The Racial Equity Online Toolkit provides a range of grantmaking tools, commentaries and best practices to support grantmakers in implementing an LGBTQ racial equity lens into their grantmaking and internal operations.

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4. Minnesota community members ponder what to do to address continuing racial achievement gap
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The version of the health care reform bill that passed in the House of Representatives last weekend contains the following provisions that would benefit LGBT Americans:

• Health Disparities – the bill specifically designates LGBT people as a health disparities population, opening up health data collection and grant programs focused on health disparities related to sexual orientation and gender identity. With collection of data and funding of research, we can better address the specific health issues facing LGBT people.
• Unequal Taxation of Domestic Partner Benefits – the bill ends the unfair taxation of employer-provided domestic partner health benefits, incorporating the language of the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act. Without this tax penalty, more people will be able to afford employer-provided coverage for their families, and more companies will be able to offer these important benefits.
• Early Treatment for HIV under Medicaid – the bill also incorporates the Early Treatment for HIV Act, which allows states to cover early HIV treatment under their Medicaid programs, instead of withholding treatment for Medicaid recipients until they develop full-blown AIDS, This will dramatically improve the quality of life for low-income people with HIV, as well as saving taxpayers money and reducing the transmission of the virus.
• Comprehensive Sex Education – the bill provides funding for comprehensive sex education programs that focus not only on abstinence, but also reducing teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. After more than $1 billion wasted on failed and discriminatory abstinence-only programs, this funding will provide youth, including LGBT students, with the tools they need to live healthy lives.
• Non-discrimination – the bill prohibits consideration of personal characteristics unrelated to the provision of health care. HRC worked with a coalition of civil rights groups to develop and lobby for this language and we believe it will help protect LGBT people from discrimination in the health care system, where there are currently no federal protections for our community.

(via)

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The U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced a series of proposals to ensure that HUD programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity as well as the first-ever nationwide survey of housing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This historic announcement explicitly addresses discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time by a federal agency.

…

According to today’s announcement, the proposed rule by HUD will make three important changes to federal regulations. First, it includes language that ensures LGBT families are recognized and covered by HUD programs, including affordable housing assistance. Second it requires organizations that administer HUD grants to abide by state and local laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Third it prohibits consideration of factors other than creditworthiness, including sexual orientation and gender identity, in the awarding of mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

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5. Family Equality Council: IN THE LIFE documentary on adoption by LGBT parents

This November, IN THE LIFE presents the introductory excerpt of the film Preacher’s Sons a provocative, real-life story about The Stewarts: five troubled boys who move from foster care to a loving home with the two men who are now their fathers. This intimate look at a loving family transcends all political convictions, revealing the struggles, humor and love that unite all families. Filmmaker, C Roebuck Reed shares her experience making this film about a non-traditional family and gay adoption. To watch a preview, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=S85d7SoNXoA.

IN THE LIFE’s Special Presentation of Preacher’s Sons will begin airing November 1st and be available for free video streaming and downloadable podcasts from the IN THE LIFE website on November 2nd. To find out when it will air in your local area, to stream or download it, go to www.inthelifetv.org.

Free video streaming and downloadable podcasts! Using alternative distribution channels means more people see it.

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5. Corruption in International Adoptions

[T]he United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed a lawsuit brought by a woman who wasn’t allowed to visit her dying same sex partner in a hospital. The woman had all the proper documents, but the hospital still denied visitation, saying that “[Miami] is in a anti-gay city in anti-gay state.”

…

[T]he decision reminds gay couples everywhere that not even the best legal preparation can reliably defeat an institution determined to discriminate against them. This woman followed all the typical advice about bringing documents with her to ensure that her rights are recognized–it still didn’t work.

It scares the crap out of me that something like this could still happen. Which is no excuse to not go ahead and get this stuff legally squared away (as is even possible), but still.

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American Airlines debuts BlackAtlas.com, a travel networking site focused on the African American travel experience. From the press release:

American Airlines announced today it is launching a first-of-its-kind social networking site, BlackAtlas.com(SM), which combines the best features of a travel site with the power of social networking to create a dynamic online community for travelers to share experiences unique to the black community.

(via @negrophile)

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Forget the 2016 Rio Olympics – there’s a more pressing issue to address: Who is fighting to ensure that the immigrants of European descent are adequately represented at next year’s Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games?

I’m talking about the people who can be credited for turning the city from a giant wilderness into the budding metropolis of today. The place, and indeed the whole of my country, Canada, was pretty third-worldish until the English, French, and various other Europeans arrived and started planning and building infrastructure and government, and teaching the natives discipline, order, and capitalism. Canada or the USA without European immigrants would look somewhat like Africa.

It’s no coincidence that the best countries in the world are either European or founded by Europeans. Everywhere they go, European immigrants make things better – until they’re asked to leave, at which point everything usually descends back into chaos. Not that they ever get any thanks for it.

There’s more! Ugh. And the comments aren’t much better.

