Wired Blogger Opens Closet Door for LGBT Space Workers

Source: Wired.com

Space, The Final Frontier for Homosexuality

By Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides January 31, 2008 | 11:57:23 AMCategories: Sexuality, Space

"...With over 450 people having flown into space, odds are there has been at least one gay person in space already, but the conservative nature of NASA and the military heritage of many of the astronauts may combine to make it difficult for astronauts to be open about their sexual orientation. Add to that that US astronauts all live and train in Texas, where sodomy laws remained on the books until 2003 (when a Supreme Court ruling forced Texas to take them out), and you can begin to get a sense of the atmosphere. The atmosphere in Russia has not been much better.

There have been some recent victories however for gay people who love space. Former 'N Sync singer and commercial astronaut hopeful Lance Bass came out on the cover of People magazine in 2006 and George Takei, the actor who played the beloved Lieutenant Sulu on Star Trek, came out of the closet in 2005. Takei has become a major spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign and embarked on a nationwide speaking tour he called, "Equality Trek."

Of NASA's ten field centers, Ames and JPL in California, and Goddard in Maryland already have groups at their centers to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. NASA Ames also hosted George Takei in a special event on October 11, 2007 for National Coming Out Day. But the space community at large, still has a long way to go. MORE..."

Gov. Dreyfus Gay Rights Pioneer Dies

First governor to sign gay rights law dies

Source:gay.com published Friday, January 4, 2008

Former Wisconsin Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who in 1982 signed the first statewide gay rights law in the United States, has died. He was 81.

Dreyfus died Wednesday at his home near Milwaukee, said Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. on Thursday. He had suffered from heart and breathing problems.

The gay rights measure Dreyfus signed made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Activists gathered in Madison last year to mark the 25th anniversary of the law.

Dreyfus, a Republican who Wisconsin's 40th governor, was also a vocal opponent of the state's ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions, which was approved by voters in 2006. MORE AT HEADER

Jingle Bells Means Juggling More Balls for LGBT

Image Credit: Express.com



Source: EDGEBoston.com

"For many GLBT people, the long road between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is laced with potholes to be dodged or dealt with: isolation or exclusion from your birth family, disapproval of one’s lifestyle/partner choices, or the ultimatum that attending events means downplaying or denying who you are and what you do the other 364 days of the year..."More, go to Headline

"Pickle Surprise"...Holiday Stress Buster

Yes Mary, Everything Is Better in Denmark

Drama Drag Queen all sparkle-plenty, happy and famous. Ya!

NASA Snoops Into Sexual Orientation, Private Lives,Scientists Sue

Investigating the scientists who successfully investigated Mars. Image credit: JPL.

To see the JPL scientist's blog on The Homeland Security directive that they are protesting, click the link. Space- the last frontier for the right to privacy.

Markmarkmark writes:
"Wired is reporting that all NASA JPL scientists must 'voluntarily' (or be fired) sign a document giving the government the right to investigate their personal lives and history 'without limit'. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists this includes snooping into sexual orientation, mental & physical health as well as credit history and 'personality conflict'. 28 senior NASA scientists and engineers, including Mars Rover team members, refused to sign by the deadline and are now subject to being fired despite a decade or more of exemplary service. None of them even work on anything classified or defense related. They are suing the government and documenting their fight for their jobs and right to personal privacy."

Insult Upon Injury: HRC Snubs Trans Volunteers...Volunteers Resign

Image credit: James Green




The word is out that two more highly respected Trans leaders have resigned from the HRC. The gay.com story below gives some details.

This story, as I read it on Pamshouseblend is even more bizarre and outrageous. This is not Trans sour grapes, which would be completely justified. No.

James Green and Donna Rose, Trans members of the HRC Business Council, were loyal to HRC. They waited until after the ENDA vote, and then asked to meet with the HRC Executive Director Joe Solmonese to discuss strategy, going forward. Their request was ignored. No reply for three weeks, according to the referenced letter. Obviously then, Joe chose to ignore them, which is outrageous, insulting, and unprofessional...and intentional.

HRC would know that this stiff arm, stonewalling might force a resignation. Thus, rather than collaborate and consult with the two trans, respected, high level members of the international trans community, and the HRC Business Council, they set up a situation where the only reasonable option for these people was to resign. Shameful.

HRC is out of control, and their Executive Director has lost my confidence. It all seems to come down to control, and HRC has proven they do not welcome any consultation-and they never really have, from my experience as a former Federal Club Member- or request to participate in strategy. Even from their own high level volunteers. No matter how much pain and injustice is at stake. You know, the LGBT community never set out to become so fed up with HRC. I was willing to consider that Barney had put them in a very difficult situation.

