GTU QTi's's topics - tribe.net

Transgender and Religion

2008-08-30T11:11:59Z

Transgender Religion Global Network - TRGN is a part of the workgroup transgender, religion, philosophy of life and ethics.

The goal of TRGN is to build a bridge between religious transgenders, transsexuals and the different religions.

The workgroup developed a 6 step plan:

1. Research
2. Compile Transgender-Friendly Religions and Spiritual Card
3. Information and Public Relations
4. Initiate and Support Transgender-Friendly Religions, Spirituale Care
5. Dialogue
6. Round Table Talks, Workshops and Lecture

Share your transgender faith, religion, spirituality story, video's, poems, books with us and invite your friends and organizations to join us.

Member of transgender organizations tell us about your work.

Transgender Religion Global Network - TRGN is a global transgender community for the freedom of religious and spiritual transgenders all over the world.

Transgender Religion Global Network
The workgroup transgender, religion, philosophy of life and ethics.
http://transgenderandreligion.ning.com
http://www.myspace.com/transgenderenreligie
http://www.youtube.com/YvoManuel

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MA Marriage

2008-01-30T21:55:28Z

Cause to celebrate!

--Leah

Gay Couples Apply for Marriage Licenses in Massachusetts

May 17, 2004 By PAM BELLUCK

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Against a backdrop of whoops and cheers and a party that spilled onto the streets, gay and lesbian couples here began filling out applications for marriage licenses at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, when Massachussetts became the first state in the country to allow them to marry.

The couples were led down a series of wooden staircases at Cambridge City Hall that were decorated with white bridal organza.

"I feel overwhelmed," said Marcia Hams, 57, of Cambridge, who along with her partner, Susan Shepherd, was the first to complete the application. "I feel ready to collapse."

Ms. Shepherd, 52, choked up and said, "There's some kid somewhere that's watching this and it's going to change his whole life."

She added, "This is like winning the World Series and the Stanley Cup on the same day. It's amazing."

By nightfall on Sunday, hundreds of people - couples waiting to apply for licenses and supporters of their right to do so - had surged toward the Romanesque stone building and formed a boisterous and ebullient crowd that spilled onto the street. They wore glittery party hats and boutonnieres, blew bubbles and waved signs that said "Love Is in the Air" and "I Do Unto Others."

By 1:30 a.m., 263 couples had arrived to apply for marriage licenses. Meanwhile, the party outside had grown so large that police in riot gear cordoned off three blocks of Massachusetts Avenue to traffic.

"It's history," said Alex Fennell, 27, who showed up early Sunday with her partner, Sasha Hartman, 29, and got the fifth spot in line to apply for a marriage license. "Our kids can look back and say our moms were number five."

Ms. Hartman said that when she woke up Sunday, she still did not quite believe that they would be able to marry.

"It's real," she said, "but it's almost too good to be true."

The other 350 cities and towns in the state planned to begin taking applications for same-sex marriage licenses after the sun came up on Monday. But Cambridge - a city of just over 100,000 people, home of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a well-known taste for erudite rebelliousness - decided to start things rolling at 12:01 a.m.

By early evening, the freshly manicured City Hall lawn was a colorful collection of couples, camera crews and children playing circle games.

Officials at City Hall threw open their doors on Sunday night for a rousing party, with wedding cake, sparkling cider and the music of the Cambridge Community Chorus.

Weddings are planned for as early as Monday, with many couples intending to seek permission from judges to waive the three-day waiting period that is normally required between applying for a license and receiving one.

"It's a little overwhelming to be the poster child for gay marriage," said Ms. Shepherd, who was first in line on Saturday night with Ms. Hams. The couple, together since they met while working as machinists 27 years ago, said they had been asked, because of the length of their relationship, to be the first couple by a local gay rights organization. "We have an extraordinarily solid relationship and in some ways it's time to take it to another level," Ms. Shepherd said.

They said they would get married in church next Sunday and have a big celebration in September.

Johanna Schulman and Moira Barrett brought glow sticks, a helium balloon kit to festoon the city hall plaza with balloons, and gloves, hats and extra socks to cope with a mercurial New England spring evening. Their 6-year-old daughter, Annie.

