*Volume 12 * May 2000 *
Inside This Newsletter
Mothers
It is that time of year again, when we honor those women that gave birth to us, our Mothers. Some of us were blessed with understanding mothers. Some of us were less fortunate and had Mothers that disowned us for who we were. No matter which category your Mother falls in, they are the only ones we have. Only one to a person. As I look back on my life, I find that even though I did not realize it at the time, mine was very protective of me. If she hadn’t been, my life would have been very different than it ended up being.
When I was in my mid twenties, I had to tell my Mother that I was one of “those” awful women known as a lesbian. Her answer to this was, “I have always known you were.” So, I wonder, why didn’t she tell me? I applied for and made it into the armed services, although I never knew I made it in because I was never told. Another way of protection by my Mother because she knew how bad it would be for me if I were found out by the government as to my sexual status.
I was one of the fortunate few that had a Mother that cared for me even though I was “different”. I was one of her babies and she would protect me any way she could from a cold hard cruel world, whether I knew I needed this protection or not. Even though I will most likely be an orphan when my Mother leaves this world for the next, having two brothers and two sisters who don’t have a “sister” like me, I was blessed with being placed in my Mothers care by the angles.
For those “sisters” that were disowned by their Mothers because they were “different”, my heart goes out to them. To those Mothers that have disowned their children because they are homosexuals, I am sorry that they never knew how loving these children really were. To those people that insist that homosexuality is a “chosen” lifestyle, they are the ones that need the reprogramming of the minds program. No one ever “chose” this way of life. We were “blessed” with this way of life.
Memorial Day
Its more then a three day weekend to many and should to all of us. It's a day to recognize the ones who have died serving our country. It doesn't matter what war, what police action or when they died. These people gave all that they could to provide us of freedom and others of rights they deserved. This Memorial Day weekend, take a moment to honor those who gave their all by not drinking and driving.
Decisions
Written BY:Bestwolf
Life is so full of decisions that when we are faced with one, we find ourselves all alone, arguing with ourselves constantly hoping that we make the right one that will make us happy. No one can make decisions for us. If we choose the wrong path, it could take a lifetime to get back on the right track for ourselves. Somehow the path chosen for myself is to build a home for the rest of you, and believe me when I say it, it is not a path I would have chosen for myself. Lesbians are a picky lot. You can never satisfy any of them. They are the world’s greatest volunteers and backer outers one ever would hope to meet.
The concept of My Sisters House came to me in the 60’s when I was forced to undergo reprogramming treatments to make me a “normal” woman. Normal?? It was reinforced when I was on an elevator in a hospital expected to die and over heard a nurse saying, “People like her don’t deserve to live”. People like me??
Once, I was even questioned by a lesbian as to why I thought I should be the one to build My Sisters House. My angry retort was to ask her when she intended to get off her lazy ass and do it for the rest of us. Her rebuff was “there is not enough money in it”. Money?? Is that all you people can think of?? My Sisters House is for the working lesbian/woman. It is NOT for the wealthy.
Even though My Sisters House is relatively small right now, we continue to grow all the time. More and more women realize that they cannot make it all alone and that no one is an island unto themselves. At some point they are realizing that the bars are not a healthy place to find meaning relationships and that lasting friendships come in various gatherings across the nation.
If you have something going on in your area we would be happy to hear from you.
D.C. March Touches Many
A huge throng of gay rights supporters rallied outside the U.S. Capitol Sunday to press for equal rights and kick off a voter registration drive designed to boost their political clout in November.
Entertainers, lawmakers, community organizers and government officials urged the crowd at the Millennium March for Equality to take a stand against intolerance, support anti-hate crimes legislation and make their voices heard by voting. ``We're marching on Washington on April 30, but we're marching into the voter's booth on November 7,'' said Nicole Murray-Ramirez, co-chairman of the march. ``We cannot be ignored.''
