OUT IN THE SILENCE: "A Moving, Entertaining Commentary On America's Culture War"

In this review of OUT IN THE SILENCE, a documentary film about the struggle for LGBT visibility and rights in Venango County, the essence of Diane Gramley, Venango County's resident right-wing extremist, is perfectly captured in just a few sentences.

by Kilian Melloy for EDGEBoston/Miami:

In OUT IN THE SILENCE, filmmakers--and spouses--Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer return to Joe’s home town of Oil City, Pennsylvania, after a wedding announcement in the local newspaper infuriates the town’s residents--but also inspires Kathy Springer, a single mother whose gay son has suffered anti-gay harassment at school, to write the couple a letter.

The boy is CJ Bills, an openly gay 16-year-old who was regarded as an athlete and accepted as one of the town’s own, until the moment he stood up on behalf of a classmate who was being bullied because he was perceived to be gay. In defending the bully’s victim, CJ outed himself--and from that day forward, his life at school became an unending series of torments. When CJ finally sought help from the school’s administration, he found himself blamed for the harassment he suffered. Worse, he was placed under arrest.

Joe and Dean, intrigued by CJ’s story, visit Oil City on a number of occasions over the next several years, documenting CJ’s story as he and his mother take the school to court. But the focus quickly widens to include Oil City as a whole: a local anti-gay activist, Diane Gramley, heads up the town chapter of the American Family Association, a group that--despite its name--makes a mission out of attacking gay and lesbian people and their families. Even as CJ’s case heads to court and his mother stands up for him in town hall meetings, Gramley is busy sending out "action alerts" and marching in the streets to denounce gays and warn that "They’re Coming to Your Town!"--the title of an AFA video that, without any sense of irony, seems to miss the point that Kathy and CJ are attempting to make: "they" aren’t coming to town... "they" are already here, and always have been.

As a study in the way in which a community is strained by the artificial emphasis placed on natural human differences, OUT IN THE SILENCE is a moving, enlightening commentary on America’s culture war. (The film’s most priceless moment may be when one of Gramley’s followers whispers to her that Joe, and gays in general, are "brainwashed.") As a look at the life of a tough, brave--but hurt--kid, the film is a touching personal document: Joe hands CJ a camera and invites him to film himself just being himself, and the resulting footage has more in common with MTV’s "Jackass" than with the Folsom Street Fair (which Gramley, at one point, seems to be referencing as she warns about the perils of gays descending on Oil City with their "agenda").


Gramley is a fascinating counterpoint to Kathy and CJ. She uses the language of compassion, but her actions speak much more loudly--one of her "action alerts" urges local businesses and residents to boycott the efforts of a lesbian couple working to revitalize downtown. Gramley’s view seems to be that unless gays are routed out and their rights stripped away, straights will be forced to conform to some sort of gay "lifestyle," and indeed the film includes footage of a local pastor echoing that general sentiment as he preaches against a hate crimes protection law, telling a crowd of followers that religious people will lose their freedom of worship is gays gain such protections.

But middle ground does exist; Joe discovers it when he forges a friendship with a local evangelical pastor and his wife. Neither "converts" the other, but both have their eyes opened to the discovery that they have more to talk about--and agree on--than they would have imagined.

Anti-Bullying Legislation

Franklin School District, ARE YOU LISTENING?

from The Advocate:

Minnesota senator Al Franken said Monday that he will introduce an anti-bullying bill addressing LGBT youth.

The Democratic senator recently criticized current anti-bullying laws during a senate education, labor, and pensions committee hearing on Thursday,The Minnesota Independent reports.

“There’s something very specific that has been on my mind… LGBT youth being bullied,” Franken told a panel of education experts in the hearing. “Right now we have laws that prohibit bullying based on pretty much everything, but not on gender identity and gay and lesbian kids. And the evidence is that gay kids are bullied a lot and that their achievement goes down. There’s a lot of absenteeism and even suicide.”

You Belong: An ACLU Town Hall Forum on LGBT Rights

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the ACLU-PA is excited to announce its town hall forum on LGBT rights during Pittsburgh Pride week June 4-13, 2010.

“You Belong: At School, in the Workplace, as a Family, and in Politics – Issues and Answers on Law, Marriage, Money and Family Matters”

The forum seeks to offer issues and answers on law, marriage, money and family matters.

The forum will also feature “the Experts’ Corners” – individual and small group conversations with local legal and policy experts on non-discrimination protections at school and in the workplace, civil partnerships, legal rights and tax issues. You definitely won't want to miss this informative, dynamic event!

When: Monday, June 7, 2010, 6:30 p.m.

Where: University Center Connan Room, Carnegie Mellon University (in the 5000 block of Forbes Ave.), Pittsburgh

For more information or to get involved, contact Erin Gill, ACLU-PA Community Organizer at: egill@aclupa.org or call 412-681-7736.

http://www.aclupa.org/events/townhallforumonlgbtrights.htm

Freedom Riders

Judge Rules Day of Prayer Unconstitutional

Ruling States Day Amounts to Call for Religious Action; Group Alleges Violates Separate of Church and State

from the Associated Press: A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action.


U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.

"In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to pray," Crabb wrote.



Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison-based group of atheists and agnostics, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2008 arguing the day violated the separation of church and state.

President Barack Obama's administration has countered that the statute simply acknowledges the role of religion in the United States. Obama issued a proclamation last year but did not hold public events with religious leaders as former President George W. Bush had done.

Crabb wrote that her ruling shouldn't be considered a bar to any prayer days until all appeals are exhausted. U.S. Justice Department attorneys who represented the federal government in the case were reviewing the ruling Thursday afternoon, agency spokesman Charles Miller said. He declined further comment.

Obama spokesman Matt Lehrich said in an e-mail to The Associated Press the president still plans to issue a proclamation for the next prayer day.

"As he did last year, President Obama intends to recognize a National Day of Prayer," Lehrich said.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which represented 31 members of Congress who joined the federal government as defendants, called Crabb's ruling flawed and promised to appeal.

"It is unfortunate that this court failed to understand that a day set aside for prayer for the country represents a time-honored tradition that embraces the First Amendment, not violates it," ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow said in a statement.

The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers, issued a statement saying Crabb's ruling undermines American tradition dating back to the nation's birth.

Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Richard Bolton didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Crabb wrote that her ruling was not a judgment on the value of prayer. She noted government involvement in prayer may be constitutional if the conduct serves a "significant secular purpose" and doesn't amount to a call for religious action. But the National Day of Prayer crosses that line, she wrote.

"It goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context," she wrote. "In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."

