Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 88
February 19, 2011
George Washington Carver was gay. . . and other bits of lgbt black history you probably didn't know
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
As we all know, February is Black History Month. With that in mind, let's not forget those lgbts of color excelled in entertaiment, science, and civil rights, such as the legendary scientist George Washington Carver.
Unfortunately so many in the African-American community want to overlook us and they are aided and abetted by those religious right figures and organizations seek to drive a wedge both the lgbt and black communities.
The following names, taken from BlackedOUT History should remind us that no wedge can eliminate truth:
Name
Date-of-Birth
Date-of-Death Profession
Quote Alvin Ailey Jr. Jan. 5, 1931
Dec. 1, 1989 Choreographer
“I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work.”
John Amaechi Nov. 26, 1970 Pro Basketball Player
“I am gay, black, British…and I am now asserting my activism.”
James Baldwin Aug. 2, 1924
Nov. 30, 1987 Author
"I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
Josephine Baker June 3, 1906
Apr. 12, 1975 Singer and Dancer
“Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat Dec. 22, 1960
Aug. 12, 1988 Graffiti Artist
"SAMO© as an end to mindwash religion, nowhere politics, and bogus philosophy"
Gladys Bentley Aug. 12, 1907
Jan. 18, 1960 Blues Singer Octavia Butler June 22, 1947
Feb. 26, 2006 Author
"People have the right to call themselves whatever they like. That doesn't bother me. It's other people doing the calling that bothers me."
George Washington Carver July 12, 1864
Jan. 5, 1943 Scientist
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”
RuPaul Andre Charles Nov. 17, 1960 Actor, Dancer and TV Show Host
“What other people think of me is not my business. What I do is what I do. How people see me doesn’t change what I decide to do. I don’t choose projects so people don’t see me as one thing or another. I choose projects that excite me. I think the problem is that people refuse to understand what drag is outside of their own belief system.”
Countee Cullen May 30, 1903
Jan. 9, 1946 Poet
“My poetry, I think, has become the way of my giving out what music is within me.”
Lee Daniels Dec. 24, 1959 Film Director Angela Davis Jan. 26, 1944 Civil Rights Activist
“Revolution is a serious thing, the most serious thing about a revolutionary's life. When one commits oneself to the struggle, it must be for a lifetime.”
Ruth Ellis July 23, 1899 Oct. 5, 2000 Activist
“I never expected I’d be 100 years old. It didn’t even come to my mind.”
Sharon Farmer June 10, 1951 White House Photographer
“Never turn down a chance to show what you can do.”
Peter Gomes May 22, 1942 Theologian
“There can be no light without the darkness out of which it shines.”
Mabel Hampton May 2, 1902
Oct. 26, 1989
Lesbian Pioneer
"I, Mabel Hampton, have been a lesbian all my life, for eighty-two years, and I am proud of myself and my people. I would like all my people to be free in this country and all over the world, my gay people and my black people."
Lorraine Hansberry May 19, 1930
Jan. 12, 1965 Author and Playwright
“All real and lasting change starts first on the inside and works it way through to the outside. Politically speaking, each person being the change we wish to see in the world is the only stance that can make a lasting difference. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
E.Lynn Harris June 20, 1955
July 23, 2009 Author
“I want people to know they don’t have to live their lives in a permanent ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ existence. Truth is a powerful tool.”
Sherry Harris Feb. 27, 1965 Politician
“All real and lasting change starts first on the inside and works it way through to the outside. Politically speaking, each person being the change we wish to see in the world is the only stance that can make a lasting difference. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Billie Holiday Apr. 7, 1915
July 17, 1959 Singer
"A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted."
Langston Hughes Feb. 1, 1902
May 22, 1967 Poet
“Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly, Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams go, Life is a barren field, Frozen with snow."
Zora Neale Hurston Jan. 7, 1891
Jan. 28, 1960 Author and Folklorist
“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at de sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”
Bill T. Jones Feb. 15, 1952 Dancer and Choreographer
"Living and dying is not the big issue. The big issue is what you’re going to do with your time while you are here."
Representative Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) Feb. 21, 1936
Jan. 17, 1996 Politician
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."
Audre Lorde Feb. 18, 1934
Nov. 17, 1992 Author
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
Marsha P. Johnson 1945
July 6, 1992 Transgender Activist and co-founder of S.T.A.R.