The crowd stretched west from the U.S. Capitol down the National Mall on a warm, sunny day. Nearly 300,000 people attended the last march in 1993, and organizers said they had improved on that total this year. The rally capped a weekend of activities that included a giant mock wedding ceremony for about 1,000 same-sex gay and lesbian couples on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday, an evening concert and a festival with gay-friendly vendors, booths for community groups, food and entertainment. It was the fourth national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights march, following earlier events in 1979, 1987 and 1993. ``We must keep moving forward and not succumb to the sirens of hate,'' President Clinton said in a taped message to the crowd. Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) also appeared in a taped message.
Rally participants said they were riding a wave of momentum after Vermont lawmakers last week approved same-sex civil unions that give gay and lesbian couples many of the same rights as married heterosexual couples. Also prominent on the agenda for organizers was hate crimes prevention legislation, which has stalled in Congress but got a fresh push last week when Clinton renewed his call for its approval. ``I'm hoping the next president and Congress will listen to what we're saying, particularly on hate crimes legislation,'' said Paul Williams of St. Louis, Missouri, who also attended the last gay rights march and rally in 1993.
Among the speakers were the father of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student who was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in October 1998, and the nephew of James Byrd, the black man killed in Texas in 1998 after being tied to a pickup truck and dragged for three miles. ``Hate crimes must stop,'' Dennis Shepard told the crowd. ''You have a mission, you are the missionaries ... Let people know who you are and what you represent. Be proud of who you are.''
Murray-Ramirez said organizers were focusing on efforts to bolster voter registration in the gay community and force politicians to pay closer attention to issues of importance to the gay community. Those in the crowd were asked to sign cards pledging they would be part of ``the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender voter turnout in history'' and to help identify other potential voters.
A variety of figures from the entertainment and political worlds appeared, including actresses Anne Heche and Kathy Najimy, singers Melissa Etheridge and Melba Moore, Small Business Administration Administrator Aida Alvarez and U.S. lawmakers such as Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and gay Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
Adoption Ban in Florida Goes to Court
A federal judge on April 24 rejected Florida's request to summarily dismiss a legal challenge to the state's ban on adoptions by lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. While allowing the case of gay foster father Steven Lofton to proceed on its merits, U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King found that the rest of the plaintiffs in the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) class action lawsuit had not been damaged by the law since the gays and lesbians among them had not actually applied to adopt children and been rejected. He dismissed their cases but gave them 30 days to refile their complaints, and they'll use that time to apply to the state to adopt.
ACLU Gay and Lesbian Rights Project assistant director Michael Adams viewed the situation of the other plaintiffs as a mere "procedural blip." Judge King did not comment on the state's "moral" arguments against adoptions by gays, lesbians and bisexuals, nor on the state's contention that gay families are not entitled to legal protections.
Florida is unique among the states in holding a policy that, "No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is homosexual." Even the newly-passed laws in Utah and Mississippi (the latter still to be signed by the governor) apply to same-gender couples rather than to individual lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Florida does allow gays and lesbians to serve as foster parents, but those applying to adopt must state their sexual orientation on the state Department of Children and Families' application form. The adoption ban is another relic of the religious right's historic Anita Bryant-led Save Our Children campaign of the 1970's, whose first success was overturning a gay and lesbian civil rights law in Florida's Dade County.
The plaintiffs in the case include children awaiting adoption, gays and lesbians willing to adopt, and a non-gay couple from outside the state who would like their gay brother and brother-in-law in Florida to adopt their daughter in event of their deaths. Their case charges, first, that the law is not in the best interests of the children since it excludes a class of prospective adoptive parents who would otherwise qualify. Additionally, the lawsuit claims the policy violates both children's and adults' constitutional rights to equal protection, privacy, intimate association, and family integrity.
Lofton was rejected six years ago in his bid to adopt "John Doe," a foster child who has spent most of his eight years with Lofton. Lofton and the boy currently live in Portland, Oregon with two other Florida foster children, under a special arrangement between the states.