No more. HRC has turn trans snubbing into internal policy. HRC is now ethically bankrupt.

I believe the Executive Director should resign, and the Board should turn over a new policy leaf on a number of fronts.

Until then, "HRC Does Not Speak For Me" just might make a good bumper sticker.

Source: Gay.com

"Two transgender members of the Human Rights Campaign quit Tuesday, saying the group's support of an employment nondiscrimination bill that excluded transgender workers put them ''in an untenable position.''

Jamison Green and Donna Rose's resignations from the business council of the Human Rights Campaign are effective immediately, according to a joint letter. The Human Rights Campaign works for equal rights for gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

''Considering recent broken promises, the lack of credibility that HRC has with the transgender community at large, and HRC's apparent lack of commitment to healing the breach it has caused, we find it impossible to maintain an effective working relationship with the organization,'' they said. MORE...click Header.

AOL = Against Out Liberals?

Image: Kenny Hill of AOL



AOL canned a new queer blog of it's own making.
A principal in the effort now wonders why, amidst the ruins of his dream.

Source: Proceed at your own risk.com

"And was the deletion of QueerSighted bundled into a general "layoff" to hide some ugly truth? Were our politics too far to the left of certain senior officers at AOL? Was AOL receiving threats from it's large Evangelical and Right wing readership that used to entertain itself by flaming our site? I guess we'll never know and the worst thing we can say about AOL is that they lied about their commitment to the GLBT community and Kenny Hill and just swept us and him away as part of some mindless, heartless corporate housecleaning exercise. More? Click Header.

Transgender Day Of Remembrance Nov 20

source: rememberingourdead.org

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.

Who Died In 2007?

Nakia Ladelle Baker
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to the head
Date of Death: January 7, 2007

Keittirat Longnawa
Location: Rassada, Thailand
Cause of Death: Beaten by 9 Youths who then slit her throat
Date of Death: January 31, 2007

Moira Donaire
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
Cause of Death: Stabbed 5 times by a street vendor
Date of Death: March 5, 2007

Michelle Carrasco “Chela”
Location: Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death: She was found in a pit with her face completely disfigured.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007

Ruby Rodriguez
Location: San Francisco, California
Cause of Death: She had been strangled and was found naked in the street.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007

Erica Keel
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: A car repeatedly struck her
Date of Death: March 23, 2007

Bret T. Turner
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds
Date of Death: April 2, 2007

Unidentified Male Clad in Female Attire
Location: Kingston, Jamaica
Cause of Death: Gunshot wounds to the chest and lower back
Date of Death: July 7, 2007

Victoria Arellano
Location: San Pedro, California
Cause of Death: Denied necessary medications to treat HIV-related side effects.
Date of Death: July 20, 2007

Oscar Mosqueda
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: July 29, 2007

Maribelle Reyes
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: AIDS; Reyes was turned away from several treatment centers due to her transgender status.
Date of Death: August 30, 2007

You can also find out about all the other reported cases of anti-transgender murder by visiting the Remembering Our Dead website.

This Is Where The Work Needs to Be Done: Rep.Patricia Todd of Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama. Patricia Todd, white, liberal and lesbian won a state seat in a majority black voter district in Alabama. She never expected to win, and she was rightfully fearful of the Klan and others as she pioneered in this win. Patricia is one of the most interesting politicians in the LGBT elected constellation. Hello, it seems as if you are committed to delivering what constituents want need and deserve you can win on the merits. Patricia is proving that. Thanks to Pam over at House Blend for posting all of these great videos by Rep. Todd. Rep. Todd tells moving stories about what her campaign, and life are like in the deep south.

Barney Frank Endorses Hillary (And Visa Versa?)

Video: You Tube. Hillary campaigning at The Abbey, a famous LGBT club in LA.

Yes, Barney Frank is wounded by the ENDA flap, but politics must go forth in an election year. What is interesting here to Stonewall Citizen is that Clinton openly welcomes him with a headline post on her blog. This is progress for the community, and probably helps Frank with his LGBT base, as Clinton is spending her political capital on him, and us.
Now maybe they can work together on Trans inclusion in ENDA and everything else, and towards a federal marriage act for the LGBT during a Clinton presidency.


Source: hillaryclinton.com

The Clinton Campaign announced the endorsement of Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and named him as an Economic Advisor to the Campaign.

"I have from the beginning of this campaign believed that Hillary Clinton was the candidate best qualified to serve as President," Rep. Frank said. "I am convinced that once elected, the qualities she will bring to the job - commitment, intellect, and political skills - will make her an extremely effective leader in our effort to reverse the badly flawed course on which George Bush and past Republican Congresses have set this country.

