tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141150862024-03-12T23:06:14.873-04:00Venus ViewThoughts and Insights from a Feminist PerspectiveBeth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-34213118106402729822017-08-15T12:41:00.001-04:002017-08-15T12:41:33.458-04:00Unite Against HateOnce again, I stand against the forces of hate in this country. The tragic results of the events in Charlottesville require us to rise up in opposition to the racist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic and other hateful individuals and groups. I have struggled against these deplorable ideologies my entire life, recognizing their existence early in life having witnessed a KKK gathering at the picnic area in New Market, Tennessee, at the age of nine. I remember asking my grandmother why there were four bathrooms and two drinking fountains at Sears on Central Avenue in Knoxville. The schools I attended in Jefferson City were completely segregated until enforcement of the Civil Rights Act began when I was in high school.<br />
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I also remember the numerous suicide attempts of my classmates, some with tragic consequences. The love that dared not speak its name resulted in tortured anguish for many of my LGBTQ friends and classmates. I faced that hatred with fear and loathing as a young lesbian.<br />
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As an adult from my 20s until now in my mid-60s, I look back on my personal struggle against these hateful events, people and groups with a growing sense of frustration. The infighting and focus on our differences on the left must cease for now as we face a cohesive radical right wing. This is not to say that we should abandon our efforts to increase understanding of the widely varying facets that exist as we experience racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of hate. But, we must set them aside for a season and come together to fight the monster that has reared its ugly head. I fervently hope we can do this..<br />
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<i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-72123844561773650752014-10-07T22:11:00.000-04:002014-10-07T22:11:25.848-04:00<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Misogyny Comes in Many Forms</span></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">by Beth Maples-Bays</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Today I went to the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Web
site in search of a map of marriage equality states. I was elated yesterday
when I learned of the Supreme Court’s ruling that increases the number of states
that will legally-recognize same-sex marriage. When I linked to the site, one
of the articles caught my attention immediately.</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">The article, posted two days ago, is Chad Griffin’s account of “Speaking to Southern Comfort 2014”. His
remarks included the high rate of violence against transpersons, comparing it
to an epidemic. He also pointed to the
numerous examples of HRC’s efforts to include transpersons in activism and
projects in the fight while vowing to ramp up the fight against transphobia.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Since coming out in 1978, I
have made womyn a priority in my life. Whether distributing “The Amazon Spirit”
in Western Montana in the late 70s or acting as the East Tennessee Bureau
Chief to Out and About Newspaper in the
90s, my push for LGBT equality has always included Radical Lesbian Feminists
front and center. Most people who have read my writings were reading news from
East Tennessee’s LGBT community. The operative word here is news. Without a
lesbian feminist community in the entire region, my opportunities were few. I
did what I could.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">My partner and I have been a monogamous
couple since April 17, 1991. That’s 23 years for those who can’t do math
without a calculator. My partner, Sam, has been a stalwart supporter through a
devastating autoimmune disease as well as breast cancer in 2012. As a lesbian
feminist couple living in an area predominated by evangelical Christians, we
have struggled at times to live up to radfem values in every possible way.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">We have travelled many miles,
handed out many fliers, staffed tables at events, and reached out to lesbian
and LGBT communities in Upper and Lower East Tennessee. It’s a slow grind to
raise awareness to a population that has had a 2009 Tennessee Constitutional
Amendment passed to prevent the overturning of the 1996 law against marriage
equality. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">We have had some fighters in
our midst who have waged successful battles against the homophobic powers that
run this state. I am thinking of Abby Rubenfeld from Nashville, who along with
Jackie Kittrell, saw the sodomy laws overturned in this state. Ms. Kittrell is
the mother of a gay son. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Our few lesbian-only events have given way to LGBT gatherings. </span>What does this have to do with
transphobia and Chad Griffin’s speech to the Southern Comfort 2014 event in
Atlanta? The glaring omission of a lesbian advocacy community has weighed
heavily on my soul in the last several years. The demise of our local lesbian-only
dances and newsletter gave way to alphabet soup events that do not speak to
lesbian lives.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Please remember that I have
dedicated most of my adult life to lesbian and women’s causes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">In 2001, my primary
relationship was in its tenth year. Most of those years were spent in doctors’
offices and hospitals. I have never gone to a doctor’s appointment or hospital
stay alone. Sam was there. Every time. As I sat on the side of the bed one day,
s/he brought me some printed material from an event for those who identify as
trans and their partners. With much gratitude in my heart, this radical lesbian
feminist looked up and said, “I am not able to help you right now, but one day
I will feel better. Then I will help you.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Our household went online in
September of 1998. I researched radical lesbian feminist, Goddess sites, butch-femme
groups, and female-to-male transition in that order. In May 2001, Sam began
transitioning. He was 45 years old. He came out as a lesbian at 15 years of
age. He had lived as a lesbian for 30 years.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">This resulted in an existential
crisis for me, but that is another story for another day.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">We attended Southern Comfort
2007 (SC07). The only thing we really
enjoyed was the tour of CNN, an event unrelated to Southern Comfort. Attending a
“partner’s gathering”, I discovered that I was the only lesbian there. As a
matter of fact, I later learned that in all probability, I was the only lesbian
at the convention. Later still, I found out why.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Having read female-to-male
(FTM) mailing lists for years, participated in support groups for transfolks
and their partners, holding (briefly) office in an organization for transgender
veterans, I can say unequivocally that the trans community is rife with
lesbophobia. We are seen as “the enemy” by transpersons as a group and by many
individuals. There is much animosity toward gay men, especially those
associated with LGBT organizations such as HRC and The Task Force. The pointed
hatred that I saw on my PC monitor was both disheartening and a source of
confirmation for stalwart radfems that have noted this hatred for years. The facts
show that the folks who identify as trans-warriors actively hate lesbians. In
fact, they hate all women as a general rule.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">I have to say that the most
mind-boggling aspect of SC07 came to our awareness gradually. The overwhelming
majority of the folks we met were heterosexual couples in which the man liked
to cross-dress. I have to say that was truly unexpected. We thought we were
attending a trans-convention.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">In 2011, I attended the
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MichFest), riding with friends from my
community. I entered a world centered on womyn – singing, drumming, dancing,
guitar-strumming, artist, supportive womyn. They respectfully ask that only
womyn-born womyn attend the Festival. This is not a policy. It is the intention
of MichFest organizers. Year after year, their intention is ignored as
male-to-female transsexuals (MTF) show their disrespect by attending MichFest
anyway, ignoring the mutual respect of the intention. Camp Trans gathers
outside the perimeter of the Festival, proclaiming their opposition to the
intention. By placing themselves outside The Land, they have at least enough
respect not to enter.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Sam respects the intention,
regardless of overwhelming support from those in the LGBT community who do not
adhere to the values behind the Intention. Despite this, I was silenced
by those who would not listen to my perspective. The minute they heard the word
“trans”, they would shut down. Most assumed I was partnered with an MTF. They
simply would not listen. My arguments were that my work in the community over the years, my love of
the Goddess, and my entire life actively loving womyn point to the fact that I am the genuine
article radfem. My reasoning was dismissed. I was very sad the whole week, despite enjoying
the workshops, including the two I offered. Wonderful festival. Womyn should be
allowed to attend a private event on private Land, without the stress of
worrying about some pervert who thinks exposing himself is funny, without feeling
violated once again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">I must say this has been a wild
ride. As those who know me well can attest, I have been a hyperactivist with
strong emphasis on womyn for many years, organizing, participating, and just
generally showing up. I have been relatively quiet these last four years. I
still feel sad about MichFest, but not so immobilized as in the beginning of
this quiet period. I will always love my sisters, honest disagreements notwithstanding.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Amazon womyn rise! </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-430320780751143622012-12-20T00:23:00.000-05:002012-12-20T00:44:48.183-05:00<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Re/membering Knoxville Butch-Femme Herstory</span></span></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Attending
Ann Brummitt’s receiving of friends sent me hurtling back in time, remembering
my late 20’s here in the Knoxville lesbian community. The good times, friends
and loves sprang from having our own space at The Point After. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Womonspace” it
was called in other, more progressive communities. Here in the state that
boasts the corporate offices of the Southern Baptist Convention, the lesbian
feminist movement just never seemed to make it. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While there were
memorable, if sporadic, womyn-oriented events such as those handled by various
womyn including Randy Hoffman for many years and various other activists who impacted the
community on a short-term basis such as University of Tennessee students,
mostly graduate students back in the early to mid-eighties. As an undergraduate representative to the UT Commission for Women, I <span style="font-size: small;">be<span style="font-size: small;">c</span>ame</span> aware of the
disconnect between the community and UT that persists to this day. While the
LGBT community is coming alive and more active than ever on campus, it is all,
well, in house. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">That brought
me to memories of “The Point” as it was frequently called<span style="font-size: small;">, located just off <span style="font-size: small;">"The Strip", the heart of UT's night <span style="font-size: small;">life.</span></span></span> Memories of good
times and bad, the rich textures of a lesbian community that w<span style="font-size: small;">as </span> predominantly
butch-femme<span style="font-size: small;"> lesbians</span> who didn’t know they had even missed anything called the lesbian feminist movement. I remember the bar's
whole layout: the dance floor, the booths and tables, the bar, the pool tables,
and “the line.” The line, of course, lead to the ladies room, but which gave
one an excellent view of the entire bar. So, if you wanted to check somebody
out or keep tabs on your partner, you went to the bathroom a lot just so you
could get that view. This was a well known fact.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My
