Gender & Sexuality
Stop Bullying! Pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act
Mon, 06/29/2009 - 06:56 — Dave CulverCongress has been distressingly slow in making good on promises to push for equal and fair treatment of LGBT people. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would send a powerful message that Congress is serious about making schools safe for all students. Tell Congress to put an end to the silent suffering and to stop student bullying. Please, sign GLSEN's petition to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act today.
Eliza Byard, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)
Just this spring, in the span of two weeks, two 11-year-old middle school students - Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover of Springfield, MA and Jaheem Herrera of DeKalb County, GA - hanged themselves after enduring non-stop bullying at school, including relentless anti-gay taunts.
That's why I'm writing to you today with an urgent message from GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network). GLSEN is the leading organization working to make schools safe for all students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
The heartbreaking stories of Carl and Jaheem are a chilling reminder to all of us that we need to stand up and take action to prevent the perpetuation of soul crushing anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) behavior that is claiming young lives.
Today, you can do just that in a simple, but powerful way. Sign GLSEN's petition to Congress demanding passage of the Safe Schools Improvement Act.
Tell Congress: Stop Bullying! Pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262) Now.
Mike Keefe
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 14:16 — Dave CulverSubmitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell
Right-Wing Extremists Threaten Women's Rights All Over the World
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 14:11 — Dave Culver
Around the world, antiabortion organizations use their political influence and dangerous rhetoric to punish and endanger women.
Gillian Kane, AlterNet
In the weeks following the assassination of Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, it was perhaps too much to hope that antiabortion organizations and activists would reflect on, and even temper, their movement’s rhetoric. Instead, the halfhearted denunciations of violence issued by groups like the National Right to Life Committee and Operation Rescue were all too quickly followed by a return to offensive characterizations not only of abortion, but of abortion providers.
While the most harmful expressions of antiabortion violence are playing out here in the United States, the vigorous export of the rhetoric, tactics and ideology of the movement is creating a similar hostile environment for abortion providers and for women seeking abortions in other countries. Legal attacks and harassment against clinics, women and providers in countries where women risk their lives to end a pregnancy are increasing, largely tolerated by governments who are reluctant to confront powerful religious leaders.
Related:
The Virginity Movement, Rebranded, Jessica Valenti, The Nation
Progressives have to fight to ensure that abstinence groups don't regain their cultural footing.
To hell with opting out
Thu, 06/18/2009 - 10:07 — Dave CulverThe recession is an opportune moment to refocus the narrative about women and work on the majority of women who work -- those who don't have multiple degrees or high-powered careers -- housecleaners, caregivers, night-shift workers. The women who are stuck in occupations that are primarily female — without union representation or competitive pay. The women who never had a 401(k) in the first place.
If there’s an upside to living in a time when people are feeling more broke than usual, it’s that writers on family life are becoming far more curious about people who sat out the boom years — if that’s what they were — feeling pretty broke all along. Last week, we pointed out that even Lisa Belkin of the New York Times had declared an end to the era of overparenting. Taking a cue from the title of Belkin’s most famous article, a series in the American Prospect this week (June 14-20) titled “When Opting Out Isn’t an Option” takes a long overdue look at the women who make up the vast majority of women who work.
“For too long,” writes Heather Boushey in her introduction to the series, “the narrative about working women has centered on professionals with children.” These women, she points out, make up only about 10 percent of women aged 25 to 44. And yet throughout the past decade, the other 90 percent of female workers were largely absent from what we talked about when we talked about women who work. It may be, Boushey concedes, that it was much “sexier” to trump up a false war between those who “chose” to stay at home and those who “chose” to work because at least it gave us something to argue about. “After all,” she writes, “most women must balance work with caregiving. They don’t have the option of opting out. Where’s the debate in that?”
How the FBI Could Have Prevented Dr. Tiller's Death
Thu, 06/18/2009 - 09:54 — Dave Culver
His alleged killer was seen vandalizing the clinic both the week before and the day before the murder but officials failed to enforce existing laws.
Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate, in AlterNet
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell
George Tiller did not have to die. He was assassinated while in church in Wichita, Kan., on Sunday, targeted for legally performing abortions. His death might have been prevented simply through enforcement of existing laws. His alleged killer was seen vandalizing a Kansas City clinic, Aid for Women, both the week before and the day before the murder, putting glue into its door locks. The manager of that clinic, who calls himself "Jeff Pederson" to protect his identity, told me he called the FBI and local police both times, but the vandal, the alleged killer Scott Roeder, was not arrested. Pederson had Roeder's first name and his license-plate number. He had images of him on the security video. He recognized him from previous protests.
Pederson said: "The clinic was closed on Memorial Day weekend. A worker tried to get in on Memorial Day but couldn't. The locks were Super-Glued. I went to the videotape and I saw the same guy on the videotape who had done it in 2000." Pederson called his contact at the FBI, agent Mark Colburn. "He [Colburn] said the videotape wouldn't be clear enough, and since I had touched the locks, I had ruined it with my DNA. So I bought new color video cameras."
Related:
