Washington Blade Opinion

Protecting LGBT inmates from sexual abuse

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EST

Protecting LGBT inmates from sexual abuse
Governments should support strong standards to end sexual assault behind bars
By Lovisa Stannow
Friday, July 03, 2009
EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Associated Press broke a story that advocates had been talking about for months — inmates at Virginia's largest women's prison were being segregated for not looking “feminine” enough. While prison administrators denied the practice, current and former staff and inmates all told the same story of a separate unit derisively called the “butch wing.”

This punitive practice was ostensibly intended to end prohibited consensual sexual activity and to protect others from predatory inmates, illustrating how misconceptions about gay and lesbian prisoners continue to thrive in the prison setting. In fact, academic research studies have f ...

Coping with harassment and discrimination

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 05:00:00 EST

Coping with harassment and discrimination
STIGMA works to reduce the rate of HIV and STIs among LGBT young people
By Terra Moore
Friday, July 03, 2009
RECENTLY, TWO MIDDLE-school youth in the U.S. committed suicide due to harassment and bullying endured at school. LGBT youth live each day with the reality that they are treated unfairly, where encountering discrimination and harassment becomes the norm.

Subsequently, LGBT youth are at a higher vulnerability for homelessness, mental health needs, drug abuse and sexual health issues. In D.C., we have an extreme challenge — coupling inequality and stigma with the severe epidemic of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. STIGMA Peers work tirelessly to bring awareness about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

STIGMA, which stands for Spreadi ...

An ill-advised protest

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

An ill-advised protest
March on Washington is a waste of time and precious resources
By Peter Rosenstein
Friday, June 26, 2009
HAVING PARTICIPATED IN a number of marches on Washington, I think the few people who are focusing their energy on this ought to find something more productive to do.

Before we ask our community to spend the time and money — and make no mistake a march on Washington is an expensive proposition — we should look at who we will influence with the march. Are we going to attack the Congress and the president we just helped to elect? What are the threats we will use to move them any faster than they are now moving or can move? Will we threaten to stay home during the next election cycle? Will we threaten to vote for conservative Republicans next time? Will we withhold our mo ...

Inclusiveness and respect

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Inclusiveness and respect
From the Stonewall Riots to the Whitman-Walker Clinic, we are learning to care more
By Jeffrey Lewis
Friday, June 26, 2009
THIS MONTH WE celebrate and remember 40 years of gay rights and the Stonewall riots in New York City on June 28, 1969. America has grown and evolved since. Here in Washington, D.C., the Whitman-Walker Clinic has grown, too, becoming a medical home for all HIV/AIDS patients living in the District of Columbia and in some cases beyond. Whitman-Walker has grown with America to help ensure the most disenfranchised of Washingtonians will find that hope, help and home triumph over fear, helplessness and homelessness.

A comprehensive primary care environment amplifies our important medical care work and underscores what is needed. There are many people and community leaders to thank, and ...

Happy I took the 'gay job'

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Happy I took the 'gay job'
After four years at GLAAD, it's clear that culture leads and changes our politics.
By Neil G. Giuliano
Friday, June 19, 2009
I'LL LET YOU IN ON A RARELY SPOKEN political fact: Politics does not lead cultural change. Culture leads, and then changes, our politics.

Understanding this is what compelled me in the summer of 2005 to serve as the president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. As the national LGBT organization dedicated to creating cultural change via influencing coverage and portrayals of gay people in the media, GLAAD doesn't do the political or legal work so vital for our movement's advancement. Yet it is clearly our changing culture that enables the legal and political victories.

While individual battles were being waged over the last decade, the re ...

Removing the blot of DOMA

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Removing the blot of DOMA
Anger over DOJ brief is a sideshow — now it's time to work for repeal.
By Robert Raben
Friday, June 19, 2009
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S decision to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which among other restrictions excludes same-sex couples from the federal definition of marriage, has caused understandable pain and anger in the gay community. President Obama has said, after all, that he supports repeal of this awful law. But there is both more and less than meets the eye in this decision.

The Department of Justice defends congressional enactments — even lousy ones, even ones with which it disagrees — with very rare exception. That longstanding practice promotes certainty in law, and avoids the head-snapping changes in established law that would otherwise occur ...

Wrong ANSWER

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Wrong ANSWER
Why did a Stalinist organization march in the Capital Pride Parade?
By James Kirchick
Friday, June 19, 2009
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE UPON WITNESSING at the Capital Pride parade — somewhere between the flatbed truck carrying a bevy of line dancing, Speedo-clad cowboys and the flotilla of vamping drag queens — a contingent from the International ANSWER Coalition. The group's acronym, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, certainly sounds inoffensive. Who, after all, wouldn't want to stop war and end racism?