Even After Death, Abuse Against Gays Continues

A Glimpse Of The World That The American Family Association Of Pennsylvania, AFR Radio Station WAWN, And Other Anti-LGBT Groups Are Helping To Create Right Here In The USA

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI for The Associated Press:

THIES, Senegal -- Even death cannot stop the violence against gays in this corner of the world any more.

Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.


The scene of May 2, 2009 was filmed on a cell phone and the video sold at the market. It passed from phone to phone, sowing panic among gay men who say they now feel like hunted animals.

"I locked myself inside my room and didn't come out for days," says a 31-year-old gay friend of Diallo's who is ill with HIV. "I'm afraid of what will happen to me after I die. Will my parents be able to bury me?"

A wave of intense homophobia is washing across Africa, where homosexuality is already illegal in at least 37 countries.

In the last year alone, gay men have been arrested in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In Uganda, lawmakers are considering a bill that would sentence homosexuals to life in prison and include capital punishment for 'repeat offenders.' And in South Africa, the only country that recognizes gay rights, gangs have carried out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians.

"Across many parts of Africa, we've seen a rise in homophobic violence," says London-based gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell, whose organization tracks abuse against gays and lesbians in Africa. "It's been steadily building for the last 10 years but has got markedly worse in the last year."

To the long list of abuse meted out to suspected homosexuals in Africa, Senegal has added a new form of degradation - the desecration of their bodies.

In the past two years, at least four men suspected of being gay have been exhumed by angry mobs in cemeteries in Senegal. The violence is especially shocking because Senegal, unlike other countries in the region, is considered a model of tolerance.

"It's jarring to see this happen in Senegal," says Ryan Thoreson, a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission who has been researching the rise of homophobia here. "When something like this happens in an established democracy, it's alarming."

Even though homosexuality is illegal in Senegal, colonial documents indicate the country has long had a clandestine gay community. In many towns, they were tacitly accepted, says Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, a professor of social anthropology at Senegal's largest university. In fact, the visibility of gays in Senegal may have helped to prompt the backlash against them.

The backlash dates back to at least February 2008, when a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar, the capital. The wedding was held inside a rented banquet hall and was attended by dozens of gay men, some of whom snapped pictures that included the gay couple exchanging rings and sharing slices of cake.


The day after the tabloid published the photographs, police began rounding up men suspected of being homosexual. Some were beaten in captivity and forced to turn over the names of other gay men, according to research by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Gays immediately went into hiding and those who could fled to neighboring countries, including Gambia to the south, according to the New York-based commission. Gambia's erratic president declared that gays who had entered his country had 24 hours to leave or face decapitation. Many returned to Senegal, where they lived on the run, moving from safehouse to safehouse.

In March 2008, Senegal hosted an international summit of Muslim nations, which prompted a nationwide crackdown on behaviors deemed un-Islamic, including homosexuality.

The crackdown also coincided with spiraling food prices. Niang says political and religious leaders saw an easy way to reach constituents through the inflammatory topic of homosexuality.

"They found a way to explain the difficulties people are facing as a deviation from religious life," says Niang. "So if people are poor - it's because there are prostitutes in the street. If they don't have enough to eat, it's because there are homosexuals."

Imams began using Friday sermons to preach against homosexuality.

"During the time of the Prophet, anytime two men were found together, they were taken to the top of a mountain and thrown off," says Massamba Diop, the imam of a mosque in Pikine and the head of Jamra, an Islamic lobby linked to a political party in Senegal's parliament.

"If they didn't die when they hit the ground, then rocks would be thrown on them until they were killed," says Diop, whose mosque is so packed during Friday prayer that people bring their own carpets and line up outside on the asphalt.

Sermons like Diop's were carried on the mosque's loudspeakers as well as in Senegal's more than 30 newspapers and magazines.

Around this time, in May 2008, a middle-aged man called Serigne Mbaye fell ill and died in a suburb of Dakar.

His children tried to bury him in his village but were turned back from the cemetery because of widespread rumors that he was gay. His sons drove his body around trying to find a cemetery that would accept him. They were finally forced to bury him on the side of a road, using their own hands to dig a hole, according to media reports.

The grave was too shallow and the wind blew away the dirt. When the decomposing body was later discovered, Mbaye's children were arrested and charged with improperly burying their father.

In the town of Kaolack three months later, residents exhumed the grave of another man believed to be gay. In November 2008, residents in Pikine removed a corpse from a mosque of another suspected homosexual and left it on the side of the road.

The grave-robbing has shocked even hardened gay activists, such as Nigerian Davis Mac-Iyalla.

"People have done horrible things (in Nigeria). I have seen people spit on coffins and people spit on graves," he said. "But it stopped there."

Among the people who appeared in the photograph published from the gay wedding was a young man in his 30s from Thies. He was an activist and a leader of a gay organization called And Ligay, meaning 'Working together,' which he ran out of his parents' house.

He was HIV-positive and on medication.

When the tabloid published the photograph, Diallo went into hiding, according to a close friend who asked not to be named because he too is gay. Unable to go to the doctor, Diallo stopped taking his anti-retrovirals. By the spring of 2009, he was so ill that his family checked him into St. Jean de Dieu, a Catholic hospital in downtown Thies, says the friend.

He was in a coma when he died at 5:50 a.m. on May 2, 2009, according to the hospital's records. Although the hospital has a unit dedicated to treating HIV patients, the young man's family never disclosed his illness, according to the doctor in charge.

Several gay friends tried to see Diallo in the hospital but were told to stay away by his family, says the friend.

When the AP tried to speak to Diallo's elderly father at his shop on the main thoroughfare in Thies, his other children demanded the reporter leave. One sister covered her face and sobbed. Another said, "There are no homosexuals here."

Hours after he died, his family took Diallo's body to a nearby mosque, where custom holds the corpse should be bathed and wrapped in a white cloth. Before the family could bathe him, news reached the mosque that Diallo was gay and they were chased out, says the dead man's friend. His relatives hastily wrapped him in a sheet and headed to the cemetery, where they carried him past the home of Babacar Sene.

"A man that's known as being a homosexual can't be buried in a cemetery. His body needs to be thrown away like trash," says Sene. "His parents knew that he was gay and they did nothing about it. So when he died we wanted to make sure he was punished."

The video footage captured on a cell phone shows what happened next. His thin body was placed inside a narrow trough in the middle of the bald cemetery dotted with clumps of weeds. Then you hear shouting.


The shaky image shows a group of men jerking around the edges of the grave. One of them straddles the pit and shovels away the fine gray dirt until you can see the shrouded body. It's still inside the trough when they tie a rope around its feet.

They yank it out, cheering as the body bends over the lip of the grave. The shroud catches on the ground and tears off, revealing the dead man's torso.

Rassul Djitte, 48, watched from behind the wall of a nearby school. He had not known Diallo personally, but says he felt a stab. "People were rejoicing," he says. "They dragged him past me and his body left tracks in the sand. Like a car passing through snow."

