Pages

*** RESOURCES -- New Information is added often ***

Friday, October 2, 2009

Rev. David Weekley Featured on CBS News “The Early Show”


Last month GLAAD provided media assistance to Rev. David Weekley when he came out publicly as a transgender man in a sermon to his United Methodist congregation in Portland, Oregon on August 30.  Media coverage of Rev. Weekley’s courageous coming out story caught the attention of producers at CBS News “The Early Show” and GLAAD worked with Rev. Weekley and his wife, Deborah to prepare for the interview.
We applaud CBS for their coverage, while also acknowledging that parts of the interview misrepresented Rev. Weekley’s story and contained improper terminology.   The interviewer grabbed audience attention by emphasizing Weekley’s identity as a long-held “secret,” but Rev. Weekley responded that he did not see it as a secret but a personal matter.  He explained that he is telling his story as part of his ministry to support better understanding of the transgender community.   GLAAD worked with CBS producers to remove the word “admits” from their web-site headline and will continue to work with them to improve the accuracy of their future reporting on transgender issues.  For complete interview.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
GLAAD will also assist Rev. Weekley with future media appearances. He was previously featured on ABC News.com and KATU in Portland, Oregon. We will keep you informed of any new developments.

 ~~~~~

In the Life Presents: “Living On the Margins”

Throughout October, In the Life will be airing its latest installment, “Living On the Margins,” on PBS affiliates nationwide. “Living On the Margins” shines a light on the LGBT people who have remained largely invisible, even as the LGBT community has become more visible than ever.


From the press release:
This month, we look at how LGBT people living on the economic margins of our society are organizing themselves to find housing, improve their professional skills, and obtain employment and health care.
The Unseen Gays: Struggling on the Margins
At a time when nearly every corner of the country is suffering from market downturns and high unemployment rates, many in the LGBT community are especially hard hit. In our lead segment, we look at how racial, economic and gender-based discrimination result in disproportionate rates of poverty, unemployment and homelessness among the most marginalized members of our community.
A CONVERSATION WITH…
Stonewall Community Foundation Director Thai Pham, and FIERCE Executive Director Rickke Mananzala discuss the renewed commitment to philanthropy many LGBT people are making, economic activism and the synergy of their organizations.
Habitat’s First LGBT Unity Build
For many LGBT people, the recent economic crisis reinvigorated the spirit of volunteerism. At Habitat for Humanity’s first LGBT Unity Build Day, we speak with the community members who came out in support of affordable housing while raising visibility for the movement.
Check your local listings to see when “Living On the Margins” will be airing near you, or visit In the Life’s official website for download/streaming video.

Check your vote, start of GLBT month and Shambo goes to Samoa

I am going to beat the YES on Referendum 71 drum and here is how you can check your voter registration but time is limited!  Do it now!

****

Gay, Lesbian, Bi And Trans History Month Website Launches With Daily Icon Videos Featured
How about starting the month off with a website full of information and resources for national GLBT History Month featuring a updated Icon Video for every day of the month?  It's here and it's queer!

You will see the likes such as k.d. Lang, Gus Van Sant and B.D. Wong.  Many genres will be represented as we are everywhere!  You can check this out and view all videos here.

Bi And Trans History Month Website Launches With Daily Icon Videos Featured
The Website for resources and information for national GLBT History Month is a fun resource featuring an Icon Video for every day of the month. Today’s Icon Video highlights the impact of Alvin Ailey, Jr., an influential choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, and whose choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best-known and most often seen modern dance performance.

The Icon Videos will be updated daily, and will feature such noted gay, lesbian, bi and trans icons as k.d. Lang, Gus Van Sant, and B.D. Wong. Check it out.

I have listed the Videos and the dates they will be highlighted but you can view them from the site anytime:
2009 Icons Overview Video

1.Alvin Ailey Jr. 2.John Amaechi 3.Tammy Baldwin 4. John Cage 5. Ruth Ellis 6. Rainer Fassbinder
7.Michel Foucault 8. Harry Hay 9. Magnus Hirschfeld 10. Zora Neale Hurston 11. Jasper Johns
12. Cherry Jones 13. Kate Kendell 14. Alfred Kinsey 15. k.d. lang 16. Rachel Maddow 17. Deirdre McCloskey 18. Paul Monette 19. Pauli Murray 20. Joan Nestle 21. Todd Oldham 22. Suze Orman
23. Christine Quinn 24. Robert Rauschenberg 25. Jerome Robbins 26. Hilary Rosen 27. Yves St. Laurent
28. Esera Tuaolo 29. Urvashi Vaid 30. Gus Van Sant 31. B.D. Wong

Speaking of queer entertainment...

  
Birds of a feather

I admit I have not been a Survivor fan in the past but then our family does not often know one of the players.  You can have two guesses to figure out who it is and it is not me.  Our household is watching this season and will quit once Shambo as she likes to call herself for her snazzy head apparel is ousted (if she is).  Yes, I am rooting for the lesbian contestant and Seattle area Shambo motorcycle riding comrade!  She can't fish if you have been watching but she can float!  I just can't help myself and maybe you will join in too!


