Transsexuality and France

Recent news has that transsexuality will no longer be classified as a mental illness in France, an awesome victory for trans rights. I'm not sure how many will keep up with the blog after the semester, however, I found this article extremely relevant to our class as well as worth a leisurely read, thus I could not resist a good posting. Hope you all have an absolutely fabulous summer.

http://birdofparadox.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/transsexuality-will-no-longer-be-classified-in-france-as-a-mental-illness/

Perez Hilton - Gay Marriage in NY

http://perezhilton.com/2009-05-12-gay-marriage-thismuch-closer-in-new-york-state

Gay Marriage THISMUCH Closer In New York State!Filed under: Gay Gay Gay
More progress!!!
The NY State Assembly passed a bill to legalize gay marriage on Tuesday!!!!
The bill now moves on to the Senate, where it will hopefully pass as well.
New York Governor David Paterson has said that he will sign the bill into law. He was he one that introduced it last month!
If the bill became law, New York would follow Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Iowa in legalizing gay marriage. New Hampshire has passed a bill legalizing gay marriage, but it still needs to be signed by the governor.
Equality for all!!!!!!
Posted: May 12, 2009 at 9:48 pm

Maps

Le Marais


ACT UP/ Aides


1920's in Paris


Shifts in Gay Paris in the 20th Century

Same-sex marriages gradually gain legal ground

Even in states that don't allow gay marriage, court decisions on child custody, divorce and other issues are giving incremental rights to same-sex couples.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-gay-marriage-law4-2009may04,0,3072176.story?track=rss

The white gay male is the dominant image that has been associated with the gay rights movement. We have discussed this issue in class to some extent; the invisibility of lesbianism, gay individuals of color, and any other identity that does not fit neatly into the gay white man mold. The following blog article addresses this issue, it ties the pervasive gay white male image to the patriarchy's role in the gay rights movement.

Here is the link:

http://www.womanist-musings.com/2008/11/where-gay-rights-fails.html

New Hampshire Senate passes gay-marriage bill

Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:28pm BS
Reuters

By Andrew J. Manuse

CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - New Hampshire's Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage after an amendment was added that allows clergy to decline to marry gay couples.

The bill, which passed in a 13-11 vote, needs to be signed by Governor John Lynch to make New Hampshire the fifth U.S. state where gay marriage is legal. The Democrat has not indicated whether he will sign or veto the bill, but has expressed opposition to the measure.

Read the full article.

Some Reasons as to Why Prop 8 Passed

My friend and sociology graduate student wrote a blog article as to why Proposition 8 passed, and why black and latino voters are being blamed. It is a lengthy piece, but well written and informative. It takes a close look at the pro-prop 8 campaign; it's tactics, what demographic they targeted and how, the construction of their ads, their rhetoric, who they consist of, and so on. If you have the time, I definitely recommend the read.

Here is the link:

http://darwinbondgraham.blogspot.com/2008/11/political-strategy-of-h8-in-aftermath.html

New York Times slideshow: Gay Marriage

Stephen Colbert | Gay Marriage

Stephen Colbert on the issue of gay marriage.

The original ad:

Miss California

Gay Marriages in Iowa Start With Little to No Protest

I'm surprised, much like the residents of Iowa, that there wouldn't be more protests when the majority of the population strongly opposes gay marriage. Interesting...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/28marriage.html?th&emc=th

A Quiet Day in Iowa as Same-Sex Couples Line Up to Marry

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: April 27, 2009

DES MOINES — In a way, life looked unexpectedly ordinary here on Monday as Iowa began allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The large, angry protests some had imagined never materialized in this city, the state’s most populous. Neither did the crowds of couples from all over the nation that some feared might create a carnival-like atmosphere captured in earlier images from other places.

By noon, no protesters could be found outside the marriage license office. Extra sheriff’s deputies assigned to keep order milled around the Polk County recorder’s office, looking bored. And an early-morning line of dozens of same-sex couples waiting to apply for licenses had dwindled into a few people discussing recent rainfall patterns.

Given polls showing that most Iowans object to same-sex marriage, Shawn Regenold and Steve Kearney of West Des Moines had feared a tense, perhaps overwhelming scene. Thus they decided not to bring their children — ages 2, 3 and 4 — as they sought their license. Instead, they found a quiet building where, every so often, couples receiving licenses burst into rounds of applause and where, on the front steps, a local pastor married a few smiling couples as television cameras rolled.

“People in Iowa tend to get real hot about things,” said Maggie Grace, a neighbor of the West Des Moines couple who had come to fulfill the witness requirement for their license. “And then they go on about their way.”

Officials in some of the state’s 98 other counties described similarly low-key scenes on the day Iowa became the latest state to permit same-sex marriage and the first in the Midwest to do so. The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled this month that a decade-old law prohibiting same-sex marriage violated the State Constitution.

In Davenport, talk of a morning protest came and went. In Iowa City, an opponent of same-sex marriage delivered a petition signed by eight people urging the local county recorder there not to grant licenses. Similar petitions, some with many more signatures, were delivered across the state, though the Iowa attorney general has said recorders must abide by the court’s decision and provide the marriage licenses.

