OK Teacher Fired for Laramie Project Project

Via PageOneQ:

Debra Taylor, 50, a teacher at Granfield High School was fired after showing her students the 2002 film The Laramie Project based on the murder of Matthew Shepard. 

According to an article in USA Today, it sounds like Taylor did everything right: she got permission from her principal before watching the movie and halted the project when her principal told her to do so. Taylor was fired after she and her students held a mock funeral for a canceled in-class project in which they filmed their own versions of scenes from the play. 

The next day, Taylor says, Superintendent Ed Turlington canceled the class. After she complained to a school board member, Turlington put her on paid leave and recommended that she be fired. The school board approved her resignation Friday.

Taylor says she was let go for complaining to the board member, but others say it was a result of the play's subject: homophobia. "They don't want something like this addressed in our community," says senior Matt Ebner, one of Taylor's former students.

[snip]

John Moyer, an attorney representing the district, says Taylor was dismissed not because she wanted to put on a play or because of the subject matter. "If someone is saying that adverse employment action is being taken against Ms. Taylor because of homosexuality, they're wrong."

Representatives of the school district, however, weren't quoted on exactly why she was fired. Their silence speaks volumes. 

Not Looking Good

Via PageOneQ:

The case of a Colorado man Allen Andrade, 31, accused of murdering a transwoman got a boost from a judge who ruled Tuesday that Andrade's confession is inadmissible. 

According to a USA Today article the confession can't be used against Andrade because he stated he was finished answering questions. Prosecutors also are unable to use evidence of Andrade's gang affiliation. 

From USA Today:

Judge Marcelo Kopcow issued a ruling Tuesday that threw out a July 30 confession to police by 31-year-old Allen Andrade of Thornton.

Andrade is accused of killing 18-year-old Angie Zapata, a transgender woman found dead July 17 in her southeast Greeley apartment.

And they say LGBT issues aren't civil rights issues. They say we aren't persecuted or treated unfairly or beaten or even murdered because we're different. Tell that to the family of Angie Zapata. Explain exactly why she was beaten to death after Andrade discovered she was "biologically male" if it had nothing to do with her trans status. 

Vermont is the New California?

Via PageOneQ:

While Californians are floundering in and out of the social acceptance closet, the Vermont chapters of four professional organizations Monday endorsed same-sex marriage and dispelled hate-mongers' claims that children in single-sex families fare worse than their peers from traditional nuclear families. 

From a Burlington Free Press article:

Same-sex marriage rights got an endorsement Monday from four Vermont professional organizations who cited research findings that “children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish.”

They also said gay and lesbian parents are as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to provide healthy environments for children and that “there is no credible scientific evidence” relating parenting effectiveness to sexual orientation.

Their statement, which comes as the Vermont legislature prepares to consider same-sex marriage legislation, was released at a news conference called by the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Association of Mental Health Counselors and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

The professional organizations did acknowledge that relevant studies have drawn from small research samples. But the implication is not that the research is insufficient. Rather, more research needs to be done to prove the claims hold true on a larger scale. 

The article also points out that the claims touted by fear-mongering groups that children raised in single-sex households often suffer are actually based on research on the children of divorce and NOT on the children of gay parents. Of course organizations opposing pending gay-marriage legislation argue that the research cited by the professional organizations is inadequate and that research would have to include a generation of evidence and large numbers of children to be sufficient. 

Fine, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health councilors, and social workers need to get going on that research. They need to prove once and for all that the argument against raising a "class of motherless or fatherless children" is just the fear and hate-mongering that it is. 

Why Can't We Be This Inclusive in the US?

Via Transgriot:

Check out this great commercial for a bank in Argentina. 

Grisly Double Murder in Vigo, Spain Yields Nada

Via Blabbeando, Joe. My. God. and Americablog:

Two men, Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño, 27, of Spain and Julio Anderson Luciano, 32, originally from Brazil were murdered in their home in January of 2006. Their confessed murderer, Jacobo Piñeiro Rial who tried to cover up his crime by setting fire to their apartment, was acquitted of the murders and almost acquitted of the arson charge as well. Why was he acquitted? Because he basically said he experienced a "gay panic" when the two men tried to have sex with him. 

No one witnessed the crime, but Piñeiro Rial admitted stabbing Peréz Triviño, whom he met in the bar where he worked, and his partner Anderson Luciano a total of 57 times. He claimed he was out of his mind on cocaine and alcohol and defended himself when Peréz Triviño tried to rape him at knife-point in the middle of the night. However his testimony was inconsistent within itself and with evidence presented at the trial. 