Short Time Topic's
According to the survey in April’s newsletter, there are quite a few of you that know of some lesbian that went through the reprogramming of the mind experiments. Bestwolf is very interested in knowing who these women are and getting them into the chat room to see how they have coped with their lives since these experiments were performed. Please have them go to #MySistersHouse in mirc at 7 pm EST on Sundays and please accompany them as this will prove to be a great eye opening discussion and they will appreciate your support. You have no idea what these women went through and what they suffered at the hands of the so-called “normal” society that tried to make them conform to society. In 1966 Bestwolf was one of these women. In a group of 100 women with her at the time, within six months half had committed suicide. What has happened to the rest of these women?? So please, if you know anyone in this group please have them get in touch with Bestwolf at the address supplied in this newsletter, or join her in mirc #MySistersHouse as she wishes to share some of the programs she has found that will help them as they are still struggling with their daily lives.
An appeals panel has reversed a lower court's ruling and will let a lesbian high school teacher sue her district for not acting against harassment. This is the first case of a teacher claiming anti-gay harassment ever to reach a California appeals court has ended in victory. Award-winning lesbian biology teacher Dawn Murray will get her day in court for her harassment lawsuit against the Oceanside Unified School District, since a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously late April 19 to reverse a trial court's decision to throw her case out. The school district's legal counsel is reviewing the decision and has not yet decided its next move: to further appeal whether Murray's case can be tried, to contest the lawsuit itself in a trial court, or to seek a settlement.
Two lesbian medical students' lawsuit to gain school-subsidized student housing to share with their partners was heard by a New York state appeals court on April 19. Yeshiva University in New York City and its Albert Einstein College of Medicine offer graduate housing only for legally married students, and that's a qualification same-gender couples can't meet. Last year, a trial court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed in 1998 for medical students Sara Levin and Maggie Jones by the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) Gay and Lesbian Rights Project, but the ACLU has gone to the next level hoping for the lawsuit's reinstatement; the organization says this is the first lawsuit in the U.S. to seek equal campus housing opportunities for gay and lesbian students and their same-gender partners. The housing benefit is a valuable one. Currently, Levin faces a three-hour commute from the home she shares with her partner of eight years Carla Richmond. Campus subsidized housing, ranging from $330 to $767 per month, runs at about half the cost of comparable housing surrounding the school. Under Yeshiva's policy, even single students on the waiting list lose priority to married couples.
The Vermont Senate on April 19 repeated its preliminary vote of 19 - 11 to approve "civil unions" giving same-gender couples all the benefits and responsibilities of marriage under state law. Civil unions do not carry the more than 1,000 other benefits of marriage determined by federal law, nor is there much hope for their legal recognition outside of Vermont. The Senate vote was highly partisan with all Democrats supporting civil unions and all but two Republicans opposing them.
Before the final vote on the bill, the Senate defeated a proposed amendment to state constitution that a central purpose of marriage is procreation. On April 18, the Senate had defeated two proposed constitutional amendments: one that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman was defeated 17 - 13; another to specifically override the Vermont Supreme Court ruling in the "Baker" case that forced the legislature to extend marriage or its equivalent to gay and lesbian couples was defeated 21 - 9.
IA Rights Repeal Vetoed Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D) had issued his veto message as soon as the state Senate voted to repeal his September executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but on April 14 he officially vetoed Republican lawmakers' effort to undo his civil rights measure. Republican leaders insisted they were defending the separation of powers in that Vilsack was "making law" by extending protections beyond the state code. Democrats charged it was electioneering designed to gain right-wing support in this campaign year.
The City Council of Lacey, Washington voted 6 - 1 on April 13 to establish a domestic partners registry, open to unmarried couples regardless of gender. The certification carries no rights or responsibilities. The proposal was submitted in January by Anna Schlect on behalf of the gay and lesbian Black Hills Alliance, which had previously won registries in Olympia and Tumwater. Seattle also has a registry. To qualify for the Lacey registry, both parties must be unmarried, at least 18 years old, not blood relations to a degree that would prohibit marriage in the state, both Lacey residents, each other's sole domestic partner, and in a relationship of mutual support, caring and commitment. For a fee of $25, partners can obtain a certificate from Lacey City Hall. AUSTIN, Texas - George W. Bush met with a dozen gay Republicans Thursday as he kept up his courting of support from outside his party's conservative core. ``I'm a better person for the meeting,'' he declared. The gays he met with, selected by his campaign, were upbeat. ``The goal was not to change his mind. It was to start a conversation,'' said Steve Gunderson, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin. The idea was to try to gain support of the g/l/t voters that he lost last year. He is also faced with trying to gain Mc Cain’s supporters inwhich this meeting may have blown.