experiences there made Joan Nestles’ writings (Restricted Country and many
other titles) resonate with me. So what if I was in the mid-80’s in East
Tennessee and she spent her time in a lesbian community in the 1950's Northeast? Her
descriptions of the wimmin in her life seemed very familiar to me. She helped
me feel validated as a femme. She gave me vision to know that I can define
myself<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> <span style="font-size: small;">N</span>o one else can.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But it was
the butches who stole my heart. Such wonderful, glorious female masculinity,
that strength that emanates from each and every one of you is the stuff that
kept me strong when I became weak, the rock solid encouragement, the supportive
partner – these traits are exquisitely beautiful to me. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Of course, anyone who
knows me knows that the love of my life has been by my side for the last
twenty-one years, and we’re hoping for twenty more. Thank you, Sam, for being
my rock.</span></span></div>
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<i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-55282557141534234112012-06-17T14:22:00.000-04:002012-06-17T14:22:35.942-04:00<h2>
<b>Local judge "loses it" on bench</b></h2>
<h3>
<i style="font-weight: normal;">Unprofessional demeanor? </i></h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Judge</span> Jon Kerry Blackwood's recent on-camera behavior in the courtroom leaves one wondering how he ever go there in the first place. Screaming threats of contempt of court to long-time Attorney General Randy Nichols, Blackwood appears to be having problems maintaining judicial decorum.<br />
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All the screaming was over the potential retrial of three of the defendants charged in the Christian-Newsom murders originally presided over by Judge Richard Baumgartner. Baumgartner's departure from the bench occurred when his addiction to pain pills came to light. Adding to the mix, his drug dealer was a previous defendant in his courtroom and another had ties with Baumgartner both for drugs and romantic liaisons. Not exactly a great image for the judges here in Knoxville. Now comes his replacement, Blackwood, who not only screams at our AG, but also defies a Tennessee Supreme Court decision that he should recuse himself if new trials are granted in the case. He also refused to let the prosecutors argue for recusal in court last Friday.<br />
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Blackwood also made remarks regarding John Gill, Special Counsel to the AG's office, referencing an <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/369137-controversial-email-in-which-john-gill-says.html">email </a>in which Gill notes Blackwood's hatred for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He further stated that Blackwood was engaged in private communications with the defense attorneys. Am I making this clear? Blackwood has set himself up for recusal for an entirely different reason from the arguments made to the Tennessee State Supreme Court. This kind of communications between a judge and the defense attorneys is prohibited.<br />
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Two judges. Two very ugly pictures. One disbarred. One having temper tantrums in the courtroom. Come this way with me, and I'll show you another judge who could stand a good dose of the light of day. His name is Bill Swann. He has held the Fourth Circuit Court bench since 1982. His resume is astounding. This private school Fulbright Scholar taught German at Yale and Brown before coming to the University of Tennessee's College of Law.<br />
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So what.<br />
<br />
I sat in the courtroom of Judge Swan on six separate occasions. I heard him state that women who ask for Orders of Protection are just doing so "for entertainment." He was inattentive, condescending and arrogant. His lovely background at Ivy League colleges and European intellectual forays have *nothing* to do with how this man treats women. His seat on this bench is a slap in the face to any victim of domestic violence. Period.<br />
<br />
So now we have three judges that just don't quite smell right. What's wrong with a justice system that allows for this unbridled unprofessional behavior by men that are making judgments that change people's lives. I think it's time for some good old-fashioned sunshine.<br />
<br />
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<br />Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-42178166912792477952011-06-17T17:04:00.005-04:002011-06-17T17:41:52.487-04:00<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />JOY, SHEER JOY!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >To thine own self be true = HAPPINESS</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I am now and have always been a lesbian feminist activist since I came out in 1978. I am just now getting to do some of the things I have fervently desired since Day One. I am going to be representing <a href="http://lconline.org/default.aspx">Lesbian Connection</a> at <a href="http://knoxvillepridefest.com/">Knox PrideFest 2011</a>. I cannot think of an organization I would rather represent. This publication has changed the lives of many lesbians by providing a concrete matrix for a national (and international) lesbian community.<br /><br />I have worked at many LGBT-related gatherings. I have volunteered for many facets of the LGBT struggle for equality. I promise this little job will bring me more sheer joy than anything I have ever done. I owe these wimmin (sic) *something* for all the encouragement, validation, and vital information that they have made available free worldwide to lesbians since they first began publishing in 1975.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><br />MORE JOY</span><br /><br />I received my ticket to the <a href="http://www.michfest.com/">2011 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival</a>. I shook as I carefully cut the envelope open so that I can scan it for a possible scrapbook. I am just in absolute awe at the accommodations available to disabled persons at this event. I am really going to get to go see my Sisters and The Land. I am dumbstruck with joy.<br /><br />I have been making clothing and bags to use at MichFest. I also have turned out a ceremonial belt, Croning dress for the ceremony on August 7th - some good Leo energy going on then. When I think about getting to go I lose all grounding whatsoever and just float around propelled with anticipation, wonderful anticipatory fantasy, and (you guessed it) JOY!<br /><br />My heart is feelin' good today.</span><br /></span></span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-44878155501208869122011-05-09T23:37:00.010-04:002011-05-10T00:27:55.607-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3jivkkjuzQI/Tci6W94xJZI/AAAAAAAAADk/2Q7jpJ7V0TA/s1600/IMGP0121.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3jivkkjuzQI/Tci6W94xJZI/AAAAAAAAADk/2Q7jpJ7V0TA/s320/IMGP0121.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604934639995135378" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Starting to prepare for MichFest</span><br /><br /><br />I got up this morning, filled out the forms that I need to send to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festive (hereafter referred to as MichFest. I cannot remember ever being more joyous as when I called Walhalla and spoke with a womon named Terril. She was very patient with me. I told her that I had waited 33 years to come to MichFest, that when I checked their Web site to see if they could accommodate a visually impaired, hearing impaired, mobility impaired lesbian. I broke down when I saw all the wonderful supports that were in place to enable those of us who need them to attend. I felt a wave of memory wash over me. I was instantly back in 1979 in Montana helping distribute "The Amazon Spirit," a statewide monthly newsletter published by local lesbian feminists. I was down in Stone Mountain, Georgia, watching Melissa Etheridge perform onstage at RhythmFest in 1989, feeling tearful gratitude for Holly Near who works so hard to make the venues where she performs accessible. It's like a cocoon. The lesbian womonenergy is addictive. It is a place apart where my sisters care about each other and actively advocate for each other.<br /><br />On Sunday, I bought the tallest air mattress that would fit my budget, a battery-powered inflation pump, and a bunch of D batteries. I also got an 8 X 10 tarp.<br /><br />I was a bit anxious about how much energy it would take to do my two proposed workshops. To my delight, when I opened my MichFest folder I found detailed outlines for both of them. I did them a month or two ago, but formot all about doing them. The first one will be about sharing my experiences as a native Appalachian lesbian. How I try to keep the best parts of my culture while struggling mightily against the oppression of patriarchy that is the very matrix of Appalachian culture. I quilt. I crochet. I can. I make apple butter. I can. I can pass some good Appalachian culture down to my grandchildren without buying into the old boy Christian shoulder-patting submissive female role that engulfs many Appalachian straight women and lesbians as well.<br /><br />The second one will be about the emotional roller coaster that occurs in many of our lives when our mothers die. I am an old hand at this one. My mother died in 1971. I was 19. The ogre to whom she was married called her into his private office, threw a red jacket over her head, and shot her six times. The pain is indescribable, but I have learned to live without her. I'm hoping that a group of wimmin will provide an opportunity to give and get support around this issue.<br /><br />I'm ready tor some good womon energy, bonfires, rock and roll. sweet acoustic guitars, intensive intensives, sharing and meeting my sisters from all over the world. I cannot wait to get to The Land. I will put down my walking stick, kneel down on my one good knee and will lay a big one on the Holy Terra. This has been a long time coming.<br /><br /><br />_________________________________________________________________<br /><br />Photo credit - Sam Bays<br />False Solomon's Seal in my front gardenBeth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-2565121714245083402011-02-14T23:32:00.003-05:002011-02-18T23:47:42.354-05:00<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Local mainstream news sources watch a different Madison</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Focus on the Dems flight, not protests<br /></span><br /><br />After watching the live events in Madison, Wisconsin, on MSNBC with Ed Shultz I turned on my local news. When the Wisconsin story aired I was absolutely dumbfounded. The entire story focused on the Democratic legislators who have fled the state to prevent a quorum necessary for a vote on the bill that could end collective bargaining rights for state government employees.<br />I kept waiting for the fact that this workers' uprising is like none other in the history of the United States. These workers have stayed the course and will be joined in ever greater numbers by locals with a day off and others coming in one by one and by busloads.<br /><br />Not one remark told of the tens of thousands who have stood fast in the cold Wisconsin weather to assert their right to health care, fair working conditions, a living wage and the collective bargaining process.<br /><br />Looking at the 4-5,000 people assembled inside the capitol building was nothing short of jaw-dropping awe. The energy is infectious. Tomorrow they expect 40,000. No mention of<br />any of this was made in the four local news sources I checked after being clued in by the newscast.<br /><br />I intend to watch any live broadcast I can manage because I am now aware that I have some major perception differences when compared to our local mainstream news sources.<br /><br />Surprise, surprise.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-21320289153900291152011-02-04T16:41:00.011-05:002011-02-05T11:17:21.737-05:00<span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Moving forward with MichFest plans</span> </span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I've been in dreamland these days, thinking about MichFest and the pilgrimage I have w</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/TUx5hKWXQ0I/AAAAAAAAADc/JmaY7UBQuQ4/s1600/IMGP0057.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 99px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/TUx5hKWXQ0I/AAAAAAAAADc/JmaY7UBQuQ4/s320/IMGP0057.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569960449771258690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">anted my entire life. These thoughts are interwoven with the crocheted cotton stitches of m</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">y ev</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">enin</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">g wrap, the bead work on my "Pisces" shirt. I am allowing myself to breathe and know</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">that I am dis/covering wisdom as I plod toward my Croning with great thought and reverence. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Knowing that I am embracing a journey that will entail many challenges only makes me want it more. I have fantasies of </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">offering up one of my Max/ine Feldman purses for auction to help pay my expenses. More fantasies break through my conscio</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/TUx44xwevyI/AAAAAAAAADU/SaJzfepTuNQ/s1600/IMGP0055.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 105px; height: 140px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/TUx44xwevyI/AAAAAAAAADU/SaJzfepTuNQ/s320/IMGP0055.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569959755975147298" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">usness, leading me to take gifts to randomly or not-so-randomly distribute to those who seem to need them along the way. I'm obsessing with having as many things as possible homemade - adding an amalgam of healer and weaver literally imbued to the very threads. I have been an healer, a weaver and grower-of-herbs for many years. Some say many lifetimes.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />I have finished the Pisces shirt and am on to making my Africa skirt/caftan/not sure yet. The wrap is still ongoing, but it won' take long. It will soon be time to make m</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">y Croning dress. </span> </span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-7010634587324034282011-01-20T13:47:00.009-05:002011-01-20T19:57:54.574-05:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />MY HOPES AND DREAMS HAVE INTERSECTED WITH THE HORIZON</span><br /></div><br />I am MichFest bound, baby!<br /><br />Why (you ask) is this woman blathering on about a festival that doesn't happen until August?<br /><br />Because I have waited 33 years to go. I have dreamed of attending the <a href="http://www.michfest.com/">Michigan Womyn's Music Festival<br /></a> since I first heard about it in 1978. The stories I have heard from the womyn who have attended make my head swim with images of so many womyn singing, laughing, playing, emoting, eating, and just living together in a separate space that has be guarded steadfastly6 by their courageous staff for the last 35 years.<br /><br />I seriously thought I would never be able to go. I have low vision and cannot drive. While the MichFest com board offers a section for those who need a ride, I am not comfortable riding with strangers. So, I gave up on my dream for all time.<br /><br />I was speaking with Linda, a friend, when the subject of MichFest arose. Yeah, I admit it. I brought it up. I told her of my unadulterated jealousy regarding her annual treks to MichFest. She offered to let me go with her. I almost blacked out.<br /><br />You see, she not only offered a ride. She also offered to "take care" of me, a phrase that did not offend me in the least. I have low vision. (For those not familiar with those terms, they simply mean I'm almost blind. I also have a severe hearing loss in both ears. Add to that my horrendous joint problems, and it becomes crystal clear just how generous her offer was.)<br /><br />I've been on that Web site ever since our conversation - always an open tab on MichFest. I'm thrilled, exhilarated, ecstatic, full of joy and an unabashed gynophile!!Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-61444366662102943092010-06-22T22:16:00.009-04:002010-06-22T22:36:15.306-04:00<b></b><i></i><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">HERITAGE LGBT STYLE</span><br /><br /><br /> <br />I have just returned home from my first Pride event in two years. Heritage Night is special to me because it is the event that brought my activism back to life back in 2004. In most communities, it is a time to honor the elders who have blazed the path for those coming into their own in this day and time. It is usually a time to reflect on the collective community memory, while making sure the path is clear for all.<br /><br />Before I go on, let me just say that the event planners were wonderful. They did a lot of hard work to make this community come together during Pride Week. I honor their efforts and extend my gratitude to them. All of them.<br /><br />We were offered a film made locally by some young white folks for some young white folks. Inclusive - a word that those of us in the LGBT movement use frequently. We give lip service to the rainbow of variations that our lives represent. Race, class, sex, gender identity, differently able and numerous other descriptors come to mind as the un/spoken prize longed for by those of us who have tramped the roads of this struggle for many years. We hope. We do our best to be sure that the whole spectrum is represented in venues that serve to bind us together as a community. That not-so-simple deed cannot be done unless these words are spoken. We have to speak ourselves into being, not just in a dialogue (although those are absolutely necessary,) but as a chorus. Taking time for solos, duets, three-part harmonies, raunchy drinking rounds, quiet poetry – taking time to listen to all whose voices are offered to be heard. We cannot have a chorus of only tenors. While their music may be beautiful, it is not the depth and range that can be obtained when we combine our voices. We can expand, hoping to resonate with as many of our people as possible.<br /><br />How can we do this? It starts with recognition by young and not-so-young newly-out folks who have lots of energy and want their voices to be heard, to tell of the oppression they have suffered, the indignities they have endured. I want them to sing out. I honor their stories. I <span style="font-weight:bold;">want </span>their unique journeys to be offered up on the altar of our collective consciousness and that of as many kindred souls who can hear. <br /><br />For those who think I am on a pointless rant, let me explain. I sat through the film that told the story of some young LGBTIQ people who have experienced what it is to be an LGBTIQ youth in Knoxville, Tennessee. Unfortunately I cannot tell you very much about it. The film was not closed captioned. I am mostly deaf. The deaf call me hard of hearing. In any case, I could not understand a single word that was said. Those who know me well know this fires up my Leonine nature. I do understand that closed captioning is expensive. If only those who produced the film had taken a moment to acknowledge the lack of access for those of us who are hearing impaired, it would have been a bit easier to swallow. As it was, I felt ignored, minimized, excluded. Believe it or not, one never gets used to it.<br /><br />All of the people in the film were young except the parent of one of the young persons. I wonder if this were the case due to grant parameters, or if they simply did not make the effort to reach out to the rest of the community and *ask* for participation. Maybe they did. If so, I missed it. The question of money brings us gracefully to the important issue of class and how it marginalizes people in this and every other community. So many times I have seen folks shunned, ignored, marginalized, sometimes deliberately, sometimes unwittingly.<br /><br />I feel it necessary to say that I do not feel adequate to address the issues of racial divides in the LGBTIQ community. I know so little, only what I can observe. What I see are two completely separate communities, the boundaries of which are traversed only by a few individuals. Knowing that there are windows that appear from time to time that allow white folks to peek into a world that we cannot experience, but can only imagine. Seizing that opening should be a priority for our leaders. I admit to having failed to optimize my own efforts in this regard, but hope to pick up and run with this soon. I will try harder, make more room in my schedule and my heart to move forward with this to the best of my own abilities.<br /><br />Then, of course, there is the issue of age. I guess old queers are just supposed to shut up and sit in the corner or better still simply dry up and blow away. I’ll be damned. Do I have to say over and over and over that the patriarchal death march that passes for mainstream culture is ga-ga- over youth? It is *everywhere*. Women are just supposed to die at age 30...40? I’m 58, and I’m still kicking. My soulheart physically hurts when I realize that the lesbian village, that can give wisdom and direction, has vanished into 90s air, leaving us at the dawn of the second decade of the century, plowing the same ground over and over and over. <br /><br />Those who are close to our Mother may know of a phenomenon called hard-panning. This happens when the same ground is mechanically tilled season after season with no attempts to aerate or improve the soil. Over time the layer of earth that is just beneath the tines grows hard, especially in our clay soil. The end result is that nothing can grow in soil that has been treated this way. The analogy just seems so fitting. I applaud the efforts of the young people who produced the film tonight, but I could not shake the feeling that our collective memory has *never* taken root. We just keep plowing the same field over and over, wondering why nothing will grow.<br /><br />A womon wrote in to the last issue of Lesbian Connection bemoaning the loss of lesbian feminist community. That resonated to my very bones. We are no longer supposed to want that. We are all under this fucking rainbow, and we are supposed to like it. Some of us like it some of the time. Few lesbians I have spoken with on this subject like the LGBT thing all the time. Even if it is a head space, we need wimmin’s space. We need to re/member the connections that can empower us and provide opportunities for intergenerational dialogue and understanding within the lesbian community. We cannot coalesce by cordoning ourselves off into ever dwindling splinter groups. <br /><br />We need also, at this point in time in East Tennessee, to create bonds of friendship and commonality with gay, bisexual and transgender people. That can only come if we know who we are. One cannot offer an empty shell, a political-zombie, and expect productive community-building to occur. We need to flesh out who we are as people. We need a place to exchange ideas and aspirations without the encumbrances of alcohol in an environment that encourages participation. I have planted this seed in my own mind. I would now like to plant it in yours. By throwing the idea out there, perhaps we can come together and prosper.<br /><br />Well, back to the Pride event.<br /><br />When the belly dancer started, I left. I felt like a zebra in a herd of thoroughbreds. Swaying hips and dancing girls with all manner of scarves and teasing movements interpreted through the mind of another may be a wonderful experience. I can almost see the observation of belly dancing as entertainment – for men. I am not comfortable with that much sexuality in mixed company. Call me a prude. Call me jealous. Call me, please, a quasi-separatist. There are things that I can enjoy in mixed company. Belly dancing is not one of them. When performed for men’s enjoyment, it becomes distorted and creates an atmosphere in which I am very uncomfortable. The roots of this dance run deep, touching on the hot core of patriarchal machinations, oppression of wimmin and silencing of wimmin’s voices. The idea that it is done for exercise is just plain bullshit. I kept wondering where the pole was. Like I said, I had to leave.<br /><br />I understand that the production of Pride events is a lot of work. I truly appreciate the effort that it takes to make this love offering to the community. I know because I have done it. I became so tired that I had to rest for a time in order to even feel that I could breathe at a Pride event again. From my friends I felt welcomed and valued. I love them with all my heart. I guess I’m just an old curmudgeon who re/members and longs for continuity in a community that at least wants to re/member, whether they can or not.Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-14357171188014236422010-05-30T12:31:00.001-04:002010-05-31T10:40:20.147-04:00<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CELIZAB%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CELIZAB%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CELIZAB%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> 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margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: normal;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:8pt;" >Normally when I write music, the tune comes long before the lyrics. In fact, I have a couple or three "unlyriced" tunes in my music bag right now. But this horrible disaster in the Gulf of Mexico made the words spill out almost involuntarily.