Arresting Teenagers Doesn't Solve Gender Pressures

by Debra Chasnoff:

It is completely understandable why there has been so much pressure on government authorities in South Hadley, Massachusetts to find someone to blame for 15-year old Phoebe Prince's suicide last month.

But the issues involved in this case, and in the case of Carl Walker Hoover, the ten-year old boy who committed suicide this time last year a few miles away in Springfield, Massachusetts, are far more complex and cultural than a tale of bullies run amuck who need to be dealt with as criminals.

We can lock up perpetrators and institute all the anti-bullying rules and policies we want, but unless the responsible adults in every community--educators, parents, administrators, and counselors--find a way to open up real, meaningful dialogue about gender and sexuality based pressures and bias--what happened to Phoebe and to Carl is likely to continue.

As a documentary filmmaker who has made several films about youth, bullying and prejudice, I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of diverse high school students about the internal struggles they face every day to feel good about themselves in our culture.

Invariably over half the students in every high school classroom I've visited--private or public, in rural, suburban, or inner city communities--have jumped at the chance to talk about the pressures they contend with which are connected to societal norms about gender and sexuality.

"Please don't go," a female sophomore begged when we visited her history class. "We never get to talk about this stuff but it's what I think about all the time, every day."

When I read about Phoebe, I thought of the many female students we've interviewed who have confided about the daily stress they face trying to make sense of the mixed messages they receive from the media, their families, and their peers about how a young woman is supposed to look and act.

Young women are constantly told that their value as human beings is determined by how sexy they are, how much skin they reveal, how close to some ideal of perfection their body curves match. And then they are chastised for crossing some invisible line and "going too far."

One high school senior told me about the spiral of pressures that led her to turn to serious drugs. "I feel that people are judging me all the time," she said. "I'm just paranoid, like, what are they thinking, do they think my boobs are big, do they think they are small, do they think my butt's big?"

If girls fail to tow the line, they are invariably subjected to negative slurs and accusations connected to their sexuality--"slut," "whore," "bitch" if they go too far one way, "dyke" if they go the other.

And when it comes to actual sexual activity, it is very challenging to grapple with our culture's double standard. "Like when a man runs around or sleeps with a lot of women, " one girl complained. "He's a player. All the boys give him his props, and they go brag about it. But when a woman tends to sleep around, she's a whore, a slut or a ripper."

Similarly, when I read about Carl Walker Hoover last year, I thought about the boys I interviewed who have shared their worries about how they dress, how physically affectionate they can be with their male friends, the expectations they face to lose their virginity and have lots of sexual partners, the way they talk, the way they hold their bodies when they walk--all to fit some unarticulated norm about the proper way to be masculine. They are painfully aware of how one little slip in behavior or appearance could lead to being the recipient of relentless anti-gay slurs.

"Having your sexuality questioned is a very powerful tool in controlling someone," one male high school junior told me. "And I think that's mainly why people say (things about that). Because it's so easy to control someone by questioning something that they don't know, by making fun of something they can't help."

Arresting those who bully may bring some brief consolation to one community. But it does nothing to create a culture where every single student is able to come of age in a supportive, nurturing way.

We need to demand that our school curricula help all students understand that they do not need to play into these destructive cultural messages and they can be allies to each other as they navigate these muddy cultural waters. And we need to work together to ensure that all young people have the space and respect to develop their sexuality and gender expression in authentic, safe ways that match who they really are inside.

Diane Gramley's Activism in Central Penna. Embarrasses Venango County Yet Again

Following is a letter-to-the-editor in Harrisburg's Patriot-News:


Transgender Issue Story Is Muddied By Comments

by BLAISE LIFFICK, Elizabethtown:

It was wonderful to see Ivey DeJesus' article about the Butterfly Ball ("A place where you can be yourself," March 13).

A generally positive portrayal of transgender issues in a central Pennsylvania newspaper is still surprising, and I'm sure greatly appreciated by the trans community.


However, there was simply no need to muddy the waters by including any comments by Diane Gramley.

Calling what she and her organization advocates "Judeo-Christian values" is a complete misrepresentation of what either Jews or Christians might or might not believe.

This article was an inappropriate place to give her an opportunity to push her anti-gay agenda.

The article was about a group of people being themselves in a safe environment, not coverage of a debate on a hot-button social issue.

Gramley's complete lack of understanding about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and their activities is abundantly clear from her absurd statements.

This sort of inclusion nearly ruined the article, and contributes to why members of the LGBT community do not feel safe being themselves.

War

Sinead O'Connor's brilliant, and still relevant, '92 performance on SNL:



UNTIL ... ... EVERYWHERE IS WAR

Sneaky Gays

Will Venango County Take A Stand Against Prejudice and Hate?

Join Web Site's Stand Against Prejudice

from KTVU:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mayor Gavin Newsom declared April 6th "Not In Our Town" Day, a day dedicated to standing up against hate violence, prejudice and bias.

The proclamation comes on the heels of a new Web site being launched to spread the message of tolerance beyond San Francisco.

The new Not In Our Town site was created by an Oakland nonprofit. The site shows a video recounting the homicide of a young Ecuadorian immigrant in New York who was killed by a group of teenage boys looking for Latinos to assault.

"It was the worst thing in the world. I can't believe something like that would happen," 15-year-old Albie Brown of Mill Valley said about the story of the Ecuadorian immigrant.

Patrice O'Neill, the project's executive producer, said the site provides a new way for the concerned youth to connect online.

"We try to bring out positive stories of people taking action to prevent hate," explained O'Neill.

The Web site also provides tools to deal with school bullies.

"If you're being bullied we have a lot of stories about bullying and how its an epidemic," said Not In Our Town worker Michelle Sit. "It's just for people to know they are not alone."

San Francisco Hate Crime Prosecutor Victor Hwang said there has been a 400% jump in hate crimes in the past six months. He called the Web site a great tool to fight back.

"I think in San Francisco we tend to be complacent -- thinking we are in paradise. But I do think we need to be involved and stand up for each other," Hwang said.

Check out the video HERE

Right Wing XXX-tremists and Bondage-Gate

Another episode in the "you-just-can't-make-this-kinda-stuff-up" category.

And this in the Grand Old Party, home team for Venango County's own Diane Gramley ... yes, she who flies around the country with dangerous anti-gay whack-nut Peter LaBarbera to take pictures of gay sex parties. Being a "traditional values" activist is a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

from FDL:

RNC Bondage Club Party Scandal Keeps Turning Up More Scandal-y Goodness

Bondage-gate (now there’s a nickname I’ve been longing to apply) just took a hilarious turn. It turns out that Erik Brown, the OC-area operative who filed for the reimbursement of expenses for Voyeur West Hollywood, did so because the RNC staffer’s credit card was denied.