EDITORS NOTE: A little, too late Bush!!
Uncle Sam is doing gay men and lesbians a huge favor this month. Thanks to a method of counting domestic partners on the 2000 census, advocates say they will soon get unprecedented insight into the behavior, geography, and lifestyle of hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples. The decennial survey, which Americans were supposed to fill out and return by mid April, doesn’t ask about sexual orientation, but it does allow couples to identify as unmarried partners. That category, meant to count unmarried heterosexual couples, also can be used to enumerate gay and lesbian couples.
Washington state legislators just don't know when to quit: already a month past the date they were due to adjourn, in their second special session trying to agree on a budget after voters approved an initiative that eliminated $750-million in revenue, suddenly the long-simmering issue of domestic partner benefits for state employees was brought to the fore on April 24. The timing is particularly unfortunate for gays and lesbians, as some of their worst fears were realized when the governor they worked to elect, Gary Locke (D), said the money isn't there for the benefit right now.
A measure to protect same-gender couples under Arizona's domestic violence laws, once believed to be dead, has been resurrected to become law. Governor Jane Hull on April 24 signed SB 1173, a bill that extends protection against the use of domestic violence as the sole basis for denial, cancellation or refusal to renew property and liability insurance. The measure also included an amendment by state Representative Kathleen Dunbar (R-Tucson) that expands the law to cover same-gender couples. With Hull's signature affixed, SB 1173 will go into effect July 18.
A student club in Salt Lake City that focuses on gay and lesbian issues will be allowed to meet while its case against the school district is considered, a federal judge decided Wednesday. U.S. Judge Tena Campbell granted PRISM - or People Respecting Important Social Movements - a preliminary injunction, ruling that the school district unfairly denied the East High School students permission to meet. In the ruling, she suggested that school officials violated their own policy and the Constitution in snubbing PRISM.
The Massachusetts state board of education has voted unanimously to require school districts to investigate antigay bias incidents against students, The Boston Globe reports. "This is about protection," said education commissioner David P. Driscoll. "There is discrimination in various forms and harassment in various forms, and I, frankly, don't see any lessening of this. That's what these regulations are all about." The vote, taken Tuesday in Pittsfield, was preceded by testimony from people on both sides of the issue. "To your discredit and shame, you have institutionalized degeneracy in Massachusetts," opponent Timothy A. Chinchester of Canaan, N.Y., said after the vote. The state already protects students from antigay bias and requires teachers to respond to student complaints about harassment. Some g! ay! activists say that the measure is flawed and waters down the existing law. The new bill says that teachers have to "provide balance and context" when presented with antigay stereotypes, while the old law mandates that teachers "counteract" the stereotypes. "This allows for people who hate gays to express their views in the classroom" said David LaFontaine, head of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. "This law is to prohibit bigoted behavior, not open a public forum for debate of these issues."
May 6th is Gay Pride Day in Northampton, Mass. All is welcomed to go down and spend the weekend in Lesbianville, USA. A tea dance at GOTTA DANCE STUDIO on Sunday beginning at 3:30 to 6:30. Be there at 2:30 and get a free dance lesson.
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove would probably sign a bill being debated in the Mississippi Legislature to ban gay couples from adopting children in the state, a spokeswoman said on last Friday. The measure, which has the backing of religious conservatives and pro-family organizations, is expected to be approved by Mississippi's Legislature within the next week. If approved, the legislation would make Mississippi the second state this year to enact a law preventing gay couples from trying to adopt children. Utah's Legislature approved a ban earlier this spring. Florida also has a law on its books forbidding gay couples from adopting.
This months survey!!!! Just click on the icon below that says VOTE NOW!!
My Sisters House
P.O. BOX 6441
Laconia, N.H. 03246
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