When asked what the P stood for in her name, she replied "Pay it No Mind."
Miss Major Unknown Transgender, Public Health and Prison Activist Gertrude "Ma" Rainey Apr. 26, 1886
Dec. 22, 1939 Singer
"Went out last night with a crowd of my friends,
They must have been women, 'cause I don't like no men.
Wear my clothes just like a fan, Talk to gals just like any old man
'Cause they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me, Sure got to prove it on me."
Bayard Rustin Mar. 17, 1910
Aug. 24, 1987 Civil Rights Activist
"We are all one. And if we don't know it, we will learn it the hard way."
Bessie Smith Unknown
July 1892
Sept. 26, 1937 Singer
“It's a long old road, but I know I'm gonna find the end.”
Sheryl Swoopes Mar. 25, 1971 WNBA Player
"No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back."
Wanda Sykes Mar. 7, 1964 Comedian
"If you feel like there's something out there that you're supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it."
André Leon Talley Oct. 16,1949 Fashion Editor
“It's not about canceling shows, but initiating things on an individual level. When much is given to you, much is expected. If you're an honest American, you can't wake up and not be affected by the neglect of the government after Katrina. You can't be an honest American and not think about it every day.”
Alice Walker Feb. 9, 1944 Author and Feminist
“The truest and most enduring impulse I have is simply to write.”
Phill Wilson Apr. 29, 1956 AIDS Activist
"The price of the ticket for life is to leave the world in a different place than you found it, to leave the world a better place than you found it."
Jacqueline Woodson Feb. 12, 1963 Author “I think it's important that everyday we think about the work we need to do to make this world a better place. I mean, we should wake up thinking about it and go to bed thinking about tomorrow's tasks. There's an awful lot of change needing to be made around here.”
Related post:
Black history and gay history are intertwined. Deal with it
February 18, 2011
GOP-led House votes to kill funding for Planned Parenthood
The measure would eliminate cutting about $330 million through the end of September for preventative-health services, including federal funding for contraception and cancer screenings, at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.Planned Parenthood is already prevented by federal law from using federal dollars for abortion services. The amendment takes away the money they use to provide for family planning, birth control, medical and preventive services.
Designating T-Friendly Bathrooms in Chicago
GenderQueer Chicago has launched an initiative to have friendly Chicago businesses identify themselves to trans customers. Talk about turning the bathroom meme on its head. It's positive, it's proactive, it puts the lie to the bathroom meme...I think I like this idea! What say you, transfolk?CHICAGO- In an unprecedented effort to make the city of Chicago safer for transgender individuals, local youth organizers have launched the "T-Friendly Bathroom Initiative," a grassroots community project that challenges business owners to protect gender identity in their public restrooms.
In 2011, more than 500 businesses and organizations will be asked to sign a pledge that commits them to allowing gender-variant customers to use the bathroom of their choice. Businesses that sign the pledge will be awarded a window decal, so that gender-variant people can easily identify trans-friendly businesses.
"We expect this will dramatically improve the way transgender people experience our city and state" said Kate Sosin, Co-Founder of Genderqueer Chicago and a project organizer. "We want business owners to understand that under the Illinois Human Rights Act, it is not just their right to protect transgender people in bathrooms, it is their duty."
Gender identity and expression is protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act, but everyday, countless transgender people are harassed in public restrooms for not "passing" as male or female. This policing often results in violence against gender-variant people. It can also mean health complications for those who are not allowed regular access to bathrooms.
"This project is a critical reminder that trans folk can empower themselves to achieve something positive," said fellow organizer, Christina Kahrl of Equality Illinois. "What we're getting to do here is change the dynamic, so that we don't just limit ourselves to protesting against those businesses and organizations who wrong trans folk."
Obama admin deep-sixes reg allowing fundie health care workers to claim 'moral objection'
The Health and Human Services Department eliminated nearly the entire rule put into effect by the administration of President George W. Bush during his final days in office that was widely interpreted as allowing such workers to opt out of a broad range of medical services, such as providing the emergency contraceptive Plan B, treating gay men and lesbians and prescribing birth control to single women.Calling the Bush-era rule "unclear and potentially overbroad in scope," the new, much narrower version essentially leaves in place only long-standing federal protections for workers who object to performing abortions or sterilizations. It also retains the Bush rule's formal process for workers to file complaints.