ANSWER, however, is not the cuddly and benign organization that its name would suggest. The group was founded three days after Sept. 11, 2001, to give greater voice to those who had been waiting for such a catastrophe to make the point that the Unit ...

Pride is inside, and it shows

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Pride is inside, and it shows
There is something special, important and unique about being a part of our community
By Michael Lutz
Friday, June 12, 2009
I AM OFTEN confronted with the inquiry, “Why do we still have Pride celebrations?” Some people say that because of the increased visibility of our community, Pride is no longer relevant. We have won elections and secured appointments throughout the country. In some places, we have earned marriage equality. Our voices grow more pronounced each year. So why do we still gather every June to celebrate and remember the events at the Stonewall Inn in 1969?

When answering the question, I am often reminded of a chant that we recited at high school football games: “The pride is inside and it shows.” For our community, we want to make sure that we let the prid ...

40 years after Stonewall

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

40 years after Stonewall
June's Pride celebrations serve as reminder of the hard work that lies ahead
By Peter Rosenstein
Friday, June 12, 2009
ON JUNE 27, 1969 the Stonewall Riots ignited the modern gay rights movement. A group of drag queens fought the police in New York's Greenwich Village and stood up for all of us.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall we are proud of how far we have come, but know we still have far to go. We still dream of the future when we will have all our rights.

As the saying goes, “You've come a long way baby.” But we are still far from the finish line. It still depends on where you live whether you can feel safe as an “out” member of the LGBT community. Congress still hasn't passed a hate crimes bill to make beating us up a federal crime. We ca ...

Celebrating Stonewall

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Celebrating Stonewall
We wouldn't have the rights we enjoy now without the heroic fight at the Inn 40 years ago
By Kathi Wolfe
Friday, June 12, 2009
FORTY YEARS AGO this month, patrons at a gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village in New York City fought back when police raided the premises. Stonewall was the dawn of the modern gay rights movement. Yet, given how different life is for LGBT people now from what it was then, some might question how relevant Stonewall is today.

In June 1969, I was a teenager in a small southern New Jersey town, afraid to admit to myself, let alone anyone else, that I liked girls. I'd never met any queer people or heard the word gay, and I wasn't quite sure what a lesbian was. But like many of us then, I knew that “nice, normal” girls weren't lesbians or homosexuals. There we ...

Terry McAuliffe has an inclusive record

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Terry McAuliffe has an inclusive record
Former DNC chair created LGBT Outreach office, backs civil unions
By Ann Unitas
Friday, June 05, 2009
EVEN HERE, IN the Commonwealth of Virginia, we now live in a progressive era — in the truest sense of the word — and people are excited about it. I am encouraged by the sense of openness to change that is appearing all over our country. We must catch the wave and work hard to elect leaders who believe in equality and bring the proven qualities to lead us there. That's why I'm supporting Terry McAuliffe for governor of Virginia. McAuliffe has a strong and proven record of being inclusive and encouraging diversity.

He opposed the Marshall-Newman amendment banning same-sex marriages. He supports civil unions and will work to make sure same-sex couples have contractual ri ...

Brian Moran for governor

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Brian Moran for governor
Keep Virginia moving forward in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
By Adam Ebbin
Friday, June 05, 2009
NEXT TUESDAY'S VIRGINIA Democratic primary for governor offers a clear choice. Brian Moran of Alexandria has stood with the LGBT community repeatedly, without hesitation or reservation, throughout his political career. During his time in the Virginia House of Delegates in Richmond, he has stood up to frequent and ugly attacks against our community.

We have a real choice to make about whether the candidate Virginia Democrats put forward has a proven record of fighting for our community. I think we will make the right choice if we come out on June 9 for Brian Moran. The best way to know what to expect from him as governor is to look at what he's done throughout his career in public ...

Courageous stand on marriage rights

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST

Courageous stand on marriage rights
Why the gay community should thank Dick Cheney – and why they won't do it.
By Christopher Barron
Friday, June 05, 2009
THIS WEEK, FORMER Vice President Dick Cheney spoke out courageously on the question of same-sex marriage. With the exception of the gay conservative group GOProud, no other gay organization spoke up in support of the former vice president.

Neither the supposedly bipartisan Human Rights Campaign nor the Log Cabin Republicans issued statements praising Cheney — even though Cheney's position on marriage equality is now clearly more progressive than that of President Obama or Vice President Biden. This silence is utterly shameful and shows that much of our so-called gay leadership is little more than an appendage of the Democratic National Committee and the tools of a han ...

Marriage equality advances in D.C.

Fri, 29 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Marriage equality advances in D.C.
We don't control our destiny — Congress does, so there's much work ahead
By Peter Rosenstein
Friday, May 29, 2009
LAST WEEK, A group of conservative members of Congress filed a bill in the House of Representatives to define marriage in the District of Columbia as the union of one man and one woman. But I am confident that marriage equality will continue to move forward in D.C. and accept Nancy Pelosi's commitment that Congress will not interfere with that.

