An inspired collection of articles hand-picked each month by the KMA team. Please enjoy.
June
A Simple Request: Be a Good Ally
In preparing this news page for LGBT Pride Month we asked our expert, Rita Wuebbeler, what the best focus would be. Her immediate response was, “being a good ally.”
“That's one of the most helpful things that friends and family of LGBT people can do - being allies! I still cry when I see a P-FLAG person at a Pride event or march…It's particularly important in high schools where there are a ton of examples of kids who are not LGBT doing things like wearing PINK one day a week,” Wuebbler says.
On this subject she recommends Dr. David M. Hall’s book, "Allies at Work." Hall makes the case that LGBT allies play an important role in creating inclusive workplaces. "The risk of coming out on the job increases significantly if there is little or no support network in the workplace,” he writes. “Allies are critical in creating and fostering this support network, and they can do so without risking the personal backlash or rejection so often experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.”
We don’t want to downplay the achievements of the LGBT rights movement. Since the first pride month was declared in June of 2000, more LGBT Americans are living openly than ever before, holding public office, and raising children. But it would be a stretch to claim that the struggle to live freely and equally is over for LGBT individuals. Many states do not provide the same discrimination protections to LGBT people that are afforded other minority groups, and even fewer recognize same-sex marriage.
Beyond the political issues is the simple need to live without fear of harassment. While that has certainly improved, it remains a challenge for many LGBT youth.
This month KMA has collected some information around a handful of LGBT issues to share with you and perhaps make us all better allies.
Supporting LGBT Friends and Coworkers
No Questions Asked - May 16, 2011
By Sue Hoye
I’m on the wedding circuit these days, or maybe I should say I’m on the commitment ceremony circuit. For whatever reason, many of my LGBT friends have decide to publicly declare their unions this spring, despite the fact that most of the states they live in do not recognize same-sex marriage. Read More...
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is a national non-profit organization with more than 200,000 members and supporters and more than 500 affiliates in the United States. PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. http://community.pflag.org/
“In opinion polls, a large majority of heterosexuals report positive or indifferent feelings toward gay coworkers, but the work environment continues to be hostile and even harassing for some lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. For example, 51% of lesbian and gay workers have heard anti-gay comments at work, and 15% report having been harassed by their coworkers. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, this too often results in a stressful division between work and personal life. While a solid majority of the American workforce is accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, the small, rejecting minority can have an adverse impact on one's work-life and livelihood."
Encouraging LGBT Youth
It Gets Better - May 20, 2011
By Kimberly Lord
While watching evening TV with my kids recently, I’ve come across a 90-second spot called, “It gets better”, sponsored by Google. It features a number of different pop culture celebrities and other not so well known people addressing the fact that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender gets better as you get older. Read More...
SF Giants Post "It Gets Better" Anti-Homophobia Video - June 1, 2011
The San Francisco Giants posted their "It's Get Better" video on YouTube and its team website on June 1st, becoming the first professional sports team to join the online campaign against gay bullying and homophobia. The video can be viewed at sfgiants.com and at itgetsbetter.org/sfgiants. Read More...
LGBT Marriage
NPR: Support For Gay Marriage Tops 50 Percent For First Time In Gallup's Polling - May 20, 2011
A slight majority (53 percent) of Americans now "believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid," Gallup reported May 20. It's the first time since it began asking about gay marriage in 1996, the polling organization says, that more than half of those polled have felt that way. Read More...
ABC News: Support for Gay Marriage Reaches a Milestone - March 18, 2011
For the last decade, the battle over same-sex marriage and other rights for gay couples has been hard fought in U.S. courts and legislatures and at the ballot box. Use this map to view milestones in the fight and how state laws have changed since 2000. Read More...
LGBT Rights
For Gay Employees, an Equalizer - May 20, 2011
Employee Rights Across the Map For Gay Employees, an Equalizer The battle to legalize same-sex marriage may be dominating the headlines, but that issue could take years to resolve. More immediately, a growing number of companies have taken it upon themselves to make life a little more equal for their gay employees. Read More...
Employment Rights Across the Map
In 1972 no states had any employment discrimination protections around sexual orientation or gender identity. This map shows the progress that has been made.
A World View: Gay Rights and Death Penalties
Seven nations around the world allow same-sex marriage. Seven other countries have laws that punish gays and lesbians with the death penalty: Read More...
Two Documents on Gay Rights Added to Library of Congress Display - May 9, 2011
In recent days the Library placed two of Kameny’s documents into its ”Creating the United States” exhibition. They reflect some of the attitudes of the government in the 1950s and 1960s. Read More...
LGBT & Religion
New York Times: Religion and Sex Quiz - May 21, 2011
Faith is a huge force in American life, and it’s common to hear the Bible cited to bolster political and moral positions, especially against same-sex marriage and abortion. So here’s my 2011 religion quiz. Read More...
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry
All programming is devoted to carrying out the Center's fundamental mission: To advance the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people and to transform faith communities and the wider society by taking a leading role in shaping a new public discourse on religion and sexuality through education, research, community building and advocacy. Read More...
"Their arguments about the connection between the cultures of racial, gender, and ethnic groups and the conflicts that can surface between and among members of them are thought-provoking. "
—R. Roosevelt Thomas, author of Building on the Promise of Diversity
“Goes a long way toward showing a lay audience the value, integrity, and aesthetic sensibility of black culture, and moreover the conflicts which arise when its values are treated as deviant versions of majority ones.”
