en|Gender » LGBTQ

The Prop 8 Ruling

helenboyd — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:35:33 +0000

Breaking: CA Court Declares Same Sex Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

helenboyd — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:42:01 +0000

7 0f 10

helenboyd — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:44:51 +0000

In honor of Black History Month, here’s a neat article from Queerty about seven African-American LGBTQ people who have made some kind of significant impact, either politically or culturally.

“I would never do anything like that.”

helenboyd — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:24:05 +0000

I made it to page 9 of this New Yorker article about Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi and stopped reading. It was so sad, so difficult to read. I did finish it later, and it’s still so fucking sad.

What a waste.

Seven + D.C.

helenboyd — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:38:01 +0000

Washington state’s Senate just passed a bill to make same sex marriage legal. It’s expected to pass all the way through to the Governor’s office, who is expected to sign it.

Washington will mean that seven states and D.C. have made it legal, folks. (Only 16 states had full suffrage for women before the Federal Government gave women the right to vote, and I don’t think there will be even that many before same sex marriage becomes legalized on the national level.)

HUD: Equal Access to Housing Rule Trans-Inclusive

helenboyd — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:00:10 +0000

Wow. Housing non-discrimination for trans people? Really? What amazing news. Via NCTE:

“I am proud to announce a new Equal Access to Housing Rule that says clearly and unequivocally that LGBT individuals and couples have the right to live where they choose [...] If you are denying HUD housing to people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, actual or perceived, you’re discriminating, you’re breaking the law, and you will be held accountable. That’s what equal access means, and that’s what this rule is going to do.”

The new rule makes several urgently needed changes to current federal housing and housing-related programs including: prohibiting owners and operators of federally-funded or federally-insured housing, as well as lenders offering federally-insured mortgages from discriminating based on gender identity or sexual orientation;and clarifying the definition of “family” to ensure that LGBT families are not excluded from HUD programs.

Read the whole article. Honestly, when i first started doing advocacy around trans issues, I didn’t expect to see these kinds of rules put in place by 2012.

Maddow Tumblr

helenboyd — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:15:38 +0000

Oh, yes.

Obscenity Trial

helenboyd — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:54:07 +0000

On this day in 1928 police seized 800 copies of Radclyffe Hall’s lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness. It would be put on trial as obscenity later in 1928 under the Obscene Publications Act of 1857; Virginia Woolf came to the trial but wasn’t allowed to provide testimony — nobody was.

Interestingly, 1928 was the same year women got the right to vote in the UK.

Coincidence?

(h/t to The Progressive’s “Hidden History” calendar, via FW)

Christmas Present: Radical Inclusion

helenboyd — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:59:47 +0000

This letter from local clergy in Appleton is pretty much the best Christmas present I didn’t even imagine getting:

Jesus not only preached about but a lived a message of radical inclusion. He saw God’s realm as including everyone — and especially those who were despised or downtrodden or oppressed.

That’s why we and many other Christians believe that our values are best expressed when all people and all families are treated with fairness and loving support.

It was written in response to a letter from Appleton Taxpayers United which appeared a few weeks ago, which I won’t honor by quoting. It’s lovely to read Christians who sound like Christians.

Paradigm Shift

helenboyd — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:53:16 +0000