The events according to Blabbeando:

There are no independent witnesses, but police and forensic experts say that the murder rampage began around 4:00am. Apparently, Pérez Triviñio was stabbed first but did not die. Piñeiro then stabbed Anderson Luciano twice while in the couples' room, and 22 more times as he followed his victim out of the room, into a corridor and out to the living room - where he died.

Pérez Triviñio, in the meantime, had locked himself in the room and records show that he was able to call local authorities. The call was cut short when Piñeiro was able to break back into the room and finish him off by stabbing him 35 more times.

In the living room, he tied Anderson Luciano's hands and put a blanket over his body; in the bedroom, he placed a blanket over Pérez Triviñio's head, tied a cable around it, and tethered it to a bed post. He then emptied closets and threw clothes all over the apartment, poured alcohol and set everything on fire.

Piñeiro left the building around 9:30am. He was carrying the suitcase he had filled with the men's belongings and initially asked a friend if he could hide it. When his friend declined, he went back to his hometown, Cangas, and walked into another bar. When news of the fire and double-murder flashed on the television screen, he confessed to the bartender that he'd been the one to set the place on fire, and asked him to hide the suitcase. The bartender also declined to keep it. Piñeiro was arrested a couple of days later based on leads given by the men he encountered after leaving Vigo.

Piñeiro Rial has yet to be sentenced, but he only faces a possible 15-20 year sentence for the arson. A Facebook page has been set up calling for protests in many cities including Vigo, Barcelona, Madrid, and New York. 

An Open Apology

Via PageOneQ:

Deb Price of The Detroit News wrote a piece last month about how educators are not only NOT protecting LGBT students from discrimination, but are in fact contributing to the hateful, hurtful environment in which these students find themselves. In her article she focused on a report by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network called "Shared Differences." The report took data from more than 2,000 LGBT students of color:

The survey results paint a grim picture of kids so hardened to anti-gay remarks, shoving or worse that they don't even bother reporting the abusive incidents to a school official or parent.

These students rarely read about LGBT people in textbooks, nor do they learn about gay history or people in class.

What they too often learn firsthand is that school is a place where they can expect to be hurt -- emotionally or physically. The predictable but sad result is that many of these kids skip classes and see their grades drop.

Price's article did indicate that schools with LGBT clubs and organizations, supportive administrators, inclusive textbooks, and anti-harassment policies were taking steps in the right direction. The report can be found at glsen.org.

This piece really hits home for me. 

Once upon a time, (OMG, like 15 years ago now) I was a gay student. It was, to say the least, a miserable experience for me. I can not fathom how much more difficult it is for a GLBT student of color. It's hard enough just being a teenager. Top all the hormones and pressures from parents and peers and society with a couple of unfortunately ugly stigmas and I don't know how some kids survive. All I can say is you must be very brave, and I salute you. 

Then I became a teacher. And you know what? It wasn't any better. I once suggested to another teacher that there was a need for a gay student organization. I was thinking about trying to start a GSA or something. She responded with horror. She told me I didn't want to do that: I'd get run out of town or maybe even shot. I was then only just out of the closet myself. Well, only out to a handful of my friends who I knew were alright. Scary. 

I tried to exude tolerance and acceptance in my classroom, but I had gotten a clear message that it wasn't alright to be gay. I tried to be positive and to encourage my student to expose themselves to different viewpoints. But I was terrified at the same time. I was called a faggot numerous times by students. And I didn't know how to rescue my students who were similarly insulted by their peers. I failed them over and over again.

It was the kind of community where young gays didn't come out while still in high school. Occasionally stories would trickle back to me about former students then in college who had come out of the closet. These stories were usually met with disgust. In fact, one student told me that if he ever saw his former best friend again he would kill him. I tried to dissuade him from this stance, saying that he was still the same guy, he just didn't want to date girls anymore. But I don't know if the message got through all the testosterone. 

A few lesbians were out. But they were constantly harassed by students, teachers, and administrators. One couple I knew were often cited for public displays of affection. Even while heterosexual couples engaged in heavy petting in the hallways, these young women were berated for kissing. I'm not saying I wanted to see all that, but fair is fair. Or at least it should be. My room became a sort of haven for them. I still discouraged them from making out, but I was honest about it. I just don't have any desire to see teenagers playing tongue hockey. 