I was pleased to hear the White House reiterate President Obama's pledge to see the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. His stated belief that marriage is an issue for states to decide is a strong indication that if such a bill ever made it out of the Congress we can expect him to veto it.

In the past few weeks, marriage equ ...

Americans guilty of exporting homophobia

Fri, 29 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Americans guilty of exporting homophobia
U.S. extremists are purposefully stoking the flames of anti-gay hate in Uganda and inciting rights abuses
By Cary Alan Johnson
Friday, May 29, 2009
DESPITE THE GLOBAL recession, the U.S. is promoting and aggressively selling a costly product overseas: homophobia. Uganda, one of America's closest partners in Africa, is currently home to vicious and violent attacks on its citizens based solely on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The high cost in terms of individual privacy and freedom of expression is mounting daily. Regrettably, much of the inspiration and call for these attacks is coming directly from these shores.

In March 2009, three American extremists flew to Uganda's capital city of Kampala to be featured speakers at a three-day training seminar focused on the “homosexual machinery wreaking havo ...

Is Obama marching in our parade?

Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Is Obama marching in our parade?
The president does not seem serious about reaching out to black LGBT people
By Rev. Irene Monroe
Friday, May 22, 2009
BLACK PRIDE CONTRIBUTES to the multicultural aspect of joy and celebration in the queer communities. Black Pride symbolizes not only black LGBT uniqueness as individuals and communities, but it also affirms our varied expressions of LGBT life in America.

This year will be our first Black Pride parade with an African American as president. And, no doubt, Obama's presidency engenders pride, but not much hope.

In Obama's first days, many of us wanted to know what is it with Obama and his team when it comes to our inclusion in his transformational administration?

One of our biggest obstacles in the African-American community has been — and continues to be & ...

Our gay Depression

Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Our gay Depression
Being same-gender-loving is not a disease, a death sentence or a disability
By Michael-Christopher
Friday, May 22, 2009
MY JOURNEY INTO the gay community was fairly easy compared to most other black, same-gender-loving men I've come to know. I was fortunate to have two very loving, supportive parents and open-minded friends and co-workers when I thrust myself out some 23 years ago. At the time, I was living in the New York metropolitan area, which constantly affirmed that I was not alone and I quickly found my place among others like me.

My nine years in the D.C. area have been a different experience. Arriving here at age 33, I had a good sense of who I was, who I wanted to be and who I wanted to be with, but I found not all of my peers shared similar insights.

It appeared I may have mi ...

Black Pride, HIV and inner peace

Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Black Pride, HIV and inner peace
Bridging the gap between who we are during the day and what we do between the sheets
By Herndon Davis
Friday, May 22, 2009
FOR GENERATIONS, THE nation's capital has proudly been home to vast numbers of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Many of these men and women have become highly influential, contributing to local and national politics, heading up socioeconomic advocacy efforts and inspiring scores of young people within the hallowed walls of academia.

Further, the District welcomed its newest resident, President Barack Obama, as the nation's first African-American and most gay-friendly president to date. As a candidate and now as president, Obama has repeatedly included the LGBT community throughout many of his speeches, hailing America's diversity and encouraging tolerance. ...

Problems of a 'white state' strategy

Fri, 15 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

Problems of a 'white state' strategy
When queer communities of color are not needed to win marriage rights
By Rev. Irene Monroe
Friday, May 15, 2009
WITH IOWA, VERMONT and Maine becoming the latest states to approve marriage equality, optimism is high among LGBT Americans, with many believing that more states will follow suit.

“We're hoping this momentum is contagious,” Daniel Richards of Rhode Island told me.

But with Rhode Island's Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri recently denouncing same-sex marriage, the battle for LGBT Rhode Islanders will be a hard one.

Rhode Island is the only state in New England that does not recognize same-sex marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships. And with a governor who supports the National Organization for Marriage, a nonprofit with a mission to &l ...

The tweet heard round the world?

Fri, 15 May 2009 05:00:00 EST

The tweet heard round the world?
Media go nuts over 90 people with swine flu, but ignore a surging HIV/AIDS epidemic
By
Friday, May 15, 2009
WAS IT THE tweet heard around the world? Probably not. But it is one that has been repeated over and over again on blogs and re-tweeted literally thousands of times on Twitter. Don't believe me? Do a Google search. Mrs. Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore herself, (@mrskutcher) actually re-tweeted an iteration of it.

Two weeks ago, I updated my Twitter account (@DCbigpappa) with a pithy comment about Topic A in the national spotlight: the H1N1 flu virus — notoriously known as the swine flu (but don't tell the pork producers). In that update, I said, “90 people get swine flu & everyone wants to wear a mask. Over 1 million people get AIDS & no one wants to wear a co ...