Think about that for a second: you now know Brown’s name, and his business has been literally decimated (more on that in a minute), because he happened to be nearby when the bill came due.

“Please help me out and I’ll be sure you are reimbursed right away by the RNC,” was the request—one most others in Brown’s spot would have answered— and there exists a follow-up email chain to prove it.

And it’s a good thing for him that there is such an email exchange because if not, the RNC might still be demanding that it be reimbursed for those charges, as it thundered in its first reply yesterday morning.

Now think about that one for even more than a second, because it represents the type of thing people hate about politicians in general: CYA and throw underlings to the wolves to protect the boss at all costs.

Basically, the RNC bridge-and-tunnel crowd demanded to go to a hot nightclub, this Erik Brown took them to one, then he had to foot the bill for it up front, then when the charge was discovered he was demonized as a scoundrel.

Are you as amazed as I am that the Republican National Committee has a bunch of jerks in powerful positions?

Now, the RNC, having been caught, dismissed the staffer (presumably the one with the bad credit card who asked Brown to pick up the check), and made a backhanded attempt at an apology to Brown:

“It is unfortunate that a loyal GOP donor who has recruited other donors became involved in this incident while merely trying to help what turned out to be the improper request of a staffer who is no longer with the committee.”

But the Voyeur incident has ended up obscuring the real problem with the RNC, and actually, I have no problem if that continues. Their burn rate is absurd; they spent more than they took in for FEBRUARY, nine months before the midterm elections. Basically they’re going to be broke by the time voters go to the polls, and free spending like this is the culprit. In a way, I wish nobody ever made it to the club that night, because it made too clear the pathetic leadership of Michael Steele. Someone might step in now and actually run that place competently.

UPDATE: It appears the woman fired by the RNC was the director of the “Young Eagles” program for young donors. Allison Meyers was fired for approving the expense. Um, what about whoever it was that tried to pay for the club bill on presumably the RNC’s credit card?

PFLAG Monthly Meeting

Join PFLAG for: Support, Education, and Advocacy issues for Parents, Friends and Families of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered People.


Next meeting on Monday, April 12th, Monday, 7:00pm-8:30pm.

7180 New Perry Highway
Erie, PA

Bring a Family Member, Friend and yourself, too, of course.

Feel free to bring a treat or refreshment to pass & share.
Coffee, Tea, and Hot Cocoa provided.

For more information, John at (814) 454-1392 or e-mail: PFLAG.ERIE.CRAWFORD@GMAIL.COM

New Science of Animal Same-sex Attraction

Oh Yeah, Science and Knowledge Don't Interest the American Family Association of Penna.

By Julie Bolcer for The Advocate:

The science of same-sex attraction in animals increasingly draws serious scholarship, the subject of a feature story in this Sunday’s issue of The New York Times Magazine.


The article by Jon Mooallem begins with the story of biologist Lindsay C. Young. She studies the Laysan albatross, a seabird that frequents Hawaii and is celebrated for lifelong mating commitments. From the introduction:

“Young has been researching the albatrosses on Oahu since 2003; the colony was the focus of her doctoral dissertation at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, which she completed last spring. (She now works on conservation projects as a biologist for hire.) In the course of her doctoral work, Young and a colleague discovered, almost incidentally, that a third of the pairs at Kaena Point actually consisted of two female birds, not one male and one female. Laysan albatrosses are one of countless species in which the two sexes look basically identical. It turned out that many of the female-female pairs, at Kaena Point and at a colony that Young’s colleague studied on Kauai, had been together for 4, 8 or even 19 years — as far back as the biologists’ data went, in some cases. The female-female pairs had been incubating eggs together, rearing chicks and just generally passing under everybody’s nose for what you might call ‘straight’ couples.

“A discovery like Young’s can disorient a wildlife biologist in the most thrilling way — if he or she takes it seriously, which has traditionally not been the case. Various forms of same-sex sexual activity have been recorded in more than 450 different species of animals by now, from flamingos to bison to beetles to guppies to warthogs. A female koala might force another female against a tree and mount her, while throwing back her head and releasing what one scientist described as ‘exhalated belchlike sounds.’ Male Amazon River dolphins have been known to penetrate each other in the blowhole. Within most species, homosexual sex has been documented only sporadically, and there appear to be few cases of individual animals who engage in it exclusively. For more than a century, this kind of observation was usually tacked onto scientific papers as a curiosity, if it was reported at all, and not pursued as a legitimate research subject. Biologists tried to explain away what they’d seen, or dismissed it as theoretically meaningless — an isolated glitch in an otherwise elegant Darwinian universe where every facet of an animal’s behavior is geared toward reproducing. One primatologist speculated that the real reason two male orangutans were fellating each other was nutritional.

“In recent years though, more biologists have been looking objectively at same-sex sexuality in animals — approaching it as real science. For Young, the existence of so many female-female albatross pairs disproved assumptions that she didn’t even realize she’d been making and, in the process, raised a chain of progressively more complicated questions. One of the prickliest, it seemed, was how a scientist is even supposed to talk about any of this, given how eager the rest of us have been to twist the sex lives of animals into allegories of our own. ‘This colony is literally the largest proportion of — I don’t know what the correct term is: ‘homosexual animals’? — in the world,’ Young told me. ‘Which I’m sure some people think is a great thing, and others might think is not.’”

Houston mayor issues order on LGBT non-discrimination

Any chance one or more municipalities in Venango County will propose and pass a comprehensive and inclusive non-discrimination ordinance soon? Only when people organize to make it happen.

from Gay Politics:

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, an out lesbian, has issued one of the most comprehensive executive orders on LGBT non-discrimination in the country, according to a report in the Dallas Voice.

“The purpose of this Executive Order is to prohibit discrimination and/or retaliation on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity at every level of municipal government, including hiring, contracting and/or access to City facilities and programs/activities,” the order states.

“I felt it important that our written policy reflect what has long been the practice of the city, which is we do not discriminate,” Parker told Dallas Voice.

Hatred. Derision. Insults. Threats. Harassment. Assault.

Would You Let This Happen to Someone You Love?

What if a kid you loved or your friend had to face this every day at school? What would you do?

Imagine sending your child off to school everyday, knowing once they’re there, they’ll be called names, get threatened and shoved, even kicked or punched.

Imagine if you had a friend who felt so unsafe at school that they started skipping class.

Imagine if your brother or sister, or your nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter told their teachers about the bullying—and their teachers didn’t do a damn thing about it.

What would you do? Would you give a damn?