"I am particularly pleased by her commitment to reverse the economic policies that have created a situation in which as the country progresses economically, only a small number of Americans benefit. Her understanding of the need to implement policies that provide fairness for middle and working class people is very important. She has shown an ability to fight for progressive values in a way that is capable of appealing to the majority of our fellow citizens, and I believe that she is both politically and substantively the candidate best qualified to be our nominee.

"As Chair of the House Financial Services Committee with major responsibilities for various parts of our economy, I particularly look forward to working with her and members of her administration in once again demonstrating that economic growth and a concern for economic fairness in fact are reinforcing values, and not, as the current administration believes, in competition with each other.

"In addition, based on my work with her on issues involving discrimination, I am convinced that Hillary Clinton is the candidate best equipped to pass laws that will treat all Americans with dignity, fairness and equality no matter who they are or who they love."

"I'm honored to have the support of one of the sharpest minds in Congress," Hillary said. "Barney has devoted his life to championing economic fairness and civil rights, and expanding opportunity for all Americans. I'm delighted he'll take a leadership role in our campaign."

Trans-free ENDA Passes House

Shakesville (click header) says it all on this very divisive outcome. As they say in Congress, I associate myself with her comments, below. It is also clear that education begins at home, and the community needs to do a tremendous amount of work within to get to the desired outcome of Trans inclusive legislation on ENDA any every piece of legislation going forward.

"Immediately, I got an email from HRC celebrating, but noting in bold letters: "HRC remains 100% committed to doing the hard work necessary to pass legislation that protects our entire community, including transgender workers who remain especially vulnerable to workplace discrimination." Especially vulnerable. Indeed. Perhaps more so than anyone realized, given the extent of the prejudice expressed by presumed allies during the run-up to this vote. As Pam said this morning: "[T]he big picture is that this entire situation is a complete embarrassing mess of mixed messages and motives, inadequate preparation, poor PR strategy, and a hell of a lot of anger and vitriol that is damaging, painful and was this amateur hour was avoidable. One can only hope that whatever tattered relationships remain can be stitched together in some form or fashion, because there's more legislation and lobbying coming down the pike. Our community, for whatever that word means at this moment, needs to find a better way of doing things." I don't know what else to say at the moment, except that I'll continue to be a fierce ally for the Ts."

-

Towards Gay Greens:Clinton's Energy Plan

Image:Clinton's Energy Plan. Source:hilaryclinton.com

Hilary Clinton released yet another extremely detailed technology-based plan for new energy, jobs and climate change mitigation. No matter one's views on the 2008 race, no one can fault Clinton in her continued roll out of comprehensive campaign plans in the tech arena. The LGBT community is highly innovative and technology focused, so we are prepared, in a Clinton Administration to get engaged in growing gay leadership in the next green economy.

From her web (click header):

Click here to read the full plan.

Hillary has a bold and comprehensive plan to address America's energy and environmental challenges that will establish a green, efficient economy and create as many as five million new jobs.

Centered on a cap and trade system for carbon emissions, stronger energy and auto efficiency standards and a significant increase in green research funding, Hillary's plan will reduce America's reliance on foreign oil and address the looming climate crisis.

Setting ambitious targets, the plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming, and cut foreign oil imports by two-thirds from 2030 projected levels, more than 10 million barrels per day.

Hillary would transform our economy from carbon-based to clean and energy efficient, jumpstarting research and development through a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund and doubling investment in basic energy research. She would also spur the green building industry by funding the retrofitting and modernization of 20 million low-income homes and take concrete steps to reduce electricity consumption, including enacting strict appliance efficiency standards and phasing out incandescent light bulbs.

Recognizing that transportation accounts for 70 percent of U.S. oil consumption, Hillary would increase fuel efficiency standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030, but would help automakers retool their production facilities through $20 billion in "Green Vehicle Bonds."

To take the steps necessary to transition to a clean and renewable energy future, Hillary will urge all of the nation's stakeholders to contribute to the effort. Automakers will be asked to make more efficient vehicles; oil and energy companies to invest in cleaner, renewable technologies; utilities to ramp up use of renewables and modernize the grid; coal companies to implement clean coal technology; government to establish a cap and trade carbon emissions system and renew its leadership in energy efficient buildings and services; individuals to conserve energy and utilize efficient light bulbs and appliances in their homes; and industry to build energy efficient homes and buildings.

