QUEER QUOTE: Are Bert and Ernie Gay?

There has been longtime speculation abut whether Bert and Ernie, two puppets on the Sesame Street television show who are depicted as living together, are "gay." Puppeteer and director Frank Oz, who created the puppets said on twitter that the two are not gay. Oz said, "I created Bert. I know what and who he is." These quotes are in response to an exclusive interview in Queerty with Mark Saltzman a writer for the show from 1981-1990 said that he based the interactions of Bert and Ernie on his own longtime relationship with his male partner. "I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple," Saltzman said.

However, Sesame Workshop, the producer of Sesame Street released a statement which is today's Queer Quote denying (again) that Bert and Ernie are gay:

As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.

Regardless of what Sesame Workshop says, it has not stopped other people from recognizing that Bert and Ernie behave like and resemble a same-sex couple.

QUEER QUOTE: Heterosexual Supremacist Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Says Something Nice About #LGBT Youth For #Pride

Today's Queer Quote is from Senator Orrin Hatch, who has announced his retirement (after 42 years!) and will not be seeking re-election to the United States Senate. His seat is likely to be filled by Mitt Romney (2012 GOP nominee for President).

On Thursday, in celebration(!) of LGBT pride month, Sen. Hatch tried to support LGBT youth by saying on the Senate floor:

“No one should ever feel less because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. LGBT youth deserve our unwavering love and support. They deserve our validation and the assurance that not only is there a place for them in this society, but that it is far better off because of them. These young people need us—and we desperately need them. We need their light to illuminate the richness and diversity of God’s creations. We need the grace, beauty and brilliance they bring to the world.”

This is the same guy who said (in 1977):

“I wouldn't want to see homosexuals teaching school anymore than I'd want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school."

As the Washington Post put it. "The Times, they are a changin'"!

FILM REVIEW: Moonlight

The movie Moonlight is based on an unproduced play by Black gay wunderkind (MacArthur Award winner) Tarrell Alvin McRaney. I saw McRaney's Choir Boy in Los Angeles and enjoyed it quite a bit so I was excited when I started seeing ads for Moonlight and seeing the overwhelmingly positive reviews on NPR and elsewhere.

I saw the movie more than 6 weeks ago but first pressures around the 2016 election and then reactions to the surprising results delayed my ability to engage with writing this review. Since then, Moonlight has become highly celebrated, and now that movie award season has become, the film and one of the stars Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, House of Cards, Alphas) is starting to get Oscar buzz.

This is somewhat surprising, because although the film is quite good, and very emotionally affecting, it is ultimately a very "small" film, I'm not disparaging it by using the adjective, it is simply factual to note that it has a relatively small cast. Also, it is primarily the story of how one black boy grows up to be a man. Obviously, the subject matter resonates with me, especially when it turns out that the black boy (who his mother calls Chiron) is different from the other little boys in one specific way: he's probably gay, and he is being raised in near-abject poverty by a drug-addicted single mother.

The main character of Moonlight is played by three different actors, as the movie follows him at three distinct stages of his life. First we see him as "Little," an almost non-verbal, small-for-his-age child who is being abused by other kids his age. Then later we see him as Chiron, a shy, gangly and (sexually) conflicted teenager who is (still) being bullied by kids his age. In the third stage we see him as "Black," an impressively muscular, imposing Black man who has the typical accoutrements of a "thug" and no one is going to be bullying.

It's the "Little" segment of the film which is primarily getting most of the attention (and that's where Ali makes most of his on-screen time, in a memorable supporting role). For my money, I think the performances by the two main female supporting actors in the film are even more affecting: Teresa (played by Janelle Monae) and Paula (played by Naomie Harris). Paula is Chiron's biological mother, but Teresa is basically a surrogate mother-figure, primarily appearing in the second segment.
The accolades the ensemble cast is receiving are richly deserved.

For me it is the final segment, featuring Trevante Rhodes (damn, who is that phyne brutha?) as the grown-up Chiron, who now goes by the name of "Black" which resonated the most with me (and the other gay men I saw it with). Ultimately, however, I was disappointed by how the central tension of the film was resolved (in my opinion it was not resolved, but adroitly side-stepped in a way that was frustrating). That's not to say that Moonlight is disappointing, I hope I am communicating that my feelings are exactly the opposite. The film's portrayal of Black boys and Black men on screen is something so rare, nuanced and lyrical that ultimately seeing Moonlight is one of the most rewarding experiences in the theater I have had for a very long time.