Because this is what gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth have to endure at school, every single day. It’s estimated nearly 90% of gay and transgender youth have been verbally or physically harassed or assaulted, compared to 62% of their straight classmates. Approximately 3 out of 4 gay and transgender students are frequently called “faggot” or “dyke” at school. And almost a third of students who reported an incident of bullying said that school staff did nothing in response.
Bullying is a big deal

Maybe you think this is no big deal—just kids being kids. But when 3 out of 5 gay and transgender kids feel unsafe at school, and 1 in 3 have skipped a day of school in the past month because of it, it’s a big deal.

When 2009 saw the brutal assault of a gay teen by a classmate wielding a metal pipe and two suicides—both of whom were only 11 years old—because of homophobic taunting at school, it’s a big deal.

When 95% of secondary school principals report that students at their schools have been harassed because of their gender expression—and nearly one-third of principals acknowledge their staff are poor at dealing effectively with homophobic bullying, it’s a big deal.

And when only 16 states and the District of Columbia have safe school laws in place that protect students from bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation, it’s a big deal.

In fact, it’s something to give a damn about. Because ask yourself: Would you allow any of this to happen to someone you love? Or would you give a damn?

It’s well past time to give a damn about the safety of gay and transgender youth in our schools.



Learn More About The Give A Damn Campaign HERE

Sing Away Hate

Perhaps this approach would be a nice response to the hate spewed in Venango County by the American "Family" Association of Penna. and "Christian" radio station WAWN ... not to mention at Franklin High School where allegations of harassment, violence and discrimination by school authorities against LGBT and other students continue unabated.

Give A Damn

A Word On Dangerous Lifestyles

by Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out:

In a self-righteous, moralizing speech in Michigan last week, right wing radio personality Linda Harvey blithely offered this gem when questioned about discrimination against LGBT partners who want to marry.

“They can still marry someone of the opposite gender,” Harvey said.

This flippant response was not surprising. Self-styled “family values” activists have long turned a blind eye to the destruction caused by such “arranged” marriages. There are support groups, such as The Straight Spouse Network and Gay Husbands/Straight Wives, to pick up the pieces after these unions implode.


In her propaganda-laced presentation, Harvey (pictured) portrayed gay men as living an unhealthy existence. She cherry-picked medical data while blithely ignoring the positive affect marriage would have on the health of LGBT people. In the New York Times, conservative columnist David Brooks wrote about what social science has to say about the affects of marriage:

“According to another [study] being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year,” writes Brooks. “If you have a successful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy.”

If Harvey and others of her ilk were genuinely concerned about the health of LGBT couples, they would be in favor of allowing them to marry. Instead, such hypocrites smugly mask their contempt with transparently saccharine professions of concern. They even offer “help” for LGBT people who are unhappy – while simultaneously working to undermine relationships that might bring joy. Is this not a conflict of interest?

Today’s New York Times science section has an article, “No Matter What, We Pay For Others’ Bad Habits”, that highlights a plethora of factors that determine health:

“Unhealthy habits are one factor in disease, but so are social status, income, family dynamics, education and genetics.”

Homosexuality is not a habit, of course, while homophobia is. Indeed, this preoccupation with prejudice by religious extremists directly affects several of these key measures of health. Every time an LGBT person is rejected from his or her house of worship, this has a tangible impact on their social status. When gay and lesbian couples are taxed at discriminatory rates it affects income.

Gay youth who drop out of school because they are bullied or kicked out of their homes have both their education and family dynamics torn apart. San Francisco State researcher Caitlin Ryan found that, LGBT “Teens who experienced negative feedback [when they came out] were more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide, nearly six times as vulnerable to severe depression and more than three times at risk of drug use.”

One would think that priggish proselytizers such as Harvey would read these alarming statistics and oppose bullying in schools. Instead, her organization, Mission America, is dedicated to attacking the “Day of Silence,” an annual event where students remain quiet for a day to show their support for LGBT peers.

Instead of insightful views from a faith perspective on Mission America’s website, Harvey’s organization offers manipulative questions designed to incite students against their LGBT classmates. These include:

* Is there any room for finding homosexuality—dare we say it—repulsive? Or is that response now going to be viewed as “hate”?
* Is a student allowed to say a firm “no” to a homosexual advance?

* Is the Day of Silence really a back-door way to silence valid criticism and gain approval for questionable lifestyles?

So, the unctuous Harvey is concerned for our health, but portrays LGBT teenagers as repulsive predators with a furtive political agenda. I’d hate to see what Harvey is capable of saying if she did not love us so much.


Harvey also prattled on in her presentation, and website, about the supposed dangers of homosexuality – particularly contracting HIV. Not surprisingly, Harvey actively promotes abstinence-only “education” in schools, which is proven to be ineffective. She recklessly presents HIV as a gay disease – when it can be contracted by anyone who fails to take adequate precautions.

It is important to note that even if a gay man contracted HIV today, he still might outlive judgmental religious extremists who are so quick to condemn. Bible-Belt states are generally the fattest, have the highest concentration of smokers, have the most divorces and are even more likely to have traffic accidents due to aggressive driving.

While these busybodies worry about our hearts and happiness, their own children may one-day die prematurely of heart attacks by inhaling Happy Meals. In conservative areas, the fast food drive-thru might as well be a drive-by-shooting.

Isn’t it time our foes stopped obsessing about narrow-minded “morality” and spent more time addressing their own mortality caused by gluttonous and destructive lifestyles? Averting their obsessive gaze from the gays to focus on their own families is quintessentially a “pro-life” position.

Whose Country, and Whose County, Is It?

This NY Times Op-Ed raises interesting questions not just about the country, but about what's going on in Venango County as well.

Whose Country Is It?

by Charles Blow:

The far-right extremists have gone into conniptions.

The bullying, threats, and acts of violence following the passage of health care reform have been shocking, but they’re only the most recent manifestations of an increasing sense of desperation.


It’s an extension of a now-familiar theme: some version of “take our country back.” The problem is that the country romanticized by the far right hasn’t existed for some time, and its ability to deny that fact grows more dim every day. President Obama and what he represents has jolted extremists into the present and forced them to confront the future. And it scares them.

Even the optics must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents included a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy.

Hence their anger and frustration, which is playing out in ways large and small. There is the current spattering of threats and violence, but there also is the run on guns and the explosive growth of nefarious antigovernment and anti-immigrant groups. In fact, according to a report entitled “Rage on the Right: The Year in Hate and Extremism” recently released by the Southern Poverty Law Center, “nativist extremist” groups that confront and harass suspected immigrants have increased nearly 80 percent since President Obama took office, and antigovernment “patriot” groups more than tripled over that period.

