Men of Style shopping night Nov. 29 to benefit GLCC

From the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida (click the picture for more info):

Michigan governor guards transgender rights

Associated Press

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has issued an order that bars discrimination against state workers based on their "gender identity or expression," which protects the rights of those who behave, dress or identify as members of the opposite sex.

The order, which Granholm signed Wednesday, adds gender identity to a list of other prohibited grounds for discrimination that includes religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, marital status, politics, disability or genetic information.

"State employment practices and procedures that encourage nondiscriminatory and equal employment practices provide desirable models for the private sector and local governments," says the resolution.

The Triangle Foundation, a Michigan-based group advocating rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, praised Granholm's action.

"Coming out as transgender is a career-ender. Transgendered people lose their jobs all the time," foundation policy director Sean Kosofsky told the Detroit Free Press.

James Muffet, president of Citizens for Traditional Values, expressed doubt about the seriousness of sexual identity discrimination in state government. He said Granholm more likely was making a political gesture toward gay rights groups that backed her 2006 re-election bid.

Brian Williams Horrified He Offended Gays In Queen Elizabeth Story

By Tim Graham, newsbusters.org

On his blog The Daily Nightly [1], NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was horrified that someone would think he sounded like a member of the religious right – you know, the ones Brian describes as stridently "anti-gay, pro-Jesus, and anti-abortion and no gray matter in between." [2] He had used the phrase "marriage is under attack," which outraged gay-left bloggers:

I was the recipient today of several emails from well-intentioned people, telling me I was being attacked in parts of the blogosphere for something I wrote and said on the air in last night's broadcast. It was a closing piece about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip celebrating their 60th anniversary. I noted this accomplishment, especially in this era when, as I put it, marriage seems "under attack" as an institution. My meaning? Our national divorce rate, which is currently somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. Others took it upon themselves to decide that I was somehow attacking gay marriage. The simple fact is that nothing could have been further from my mind, as many others easily understood. In fact, one comment shared with me today came from a respected member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, who said, "It seemed to me he was talking about the sky-high heterosexual divorce rates. Marriage IS under attack -- by straight people. It had nothing to do with the gay marriage movement."

Gays even objected when Williams tried to get out of the controversy by switching to his habitual attendance of Springsteen concerts with his wife and he joked about the underlying "tacit defense of marriage."

Apparently, the NLGJA member Brian Williams was quoting was Steve Friess of the Strip Podcast blog [3], who was flattered:

Some gay bloggers and fellow members of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association pointed to it as a reference to the same-sex marriage movement. It's not that farfetched because "under attack" is a phrase used routinely by anti-gay activists.

But in this context, it seemed to me like something else. So I wrote on the NLGJA list-serv: "It seemed to me he was talking about the sky-high heterosexual divorce rates. Marriage IS under attack -- by straight people. This was a story about a surprisingly durable straight relationship. It had nothing to do with the gay marriage movement."

And Brian Williams responded tonight on his blog. And he quoted... ummm... me!

Hmm, Brian somehow left out the part about "a surprisingly durable straight relationship." The Williams kerfuffle also spurred commentary from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Debate (well, they say Defamation). GLAAD president Neil Giuliano wrote a public letter [4] to the NBC anchor appreciating his explanatory blog, but a lecture was still necessary:

However, the primary issue is whether a phrase that has been used predominantly in an ugly anti-gay context can be used in another, tangentially related context (here, marriage in a general sense) without invoking the stereotypes that imbrue [sic] its common usage.

The phrase "marriage under attack" -- like "defense of marriage," which you use elsewhere in your blog entry -- is a meme designed and used by far-right anti-gay activists to scare people into opposing legal protections for gay couples. Media professionals who talk about marriage-related issues in their reporting should simply and factually discuss them, rather than uncritically repeating rhetoric calculated to make people feel threatened by and afraid of loving, committed couples.

GLAAD's work is rooted in the fundamental understanding that words and images matter. We expect that future NBC News reporting on marriage -- both generally and for gay couples specifically -- avoids these kinds of linguistic pitfalls.