Probably the most discouraging thing that happened was when a friend and colleague pulled me aside one day. An administrator had given her a message to give to me. I don't know why this administrator didn't approach me directly. Perhaps I would have better understood the intent of her message had she done so. But anyway, my friend pulled me aside one day after school. She said X is really worried about you. X thinks you've been telling too much to some of the other teachers and she's afraid you might get yourself in trouble. I still don't know exactly what she was implying. Did she think I didn't want people to know I was gay? Did she think I might get in legal trouble if a student decided to claim I was being inappropriate? Was it a covert warning that my job was in jeopardy if I came out? Was it a threat to my life? I don't know. But suffice it to say I never felt safe teaching in that environment again. Once I realized the administration wouldn't have my back, I knew I didn't need to be there anymore. 

I did teach again a couple of years later. In another school. In another state, also not known for it's acceptance of gays. This time I was gun shy. I still came out to a select group of friends. But I was very much in the closet in my classroom. I still fought the good fight when I felt I could. When students said, "That's so gay." I responded, "Do you mean that's so happy or that's so homosexual?"

People were a little more tolerant at this school. I had one class with two out and outspoken lesbians. Another class had a bisexual girl. And yet another had a boy who identified as bisexual. I tried to be nonplussed by their disclosures (some kids are "out" for the shock value) and always accepting. But I'm sure insults were abundant. And I know there were enough tough gangster-types to make sure the word faggot saw plenty of action. 

I just hope I was mostly a positive influence in the lives of these kids, especially the LGBTQ ones. To them: If I ever made things more difficult for you, I apologize now from the bottom of my heart. I hope you can forgive me for not stopping them when they called you faggot. I was scared too. And I stopped them as often as I could. When I called you lesbians, I had heard you using the term among yourselves and I understood the term to have positive power for you. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was calling you out. I meant absolutely no insult by it. I'm proud of your for being able to be true to yourselves. When we made up the word queerdo to talk about how some people view goths, I hope you didn't take it as an insult. It was a joke. I absolutely support your right to be who you are and even if I kid you about it, I think you're great and I hope you're doing alright. Queerdo.

Alphabet Stewing

Via Joe My God:

So, L's, G's, B's, T's, and Q's like E's, N's, D's, and A's together. But we don't like D's, A's, D's, and T's together, is that it?

In a recent PageOneQ article House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying that anti-hate crimes legislation and ENDA held priority over the repeal of DADT. Pelosi had a breakfast meeting Tuesday where she met with "progressive bloggers and writers" according to the article. The repeal of the 1993 Don't Ask Don't Tell law has been on LGBT activists' radar lately after Representative Ellen Tauscher introduced a bill to reverse it. In case you've been living under a rock DADT is the bill signed by by Bill Clinton where the military is not allowed to ask you if you're gay and you're not allowed to tell if you're gay. All very separate but equal. 

In my own humble opinion, I tend to agree with what Pelosi seems to have been implying. Laws protecting LGBT people from hate crimes and discrimination should take precedent. Of course I believe an inclusive military would be lovely, but those signing up to join know they're getting into an organization with a long history of intolerance. Yes, I think all that's going to change eventually, but homosexuals in the military ought to know they've got a long uphill battle ahead. And there are huge gaps in civil rights protections out there in everyday America. 

For instance ENDA. As Pelosi was quoted by PageOneQ: 

The priorities have been Hate Crimes and ENDA, fully inclusive legislation in those two areas, so we'll have to have our strategy work around on how we can get those passed, as well as move forward on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

The struggle to get some employment protections into law has been going on since the 1970s when they tried to tack "sexual orientation" onto the Civil Rights Act. And the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has been batted around since the 1990s. But a couple of things keep getting in the way. 

One problem is that issues like marriage rights (as evidenced by the whole Prop. 8 debacle) and DADT tend to get more media attention. These issues stay in the spotlight because they elicit heavy emotional reactions from both supporters and detractors. 

The other problem is that activist groups can't get along when it comes to supporting ENDA. The biggest issue is transgender inclusion. Because many of ENDA's opponents use the whole pervert-in-the-little-girl's-room argument some have been quick to drop transpeople from the whole thing. What these people don't realize is that such opponents are never going to give in. In fact, when we stop fighting together and start turning against one another the right-wingnuts win. Not only does our legislation not get passed, but now we represent a smaller, divided force. 