Title: Moonlight.
Director: Barry Jenkins.
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for some sexuality, drug use, brief violence, and language throughout.
Release Date: October 21, 2016.
Viewing Date: October 30, 2016.

Writing: A-.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A.
Impact: A+.

Overall Grade: A (4.0/4.0).

QUEER QUOTE: SCOTUS Agrees To Hear Important Transgender Rights Case From Virginia

The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old transgender boy who (with the help of the ACLU) is suing the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia for the right to use the bathroom associated with his gender identity.

Today's Queer Quote is from the granting of certioari by SCOTUS in Grimm:

 (1) Whether courts should extend deference to an unpublished agency letter that, among other things, does not carry the force of law and was adopted in the context of the very dispute in which deference is sought; and (2) whether, with or without deference to the agency, the Department of Education's specific interpretation of Title IX and 34 C.F.R. § 106.33, which provides that a funding recipient providing sex-separated facilities must “generally treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity,” should be given effect.

SCOTUSblog describes the Grimm case in this way:

Although the controversy over the school board’s policy requiring students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match the gender that they were assigned at birth instantly became the highest-profile case of the court’s term so far, the dispute actually centers on more technical (and, some would say, rather dry) legal issues. In this case, the district court ruled against G.G., relying on a 1975 regulation that allows schools to provide “separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex,” as long as those facilities are comparable to those provided to the opposite sex. But, in January 2015, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights issued an opinion letter stating that, if schools separate students in restrooms and locker rooms on the basis of their sex, a “school generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.” In light of the 2015 letter, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit reversed and ruled for G.G. It relied on the Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Auer v. Robbins, which held that courts generally should defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation. 

In granting review today, the justices sidestepped the most prominent issue they had been asked to take on: whether they should overrule their decision in Auer, which has been the target of criticism by conservative lawyers and jurists. Instead, they agreed only to weigh in on two other, lower-profile questions presented in the school board’s petition: whether courts should defer to a letter, like the Department of Education opinion letter in this case, that was issued as part of the specific dispute before the court; and whether the Department of Education’s interpretation of the federal civil rights laws and the 1975 regulation as requiring schools to treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity should be given effect. 

The school board’s case, as well as the others in which the justices granted review today, likely will be argued during the court’s February sitting, which begins on February 21.

Here at MadProfessah.com we will be  watching this case closely. The primary takeaway should be that although marriage equality is now the law of the land, the fight for full LGBT equality is clearly not over. And the United States Supreme Court will almost certainly play a role in accomplishing this.

Hat/tip to Kenneth in the 212

QUEER QUOTE: Democrats Praise 4th U.S. Circuit Ruling In Favor Of Transgender Student

The 4th U.S. Circuit has upheld the Obama Administration's Education Department non-discrimination policy in a dispute with a Virginia school district over the rights of a transgender student to access education according to their preferred gender identity. The ruling is in the case of transgender male student Gavin Grimm in his lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board, who has enacted a policy that said that every student had to access restrooms and changing facilities based on their "biological sex at birth" and not their gender identity.

Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed reports:

The decision is a big victory for the Obama administration, which weighed in at the appeals court to support Grimm’s challenge, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has been pressing the case for protecting LGBT people under existing civil rights laws since 2012.  

The appeals court had heard the arguments in January, and Tuesday’s ruling is the first such ruling on the Obama administration’s policy — which it also has advanced regarding the sex discrimination ban under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Among the states included in the 4th Circuit is North Carolina, which recently passed a law limiting restroom use in government facilities — including schools and universities — to that which corresponds with a person’s “biological sex.” The ACLU, which is backing Grimm’s suit, also has brought suit against the North Carolina law.

The Democratic National Committee sent the following statement praising the ruling:

“This court victory affirms that there is no commonsense reason to bar transgender students from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity and that doing so is discriminatory and harmful. This ruling sets precedent in five states, including North Carolina, where Republican legislators and the Republican governor have embraced the exact type of discrimination that the court today has overruled. Republican legislators who continue to push anti-LGBT measures and the Republican presidential candidates who fan the flames of discrimination with ignorant rhetoric have been exposed by this ruling for what they’re truly peddling. Just this week, one of the Republican presidential candidates told victims of discrimination to ‘get over it.’ Well, it’s time for the Republican Party to get over their anti-LGBT bias and join the rest of the country in embracing the full equality of every American.”