Claiming to be the first to object and post video, Good As You [5] blogged that Brian Williams sounded like the 700 Club:

Really, Brian?! Because we're pretty sure that sort of terminology is less the stuff of balanced journalism and more that of far-right, social conservative code-wording. And even if the gays are not the specific destructive force to which Williams or his writer are referring in this intro, the hyperbolic idea that this institution is being "attacked" is one that is most often associated with anti-gay marriage campaigns. So at best, this was bad news writing; at worst, it's a prominent journalist and news outlet taking some irresponsible rhetorical bait. Either way, we're less than thrilled.

We're hoping Brian will choose to acknowledge this verbal slip-up and nip this is in the bud. We can handle getting in fights with the scrappy Couric or the more buttoned up Gibson. But it breaks our heart to be mad at our little B.W.

Links:
[1] http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/20/475843.aspx
[2] http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2002/fax20020529.asp
[3] http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2007/11/brian-williams-loves-me-tho.html
[4] http://www.glaad.org/media/stw_detail.php?id=4116
[5] http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/11/video-is-this-n.html

Compass Displays Largest Section of AIDS Memorial Quilt in Florida

News release from Compass, the gay & lesbian community center of Palm Beach:

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – In recognition of World AIDS Day, the NAMES Project, Compass and Planned Parenthood of Greater Miami, Palm Beach & Treasure Coast have joined together to display the largest collection of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Florida at Compass’ main facility on December 1.  The Quilt, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, is the largest piece of community folk art in the world, a 54-ton collage affixed with the names of 91,000 victims of AIDS.

Compass will host a candlelight vigil with a Quilt induction ceremony at sunset and have the 160 panels, which are sewn in 20 separate sections, on display throughout the center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Each 12 by 12 foot section is composed of eight panels that resemble the size of a coffin.

“Each year, Compass works closer with national and local initiatives to provide our county with resources needed to educate our residents about HIV and how to live a stronger and healthier life,” said Scott Fox, Compass’ interim executive director. “The AIDS Memorial Quilt is one of the earliest and strongest tools in raising awareness of the epidemic and has been effective in helping cope with the loss of loved ones.”

Compass will conduct free oral HIV testing from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and showing the movie “Fight Back Fight AIDS” 15 Years of ACT UP” throughout the day.

­ “Palm Beach County ranks in the nation’s top 10 counties for people living with HIV/AIDS,” said Eric Miller, southeast regional director of the NAMES Project. “By joining together locally to promote awareness about AIDS, we can make a global impact in the effort to end AIDS.”

The Quilt was recently recognized by the Smithsonian as one of the United States’ national treasurers.

Compass was founded as The Stop AIDS Project in 1988 and has provided HIV prevention since. Compass is located at 7600 S. Dixie Hwy. in West Palm Beach. For more information, call (561) 533-9699.

Nearly 33.2 million people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS. The CDC has estimated that approximately 40,000 persons in the U.S. become infected with HIV each year with 24 to 27 percent undiagnosed and unaware of their HIV infection.

Palm Beach County votes to ban discrimination over gender identity, expression

By JENNIFER SORENTRUE, Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH - Following in the footsteps of two other Palm Beach County cities, county commissioners on Tuesday voted to make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and expression.

The commission voted 5-1, with Commissioner Addie Greene dissenting, to make gender identity a "protected class" under the county's equal employment ordinance. County Commissioner Burt Aaronson did not attend the meeting. The ordinance applies to public and private employers with 15 or more employees.

"This really will give a huge boost to the statewide effort to finally get rid of that last legal form of discrimination," said Rand Hoch, founder and president of the local Human Rights Council.

Palm Beach County joins West Palm Beach and Lake Worth, which approved similar rules after the February firing of Largo City Manager Steve Stanton, who had announced his plans for a sex change operation.

Tequesta has approved a similar rule that applies only to village employees, Hoch said.

During Tuesday's county commission meeting, Commissioner Mary McCarty referred to the change as the "lipstick and high heels" rule.

Greene said she supports the effort to prevent discrimination, but didn't see a need to specifically protect the class in a county ordinance.

"If I want to go and become a man, that's your personal business," she said.

Commissioners also voted to change the county's fair housing ordinance to prohibit discrimination for housing and other public accommodations based on gender identity. Greene voted in favor.

Final public hearings on the issues will be held Dec. 18.

USA Today: HRC raises red flag on Wal-Mart policies

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, is giving Wal-Mart (WMT) a red "do not buy" rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Citing Wal-Mart's refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA's biggest private employer has "more work to do in furthering equality." It advised gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere.

Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC's 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack (RSH) and AutoZone (AZO).

Wal-Mart rival Target rated a "green" 80, meaning that "consumers should make every effort to support these businesses."

Wal-Mart has bucked a corporate trend of expanding benefits for gay employees, says Daryl Herrschaft, director of HRC's workplace project. He says two Fortune 500 companies offered domestic partner benefits, comparable to spouse benefits, in 1990. Today, 269 do.

"We're proud of our diversity initiatives and we think we are taking the right steps," Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar says.

HRC's low rating comes as Wal-Mart has been enjoying positive publicity about its move this fall to offer better health coverage to more of its 1.4 million U.S. workers.

The company had been pummeled by unions and some state legislators who said it was offering unaffordable health insurance plans.

Herrschaft says Wal-Mart had been moving toward more gay-friendly practices. In 2003, the company added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy.

In December 2005, HRC executives were invited to the first of two meetings at the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. On the agenda: the intricacies of implementing domestic partner benefits.

Conservative groups angered by Wal-Mart contributions to gay organizations threatened a boycott, and in June, the company announced a policy to avoid "highly controversial issues." Talks on gay benefits ended, Herrschaft says.

Wal-Mart is "moving in reverse on equal treatment of their employees and their gay and lesbian consumers," Herrschaft says.

Tovar, the Wal-Mart spokesman, says he will not "speculate" on whether the rating would hurt holiday sales.

Last year's guide was downloaded from the group's website (www.hrc.org/buyersguide) more than 250,000 times.

Comment NOT about gay marriage, Brian Williams says. "Nothing could have been further from my mind."

Brian Williams response on his NBC blog regarding criticism for "marriage is under attack" comment:

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I was the recipient today of several emails from well-intentioned people, telling me I was being attacked in parts of the blogosphere for something I wrote and said on the air in last night's broadcast. It was a closing piece about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip celebrating their 60th anniversary. I noted this accomplishment, especially in this era when, as I put it, marriage seems "under attack" as an institution. My meaning?  Our national divorce rate, which is currently somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. Others took it upon themselves to decide that I was somehow attacking gay marriage. The simple fact is that nothing could have been  further from my mind, as many others easily understood. In fact, one comment shared with me today came from a respected member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, who said, "It seemed to me he was talking about the sky-high heterosexual divorce rates. Marriage IS under attack -- by straight people. It had nothing to do with the gay marriage movement."

The upside of the web today?  The emails I've received from my fellow loyal Springsteen fans. Yes, I'm proud to say that my wife and I (tacit, embedded defense of marriage!) have been to three concerts so far on this tour: Meadowlands, Madison Square Garden and Boston. It just gets better every time.

NBC's Brian Williams: "Marriage is under attack"

From the website Good As You.org:

Video: Is this NBC News or 'The 700 Club'?!

We like Brian Williams. We really, really do. From his usual duties at the anchor desk to his recent brilliant turn guest hosting "SNL," we've always found the newsman affable and able. Thus the reason why this clip really bothers us:

WHAAAA THE HUH??? "In an era where marriage is under attack"?! Really, Brian?! Because we're pretty sure that sort of terminology is less the stuff of balanced journalism and more that of far-right, social conservative code-wording. And even if the gays are not the specific destructive force to which Williams or his writer are referring in this intro, the hyperbolic idea that this institution is being "attacked" is one that is most often associated with anti-gay marriage campaigns. So at best, this was bad news writing; at worst, it's a prominent journalist and news outlet taking some irresponsible rhetorical bait. Either way, we're less than thrilled.

We're hoping Brian will choose to acknowledge this verbal slip-up and nip this is in the bud. We can handle getting in fights with the scrappy Couric or the more buttoned up Gibson. But it breaks our heart to be mad at our little B.W.

YouthAIDS 2007 Kick Me Campaign Launch to raise HIV/AIDS Awareness

News release:

Look out for the Kick Me sign. It’s back on the backs of college students around the nation. YouthAIDS, an action-based initiative implemented by Population Services International (PSI), today announced the launch of the 2007 ‘Kick Me’ campaign. The ‘Kick Me’ program takes the childish prank and turns it into a powerful tool to communicate facts, start dialogue and change behavior among HIV/AIDS’ most at risk group.