As Pelosi indicated now is the time for us to pursue inclusive legislation. Lest we forget, the Stonewall Inn was a popular hangout for a mixture of people, most significantly transwomen. The modern LGBT rights movement was sparked by a bunch of angry "trannys" (a term too many of us throw around without discretion). To drop transgendered people out of our struggle for civil rights will not only weaken the movement as a whole, but will reveal an underlying weakness of character. If we can't stand up for each other, no one is going to stand up for us. 

The Boys, er, Girls in the Bandwagon

Via TransGriot:

While many in the US are still trying to recover from a little bit of an Milk hangover, it appears that yet anther LGBT icon will see the light of the silver screen. Dorothy Surrenders reported today that Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron are slotted to appear in a film about famous artist and transwoman Lili Elbe (played by Kidman) and her wife Gerda Wegener (played by Theron), who was herself a famous artist and illustrator for magazines including Vogue,  Fantasio, and others (see the image I stole from artnet.com below).

Elbe (born Einar Wegener) allegedly often posed as a (female, obviously) model for his wife's illustrations. He underwent one of the first publicized sexual reassignment surgeries in 1930. Gerda remained by his side as he transitioned to Lili even though their marriage was annulled by the king of Denmark. 

The film, titled The Danish Girl, is scheduled to be released in 2010 according to its listing on IMDB. But there don't seem to be many more details available yet. Except that it's a true story based on the novel by David Ebershoff. I just hope Mr. and Ms. Average out there don't get tired of hearing about OUR stories. At least this one promises a bit of hot lesbian action (well sort of). Straight men like that kind of thing, right? Even if one of the lesbians is a man? And even if that man is played by Nicole Kidman?

I'm really glad to see more and more transpeople appearing in film these days. (If you missed the film Transamerica you have your homework assignment for the week.) The truth is even the uber-inclusive LGBT movement tends to shove the T part under the rug all too often. The number of times I've had to edit the pronouns in this post may be some indication as to why. It's often difficult and confusing talking about trans issues. But that's no excuse. If we don't make the effort to at least try to understand, then we're as bad as those who make ads about creepy men following little girls into restrooms to scare people away from supporting rights for trans individuals. 

Oh, By the Way

I just wanted to share a bit of good news. 

This suburban Georgia boy is planning on tying the knot again. This time to a man. Yes, ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you, I'm getting gay-married. Although I live in one of the most traditionally religiously oppressive countries in the world (lest we forget the Spanish Inquisition), Spain has equal rights for gay couples. So all of you still preaching the freest country in the world bullshit about America can sod off. It's not. Sorry to have to tell you this but Spain is freer than the US. As are a growing number of countries, none of which has collapsed into incest, bestiality, pedophilia, and other various forms of moral ruin. 

Granted, the process of arranging a marriage is a bit of a Herculean task, especially if one of you is a US citizen. I can't tell you what loops I've had to jump through to get all my documents together. But honestly, the worst hoops were trying to get documents certified in the US for use outside the country. 

But at last we've got all of our paperwork together and turned in. A couple days ago we finally were told a date when we can get married. YES married -- fully, legally married with all the rights and privileges of a gender discordant couple. 

The Shame in Your Grandchildren's Eyes

Better than his "You commie homo-loving sons-of-guns" comment. Sean Penn's speech should be recognized and remembered for an excellent point he brings up. Despite all of the arguments being bandied about by the religious right right now, one fact about the so-called culture wars should be noted. All the hate and fear-mongering about trying to suppress Christianity is really moot. The simple fact of the matter is the people of the future, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will look back on the bigotry of this age with as much shame as we look back on the slavery and Jim Crow supporters of our past. And no, I'm not saying that the struggle for equality that LGBT people are going through is in any way comparable to that of African-Americans. But it is, however, just as much a struggle for civil rights. 

And by the way, everybody knows they only gave Heath Ledger the Oscar for Dark Knight because they scorned him after Brokeback when he REALLY deserved it.

Minute of Hate

Via Joe. My. God.:

Nuff said.

School Safety

A choir teacher in Henderson, Nevada was found dead in his home just before Christmas. On Top Magazine reported Friday that two brothers aged 17 and 18 have allegedly confessed to the murder. Or, more accurately, the younger of the two confessed that he and his brother strangled the teacher, Matthew Cox, 32 after he "got sexual" with his student. According to the boy, Cox made advances that made him uncomfortable while he and his brother were visiting Cox's home to hang out and play video games. 

