Gay Straight Alliance

Programming Reminder ~

As we get ready for the excitement of Halloween, GSA will be exploring the freaky side with the highly acclaimed movie "Rocky Horror Picture Show". It will be shown at the Writing Center on the Third floor at the J.D. Williams Library at 7pm on Wednesday October 29, 2008 (manana). We will be meeting up at Java City before hand to walk up together. If you cant find the Writing Center please ask for assistance at the circulation desks.

Thanks

"LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) students in this state face the most hostile school environment in the country, according to a 2004 report by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which ranked Mississippi last in a nationwide study of school anti-bullying policies. Mississippi is the only state to both tolerate school bullying on a policy level and preach an explicitly anti-gay message as part of its public school curriculum.

Harassment and bullying of LGBT students has profound and tragic consequences. According to a 2005 study conducted by GLSEN, 64.3 percent of gay and lesbian students and 40.7 percent of transgender students report feeling unsafe at school as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. According to a 1999 study by the Massachusetts Department of Education, 33 percent of gay and lesbian youth attempt suicide."

HARTFORD, Connecticut - Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making that state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.

The divided court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut's civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.

"I can't believe it. We're thrilled, we're absolutely overjoyed. We're finally going to be able, after 33 years, to get married," said Janet Peck of Colchester, who was a plaintiff with her partner, Carole Conklin.

Justices overturned a lower court ruling and found in favor of the plaintiffs, who said the state's marriage law discriminates against them because it applies only to heterosexual couples, therefore denying gay couples the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage.

"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the majority opinion that overturned a lower court finding.

This week, all around our country Americans will mourn the 10-year observance since the tragic high profile murder of Matthew Shepard. Matthew’s rememberance evokes memories that are hard to relive – memories of a promising 21- year-old college student beaten to death and tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyo., just because he was gay. A decade later educational institutions including the University of Mississippi and state high schools have done little to teach tolerance to the students of the future.

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) students in this state face the most hostile school environment in the country, according to a 2004 report by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which ranked Mississippi last in a nationwide study of school anti-bullying policies. Mississippi is the only state to both tolerate school bullying on a policy level and preach an explicitly anti-gay message as part of its public school curriculum.

http://www.thedmonline.com/tolerance_goes_mainstream

In the past few months, we’ve all heard local, state and national candidates for office talk about the now-not-so-new message of “change” and “hope.” Though these are lofty ideals, they remain vaguely defined by each candidate. But last week, America saw something much more concrete. On Sept. 26, America saw the University of Mississippi truly embrace a broad spectrum of diversity.

I had the privilege of representing Ole Miss’ Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at our tent on Issue Alley before the first presidential debate on our campus. I also helped organize a town hall forum in which national leaders of organizations working to advance equality for gay and transgender raised awareness about the issues facing this diverse community during the next presidential term.

Okay, so maybe that’s not as interesting. What was interesting though, was the fact that during the entire six hours our GSA had our tent set, we did not hear a single negative comment from attendees. In fact, we got quite the opposite reaction – all from a very diverse audience.

I was excited to receive Aubrey Sarvis' invitation to participate in a forum at The University of Mississippi last week. Although not the Presidential Debate, this platform held national and regional lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and, of course, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which was represented by our Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, former Sergeant Darren Manzella and me. Because I am a graduate of Ole Miss and a native of Mississippi, it also held a great deal of personal meaning.

The Mississippi of my youth was segregated, openly harbored bigotry and did not tolerate diversity well. In 1962, my distant cousin, Governor Ross Barnett, stood in the doorway of Ole Miss to deny enrollment to James Meredith, an African American. When the federal government enforced Meredith's right to equality, riots ensued that left two people dead and scores of persons injured.

Traveling south for 2008's first Presidential Debate, I arrived in the small town of Oxford, Mississippi earlier this week. Never having been to Mississippi before, I found this quaint southern town to be just what I imagined of the American South. Yesterday I went on a run around town and explored this perfect image of Old Dixie. Old Glory flies from every corner of the downtown square and the hospitality of the local residents rivals any that I have felt in a long time. The campus showed the same patriotism and pride. Everyone I passed had a smile on their face and offered a cordial "hello"; if you appeared lost, residents were only too happy to point you in the right direction.

As a gay man, I hate the existence of stereotypes but what I hate more is my realization that I held a stereotype of what I would experience in the Deep South. I did not find Confederate flags stretched across the porches of homes or plastered across 4x4s on the streets of this Mississippi town. I did not see a segregation of citizens on any level. Instead, I found front yards peppered with Obama or McCain signs. I found pride in the University of Mississippi hanging from the many homes with Ole Miss flags. I feel the excitement of students, faculty and residents as their town prepares to become a part of history.

Gay Groups Visible At Presidential Debate
BY CARLOS SANTOSCOY
PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

When Senators Barack Obama and John McCain face off in Oxford, Mississippi Friday, gay activists won't be far away. Gay groups and allies are organizing forums, workshops and demonstrations on issues important to gay and lesbian voters at the first presidential debate.

One of the most visible groups attending is the coalition of civil rights and religious leaders called the Campaign to End AIDS.
Eight caravans of protesters from all corners of the country have been making their way to Oxford to protest the absence of a comprehensive national strategy to end AIDS.

“We have no national AIDS strategy plan,” said Campaign to End AIDS Spokeswoman Alice Leeds. “This country has supported and given money to countries all over the world to establish their own national AIDS plan, but we have none of our own.”

Gay activists called on PBS anchor Jim Lehrer this week to ask Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain about gays in the military during the first Obama-McCain presidential debate.

But the prevailing view among political observers was that gay-related issues were unlikely to surface during the first debate, which the two candidates prearranged as a forum on U.S. foreign policy and national security issues.

“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ harms military readiness and costs taxpayers several hundred million dollars a year,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national group that advocates on behalf of gay service members. “The American people need to know this.”

It was unclear at press time, though, whether the debate scheduled for tonight would occur.

McCain said Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign in response to the Wall Street crisis, and was asking Obama to join him in seeking a debate postponement. Obama's campaign responded by saying the best way to shed light on the crisis was to debate it.

There was no immediate comment Wednesday from the Commission on Presidential Debates.