Hillary's plan to promote energy independence, address global warming, and transform our economy includes:

• A new cap-and-trade program that auctions 100 percent of permits alongside investments to move us on the path towards energy independence;
  
• An aggressive comprehensive energy efficiency agenda to reduce electricity consumption 20 percent from projected levels by 2020 by changing the way utilities do business, catalyzing a green building industry, enacting strict appliance efficiency standards, and phasing out incandescent light bulbs;
  
• A $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund, paid for in part by oil companies, to fund investments in alternative energy. The SEF will finance one-third of the $150 billon ten-year investment in a new energy future contained in this plan;
  
• Doubling of federal investment in basic energy research, including funding for an ARPA-E, a new research agency modeled on the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  
• Aggressive action to transition our economy toward renewable energy sources, with renewables generating 25 percent of electricity by 2025 and with 60 billion gallons of home-grown biofuels available for cars and trucks by 2030;
  
• 10 "Smart Grid City" partnerships to prove the advanced capabilities of smart grid and other advanced demand-reduction technologies, as well as new investment in plug-in hybrid vehicle technologies;
  
• An increase in fuel efficiency standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030, and $20 billion of "Green Vehicle Bonds" to help U.S. automakers retool their plants to meet the standards;
  
• A plan to catalyze a thriving green building industry by investing in green collar jobs and helping to modernize and retrofit 20 million low-income homes to make them more energy efficient;
  
• A new "Connie Mae" program to make it easier for low and middle-income Americans to buy green homes and invest in green home improvements;
  
• A requirement that all publicly traded companies report financial risks due to climate change in annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission; and
  
• Creation of a "National Energy Council" within the White House to ensure implementation of the plan across the Executive Branch.
  
• A requirement that all federal buildings designed after January 20, 2009 will be zero emissions buildings.

Pile Ons Remind LGBT's of Every Day Life

Halloween is over, but scary pile-ons in the debates continue to resonate with many voters.
So while most things in the gay world can be reduced to the political element of inequality, Stonewall Citizen (SC) is going to be talking politics here. Let's review the fall out of the Hilary Clinton "pile on" effect, after the last debate.

What woman, what minority, what LGBT person has not at one time or another been the focus of a "pile on" attack? Whether in the streets or in the boardroom, we have all been through one or more of these.

While watching Clinton go through it during the last debate SC remembered those moments when not just the issue, but one's person is under attack. Clinton supporter and former candidate for President Geraldine Ferraro is not spinning when she says that sexism is still OK in America. Her point is that 2 hours of attack on one candidate would not be acceptable if that candidate were Obama, for racism is not ok in this country. Ferraro spoke in the New York Times today and says she does not think a 2 hour attack on Obama would be acceptable. It would not be to SC, and we support Clinton.
As a woman SC was angered and offended. As a gay person SC was angered and offended by the straight white male onslaught. Obama showed some restraint, and we appreciate that.
Obama did not lead the attack, but rather the courtroom lawyer, John Edwards. He and his wife Elizabeth have been aiming hard ball rhetoric at Hilary for some time. Edwards is also a master of re-framing questions before he answers, rather than answering the question asked.
Slamming the front runner, who is also a woman, is not having the desired effect. Do we honestly think Edwards, who has pinned his hopes on a quickly whipped up poverty platform and a southern demographic would have warmed to his task if the target was Obama? John Edwards performance under the pressure of political slippage showed him to be an attack dog. His name is now off of our list of options when the democratic primary comes to town.

Stonewall Citizen believes Clinton will come roaring back in the next Democratic debate.
A Newsweek poll shows that Clinton's numbers are still strong. Interest Alert.com has a good take on this evolving story, as well. (click headline).

Source: Newsweek.com Newsweek Pole: Clinton Thrives Among Dems

On Tuesday, at the eighth presidential debate among Democrats, front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton came under withering fire from her top rivals, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards. But the attacks didn't appear to do much damage, with her lead for the party's nomination unchanged, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Almost exactly a year before election day, Clinton is also the favorite to win the White House--if only by a very small margin.

The New York senator gets 44 percent of the overall Democratic vote, compared to 24 percent for Obama (down a point since NEWSWEEK's August poll) and 12 percent for Edwards (down two points). She is the first choice of 45 percent of self-identified Democrats (compared with 39 percent of Democratic "leaners"). She also trounces Obama among Democratic female voters (48 to 19 percent) and enjoys a marginal lead among male Democratic voters (38 to 32 percent). Obama runs better among younger Democratic voters and minorities.