Thursday, October 8th or the October 1st episode online
Comcast episodes can be watched ON Demand
8:00 pm Survivor: Samoa, CBS (1 hr) NEW



Picture compliments of GLAAD's Entertainment Media Fellow

 A new burlesque show is coming out from local Seattle group Zenzi Burlesque and Rainy Night Productions October 9 - 10.  Not a typical burlesque show, this performance includes vaudeville, music, film, and dance and the show takes you through a full theater experience.
As usual with Zenzi burlesque shows, tickets are selling out fast so I suggest you buy your ticket in advance.  Tickets are $15 and you can buy your ticket HERE.


Location: Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW, Seattle
Date and Time:  October 9 9pm and October 10 7pm, 9pm
Price:  $15 (buy tickets in advance here)

Many thanks to Stacey Merrick of Seattle on the Fringe

Singing to the Choir

As I begin to post in this blog I feel a back up of things I need to say due to the amount of time the GayZette has been down.  Do I first tell you about our fabulous motorcycle trip to Sturgis, the sadness of the passing of Mudd on the last day of our vacation or the great blackberry crisp recipe I created after her memorial with big fat blackberries that I owe the hostess with the mostess that let me pick the berries and that I will make a piping hot pan full with? No, none of it feels as pressing as the issues facing our voting population with the needs for votes of YES on Referendum 71.  I know that we can get a false sense of security by having our medical directive paperwork in order or by living in a state of denial or a State where we think things are better than in other places.

I came across a story that is a good reminder why we need equality under the law everywhere we go.  In February 2007, Olympia, WA residents Janice Langbehn and her partner of 18 years Lisa Pond and three of their adopted children set out on a family vacation via Florida. They were boarding a R Family Vacation cruise (Rosie & Kelli O'Donnell gig) for gay families when Lisa became suddenly ill and was rushed to the nearest hospital.  Janice and the children arrived to the hospital just before Lisa and once at the hospital the problems began.  Janice was not allowed in the trauma area and was in fact told by a social worker that she had to produce a “Health Care Proxy” in order to prove her status as they were in an "anti-gay state".
Janice called a friend to have the paperwork faxed and sat down for the grueling wait-- watching as other family members were allowed to visit their loved ones.  This must have been a sting as Janice worked as a social worker herself for years.   

Within 20 minutes I had contacted close friends in Olympia, WA who raced to our house, found all our legal documents including our Durable Power of Attorney, Living Wills and Advance Directives and fax[ed] them to the hospital.
Janice realized she was being kept from her partner, the woman with whom she had fostered 22 children together with and adopted 4.  It was obvious she was being denied access to her just because they were gay!  She was kept hours without information until finally a surgeon appeared with the worst news possible.  Lisa had suffered a brain aneurysm and had massive bleeding as a result.  They needed consent to place a pressure monitor in her brain.  This information shed light on the fact that the hospital had indeed received the paperwork indicating she was a legal decision maker but had still left her in the waiting room.  A short while later she was told Lisa would not survive and if she did, it would be in a persistent vegetative state.   
With the priest, I recited the ritual of the Last Rites and prayed for Lisa and held her hand for the first time since she arrived at Ryder Trauma Center.  Following my few minutes with Lisa, the priest ushered me out to the waiting room again.  After finally seeing Lisa, I knew our children and I needed to be with her and I asked over and over if we could go back again and was repeatedly told by hospital staff, “No”. In those five hours, Lisa lay at Ryder Trauma Center moving toward brain death and yet no one was there to hold her hand and talk to her and tell her how much she was loved.  Jackson Memorial Hospital, in their inability or unwillingness to recognize us as a family with legally adopted children, forced Lisa to be alone in her last moments of life. I used every tactic I could think of to be with her, to bring our children to her yet five hours after they stopped life-saving measures we still sat in that small waiting room.  I showed hospital staff our children’s birth certificates with Lisa’s name on them and was told they were “too young to visit”.  I thought to myself “how old do you need to be to say goodbye to your mother”?  In those hours of waiting and trying to calm our children, explaining to them that their “other” mom was dying and would go to Heaven, I felt like a failure. It wasn’t until Lisa was officially declared brain dead on Monday February 19, 2007 at 10:45am and individuals from the Organ Donation Agency became involved did I finally feel validated as a spouse and partner.  They talked directly with me and allowed me to choose which organs would be donated and allowed me to sign all the consent forms.
It makes me sick to think that the only control one would have is over the organs of their loved one!  Unfortunately, this story does NOT get better.  Janet filed a lawsuit with the help of Lambda Legal against the hospital and on 9/30/09, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida threw out the lawsuit saying the hospital had no obligation to allow visitors into their trauma center.  They added “we have always believed and known that the staff at Jackson treats everyone equally.”  With that kind of equal I will stay the hell out of Florida!  But wait a minute...we live in Seattle, right?