(via @sheatsb)

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It was a great session. I would have loved it if the crowd would have been standing room only, but we at least filled all the seats …. And, frankly, I wasn’t entirely surprised — there are plenty of people who’d rather talk about something else, plenty of people who feel like there is no lack of diversity or that — if there is — it’s not really a problem (seriously, I had someone say that to me the other day). Those who did show up brought some great insights.

This a great summary of the discussion and Meghan includes a great list of solutions and links to lots of great resources for folks working in Interactive and interested in developing and promoting diversity in the industry’s culture.

I’m not employed in this industry, but I know a lot of people who are. My impression is it’s not any more or less diverse than the rest of Minnesota (or at least the Twin Cities). That would be an interesting tidbit, actually, if it were more diverse.

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Project Girl is designed to equip girls with the tools to create the foundation for long-term change.Project Girl develops and strengthens skills they need to become more critical and informed consumers of media. Co-created by Kelly Parks Snider and Jane Bartell, this program uses art-based workshops to build girl communities supporting resistance to harmful media messages.

Project Girl believes that it is not the girls, but rather the culture in which they live that is in need of repair and that art is the tool to begin the transformation.

Tuition is sliding scale. Register by phone, mail, or fax. Space is limited, but may still be available.

Come rap about it, write about it, paint about it, speak about it! Intermedia Arts is proud to bring back our wildly popular Project Girl day camp! With Project Girl, you have a chance to make your stand and express your reactions to the world around you. Explore the effects of media and entertainment culture through writing, poetry, and visual arts with nationally renowned hip-hop and graffiti artists Desdemona and Katrina K!

Get involved, express your true self, and sign up for Project Girl. The world is waiting to hear your voice!

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Saurday, October 10th – 3:00-5:00pm
Minneapolis Urban League – 2220 16th Ave N, Minneapolis
[facebook event]

This should be a really interesting event. I know marriage equality is not the be all and end all of civil rights issues for anyone, but I think this will be a really good discussion for three reasons.

1. The path to marriage equality is different from state to state depending on their respective constitutions and existing laws, so it’ll be good to shed some light on the specifics of the situation in our own state.
2. Minnesota has this weird political environment where you often times can’t tell which way the population is going to swing on an issue.
3. Mandy Carter is awesome.

For more info contact OutFront Minnesota Community Organizer Kelly Lewis at 612-822-0127 x110 or klewis@outfront.org.

Co-sponsored by:
COLOR CoordiNATION, Minneapolis Urban League, OutFront Minnesota & Shades of Yellow

[x-posted at Cinna.MN]

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Date: Saturday, October 3, 2009
Show starts 8:00pm (doorsopen 7:30pm)
Location: Macalester College Kagin Commons
1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105

http://www.macalester.edu/about/mapbynumber.html

Suggested Donation: $5-$10 (all proceeds will to go to the family of Fong Lee to assist with attorney’s fees)

Up In Arms: A Night of Hip Hop and Spoken Word to Honor Fong Lee and End Police Brutality seeks to raise awareness and support of Fong Lee’s case while also uniting and activating communities around the issue of police brutality.

In July 2006, un-armed Fong Lee was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in front of a north Minneapolis elementary school. Last May, an all-white federal jury exonerated officer Jason Anderson of using “excessive force” on the teenager who was shot eight times in the back. Allegations that a gun was planted near Lee’s body were ruled irrelevant to the case. (For more information about the trial: http://www.hmongtoday.com/page11504436.aspx)

The Lee family’s quest for truth does not end with the ruling given in May, and the family has continued the long path towards legal justice.

The evening will be emceed by Tou Ger Xiong and Amy Hang. DJ Nak will be on the one’s and two’s with performances by Magnetic North (from New York City), Nomi of Power Struggle (from the Bay Area), Michelle Myers of Yellow Rage (from Philadelphia), Maria Isa, Blackbird Elements, Guante, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, e.g. Bailey, Tou Saiko Lee with PosNoSys, True Mutiny, Shá Cage, Kevin Xiong with Pada Lor, Tish Jones, MaiPaCher, Logan Moua, Bobby Wilson, Poetic Assassins, Hilltribe, and special guests.

This event is sponsored by: Speak!, Lealtad-Suzuki Center, Asian Student Alliance, Ua Ke, DJ Club, History Department, Coalition for Community Relations, The Loft Literary Center, Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, Shades of Yellow, Take Action Minnesota, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Minnesota Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

For more information please visit Coalition for Community Relations on Facebook or contact Tou Ger Xiong @ 651-738-0141or Jose Luís @ 612-986-0832.

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Members of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis decided to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after a 96 percent vote by members on Sunday.

The decision to leave came after the ELCA Church-wide Assembly vote on Aug. 21 in Minneapolis, that allowed gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

Before the ECLA’s [sic] decision, gay clergy were allowed to be ministers only if they were celibate. Some church members object to the new policy, saying it goes against Scripture.