Before taking the subway to City Hall, the couple fed the dog in their Cambridge kitchen. On the windowsill above the sink, there was a figurine of two brides. On their calendar was scrawled, "Get Married."

"This is so odd to get married after being together for 19 years," said Ms. Schulman, a 46-year-old financial adviser. "I feel as emotionally invested as any bride. I have the bridal jitters."

The stage for Monday's cultural watershed was set in November, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled, in a lawsuit brought by seven same-sex couples, that gays and lesbians had a constitutional right to marry. The court set May 17 as the day the marriages could begin, and told the state Legislature to take whatever action it saw fit to comply with the court's ruling.

But the Legislature, with a large number of Democrats who are against gay marriage, some because of their Catholic faith, was not pleased with the court's 4-to-3 decision. First, the legislators voted to ask the court if allowing civil unions would comply with the ruling. In a bitingly dismissive response in February, the court said no.

Then, in a series of marathon constitutional conventions, marked by emotional oratory, filibustering and back-room bargaining, the legislature voted in late March to approve a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and establish civil unions.

That amendment cannot take effect unless it is approved by another session of the Legislature and then by voters in 2006, so it could not hold up the start of same-sex marriages.

One certain target of lawsuits is a 1913 law that Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, has interpreted to mean that out-of-state couples cannot marry in Massachusetts unless they intend to move to the state. At least four communities - Provincetown, Somerville, Worcester and Springfield - have said they will defy the ruling, prompting the governor to threaten to fine or prosecute those town clerks and to invalidate the marriages of those couples.

But out-of-state couples are coming to Massachusetts anyway, and on Friday, New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, appeared to leave the door open for same-sex couples from New York to legally marry in Massachusetts. The attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island are expected to issue opinions on the subject on Monday.

Keith Hershberger, 54, and Kevin Green, 50, drove up from Brooklyn to become the 32nd couple to apply for a license. On their form, they initially wrote that they were from New York City and intended to stay there, but a clerk told them that they would not issue them a license unless they intended to move to Massachusetts. So they crossed out New York City and wrote in Shelburne Falls, Mass.

"We do love Shelburne Falls," said Mr. Hershberger, who wore a long braid, a brown cowboy hat and a turquoise earring. "And we would like to retire there."

In Massachusetts, there is giddiness and wariness, exhilaration and discomfort. Twelve of the state's 1,200 justices of the peace have resigned rather than perform same-sex marriages, said Claire M. Mentus, president of the Massachusetts Justices of the Peace Association.

But at least one justice of the peace applied for that job in order to be able to solemnize gay marriages. J. Mary Sorrell, 43, of Amherst, became a justice of the peace in February and planned to be at the city clerk's office in Northampton, a gay-friendly college town, at 5 a.m. Monday, so that the expected crush of same-sex couples know she is available to marry them.

"I am a lesbian and I wanted to make sure that there was a visible member of our community who was not merely willing to solemnize same sex marriages, but who was excited as a member of the tribe," Ms. Sorrell said.

Across the street from Cambridge City Hall on Sunday night were a dozen or so opponents of gay marriage led by a Kansas minister, the Rev. Fred Phelps, and holding signs, some with slurs against homosexuals.

"Two men and two women marrying each other is a passport to hell" said Katherine Hockenbarger from Topeka, Kan., who was standing on an American flag.

As the celebration in Cambridge grew, a smattering of couples were lining up at other town halls. Vincenza Martorano and Julianne Gale, 22-year-old college students, were sleeping on the steps of city hall in Somerville, with 10 of their friends.

"It's a great honor to be the first ones in line," Ms. Martorano said.

The couples who came to Cambridge Sunday night were enthusiastic, but also sober, anticipating cultural and economic roadblocks ahead, and acutely aware of their role as representatives of a new era for gays and lesbians.

"I'm mostly excited, but I'm also bewildered because there's a lot of confusion now," said Robyn Ochs, 45, who works in technology at Harvard, and will marry her partner, Peg Preble, 46, an electrician. "What does this mean, having a relationship that isn't recognized at the federal level but is at the state level? What benefits won't we get? How does this play out? How do we do our taxes next year? In the long run, do we incur more responsibilities than we get benefits because of the lack of federal protection?"

