Category: politics & causes

politics, both trans & otherwise

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Homophobic Sue Stanton?

Change.org has a petition up in support of a gay club that’s gotten some homophobic response from city government over noise complaints.

The Cottage, 522 Lucerene Avenue, Lake Worth, FL has been under attack by a small group of local residents who are using the city’s noise ordinance to harass The Cottage.  Noise complaints have been made by four residents on almost a daily basis for the past three years.  The noise complaints began shortly after The Cottage began its Sunday Tea Dances and branded itself as the only gay-friendly, downtown restaurant in Lake Worth. Many times when the police have responded to a complaint, The Cottage has not even had any live music playing.  The police in general are sympathetic and understand that The Cottage is being unfairly targeted but must continue to respond to the calls.

After a year of harassment, The Cottage reached out to the city for assistance.  Unfortunately, the City chose to enable and feed the underlying homophobic current, instead of helping a viable and community oriented business as well as honoring its own civil rights ordinance which provides protection for sexual orientation and gender expression.

In May of 2009, Loretta Lutfy, proprietor of The Cottage, along with family friend and local gay rights advocate, Mike Zewe, met with City Manager Susan Stanton to seek assistance to stop the harassment.  Instead of receiving support from Ms. Stanton, they were dismissed from her office with homophobic remarks.

Ms. Lutfy says, “She (Stanton) first asked if I would consider stopping the Tea Dance for awhile.  I responded that I would close my entire business first. She dismissed Mike and me from the office ending the conversation by saying that “men in dresses, and men dancing with men is offensive.  If you continue, you will just have to suffer the consequences.'”

For the next year, The Cottage, knowing that they had no support from the City, felt the only choice was to bear the harassment and hope it would stop.  Unfortunately, it has not and Susan Stanton has joined the four complaining residents in their crusade to chip away at the business until it has no choice but to close.  Stanton has added to the attack by sending code enforcement daily to The Cottage to look for violations. She went as far to change the hours of the code enforcement office to send employees at all hours of the day and threatened criminal prosecution.

What isn’t mentioned is that Stanton herself is trans; she quite famously & publicly transitioned a few years back, so I’m certainly not outing her.

First, I’d love to hear some verification of these claims from someone in that neck of the woods: I know you’re out there, so either post a comment or send me an email.

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WI Votes Tuesday, April 5th

On Tuesday, it’s Election Day in Wisconsin, and it’s one of those elections for which most people don’t bother to show up, most years. This year, I suspect, will see a much higher turnout because progressives, democrats, and sensible conservatives alike are frustrated at the strong-arm tactics of Governor Walker. Oh, you know who I mean: the guy who just decided collective bargaining is a disposable aspect of democracy, a hurdle in the way of the fiscal bottom line. It is, rather, the heart of democracy: that the many get a vote, that they get a say, that we get some modicum of a voice in our government, in our employment, and so, in our lives. The guy & his cronies will be recalled, but in the meantime, even if people did hear about Walker and the subsequent protests, you may not realize how motivated people are here.

I’ve had a couple of people from out of state write to me about the Kloppenburg campaign, which I’m happy to say is getting no small amount of attention now, and which is at least one of the big reasons progressives will be coming out to vote. Believe me, we’re paying attention to the Kloppenburg campaign, and so are many political orgs (including the LGBT one).

But here, in tiny Appleton, I’ve had the pleasure of watching two people step up to run for City Council exactly because they knew they had to. The first is Teege Mettille, who is running in Appleton’s 11th District. He’s a foster parent, as well as an adjunct faculty member and admissions counselor for two local universities.

The second is Christoph Wahl who lives in Distict #1, a district where the only candidate left running was a Tea Party Republican with possible connections to “White People’s Heritage” group (which, in a city that is home to the John Birch Society, you don’t laugh off). His opposing candidate dropped out, & Wahl, who has lived in Appleton all of his life, decided to step up. He didn’t have time to get added to the ballot; he’s running a write-in campaign in a district with about 4500 residents, about 1800 of which are registered to vote, and of which, about half voted in the last election. That is, he is running to win in a district where every single vote will count.

Which is why it’s about a million times more important for progressives and Democrats to get out & vote on Tuesday — or, if you live in WI, before Tuesday, as we’ve got early voting here. So go do it. Give someone else a ride to the polls. You don’t (yet) need a photo ID. BUT GET OUT & VOTE, WISCONSIN!

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Which Side Are You On?

Rachel Maddow presents a long overdue analysis of the difference between the rhetoric (“limited government”) and what’s really going on (eg mandatory drug testing).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This has baffled me for a long time — how it is, exactly, that the people who stand for small government still want the government big enough to make sure women don’t get abortions and gays don’t have sex (or employment, or legal rights, etc).

So conservative friends, family, readers: which is it?

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ENDA

ENDA has been re-introduced in the House as of today, according to NCTE and TLDEF. More updates as they come through.

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ENDA Returns

As if my days aren’t heady enough living in Wisconsin, it turns out that ENDA is about to be introduced in DC. It’s not expected to pass, however.

But the general consensus among Capitol Hill observers is that passage of any pro-LGBT legislation, including ENDA, will be a significant challenge for at least two years with Republicans in control of the U.S. House. Last year, Frank told the Blade there would be “zero chance” for the passage of any legislation that would directly benefit the LGBT community.

Still, Frank said introduction of the legislation is important to educate the public and members of Congress, especially on the transgender protections included in the bill.

“It’s important to introduce it to give people a chance to lobby their members on it,” Frank said. “Having a bill there encourages people to lobby their members. Particularly, we need people to do more lobbying and educating on the transgender issue, and so having a bill there is a very important part of getting the votes ultimately to be able to pass it.”

