News
Gay Straight Alliance now in …ST George, Utah
I can think if very few places less likely than heavily Mormon Utah where there would be a gay-straight alliance. Yet there in the New York Times today is the news story of just that. Given the garbage I see here in New York, I can only imagine the oasis that the Utah pride Center must be for the LGBT population in St George. From the article:
The new alliances in St. George were part of a drastic rise this fall in the number of clubs statewide, reflecting new activism by gay and lesbian students, an organizing drive by a gay rights group and the intervention of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has threatened to sue districts that put up arbitrary hurdles. Last January, only 9 high schools in Utah had active Gay-Straight Alliances; by last month, the number had reached 32.
The length to which some groups have gone to suppress this activity is incredible. However, in my view it is a war of attrition. The old farts that frown on GSA (gay-straight alliances) will eventually get old and become fertilizer, while the younger generation that wasn’t raised on fear, hate and ignorance will raise the tide.
I’m 43. There were no GSA clubs in schools in the 1980s when I was in high school and college. Gay people were in the closet. That’s no way to live. Decent honorable straight people shouldn’t just offer gay folks benign neglect. Decent honorable people should break a sweat to right the wrongs and do away with the stigmas and stereotypes that we have bullied on the LGBT community as a society.
Good news to start 2011.
Just for Christmas: Rudolph May, in Fact, be Regina
A fun post for Christmas Eve: a hunter in West Virginia (I know, redundant) has felled a deer with antlers that turned out to be… a doe.
For the uninformed, it typically goes like this: Male deer are bucks, and bucks have antlers. Female deer, or doe, do not have antlers. Typically. From the AP article:
“It can happen,” Todd Dowdy, a wildlife biologist with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, told the AP. “I don’t have any statistics on it to tell you how often they appear or how rare it is, but it’s very rare.”
I’ll go out on the limb and say that the other deer absolutely didn’t care about the antlers and let their late friend play all the reindeer games she wanted, antlers or no antlers.
Merry Christmas.
Tyler Clementi’s Parents Sue Rutgers
Our homes should be a bastion of safety, privacy and peace of mind. Home is where you run to, not run away from. Home is where are heart should be at peace. Even if it is a wigwam, hotel room, or college dormitory, it is still home.
It wasn’t that way for Tyler Clementi, and the results were tragic. Now his parents are suing Rutgers University for not having or enforcing the policies necessary to ensure his privacy while his dorm mates cruelly webcast his encounters with another man over the Internet. Clementi went to his dorm RA, and got nowhere.
It is tempting to be incendiary and ask what the school would have done if he were a blonde cheerleader. There will those who know more than I about the nuance of law in the matter. The only thing I can say with certainty from my perch is that this push back from Tyler’s parents is needed. Everyone has rights to quiet enjoyment of their home. Tyler’s rights were not preserved. Push back is right.
I am a dad. I wish his parents every strength in what will be an arduous and painful process.
Senate Joins House in Repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
In an historic (and long overdue) vote, the senate voted 65-31 to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as the military’s official stance on gays serving in the US military.
We applaud the move and see it as strengthening the best military force on the planet. It is no secret that thousands of gay men and women have already served with distinction and even heroism in the US military since the Republic was founded.
I asked a fellow broker about the development who happened to be a graduate of the US Naval Academy. He acknowledged that to many serving it is a challenging subject, but pointed out that there was also controversy in 1948 when the military was desegregated and when women were also allowed to serve in combat. This too, he said, shall pass. I agree.
Georgia Pastor Comes Out to Congregation
Jim Swilley, the pastor of a 1000+ person Christian Community and a 3rd generation preacher, has come out to his congregation-on the pulpit- after 21 years of marriage and 4 children. He says that he was moved to do so in the wake of recent suicides by young gays.
He has amicably separated from his second wife and informed his parents, who have voiced their support and love for their son. His sons have also expressed their support for their father, who has made it clear he’s not involved in any scandal or under pressure to get ahead of any festering allegations from a double life or brewing controversy.
We support the pastor’s integrity in coming out, especially the way he did. There s too much suffering among gay youth today, and we as a society need to kick the notion into overdrive that being gay is as OK as being straight.
REALTORS Include Equal Protection for Orientation in Code of Ethics
As of January 1, 2010, the Code of Ethics for the National Association of REALTORS will be amended to include sexual orientation as a protected class. The verbiage of the change to the code is as follows:
REALTORS® shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation. REALTORS® shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation.
REALTORS®, in their real estate employment practices, shall not discriminate against any person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation
The changes are all included in article 10 of the 2011 code, which can be found on the NAR website. The vote was held at the NAR convention on November 8, 2010, and puts the NAR ahead of the United States Federal Government in adopting this needed change.
