Lambda Legal brings 'equal (gay) pay for equal work' lawsuit against Arizona: "Under the leadership of Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Arizona state government in 2008 created a health insurance benefit for the domestic partners and children of state employees and retirees. This past September, the Arizona legislature stripped those benefits from state employees with now-Governor Jan Brewer's approval. Oh, but they made sure to retain spousal health benefits for heterosexual employees. Who do you think burdens the state budget more, the legions of heterosexual employees, or the handful of gay ones? Lambda Legal is suing."
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Lambda Legal brings 'equal (gay) pay for equal work' lawsuit against Arizona: "Under the leadership of Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Arizona state government in 2008 created a health insurance benefit for the domestic partners and children of state employees and retirees. This past September, the Arizona legislature stripped those benefits from state employees with now-Governor Jan Brewer's approval. Oh, but they made sure to retain spousal health benefits for heterosexual employees. Who do you think burdens the state budget more, the legions of heterosexual employees, or the handful of gay ones? Lambda Legal is suing."
Beyoncé and Lady Gaga "Video Phone" Music Video: The fruits of this epic collaboration have been revealed. Now the only question is, what do you think of the results?
Florida County Chooses 1st Openly Gay Mayor: FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Broward commissioners on Tuesday chose the county's first openly gay mayor to replace Mayor Stacy Ritter, who is stepping down after a turbulent year at the top. Commissioners made history when they unanimously elected Ken Keechl as the county's new mayor. The selection of a new mayor was part of Broward's annual changing of the guard in county leadership.
Watch: Video
Outgoing Mayor Stacy Ritter delivered the annual State of the County address. She said the county is in good shape despite having to cut 1,300 jobs and $400 million from its budget. Keechl said "budget, budget, budget" will be at the top of his priority list as he takes office. "We've got to continue lowering taxes and streamlining government. That's what it's all about," Keechl said. "We've got a lot of challenges ahead of us. We've done a great job so far, but there's more that needs to be cut." When asked what message his being chosen as an openly gay mayor sends to the public, Keechl said, "I learned yesterday that I'm now the highest ranking openly gay mayor in the country. I didn't even know that. I've been an openly gay man for years, as a lawyer, as a businessman and as a county commissioner. Basically, it just means that I'm no different than anybody else."
Georgia High School Teacher Arrested for Putting 'Hit' on Student After Asking Teen if He Was Gay: Police have arrested Randolph Forde, a teacher at Mundy's Mill High School in Jonesboro, Georgia for allegedly putting a "hit" on a student after an incident in which he asked the student if he was gay.
Observations from the Trenches in Maine: Thoughts on the loss of marriage equality in Maine by "No on 1" campaign manager Jesse Connolly.
Anti-Gay Attacks Planned Against Houston Mayoral Candidate Annise Parker: 'The bottom line is that we didn't pick the battle, she did, when she made her agenda and sexual preference a central part of her campaign,' said Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, numbering more than 200 senior pastors in the Greater Houston area. ... Parker, however, has not made these issues a central part of her campaign: "Parker has tread carefully in her candidacy for mayor, stressing frequently that she is running not as a gay candidate but as a qualified city official who's won election six times."
[UPDATE] Arrest Made In Puerto Rico Gay Teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado Murder Case: A man was arrested in the early morning hours today in Cayey suspect in the murder of George Steven Lopez Mercado, the 19-year-old was brutally decapitated, dismembered and partially burned in an apparent hate crime for homophobia.
"'The FBI is monitoring this investigation with the Police of Puerto Rico because there are federal statutes under the laws of civil rights violations covered by hate crimes,' Rodriguez said early in reference to the newly adopted Law for Preventing Hate Crimes signed in October that President Barack Obama."
This Is What Happens When You Switch Your Major From Engineering To Linguistics…
I have recently decided to change my major from Biomedical engineering to a double major in Linguistics and Neuroscience. Excited to actually study something that I find enjoyable, I have been spending every minute of my day procrastinating by trying to memorize what Wikipedia has to say about linguistics and neuroscience. Also I have been reading and have finished In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language by Arika Okrent. An astoundingly interesting book and a must read for anyone with a slight flair for language. My further meanderings into procrastination led me to attend UNC Chapel Hill’s LGBT student group’s meeting last Thursday where the topic was Trans 101 (I have to express my dearest apologies for I have forgotten the presenters surname, first name is Mandy). After which I felt that using gendered pronouns was now akin to hate crimes.Yet instead of being inspired to fight for and rally for LGBT equality with civil disobedient vigor, I couldn’t help wondering that explicitly asking if one preferred male or female pronouns was a bit long-winded. Then a small voice inside my head uttered "the neuter case!" (which is common in the other Germanic languages). We would simply need to turn back the clock to old English where there was a plethora of pronouns. So just as we might say the gendered 'he' or 'her' we would say neutered 'hit.' We could even introduce different new and artificial pronouns for gender identity and expression; as well as transitions and intersexes and so on. There by mapping the English language to the current need for equality and representation.
Though ultimately this would not bring about equality though language, like Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof hoped to do with his Esperanto, but it would make the tool that is language more, in a way, ergonomic. Yet such an overhaul is simply a flight of fancy; I do not expect nor actively entertain the idea that grammarians could be the new LGBT activists though I will certainly be a linguist of the movement. So now I leave you dear reader to write your next rally speech in old English.
PDgAy? Fine with Me
Oh look! They're holding hands; let's stare at them.A typical high school hallway of giddy, giggling girls? Not quite. This is what many couples face every day of their lives, long after they've emptied their lockers. And before this semester, a level of conspicuousness to which I had yet been exposed…
“Do you wanna dance?”
A simple enough question, but for one of few out students on campus, one packed with consequences. It was nine o’clock on a Friday night in early September, and a large crowd had gathered outside the Chapel for Salsa on the Steps. Gorged with dinner from Bali Hai, I was ready to dance my butt off. Or so I thought. But to be perfectly honest, I was quite terrified. Outside the safety of Vespa or Thrive (if you keep an eye on your drink), I wasn’t sure how ready I was display my sexuality for everyone to see, both friend and stranger alike.
But I took his hand. And we started dancing. And… nothing happened. No thunder from the sky, no gasps of abhorred shock. Someone from the event started taking pictures, but despite the initial racing of my heart, I didn’t mind it that much. As I left the event my mind kept drifting back to that moment, a moment that I recognized as a step forward in my coming out process. And as the week wore on, I grew more and more daring in expressing and affirming myself: holding hands, cuddling on the quad, kissing. Yes, kissing.
This is the part where I could either write a gumdrop fairy tale of how surprisingly accepting the campus can be of LGBT couples, or tear down an uplifting story with harsh realities of glares, scoffs, and feelings of scrutiny under a microscope that is Duke social life. The truth is, both scenarios exist. We’re only as open as we show ourselves to be, and we all come from different walks of life (ulgh, literary clichés). For some, that means finding a welcoming environment; for others, a bitter de-masking of false pretenses. As far as I’m concerned, the responsibility lies in the individual. You ultimately decide what world you want to live in, and your inaction can speak just as loudly as what you do decide to instigate. For me, that meant taking a risk, hoping I wouldn’t become a pariah by shoving my “homo agenda” in everyone’s face. And don’t I have that right? Don’t we all reserve the right to express our love freely without judgment from others—or, in a more practical state of mind, without too much vocal judgment from others? I believe so, and I hope you do to.
So don’t be afraid. Take the next step. Then another. And another. Soon, you’ll find we’re all marching in support with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
