Want QueersTo Disappear? Don't Talk About Them

In Russia, Saint Petersburg's decision to ban all public activity and discussion of LGBT issues--even on the Internet--was signed into law and took effect on March 12th. 

Saint Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia--and the one that won an award from the United Nations for tolerance--is not the only Russian city to have banned LGBT public activity and discussion.  Archangelsk and Kostroma have also approved such a ban, and Moscow has yet to host a legally sanctioned Pride Parade.

These local decisions conflict with the national Russian Constitution, namely Article 29: Freedom of Speech, Article 19: The Ban on Discrimination, and Article 55: The Ban on Local Governments Infringing on the Rights of Minorities.  Unfortunately, these articles serve to protect the majority, as opposed to minorities, in Russia.  Most non-Russian minorities who are not considered "white" or Orthodox Christian have no personal security in Russia, as police and government officials themselves hold prejudiced beliefs.

Russian justifications for the ban on LGBT public activity and discussion include protection of traditional morals, protection of the family structure, and protection of children from pedophiles and the gay agenda.  While homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, and removed from the list of mental illnesses in Russia in 1999, 70 per cent of Russians still believe that gays are mentally ill, and 40 per cent believe they should be isolated from mainstream society.

Before anyone criticizes the Russians for their "ignorance", remember that the religious right in the United States also would promote such a policy where "it's not OK to say 'gay'", as they have in Tennessee and Utah.  American evangelist Scott Lively, originator of Uganda's "kill the gays" bill, had conducted a speaking tour in Russia and wrote a letter to the Russian people to defend themselves from the "fast growing cancer" that would destroy "the family foundations of [Russian] society".

Can Americans learn from this, and not allow religious leaders to take up real estate in the White House, as the Russian Orthodox Patriarch has done in the Kremlin?

April is For Awareness

Don't be an April Fool.  April is a month for awareness of the following human rights-related issues:

Autism Awareness Month: The United States has recognized National Autism Awareness month since the 1970s, and the number of people diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder is skyrocketing.  It is possible that environmental factors play a role in the development of autistic spectrum disorders, and it is also possible that some children are being misdiagnosed.  The more information that we can get will help everyone.  People in Central Minnesota are doing some things in support of autism awareness this year.  On April 1st and 2nd, Saint Cloud State University will show the film "On the Spectrum", followed by a panel discussion, and the Miller Center Library and Brown Hall will be decked out in blue lights to support autism awareness.  SCSU employees and students has been asked to wear blue during those two days.  Autism Speaks has generated this national movement.  Also, contact the Autism Society of Minnesota for more information to build autism awareness.

Child Abuse Awareness Month: The US Department of Health and Human Services has declared April Child Abuse Awareness Month.  Their website says it all.    The Minnesota Department of Human Services Child Protection main page defines child abuse and neglect, and provides instructions for Minnesotans on how to report child abuse or neglect, as well as many other child welfare resources.  In Minnesota, while the number of children being placed into foster care due to abuse is decreasing, the percentage of children of color taken into custody is increasing, and cases of medical neglect and physical abuse are increasing.     In 2009, Stearns and Benton County received a Blue Ribbon award from Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota (PCAM) for their collaborative work to end child abuse and neglect.  Let's keep up our reputation for responsive, effective support for children in need. 

Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Sexual assault can happen to anyone--male or female, single or otherwise, young or old, straight or gay, able or disabled, white or of color--and anyone can be a perpetrator.  The US Military is recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month, to educate millions of enlisted men and women about inappropriate touching and unwanted sexual advances.  The United States Department of Justice has put together a website for their Office on Violence Against Women, which has published the following reports on sexual violence in the United States. Some quick facts to know about sexual assault in the United States, provided by the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN):
-- Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted.
-- Nearly 50% of sexual assault victims are under 18 years old; 80% are under 30.
-- 54% of sexual assault cases are never reported to the police; 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail.
In Central Minnesota, the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center provides 24 hour support for victims of sexual violence.  Please see their website for local community resources and events.  The St. Cloud Hospital also has an excellent page for victims of domestic violence and local resources.

STOP THE VOTER ID AMENDMENT NOW!

The Minnesota State Senate has approved photo IDs for voters 36-30.  All 36 "yes" votes were from Republicans.

The Minnesota Senate on Friday night approved a proposed constitutional requirement that all voters show a photo ID at their polling place.  Critics of the proposed amendment said that this will disenfranchise the elderly, the homeless, and certain minority groups...but remember that it is possible to get a photo ID from the state if you cannot drive. 