Politically, this frustration is epitomized by the Tea Party movement. It may have some legitimate concerns (taxation, the role of government, etc.), but its message is lost in the madness. And now the anemic Republican establishment, covetous of the Tea Party’s passion, is moving to absorb it, not admonish it. Instead of jettisoning the radical language, rabid bigotry and rising violence, the Republicans justify it. (They don’t want to refute it as much as funnel it.)

There may be a short-term benefit in this strategy, but it’s a long-term loser.


A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday took a look at the Tea Party members and found them to be just as anachronistic to the direction of the country’s demographics as the Republican Party. For instance, they were disproportionately white, evangelical Christian and “less educated ... than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pack.” This at a time when the country is becoming more diverse (some demographers believe that 2010 could be the first year that most children born in the country will be nonwhite), less doctrinally dogmatic, and college enrollment is through the roof. The Tea Party, my friends, is not the future.

You may want “your country back,” but you can’t have it. That sound you hear is the relentless, irrepressible march of change. Welcome to America: The Remix.

What The Buck?

Good Old Traditonal Family Values

Gay Student OK'd for Prom, Kicked Out of House

from The Advocate:

A Georgia gay high school student who wanted to bring his date to the prom may have scored a victory at school, but he may be losing the war in his own home.


Derrick Martin, 18, lobbied his school, Bleckley County High, to let him bring his date to the prom. Administrators gave him the OK after he appealed an earlier decision turning him down. Martin's story made headlines across the country, and offers for tuxedos, limos, and dinner poured in. But because of the media attention, Martin's parents kicked him out of their home. According to Macon's Telegraph, he is currently staying with a friend.

He said he was inspired by another Southern teenager, Constance McMillen, who was denied permission to bring her same-sex date to her prom in Mississippi. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that while the school board wronged McMillen, it would not have to hold the prom, which school officials canceled rather than allow her to bring a female date.

Martin's prom is set for April 17.

The Tea Party's Thuggish Tactics

from Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out:

In 1995, House Majority leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) referred to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) as "Barney Fag." He quickly apologized calling his verbiage a "slip of the tongue". Fifteen years later, the obstreperous Tea Party Tea Baggermovement that Armey is behind showed no such restraint, with members boldly calling Frank a "faggot" during the healthcare debate, while the crowd stood by and laughed. They also used the N-word to taunt civil rights hero, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), as he entered the Capitol to vote.


Can the media please stop pretending that the Tea Party is an amalgam of small government conservatives and anxious Americans concerned about their families? What we just witnessed was not spontaneous, nor was it a genuine outpouring of anger towards Washington. It was privileged DC Republicans shilling for the insurance industry while posing as populists. To obscure their genuine goals, they mobilized racists and riff raff to throw tyrannical tantrums in an effort to intimidate lawmakers.

If you think I'm wrong, watch almost any interview with Tea Baggers on the healthcare bill. They display a shocking lack of understanding about what they were actually protesting. Many condemn "socialized" medicine while not realizing that Medicare is a government program. These "good folks" have consistently regurgitated stale and misleading GOP talking points about "death panels" that they heard on FOX News.

Sure, there are some Tea Baggers who don't fit this unflattering description. But one would have to be intellectually dishonest to deny the role extremists are playing in this movement. It is also worth noting that those who are reportedly not fringe ideologues are nonetheless eerily comfortable protesting alongside the more fanatical goons.

The thuggish tactics - from the ugly August "town brawls" to the race-baiting rallies on Capitol Hill - were grotesque and anti-democratic. Many of these so-called "patriots" were not putting forth real arguments in the interest of America - but simply arguing loudly to bully opponents and drown out genuine debate.

It was disgusting to watch Republican members of Congress egg on this unruly behavior. Several grandstanding politicians encouraged the mob from a second story balcony on the Capitol, as the empowered crowd yelled slogans through bullhorns such as, "Nancy Pelosi, you will burn in hell for this." These grossly irresponsible lawmakers even encouraged anarchy by cheering a protester who was ejected from the House chamber for a disruptive outburst.

In my view, Republicans have crossed a dangerous line that threatens the fabric and cohesion of this nation. They are courting and catering to crazies and now call them a core constituency. The GOP leadership is consistently communicating in illogical, apocalyptic terms to reach "Values Voters" who are excitedly awaiting Armageddon.

The very strategy of today's conservative movement is an affront to this nation. They incite their most fervent and fanatic followers by questioning the legitimacy of America's leaders and institutions. They engage in legislative obstruction. And, many of these zealots believe that God commands them to rule, while anyone else is a usurper of the natural political order.

Republicans are also fanning the flames of regionalism and trying to balkanize this nation for political gain. When asked if passing the bill would help democrats politically, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) replied, "Someone at Harvard or in San Francisco may think that, but not the rest of the country." This rhetoric mirror's that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month and derided liberals for supposedly hanging out at "Chablis-drinking, Brie-eating parties in San Francisco."

At the anti-healthcare rally, cantankerous protesters yelled, "kill the bill." But, there is a true concern that the overheated rhetoric will lead to the death of real people. Republicans and Tea Baggers can only shout "fire" in a crowded theatre for so long before an unbalanced individual moves decisively to extinguish the alleged conflagration.


The GOP and the Tea Bag crowd need to stop polarizing America and dial back the rhetoric before it is too late.

As far as the politics of healthcare, the GOP will suffer. Obama proved he can be tough and get things done in Washington - and everybody loves a winner. In the end, the public will appreciate their new benefits and the GOP is now in the position of trying to deny health insurance to people with preexisting conditions. Good luck on that.

Finally, the gloom and doom scenarios painted by overwrought phonies, such as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), will not come to pass. This is no different than when social conservatives claimed that civil unions in Vermont and marriage equality in Massachusetts would destroy the world.


Obviously, this did not happen, the public saw legalizing LGBT relationships was no big deal and our opponents lost credibility. The same will happen with healthcare. The sooner the public sees the sky is not falling, the faster the polling numbers will plummet for Republicans who voted on wrong side of history.

Anti-Gay Website Listed as Hate Group

by Julie Bolcer for The Advocate:

The website of the anti-gay group Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, (a close ally of Venango County-based Diane Gramley and her American "Family" Association of Pennsylvania), was recently listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.


The listing, which appeared in the most recent issue of Intelligence Report, the Law Center’s quarterly publication, was the result of lobbying by the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network, according to a news release from GLN.

“The criteria that the Law Center historically has used to determine whether or not an organization is a hate group is not merely that it opposes legal equality for gays or others, but whether or not they intentionally utilize discredited and slanderous propaganda to spread lies about a group of people,” said GLN. “By repeatedly using the phoney ‘research’ of defrocked psychologist Paul Cameron, who is roundly condemned by every major professional psychological association, AFTAH's website apparently met the Law Center's definition of a hate group.”

