“The Corzine administration also announced a new regulation allowing transgender New Jerseyans would to provide an affidavit of their gender identity to get the Motor Vehicle Commission to change the gender on their license to drive.  In the past, the state had required gender reassignment surgery.”  (NJ Politicker)

I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at the Garden State Equality Legends Dinner as a guest of Mark Beckwith, the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, and I must say it was quite the affair.  No way I could have afforded the ticket prices – and I work for a living!  I actually heard about this little bit of very good news through one of the television reporters that was there covering the event.  Luminaries abounded – two governors – Corzine and McGreevey, a multitude of state legislators, led by one of the LGBT community’s biggest supporters – Loretta Weinberg, and celebrities such as Fran Drescher, Judith Light, George Takei and Andrea McArdle.  

To the point Autumn made on PHB, it is true that the Governor’s remarks in support of the Marriage Equality bill are not new, but it was nice to hear in a room of about 800 or so, that counted most – if not all – of the bill’s co-sponsors among the attendees.  Steven Goldstein, the chair of Garden State Equality, has always been a strong supporter of the transgender community and was an instrumental player in getting the trans-equality bill passed in New Jersey two years ago.

As someone who had to first deal with changing my name, but not my gender marker on my license, and then going back after my GRS with surgeon’s letter in hand to do it all over again, it is wonderful news that no one has to deal with that any longer.  Yes, as a born and raised Jersey Girl I am proud that the majority of the legislators in my state “get it”.

So, Autumn – when you moving here???  :o)

(Also Posted at Pam’s House Blend . . .)

I just finished reading Ethan St. Pierre’s blog on the recently held IFGE conference in Washington, D.C., and I wholeheartedly agree with his characterizations.  You can talk all you want about how lighter-than-usual the attendance was, but once the Board found itself locked into a poor time slot (February in D.C., are you kidding me?) the decision was made to make the most of it – and to Denise LeClair’s much-deserved credit, the conference went on.

Was it smaller than past IFGE conferences?  Of course it was.  We can thank, to some degree at least, the economy and the  aforementioned time of the year (it was a balmy 14 degrees when my partner Mari and I pulled into the hotel on Thursday morning).  Was the hotel less than perfect?  Not at all.  Actually, the Hilton at Mark Center was quite nice, albeit a bit spacious for a conference of 125 or so.  Were there not enough workshops?  Hardly.  There were well over 60 sessions – the same as at any past IFGE conference -  with a wide array of topics and speakers.  Did any noteworthy speakers show up?  Of course they did, why wouldn’t they?  Because it was too cold??  Diego Sanchez, Mara Keisling, Phyllis Frye, Kelley Winters, Denise Leclair, Bree Hartlage, Yvonne Cook-Riley and myself took turns at the podium during the conference.  As did the very-deserving Trinity Award winners for 2009 – Lisa Mottet, Spencer Bergsted and Gunner Scott.

But an interesting thing happened in Alexandria that I never felt at any conference I attended before.  A  sense of togetherness and camaraderie seemed to permeate the proceedings.  It was present everywhere, from the luncheons and dinners, to the workshops and to the lobby bar each afternoon and evening.  It’s a bit hard to explain, but I believe it had much to do with the intimate nature of this year’s gathering.  The attendees, more than at previous conferences, seemed to be there with a purpose, with a sincere desire to connect with one another for the greater good of the transgender community.  Work was being done.  Relationships were forged.  There existed a profound positive energy, a feeling of connectedness.

This feeling carried over to the IFGE Board meeting where Bree Hartlage was installed as the new Chair along with Andrea Von Kaenel as Vice Chair and new Director Allyson Robinson.  While we adjourned with a renewed mission, the entire IFGE Board understands that it cannot end there.  Quite the contrary.  We have to go out and back up what we say – to have our actions as a Board and as an organization align with what we say we’re going to do.  And it’s not just about putting on a dynamite conference once a year.  Yes, that is hugely important, but IFGE cannot be a one-trick pony, and we do not intend to be.  We have to be much more than that to a community that can clearly benefit from our collective actions.  
 
