federal protection vs. state rights
Out At College, Closeted While Quarantined At Home
You finally found your niche at college where you have like-minded friends who are gay. No longer are you bullied as you were in high school because you can express your self, your identity and your sexual orientation. You feel free because you’re out! But with college classes cancelled, you’re right back where you…
How Do You Interpret Sex? Trump vs. Obama & Section 1557 of The Affordable Care Act
History of Affordable Care Act When the ACA law passed in 2010, doctors and hospitals were prohibited to discriminate based on race, color, age, disability or sex. The Office for Civil Rights at Health and Human Services Program issued a rule, a few years later, that when it refers to sex, it includes a broader…
I Can’t Imagine Larry Kramer Ever Resting In Peace!
The LGBT community is indebted to activist and author Larry Kramer. “The fire in his belly” led him in the 1980’s to wake up the complacency of this country into dealing with with AIDS as a public-health emergency. A founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first service organization for HIV-positive people, Kramer discovered that his…
What to Expect From a PFLAG Meeting
In the book When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know, co-author Jonathan L. Tobkes, M.D., writes that “in my practice, I have noticed that parents feel better when they realize that they are not alone and that there are people like them who are experiencing similar thoughts, feelings, and reactions to having…
May Is Mental Health Awareness Month. Are Your Kids Mentally Healthy?
Life is not easy for the LGBTQI community. Youth.gov reports that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth have: much higher levels of suicidal ideation, i.e. 15.1% to 34.3% of lesbian and gay high school students have attempted suicide at least once as opposed to Heterosexual students who account for 3.8% to 9.6% of attempted suicides. More…
GLSEN’S Day of Silence to Speak Volumes
Every April, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), a U.S.-based education organization whose mission is to end LGBTQ+ discrimination in K-12 schools, holds its DAY OF SILENCE. This year, the DOS will be held on its twenty-fifth anniversary, Friday, April 24, 2020. A Day of Silence may seem like the antithesis of what schools need…
What Did The Gay Community Inherit?
I was lucky to see “The Inheritance” before Broadway theatres shuttered its doors on Thursday, March 12, 2020, the next day. Playwright Matthew Lopez’s play, an import from London where it received an Oliver Award, is a “dramady” (part comedy, part drama) about gay culture now and in the time of AIDS. It was an…
School Is Out, But The Cyberbullies Can Taunt Your LGBT Child
God only knows when schools and college will discontinue shuttering their doors. Just because your LGBTQ child isn’t face-to-face with the school bully doesn’t mean he isn’t being harassed online, 24/7. We’ve all heard about cyberbullying resulting in suicides for those who are being abused on-line. GLSEN that studies the climate for LGBTQ students…
What Traditional Couples Can Learn From Gay Marriage
Almost four years ago, when gay marriage was legal, a reporter named Christopher Katis from an LGBT publication QSALTLake,” interviewed me about whether kids of gay parents fared better than those raised by heterosexual parents. His curiosity was stoked by a study by the University of Melbourne that had released the first official results from…
What the Defeat of the HB Bill 1057 Means to Trans Kids in S.Dakota & Other States
South Dakota’s House Bill 1057 that sought to block physicians from providing puberty blockers and gender confirmation surgery to help minors (under 16) change their gender was defeated this past week. It’s stalled for a year anyway and I hope forever! If the bill had passed, South Dakota doctors who were caught performing gender-affirming…
Hallmark Should Cater To All Families
Original Dec. Ad with Same-sex Brides Reinstated Last month, One Million Moms (1MM) launched a campaign calling on Crown Media, Hallmark’s parent company, to pull several ads for the wedding planning site Zola. A Hallmark account representative told a Zola ad buyer that “we are not allowed to accept creative that are deemed controversial.” The…
“What God Has Wrought, Let No Man Put Asunder”
My husband is a Methodist, one of 13 million strong of the second largest denomination. I probably am too as I was named after my father John Wesley whose namesake was the founder of Methodism, and with his brother Charles, wrote many hymns sung from the Methodist hymnal. Last week, United Methodist Church leaders from…
You Are What You Eat: Chick-fil-A
In the past, the restaurant chain Chic-fil-A has ruffled the feathers of its potential liberal clientele because of its known reputation donating to anti-gay Christian organizations such as The Salvation Army, Paul Anderson Youth Homes, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. CEO Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A, founded in 1946, does not believe in gay marriage.…
Transgender Awareness Week Is Almost Over, But The Fight For Transgender Equality Persists
Each year, Transgender Awareness Week is November 13-19. It’s a time for transgender people and their allies to highlight the community, share their stories and talk about the issues they face daily such as discrimination in health care, housing, workplace, at school, in restaurants, restrooms, airport, and interactions with law enforcement. It’s a chance to…
November is Adoption Month, But NOT for Everyone
There are approximately 125,000 children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the United States. The Williams Institute of Law at U.C.L.A. reports that 114,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. are raising kids and many of them have become parents through adoption or fostering. Or surrogacy for that matter. Seems like a match made…