Number one, any teacher would have to be a great fool to invite students into his home. Although Cox's mother seems to think he had the students there to help "straighten them out," it's never a good idea to be alone with a student, not even at school. Unfortunately in our current social environment the accusation of molestation is as damaging as the act itself. But even if Cox was foolish he didn't deserve to die. (What does the Catholic church do to priests suspected of molesting children? Oh yeah, they send them to rural Alaska.) 

Here's some news ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you, homosexuals are not pedophiles. I know all your child-raping, whore-hiring, money-laundering preachers out there use a lot of fancy hate speech and emotional language to encourage you to "protect traditional marriage." But the truth is it's just a lot of empty rhetoric. You know the adage, "If you can't dazzle them with dexterity, baffle them with bullshit?" In this case dexterity is any truth as proven by real evidence and bullshit is the whole "the fags want to take away our right to be Christians" line. Keep feeding that crap to America's youth and you get kids arraigned on charges of "murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, burglary, and auto theft."

Because ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you, those kids killed Cox to rob him of his wii, ipod, and laptop. And they'll get away with it because they cried "fag."

Daily Minute of Hate

The American Family Association wants you to protect the family in America by speaking out against the radical homosexual agenda. It seems we have a plan in place since the 90s to eradicate the civil liberties of Christians in America. Shit, if only I had known. Most significantly we want to install thought police to arrest Christians when they think about spreading the message of Christ's love. 

I can't speak for the rest of LGBT people out there, but frankly I could not possibly give a shit weather or not you spread the message of Christ's love. But I think maybe the message you shouldn't be spreading is Jesus hates all faggots. After all didn't Jesus preach about loving other people? Didn't Jesus hang out with whores, tax collectors, and other sinners? Didn't he say that his commandment of love replaced all those ancient religious laws? I mean really, you claim that we've chosen this "lifestyle," right? And you claim this lifestyle will send us to hell, right? So, obviously we want to go to hell then, don't we? Dear god, we sure as shit don't want to spend eternity with you yammering zealots talking our ears off. 

And we want to destroy the fabric of our society by teaching children that homosexuality marriage is the same as "natural" marriage. I'm not sure how this would work. Would someone out there please tell me exactly HOW WILL GAY MARRIAGE DESTROY OUR SOCIETY? I'm so sick of empty rhetoric and circular logic about this. Give me a real example. How will this happen? Show me how it's ruined Spain. Show me how it's ruined Switzerland. Show me how it's ruined Canada. Show me how children raised in LGBT households grow up somehow worse than those with a mother and father. Show me these poor ruined kids. Show me their track marks, their pimps, their anal bleeding, whatever horrors that have been caused by being exposed to homosexuals. 

I've always said the best kind of fiction leaves you with more questions than answers. If that is true, then let me introduce you to the very best kind of fiction. This is AFA's television show about the gay agenda. It's not a minute of hate; it's an hour of hate. But hate it is. And you know what? Hate like that exposed in this video has not one damn thing with being a Christian . It has everything to do with being a bigot. I sincerely hope everybody will go to this site, watch this hateful bit of propaganda, and fill out their survey because these people need to be exposed for the false Christians they are. 

Daily Minute of Hate

Peter Hitchens of the Daily Mail has some kind of creepy obsession with what homosexuals do in their bedrooms. He doesn't seem to realize that the vast majority of LGBT people (and I imagine heterosexuals, for that matter) aren't interested in sharing what they do privately. He seems to think that because we want to be treated fairly and not have to hide who we love we want him to watch our homemade porn. 

His sunday editorial "We show tolerance to 'gays' and get tyranny in return" was accompanied by this image:

According to the editorial, the man in the image was beaten by robbers. However nothing in the article (except Hitchens' imaginary "insane, sex-obsessed Stallinist state") links the robbery to homosexuality in any way. His blatant propagandistic message of hate reveals itself to be sheer paranoid lunacy. He goes on to cite the usual intolerant claptrap, blaming gays for the woes of modern society. I just feel sorry for the young LGBT people out there who are exposed to such bigotry and think the world is like that. 

Thank goodness the online version had the picture placed a more reasonable distance from part about gays. 

Taking the Words Out of My Mouth

I saw this on Good As You. It's as enraging as my last post was hilarious.