<br />
<br />OCEANA'S CHILD
<br />
<br />One fine spring day
<br />Oceana basking
<br />In sun's golden rays.
<br />Her salt air spraying
<br />As wave greets shore.
<br />These lovely days
<br />We'll see no more.
<br />
<br />CHORUS
<br />
<br />For we are all
<br />Oceana's children
<br />Withing her arms
<br />All life begins.
<br />Her fertile shores
<br />Both deep and shallow
<br />Sustain us all.
<br />This you must know
<br />As we mourn the Gulf of Mexico.
<br />
<br />Quietly the news of tragedy,
<br />Of explosion and death
<br />Off the shores of Louisiana
<br />Oil workers drew their last
<br />Earthly breaths.
<br />Their loved ones mourn
<br />The loss of family.
<br />Without a graveside
<br />To adorn.
<br />
<br />CHORUS
<br />
<br />The crude oil spews
<br />Poisoning the water.
<br />All creatures now
<br />As good as dead.
<br />This black muck comes forth
<br />From BP's faulty bed.
<br />
<br />CHORUS
<br />
<br />The death begins,
<br />The creatures struggle
<br />Against the poison
<br />In the deep.
<br />Soon poison gases
<br />Join in the chorus,
<br />Spreading out, ever spreading
<br />In ghastly waves
<br />Of deathly sleep.
<br />
<br />CHORUS
<br />
<br />We cannot fix this
<br />With hose and hair.
<br />There are no scrubbers
<br />In Oceana's lair.
<br />We must arise
<br />And defend our homeland.
<br />Or swear to die
<br />On Oceana's sand.
<br />
<br />(C) 2010 Beth Maples-Bays
<br />
<br />(Please know that these lyrics are just roughed out. Something --told me to offer them up for you to read, so I did. If you have any questions about these lyrics, feel free to leave comments.)
<br />
<br />
<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:7pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <b></b><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-32583039725939046292007-09-01T11:35:00.000-04:002007-09-01T11:53:58.497-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtmJw_DijkI/AAAAAAAAABM/ZoOlRBSdtBQ/s1600-h/IMGP0011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 101px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtmJw_DijkI/AAAAAAAAABM/ZoOlRBSdtBQ/s320/IMGP0011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105263127254175298" border="0" /></a><br /><b style="font-family: arial;"></b> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><br />I<br /><br /><br />I'm up and at 'em early, getting ready for the breakfast plenary that promises to elaborate on the double discrimination faced by LGBTQ immigrants in the United States</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Later, I will moderate a breakout session (workshop) on media and accessibility. I believe this will be the first time that voices of LGBTQ disabled folks will be heard at a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention. Today will provide a broad overview with an eye to more specific workshops in future conventions. With 78 million Baby Boomers aging rapidly, the need to have accessible journalism products becomes more pressing if we are to tap into this vast market and provide news and information critical to these times.</span> <br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">An article about the events and concerns leading up to my proposal for the workshop was published in Insight, the daily paper chronicling the events at the convention. Student journalists staff the publication, and I am thoroughly impressed with their work product. Maybe next year, we can have some UT j-majors on the staff.<br /><br /><br />More later...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><br /></span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-73500533582473527532007-09-01T03:22:00.000-04:002007-09-01T03:48:11.278-04:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br />Margaret McElligott named 2007 Women's Distinguished Service Award recipient</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtkYk_DijjI/AAAAAAAAABE/W4_mTPsGRH0/s1600-h/Copy+of+IMGP0013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtkYk_DijjI/AAAAAAAAABE/W4_mTPsGRH0/s320/Copy+of+IMGP0013.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105138676281806386" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />McElligot accepts award from a smiling Lauren Ober, Women's Task Force Chair</span><br /></span></span><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-14289722731014023232007-08-31T17:43:00.001-04:002007-08-31T17:57:36.098-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtiOpPDijhI/AAAAAAAAAA0/p1AzaR9enig/s1600-h/Copy+of+IMGP0010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RtiOpPDijhI/AAAAAAAAAA0/p1AzaR9enig/s320/Copy+of+IMGP0010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104987016691617298" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Greetings from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association 2007 convention</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">!</span><br /></span><br />I am blogging live from Westin Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego where the NLGJA convention has been in full swing for the second day. The plenaries and breakout sessions never fail to please with topics such as blogging vs. reporting, gay media covering gay news, and the 40th anniversary of The Advocate to keep all attendees excited about the annual LGBT Media Summitt on Thursday, followed by the general convention when our cohorts from mainstream media joined us today.<br /><br />In addition to new board members, NLGJA has a new executive director. David Barre, formerly with Greenpeace and the National Minority AIDS Council, looks forward to moving NLGJA into the future, meeting and exceeding membership goals including extra efforts to recruit women and people of color.<br /><br />With many so many topics and photos, I will have to wait until I return to Tennessee to make a full report, but in the meantime I will post snippets periodically.<br /><br />Look for them in your inbox!<br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-39655525550785456462007-02-09T12:48:00.000-05:002007-02-09T13:35:59.435-05:00<b></b><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lesbian anti-terrorist freedom fighters </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The ultimate fighting machine</span><br /><br />There is finally a solution for combating worldwide terrorism! Check out the latest version of the Lesbian Avengers outlined on <a href="http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=691">Pam's House Blend</a>. Condi will love you for it.<br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-22796517972699766482007-02-09T11:47:00.000-05:002007-02-09T13:38:22.040-05:00<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Who is Tom Cole, and why is he calling me?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Republicans stoop to yet another low, calling small business owners<br /><br /></span><span>I just got a phone call from <a href="http://www.house.gov/cole/">Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)</a> sounding an alarm for the poor small business owners and outlining his forecast of trouble ahead because of that nasty old <a href="http://www.house.gov/pelosi/">Nancy Pelosi</a>. I mean, really - she has to be evil, right? She's a woman with money in a powerful position and a Democrat to boot!<br /><br />It seems that Rep. Cole is the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and he is "concerned" for the health of our small businesses. This guy was "deeply involved" (from the NRC Web site) in the fiasco otherwise known as the sham that passed for an election in Florida's 2000 Presidential race. This pointy-headed conservative with his three degrees is hardly worried about the Mom's and Pop's, but rather seeks only to erode the Democratic foothold in Congress so that he and his "party" can spend more money on their illegal wars while they consistently reduce funding levels for programs aimed at improving our nation's health, education, and general well-being of the people. He should be ashamed of himself.<br /><br />As my grandmother would say "horse-shoo."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.knoxdemocrats.org/"></a><blockquote><a href="http://www.knoxdemocrats.org/">Knox County Democratic Party</a> Chair <span style="font-weight: bold;">Betty Reddick </span>notes, "The health of our nation's small businesses are not endangered by Speaker Nancy Pelosi."<br /></blockquote><br />Well, indeed. I couldn't have said it better myself, Betty.<br /><br />The phone calls appear to be part of a national campaign to attack Speaker Pelosi and the new Democratic Congressional majority by raising the level of fear and anxiety among our nation's small business owners. I hope they don't fall for it. I'm afraid some will. The message needs to go out that we won't be duped again. The last time small business owners got a fair shake there was a guy named Bill in the White House.<br /><br />After scraping my jaw up off the floor, it occurred to me that I am listed on the national do-not-call list. Unfortunately, these folks can call me all day everyday due to the political party exemption from from state and federal do-not-call registries. I will say however, that I will make a point of broadcasting their dirty, shameless tactics every time my tellie jingles.<br /><br />It is ironic that a link to the National Do Not Call Registry is the second link down in the left margin navigation bar on Cole's Web site. That would certainly indicate to me that harassing phone calls are a cause for concern among his constituents. Maybe he just doesn't care.<br /><br /></span><span class="body"><span class="normal">I want the Tennessee Republicans who pretend to represent my family in Washington to know that I do not appreciate this telephone harassment. Congressmen David Davis, John J. Duncan, Jr., Zach Wamp, and Marsha Blackburn - you are now on notice that if you party does not *back off* I will blog this harassment every time it happens. </span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-40510508703514061512007-01-13T19:11:00.000-05:002007-01-15T12:32:39.230-05:00<b></b><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">National Conference on Media Reform</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Friday, Jan. 11, 2007</span><br /><br />The day was exhausting, and I did not have the energy to blog last night. It was an intense day starting with Dr. Willie Harenton, the Mayor of Memphis, followed by Bill Moyers. You know, I never knew Moyers is a Southern Baptist. It made sense, but it just never occured to me. His limited view of diversity was attributed to his status as such as I listened to him speak. Little did I know that it would be a common refrain in the rarified atmosphere of the conference.<br /><br />After lunch, we were treated to Danny Glover, topped off with Jesse Jackson. I never clapped so hard in my life. Jackson's rousing style replete with the wonderful cadence that is the exclusive domain of Southern African American preachers was balm to my soul. I overlooked the occasional dampening of my enthusiasm over his references to Christianity in fair exchange for the lift to my spirit that he always brings.<br /><br />Following that I went to a workshop on Big Media moderated by none other than Phil Donohue. Phil's 25 years as a pioneer in TV talk was a frequent source of inspiration for me in the mid-seventies. His groundbreaking topics brought previously taboo subjects to the fore for American viewers. We owe him a great debt of gratitude.<br /><br />Entitled "Inside Corporate Media: Can It Tell The Truth?", they began by talking about Donohue's brief stint at MSNBC that coincided with 9-11 and the beginning of the war in Iraq. Jeff Cohen, author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Cable News Confidential, </span>worked with Phil on the MSNBC talk show. They were quite honest about the fact that Phil was fired because of his criticism of Bush and the number of anti-Bush guests they booked.<br /><br />I knew there had been something going on back then, but it just seemed like so much was happening so fast, that I had never delved into the why's and wherefore's of Donohue's quiet disappearance. As I look back, it makes perfect sense.<br /><br />Cohen has an impressive progressive journalism resume, however I believe I admire him the most for spendng five years at Fox News. I identify with entering enemy territory to bring a message to the people. That is exactly how I feel frequently while working on LGBT issues in East Tennessee. Homeland or not, the natives are definitely hostile.<br /><br />The workshop also featured Juan Gonzalez, a brilliant historian who probably knows more about Latino and Native American journalism in the American West during the period of atrocities otherwise known as Manifest Destiny as anyone on the face of the earth. I find him fascinating.<br /><br />Laura Washington also sat on the panel. She is a free-lancer who writes for the <span style="font-style: italic;">Chicago Sun-Times and In These Times. </span>She told an interesting story about her first interview with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sun-Times </span>early in her career. The job in question involved covering a beat that included low-income, dense housing areas that were populated predominantly by African Americans. The interviewer asked her if she thought she could cover that beat with objectivity. She looked him dead in the eye and asked, "Would you ask a white writer if they can cover the suburbs objectively?" Needless to say, she did not get the job, but says that ultimately it has worked out better for her in her role as free-lancer.