Archive for the 'News Reports' Category

News Update

November 8, 2005 | News Reports

Raise your hand if you think the Carolina Panthers cheerleaders staged the whole thing as a publicity stunt.

Also, Alaska approves benefits for same sex partners - yay, Alaska!

This blog will probably be even more quiet than usual as I am dealing with an unexpected death in my family. I will probably continue updating my personal site but entries there will probably be cut back too.

Child Support

October 13, 2005 | News Reports

This is a good reason for using an unknown sperm donor: he shouldn’t have to pay child support. In Sweden a judge has ordered that a man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple (who subsequently split up) must pay child support because he is still the legal father of the three children. Now, things may work differently in Sweden, but I still don’t see why the guy should have to pay up. That’s utterly absurd - but using an unknown donor avoids that matter entirely.

Workplace Equality

October 3, 2005 | News Reports

I found it quite interesting to compare the results of Equality Forum’s Fortune 500 Project and the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. According to Equality Forum, 92.2% of Fortune 500 companies protect their employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Of the 39 companies on the list for not providing this coverage, only Cooper Tire & Rubber and Exxon-Mobil are on the CEI at all. But I still think the HRC publication is better - EF’s index just tells who has a non-discrimination policy, while HRC’s index actually breaks down various parts of such a policy (domestic partner benefits, gender expression protection). I’m going to stick with the CEI but I did think it was interesting to see the two different reports.

Not ‘Dyke Enough’

October 1, 2005 | News Reports

I’d like to say I’m surprised by this, but I’m not - not after what happened to me on the cruise. A lesbian couple tried to enter a gay bar in London - G-A-Y Bar, actually - and were turned away by the door staff because they didn’t look “dyke enough.” In an editorial at PinkNews.co.uk, the club’s promoter claims this was a misunderstanding based on the bouncer’s foreign accent. I’d like to think that’s the case, but my personal experiences makes me think otherwise. I’m sure the promoter doesn’t intend to have staff who would be biased, but the fact remains that femme gay women do experience discrimination based on their appearance. These two were undoubtedly headed for Girls Go Down, the lesbian bar in the basement at G-A-Y, which I’m sure has a mix of all kinds of women. But instead of placing a female bouncer at the door with the male bouncer, the venue lets the guy arbitrate who can and cannot enter. Hopefully this flap will teach the promoter that having a bouncer at the main door for each part of the club is a better idea.

Student Expelled

September 26, 2005 | News Reports

This is somewhat shocking - a Canadian girl was expelled from school because her parents are lesbians. It’s a religious school, of course, but the girl herself hadn’t done anything wrong. So much for preaching tolerance, eh?

Also, it looks like Olivia is expanding. They’re looking at the market for retirement communities, and might also expand their travel services to gay men. I’d love to go on an Olivia cruise just to be able to compare it with RSVP, which was 93% male and had a definite air of misogyny.

Yearbook Settlement

September 25, 2005 | News Reports

It’s really a shame it had to come to this, and it’s surprising to hear a story like this in 2005 - but then again, this is Florida. At the end of the last school year, Jacksonville senior Kelli Davis posed for her yearbook portrait like all of her classmates. When presented with the drape (that dress-like thing girls are given for yearbook photos), she opted to wear the boys’ tux instead. Apparently the photographer had no problem with this, and the picture made it to the yearbook…where the administration refused to allow it to be printed. Finally, six months later, a
a deal has been reached with the school administration. The mediated settlement changes the way senior portraits are handled, and faculty and staff must be provided with training regarding sexual orientation.

UK Civil Partnerships

September 14, 2005 | News Reports

I want to write about my experiences on RSVP - let’s just say I was accused all week of being straight, good grief - and I want to check out what’s been happening over at CyDy while I’ve been gone, but for now I am just going to give a link to the New Zealand-based article UK to legalise gay marriage! The Civil Partnership Act will take effect in December and was designed to be as close as possible to heterosexual marriage. It is only for same sex couples, has no religious component, and will require a form of divorce to be dissolved.

Right Round Baby

September 2, 2005 | News Reports

That case in Utah that I mentioned a few days ago has popped up again, this time on a religious page called LifeSite, where the article is titled Natural Mother Punished By Lower Court While Former Lesbian Partner Gets Visitation Award. Interestingly, the end of that article includes a link to the Salt Lake Tribune’s story, Custody case spotlights couples’ parental rights. The reason I find this interesting is because the LifeSite article contains so much dizzying spin that I’m surprised they’d link to a more legitimate (unbiased) news outlet which tells the story in a very different way.

In the Tribune article, I noticed this:

She says visitation that has occurred since she moved from Utah to Texas in May has been traumatic for her daughter, who is having nightmares and calling several people “Mommy.”

If anybody believes the birth mother’s statement that it is the visitation that has traumatized the little girl, I owe them a smack across the face. It’s obviously the move and the visitation battle that’s causing problems for this four-year-old, not the visitation itself.

Gays Caused Hurricane Katrina?

September 1, 2005 | News Reports

Okay, raise your hand if you’re surprised by this:

“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city.” Marcavage said. “From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”

“Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long,” Marcavage said.

Marcavage is the director of an organization called Repent America. I am totally unsurprised by this suggestion. We’ve been accused of causing the tsunami, and of causing 9/11. I can only think that this suggestion about Katrina is a smidgen more realistic - if you believe in God, and believe that he/she punishes hedonism, then New Orleans is a helluva lot more appropriate target than the other two suggestions. I wonder if the same argument would appear if San Francisco were leveled by a dramatic earthquake.

Gay Gender Gap

August 30, 2005 | News Reports

David Crary has written an article for the Associated Press called Gender gap divides U.S. gays, lesbians. It’s a really good article, go check it out. (BTW, I have updated this site to Movable Type 3.2 - let me know if anything looks funky.)