 Congrats!

Today Is #SpiritDay Against Bullying

Hat/tip to Kenneth in the 212

WATCH: Trailer for "Kidnapped For Christ"; Airs On Showtime July 10

Here's what the Showtime documentary Kidnapped for Christ is about, according to a press release:

Los Angeles, CA – On Thursday, July 10^th at 7:30pm ET/PT, SHOWTIME will premiere KIDNAPPED FOR CHRIST, a powerful, award-winning documentary that chronicles the shocking truth behind Escuela Caribe, a controversial Christian behavior modification program in the Dominican Republic for “troubled” U.S. teenagers.  Initially hoping to document the positive effects a boarding school like this could have on struggling youth, evangelical filmmaker Kate Logan is granted unprecedented access and allowed to live on campus for the summer.  Once there, Logan’s eyes are opened to the truth beneath the sunny façade of this remote reform school—kids being taken by force in the middle of the night, rumors of physical abuse, and staff imposing arbitrary and degrading punishments on the young students—and encounters students who change her life.
 In the 85-minute documentary, Logan meets David, a 17-year-old honor student from Colorado, sent to the program shortly after coming out to his parents; Beth, a 15-year-old from Michigan suffering from debilitating panic attacks; and Tai, a 16-year-old Haitian-American girl from Boston experimenting with drugs to cope with childhood trauma.  With mounting evidence that this so-called “therapeutic boarding school” is no more than a crude brainwashing camp, Logan is determined to help at least one student escape.  The struggles she faces to secure the child's freedom reveal just how far Escuela Caribe will go to prevent their students from leaving, becoming a journey that tests Logan's faith in ways she could never imagine.

I'm hoping to get a sneak preview of the documentary from the producers and if so I intend to review the film for this blog. Regardless, tune in to Showtime on July 10th and watch this important documentary.

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Changes Name To Los Angeles LGBT Center

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is one of the largest gay and lesbian organization in the world by budget. News comes today that it is planning a $25 million expansion and is changing its name to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Longtime CEO Lorri Jean sent the following message to supporters announcing the change:

I want you to be among the first to hear some exciting news. As of today, the Center has changed its name to Los Angeles LGBT Center, a name which more accurately reflects the diversity of people we have always served. With this new name comes the new logo that you see on your screen. Every element of this logo is unique in color and shape—like the people we serve—but when they come together, they form a circle of community. 

But our new name and logo are only part of the news I want to share with you. 

Today the Center is launching a $25-million campaign to help fund an expansion that will more than double the number of our beds for homeless LGBT youth, provide more than 100 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors and young adults, create a new senior center, and much more.
When finished, the new building will form a unique campus with our arts, educational and cultural facility—The Village at Ed Gould Plaza—that's directly across the street from it and span more than one city block in Hollywood. It will also become the Center's new headquarters, facilitating a major expansion of health and medical services at our current headquarters (McDonald/Wright building). You can read more about the campaign and the new campus in the current issue of Vanguard. 

Demand for the Center's services has grown enormously over the last several years. Today we welcome more than 42,000 client visits each month! This increased demand has strained our facilities and programs beyond capacity, especially in our programs for youth and seniors. Our beds for homeless youth are always full and demand for the services of our Youth Center on Highland are at an all-time high. And the number of clients in our Senior Services department has tripled in the past three years! 

The Center has always risen to the occasion for our community—relentlessly finding ways to build the health and strength of LGBT people when few others had the interest or the ability to do so. Now that the demand for services and housing for LGBT seniors and youth is acute, it's time for us to step up again. 

I'm enormously grateful to the many donors who have already invested in this exciting new effort and I'm thrilled to let you know that we have already raised a record $18.5 million in pledges! This includes the largest gift ever given by a living person to an LGBT organization. Philanthropist Anita May Rosenstein has pledged $6.5 million, which will be made by the Anita May Rosenstein, Wilbur May and Anita & Arnold Rosenstein Family Foundations. 

The early success of the campaign is also attributable to six other pledges of seven-figure gifts, including a $2 million pledge by Ariadne Getty and the Fuserna Foundation and $1 million pledges by David J. Bailey and Ron B. Shalowitz; Jacinto Hernandez & Charles Callahan; Barry McCabe; Loren S. Ostrow & Brian Newkirk; William & Cindy Shopoff. 

