Category: LGBTQ

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Fair Wisconsin Leadership Conference Jan 13-15

The Fair Wisconsin Education Fund is hosting its first ever Leadership Conference, to take place in Milwaukee from January 13th – 15th. Why go to a Leadership Conference?

1. Meet other LGBT and allied leaders from around the state. The Leadership Conference will be a wonderful opportunity to connect with LGBT and allied people working to advance equality in their local communities.  Share your experiences and gain support from people just like you who care about building a fair and just Wisconsin.

2. Learn new information and skills from local and national leaders. The Leadership Conference will offer an array of interesting and useful workshops to broaden your knowledge and help you to acquire new skills and tools to become a leader in the LGBT equality movement in Wisconsin.

3. Be a part of something new. This conference is a new opportunity that we have never seen before.  Don’t miss out on being the first to participate in what is poised to be a hugely successful program!

4. Strengthen the movement. The Leadership Conference is a prime opportunity to build a strong base of support for the LGBT movement in Wisconsin.  Join us as we build a fair Wisconsin together.

5. Celebrate and have fun! No conference is complete without some fun and celebration!  Work hard and play hard at the first ever Fair Wisconsin Education Fund Leadership Conference!

Student registration is only $35! I’ll be there, and Chaz Bono is doing the keynote speech.

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Tonight in Appleton

Tonight, progressives in Appleton faced the possibility that the position of Diversity Coordinator and the Diversity program would be cut or not funded. Also, there was a possibility that the domestic partner benefits for Appleton city employees might not make it through the budget process, too.

But tonight we kept a priority on diversity and equality.

And while I’m pleased – this is the 4th time (?) I’ve testified before Appleton’s Common Council, and I’m sure they’re tired of me by now – it was pretty rough sitting and listening to a bunch of people who don’t know me call me a moral stain and tell me I’m going to hell. It’s not something I haven’t heard before – as a feminist, as a green, as a queer – but there is something particularly painful to me when I hear that kind of rhetoric coming from Christians, and who say those things because they’re Christians.

It makes me wonder if I missed the part about the Good Samaritan asking first if the guy was gay.

I also wonder – when I hear haters stand behind their status as tax payers – if it ever occurs to homophobic types that LGBTQ people pay taxes too, and into a government that doesn’t treat them as equals. I wonder how well that would sit with people who don’t understand but who – for other reasons – are of a more libertarian stripe.

I pointed that latter piece out tonight, because I think that’s at least some of who I’m talking to here in Appleton.

But “moral stain” I really can’t get past. There’s something so dehumanizing and miserable about that one.

My other bit of wonder is how it is that people who think homosexuality is immoral – and they’re free to think it is – somehow think that justifies treating LGBTQ people as less than citizens. I mean, it’s not like queers have the corner on immorality, right? So do we stop paying health insurance for the partner of a man who commits adultery? I mean, which sins count, exactly, when it comes to citizenship? Which morality matters?

Eh, the whole process makes me sad, but I’m thankful for the other progressives who came tonight, and other nights, to speak truth to power. I’m thankful to all the common council members who are still there, at midnight, wrestling with a budget for this city I live in. I feel thankful that I’ve been given at least some skills to fight for justice.

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It’s Okay If You Really Believe It

S.B. 137 of Michigan is an attempt to prevent bullying after a young man named Matt Eppling committed suicide after he was.

But state Republicans added this language:

THIS SECTION DOES NOT ABRIDGE THE RIGHTS UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OR UNDER ARTICLE I OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION OF 1963 OF A SCHOOL EMPLOYEE, SCHOOL VOLUNTEER, PUPIL, OR A PUPIL’S PARENT OR GUARDIAN. THIS SECTION DOES NOT PROHIBIT A STATEMENT OF A SINCERELY HELD RELIGIOUS BELIEF OR MORAL CONVICTION OF A SCHOOL EMPLOYEE, SCHOOL VOLUNTEER, PUPIL, OR A PUPIL’S PARENT OR GUARDIAN.

So as long as you actually believe gay people will burn in hell, it’s okay to tell them that.

Really?!

In our own local common council meeting here in Appleton this past week, one woman actually stood up & said she was being discriminated against if the City of Appleton paid health benefits for same sex domestic partners. Yes, I said that right: by giving same sex couples the same benefits as their straight colleagues, she was being discriminated against as a Christian. I was there. It took me a minute to understand what she was saying, to be honest.

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Wear Purple on 10/20

From GLAAD, via Bilerico:

Bilerico explains:

This month GLAAD is working with organizations including GLSEN, GSA Network, PFLAG and The Trevor Project as part of National Bullying spiritday.jpgPrevention Month to inspire Americans to wear purple on Spirit Day. The Bilerico Project will be joining the campaign by changing our logo purple for the campaign. Wearing purple on this day symbolizes support for LGBT people and against bullying of LGBT teens. 

& GLAAD lists the tons of participants:

Conan O’Brien will join CNBC’s Jim Cramer and Simon Hobbs, Dr. Drew of CNN, E!’s Marc Malkin, Thomas Roberts of MSNBC and hosts of CBS’ The Talk by wearing purple on-air. Seventeen magazine will turn its Twitter avatar purple for the day. 

MTV will be turning the on-air logo purple along with its Facebook, Twitter, MTV.com and MTV Act logos. Online and on-air logos for MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits, MTV James and RateMyProfessors.com will also turn purple. MTV 44 and ½, the jumbotron in Times Square, will also light purple for Spirit Day. Continue reading “Wear Purple on 10/20”