Queer Notes

Monday, April 29, 2013

Pro-Basketball Player Jason Collins Comes Out

‘I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.’ | National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Blog

Unbelievably, Jason Collins is the first gay male professional team athlete to come out. Hopefully his courageous statement will help break down the homophobia in professional male sports...

Homophobia has been a long-term problem in male professional sports, which I and UK gay activist Peter Tatchell tried to call attention to back in 2002, when we protested Mike Tyson's homophobic rants when he came to Memphis to fight Lenox Lewis... Mike Tyson Hugs Gay Activist

Sunday, April 28, 2013

SF Gay Pride event rescinds marshalship offer for Bradley Manning

SF Gay Pride event rescinds marshalship offer for Bradley Manning | The Raw Story

Bradley Manning Off Limits at SF Gay Pride Parade, but Corporate Sleaze is Embraced (Glenn Greenwald)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Marriage Is Great, But Many LGBT People of Color Need Job Safety

An important look at poverty in the LGBT community, especially among LGBT racial minorities, and why we cannot let the fight for marriage equality divert attention from the main issue--economic justice.

Marriage Is Great, But Many LGBT People of Color Need Job Safety - COLORLINES

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Debate: Does Marriage Equality Reinforce a Conservative Institution or Support Social Change?

Scot Nakagawa (Why I Support Same Sex Marriage as a Civil Right, But Not As a Strategy to Achieve Structural Change) caused a stir on the LGBT blogosphere with his criticism of the push for gay marriage as a conservative movement and not an effective way to create radical change.

He is correct that the right to marry is not the end of the fight for LGBT equality, but I think he is wrong to dismiss the fight, and near victory, for gay and lesbian couples to legally marry as a conservative strategy that falls short of true liberation. The freedom to marry is not the only, or the most important, goal for LGBT liberation, but for many gay and lesbian couples it would be a major step forward in achieving civil rights and equality. There are other issues, like economic inequality and job discrimination, that most also be addressed, but it is not accurate to dismiss marriage equality as a conservative strategy and goal that falls short.

Here's a debate on the issue...

Debate: Does Marriage Equality Reinforce a Conservative Institution or Support Social Change?

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

SCOTUS Update: It Doesn't Look Good for DOMA

SCOTUS Update: It Doesn't Look Good for DOMA | Common Dreams

By most accounts, the SCOTUS may not issue a sweeping national endorsement of marriage equality, but they are likely to dismiss the Prop. 8 case (thus allowing gay/lesbian marriages to continue to CA), and may strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which the Obama administration refused to defend. So we expect, at the least, for Prop 8 and DOMA to be put to rest in June....