December 17, 2010

NBJC News

December 17, 2010

NBJC E-Digest

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DADT Repeal Passes House of Representatives

NBJC Media Hits

After DADT Hearings, White House Meets With Repeal Groups

Highlights of the Week

Democrats Keep "Don't Ask" on their Wish Lists

Are Gay Rights Civil Rights?

Researchers Have Possible HIV Cure

Facing the AIDS Threat

GLBT Study: Gay, Lesbian Kids Singled Out for Punishment

The New Black Delegates

Openly Gay Black Man to Serve on Springfield City Council

Making the 'T' and 'I' in LGBTI visible

DMV employee in transgender case suspended

Freedom to Marry's Top 10 Moments for Marriage in 2010

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Mission Statement

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. NBJC's mission is to eradicate racism and homophobia

Dear Friend,

In this week’s E-Digest: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is revived in Congress, passes in the House of Representatives as a stand-alone bill, and is headed to the Senate for passage this weekend; scientists announce a possible cure for HIV; a California DMV suspends employee for alleged anti-transgender discrimination; Newsweek asks the question: Are gay rights civil rights?; and Freedom to Marry’s “Top 10 Moments for Marriage in 2010.”

Contact your Senators Today!

We must send a clear message to the Senate: Stand up for all of our service members by passing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during the lame-duck session." TAKE ACTION!

DADT Repeal Passes House of Representatives – VOTE SCHEDULED – Huffington Post

For the second time this year the House voted to dismantle the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, giving the Senate a final shot in the waning days of this Congress at changing a law requiring thousands of uniformed gays to hide their sexual identity. The strong 250-175 House vote Wednesday propels the issue to the Senate, where supporters of repeal say they have the votes but perhaps not the time to get the bill to the floor.

After DADT Hearings, White House Meets With Repeal Groups – MetroWeekly

[object Object] Following the December 3rd Senate Armed Services Committee hearing discussing, in part, the lame-duck consideration of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal legislation, the White House held an off-the-record meeting with organizations pushing for DADT repeal regarding repeal and the National Defense Authorization Act to which it is attached. NBJC was present for this meeting.

Demorats Keep "Don't Ask" on their Wish Lists – Politico

Senate Democrats on Thursday moved one step closer to repealing the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduling a key vote Saturday on a bill to end the ban on openly gay service members.

But Democrats are bracing for an enormous backlash from repeal advocates if they fall short again.

Are Gay Rights, Civil Rights? – Newsweek

Four months before Rosa Parks refused to vacate her bus seat to a white man in 1955, she attended a retreat at the Highlander center in Tennessee, where she took a workshop alongside blacks and whites on school desegregation. More than a half century later, the Highlander center is still training soldiers in the fight for equal rights. Only now the battleground has shifted. Last January, four dozen gay and lesbian activists gathered for a center retreat overlooking the Smoky Mountains to get inspiration on how they could show—not just tell—America that their rights are being violated.

Researchers Have Possible HIV Cure – CNN

[object Object] In the study, published last week online in the journal Blood, researchers at Charite-University Medicine Berlin treated an HIV-infected man who also had acute myeloid leukemia — a cancer of the immune system — by wiping out his own immune system with high-dose chemotherapy and radiation and giving him a stem-cell transplant. Stem cells are immature cells that can mature into blood cells.

Facing the AIDS threat – Journal Sentinel

[object Object] Lonell McRath is a man of many faces. He's the face of the working poor. The face of growing up black and gay in Milwaukee. And the face of HIV in a city where the infection rate for young, black gay and bisexual men rivals that found in sub-Saharan Africa. McRath, 31, tested positive in 2001. He didn't believe the first test, but a second test left no doubt.

GLBT Study: Gay, Lesbian Kids Singled Out for Punishment – CBS News

"We found that virtually all types of punishment – including school expulsions, arrests, juvenile convictions, adult convictions and especially police stops – were more frequently meted out to LGB youth," lead author Kathryn Himmelstein, who initiated the study while she was a Yale undergraduate, said in a written statement.

The New Black Delegates – Washington Afro American

Last month, 48-year-old Mary Washington, a Philadelphia native, won the third House seat for the 43rd district. When she takes office, she will presumably be the only state legislator with a doctorate and only the second Black openly lesbian state legislator in the country. She says her degrees in sociology and statistics help her pinpoint facts and remain open to other opinions. And when it comes to her sexuality, she says she had to be honest with voters. "I feel that if I can't be honest about myself and who I am, how can I be honest with my constituents about the challenges that are facing them?" she said.

Openly Gay Black Man to Serve on Springfield City Council – MassLive.com

Amaad I. Rivera said Friday he is both excited and surprised to suddenly be on the cusp of becoming the newest member of the City Council. Rivera, once his eligibility is confirmed, is set to become the new city councilor in Ward 6, due to the resignation this week of Ward 6 Councilor Keith W. Wright, effective Dec. 31. Rivera would complete the final year of Wright's two-year term.

Making the 'T' and 'I' in LGBTI visible – Mail and Guardian

I thought I knew all about prejudices against sexual minorities. After all, I have self-identified as gay for more than 10 years. But I was wrong. I had, in fact, never fully acknowledged the existence, and unique needs, of the transgender community. It is a dark irony that many of my own friends, colleagues and relatives had, for a long time, rendered me similarly invisible as a gay man.

DMV employee in transgender case suspended – ABC

Yust applied for a license in her female name at a San Francisco office. Four days later, she said she received a letter from the clerk who processed her application. It was addressed to her male name, David, and referred to her gender change as, "a very evil decision."

Freedom to Marry's Top 10 Moments for Marriage in 2010 – Huffington Post

#7 on the list: In October, Essence Magazine shared with its readers the story of Aisha and Danielle, a beautiful African-American lesbian couple who married in Washington, D.C. this year. It was the first time the magazine had done a feature on a same-sex couple. The comments from readers were overwhelmingly positive – a testament to the importance of personal stories about why marriage matters.