Arod: "Halloween Shame in the Castro"

We here at Stonewall Citizen salute blogger, Castro resident and insightful voice for queer outrage and sorrow,Arod, for his Shame in the Castro post below. Left, we show an image of another call out of the police as a tool of control of gays at The Stonewall Inn in New York in 1969.
Now the control in San Francisco is cultural, behind the facade of safety, and to cover the failure of leadership-and a complete lack of vision.
Homophobia can be laid on by gay authoritarians themselves, as Arod points out. Rise from the shadows, lusty Arods of the Castro and take back your neighborhood-and give the global LGBT community a new, safe and fabulous Halloween in the Castro in 2008.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween Shame in the Castro

So the grey-complected bureaucrats, shivering in their dank shuttered offices in self-righteous fear of the lusty and boisterous city they haunt, have managed to do what homophobes and the cops of earlier eras never could ... they killed Halloween in the Castro. Shame on them. Shame especially on Supervisor Bevan Dufty, a gay man, who does the work of the homophobes.

As I write only a few blocks from the darkened streets of the historical core of the gay revolution, they have closed public transit and strong-armed merchants and bar-owners into closing early. They have barricaded the sidewalks so revelers cannot take the streets. They have banned parking not to make room for merriment or celebration, but to make room for their own police-state tactics. They did this in the name of "safety" because of a few fringe bad episodes in an otherwise exuberant celebration of hundreds of thousands of people.

It is not coincidental that this occurs a few day safter the New York Times features a story that does not lament the decline of gay neighborhoods ... are they passé, it asks. It's ostensibly about social change, but actually about obscene real estate prices. I believe that the moral force behind killing Halloween here is a combination of grumpy old gay property owners who begrudge to current youth the fun they had in their own youths, along with the new smiling straight property owners who pat themselves ceaselessly on the back for finding a neighborhood where they can be cool. Neither group wants our history except, perhaps, in a tasteful library display.

We need our history because it is a visceral reminder of the fact that we have had to fight with our bodies and our lives for the freedom we have. We conducted that fight in living memory. Stonewall happened when I was 16. When I was 10, on the day of Halloween, the reactionary San Francisco city authorities revoked the license of the epochal Black Cat, a well-known gay hangout. The "nelly queens" celebrated one last time that Halloween, drinking non-alcoholic beverages, and the place closed forever.

Halloween in the Castro, 1997

Gay people celebrate Halloween, the great gay holiday, because it is a festival of difference ... it is visceral play of the dialectic between appearance and reality. Look at it ... night plus costumes plus play plus blasphemy ... what is not gay about that? Many groups may claim Halloween, and so be it, but Halloween is ours. It is celebration of transgression, and our lives through no fault of our own have been transgressive since the dawn of christianity. The bastards cannot take it from us ... but the bureaucrats did. They stripped it from our heartland. How heartless.

Halloween in the Castro, 1997

Guys spend all year creating magnificent costumes. This has been a decades long focal point of creativity and expressiveness that allows our deeply creative community to strut its stuff, to show the world that we may be out there, but being out there is a great way to live. But such considerations of expression and creation are too much for the tiny minded civic school-marms. A pox on you, Dufty. Shame on you Before gay liberation, the drag queens of Toronto used to march back and forth between the Parkside Bar and St. Charles Tavern on Yonge Street to the jeers and pelting of a mob ... that lasted until 1980. I am reliably informed that similar parades of drag queens occurred in many cities but I do not have a reference at this point. But we had the guts to do it, and we had the guts to suffer the taunts and the attacks until we could mount a movement to secure our liberty. Halloween in the 70s and 80s in the Castro often featured violence much worse than the couple of incidents that form the "casus belli" against gay Halloween for our grey bureaucrats. CUAV, Community United Against Violence, was founded in 1979 to fight back against gay bashing, and it actively patrolled the neighborhood. The police in those days were of precious little help. As the celebration grew and grew, the police came to play a better role. Now they have been enlisted to kill the fun. This city likes to pretend that it is the "city that knows how." No way, now. This is a city that cannot runa transit system, that cannot pave its streets, that canot clean up its garbage, that cannot help its homeless, that cannot provide affordable housing, that can no longer serve the artists and misfits and refugees who make it what it is. Tourists come to San Francisco because it is different. But is is less and less different every passing hour as we are invaded by smug suburbanites and SUVs and nervous lookie-loos with no more creativity than blister packs of the consumerism that is there only joy. Now the city meekly claims it cannot manage a large, popular, recurring event. New Orleans can manage Mardi Gras, but San Francisco can't handle Halloween. New York can manage Halloween, but San Francisco can't. The city that mourns its lost bids for the Olympics whines and snivels that it can't handle happy people in costumes on the streets. For crying out loud, Pamplona an handle mad bulls rushing through the streets clogged with human beings, but San Francisco, o poor Ssn Francisco, can't manage a street fair. Shame on the bureaucrats. Shame especially on Dufty, who would know better if he had an ounce of sense of who we we really are or where we came from or what we have done. It is especially disheartening that Mayor Newsom, who has fought the good fight for gay marriage, does not understand what a kick in the nuts this is. Think big, Gavin. Don't be a grey-complected bureaucrat like teeny weeny Dufty whose political career is over nd who will go nowhere. We need the bold not the meek in office. In the background, I have just watched a 1997 History Channel documentary narrated by Harry Smith, called A Haunted History of Halloween, that doesn't bother to mention gay people at all, even as the chow pictures of the celebration in Greenwich Village. Our history is perpetually silenced. It is one of the chief methods of eliminating us. When the City of San Francisco silences our annual celebration of ourselves, it is complicit in that strategy. Closing the Castro Halloween Celebration is homophobic, and it is a stain on the careers of those politicians who established the policy, and on the city where we have fought for our liberation for a century. Shame on San Francisco. Shame.

