and plastic handcuffed him as they read him his rights The guy was doing NOTHIG wrong. It was utterly repugnant.
Once I saw this happen, I decided to try and speak with one of the police officers themselves, to go straight to the source and get their side. My sister Kelly and I simply started asking what they were doing here, stating how suspicious it seemed on this date and in this specific club, etc. This was a "State Policeman," whose name I forgot, who tried to explain their actions by referring to "anonymous tips" and "disgruntled ex-bartenders." We pointed out the place was open a week, so the disgruntled ex-bartender source seemed a bit unlikely! He wouldn't really answer my questions. although he did try to grab my hand and flirt with me (which was completely uninvited).
After this, we saw the policemen go into the men's restroom, pull out at least two guys from handcuffs from there, and pull one onto the ground before forcefully removing him. What were they doing in there? Raucously disposing of their waste?! There was no reason for ANY of those arrests, at all. These people were NOT drunk, or even overly happy or silly.
I am incensed and horrified by the way everyone at this location was treated. I hope this will get as much publicity as it deserves, and that a myriad of challenges and complaints will be made to the FWPD and other media sources.
Read more about the incident, and the follow-up protests here.
SistersTalk made a great point:
While the adults in Albany, NY still can't get it together to vote on the gay marriage bill in the NY Senate, the students of Mott Haven Village Preparatory (Public) High School in the Bronx have already cast their vote - and made history.
Victoria Cruz and Deoine Scott were voted (by a landslide!) "Best Couple" by their high school peers, the first time a gay couple was voted Best Couple in the school, and possibly in the Bronx.
Check out their story, it's really sweet.
New York City is commemorating the 40th anniversary of Stonewall by asking wealthy LGBTQ folks to make a "Rainbow Pilgrimage" to the city. (See poster at right.) Meanwhile, the city has refused to fund shelters that serve homeless queer youth. As a statement from Queers for Economic Justice puts it:
The campaign's website encapsulates Stonewall in a nostalgic distant light; a movement of the past now best found in a culture of style, restaurants and hot new clubs that are profiled in the ad campaign. The past violence and homophobia is replaced by the promise of a New York experience akin to Sex In The City. Further denying the violence of that fateful night in June, the Rainbow Pilgrimage describes the West Village as having a "population [that] has matured and neighborhood scene [that] has quieted along with it."The statement goes on to list the many ways low-income, working-class and homeless queer New Yorkers continue to face harassment, discrimination, and violence -- in shelters, in police custody, and in public. But New York City Council members don't think by such trivial details have much to do with the Stonewall anniversary.But that "quiet" has come at a cost to poor and working class queers today.
City officials found little remarkable in using an event associated with violence and resistance as the centerpiece of a marketing campaign.Note that she did not say, "it created the modern LGBT party circuit" or "it created the modern LGBT tourism industry." (Umm... disconnect?) Queers for Economic Justice rightly points out that the way to commemorate Stonewall is to support organizations and efforts that continue in that spirit today. To that end, here are some great causes to support: Of course that doesn't mean we have to mark the Stonewall anniversary in only a somber fashion, or only by donating to these organizations. But I do think it's important to remember, as Jaclyn said in her speech at the Boston Dyke March, that the first Stonewall wasn't a rave -- it was a riot."I don't think it's ironic, I think it's significant," said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who is openly gay, at a news conference announcing the campaign. "You know, 40 years ago a group of people said enough was enough. And they struck back against police officers. They struck back against unfair treatment."
"And," she added, "it created the modern L.G.B.T. civil rights movement."
A new, trans-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced in the House today by Barney Frank. The bill would protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to Mara Keisling, head of the National Center for Transgender Equality, this bill has TWICE as many co-sponsors as last year. Awesome. More info (and live updates about the bill) available on Mara's Twitter feed here.
Via News and Observer:
The House approved by a one-vote margin a bill that would ban bullying against school children for actual or perceived differences including sexual orientation.The bill passed 58 to 57, and Democrats then voted for a parliamentary maneuver ensuring that none of those voting in favor can change their minds. The result: the bill will be sent to Gov. Beverly Perdue for her signature.
I grew up in North Carolina and went to public high school. While my town is considered one of the most liberal in the state, I experienced a pretty homophobic high school environment. I wasn't out at the time, but my social world made it pretty clear it wasn't an option.
I support the NC legislature's efforts to address the specific targeting of LGBT youth. Hopefully the Governor will sign the legislation!
