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06 Mar 2011

Holding On

From: Questioning Transphobia

I believe in trans people. I believe in us because we have been honest, at least once, in a way few people on earth have been asked to be. I believe that is what makes us so frightening. That integrity is written all over us. You can see it in the dark. There is no avoiding seeing in us that choice to hold onto the truth even if no-one else would stand with us and do the same. That is enormously threatening. It is no wonder that so many people and communities claim that admitting us among their number might destroy the foundations of everything they know.

So true…

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05 Mar 2011

Shhhh…Don’t Say “Gay”

It seems that many people don’t give Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield due credit for his subtle political shrewdness. Over the years, Campfield has garnered attention for some outlandish legislative bills like death certificates for aborted fetuses and the right to carry firearms on college campuses. What has raised the most ire of progressive Tennesseans is Campfield’s indefatigable attack of our gay and transgender community.

The Tennessee State Department of Education establishes the curriculum that all public schools in the state must adhere to. This includes sex education. Currently, there is no authorized curriculum which introduces, discusses, promotes, or even mentions “homosexuality”. Even so, SB0049 demands that, “..no public elementary or middle school shall provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.” Popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill”, Campfield and House Representative Bill Dunn have determined the solution to a problem that does not yet exist: schools teaching children about gay sex.

The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), has started a petition on change.org to bring attention to this bill. TEP reports:

On Wednesday, April 13, State Senator Stacey Campfield will introduce his “Don’t Say Gay” bill (SB049) to the Senate Education Committee.  As introduced, the bill requires that “no public elementary or middle school shall provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.

There is really no more substance to the language of the bill. While Campfield and Dunn may preach that they understand, “…the sensitivity of particular subjects that are best explained and discussed in the home.” What they have actually done is introduce a bill that they know will covertly undermine an entire class of Tennesseans while at the same time making it easier to get away with bullying children.

Imagine a child with same sex parents that wanted to talk with a guidance counselor about problems at home, or a child that was being bullied for being perceived to be gay. Under this law, neither child could seek help from the school. Further, anti-bullying policies that contained protections for sexual orientation would have to be modified. Schools that didn’t have this protection would never see it.

Do not think this only applies to students either. The law does not specify a limit to the target of the legislation. Schools could not provide teacher in-service training for any issues that would include sexual orientation other than heterosexual. Workplace harassment for sexual orientation would be legal.

Think about it. It wasn’t too far back, spring of 2009, that Knoxville High School librarian Karyn Brinks and the ACLU forced the school district to unblock gay and transgender advocacy and support sites like http://glsen.org and http://pflag.org. However, with the broad all encompassing language of this bill, schools in Tennessee will not be allowed to “…provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.” Information found on the internet would now be censored as a matter of law.

More than just websites, you also have to consider that library books would now be banned. Children’s books like “Heather has Two Mommies” wouldn’t be the only one removed from shelves, but also magazines and newspapers. In history class, students couldn’t learn of gay Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben who trained Washington’s army for the American Revolution, that the modern computer exists because of the contributions of transsexual Lynn Conway, or that a major contributor in winning World War II was the breaking of the Enigma Code by Alan Turning, who was later arrested and chemically castrated for being gay.

By the way, in a twist of irony so profound that it must be providence, the source of justification for all this bigotry would also be banned from schools for containing multiple references to sexuality other than heterosexuality: the Holy Bible.

It’s funny in a way. The two most hyper-conservative legislators in Tennessee are banning the Holy Bible in school. I guess they want churches to be the only place that can teach about homosexuality to their youngsters.

 

 

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03 Mar 2011

Comedy in Tragedy

I’ve been reading other people’s blogs postings about the arson that destroyed Carol Ann and Laura Stutte’s home last Labor Day. The comments that following these postings are normally sympathetic with some asshat occasionally accusing the couple of burning down their own home.