We've still got millions more to raise and lots of work ahead, but with the continued support of the community, I know we'll be as successful with this campaign as we were with the last two capital campaigns that created the McDonald/Wright building and The Village at Ed Gould Plaza.

This is exciting news! I have been a longtime supporter of the Center and will continue to be so!

BOOK REVIEW: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

This book was recommended by one of my friends whom I would classify as a hopeless romantic. It is a YA book, i.e. written for "young adults" or teens. It is also a heartwarming story about a beautiful friendship between two teenage boys, one gay and one straight. The book has won numerous awards and is a quick, enjoyable read, even if you don't usually read "that kind of stuff."

Here's the blurb from the book cover:

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone who would be interested in reading a well-written, realistic story about the lives of two Latino teenaged boys. I don't want to say anything more about the story or the characters' fates because one main pleasure of this book is the sense of wonder as the story unfolds.

Read this book!

Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.
Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
Paperback: 359 pages.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster.
Published: February 21, 2012.
Read: September 2013.

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A-.

Oscar Nominee Ellen Page Comes Out At LGBT Youth Conference

Ellen Page, 26, is best known for her Oscar nominated role in Juno but you may also remember her from her appearance in Christopher Nolan's Inception. Page made news this weekend when she gave a keynote address at HRC's Time To Thrive conference for LGBT youth in Nevada and promptly came out of the closet herself.

The video of her speech has been viewed more than 3 million times since it was posted to YouTube on Friday.

UPDATE: CA Anti-Trans Initiative Meets First Qualification Threshold

In a somewhat surprising result, the heterosexual supremacists who failed to prevent marriage equality in California and who are now targeting transgender youth, have passed the first hurdle in their attempt to place an anti-LGBT referendum on the November 2014 statewide ballot.

Although they submitted a surprisingly low number of signatures (619,244) it turns out that in a random sampling process of all 58 counties that it looks like they may have submitted at least 95% of the required total of 504,760 (i.e. 479,522). The Secretary of State says that their projection is that 482,582 signatures are valid, a rate of77.93%. While this is a pretty good validity rate, in order for the referendum to qualify for the ballot, they need to have a validity rate of 81.52% when the counties spend the next 30 days verifying all 619,244 signatures that were submitted.

Although it is bad news that the haters have made it to the full count stage, it is still more likely than not that the measure will NOT qualify for the ballot and the people of California will be spared a campaign where millions of dollars are spent promulgating lies and disgusting statements about members of the LGBT community.

NYT Spotlights HIV Crisis Among Young Black and Latino Men Under 25

Well, this is a surprise! Today the New York Times has a front page, above the fold (most prominent placement), story entitled "Poor Black and Hispanic Men Are the Face of H.I.V." by Donald G. McNeil Jr. The key point is that 25 percent of new infections are in men who are either Black or Latino.

Here's an excerpt:

Nationally, 25 percent of new infections are in black and Hispanic men, and in New York City it is 45 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the city’s health department. 

Nationally, when only men under 25 infected through gay sex are counted, 80 percent are black or Hispanic — even though they engage in less high-risk behavior than their white peers. 

The prospects for change look grim. Critics say little is being done to save this group, and none of it with any great urgency. 

“There wasn’t even an ad campaign aimed at young black men until last year — what’s that about?” said Krishna Stone, a spokeswoman for GMHC, which was founded in the 1980s as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. 

Phill Wilson, president of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, said there were “no models out there right now for reaching these men.” 

[...] 

According to a major C.D.C.-led study, a male-male sex act for a young black American is eight times as likely to end in H.I.V. infection as it is for his white peers. 

That is true even though, on average, black youths in the study took fewer risks than their white peers: they had fewer partners, engaged in fewer acts of sex while drunk or high, and used condoms more often. 

They had other risk factors. Lacking health insurance, they were less likely to have seen doctors regularly and more likely to have syphilis, which creates a path for H.I.V. 

But the crucial factor was that more of their partners were older black men, who are much more likely to have untreated H.I.V. than older white men.

The fact that the HIV epidemic is becoming browner and younger has been known by HIV activists for quite awhile but it is useful that the mainstream media is starting to pay attention and send the message to the wider population.

I'm somewhat surprised that my friend Phill Wilson is quoted saying there are "no models" for reaching young Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM), when he runs the Black AIDS Institute which is a national organization focused on creating, studying and promulgating such models.