"The department supports clear and strong conscience protections for health-care providers who are opposed to performing abortions," the rule states.
The new regulation, which goes into effect in 30 days, also ensures that no federal money can be used to "support coercive or discriminatory policies or practices in violation of federal law."
The Disease of Religionism Infects Iowa's State High School Wrestling Tournament
From Iowa Reports:
An Iowa high school wrestler who was one of the favorites to win his weight class defaulted on his first-round state tournament match rather than face one of the first girls to ever qualify for the event.
Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High this season, said in a statement that he doesn’t feel it would be right for him to wrestle Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman. Herkelman, who was 20-13 entering the tournament, and fellow 112-pounder Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who was 25-13, made history by being the first girls to qualify for the state tournament. Black was pinned quickly in her opening round match.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” wrote Northrup. “As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”
Let the victimization spin begin. Sorry, but if his "faith" is so important to him - and is that anti-woman - then he should have refused to participate in any aspect of sanctioned wrestling in Iowa given that it is the structure of the system that permits males to wrestle females.
Of course, ultimately, I get the feeling that the true victims here will be everyone who wonders why someone is allowed to selectively opt out of public education. He's home-schooled but is allowed to be on a hgh school team? I know, I know...there's a lot of (wrongly-decided) court precedent that allows such a hypocritical travesty to occur.
Plus, it looks like Cassy's parents are cut from the same - or similar - cloth as Northrup's:
In a text message to The Associated Press, [Cassy's] father, Bill Herkelman, said he understands Northrup’s decision.
“It’s nice to get the first win and have her be on the way to the medal round,” Bill Herkelman wrote. “I sincerely respect the decision of the Northrup family especially since it was made on the biggest stage in wrestling. I have heard nothing but good things about the Northrup family and hope Joel does very well the remainder of the tourney.”
Linn-Mar athletics director Scott Mahmens said the school would not penalize Northrup for defaulting. Because he defaulted and didn’t forfeit, Northrup is eligible to compete in consolation rounds. Black will also compete in the consolation rounds.
Make that doubly hypocritical and a double travesty.
I can only imagine which quitter-grifter former governor of Alaska inspires this kid to commit the sin of Onan.
Praise be!
Breaking: Gay marriage has the votes to clear Md. Senate
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/02/rosapepe_is_24th_vote_for_same.html
Sen. James Rosapepe just issued an email to constituents saying that he will support the same-sex marriage bill. That means 24 senators have publicly committed to vote for the bill -- enough for passage.
Here's the contents of the email that Rosapepe sent out, note that he supports the bill "as amended" -- so other changes to the bill could theoretically change his support:
Thanks for contacting me to let me know of your support for SB 116, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. I am writing to let you know that it was passed today by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and will be voted on the Senate floor next week.
I intend to vote for the bill as it was reported out of Committee with a strengthened conscience clause to respect the views of religious denominations which do not recognize same sex marriage. I don’t know what other amendments may be proposed on the Senate floor but will keep your concerns in mind as we consider them.
I appreciate so much the time you and many other constituents have taken to share with me your reasons for supporting the bill.
Please feel free to be in touch with me on issues of concern to you and whenever I can be of help.
Video round-up of marriage equality hearing in New Hampshire, including NOM bigot Maggie Gallagher
Below is a video compilation of some of the most outrageous claims levied by opponents of the measure, along with a musical surprise from a supporter of marriage equality:
- REP. ALFRED BALDASARO: "The same thing happened in Canada, where they passed gay marriage. Now they're fighting in the courts to get 3 husbands, 3 wives."And here's a clip of NOM's Maggie Gallagher...- SEN. FENTON GROEN: "[Homosexuality] will significantly increase their risk of serious diseases and can be expected to significantly shorten their lives."
- HOWARD KAUFMAN: "A future redefinition of marriage that permits polygamy would facilitate the introduction an aspect of Sharia or Islamic law that permits a man to have up to four wives."
Guest column by Rev. Irene Monroe: GLAAD makes history with black media
GLAAD makes black history with black media
By Rev. Irene Monroe
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has done the unimaginable. It has cracked a firewall in black media with the two titans of black print and online news - Essence and Ebony.