Castro: The Secret Pre 'Ween Photos (Click Here, If You Dare...)

Yes, Heather, There Still Is a Gay Glass Ceiling

Image: Strange De Jim. Castro Boys Slip Outside. How To Escape The Gay Glass Ceiling For a Few Wonderful Hours With Friends At A Community Event. Photo Taken during a 1970's era Castro Street Fair in San Francisco.

Source 365gay.com/Logo (click header for story).

" Heather (she wishes to be identified by first name only) and her partner have seen what happens to people who come out at their workplace. About eight years ago, she says, a co-worker came out, and her supervisor “went ballistic, he was so mad,” Heather said. A month later, the co-worker left the company. Things are better now, Heather said, but still are not great. Gay employees write anonymous letters to the Diversity Committee instead of volunteering to help or come to meetings. There is a rumor that there is a gay vice president of the company somewhere in Europe – but otherwise, there are no out gay executives. And she herself hasn’t been promoted since she started coming out. Heather has hit the gay glass ceiling. When it comes to the workplace, gay and lesbian activists have focused mainly on ending overt and obvious harassment and discriminatory hiring, firing, and promotion practices. Over the past few weeks, a raw debate over including transgenders in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has rocketed GLBT workers into the headlines. The inclusive bill would protect workers from being discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but it seems unlikely to be passed. Despite the absence of a federal law, however, gays and lesbians (and sometimes transgenders) are slowly being protected city by city, state by state, and company by company. Twenty states protect gay and lesbian workers from discrimination, as do 140 municipalities and counties, 470 companies in the Fortune 500, and hundreds of other companies and non-profits. These policies are fairly well supported by the electorate; in a September poll, more than one half of the respondents supported equal rights in the workplace for gays and lesbians. Most people see discrimination in hiring and firing as obviously wrong, and legislators, activists, and companies are working hard to end it, with popular support. Overt discrimination is not so much a glass ceiling as a thick cement slab. You can’t cut through it without the help of a legal sledgehammer. Legislation is necessary. But antidiscrimination policies, though a necessary first step, are not enough. Cultural gay glass ceilings can’t be legislated away. In such a workplace, no one is calling gays names or firing people who come out. Instead, there is a wage gap, or gay people or denied plum assignments or don't get promoted - or coworkers are just not friendly. Gays and lesbians in unsupportive (or openly hostile) workplaces are more likely to find themselves shut off from mentorship opportunities, are less likely to be promoted, and tend to have lower incomes than their straight counterparts. It is unhappiness through a thousand paper cuts.

San Francisco Halloween Ban Shocks Other Cities

Image: Donna Sachet of Citizens For Halloween, a pro party group which has been trying to reason with San Francisco over their Halloween plans. Ms. Sachet acted as MC for 2 safe halloweens under former Supervisor Mark Leno's term as Castro Supervisor.



While some Castro denizens are actually congratulating all the bars and restaurants for following the cities "request"/demands, by closing early on Halloween, other cities all across the country are shocked by San Francisco's new found fright over Halloween. For these other cities Halloween is safe, fun and profitable. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Castro Supervisor Bevin Dufty are telling locals to stay in, with a "Home For Halloween" campaign.

Last year, errors in crowd control by the city resulted in an restless environment and the shooting of 9 people. Rather than revamp the event and run it professionally this year, elected officials stalled on taking action, stiffed the community on promises of input, held close door meetings and only recently announced the shut down of the annual rite of fall-a rite and ritual which goes back thousands of years, and decades in the Castro neighborhood. Pressure from older gay male property owners, who lead various Castro community groups and supported Dufty and Newsom in previous campaigns, also encouraged the shut down. Pro-party folks refer to this strata as "The NIMBYS".