In Los Angeles, In The Meantime Men is an organization which focuses on HIV prevention in young Black men and Bienestar focuses on HIV prevention and treatment in the Latino community.

I think what Phill meant to say was that there are no widely adopted or generally accepted models for reaching the communities the article is focused on.

This Yearbook Picture Violates "Community Standards" In Texas. Why?

It is becoming clearer that the next frontier for LGBT equality is in the area of public accommodations for transgender people. This story about Jeydon Loredo caught my eye. The school board of La Feria High School in La Feria, Texas is refusing to allow Jeydon to appear in his yearbook picture wearing a tuxedo, saying that it offends "community standards."

A major milestone in life would be summed up in one image: Jeydon in a crisp tuxedo with his hair neatly combed. As time passes, this may be the only image his classmates have to remember him by.

That’s why Jeydon, a transgender student, was upset to learn from the school district’s superintendent that his photo would not appear in the yearbook because it supposedly violated “community standards.” Jeydon, while he grew up female, is now a young man. He is transgender, meaning that his gender identity is different from what he was assigned at birth.  District Superintendent Rey Villarreal told his mother that Jeydon’s photograph would be included only if he wore stereotypically feminine attire, such as a drape or blouse.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’ve grown up with the kids here,” Jeydon said. “I’ve seen those in my community go through troubles, and denying my tuxedo photo would be a way for the district to forget me and everything I’ve brought to this community. The yearbook is for the students, not the faculty or the administration. It is a way for us to remember each other.”

The Human Rights Campaign and the Southern Poverty Law Center are fighting for Jeydon's right to appear in the senior yearbook picture that his family paid for and have sent the La Feria School Board a strongly worded letter explaining why the school board's (in)action is discriminatory.

HRC and SPLC are encouraging people to contact the school board.

HBO To Air Doc On Lawrence King Anti-LGBT Hate Crime Today

HBO is airing the Valentine Road, a documentary giving background on the lives of Lawrence King and Brandon McInerney later today. McInerney gunned King down in February 2008 at point blank range at a middle school in Southern California which both attended. McInerney was tried as an adult and eventually accepted  a plea deal leading to a sentence of 21 years in prison in December 2011.

Zack Ford at LGBT Think Progress summarizes the documentary on King and McInerney this way:

As both advocates and opponents of protections for LGBT students agree, bullying is not a simple issue that can be reduced to just one factor in any particular case.Valentine Road shows just how complex the circumstances were for both Larry and Brandon in terms of race, sexuality, gender, socioeconomic status, school support, and family support. It is also a reminder that the public understanding of LGBT issues does not evolve in one coherent block and as such, there is still much work to be done to ensure that schools are truly safe for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other aspect of their identity. 

Watch the Valentine Road trailer:

I think watching the documentary is going to be pretty tough.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress

Transgender Teen Voted Homecoming Queen At SoCal High School

An interesting LGBT landmark occurred in Southern California yesterday. A 16-year-old transgender girl named Cassidy Lynn Campbell was voted homecoming queen at a local Southern California high school.

Cassidy Lynn Campbell broke down in tears Friday night when she learned that she had been crowned homecoming queen. 

The senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach was born male but told The Times she always felt like a girl. In high school, she began taking hormone blockers and estrogen injections prescribed by an endocrinologist and made the transition to living as a girl. 

She decided to run for homecoming queen, in part, to make a statement. 

"If I win it would mean that the school recognizes me as the gender I always felt I was," Cassidy, 16, told The Times before the election. 

"But with all the attention, I realized it's bigger than me," she said. "I'm doing this for the kids who can't be themselves."

She may be the first but will almost certainly not be the last transgender homecoming queen. As I've said before, the more people realize that gender is not a binary phenomenon, the more progress will be made for LGBT equality, so I see this as a big step forward for LGBT rights.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man

Celebrity Friday: Michael Jordan's Daughter Comes Out!

Hmmm! I am not sure where else to file this so I am posting it as a Celebrity Friday article. The daughter of Michael Jordan, 20-year-old Jasmine Jordan, has come out as a lesbian via a posting on the social media site Instagram.

The daughter of one of the most well known basketball players of all time took to social media last month to announce that she is gay, the U.K.’s Pink News reports. 

Michael Jordan’s only daughter, Jasmine Jordan, posted a photo of herself with her girlfriend Tyson-Thomas on Instagram on Aug. 20 with the caption: "This Little Closet Is Holding Me Back." 