Other couples were feeling economic pressures to marry. Lisa McDonnell and Julia Dunbar decided to marry because they heard Ms. Dunbar's employer was thinking of discontinuing health benefits for domestic partners, so that gay partners, like heterosexuals, could receive health benefits only if married.

"We weren't planning to rush into it," said Ms. McDonnell, a self-employed social worker. "The hard part is the freedom to marry has become the pressure to marry has become the coercion to marry."

But others were underplaying the significance of it all, treating marriage as a nice, but quotidian step.

"We may take the afternoon off, and after it's all over go to Taco Bell or something or mow the lawn," said Greg Llacer of Boxborough, Mass., about the Thursday wedding he had planned with his partner, Doug Miller. "We're just kind of geeks. We're pretty understated, but I think we'll get dressed up. A jacket and tie at least."

Katie Zezima and Michael Levenson contributed reporting from Cambridge for this article and Tom Marshall from western Massachusetts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/national/17GAYS.html?ex=1085807244&ei=1&en=9dce5f900f77d512

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I Hate Gay Marriage and I'm Queer

2008-01-30T19:55:32Z

When Mass. passed its same-sex marriage legislation, everybody cheered. Lambda Legal Defense is spending, we can only imagine how much, on trying to get same-sex marriage legalized in every state. Every gay writer and speaker I read or hear praises these occurances as if they are victories for gays. I, on the other hand, see the gays who buy into the institution of marriage as a slap in the face.

Marriage, as an institution, has a history of oppression, sexism, and was not intended to be entered into as a show of love. It was firstly about property rights. And, ironically, that perversion of a love relationship is why gays are so desirous of marriage themselves, namely, property and other rights. The same writers who complain that they have a problem with being called "queer", because it can be used in a derogatory manner, and implies that they are odd, or different, hail marriage as a higher form of relationship that they themselves are willing to wear precisely because they forget it's origins and divorce it from it's true purpose in society. They wish to believe the lie that their purpose is no different than heterosexuals'. In the process they are denying who they are, their history, their creativity, their connection to the gay community, are willing to be demeaned by the nature of the marriage contract, and the fact that marriage has always been sanctioned stricktly by the straight, male dominated culture. It represents the most complete and shocking capitulation of who we are as a community. In fact, it demands the death of our community as we settle into our homes in the subburbs and "quietly fit in".

They wish to turn an institution on its head to fit their agenda, and in ignorance are willing to take on a contract that only makes them look like filth. Marriage, in recent years, has proven to be a failed institution that heterosexuals themselves are turning from or dramtically redefining in the hopes of salvaging a sinking ship. We can only wonder why. One must remember the millions of arrainged marriages placing women into lives of servitude and childrearing. This situation is not that far removed from our distant past and still practiced around the world. How can we with clean hearts become complicit in such an institution?Many argue that marriage is just a word describing a relationship, something we as gays can borrow and make our own. Marriage is much more than just a word, it is an institution with an ugly history that carries with it many expectations and limits. It is for these reasons that striving towards marriage is odious, and corrupts gay culture.

Frighteningly, these same people feel that gays should be allowed to marry because, according to them, we have spent decades proving that we are just like heterosexuals, and therefore should be treated the same. Well, actually we're not anything like heterosexuals and this conceit lays bare how deep self-hate runs in the gay community. "We must be like straights to be good and worthy of equality."

I believe that we must applaud our uniqueness, and regain our innate creativity by creating a gay union that is more beautiful and eternal than an old, institution based on inequality. I firmly believe that same-sex relationships must be given equal protection and rights under the law, however, we must realize what marriage is, and know that it cannot be taken away from it's historical context, social and societal meanings, divorced from its purpose which in no way serve same-sex couples.

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How is GTU?

2005-10-12T01:42:39Z

I'm a UCB undergraduate, and I'm considering my options after I graduate. I'm interested to know what those of you who are attending GTU and queer think of it, as well as what you think of the individual schools that belong to the GTU.