Here is what is strange, though. This Saturday, the 27th, the Castro is not shut down, so will this become the spontaneous, and unsafe pre-party with no plan again, this year? Historically Halloween costumed revelers hit the streets the week and weekend before the official day, if it falls mid-week, as Halloween does this year. Exceedingly strange doings indeed.

For those looking to be with their gay family-at-large, in a safe event, not hunkered down with that old familiar clique at some boring house party, here, down below, are what other regions are planning, according to the Bay Area Reporter.

Grab a plane and go to the real events. They will welcome you with open arms, not billy clubs. And San Francisco does not want to have you there. The City has not committed to porta potties for those who did not get the directive to stay home, sit down, and shut up. The bars will be closed, so where are people gonna go? This Tale of The City ends with a whimper and the sound of a police patrol car door slamming on a sad, cold deserted street in what used to be the gay mecca.

The B.A.R. story:
Halloween... everywhere but in the Castro by Matthew S. Bajko Bay Area Reporter Monday Oct 22, 2007

As San Francisco officials try to kill this year’s Halloween party in the Castro, leaders in other cities are welcoming revelers with open arms and weeklong celebrations. The holiday, quite simply, is a cash cow for city coffers and local businesses. And to tourist officials, Halloween isn’t viewed as a nightmare but as a marketing bonanza. Toronto’s tourism office helped launch that city’s first weeklong celebration this year and is hopeful it will become a magnet for vacationers looking for some ghoulish fun. In cities such as San Diego and Dallas, where the official Halloween events are planned for the Saturday night prior to Halloween, since it falls on a Wednesday this year, tourist officials have been plugging the parties to media outlets across the country. Ross Crusemann, senior vice president of marketing for the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, noted, "Thousands of participants will don their creative best to celebrate one of Dallas’ biggest annual events." Halloween party planners in Canada and across the U.S. contacted by the Bay Area Reporter this week all said they had reacted in shock when they heard San Francisco not only had canceled its Halloween party but also were actively encouraging people not to visit the city come October 31. "That is unbelievable. It’s amazing," said Jeanne Fleming, who organizes the New York Village Halloween Parade, now in its 34th year and one of the country’s largest Halloween parties. "I just don’t believe in operating from fear. I believe you have to press forward to make sure everything is all right, because it is a small element that causes the trouble." Fleming works with a San Francisco-based puppet maker who helps design her parade’s signature element and has spoken with city officials about the troubles they have encountered with San Francisco’s Halloween party. She said her main suggestion was for the city to create its own parade that would start in the Castro and then snake its way to another part of town. "I talked about how I think part of the problem is with everything being centered in the Castro. You could begin the parade there and pay homage to its roots but then move it out of there so it isn’t centered so much in one section of the city where people close in on it. It opens it up to the entire community," said Fleming. New York’s parade attracts two million people to the city’s Greenwich Village and three other neighborhoods. The parade itself draws 60,000 participants and lasts four hours from start to finish. It is estimated that it brings in $60 million in tourist dollars and is the biggest night for businesses and restaurants. "Halloween is huge business," said Fleming. Bonnie Smith, the special events supervisor for West Hollywood, oversees that city’s now 25-year-old Halloween street party. This is the 20th year the city has been involved and Smith expects to have up to 500,000 people show up this year. Smith said she, too, has fielded phone calls from leaders in San Francisco asking her about her city’s approach to the annual street party. Except for problems with public drunkenness, Smith said her event has had little trouble. "We don’t seem to have the issues you guys were dealing with. We don’t charge, we don’t fence off the area, we don’t have metal detectors," said Smith. "It is a good crowd. It is a good event for us." Susan Christian, the deputy director of the Houston Mayor’s Office of Special Events, is working with several promoters of Halloween events this year, including a street party in that city’s gay neighborhood. San Francisco officials are discussing establishing a similar office that would oversee planning for next year’s Halloween and other events. "The city of Houston is so supportive of special events," said Christian. "We understand it is vital to the spirit of the city. It brings people together in a really celebratory manner." Christian said Houston has not had any violence-related problems on Halloween. "What we do is recognize it is going to be a fun night and people are going to be out," she said. "What we ensure is all of our departments know where all events are and support them in whatever manner we need to support them." Toronto is trying to duplicate the success American cities have had with its own Halloweek celebration, which includes pumpkin carving contests and special pumpkin entrees at 11 restaurants in the city’s gay village and culminates with a nighttime street block party. The celebration is the brainchild of Larry Peloso, a gay man and events director for the gay area’s Church Wellesley Business Improvement Association. Peloso said several years ago he saw "the potential for Halloween was amazing" and approached city hall and the tourism office about creating a branded event. No other city in Canada has tapped into the holiday to increase visitor traffic, he said. "What better place than Toronto? We are in the middle of pumpkin country," he said. Considering how Toronto officials have embraced his idea, Peloso said he couldn’t believe San Francisco’s leaders want to ditch the holiday this year. "I was surprised when I heard San Francisco was canceling Halloween. To outright cancel it seemed like a very extreme measure," he said. "They just can’t cancel Halloween. It’s like canceling Christmas." Unlike San Francisco’s Halloween, which has been marred by violence in recent years, the celebrations in New York and Toronto have largely been safe events, said Peloso and Fleming. Fleming credited the involvement of both the community and city leaders in the planning process throughout the year for helping make her Halloween parade safe. "We work closely with the police, who always saw it as a great thing for New York City. They feel the parade keeps the city safe on an otherwise high crime night in the city," she said. "You have to involve the whole community. You have to bring in all the players and hear all about it to figure it out. Sometimes the best solutions come from your strongest critics."