I ran across one comment that was unlike any other so far. The writer summed up the situation well. I was taking a drink at the time and the spontaneous laughter made me gag and choke:

He’s right. If I didn’t know better I would think it was an Onion article. It’s funny how satire can really point out the obvious. ;-)

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28 Feb 2011

GetEqual Flexes Their Muscle

If you’ve been following the ongoing trials of Carol Ann and Laura Stutte trying to get their insurance company, American National Property and Casualty, to pay up after their home was burned down by a homophobic arsonist, you know that I started a petition on http://gayrights.change.org last week. I did this after some of the handful of readers of my blog suggested it. In a week’s time, I had collected about 1500 signatures.

What is cool about the online petition system created by http://change.org is that each time a user “signs” the petition, their petition engine fires off an email with a letter attached to each person that is listed as the “target” of the petition. Of course, this has no “legal” effect, but what it does have is the ability to annoy the hell out of the person that is a”target”. Imagine, if you will, your inbox filled with 1500 letters from people you don’t know telling you how badly you suck.

I thought I was making an impact, but apparently I wasn’t. According to my sources, the insurance company has not yet relented.

In comes GetEqual…

The organization that can be credited with the majority of the effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the same people that brought us the National Equality March in 2009 have become involved. Within a couple of hours of GetEqual sharing the story of Carol Ann and Laura Stutte with their audience, the petition count has jumped up to over 6000. That’s over 4000 additional annoying emails sent in a matter of a few short hours.

GetEqual has one goal: make American National Property and Casualty honor their policy with Carol Ann and Laura Stutte now – not tomorrow.

You can still help put pressure on American National Property and Casualty:

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27 Feb 2011

Advancing Equality Day

Many believe that a crime against a protected minority warrants no greater punishment than a crime against any other person. I believe this to be true as well. The problem, however, is all too often a crime against a protected minority is punished less severely not more.

Even though the legal definition of “hate crime” normally means a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person. Some jurisdictions don’t have local hate crime laws. That doesn’t mean that hate crimes don’t exist. I take it a step further and define a hate crime as a crime that is generally tolerated by the larger community because the victim belongs to an oppressed class of people.

All too often the crime doesn’t stop after the call to police is made. Many times that’s when the worst violations start. Just ask 25 year old lesbian Laura Gilbert. Earlier this year she accompanied a straight friend to a local karoke bar in Opelika, AL. Upon leaving she was accosted and beaten severely by no less than twelve patrons because she was gay. Her friend called 911, but when the police arrived Gilbert was the one arrested. In our own community, after reporting threats of arson by a neighbor, Carol Ann and Laura Stutte now have a pile of cinders where their dream home once stood while the suspected arsonist sits comfortably in her own home.

In Tennessee, if the local police don’t investigate, victims have no real recourse but to call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). Normally, local TBI officers are in the same office as local police and are friends with the same. If a hate crime ever is turned over to prosecutors, there is no guarantee that the case will be prosecuted effectively or at all.

The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) will be hosting their annual Advancing Equality Day on the Hill in Nashville, TN on March 1st. This is an opportunity for members of the LGBT community and their allies to visit and speak with their representatives about legislation that affects the gay and transgender community in Tennessee. It’s your opportunity to make sure that your voice is heard.

One piece of legislation that TEP wants to bring attention to is HB0188/SB0314 which adds as an advisory enhancement factor to sentencing when defendant intentionally chose victim of crime based on gender identity or expression. In other words, this bill would add “gender identity or expression” to Tennessee’s existing “Hate Crime Law”.

Unfortunately, to call §40-35-114 of the Tennessee Code Annotated a “Hate Crime Law” is misleading at best. Unlike other state hate crime laws, Tennessee does not provide additional resources for investigation or prosecution. In truth, the distinction of “hate crime” can only be applied by the judge after the trial during the sentencing phase. The thought here is that the judge might believe that additional sentencing is warranted because of an inadequate investigation or prosecution that is bias against the victim.

Successfully adding “gender identity or gender expression” to the existing law will be a great symbolic victory, but if we are ever going to stop hate crime in this state we each need to change our community first.

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