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The Gay Liberation Movement in France, 1960s-1990s

2004-10-15T22:28:22Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The GLBT Historical Society presents on Wednesday, October 20th, 2004:

From Arcadie to ActUp:
The Gay Liberation Movement in France, 1960s-1990s

The GLBT Historical Society invites the public to 657 Mission St., #300, (between 3rd and New Montgomery Streets in San Francisco), on Wednesday October 20th, 2004 from 5:30-7:30 P.M. for a free talk on French gay liberation by renown historian Dr. Michael Sibalis. The talk will be followed by a guided tour of the archive.

Dr. Sibalis, co-Editor of the 2002 book Homosexuality in French History and Culture, is an expert on gay history in France. He is currently researching the gay male community in Paris since 1700.

For more information:
Dr. Sibalis’ homepage: http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=569&ct_id=438&f_id=35

The GLBT Historical Society
http://www.glbthistory.org

Contact:
Jacob Richards
415.777.5455, 5#
Jacob@GLBTHistory.org

Please forward widely.

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Call for Folsom St. Fair Volunteers

2004-08-18T20:05:12Z

Dear Volunteers,

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make Frameline28 such an overwhelming success! And although the Film Festival concluded in June, Frameline volunteers have been hard at work helping Frameline secure a significant grant from Folsom Street Events (FSE), the organization that produces the Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fairs.

As you may have read in the last Member Newsletter, Frameline was chosen by FSE as a beneficiary of the proceeds and donations collected at Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fairs. In order to receive this grant, Frameline must provide volunteers for both street fairs. The amount of funds
Frameline receives will be based on the number of dedicated volunteers we are able to recruit. So far, we¹ve done a FANTASTIC job. Thanks to all of the committed volunteers who worked shifts at the Up Your Alley (Dore Alley) Street Fair on July 25.

But as many of you know, Folsom Street Fair is MUCH bigger and we¹ll need many more volunteers for this event on September 26.
THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN!!

Frameline needs your help to fill morning, afternoon and evening shifts. The shifts are approximately 4 hours and cover a variety of tasks (more info about specific jobs will be provided in mid-August).

DATE: Sunday, September 26, 2004
EVENT: Folsom Street Fair
SHIFTS (approximate times):
*Morning 6:00am - 11:00am
*Afternoon 12:00pm - 4:00pm / 2:00pm - 6:00pm
*Evening 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Folsom Street Fair is a major community event with more than 300,000 attendees. To ensure that we are all fully prepared for our volunteer roles on Fair Day, FSE will hold two VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION MEETINGS. All volunteers are expected to attend one of these two orientations (they¹re actually kinda fun):

*Wednesday, September 15th
*Saturday, September 18th
(locations and times TBD)

WE NEED YOUR HELP! So please reply via email to Kara Kotler
(kara@frameline.org), Frameline's Volunteer Coordinator for this event, with the following information:

1. Full Name
2. Phone
3. Email
4. Shift availability (morning, afternoon, evening)
5. Orientation availability (9/15 or 9/18)

You will receive more detailed information the week of August 16th. Until then SAVE THESE DATES and thank you in advance!

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATIONS:
*9/15/04
*9/18/04

FOLSOM STREET FAIR:
*9/26/04
________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE GRANT:
With the funds received from FSE, Frameline will be donating copies of the documentary NOVELA, NOVELA to community centers, libraries, schools and clinics serving predominantly Latino constituencies throughout the country. NOVELA, NOVELA chronicles groundbreaking social change work being done in
Latin American countries. Frameline Distribution is very happy to have the opportunity to bring this documentary to wider audiences. For more information about NOVELA NOVELA please visit the Frameline Distribution website at: http://catalog.frameline.org/titles/novela_novela.html

********************

This email list will be used only to inform Frameline members and list subscribers of organizational activities, or to release information of interest to our communities. It will not be shared or sold. If you do not wish to receive this occasional notice, please send an email to <volunteer@frameline.org> with the word "Remove" in the subject line.

********************

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Submit to Chron Wedding Album

2004-05-25T17:53:23Z

The SF Chronicle is running a Wedding Album edition
on June 25 for SF Pride. They're soliciting LGBT wedding
stories -- deadline June 1. Send yours in!