So, do we run off half-crazed in an effort to prove our relevance to the transgender community?  Not at all.  A mindful approach to the task ahead, with clear and consistent direction from the Chair, as well as shared accountability across all the officers, directors and comittees - will ultimately carry the day for IFGE.

Reality doesn’t want reality when it comes to trans people. Note this RealityWanted.com casting call, entitled Talk Show Casting for Transexuals & Drag Queens (emphasis added):

Are you an over the top drag queen who performs in nightclubs??

Are you new to the drag scene??

Are you or do you know of an over the top transexual who would like to share their story on TV?

If you said yes to any of the questions please reply with a recent pic, contact information, and a brief description of what you do.

“Over the top transsexual who would like to share their story on TV” seems to me to be a euphemistic way of asking for “freak” trans people to exploit and mock.

I’m dismayed and discusted by the idea that an “Emmy Award Winning Talk Show” isn’t looking for trans people with real experiences to talk to; they’re looking for “reality show” trans people they can point to as freaks. Considering how many trans people have trouble finding housing and employment, and how many have been violently killed and listed on the Remembering Our Dead list — in large part due to the societal stigma associated with being trans — having this kind of a casting call to search for trans people to exploit and laugh at is absolutely unconscionable.

I wish the casting call listed exactly which “Emmy Award Winning Talk Show” was making the pitch — I’d like to have a chat with the show’s host and the show’s producer about the abysmal blackness of their souls.

It’s a difficult thing for me when I hear an on-air personality use hateful language against a class of people to make a point. When hate speech is directed at me alone, well then it’s just me — I’ve got a pretty thick skin. When it’s directed to all trans people over the pulic airwaves, and the hate-filled words reinforce others’ hate against a trans people — just because they’re transgender — then it’s hard for me not to see a connection between hate words and hate crimes.

Certainly I don’t want anyone’s freedom of speech rights censored by government forces. And yet, at the same time I’d like to see hate speech by broadcast personalities responded to by businesses refusing to advertize on their shows, people not buying products from businesses maintain advertizing on these broadcast personalities’ shows, and would like to see broadcast outlets that air these personalities pull the shows off of the air. I don’t see that as censorship; I see that as market forces in action — a recognition that many people want to see and hear language that embraces the human diversity about us.

What has me thinking about this today are recent comments from Michael Savage: he slammed transgender people (yet again) on the January 7th broadcast of The Savage Nation:

Radio host Michael Savage continued his attacks on the transgender community during the January 7 broadcast of The Savage Nation, declaring that a sensitivity training program for San Francisco police detectives on transgender issues is “sort of like toilet training for adults” and describing the program as a “class … to teach normal men how to have sensitivity to a psychopathic sex-change operative who should be in a mental hospital.” Savage also published a “memorandum” about the sensitivity training program — which he claimed was “sent to me anonymously by … someone in the [San Francisco] police department” — on his website under the headline: “Exclusive: SFPD forcing detectives to undergo brainwashing by transgendered dick.”

On The Savage Nation, Savage added:

[More below the fold.]

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News and views for Monday, December 8th and Tuesday, December 9th …

[OH, USA] Gay People’s Chronicle reported last week that the Cleveland City Council’s Legislative Committee passed ordinances to include transgender people in the city’s non-discrimination code and to create a domestic partner registry, saying  that those ordinances would likely be passed by the full council at its December 8th meeting.  Well, last night the full City Council passed the domestic partner registry ordinance, but there was no news in the Plain Dealer story today about the status of the trans discrimination measure. (An earlier story in the Plain Dealer said that measure “may come before the council soon.”) — Cleveland council votes to enact domestic partner registry

[USA] There’s “being read,” and then there’s “being red.”  New research from Brown University indicates that men have more red in their faces and women have more green: “Such differences are not absolute — some women’s faces are much redder and some men’s faces are much greener — but overall, across this and related studies, Tarr has determined that observers use the color of a face when trying to identify its gender. That is particularly true when the shape of the given face is ambiguous or hidden.” — Men are red, women are green, researcher finds