It is not too late to fight the Voter ID Amendment, and it is also not too early to get a photo ID.  Heck--every good American should have a passport.

Double Standards

Israel is suspending ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council, because they are being called into question.  The UN would like to establish a "Fact Finding Mission on the Influence of Settlements on Palestinians," which the Israeli government will not tolerate...and why?  Do they have something to hide?  Will the fact-finding mission sway US opinion, thus diverting funds from the Occupation? 

When Iran, Iraq, and other nations did not allow fact finding missions into their countries, war would soon follow.  Many people--Israeli and otherwise, Jewish and non-Jewish--have written tomes' worth of articles about illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories, the destruction of Palestinian farmland, and the eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem to make room for Israelis.  This has been going on for years, is not a secret, and is not a lie. 

If justice has a universal definition, then the Chosen People must also see that they are not above the Law.

When the Punishment Does Not Fit the Crime

Justice was not served, and no lessons have been learned.  Dharun Ravi was declared guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation in the Tyler Clementi case, and was made to surrender his passport, even though he is a legal resident of the United States.

It is assumed that Tyler Clementi commit suicide because Ravi, his room-mate at the time at Rutgers University, had secretly videotaped him engaged in intimate relations with another young man, posted that video on the Internet, and obsessively Twittered about Clementi's sexual activity to friends.

There are a lot of missing pieces to this story, because Tyler could not speak for himself during the trial.  Other people spoke for him.  Things would have been easier, perhaps, if Tyler had not faced such sharp rejection from his mother when he came out to her.  Things would have been easier, perhaps, if Dharun Ravi--and other incoming students at Rutgers University--received some kind of harassment training during their orientation.

While Dharun Ravi did not do right, he had no reason to know that he did wrong.  American culture, to this day, glorifies the humiliation of awkward, weaker males who could be perceived as gay.  Dharun Ravi was behaving like an all-American guy, and may be sent back to India for it.  This is because, in American culture, people of color receive harsher sentences for their actions than whites do.  If a white frat boy on the college football team spied on Clementi and outed him to the world, the university administration might suspend or expel him, but jail time?  How many true human rights abuses have been committed with impunity by white upper middle class athletes, and even celebrated?  They have yet to serve their sentences.  A poor Indian immigrant, instead, is made a scapegoat, and people call this a victory in the war against bullying.

Women in Minnesota: The Latest Report

The University of Minnesota Humphrey School's Center on Women and Public Policy, in partnership with the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, just released

Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota: Research Overview (February 2012).

This report states that, in all areas, "Minnesota women and girls continue to face disparate outcomes in comparison to men and boys in multiple measures of economics, safety, health, and leadership".  The disparities are even greater for Minnesota women of color, rural women, lesbian, bisexual, and transwomen, and women with disabilities.

If you want to find more information about the status of women in Minnesota, check out Gender Equality Explorer to create your own tables, maps, and reports to understand the status of women and girls in your community.

Minnesota Nice?

According to a recent Southern Poverty Law Center report, the number of hate groups in the United States has risen to 1,018 in 2011, up from 1,002 in 2010, continuing a trend of significant growth over a decade.  Twelve hate groups currently practice in Minnesota. 

Crusaders for Yahweh has chapters in 27 states; two are in Minnesota.  Minnesota also has a Ku Klux Klan chapter.

Here is one perspective of how the 21st century Klan defines itself.

Be on the lookout.

How the Media Twists the Truth

UN delegates walked out of an historic UN Human Rights Council debate on gay rights.  While it is true that many of the delegates who left the event were from Muslim countries, it was irresponsible of Radio Free Europe to state in their headline that they were all Arabs.  In fact, every headline about this event seemed to imply that representatives from all Muslim nations walked out of this UN Human Rights Council meeting.

Pakistani Saeed Sawar (not an Arab) spoke on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), urging that the council not take up the subject of gay rights again...but people from all 57 nations represented in OIC did not walk out of the meeting.  The UN Human Rights Council itself has 47 members, not all from Muslim nations.  Here is the complete list of countries currently represented in the UN Human Rights Council:

African States (13):
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda

Asian States (13):
Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand

Eastern European States (6):
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation

Latin American & Caribbean States (8):
Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay

Western European & Other States (7):
Austria, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United States

At this time there is no official list of nations who walked out of this meeting, but those who were noted included:
-- Mauritania
-- Nigeria

The Russian Federation was also cited for its distaste for addressing LGBT civil rights at this meeting.
At the same time, homosexuality in Russia was decriminalized in 1993.  Seventy six nations out of the 192 represented in the United Nations--nearly 40 per cent--have laws that criminalize homosexuality.