Protests were more pronounced in some rural areas. About 50 people waited outside the Wayne County Courthouse urging the recorder there, Angela Horton, not to allow the marriages.

“Speaking for myself personally, it has put me in a difficult position,” Ms. Horton said. “But I am going to uphold the law.” She noted that by midafternoon no same-sex couples had sought licenses at her office.

Chuck Hurley, the leader of the Iowa Family Policy Center, which opposes such marriages, said he and others were distressed that state lawmakers had adjourned for the year on Sunday without agreeing to begin the process of amending the State Constitution to stop the unions. Mr. Hurley, who delivered a petition with thousands of signatures to the recorder here early Monday, told reporters that more people had not turned out to object because they were busy “raising children and going to work.”

“People I associate with are very much law-abiding people,” he said. “They’re not going to chain themselves to their recorders’ offices.”

Iowa joins Connecticut and Massachusetts in allowing same-sex marriage, and Vermont will follow in September. California also allowed them for about six months until voters there rejected the idea in November.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling on April 3, which surprised many here, spurred a new set of technical, philosophical and legal questions, which public officials and others have been racing to sort through over the past three weeks.

State officials were rushing to change the wording on marriage license applications and other official documents to reflect the change. The forms now refer to “Party A” and “Party B” and give applicants an option to describe themselves as “bride,” “groom” or “spouse.”

Though the court’s ruling had no direct effect on religious leaders, many must decide whether to marry same-sex couples. Members of some denominations are divided on the matter.

By the end of Monday, more than 200 couples had applied and paid $35 for marriage licenses in Iowa. (No statewide count was available.) Some came from neighboring states like Illinois and Nebraska, officials said. Iowa requires a three-day waiting period for applicants to marry, though some couples received waivers from judges and were married by Monday afternoon.

Melisa Keeton, 31, and Shelley Wolfe Keeton, 38, let out a cheer when a clerk here offered congratulations and their certificate of marriage. The couple had raced among the recorder’s office, a judge’s chamber for a waiver and the front of the government building where the Rev. Peg Esperanza of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Des Moines offered them the “short” vows she carried with her.

Ms. Keeton said the couple did not wish to wait even three days because she was in the final trimester of a difficult pregnancy. The couple had parked in a lot away from the recorder’s office, they said, in case there were crowds or protesters or “hoopla.”

“Who would have known we didn’t need to?” Ms. Wolfe Keeton said.

Max on the L-Word

"A woman's quest to erase a past that won't die"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30390801/ "A woman's quest to erase a past that won't die:
30 years after gender-reassignment surgery, woman's past as a man lingers." This is a recent MSNBC article that talks about some of the topics in class, in particular this woman's struggle (with family and law) to be respected as a transgender.

Boy or girl?

This is an interesting study in how people are “gendered” in society. In it this clip, a boy with an androgynous look and high voice asks strangers to guess if he is female or male.

Agression homophobe dans le 3è à Paris

Trois hommes gays âgés de 27 à 46 ans, un journaliste Genevois en mission à Paris et deux de ses amis parisiens, ont été victimes d’une violente agression physique à caractère homophobe, alors qu’ils se promenaient lundi 20 avril à 23h50, dans le 3è arrondissement de Paris. L’agression s’est produite devant la Mairie du 3è arrondissement. Le groupe d’agresseurs était composé de 15 individus, âgés entre approximativement 17 et 21 ans. Après avoir traité les trois hommes de sales pédés, ils les ont encerclés puis leur ont porté des coups de poings et de pieds. Selon le témoignage des victimes passées ce jour au Centre LGBT Paris IdF, les agresseurs étaient particulièrement haineux et seule l’intervention d’une patrouille de policiers du commissariat du 3è leur a permis de s’en sortir sans plus de dommages que des hématomes et arcades sourcilières fendues. Les agresseurs avant de se disperser ont proféré des menaces en interdisant à leurs victimes de remettre les pieds dans le quartier. Lorsqu’ils ont porté plainte ce matin, les policiers du 3è leur ont confirmé que la bande était habituée des lieux. Les trois amis tiennent à souligner l’efficacité et l’empathie des policiers du 3è arrondissement qui les ont pris en charge en les conduisant à l’Hôtel Dieu, mais ils ont demandé une audience au Maire du 3è pour aborder la question de la sécurité des personnes homosexuelles dans le quartier. Le Centre LGBT Paris IdF, implanté dans le 3è arrondissement, se félicite des bonnes relations entretenues avec la mairie et le commissariat du 3ème, cependant, ce n’est pas le premier témoignage d’agression à caractère homophobe dont il a connaissance, souvent le fait de bandes formés de jeunes très violents. Le Marais, dans le 4è a également été récemment le lieu d’agressions d’homosexuels. Aussi, nous semble t’il nécessaire de demander aux autorités, d’exercer une vigilance particulière et de prendre des mesures spécifiquement adaptées à ce type de délinquance homophobe qui peut se produire à l’encontre de personnes LGBT, également des femmes, dans ces arrondissements qui ne sont pourtant pas considérés comme des quartiers sensibles, mais des lieux de sorties, en particulier mais pas seulement, des personnes LGBT.

Christine Le Doaré pdt du centre LGBT de Paris