[USA] In The Advocate, two prominent members of the transgender community wrote open letters to President-elect Obama. — Letters to President-elect Obama: Donna Rose, Letters to President-elect Obama: Mara Keisling

[USA] Vanessa Edwards Foster on the problem, as she sees it, with the trans folks serving in leadership positions at the HRC: “You can’t fault the lack of leadership when leadership is consistently muzzled and smothered to death. ” — The Problems With The Mainstream GLBT Movement

[Australia] The Daily Telegraph reported this past Saturday that the Federal Government’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission is proposing the “Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex.” Zoe Brain sees a number of potential troubles with the proposal and has this suggestion: ” … rather than “Male, Female or Intersex” on the birth certificates, how about “Male, Female or Unspecified”.”  — Masculine, Feminine, or <? [UPDATE]

News and views for Sunday, December 7th …

[UK] A UK environmental group has released a report on the feminizing effects of “gender-bending” chemicals (endocrine disruptors) in our environment on the animal world: “They say wildlife is being ‘feminised’ by a host of common man-made pollutants which escape into the environment and mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen. The chemicals – found in food packaging, cleaning products, plastics, sewage and paint – trigger genital deformities, reduce sperm count and even turn males into females. Dozens of species – including polar bears, fish, bald eagles, otters and whales – are suffering, they say. Although the report, published by the environmental group ChemTrust, only looked at the impact of gender bending chemicals on the animal world, its authors say the findings have disturbing implications for human health.” — Evolution under threat as ‘gender bending’ chemicals are turning males into females

[USA] At Kelley Winters’ GID Reform Weblog, trans activist Dr. Dana Beyer describes her own experience with the paradigmatic endocrine disruptor, DES: “I spent the first half century of my life searching for the reason I was assigned, reared, and living as a man even though I knew I was female. As a child it was utterly confusing, and when coming out to my parents led to threats of incarceration in the state mental hospital, being the smart little kid that I was, I went silent and focused on trying to determine the causes of my misery. I could never imagine, in my wildest dreams or fantasies, ever transitioning and living full-time as myself; I couldn’t even imagine spending even a day in public as a woman. So I focused my attention on an academic future, scouring all the major libraries in the northeast, reading everything I could about gender variant behavior, trying to understand how I became who I was.” — DES’s Other Daughters: Neglected Evidence of Prenatal Gender Development

[UK] The Sunday Mercury reported yesterday that a “clinic” in Birmingham’s Chinatown area is advertising sex change operations for just £1,500: “Horrified transsexual support groups say the ultra-cheap Birmingham surgery is the lowest-priced operation anywhere in the world, and is half the price of the cheapest surgeries in Thailand. When the Sunday Mercury tried to contact Shangri-La & Surgeon by phone and e-mail, we were unable to reach them … Janett Scott, from transgender group The Beaumont Society, said: “The cheapest operations are in Thailand for about £3,000, “I can’t believe there is somewhere in England offering it for this price. i would be very concerned about the quality of this clinic and the aftercare on offer. A lot of people are very depressed and may be desperate enough to go for this cut-price option. The thought of a place like this operating in Britain horrifies me.”” — Cut-price sex change!