In October 2010, Essence.com, the online companion to Essence Magazine, featured a newly wedded lesbian couple in its "Bridal Bliss" section- Aisha and Danielle Moodie-Mills of Washington, D.C.
And this month, Ebony Magazine, featured a newly wedded lesbian couple in its annual Black Love issue - Yanette L. Freeman and Willa Walker.
More below the fold.
And the man behind this Herculean feat is Rashad Robinson, GLAAD's Senior Director of Media Programs.I asked Robinson how did he do it.
"I met with the folks at both Essence and Ebony earlier last year on how to increased inclusion of us in their magazines. I explained how to avoid stereotypes and bad reporting, and they were receptive to terminology suggestions, story ideas and potential spokespeople for future coverage."Getting Aisha and Danielle Moodie-Mills on the bridal pages of Essence was, I told Robinson, a black media coup d'?tat, because I remember back in the day when Essence wouldn't budge on LGBTQ stories.For example, in 2005, Amari Sokoya Pearson-Fields, the then Deputy Director of The Mautner Project, a support organization for lesbians with cancer and their love ones, found that her indefatigable efforts too promote the new website "S.H.E." (Spirit, Health and Education), a wellness community by and for African American LBTQ women, to black media was a no-go. "We recently did a press release about the SHE circle website. We sent it to all the black media as well as the gay media. Guess what! No one from the black media covered it. Imagine that...! I wanted to get your ideas now for pitching a story to Essence magazine about the program and the health of black lesbians. Where do I begin?," Pearson-Fields asked me in an email.
Essence is a magazine with an impressive circulation of roughly over 1 million sister- readers monthly between the ages of 18 and 49. While the magazine purports to be for today's black women not every sister sees a glimpse of her countenance in its pages.
Lesbian, bisexual and trans (LBT) sisters for the most part are invisible to the magazine. While LBT sisters have been reading Essence since its inception in May 1970, we got a glimpse of our reality in the May 1991 Mother's Day issue when Linda Villarosa, then senior editor at magazine, co-wrote an article with her mother entitled "Coming Out." And in July 2002 Essence did an article titled "Two Mommy Household."
While Villarosa's "Coming Out" piece signaled to the magazine that lesbians, bisexual, and transwomen are part of the Essence sisterhood, too, the piece wasn't a breakthrough moment for more stories, photos, and articles about us.
But then I got an email last year that the magazine was featuring "one" of us as same-sex couple on their bridal page.
"I am working on a relationship story for ESSENCE magazine. The piece will highlight several couples and their keys to a successful relationship. I would like to include a Black lesbian couple in my piece. Would you or anyone you know be interested in speaking with me?," freelancer Niema Jordan wrote me in October 2009.
And a year later, in October 2010, Aisha and Danielle Moodie-Mills appeared in Essence "Bridal Bliss" section.
"Other media outlets should follow Essence.com's strong example of including stories of gay and lesbian people that spotlight the rich diversity of our community and the issues that affect our lives," said Jarrett Barrios, president GLAAD. And Ebony has followed Essence's lead with Yanette L. Freeman and Willa Walker in this month's Black Love issue. Like Essence, Ebony has been slim on LGBTQ coverage.
Johnson Publications featured its first LGBT story in 1994 when Jet included an article about the late Coretta Scott King's support of LGBT rights. In November 2005 Jet covered WNBA great Sheryl Swoopes coming out story, and in March 2006 featured a story about Jennifer Jones, an African American lesbian senior at Hood College who won her school's Homecoming King title after being barred from the competition the previous year.
Having Yanette L. Freeman and Willa Walker in this month's issue of Ebony is a huge feat for the entire LGBTQ community, because Johnson Publications, founded in November 1942, is the largest and oldest black owned publishing firm in the country. And it coverage of people of African descent has not only impacted and influenced those of us here, but its coverage has also impacted and influenced people around the globe.
Johnson Publications in Chicago is home of Ebony and Jet Magazines, and with a combined circulation of 21,000,000 people per month, both magazines are household and beauty salon staples. Equally as important, these magazines also set the standard for coverage in other Black publications, like Essence, and Black newspapers across the country.
GLAAD has made black history in cracking out the firewalls at Essence and Ebony. And longtime readers, like me, are both shocked and awed.