And to clear up any confusion...homosexuality and/or lesbianism is legal in 31 out of 54 African nations (nearly 60%).  

In truth, even in nations where homosexuality and/or lesbianism has been decriminalized, governments often look the other way while their LGBT populations are abused.  Before the United Nations points fingers at any of its member states, all of those so-called "enlightened" states--the United States included--should review their own treatment of LGBT individuals on their own soil, and censure any political candidates or acting government officials who demonize their own native LGBT populations, denying them equal citizenship no matter how well they served in the military, how many generations of ancestors lived on that soil, and no matter whose human rights they had upheld.

Before anyone says that "we have to accept cultural and religious differences" when it comes to discrimination against others, here is United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's powerful essay "Human rights top all other rights."  Pillay, a victim of discrimination herself as a Tamil in South Africa, comes from a culture where gays and lesbians are not normally accepted.  She also notes that the South Korean UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not grow up talking about LGBT issues, and neither have many people in the UN...but that they are learning.

Rural Women's Health The Focus of International Women's Day

While the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation focus on the health issues of rural women in the developing world, no one is paying attention to health issues of rural women in the United States.

According to the Rural Assistance Center, rural women in the United States, particularly women in persistent poverty areas (including Northern Plains states), receive delayed prenatal care, or none at all.  Infant mortality rates in rural areas of the United States also remain higher than in metropolitan areas.  The odds for infant mortality increase when rural women are more likely to bear children before their 20th birthday, or after their 40th.  The prevalence of chronic illness and depression is also higher among rural women in the United States.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has listed some recommendations to improve gynecological, prenatal, and obstetric care to rural women in the United States,

How the Presidential Candidates Swing on LGBT Civil Rights Issues

And remember...LGBT civil rights are human rights.

Obama's Indonesian Nanny

Today Yahoo! News published a story about Obama's nanny who took care of him as a young boy growing up in Indonesia...here is the headline:

AP Exclusive: Obama's transgender ex-nanny outcast

The writer of this article, it seems, almost wants to put the blame on Obama for reasons why his former nanny is living in misery.  Will people not vote for Obama, and vote for someone else, based on the current living conditions of his former nanny? Or will people read this article properly, and note that the writer depicts the average conditions of a poor transwoman in Indonesia?  Will people read this article, and wonder if it is as bad as this for American transpeople--especially the poor and uneducated? Will people read this article, and demand that Muslim countries treat their queer populations with dignity and respect?

Will Oprah Winfrey rescue poor Evie?  What about Ellen DeGeneres?  What about a transgender rights group?  How many people rescued the former slave nannies of previous presidents, and would they have done so if their stories had been made public? 

 

Women's History Month

Even though more women live on Earth than men, history books and Social Studies classes had often ignored female contributions to civilization.

In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women initiated a "Women's History Week" celebration.  It would begin on March 8th, International Women's Day.  Dozens of schools participated in Women's History Week, and over one hundred women gave presentations in classrooms across the United States.  The week included a "Real Woman" essay contest, and ended with a celebratory parade in Santa Rosa, California.

In 1979, Women's History Week organizer Molly Murphy MacGregor was invited to participate in the Women's History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.  She shared the success of Sonoma County's Women's History Week with institute participants; the Women's History Institute decided to seek national support for a National Women's History Week.

In 1980, President Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women's History Week.  In the same year, House Representative Barbara Mikulski and Senator Orrin Hatch co-sponsored a Congressional Resolution for National Women's History Week in 1981.  State departments of education in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Alaska, and other states developed and distributed curriculum materials for all of their public schools.  Organizations sponsored essay contests and other special programs in their local areas.  Within a few years, thousands of schools and communities were celebrating National Women's History Week, supported and encouraged by resolutions from governors, city councils, school boards, and the U.S. Congress.  By 1986, 14 states had already declared March as Women's History Month.  In 1987, Congress declared March forever as National Women's History Month.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights features some Minnesotan women's rights activists, as well as women's history resources.

For resources to celebrate Women's History Month, please consult the National Women's History Project website.  They also published President Carter's Presidential Message declaring the first Women's History Week:

"From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.

As Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, “Women’s History is Women’s Right.” – It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision.”

I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women’s History Week, March 2-8, 1980.

I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality - - Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy
Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul.
Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people.

This goal can be achieved by ratifying the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that “Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”