[UK] Sarah offers her reactions to the “Trans/Feminist Debate” in Manchester last Friday between Susan Stryker and Julie Bindel: “Friday’s debate between feminist academic, Susan Stryker and Guardian journalist, Julie Bindel, hosted by Stephen Whittle of Press for Change was a more or less predictable affair, and I think nobody came out of it well. Susan Stryker opened and started to take apart various things Bindel has said in a rational and scientific way … Bindel responded true to previous form, by ignoring anything inconvenient and restating her ideological agenda … Bindel brushed aside specific points she found inconvenient. As well as dismissing any possible biological involvement in gender identity and sexual orientation by stating that such things are “impossible”, without explaining why, she waved such inconveniences as the scientific method and studies on sexual dimorphism in the brain out of the way, stating that she didn’t believe them, or “wasn’t convinced”. Science doesn’t work like that … I think that Stryker fell into the trap that biologists arguing with early creationists fell into. Like Bindel, the creationists were not interested in perusing the truth – it was unpalatable to them. Knowing they couldn’t win the debate on an academically level playing field, they resorted to dogma … I’ll end where I came in. Nobody came out of this well. Stryker was dragged across the Atlantic to be the “straight-woman” in a cringeworthy double act, Bindel got to alienate a few more people, Burns and Whittle got to reassert their roles as focal points for the anger and disillusionment many in the grass roots trans community feel right now. Most of all, though, the trans community are the loseWeight Exercisers. Bindel gets new ammunition to write about how, on her crusade to eradicate our identity (at one point she tried to appropriate a “transgender” identity for herself, presumably because of her “regulation dyke” approach to her own gender presentation). Look forward to a divide-and-rule column in the Guardian soon about how she found “common ground” with the “more reasonable” members of the trans community, and uses that favoured tactic of the misogynist down the ages to silence the rest of us – that we’re shrill.” — Review of the Bindel/Stryker Debate

[UK] Sophia Siedlberg of OII (Organisation Intersex International) also has some thoughts on the “Trans/Feminist” Debate: “When Stephen Whittle and Julie Bindel held a debate at Manchester University of Law, Whittle started about Julie’s “excellent work dealing with violence against women and trafficking”. Well in 1978 I deserved to be raped and in 2008 I deserve to be raped, why? Because even though I have a “female anatomy”, I am someone with 5 alpha and it is my fault. What I am saying is that I am stripped of any viable legal rights just as a transsexual person would have been about 20 years ago … I think that a few people need to “clean their act up”, not just Julie Bindel. In fact I regard Bindel as a symptom of the two sex system. I don’t even hold her responsible for anything. Stephen Whittle, however, knows the issues a little better than Julie Bindel does, and he stood by and saw “Klinefelters and 5 alpha” consigned to the dustbin, where they get abused and that is considered “acceptable”. This is my problem. Julie Bindel is someone who has an argument with transsexual people. She does not entirely agree with transsexual people having surgery. My problem is a little different; the law regards me as little more than a circus freak to be abused by vivisexuals, rapists and nonces. And Whittle, whether he likes it or not, was involved with the discussions that led to this vile situation. Will he ever try to make “friends with this enemy”? No, because I am less than human. Julie Bindel is human, but I am not. You see, I am motivated by resentment and I am honest about it. I resent the way society has dealt with intersex people.” — I am out of the box

[OR, USA] TransNation columnist Jacob Anderson-Minshall talks with Portland artists Smitty Amabilis and Jack StockLynn: “[Collective of Geniuses’ new play] Denial of Self opens this week and StockLynn says ze hopes audiences won’t hate hir “too much” for implying you’re all narcissists. “I hope that they will,” Amabilis counters. “Hate is a powerful motivator. I hope that they’re motivated to do something.”Amabilis defines a narcissist as, “a person of privilege [who] doesn’t see that their excess means that someone else is lacking.” … Although the content of Denial isn’t specifically LGBT-oriented, Amabilis argues, “To me this work is queer because we’re really talking about what privilege and oppression are. It’s a lack of compassion, a lack of empathy, of altruism that creates the hate and oppression minorities have to live through.” As a trans man, Amabilis recognizes that he’s coming to a point in his transition where he can pass as a bio boy and is “stepping into this different realm of privilege. [Still], I haven’t un-learned my oppression enough to actually reap any benefit. Moreover… I want to blur those lines between the oppressed and the oppressor; between the us and the them.” — TransNation: Collective Denial