The leader of AFTAH is Peter LaBarbera, who previously headed the Illinois Family Institute. According to GLN, that group was briefly listed as a hate group by the Law Center when it listed work from Cameron on its website.

Sunday Sadness: If You're Not White or Not Straight, The "Tea Party" Is Out To Get You

By Paul Kane for the Washington Post:

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon. The most high-profile openly gay congressman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), was heckled with anti-gay chants.


Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) issued a statement late Saturday saying that he was spit upon while walking to the Capitol to cast a vote, leading the Capitol Police to usher him into the building out of concern for his safety. Police detained the individual, who was then released because Cleaver declined to press charges.

"The congressman was walking into the Capitol to vote, when one protester spat on him. The congressman would like to thank the U.S. Capitol Police officer who quickly escorted the other Members and him into the Capitol, and defused the tense situation with professionalism and care," said Danny Rotert, a spokesman for Cleaver.

Protesters outside the Capitol hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) as they left the building after President Obama delivered an 11th-hour speech on behalf of the health care bill. Carson told reporters that protesters yelled "kill the bill," then used a racial epithet to describe Carson and Lewis, who is a revered figure on both sides of the aisle.

According to observers, Frank was confronted by about 100 protesters inside the Longworth House Office Building, where Democrats were huddling for another meeting about the legislation. Some targeted Frank with anti-gay epithets and urged him to vote against the bill.

Democratic leaders and their aides said they were outraged by the day's behavior. "I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking black official in Congress.


And Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement, "On the one hand, I am saddened that America's debate on health care -- which could have been a national conversation of substance and respect -- has degenerated to the point of such anger and incivility. But on the other, I know that every step toward a more just America has aroused similar hate in its own time; and I know that John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement, has learned to wear the worst slurs as a badge of honor."

"This is not the first time the congressman has been called the "n" word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans," said Rotert, Cleaver's spokesman. "That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name-calling and spitting."

The incidents followed a noontime protest on the west side of the Capitol that drew several thousand people from around the country for a "Code Red" rally against the health-care bill. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) addressed the crowd.

As that rally ended, some protesters moved around to the south side of the Capitol, near the entrance to the House chamber, and across the east front of the complex.

On the first day of spring, most lawmakers walked across the street from their office buildings to the Capitol, rather than using the underground tunnels. That brought them into contact with protesters forming a gauntlet on each side of the walkway leading into the House. At one point, when Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) wanted to walk across the street to an office building, he was ushered into a car by his security detail and driven a couple hundred feet through the screaming crowd.


Saturday evening, more than a handful of House Republicans held an impromptu rally on the Capitol steps. Using a megaphone, the lawmakers urged on the crowd. Shortly after 6 p.m., Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) dared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to come out onto the House steps and address the more than 1,000 people who were gathered at the foot of the Capitol, prompting a loud and angry chant of "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy."

The protesters believe that the Obama administration and Congress are ignoring the public's opposition to the $940 billion legislation, which they consider it to be a government takeover of the health-care system. They carried signs saying "Remember in November"; one carried a broomstick with cardboard pasted onto it with the label "Here's Your Ride," for Pelosi.

An All-Too-Common Story - But This Time With a Good Ending

Link to Video on ABC News: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=7336860

NEW HOPE, Pa. - March 17, 2010 (WPVI) -- When a local high school student made the decision to be open about his sexuality, his life changed, and not for the better.

15-year-old Joey Kemerling says he was always well liked in school.

"I fit in fairly well, I was friends with most kids," he said.

But in 8th grade, Joey told his friends he was gay.

"I was normal for a while and I said one little thing about myself and the entire world changed, I lost all my friends," Joey said.

Joey says one kid pulled a knife on him, another threatened his life; the bullying became so bad, Joey fell into a deep depression.

"I felt all alone and there were times when I didn't want to live anymore," he said.

But while Joey endured daily attacks at school, he realized he wasn't the only victim.

"I noticed a lot of other types of bullying, there was a lot of anti-Semitism, a lot of bullying against kids because they dressed differently, talked differently," Joey said.

On the advice of school counselors, Joey decided to fight back.

His weapon?

Facebook.

Joey created a page called the Equality Project. An online safe-zone where kids from as close as Bucks County and as far away as Egypt can share their stories and fears about all kinds of bullying and intimidation.

"So now everyday when I come home and I can read the stories, I can know that I'm not alone and there are other kids going through this and it helps a lot," he said.

Joey's mom, Joyce Mundy, who is also a principal of a nearby middle school, says the Equality Project has offered students something most schools have not.

"He has opened up dialogue among students of his school who he never would have had this conversation with," Joyce said.

Carrie Jacobs, executive director of the Attic, a Philadelphia based youth center for LGBT teens, says Joey's Facebook page is a safe haven for young adults who may not be able to find the support they need at home, school or even traditional support group.

"A website like this would offer an opportunity for kids who may be ashamed of who they are talk about the bullying they may be experiencing," Carrie said.

Although Joey's struggles with bullying may revolve around his sexuality, not all of the 4,000 members of the page are gay, but many of them easily relate to the pain caused by vicious words and overwhelming feelings of alienation.

"I was teased a lot as a child about being overweight; it really helps me to know that we every one feels that and that's really sad, but we can all use it to heal," Joey's friend Maddie Reilly said.

"It makes me feel like I can go online, I can share my story and someone is going to care about me," Joey's sister Jamie said.

"If I didn't have Facebook or a computer, I probably wouldn't be here today," Joey said.

Joey makes it very clear on the Facebook page that he is not a professional nor should any person confuse this page as a source of professional help. If you or someone you know is truly struggling with depression seek professional help.

Transgender Basics - Gender Identity Project

from National Youth Advocacy Coalition:

The Gender Identity Project at the The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City came out with this wonderful video called "Transgender Basics," giving the "Trans101" rundown that achieves the accessible and manageable method that so many have attempted. The video is very informative, but, more importantly, allows a space for some really smart trans people to talk about themselves and their identities. Not only does the video go into depth about alternative gender models, terminology and technicalities, but I really appreciated the amount of time that is spent discussing genderqueer folks and understanding gender beyond the binary.

Good News! Senate Commitee Votes Down Discriminatory Marriage Amendment

from the ACLU of PA:

HARRISBURG- The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee today voted against legislation to amend the state constitution to ban same sex marriage. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania hailed the vote as a victory for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the commonwealth.


“The efforts to embed discrimination against LGBT people into our constitution have failed for a third time,” said Andy Hoover, legislative director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, citing failed attempts to pass similar legislation in 2006 and 2008. “This committee today recognized that LGBT people are our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, and our family members and that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Senate Bill 707, introduced by Senator John Eichelberger of Blair County, was tabled by an 8-6, bipartisan vote of the committee. Although Senate rules allow the bill to be considered again at any time, Hoover noted that it is unlikely that the bill will be brought up before the end of the 2010 legislative session.