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007</span><br /><br />Memphis, TN<br /><br />My day began with a workshop on civil rights after a quick breakfast at my hotel. I had planned to go to the Policymakers workshop, but the congressmen could not be there until after 2:00 p.m. I chose the civil rights workshop, hoping for more diversity that I saw on Friday. The presenters at this conference have whittled diversity down to one word - "raceNgender." Age, geographic ethnicity, religious diversity, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ableism were all cast to the wind with raceNgender foremost on the minds of every speaker I heard on Friday.<br /><br />In fact, not one single speaker addressed *any* form of discrimination/oppression except for raceNgender with an occasional bone tossed to the dog named economic justice. I guess I had forgotten where I was. I thought I had come to a conference to network with open-minded progressives. Instead I found myself in an Oz populated almost exclusively with middle class hippies of various ages aka the peaceNjustice folks along with a handful of political operatives and professional journalists.<br /><br />I'm not here to trash the conference. Some important and creative work has occurred here, but as was noted at the Women and Media workshop that I attended for my second installation today, the only women speaking in the plenaries (the large banquet-hall-type room) were actresses, namely Geena Davis and Jane Fonda. I missed Geena and may not get to see Jane. All I've heard were men who talked about raceNgender until it came out of my ears.<br /><br />In no way do I mean to disrespect the struggles of people of color. I have been alive in East Tennessee since 1952. I saw first-hand what they struggled against and how they continue to struggle in many ways.<br /><br />Gender discrimination is very real. I am a product of the second wave of the women's movement. Without the brave women who cared for the psychologically-injured young woman who had lost her mother to a madman, I would probably not be here today. The universal war on women is the matrix from which I understand everything else. Our struggles have really just begun. Global justice for women is something that is very important to me.<br /><br />But dammit, they're not the only ones who struggle. I take much more flak for being pagan than for being female in the circles I live in today. I lived for years in fear that I would lose my children to the foster care system because of who I love. I have lost jobs, apartments, and much more because I am lesbian, because I dare to love women and share my life with one woman. Since Sam has transitioned, many may question the latter statement, but let's just put it this way. All of my partners since 1978 were born female.<br /><br />At any rate, the Media and Women workshop was great. It included a variety of speakers who were at least three different colors as well as geographically diverse. It contained no women much over forty and no lesbians.<br /><br />The final workshop of the day was a Policymaker Roundtable with Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Steve Cohen (D-TN). It was moderated by Frannie Wellings of the Free Press, sponsors of the conference. I am so offended by some of the things Wellings did that I cannot at this time write in detail about this workshop. I am deeply offended by the lack of LGBT voices at this conference. I am deeply disappointed by her lack of concern regarding that issue.<br /><br />I felt that it would only be fair to get a statement from someone representing the conference with regard to this. Speaking with <strong style="font-weight: normal;">Outreach Coordinator Charlotte Capogna</strong>, I emphasized my gratitude for the willingness to dialogue around LGBT issues that she and the Women in Media organizers and presenters had shown. Her willingness to admit that this is an area that needs work has endeared her to me forever. I am also grateful to the young lesbian who was working at the information table on the Mezzanine. I did not get her name, but she was very helpful and sweet.<br /><br />Hopefully I will have time to write more tomorrow or Monday. For now, I must call it a night.<br /><br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-24591526502212544882007-01-11T23:54:00.000-05:002007-01-11T23:58:45.484-05:00<p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">National Conference on Media Reform</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.freepress.net/">www.freepress.net</a><br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Thursday, January 11, 2007<br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">12:35 pm</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am bored stiff as I fly via Northwest Airlines to Memphis for the National Conference on Media Reform hosted by <a href="http://www.freepress.net/">Free Press</a>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">As I waited with my partner, Sam, to board my flight at the McGee-Tyson Airport, three young adults sat immediately behind us, engaged in a rather loud conversation. Even I with my severe hearing impairment could understand enough of what was said to gather that the young woman doing most of the talking was affiliated in some way with the Knoxville Police Department (KPD.) She began describing the recent prostitution stings that KPD conducted along Magnolia Avenue in East Knoxville, a street well known for such activity. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Her diatribe consisted of a blatantly slanted account of the stings lauding the poor police officers who were sent to this area to do the work they were paid by the taxpayers to do. Her unspoken complaint was imbedded in her description of the<span style=""> </span>“little old ladies” who repeatedly requested that their neighborhood be cleared of these people with careful note that there was really noting law enforcement could do about it. In addition to attesting to the futility of these stings, her sympathy for the police officers who had to the this work oozed like honey from every word she uttered.<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I could no longer resist. I reached for a business card and turned around, offering it to her as I introduced myself. I pointed out that I was familiar with the stings in question and highlighted the fact that the names of the men having sex with men who were arrested in Tyson Park were named on the air by WVLT-TV in Knoxville.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->She immediately retorted that that was the fault of “the media.” I returned fire stating that the only “media” doing this was the most conservative station in the area. You know, the one that included a segment by Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family fame in each evening news broadcast.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> I turned around and stewed in my juices until I remembered that the Chief Information Officer for KPD, Darrell Debusk, was a recent guest on the Halerin Hilton Hill morning radio talk show on WNOX Newstalk 100, local Reich Wing radio station. During his appearance, <b>he</b> read the names of the 15 men previously arrested at Tyson Park, He did not ready any names associated with the Magnolia Avenue stings.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->She stared at me, apparently speechless, as I leveled the whole spiel of information at her that I had gathered during my background research for an Equality Herald article, also carried on Out and About Newspaper’s Web site.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> She remained speechless, staring. Her companions turned around to see this woman, middle-aged grandmother, who knew statistics about men who have anonymous sex in public places. You see, I could not resist letting them know that these men are mostly married and heterosexual.<span style=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span>9:59 pm</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> After a frustrating beginning during which I practically had to wring a neck or two to get someone to show me where the elevators were, I finally got registered and got cleared for press credentials.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">After an exhausting day, I was hungry and found that Memphis has a trolley system that, for $1/ride, will “carry you” to Beale Street and other destinations. As I stood awaiting the trolley, I found a lovely trio consisting of two young women from New York City, one an academic and one a broadcast journalism activist, along with their friend, a man from Seattle. We rode the trolley and met up with their friends at the famous <a href="http://www.hogsfly.com/">Rendezvous Ribs</a>. Our waiter was the very chap pictured on their Web site. His playful gruff manner made it even more fun. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The friends that had joined us were all from Canada. We had wonderful conversation about everything from kids to Dubya to the Alcan Highway. They were all sweet, interesting people who were patient with the deaf old lady from Knoxville.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-69592177621574168292006-12-13T23:22:00.000-05:002006-12-14T00:05:33.703-05:00<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">NYU prof slams Dobson for "distorting" research<br /><br /></span></span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >Letter released by Truth Wins Out ED Wayne Besen<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >In a pre</span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RYDY0R9lMLI/AAAAAAAAAAU/zZrbg6BjplA/s1600-h/wayne_besen2_large.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 94px; height: 149px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F9sGQtcVVPY/RYDY0R9lMLI/AAAAAAAAAAU/zZrbg6BjplA/s320/wayne_besen2_large.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008241178322481330" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >ss</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" > re</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >lease issued by Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen, a letter written by New Yo</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >rk</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" > University psychology professor Carol Gilligan blasts Focus on the Family's James Dobson for </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >"distorting" her research in a recently released Time magazine article on Mary Cheney's pregnancy.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >The letter, provide</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >d by Truth Wins Out, articulates Gilligan's displeasure with Dobson's use of her research to underpin his conclusions that same-sex couples cannot provide a positive family environment in which to raise children. Her p</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >osition is stated in </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >no uncertain terms.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span lang="0"><i></i></span><blockquote><span lang="0"><i>Dear Dr. Dobson:</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>I am writing to ask that you cease and desist from quoting my research in the future. I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work this week in a guest column you wrote in Time Magazine. Not only did you take my research out of context, you did so without my knowledge to support discriminatory goals that I do not agree with. What you wrote was not truthful and I ask that you refrain from ever quoting me again and that you apologize for twisting my work.</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>From what I understand, this is not the first time you have manipulated research in pursuit of your goals. This practice is not in the best interest of scientific inquiry, nor does bearing false witness serve your purpose of furthering morality and strengthening the family.</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>Finally, there is nothing in my research that would lead you to draw the stated conclusions you did in the Time article. My work in no way suggests same-gender families are harmful to children or can't raise these children to be as healthy and well adjusted as those brought up in traditional households.</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>I trust that this will be the last time my work is cited by Focus on the Family.</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>Sincerely,</i></span><span lang="0"><br /><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>Carol Gilligan, PhD</i></span><span lang="0"><br /></span><span lang="0"><i>New York University, Professor</i></span></blockquote><span lang="0"><i></i></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><br />Dobson's article entitled "Two Mommies is One Too Many" released Monday, December 10. was a guest column for the industry giant. This is not the first instance of Time giving Dobson a platform for <a href="http://colorado.mediamatters.org/items/200612110001">hate speech</a>. <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="0" style="font-family:Garamond;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Dobson is the Founder and Board Chair of Focus on the Family, a right-wing group seen by many as dedicated to perpetuating patriarchal nuclear families with the traditional heterosexual couple with children to the exclusion of all other family constellations. They are headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.