[Thailand] Bangkok’s “ladyboy” entertainment establishments are suffering as a result of Thailand’s ongoing political turmoil: “The go-go bars are empty and sex is on sale at half price as Bangkok’s infamous red light districts suffer from a blockade of the capital’s airports … Although anti-government protesters have ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok’s airports, the effect of Thailand’s ongoing political chaos on the tourism industry is devastating … The airport closures also hurt Bangkok’s other entertainment options, such as the famous “ladyboy” cabaret shows. “The shutdown of the airports seriously affected our business,” said Nipon Boonmasuwaran, sales and marketing manager of the Calypso show in Bangkok, where flamboyantly-dressed transvestites lip-sync and dance to famous tunes.” Our guests have dropped 90 percent — we have less than 50 guests in our 350-seat theatre,” Nipon said.” — Bangkok’s red light district suffers from political chaos

According to Colorado’s KDRO-TV, alleged murderer Allen Ray Andrade was arraigned by Weld District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow:

A Weld County district judge ruled Thursday that there is enough evidence against a man charged with killing a transgender woman to proceed with a trial.

Thirty-one-year-old Allen Ray Andrade is charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, felony motor vehicle theft, felony identity theft and bias-motivated crime in the death of Angie Zapata on July 17.

For those who don’t remember, Angie Zapata was killed last July. Andrade allegedly beat Angie to death with a fire extinguisher after discovering she had male genitalia, and when he confessed to the crime to police, he never referred to his alleged victim as a she or he — just “it.”

Beyond KDRO-TV‘s Thursday’ story regarding Andrade’s arraignment, the Denver Post added what we know in their article Charge stands against transgender-murder suspect:

[Below the fold: Andrade told his girlfriend from a jailhouse phone that "gay things need to die," and Judge Kopcow stated that "There was a period of time when reason and humanity could have been heard."]

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The San Francisco Chronicle probably summed it up best:

A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.

This is important because, as USA Today wrote:

Private school students are required to meet certain high-school requirements before they can be eligible to apply to one of the undergraduate campuses of the University of California.

What the University Of California (UC) system found in reviewing the textbooks and classroom instruction of Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, California and Christian Schools International is that certain science and history courses that didn’t promote critical thinking.

The federal judge ruled that it’s neither religious discrimination or the stifling of free expression for the UC system to have academic standards by which the system evaluates high school courses — the judge cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts.

Here’s some of the legitimate reasons:

[Legitimate reasons listed below the fold.]

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Below is poll from WingNutDaily on the New Yorker‘s Obama Cover. At the time of the page screen snapshot, 59% of the WingNutDaily poll responders selected the answer…

“The image isn’t too far from the dangerous truth about the Obama family”

…to the poll question Sound off on the New Yorker’s cover with turban-wearing Obama, gun-toting wife. Another 12% answered with the selection…

“Funny, because there’s some truth in it”

I expect to see t-shirts with this New Yorker cover on the front peddled by religious right conservatives sometime in the near future — which is why they’ll no doubt live up to the moniker Republicans and sinners.

Political cartoonist Kevin Moore created a comic strip regarding Colorado’s new public accommodation law, and gave me some props in the blog write up for the strip. I thought this was a funny take on this, as I could imagine myself being the bad tranny who could do something like this.