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Lesbian Fire Chief Jarman of San Diego

Image: Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, San Diego. An Out and Proud Lesbian.

Who is heading up San Diego's municipal fire fighting force? It is run so well with the available resources, its no surprise that a lesbian chief is on the job. Because San Diego is a very large county,with smaller cities around the metropolis, coordination is key to the fire fight. Kudos, Chief Jarman.

About Chief Tracy Jarman:

(Source: San Diego Magazine)

"Prior to Jarman taking over, the department and the position came under heavy criticism due to its handling of San Diego County’s 2003 Cedar fire, the second largest wildfire in California’s history—and it became clear that new leadership and new ideas were needed. Longtime Chief Jeff Bowman resigned soon after the fire and recommended Jarman as his successor. She certainly had the credentials: She had served as assistant fire chief and interim fire chief following Bowman’s retirement. And in June 2006, she took over by unanimous selection. Of the 24 female fire chiefs in the United States, only Joanne Hays-White of San Francisco runs a department larger than Jarman’s.

She’s taking on all of these new responsibilities despite the fact that she had been planning to retire just a few years ago. But she changed her mind when Bowman announced his resignation. “When Chief Bowman made his decision, I rethought mine,” says Jarman. “This is a great organization, and they need the leadership. It was the right thing to do and the right time to step up.”

Singpore Slings Sodomy

Sinapore's Loong and Another Gay Bashing Friend

If this is not the ultimate in self-serving hypocrisy, then what is? Oral and anal sex is now OK for "conservative" Singapore heteros, but not for gays? Please. And then to lecture and intimidate LGBT's on top of it all.

Do you get that gays are human, and as they say: GAY= Good As You. To put a fine point on it, now the globe knows they can come to Singapore and do what they want with prostitutes without fear of prosecution. Some straight power mongers are just laughable and transparent monsters in nice suits. So modern, so silly, but soooo menacing. Sound familiar, Prime Minister Loong?

Source: AP

"Singapore relaxes strict sex laws for heterosexuals, but retains ban on gay sex

SINGAPORE: Singapore lawmakers have passed a law decriminalizing oral and anal sex for adult heterosexuals but kept a ban on gay sex, saying the bill was what citizens in the conservative city-state wanted.

Advocates for the decriminalization of gay sex said Wednesday they were disappointed with the decision by the country's parliament, but hoped for more informal dialogue on the issue in the future.

Parliamentarians passed the law Tuesday in the most extensive revision of the Penal Code in more than two decades.

The changes include making oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults no longer an offense. But Section 377A, which deals with the same acts between men, will remain in force with a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

"Singapore is basically a conservative society. The family is the basic building block of this society," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech to lawmakers ahead of the vote. "And by family in Singapore we mean one man, one woman marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."

Lee also warned gay rights activists against forcing the issue, which he said has become an emotional and divisive matter that was best left to evolve gradually.

"The more gay activists push this agenda, the stronger will be the push-back from conservative forces in our society," Lee said. "The result will be counterproductive because it's going to lead to less space for the gay community in Singapore."

The bill was passed after two days of debate that included a discussion of a petition submitted Monday by a group of Singaporeans asking to decriminalize gay sex. The petition, signed by 2,341 people in three days, said the government's proposal to legalize oral and anal sex for heterosexual adults only was unjust." CLICK HEADLINE FOR MORE.