</span><br /></span></span></p><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">Their mission (from their Web site) -<br></span> </span><br><p align="left"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><blockquote>To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, and, specifically, to accomplish that objective by helping to preserve traditional values and the institution of the family.</blockquote></span></span><br><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Garamond;" lang="0"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >"No reputable media outlet should continue using Focus on the Family as a resource because they are chronically dishonest and lack credibility," says Besen. "James Dobson should start to wonder if there is something inherently wrong with his stance on gay issues if the only way he can support his positions is outright lying."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and <span style="font-size:100%;">educates America about gay life. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.truthwinsout.org/">www.TruthWins.Out.org</a>.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Garamond;" lang="0"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Garamond;" lang="0"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></span><br /></span></p><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1165604495707694742006-12-08T13:52:00.000-05:002006-12-08T19:48:37.586-05:00<b></b><br /><em><br /></em><strong>Sears buys ads on LOGO</strong><br /><em><br />American Family Association issues Action Alert in protest<br /><br /></em><span style="font-size:85%;">by </span><a href="mailto:publisher@equalityherald.com?subject=Sears%20buys%20LOGO%20ads"><span style="font-size:85%;">Beth Maples-Bays</span></a><br /><em><br /></em>The American Family Association issued an Action Alert this morning urging members to call and write Sears regarding their purchase of ads on LOGO, a cable network devoted to LGBT programming.<br /><br />Sears’ public relations spokesperson declined to comment and refused to be identified. He states that Sears buys advertising across the spectrum of available markets. He pointed out that it is Sears’ policy not to comment on present or future marketing strategies. They are aware of the AFA Action Alert.<br /><br />From the AFA Action Alert:<br /><em><br /></em><blockquote><p>Sears has thrown its support to the LOGO network. LOGO is the 24-hour cable television network dedicated to programming for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders according to a <a href="http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=74&id=11628">homosexual advertising website.</a> It is carried on many cable systems around the country. Many of you have been forced to accept it as part of your cable package. Sears is now helping to make it mainstream!<br /><br />Sear's advertising will help LOGO air shows like "Sex 2K Drag Kings," "The Gayest and Greatest of 2006," and "Transgeneration."<br /><br />Sears advertising (two-minute infomercials) will go to help the fledging network get on firm financial ground. Sears advertising is financing LOGO's push to legalize homosexual marriage in addition to promoting the homosexual lifestyle.<br /><br />Sears is owned by Kmart Corporation.</p></blockquote><br />Sears will be hearing from the Religious Reich on this. We need to let them know that we appreciate their support for our community.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Take Action</span><br /><br />1. Send an email to Sears asking them to cancel their advertising on LOGO.<br /><br />2. Call your local Sears store and ask why Sears is supporting the homosexual network with its advertising.<br /><br /><p></p><div align="left">3. Forward this email to your friends and family.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="mailto:general@customerservice.sears.com?subject=Appreciation%20for%20LOGO%20ad">Click Here to Send Your Email to Sears Now!</a><br /></div><br />Aylwin B. Lewis, President </div><div align="left">Sears Holdings </div><div align="left">3333 Beverly Road</div><div align="left">Hoffman Estates, IL 60179 </div><div align="left">Primary Phone: 847-286-2500</div><div align="left">Secondary Phone: 1-800-549-4505</div><div align="left">Fax: 847-286-7829</div><div align="left">E-Mail: <a href="mailto:general@customerservice.sears.com">Aylwin B. Lewis</a>, Sears Holdings </div>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1161279720791649162006-10-19T13:38:00.000-04:002006-10-19T13:42:00.806-04:00<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">An important development concerning women's health in New York. - Beth<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />NYS COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS WOMEN'S HEALTH AND WELLNESS ACT<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Catholic Charities Lawsuit Fails</span><br /><br />Albany, NY (October 19, 2006)-The Women's Health and Wellness Act was upheld today by the Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State. The six judges on the court voted unanimously to uphold this important law, which requires insurance plans to cover reproductive health services including osteoporosis exams, prescription contraceptives, and breast and cervical cancer screening.<br /><br />The Court of Appeals decision in Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany v. Gregory V. Serio states that the object of the Women's Health and Wellness Act was:<br /><br />"to make broader health insurance coverage available to women and, by that means, both to improve women's health and to eliminate disparities between men and women in the cost of health care."<br /><br />"This is a great day for the women of New York State," said JoAnn M.<br />Smith, president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State.<br />"The urgent need to prevent discrimination in health care was rightly - and unanimously - affirmed by the highest court in the state."<br /><br />Catholic Charities sought special rights to discriminate against women employees by denying them access to needed health insurance coverage.<br />Catholic Charities unsuccessfully challenged the Women's Health and Wellness law in two lower New York courts. On November 25, 2003, the New York State Supreme Court found that the law protects women from discriminatory health insurance practices. That decision was affirmed by the Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, on January 11, 2006.<br /><br />The Women's Health and Wellness Act, which went into effect January 1, 2003, has made vital preventive health care services and treatment available to more women in New York State. The bill was sponsored by Assemblymember Deborah Glick of Manhattan and Senator John Bonacic of Mt. Hope. Family Planning Advocates (FPA) led a huge coalition that worked to pass this law and brought key reproductive rights organizations together to submit an amicus brief to the court.<br /><br />The Women's Health and Wellness Act helps to end discrimination against women in insurance coverage by enhancing access to reproductive health care including contraception. While birth control is the most widely used prescription drug for women of reproductive age, it was routinely excluded from insurance plans. According to Alan Guttmacher Institute,<br />49 percent of typical large-group insurance plans failed to routinely cover any reversible contraceptive method. Women of reproductive age were forced to pay as much as 68 percent more for out-of-pocket medical care than men.<br /><br />New York's Women's Health and Wellness Law exempts employers engaged in purely religious activities, such as seminaries, from having to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, who in all likelihood share their employer's religious beliefs. A similar exemption in California's contraceptive coverage equity law was also upheld in the courts. Planned Parenthood's thirteen New York affiliates filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, urging the judges to uphold this law.<br /><br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1161202346978864612006-10-18T16:08:00.000-04:002006-12-08T14:20:17.706-05:00<h2 style="font-weight: bold;">Sometimes “T” is for tough</h2> <h3 style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A lesbian SO’s view of Southern Comfort 2006</span></h3> <p class="MsoAutoSig">by Beth Maples-Bays<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Reading about Southern Comfort online last year, I realized that it was simply time for Sam and I to go check it out. After 15 years of living and loving together as well as weathering the storm and demands of transition five years prior, I felt that I owed it to Sam to invest in a trip to at least one trans-oriented convention. Southern Comfort was the closest, so it was a natural choice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Allow me to give you a bit of background about what brought us to that conclusion. When we began our relationship in 1991, Sam got a healthy, employed partner making more than $40,000 annually as a registered nurse. Before then end of our first year together, I became very sick and was soon completely disabled. Complete blindness, respiratory problems, joint and skin manifestations of the autoimmune disorder that was ravaging my body put me in a position of helplessness that I had never before experienced. With a pre-existing severe bilateral hearing impairment, the loss of my vision also meant the loss of my primary means of communication.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Throughout the ensuing eight years, I experienced numerous eye surgeries (14 total,) 32 periocular injections of corticosteroids, immunosuppressant therapy, respiratory debilitation that precluded independent ability to get from one room to the next without assistance, and many other serious medical problems. I saw internists, retinal and vitreous specialists, pulmonologists, rheumatologists, cardiologists, and other highly specialized medical practitioners as we began the hunt for a diagnosis that was stubbornly elusive.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Throughout this ordeal, Sam was always by my side. I never went to a doctor’s appointment alone. I never had to worry about getting medications from the pharmacy. I was supported and loved by a partner who, initially unbeknownst to me, was struggling with important issues of his own.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One day in 1992, I was sitting on the bed in my bedroom, resting from an exhausting trip to the bathroom, gasping for breath, unable to see myself in the vanity mirror less than three feet away. Sam, who was then using his feminine name, sat down beside me on the bed. He was holding some sort of paper in his hands, and he told me that he had something to tell me. The paper he was holding was a pamphlet from the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conversation that occurred between us that day was not long or complicated. Sam told me that he is transsexual, that he had known this since early childhood, that he had had the vocabulary to articulate his transsexuality since early adolescence, and that he had actually written to the Ericson Foundation more than thirty years prior to obtain information regarding transitioning from female to male.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">My immediate response was simply one of exasperation, and I told Sam that it just was not something I had the energy to discuss. I was having trouble getting through the day alive without considering anyone’s gender identity, my own included. I promised him that if I ever got any semblance of health restored, we would deal with it at that time. Sam patiently accepted my promise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What ensued were seemingly endless years spent blind, tapping with a white cane, undergoing surgeries and highly invasive procedures in hopes of getting a handle on a medical condition that no one could name, much less treat. When 1998 rolled around, I began immunosuppressant therapy that resulted in a halt to disease progression. At the same time, Windows 98 SE personal computer operating system came equipped with accessibility features for the first time. In a rash of competition, the prices on home computers became so low that I was actually able to purchase one. That opened up a world of information that would eventually benefit both of us in ways we never imagined.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After months of intensive self-taught immersion in computer applications, I began to stick a toe in the puddle of available information concerning transgender people, including social/support and informational sites. As I racked up the URLs in hopes of one day finding the answers that Sam needed, I found that it did not take nearly as long as I thought it would. By 2001, Sam was on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) supervised by our family internist who had gone the extra mile in educating himself on this when he realized there was no one in East Tennessee at that time who was qualified to do so.