I’m planning on pasting a copy of this comic on the back of my laptop for the trip to Colorado, so with the artist’s permission I’m crossposting the comic here so you can see exactly what my computer will be wearing in August.

~~~~~
Related:
* I’m Going To Colorado In August With PHB; I’m Going To Make Use Of Public Accommodations
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points
* Apparently, Transgender People Are Many Bad Things
* The TVC & CWA Dump On Dana Beyer; Amy Contrada Warns Of The Transgender Apocalypse

[Another in the occasional series on local activism in San Diego.]

I spoke to my friend Jacqueline from Equality For All on Monday to volunteer some time Tuesday (yesterday). This was i response to California’s Marriage Protection Act initiative — the initiative to expunge the California Supreme Court ruling that gave gay and lesbian Californians the freedom to marry who they love — well, this initiative qualified for the November ballot. Equality For All was organizing exit polling of voters in San Diego’s Third Council District (which includes San Diego’s primary gayborhoods of Hillcrest and North Park) about the just qualified ballot measure.

So instead of watching campaign coverage, I was asking voters if they were for or against allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry in California, and asking them if they were aware that the there are enough signatures to qualify the California’s Marriage Protection Act for the November ballot, and if that constitutional amendment is approved, will permanently negate the California Supreme Court Ruling. I’m told there were quite a number volunteers asking those same questions throughout the day, across District Three. I hope Equality For All gets good value from the data we volunteers collected yesterday.

Well, I personally started around 11:00 AM PST Tuesday morning, I got back home at about 9:00 PM. By the time I arrived home, Senators Clinton and Obama had already given their speeches, and Sen. Obama had already been declared the Presumptive Democratic Nominee by all the major networks, as well as by the Associated Press.

I’m going to be volunteering a lot with the Equality For All over the next few months in the effort to defeat this initiative. Just as I was really tired when I got home at 9:00 PM last light, I expect to come home a lot of evenings over the next few months at least as tired as I was last night.

This is important. It’s worth my time and treasure to support this effort to defeat this initiative.

~~~~~
Related:
* Despite State Supreme Court Ruling, Why Marriage Equality Is Still In Peril In California

Call me less than flabbergasted, but Wal-Mart is opposed to a shareholder proposition to add gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policy. On page 54 of their 2008 Proxy Statement begins their response:

WAL-MART’S STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO
PROPOSAL NO. 4

As one of the world’s largest private employers, we place diversity at all levels, from our Board to our Associates, among our top priorities. Our dedication to a diverse workforce is well known, and we believe our actions demonstrate that we work hard to implement our Equality of Opportunity Policy. That policy states that “Wal-Mart will not tolerate discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, veteran status, martial status or any other legally-protected status.” In view of the wide reach of this policy, we do not believe a change to our Equality of Opportunity Policy is needed to ensure that our Associates at all levels are treated fairly and with respect.

Our dedication to building and retaining an inclusive and respectful workplace for all of our Associates has been recognized by numerous groups promoting such standards across the country. In 2007, we were honored to be the recipient of the National Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Corporate Award; we were named one of DiversityInc.’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity; we were named as one of the National Association of Female Executives’ Top Companies for Female Executives; and we received other recognition for our on-going commitment to diversity in the workplace. Our commitment to diversity also extends to our supplier base, and through our Supplier Development Program, we seek to advance our business relationships to minority- and women-owned suppliers.

The Board is proud of Wal-Mart’s accomplishments in this area. The diversity of our Associates and suppliers shows that we are leading by example toward a diverse workplace in the United States and globally. The Board is committed to monitoring our Company’s progress in this regard and to helping ensure that we adhere to our core beliefs and stated policies. The Board believes that Wal-Mart already appropriately addresses the concerns set forth in the proposal and believes that revising our Company’s policy would not benefit our Company, our Associates or our shareholders.

For the above reasons, the Board recommends that the shareholders vote AGAINST this proposal.

I don’t feel respected when Wal-Mart are specifically against anti-discrimination protection for transgender and other gender-variant people in their employ.

And by the way, this is the second major corporation we’ve tracked at Pam’s House Blend that has used their DiversityInc rating (Wal-Mart was no. 41 of top 50 company’s for diversity in 2007; Verizon was no 1 on the same list for 2008) as to why the corporation doesn’t feel a need to specifically add gender identity and expression language into their non-discrimination policies.