“This vote today spoke loud and clear,” Hoover said. “Members want to move on and address truly pressing issues for the people of Pennsylvania.”

Committee members who voted for the motion to table SB 707 included Republicans Pat Browne, Jane Earll, and Mary Jo White (Venango county!) and Democrats Daylin Leach, Lisa Boscola, Wayne Fontana, Michael Stack, and Jay Costa.

The Narrow-Mindedness of Diane Gramley and the AFA of PA Once Again Bring Shame To Venango County

Rep. Josephs Objects to AFA of Pa.'s Homophobic Statements


HARRISBURG, Feb. 12 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is going on record against the homophobic and ignorant statements recently made by Diane Gramley (pictured) of the American Family Association of Pa. in response to "Freedom to Marry Week," a week long slate of events in the state Capitol organized by groups and individuals in support of same-sex marriage.


Josephs, a longtime supporter of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights, including the freedom to marry if they so choose, participated in a news conference in support of legislation to permit same-sex marriage held during the week's events.

After the news conference, AFA of Pa. issued a news release calling same-sex marriage the "destruction of the foundation of a successful society."

Josephs said she felt she could not let its bias go unanswered.

"The organization offers no proof beyond the assertion of its president, Diane Gramley, that same-sex marriage is destructive of society or of opposite-sex marriages," Josephs answered.

The group's view also claims that those who engage in homosexual acts account for the majority of AIDS cases, that it is a gay disease.


"I am offended on my own behalf and on the behalf of those who suffer from HIV or AIDS, or have lost loved ones to that scourge. HIV is a horrible disease that impacts people worldwide. It does not discriminate. Gramley's statement is inflammatory and not worthy of serious discussion," Josephs added.

"All people are worthy and contribute to our society, including those who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. We should welcome and value all families, and support efforts to make this state a place where everybody will want to live, work and visit, not treat a select group as second-class citizens.

"I take the narrow-minded viewpoints expressed by AFA seriously in that it only further cements my resolve to fight for equal rights for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation."

The Reality of Bullying for LGBT Youth & Allies: It’s Everywhere

from HRC Back Story:

Two major studies on bullying among school aged children have been released this month. On March 4th, the Associated Press reported on a study funded by the U.S. Dept. of Justice which found a sharp decrease in the percentage of children who reported being physically bullied over the past year – from 22% in 2003 to 15% in 2008.


These findings are positive and at first glance you might even think that the bullying problem has been solved. Many attribute this decrease in bullying to the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs implemented following the Columbine shootings in 1999.

If you look closer you notice that the study did not address bullying related to sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Thanks to the work of organizations like the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, we have a clear picture of school climate for LGBT youth and their allies and it’s not good. In fact, it is scary. Check out these stats from GLSEN’s 2007 National School Climate Survey, a national survey of LGBT youth conducted every two years:

* How many feel unsafe in school? Over half of the students surveyed felt unsafe because of their sexual orientation (60.8%) and more than a third because of their gender expression (38.4%)
* How many had been verbally harassed? Almost 9 of every 10 students surveyed were verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation (86.2%) and two thirds of students because of their gender expression.
* How many were physically harassed? Almost half of students surveyed were physically harassed because of their sexual orientation (44.1%) and 3 of every 10 students because of their gender expression (30.4%).

So, what’s the deal? If schools are focusing on bullying prevention more than they have in the past, why has bullying of LGBT youth stayed stable since 2001? Well, for starters these anti-bullying programs – like the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program discussed in the AP article – by and large don’t talk explicitly about the reasons why youth are bullied. There’s no mention of sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or other characteristics like race, family structure, socio-economic status and ability.

These anti-bullying programs are a great start but to create a truly positive school climate, schools must help students learn to understand and respect ways in which we are all alike and ways in which we are different. That’s why Welcoming Schools helps elementary schools clearly address family diversity (including families with LGBT parents), gender stereotyping and bullying rooted in anti-LGBT bias.

The second study released this month, conducted by Iowa State University, focuses on cyber bullying of LGBT youth and their allies. The study found that 54 percent of these youth report being cyber bullied – either for being LGBT or for associating with LGBT youth. Among the LGBT students, 45 percent have felt depressed as a result of being bullied and one in four report having suicidal thoughts. Cyber bullying has been linked to the suicides of several youth over the last few years (You may recall the tragic story of Megan Meier from 2006 that brought cyber bullying to the attention of many of us for the first time.). The survey also shows that over half of the respondents hesitate to tell their parents about this bullying (parents, check out some resources on cyber bullying).

So, thank you to Robyn Cooper and Warren Blumenfeld at ISU for conducting this study – it will be officially released in the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy later this month. Hopefully it will lead to creative and effective solutions to the threat cyber bullying poses to the youngest members of our community. The sad reality is that the online world, which for so many of us provided our first connection to the LGBT community, can now be a very negative place for LGBT youth and their friends. Bullying is pervasive in the real world and in cyber space.

Take Action: Help Pass LGBT-Inclusive Hate Crimes Legislation in Pennsylvania!

PA House of Representatives Vote on Hate Crimes Bill (HB 745)

Late last year, House Bill 745, an LGBT-inclusive Hate Crimes Bill passed the PA House Judiciary Committee with massive bipartisan support in an 18-8 vote!

In just a few weeks, a FULL Pennsylvania House of Representatives floor vote is expected on House Bill 745.

NOW is the time to step up the pressure on our State Representatives. HB 745 would amend the Title 18 Ethnic Intimidation Act to define crimes against individuals based on “actual or perceived ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity” as ethnic intimidation, or hate crimes.

Passing House Bill 745 would add the above listed groups as protected classes of Pennsylvanians, classes that are not protected on the state level from hate crimes and violence.


Now is more important than ever to CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE serving in the PA House and tell them to vote in favor of HB 745!

From 2006 to 2007 hate violence in the state of Pennsylvania has increased by 28 percent.

Since 2001, over 430 Pennsylvanians have called Equality Advocates PA to report acts of hate violence. The rise in violence inflicted on those under the age of eighteen has more than doubled. Both the state and federal government have consistently failed to uphold their responsibility to put an end to the surge in violence and ensure that all citizens receive the protection they need.

According to one FBI report, current attacks on LGBT individuals are under-reported by at least 33%

Hate crimes legislation would encourage victims of hate violence to report the attacks. Equality Advocates PA received fifty-four calls from hate crimes victims in just one year.

Most importantly, 73% of the American people support hate crimes legislation.

They support strengthening laws to give local law enforcement, police and sheriff's departments the tools and resources they need to prevent and prosecute these heinous acts.

Take Action HERE