But with folks like Robinson, and GLAAD's People of Color Media Program working with media outlets to improve LGBTQ coverage, we all can begin to be hopeful.
Family Research Council's 'detailed response' to SPLC's charges leave much to be desired
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Supposedly, the Family Research Council has finally given a "detailed response" to the Southern Poverty Law Center's charges that it uses distortive tactics to demonize the lgbt community.However, the group did not direct the answer to me or the SPLC, but allegedly to a reader of this blog. This is what the person wrote me:
I asked them for a detailed response, and the reply I received was as follows:
Dear C,
Thank you for contacting Family Research Council.
Please refer to Tony Perkins's op-ed, "Christian compassion requires the truth about harms of homosexuality" at http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV10J11 for an explanation of our motives behind opposing homosexuality.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at the Family Research Council
If this is accurate, then the Family Research Council has a very warped idea of a "detailed response."
The link is to a piece written by FRC head Tony Perkins entitled Christian compassion requires the truth about harms of homosexuality. It was published in October of last year in The Washington Post, causing a lot of consternation because it was published on National Coming Out Day AND it contained many distortions.
In the piece, Perkins complained that "homosexual activists" were "exploiting" the recent suicides of lgbt teens. He tried to make the case that homophobia didn't lead to these suicides but that homosexuality itself was a "dangerous lifestyle:"
There is an abundance of evidence that homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression. However, there is no empirical evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct. In fact, evidence from the Netherlands would seem to suggest the opposite, because even in that most "gay-friendly" country on earth, research has shown homosexuals to have much higher mental health problems.
However, Media Matters for America called him out for distortions:
Perkins suggests that these tragedies are not caused by the homophobic attacks these individuals were subjected to, but rather because "homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression," and, according to Perkins, there's no "evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct." Unfortunately for Perkins, the article he links to says no such thing.
Perkins links to a February 2002 American Psychologist article, which reported on the "results of several breakthrough studies are offering new insights on gay men, lesbians and bisexuals." While Perkins is right, "Several studies suggest that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals appear to have higher rates of some mental disorders compared with heterosexuals," he's totally wrong that these rates have nothing to do with discrimination. In fact, the article immediately goes on to report that "[d]iscrimination may help fuel these higher rates." The article reported: "In a study that examines possible root causes of mental disorders in LGB people, [Susan] Cochran [PhD] and psychologist Vickie M. Mays, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, explored whether ongoing discrimination fuels anxiety, depression and other stress-related mental health problems among LGB people. The authors found strong evidence of a relationship between the two." Several other studies back up this finding.
Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin pointed out this error in Perkins's piece regarding his "evidence" from the Netherlands:
While the study’s authors notes that the Netherlands is generally more tolerant, it doesn’t mean that LGBT people there are free from anti-gay bias and stress. After all, “more tolerant” is not the same as tolerant. And as for the study’s findings, the authors offered this explanation:
The effects of social factors on the mental health status of homosexual men and women have been well documented in studies, which found a relationship between experiences of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination and mental health status. Furthermore, controlling for psychological predictors of present distress seems to eliminate differences in mental health status between heterosexual and homosexual adolescents.
Someone should tell the Family Research Council that if you are accused of distorting legitimate science, it's probably not best to lodge a defense by citing a piece you wrote which was publicly called out for distorting legitimate science.
It makes you look like a huge liar.
Related posts:
Peter Sprigg won't address hate group charges but will lie about same-sex households
Family Research Council has yet to come out with 'detailed response' against SPLC charges
Will the Family Research Council ever fulfill its promise and address SPLC's charges?
February 17, 2011
Mystery Quote: one person's narrow view of how DADT "repeal" was achieved
"Our strategy was more effective & appropriate getting repeal of DADT than the schtick of chaining oneself to the WH fence."Wow. Whoever said that sounds like they were engaging in a "mine is bigger than yours" contest, rather than celebrating there are multiple paths and means to achieve equality.
IMHO, the "repeal" of DADT so far happened because of all the players -- those on the inside, rabble-rousing activists on the outside, and Cheetos-stained-PJ-wearing blogging thorns in the side of the power brokers. That much was acknowledged by the Obama DADT bill signing event invite list. Alas, it looks like someone has a problem with that view.
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