My value of DiversityInc‘s lists have been shrinking recently. It appears notable to me that the boards of two corporations that have done well in recent DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity have seen their boards recommended voting against the interests of transgender employees — recommended against adding gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies. How do corporations become top businesses on DiversityInc lists when there is a class of people that corporations feel free to advocate against to their shareholders — without repercussion from DiversityInc?

~~~~~
Related:
* DiversityInc’s No. 1 Employer Is Against Gender Identity/Expression In Non-Discrimination Policy
* Verizon Shareholders Vote Down Protections Based On Gender Identity And Expression

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

San Francisco’s tourist industry is betting that gay marriage will lead to a boon in same-sex wedding and honeymoon packages.

Nationally, gay tourism amounts to a $60 billion-a-year industry. Thanks to Thursday’s ruling by the state Supreme Court striking down the ban on same-sex marriage, California stands to become a destination spot for gay and lesbian couples from around the world who want to get hitched.

And San Francisco is hoping for the biggest slice of the wedding cake.

No sooner did the court decision come down than the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau fired off a release to the gay press, inviting couples to get married in the city where “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history continues to be made.”

I have to admit, it’s difficult for me to get out of “activist mode,” so the economics of California’s future LGBT tourism to consummate same sex marriages hadn’t crossed my mind until I read this article.

I’m still thinking in terms of financially supporting Equality For All‘s effort to derail the California Marriage Protection Act — the initiative sponsors turned in 1.1 million signatures to attempt to get this California Constitutional Amendment initiative on the November Ballot. In other words, the California LGBT community won a major battle towards the goal of marriage equality this past week, the war isn’t over yet.

Frankly I’d prefer to see people spending money to ensure the freedom to marry still exists for California’s LGBT community five years from now rather than spend a lot of money on same sex marriage tourism — tourism that won’t ensure the marriage equality is institutionally permanent in California.

I’m not trying to be a party pooper here, but It’s hard for me not to think of the next generations of California’s LGBT youth. I believe they deserve our thoughts about their future opportunities.

This is where you need to be, because wherever in the world you compete, Michigan can give you the upper hand.

–Jeff Daniels, in a pitch for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has been peppering the news channels with their advertisements for businesses seeking to move to, or grow within Michigan. Their commercials usually end with a variant of the statement above, to date the commercials have ended with the phrase “…because wherever in the world you compete, Michigan can give you the upper hand.”

The one place Michigan can’t compete is regarding employment equality for it’s LGBT citizens. As the Detroit Free Press reported on May 8th, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that public employers are barred from providing health care benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees.

The 5-2 ruling found that an amendment to the Michigan Constitution approved by voters in 2004 to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman also applied to employee benefits. Specifically, the court found that language in the amendment prohibiting recognition of other unions “for any purpose” effectively bans same-sex partner benefits.

In providing benefits to same-sex domestic partners, employers recognize those relationships in a way indistinguishable from the way a marriage is recognized, the court majority found.

…[Tom Patrick, a Washtenaw County resident and a plaintiff in the lawsuit] said the court’s ruling threatens his family’s health care coverage. Patrick said he and his partner have four adopted children and one foster child, and they could loseWeight Exercise coverage if his partner’s employer, Eastern Michigan University, decides not to offer insurance for designated beneficiaries.

Jessie Olson, an attorney and gay rights advocate from Bangor, said the ruling leaves Michigan “at the bottom of the barrel. We are the worst of the worst of the worst when it comes to civil rights for same-sex couples.”

Frankly, I’m tired of watching Jeff Daniels telling me how wonderful Michigan is for business. When it comes to its LGBT citizens, Michigan doesn’t compete; it doesn’t give the families of same sex couples the upper hand.

~~~~~
Further:

Jeff Daniels mentions San Francisco in his Michigan Economic Development Corporation piece for ePrize.

Within short walking distance of the home in Granada Hills, California, where I was raised — no more than 3 blocks away — was St. John The Baptist De La Salle Catholic Parish. The parish had a elementary school, so my brothers and I were always seeing those girls in white blouses and grey, plaid skirts in the neighborhood.

This morning, the school put on an annual school festival:

Religious events calendar

International Festival, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. today and noon-7 p.m. Sunday, St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church, 16555 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills. Free admission.

Well, apparently just as the event began at 11:00 AM, a man with a rifle came in and wounded three people. From the Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle:

And, I just heard on the TV (from a KTLA reporter) that the shooter apparently was the father of one of the Catholic School’s children. KTLA reports:

[More after the fold, including why my Dad liked that neighborhood for his children.]
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