The St. Paul’s congregation’s council set a policy in October 1990 that stated if the ELCA ever moved to allow such ordinations, the congregation would immediately begin the process to leave.

Fine, bye.

No related posts.

Too Big for My Skin is not just a poem. It’s a mind state. It’s an international campaign that invites you to leave your response to the video in the comment section or to submit your very own video response. It’s about positive body image, acceptance and strength. It’s about finding your voice and speaking. Join us in the campaign. More is to come!

Beautiful! I love that.

(via Ann)

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From Good to Great: A Workshop for LGBT Couples

Hennepin Church (511 Groveland at Lyndale Ave., Mpls.) is sponsoring a six-part workshop for LGBT couples who have been together for at least on year. Lay the foundation for a great future by learning about effective communication, conflict resolution, increasing self-awareness, deepening trust, setting realistic goals, and more. Led by Westminster Counseling Center’s Margaret McCray, PhD, and Ross Aalgaard, MSW. Cost is $75 per couple. Free childcare by request.

Thurs., Oct. 1-Nov. 5; 6:00-7:30 PM
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
More info at: www.haumc.org. Space is limited, please call: (612) 871-5303 to register.

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Domestic partners are being eliminated from state employee benefits just a year after they were added to the benefits plan.

A bill signed by Gov. Jan Brewer redefined a “dependent,” canceling the rule change made by Gov. Janet Napolitano that allowed domestic partners to receive benefits.

Also eliminated are children of domestic partners, full-time students ages 23-24 and disabled adult dependents. The legislation is in legal review.

About 800 state employees are affected, according to the state’s administration department….

It costs the state $3 million to cover domestic partners and $625 million for other employees and their dependents….

Last year 170 [University of Arizona] employees signed up for domestic-partner benefits… Forty were same-sex couples and the remainder were unmarried, opposite-sex couples….

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Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act is not just about equality–it’s also about encouraging socially beneficial behavior in gay relationships.

That statement by itself is an important one to remember. The government does this all the time. Like the fact that mortgage interest is tax deductible encourages us to by houses instead of renting. In this article, the example given is the fact that alimony is tax deductible (unless you’re paying alimony to a same-sex ex-partner) and the fact that it’s deductible encourages you to actually pay it if you owe it.

Whether or not that’s appropriate for the government to do is a whole ‘nother discussion.

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I went and looked at these kids’ MySpace profiles—this is before Facebook. Sixty to 70 percent of them had MySpace profiles that I could find. There were deep segregations in the friending patterns. Latinos friended Latino kids, black kids friended black kids, and white kids friended other white kids. There was very little overlap.

So here are the adults going, ‘We don’t have a race problem because we’re integrated.’ And the [verbal] language of the teens is deeply racist, deeply segregationist, marked by gangs, marked by narratives that were about race in particular. And they were reproducing this online. We’re deluding ourselves that just because we put kids of different racial backgrounds together, they’re going to be friends.

[Social media] is their hanging out after school. It reflects all kinds of things back at us that mirror and magnify what we like to pretend doesn’t exist.

An interview with Danah Boyd about her “white flight” thesis.

(via Tiffany)

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Short answer: Yes.

Full transcript at Crooks & Liars.

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WHAT do you get when you combine the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the first black president? A surge of white racial resentment, loosely disguised as a populist revolt…. When you’re going down, as the white middle class has been doing for several years now, it’s all too easy to imagine that it’s because someone else is climbing up over your back….

Plenty of formerly middle- or working-class whites have followed similar paths to ruin: the layoff or reduced hours, the credit traps and ever-rising debts, the lost home. But one thing distinguishes hard-pressed African-Americans as a group: Thanks to a legacy of a discrimination in both hiring and lending, they’re less likely than whites to be cushioned against the blows by wealthy relatives or well-stocked savings accounts….

So despite the right-wing perception of black power grabs, this recession is on track to leave blacks even more economically disadvantaged than they were. Does a black president who is inclined toward bipartisanship dare address this destruction of the black middle class? Probably not. But if Americans of all races don’t get some economic relief soon, the pain will only increase and with it, perversely, the unfounded sense of white racial grievance.

Op-Ed by by Barbara Ehrenreich and Dedrick Muhammad.

(via @annfriedman)

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South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night. Few would doubt this was a sign of disrespect that most Americans would find objectionable. But beyond Wilson’s callous disdain for the office of President, it is important to understand the racial connotations involved, and the climate that gave rise to them.

We do not assert that Joe Wilson is a bigot; his personal racial attitudes are, perhaps ironically, beyond the scope of this incident. Rather, the consistent branding of President Obama as “other” by his opponents has created a context within which it is perceived that Obama need not be treated as other presidents have been treated. The creation of that “otherness,” while possibly motivated by racial animosity, is certainly rendered more effective as a result of deeply held negative predispositions about African Americans.

Seems obvious when you put it that way. There’s important further explanation and clarification, so do click through and read the whole thing.

(via @calinative)

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