This national, grassroots, student-led campaign to increase awareness of HIV / AIDS among youth in the U.S., aims to reduce infection-related stigma and opening a constructive dialogue among young people.  The “Kick Me” campaign is based on the old prank of someone sticking a Kick Me sign on another’s back without their knowledge – just like 90% of those infected HIV/AIDS may not know they are carrying HIV.

“With the help of celebrities like Kat DeLuna and Omarion and partners like Levi’s and BET’s Rap It-Up campaign, we’re turning a practical joke into a practical lesson. We are calling on young people across the country to do something radical and simple to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS,” said YouthAIDS Founder & Director Kate Roberts.

Kick Me! features Samuel L. Jackson, Omarion, Kat DeLuna, Mekhi Pfifer, Elisha Cuthbert, Maria Menounos, Shannon Elizabeth, comedian Russell Peters, Kelly Rowland, Ben Jelen, DJ Rekha, State Radio, Shotgun Honeymoon, Emmy Rossum, and more in PSAs, school visits, and/or special events across the country.

Beginning today, students will register at www.youthaids.org and ask friends and family to sponsor them beginning World AIDS Day, December 1st, through December 20th when they will wear signs on their backs communicating facts about HIV / AIDS, promoting HIV testing, and encouraging people to support YouthAIDS programs.  Funds raised by “Kick Me” will support YouthAIDS programs in nations throughout the world, like voluntary counseling and testing services in Rwanda, food provision in Botswana and abstinence awareness campaigns in Zambia.

Many Kick Me! Campaign school visits and special events will occur across the country during the month of November leading up to World AIDS Day, December 1st, including a dance party hosted by the legendary DJ  Rekha at her popular Basement Bhangra party at SOB's nightclub in New York City on November 21st. Besides highlighting the Kick Me! Campaign, the event will also focus on the efforts of YouthAIDS to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention messages in India.

Launched in 2006, with the help of our Youth Ambassadors Ludacris and Emmy Rossum, we called on young people across the country to do something radical and simple to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. Emmy and Ludacris spoke with many students at colleges around the country about the campaign and HIV prevention.

More than 1,000 people participated in the 2006 Kick Me! campaign. 800,000 people saw the signs and were impacted by the message. The campaign raised more than $100,000.

In addition, a number of national and global youth groups will work to raise awareness about ‘Kick Me’ including Sigma Phi Epsilon National, Americans for Informed Democracy, Campaign to End AIDS, University Coalitions for Global Health, and many social networking organizations including myspace.com, facebook.com and ThinkMTV.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1.       Visit www.youthaids.org and register today.

2.       Download your Kick Me kit (complete with signs, talking points, statistics, cool ideas, PR templates, and tips on fundraising) and get started. Pick from one of several messages, grab your sponsor form and hit the road. For every hour you wear or post the sign, ask friends and family to sponsor you with a financial pledge or simply ask for a flat donation.

3.       Wear the sign anytime from today through December 20th. Talk about HIV. Collect your pledges. Send in funds raised to YouthAIDS by December 20th to collect great rewards.

ABOUT YOUTHAIDS

YouthAIDS, an education and prevention initiative of PSI, uses media, pop culture, music, theatre and sport to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and reach 600 million young people in more than 60 countries with life-saving messages, products, services and care. For more information, please visit: www.youthaids.org.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance

News release:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is today commemorating the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the day when the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community remembers people lost to anti-transgender violence over the past year. The Task Force Web site banner is black today and features the phrase "We Remember," in memory of the 11 known deaths of transgender people in 2007.

This year marks the ninth year that the Transgender Day of Remembrance has been commemorated. A list of transgender people lost to violence can be found here. Events marking the day are being held in many cities across the United States, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, Wash.

Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"Anti-transgender hate violence remains disturbingly pervasive in our society. While we must continue to fight for hate crime laws that punish perpetrators of these crimes, and employment nondiscrimination laws that rightfully allow transgender people to keep their jobs and stay off the streets where they are more vulnerable to attacks, we must also continue to help every American understand who transgender people are and how anti-transgender bias leads to discrimination and violence. Until no more of our transgender friends and family are lost to senseless hate violence, we must not rest."

Visit the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Web site here.