When her followers asked her that meant she is gay, she responded and confirmed that she is. 

"Until love, trust, honesty, respect, loyalty, commitment, genuine happiness and other characteristics or aspects I want in a relationship is defined by one gender then and only then will I discuss my sexual preference," she wrote before coming out. 

Jasmine’s girlfriend is a former Syracuse Orange basketball player. Jasmine, 20, is a junior at Syracuse University and majors in sports management.

Hat/tip to Wicked Gay Blog!

Queer Quote: Russian Lawmaker Wants To Ban Gay Parenting

Alexhei Zhuravlev is a member of the lower house of the Russian Parliament and last week proposed a bill that would allow authorities to terminate the parental rights of gay and lesbian parents and remove their kids from their homes.

Zhuravlev is quoted making this astounding statement::

"We view Europe as Sodom and Gomorrah. Europe must not tell us how to live. The Europeans can live any way they like, but they mustn’t tell us what to do. Of course [a gay mother] should definitely be deprived of her rights to the child. Homosexuals must not raise children. They corrupt them. They do them much more harm than if the child were in an orphanage. I am deeply convinced of this."

This incredibly ignorant sentiment is today's Queer Quote. It should be noted that Russia also bans adoption of Russian children to any country that has marriage equality. It is estimated that there are at least 700,000 children in Russian orphanages and another 3 million living on the street.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

White Gay Rapper F. Virtue Disses Homophobia In "Anita Bryant"

Rapper F. Virtue's song "Anita Bryant" is not your typical rap song, nor is F. Virtue you're usual rapper. He's white and openly gay. Apparently, he's also Canadian, 23 years old and a college graduate. How many of these descriptors does one usually associate with the word "rapper"? Anyway, check out the song for yourself below!


Now if you were in my class, we would have a discussion about intersectionality (how multiple aspects of one's identity can be combined). Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section!

Hat/tip to Upworthiest

Homophobes File Referendum on Transgender Student Rights Bill

Here we go again. Just last week Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1266, the School Success and Opportunity Act, into law. SSOA basically put into effect statewide the policy of the state's largest school district, LAUSD, which allows transgender students to participate fully in activities using the gender identity that they feel is most appropriate. Massachusetts and Colorado already have similar statewide policies.

Most people think this was a historic move forward to advance the rights of transgender students. Of course, that is not how the homophobes see it. They have filed paperwork to put theis historic civil rights law up for a referendum, meaning that it would not go into effect immediately if they are able to file 500,000 signatures with the Secretary of State within 90 days. Then there would be a vote during a statewide election in 2014 on whether the measure would go into effect at all or be effectively repealed.

Equality California executive director John O'Connor responded to the move:

"This is a predictable move by fringe groups that oppose all pro-equality measures and that historically have lacked the capacity to successfully execute similar efforts. AB1266 is an historic civil rights bill ensuring all students have the opportunity to participate and succeed in schools, including transgender students. EQCA and our partners will remain vigilant about monitoring the situation."

It should be remembered that there were also people who wanted to put the FAIR Education Act up for  a vote of the people of California, and they failed (twice!) to do so. The FAIR Education Act was a law that amended the state Education Code to insure that information about LGBT people in all California public schools has to be "fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful."

Now it looks like the homophobes are starting to realize that they are most certainly going to lose the war over marriage equality (California's fight over Proposition 8 ended with a whimper on Wednesday August 14) they are changing their focus to the T in LGBT rights, narrowing in on challenging the very concept of gender identity itself.

This is the hyperbolic language they are using on their temporary website to publicize their attempt to overturn the Transgender Student Rghts Bill:

Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law AB 1266 which would allow boys and girls to share the same school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, sporting programs, and school activities, based on the student’s gender identity, rather than his or her actual biological gender. 

Gender identity refers to a person’s subjective opinion of ones gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s biological sex. But no matter the student’s gender identity, imposing this drastic and intrusive law upon all students is foolish and irresponsible. 

This bill will go into effect in Jan. 2014 unless we stop it.

One of the main reason that the heterosexual supremacists are going after AB 1266 is that the polling on it is pretty tight, with a June 2013 survey indicating 43% support and 46% opposition to the then pending legislation.

Hopefully they won't even get enough signatures to qualify the referendum, but this is probably also about activating the conservative base in California for the 2014 statewide elections, since currently the Republican party has basically zero power in all three branches of California government.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God