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The next big hurdle was Sam’s chest reconstruction surgery. He felt strongly that without that, he would never pass as male. To make a long story short, in October 2001 he had the surgery done in Timonium, Maryland, by Dr. Beverly Fisher, despite great financial hardship. That debt became our primary financial priority for years to come.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Finally, in 2006, I could see our way clear to manage a trip to the Southern Comfort Conference (SCC) held in Atlanta, Georgia. Initial correspondence with “Cat” Turner and the other gracious organizers, who see to it that no one needing a scholarship is turned away, was exciting. We both looked forward to our first conference with hope and enthusiasm.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Going to Atlanta early in order to have time to do some “touristing,” we anticipated the beginning of the conference with heightened eagerness as we realized it was about to begin. The program schedule was packed with a great mix of informative and entertaining events. The organization of the conference was splendid, and the meals and accommodations were superb. We were both delighted to have the opportunity to meet so many transfolks from so many different backgrounds. SCC is the largest conference of its kind in the world. Attendees have come from all fifty states and numerous foreign countries. Volunteers do all of the organizing and informational presentations. They do so with professional demeanor, with very few exceptions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of those exceptions occurred Thursday morning. I attended a welcoming reception for parents, family, and friends of transfolks. The hostess for the event was an SCC board member who is a licensed professional counselor. We were seated in a hospitality suite as the significant others, family, and friends of transgender persons dribbled in one or two at a time. Eventually there were about fifteen people present. At the facilitator’s suggestion, we took turns introducing ourselves and stating how we came to be at SCC. By the time the circle had finished, I realized that I was the only partner of a female-to-male (FTM) in the room. While I was a bit surprised, I was nonetheless glad to be surrounded by partners of transgender people. As the circle widened and more women joined the discussion, I soon realized that I was not only the only FTM’s significant other (SO), but also the only lesbian-identified partner. All of the partners present identified in one way or another as heterosexual. Most were married or planning to marry. That ratcheted my surprise up a notch, but I was still enjoying the meeting.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">At one point the moderator made an attempt at a summary statement to move us on to the next discussion point in which she made a sweeping motion to indicate the whole group and said, “All of us were either married to our partners when they transitioned, or we met our partners after they transitioned.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was taken aback. The story I had told them was very similar to the one included at the beginning of this article. Her dismissal of my experience was one of many to come over the ensuing weekend.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When I reminded her that I was neither married or planning to do so, as the laws of my state do not allow Sam and I to marry. Her face flushed. She dismissed me, more directly this time, and moved on with her talking points. She also repeatedly referred to me as “gay,” despite my objections and explanation that I prefer to be called “lesbian.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Later that morning, I attended a workshop on FTMs of color presented three panelists. As I listened, I heard the same tired stereotyping of lesbians that I experienced online during the time that Sam was transitioning. In fact, one of the panel members said, “I was too masculine for the lesbians, so I did not feel accepted.” Which lesbians? Hello? There are entire listservs and support groups of lesbians who are attracted only to very masculine women. Surely, this person could have found one in his hometown, which is a major metropolitan area. Recognizing one’s transgender status and taking steps to align the physical presentation to the person between the ears is entirely valid. Blaming it on lesbians about whom you obviously know very little is quite another.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In addition to the workshops, daytime activities included such goodies as a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, Lennox Square Mall shopping trip, tour of the High Museum of Art, the Alliance Theater production of “Elliott, A Soldier’s Fugue,” and a 60’s Luau pool party. The evenings were filled with myriad activities and events, ranging from <span style="color:black;">Agatha’s: A Taste of Mystery Dinner Theatre and a Sweet 16 PJ’s and Slumber Party to </span>Al La Bone’s 1920’s Speakeasy and So-Co A-Go-Go. Late night events included clubbing at the Wetbar and a 1970’s Saturday Night Fever Blowout. There was truly something for everyone.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I declined the offer to repeat the “support” group experience the following morning. The group was designed to be an ongoing support for SO’s attending the convention, however as the old saying goes – fool me twice, shame on me. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sam and I opted to hear Dr. Toby Meltzer, plastic and reconstructive surgeon, speak on surgical techniques for FTMs. It was a highly informative choice. With a background in nursing, I was eager to hear more regarding gender reassignment surgery (GRS) from a surgeon actively practicing in that area.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Friday was filled with workshops overflowing with information for transfolks on topics ranging from HRT to political involvement to makeup tips for the male-to-female (MTF) trans women. The open microphone was a rousing good time, and the vendors offered everything from wigs and jewelry to books on transition experiences. It was a bit of a treat to see lovely ladies’ shoes in size 13 wide lined up in a delicate display. The makeup artists were there as well, creating painted ladies one by one.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The formal dinner that evening was wonderful, and we lingered a while to talk with another FTM/SO couple. They hailed from Asheville, North Carolina, just over the mountains from our home in Knoxville. As Sam spoke with the FTM, I chatted with the SO, finding that she, too, was heterosexual. Her background in occupational therapy had given us some fodder for conversation, and we were just about to launch that topic when the “support” group leader joined us. She had announced from the dinner podium her intent to form an advocacy group for elder transgender people. I complimented her on her goal and suggested that it might be good to join with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to further her objectives.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What followed was a tirade about the way transfolks have been treated by “gays.” My repeated objections in the prior workshop had been ignored, as they were again on this evening. While it is a fact that trans persons have had to fight tooth and nail for a place under the LGBT rainbow, it is not because of my lack of earnest advocacy. As an activist in my community, I am an ardent supporter of inclusion for trans people in all aspects of the LGBT community.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In 2004, I organized our area’s first-ever Transgender Day of Remembrance. There had never been an observance of that important commemoration in East Tennessee’s history. I wrote an article advocating for the inclusion of MTF community members in lesbian groups and events, posted on my personal Web site, in 2003. I have personally lobbied the Tennessee General Assembly with regard to the need for statutory changes allowing changes on the birth certificates of persons born in Tennessee who transition to another sex. Those lobbying efforts occurred in 2005 and 2006 as part of the Tennessee Equality Project’s Advancing Equality Day on the Hill. In short, I am not only an FTM/SO, I am an ally and an active one at that.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Under attack because of past injustices inflicted by others, I tried to explain, but could not break through the angry tirade. I simply got up and left the room. As far as my heart was concerned, the SCC was over. The following day, I found some healing in the sweet, tender circle lead by Holly Boswell. As the circle participants presented their requests in the healing phase of the ceremony, I found myself asking to be welcomed. The sense of isolation at being the only lesbian partnered with an FTM at the conference was truly overwhelming. In this circle of healers, I found solace and comfort.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I needed that circle more than I realized I would. Saturday morning brought fresh wounds in the workshop entitled “Partners of Transmen.” I won’t rehash the entire hour, but will offer this as an example of what I heard. The panel consisted of three women, two of whom identified as heterosexual, and one claimed “queer” as her descriptor. A bit more savvy this time, I asked the participants if anyone in the room identified as lesbian. No one did. Later in the conversation when I referred to myself as the only FTMSO lesbian in the room, the remark was characterized as “harsh,” and I was silenced. I gave up on trying to communicate at that point. I also gave up on SCC. With many burners in the fire, I cannot dally with folks who are not supportive and who will not or cannot open their minds to the possibility that there are others who are different, but who do accept and support them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the drive home, Sam and I discussed these events ad infinitum, analyzing and re-analyzing in hopes of coming to some greater understanding of how and why they occurred. Our conclusions were relatively simple. SCC, while doing their best to welcome FTMs and their SOs, is rooted and grounded in a culture and tradition that primarily reflects the needs of MTFs and crossdressers who are heterosexual. They were the overwhelming majority of the conference participants. It is also primarily an entertainment event. Despite the organizers best efforts to offer enlightening and informative workshops, the preponderance of participants seemed to be there for one big party. There is nothing wrong with having a party. I’m just not interested in that form of entertainment, particularly in a setting in which I received little if any validation for who and what I am.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">If the organizers want to increase the participation of FTMs and SOs, they need to reach out into the community in which those people live. They need to study the subculture of FTMs apart from the FTM and trans organizations, looking instead to the local LGBT communities. The ability of FTMs to become truly invisible in the larger culture does not mean that all identify as heterosexual and choose the path of either stealth or trans activist. There are other choices. Some of us like a larger family. We feel supported and accepted on the local level in ways that cannot be replicated by national organizations of any stripe.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We find our local community to be accepting and supportive without need for credentials to prove who we are, without pressure to succumb to anger rooted and grounded in the past, without the push to live a separatist lifestyle based on Sam’s trans identity. We like our local LGBTQ community. They know us. They love us. They support us. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">At a time in our nation’s history when the slings and barbs of the radical right are assaulting all of us, it behooves us to gather and find strength in numbers. It can be done. </p> <br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1160673125148494852006-10-12T13:05:00.000-04:002006-10-12T13:55:53.136-04:00<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong>What if the conservatives win in November?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">Today's inbox shows the Christian nationalists are gearing up</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br />A quick peek at this morning's email revealed yet another round of propaganda by the Christian Reich. Specifically targeting "liberals," the laundry list of doom is intended to frighten conservatives into voting.