(boldface mine)

Honestly, I never expected Rep. Frank to be behind a version that included trans protections; like many (but not all) gay men of his age, he really didn’t seem to get the trans thing at all. (I have no doubt that Diego Sanchez has been educating him from the elbow these past couple of years, either.)

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Set Your Clocks Back

Make sure to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight, unless, of course, you’re in Wisconsin, where you need to set them back 100 years.

No, really: 1911 saw the WI passage of the first Worker’s Comp laws, but it wasn’t until 1959 that WI was one of the first states to pass collective bargaining laws.

Here are some of my other favorites of the day:

(Photo via Daily Kos &  courtesy of Mark E Anderson who managed to get my stripey-hatted head in a shot, ha.)

 

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Queer Wisconsin, Queer Work, Queer Rights

Bilerico has had a couple of good pieces about the connections between how what’s going on in Madison connects to LGBT political organizing.

Susan Raffo’s recent piece mentions the history, references queer historian Allan Bérubé:

In 1919, the labor movement’s successful fight for a 40-hour workweek bought us the time and the space to start coming together as queer people; to come together and take a deep breath and just plain notice ourselves. And in the noticing, we started to ask questions and in asking those questions, to dream of how things could be different. That’s what economic justice creates for us. It creates lives where there is the space to talk to each other, to feel like we can turn our gazes away from making sure there is enough food and a place to sleep and instead begin to act on our dreams.

Caitlin Breedlove commented recently on the unusual alliance she’s experiencing as a queer Madisonian in the midst of what is often white working class organizing:

I believe that in Wisconsin I am in the midst of many working class white people who voted conservative in the November elections based on rights to their guns, or because they don’t like the idea of gays getting married, or because they don’t like that Obama is Black. I am standing next to them in struggle. This is an unusual position for me. I am standing with them as I am watching parts of them being transformed. Many of these people have realized their guns are not as important as having a job, a house, decent public schools for their kids, or healthcare. They are figuring out that, as Michael Moore said from the Madison Capitol this weekend: “America is not broke…the country is awash in cash…it is just that the wealth is not in our hands.” Many of my comrades here have said that it is amazing how many people realize this fight is about capitalism and corporate greed.

Her larger point, about the reclaiming of public space as essential to LGBT people, immigrants, & the working class, is vital information. Our public sector has been under attack for a few decades now by people who want none of us to be empowered in the way our government treats us:

She points to the fact that the Capitol occupation is very much about reclaiming public space. As LGBTQ people, we are systematically pushed out of public space – discouraged from being ourselves at our workplaces, our kids’ schools, at the grocery store, and in our local and state governments. Why do so few of us run for public office? Why are so many of our activists who do not work in LGBTQ-specific areas closeted? Because we have been sent a clear message: public space is not our space. We are not “the Public.”

We are not the only community sent this message.

Immigrants are told something similar every time we open our mouths and speak a language that is not English. The systems of our towns are set up so that on every street, every bus, and every glittering downtown poor people are sent the same message: you do not belong here, this place is not for you.

This week people in Madison are saying that class warfare is real, it needs to be faced head on, and to do that we must reclaim public space. This month, people all over the Middle East are saying this, and so much more. Are we ready to recognize that this struggle (like so many struggles) is our struggle?

I can’t imagine a message that queer people have heard over & over again but her “you do not belong here, this place is not for you.” We know exactly what that means, and we know exactly how it feels, and the queer movement has for years resisted being told where and when we get to exist and have our lives be visible. Without public spaces, without the people’s insistence on government accountability and the right to assembly, both of which are being denied in the state capital of Wisconsin, queer organizing will also be shut out.

Please, queerios, pay attention to what’s happening here. The right to bargain collectively is not just about economics, nor about work. It’s about the right to BE counted as persons and citizens: We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it is a little more like We’re here, get used to it just now.

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Can You Believe These Guys?

The Republican Senators of Wisconsin pulled an unprecedented and undeniably shitty move tonight:


In a surprise move late Wednesday, Senate Republicans used a series of parliamentary maneuvers to overcome a three-week stalemate with Democrats and pass an amended version of the governor’s controversial budget repair bill.

With a crowd of protesters chanting outside their chambers, Senators approved Gov. Scott Walker’s bill, which would strip most collective bargaining rights from public employees. The new bill removes fiscal elements of the proposal but still curbs collective bargaining and increases employee payments in pension and health benefits. The changes would amount to an approximate 8 percent pay cut for public workers.

We’ll be in Madison on Saturday, no doubt.

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Trans Candidate for Mayor of Amarillo

There’s a trans woman running for mayor of Amarillo, TX.

Today Sandra Dunn announced her intentions to run for Amarillo mayor. The mother of two was not always known as Sandra and this is not her first time running for public office. She ran for city and county commissioner when she was known as Fred Dunaway.

I’m probably going to be taken to task for this, but as far as I’m concerned, she’s still their father, no? What they call her has nothing to do with it: that’s their own business. But she did contribute the sperm. They could at least use “parent”. It’d be one thing if this person were stealthy, but she’s open & out as trans.

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No, Really.

This is amazing. The rabid (not in the good way) governor of WI has effectively locked up the state capitol, so state reps have moved their desks outside to meet with voters.

How incredible is that? Honestly, I feel at home here in a way I never expected; the WI response to this governor’s powergrab tells me WI has got bigger shoulders than Brooklyn or Chicago. Damn.

And by the way, it wasn’t more than 20 something degrees out today. These folks are not kidding around.

(h/t to my friend Matty for the photo)