Then we have to remember Kate Fleming, who was trapped in her Seattle basement while her wife Charlene Strong tried to free her without success as the basement filled with water during a Seattle storm in late 2006. 

A fireman jumped into the black water below to retrieve a comatose Fleming.  Frantic efforts produced a pulse. An ambulance raced Fleming to the hospital, with Strong close behind. At the door of the hospital emergency room, a social worker informed her that only family members were allowed inside. When Strong protested that she was Fleming's partner, the social worker said that under Washington state law, same-sex partners did not qualify as family. Only an urgent call to Fleming's sister in Virginia cleared the way to get Strong through the doors. Ninety minutes later, Fleming died, with Strong at her side.

Charlene Strong became a powerful voice for the equal rights of same-sex couples and their families but I bet she wishes for just one more day with Kate.  We have as a result the passage of Washington State's historic Domestic Partnership legislation but we need more...Bottom line…vote YES on Referendum 71.

I have rally information to post as October 10th and 11th is the Seattle LGBT Equality Weekend. 

I wish us all well.

Ms T

Background information and quotes found on
http://thelpkids.com/national-media-awards/ and other live links embedded throughout blog article.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Seattle Announcements, a NewsCalendar for the Real HouseDykes of the Emerald City: Frequently Asked Questions

Seattle Announcements, a NewsCalendar for the Real HouseDykes of the Emerald City: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ’s


Q:  What is a Real HouseDyke?

A:  It is my sense of humor in action and I am totally poking fun at the recent wave of reality TV shows capitalizing on drama! The name originally was coined when my beloved was teasing me when I was putting this blog together and asked me if I was still working on the blog for the 'Real HouseDykes'?  I thought it was funny and it stuck like gum to my Stiletto. Certainly our community as a whole has a vast and wonderful history of being dramatic with our own special brand of 'dykedrama'.

I also would like to find a HouseDyke…and may take applications for the position once the description is written. Who knows...maybe I will run a contest for best written description of a HouseDyke and give away a mullet haircut, flannel shirt or something equally of utmost value to a proper HouseDyke.

Q:  Why don't you specifically mention "lesbians" first in your description of who this list is for?  Isn't this just a lesbian list being called something else?

A:  First, no this isn't just a list for lesbians but rather is for members of a rich community with a variety of gender fluidity and orientations. I will answer the underlying question more directly.  Lesbians as well (as others) are very welcome if they don't mind sharing space with folks that may identify in other ways. I am happy to recommend resources in our community that tend to draw a more conservative lesbian crowd if one is looking for things to do that are for and with strictly lesbians (women loving women in women only space) if that is more your comfort zone.  We will not take offense as our goal is the comfort of our members.

I feel my calling is to create space for people that are represented in my life that I love where they could feel included and safe as a result of being accepted.  Seattle Announcements is for folks who self identify on the gender and orientation spectrum in various ways including but not limited by my language descriptors to trans, intersex, genderqueer, two spirit, masculine identified, gender f*#$ers, futches, gay, queer, homoflexible, transman, transwoman, boi and queer ally for those who like me are active in supporting and promoting trans-issues and inclusion.  As with many queer allies it is deeply personal and we can affect change due to our passion and position.  I am not anti-lesbian, in fact I have dated many over the years that could pass for lesbian (said tongue in cheek).  Please do not misunderstand...those that identify as lesbians are welcome, but this cannot be mistaken as womens' only space as that would be inaccurate.

We also have members who do not fit neatly in the X box of 'lesbian'.  They often faced the expectation that they should be happy with the 'L' label but instead were quite uncomfortable with someone else defining their sexuality or feelings for them and then telling them to be happy with it.  At Seattle Announcements you don't have to be anything but what you are.  Some of us may also have an additional identifier that place us in a subcategory within the community.

Our members may identify in a number of different ways in our queer community (butch, futch, femme, high femme, andro, transensual, bi-sexual, trannyfag, femmedyke, the list goes on.,) and have a broad range of interests (activists, leather, kink, poly, mainstream, sci fiction, crafts, etc.,) that further place them into a subculture within the community.  Certainly some of the differentiations are only known to the members of the groups but are still be deeply important.  Belonging to a subculture within a subculture can sometimes be a bit confusing or misunderstood.  Through connection with each other we gain understanding of the basic human condition and realize on a deeper level that a book cannot be read by the cover.

You are welcome here regardless of how you identify and will find kindred spirits as you attend events.  If you are not on the queer spectrum I bet you are a very cool open-minded non-judgmental kind of creature that believes that life is best lived with many types of ice cream flavors to choose from and might even enjoy trying different flavors.

In closing, it doesn't matter to me how YOU identify, just that you allow others the space to be where they need to be.  I am very open-minded and my life has been enriched by being so.  I hope that this blog provides a space for you to walk the path you need to with the only rocky road ahead being ice cream. 

I have a special place in my heart for each one of you,

Ms T

Label Cloud