<br /><br />Here's my version -<br /><p style="margin-bottom: 12pt;font-family:arial;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Here is what we can expect if the conservatives win: <o:p></o:p></span></p> </span></strong></span><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Harsh treatment for immigrants<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Further laws and constitutional changes to prevent marriage equality<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Only conservative judges will be appointed. They will create laws to implement the social agenda conservatives cannot get passed through the legislative process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">WomenÂs reproductive freedom will be nothing more than a memory<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Conservatives will continue to try to make us a Christians-only society. <o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Continued lack of balance in broadcasting  opposing views are not given equal time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">An increase in taxes to push new military programs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Continued lack of "hate crimes" protection for LGBTQI Americans. <o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul type="disc" style="font-family:arial;"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="EmailStyle15"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="EmailStyle15">Conservatives will continue to support policies that defy the Geneva Convention including torture. <o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></span></li></ul><ul type="disc" style="font-family:arial;"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="EmailStyle15">We will continue to occupy Iraq, sending the message to the Arab world that we have no respect for them. We will continue to threaten Iran and Syria, furthedestabilizeng the region. <o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></strong></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="EmailStyle15"><b>Go Vote! Encourage Others To Do The Same.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="EmailStyle15"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p></span></strong></span>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1160444644746801792006-10-09T21:43:00.000-04:002006-10-09T21:44:04.766-04:00<table align="center" border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="200"><p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b><br />OCTOBER 9, 2006<br />10:31 AM<br /> </span></p> </td> <td align="left" valign="top" width="340"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b>CONTACT: <a href="http://www.hrw.org/">Human Rights Watch</a><br /></b>Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700</span></p> </td> <!-- #EndEditable --> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <div align="center"><b><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:130%;"> <!-- #BeginEditable "Header" -->UN: New Report Says Violence Against Women is a Human Rights Violation<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Classification obliges States to punish perpetrators and prevent abuse</span><br /><!-- #EndEditable --></span></b></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"> <!-- #BeginEditable "Body" --> </span><p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">NEW YORK - October 9 - Human Rights Watch and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership welcomed a <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/">report</a> issued by United Nations today that classifies abuse against women – whether it happens in the home or elsewhere – as a human rights violation. As such, states are obliged by international human rights standards to hold perpetrators accountable.</span></p> <span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">The 140-page report entitled “<a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/">In-depth study on all forms of violence against women</a>,” which was issued by Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office, confirms that violence against women by spouses, family members, and employers is a human rights violation, settling any outstanding debate on this issue. By squarely stating that it is, the report says that governments have an obligation to protect women whether the perpetrators are state or non-state actors. <br /><br />“This report acknowledges for the first time from the highest levels of the United Nations what human and women's rights advocates have documented over the past few decades: violence against women is a massive human rights violation that is both a cause and a consequence of deeply ingrained inequality between men and women,” said Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University, and a member of the Secretary General’s International Advisory Committee for the study. <br /><br />The report describes promising practices in the fight against violence against women but dismisses state efforts so far as mostly ineffective. Even with a sophisticated analysis of the problem and, in certain cases, strong laws related to this violence, most national-level responses have been inadequate, and have not eradicated the impunity perpetrators too often enjoy. <br /><br />“The Secretary-General’s study conveys a very simple message,” said LaShawn R. Jefferson, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division. “The individual who carries out any form of violence against women has committed a crime. A government that does not develop, fund, and implement all necessary laws and programs to prevent and to punish this violence violates international human rights law. Both the individual committing the violence and the government blithely letting it happen must be held responsible.” <br /><br />The study highlights the need for additional attention to violence suffered by women from marginalized groups (such as indigenous peoples or ethnic minorities). The report also draws attention to the problem of under-documentation of violence and control of women’s bodies and sexuality as an insidious component of gender inequality. In addition, the study addresses violence in conflict situations, pertinent issues related to criminal justice systems, service provision for survivors, the need to work with men to address violence, and needs of women who are facing multiple forms of discrimination. <br /><br />It is incumbent upon the next Secretary General to commit to advancing the specific recommendations set out in Kofi Annan’s study and it is imperative for human rights advocates to keep pressure on governments to fulfill their responsibility, said Human Rights Watch and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership upon the launch of the report. <br /><br />The report’s recommendations are directed at member states and at various entities within the United Nations system and include a call to document and register all forms of violence against women and to provide leadership at all levels in the condemnation and prevention of violence against women. <br /><br />“What the Secretary-General’s study makes clear is that this violence is not inevitable: with sufficient political will, funding, and carefully developed and targeted programs, violence against women can be significantly reduced,” said Bunch. “The issue now is will governments and the United Nations make a firm commitment to act on the findings of this report.” <!-- #EndEditable --> </span><p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">###</span></p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- #EndTemplate --> <!-- print starts here --> <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/news2006/1009-06.htm"><img src="http://www.commondreams.org/images/icon_print.gif" border="0" height="16" width="16" /></a><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/newsprint.cgi?file=/news2006/1009-06.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:78%;">Printer Friendly Version</span></a> <!-- print ends here --><!-- referralblast starts here --> <a href="http://www.referralblast.com/cs/com/co1.asp" onclick="window.open('http://www.referralblast.com/cs/com/co1.asp?url=' + location.href,'comWnd','width=440,height=476,scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,resizable=yes'); return false;" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='Send this page to a friend'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;"><img src="http://www.commondreams.org/images/icon_email.gif" border="0" height="16" width="16" /></a> <a href="http://www.referralblast.com/cs/com/co1.asp" onclick="window.open('http://www.referralblast.com/cs/com/co1.asp?url=' + location.href,'comWnd','width=440,height=476,scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,resizable=yes'); return false;" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='Send this page to a friend'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:78%;">E-Mail This Article</span></a><br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115086.post-1153588913590619012006-07-22T12:54:00.000-04:002006-07-22T13:25:14.403-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.worldpride.net"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5423/1267/320/WolrdPride2006.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">JERUSALEM POLICE DENY MARCH PERMIT TO WORLDPRIDE</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >ALL OTHER PRIDE EVENTS TO PROCEED AS PLANNED</span></span><br /><br />From HAGAI EL-AD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF JERUSALEM OPEN HOUSE, WORLDPRIDE ORGANIZER<br /><br />"The Jerusalem police 24 hours ago informed us that they are unable to provide a safe environment for the march in light of the current hostilities in the region and the excessive stress this puts on their staff. Therefore, we feel it would be neither responsible nor appropriate to hold the march until such time that circumstances allow for a safe and peaceful gathering for all. This is not the time for celebrations, and the march, which would requires extensive security, will not take place due to the situation. The parade will be held with the improvement of the security situation in the country. All other WorldPride events will take place as scheduled in a format that is sensitive to the situation and as part of the continued democratic struggle for a free Jerusalem.<br /><br />We continue to hear from attendees from around the world informing us that they will indeed be coming to Jerusalem. Their participation inspires us to work toward a successful and safe WorldPride gathering in the spirit of the principles we have always promoted: peace, tolerance and respect for diversity in all its forms.<br /><br />We are committed to marching in Jerusalem as we have done successfully annually since 2002. A new date for this year's Pride March in Jerusalem will be announced as soon as a cease fire is achieved in the region. We hope and pray together with our colleagues and supporters around the world for an end to hostilities and suffering in the r<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5423/1267/1600/FLAG.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 191px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5423/1267/320/FLAG.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>egion."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">The Jerusa</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">lem Open House (JOH) is a grassroots, activist organization of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people, and allies. Since 1997, we have worked to make our city a place where all people are free to seek self-fulfillment. Our greatest challenge is a tradition of conformist heterosexism that continues to be enforced by almost all social institutions in Israel, including the family, the school, the state, and the religious establishment. This challenge is especially formidable in Jerusalem, a city of traditional values and deeply rooted religious commitments. Visit JOH online by clicking <a href="http://www.worldpride.net/?id=278&PHPSESSID=90813848357a9306aacf6a1005369295">here</a>.</span></span><br /><br />From RABBI SHARON KLEINBAUM, NORTH AMERICAN CO-CHAIR OF WORLDPRIDE AND HEAD RABBI OF CONGREGATION BETH SIMCHAT TORAH<br /><br />"I am fully committed to attending all WorldPride programs and events, traveling with dozens of my congregation members to Jerusalem with pride and anticipation next week. Now, more than ever, it is important that we demonstrate the values of WorldPride in Jerusalem a city like no other, a distinctive global symbol. Sadly, that symbol has been hijacked to propagate fundamentalism, segregation, and conflict. WorldPride will be held in Jerusalem to reclaim the symbol that Jerusalem is, for what it was originally all about: tolerance, openness, and respect for all human beings regardless of sexual orientation, religion, gender identity, or nationality."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.worldpride.net"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5423/1267/320/WorldPridelogo.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >WorldPride is a unique international opportunity to make a global statement, building upon decades of Pride events and the struggle of millions of individuals across the globe for self-fulfillment, for the possibility to be who they are and to follow their heart and their identity. It is through WorldPride that InterPride most effectively expresses the combined energy of its member organizations, responsible for Pride celebrations around the world that attract a combined attendance of between 15 and 20 million, from San Francisco to Montreal to Sydney to Berlin. Click <a href="http://www.worldpride.net">here</a> to visit WorldPride online.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><i></i>Beth Maples-Bayshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936277040816005755noreply@blogger.com0