Details here:
http://www.sfgate.com/weddingalbum/

--Leah

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'Panic' defense in Araujo case

2004-05-25T17:46:50Z

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
HAYWARD/Expert backs 'panic' defense/Sex with transgender teen might prompt partners to 'flip out'
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer

An immature, heterosexual young man who learns that a woman he was sexually intimate with is biologically male is likely to "panic" and overreact with violence, a psychologist told a Hayward jury Monday in the trial of three men accused of killing transgender teen Gwen Araujo.

"It would flip them out," said Andrew Pojman, a Walnut Creek psychologist who teaches at the Wright Institute in Berkeley. "They'd have a strong sense of panic and uproar and wanting to fix it. It would be very upsetting."

Monday's testimony was the most direct yet to address what transgender advocates have decried as a biased "trans-panic" defense in the case -- that Araujo's slaying was not murder but manslaughter, a crime of passion
fueled by the young men's shock and anger at having been "duped" into having sex with a transgender youth.
Pojman, an expert in adolescent group psychotherapy, said that such a violent reaction -- fueled by anger, shame and alcohol -- would be intensified if such a discovery were made by an "unhealthy" group of young male friends.
"It would be a double dose. There would be a sense of betrayal that the person was not who they said they were," he said. "You have the shame of the individual plus the shame of having my buddies know that I did this."
Michael Magidson, 24, of Fremont and Jose Merel and Jason Cazares, both 24 and from Newark, are charged with murder and a hate crime for killing Araujo.
The 17-year-old Araujo, who was born Edward Araujo but lived as a young woman, was beaten and strangled after the men learned she was biologically male at a party on Oct. 3, 2002.
A fourth man, Jaron Nabors, was charged with murder but pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution in exchange for an 11-year sentence.
Nabors, who had led police to Araujo's grave in the El Dorado National Forest, described a brutal attack in which Araujo was choked, punched, kneed in the face, hit on the head with a can and a skillet and strangled. According to Nabors, Merel and Magidson both had sex with Araujo.
Michael Thorman, the attorney representing Magidson, asked Pojman to respond to a series of "hypothetical" situations mirroring the crime as Nabors had outlined it in his testimony. Pojman did not interview any of the defendants and was paid about $2,000 to prepare and give his testimony.
Pojman said the kind of young man who was described to him -- a 22-year-old drug and alcohol user who was unemployed, lived with his parents, had no school or career plans and no serious dating relationship
-- was someone who was "stuck" and immature in his emotional reactions.
In contrast, "a male who is more mature has figured out to how to manage their feelings" and would know that to "go for a walk or even to hit the wall could be a more appropriate response" than murder, he said.
Pojman said group dynamics would play a role in the slaying.
"What happens in group dynamics is they keep spurring each other on," Pojman said. "The group keeps it going, keeps it moving."
Araujo's family and transgender advocates have denounced arguments that Araujo's slaying was a crime committed in the "heat of passion." They argue that such a defense blames the victim and that homicide is never a justifiable response to the discovery someone is transgender.
"Regardless of what we feel about whether (Araujo) should have disclosed (her transgender status) or not, you can't justify this as manslaughter," said Chris Daley, co-director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Law
Center. "An appropriate response is 'I'm not into this, get out of my house' or 'I don't want to speak with you again'."
While a judge refused to allow one of the defendants charged with killing Matthew Sheppard to present a "gay panic" defense during his trial, others in recent decades have succeeded in convincing juries that a gay man's
pass could trigger an uncontrollable rage from a heterosexual man.
Seven years ago, a Boston jury acquitted William Palmer of murder in the death of Chanelle Pickett, a transgender woman who was biologically male, despite testimony that Pickett was beaten and choked to death. Palmer was
convicted of assault and battery and received a two-year sentence.
"Defenses like this really allow defendants to have a license to kill people that they perceive to be transgender," said Tina D'Elia, hate crimes project manager at Community United Against Violence, a San Francisco organization that works to end violence against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.
"There is bigotry within that type of defense," D'Elia said. "It is making a statement that if a transgender person wants to sleep with you or touch you, you have the right to react with violence, gratuitous violence."
Testimony in the Araujo trial is expected to conclude today, and closing arguments have been scheduled to begin next Tuesday.
Also today, Araujo's mother -- Sylvia Guerrero -- is expected to appear in a Fremont courthouse to petition the California Superior Court to legally change Araujo's name from Edward Araujo Jr. to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo.
E-mail Kelly St. John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle

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Volunteer Info for SFIGLFF

2004-05-07T21:07:34Z

FRAMELINE28, THE 28TH SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY FILM
FESTIVAL: JUNE 17TH – 27TH.

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION MEETINGS (PLEASE NOTE THE LOCATIONS):

TUESDAY, MAY 25TH AT 7:00 PM
AT THE FABULOUS SAN FRANCISCO LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER, 1800 MARKET STREET (@ OCTAVIA) IN THE RAINBOW ROOM, 2ND FLOOR.

SATURDAY, JUNE 5TH AT 10:00AM
AT THE HISTORIC CASTRO THEATRE,
429 CASTRO STREET

Remember if you want to volunteer, you must attend an orientation. It is a lot of fun, a great way to meet new people and help out our community. Plus, you get to see great films in exchange for your time!

About the Festival:
The SFILGFF screens over 260 films and videos from 30 different countries in San Francisco at the historic Castro Theatre, Herbst Theatre and Roxie Cinema, and in the East Bay at the Parkway and Grand Lake Theatres in Oakland.

What Can I Do?
Host filmmakers, usher for films, help out at parties & much, much more.

What Do I Get?
Volunteers earn vouchers that you can redeem for film tickets, or you can watch the movie if you sign up to be an usher.

At the orientation you will hear important information and be able to sign up to work at theaters for specific films, hospitality, parties, press and office, etc.

The second meeting on June 5th is for people who miss the first meeting, or for those who came on May 25th but want to sign up for more shifts.

People attending the May 25th meeting will have a better chance of getting the shifts they want. A week or so after the volunteer meeting, you will receive a letter confirming your assignments.

I WANT TO HELP NOW!
Great! We have many pre-volunteer orientation needs. They are:
* We need assistants to work at the front desk. These are once a week shifts, for 4 hours (late morning to mid-afternoon). We are looking for folks who can commit for 6 weeks, beginning mid-May, and work the same day
each week.

* We are searching for an intern to help the development department with donor cultivation, VIP hospitality, invitation and RSVP procedures and general administrative tasks.

* Wednesday May 19th catalogs arrive, and we need 3 people who feel comfortable lifting 40 lbs. to help move them from storage to the office.

* Wednesday May 19th (4-8pm), Thursday May 20th (4-8pm), and Friday May 21st (9-5pm), we need volunteers to help with the program guide mailing. It is a good way to get a sneak peek at the program.

* We need folks to help with line control at the ticket outlet Friday May 28th (10 people), Saturday May 29th (8 people) & Sunday May 30th (6 people). The shifts are 11:30-3:30pm and 3:30-7:30pm.

Please call or email me soon if you are interested in signing up for any of these shifts. Space is limited and is on a first come first serve basis.

The Festival Guide will be available at the first meeting or can be picked up at various locations in the Bay Area beginning May 25th.

Feel free to email me at volunteer@frameline.org or call at 415-703-8650 x322 with any questions. It is going to be an exciting and fun 11 days! It is volunteers like you that make the festival possible. I look forward to seeing you at the meetings!

--
Charlotte Gutierrez
Volunteer Coordinator
San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
145 Ninth St., Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94103
415 703-8650 x322

charlotte@frameline.org

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Southern Baptist Sissies

2004-05-05T17:39:15Z

A recommendation from a friend in the show. Looks great.

--Leah

___________________________________________

Hi All,
Sorry about the generic email, but I'm in a FABULOUS new show and I want to tell the world! It's at the New Conservatory Theatre, it's called Southern Baptist Sissies and I play a delicious alcoholic bar fly named Odette Annette Barnett. It's a fabulous play by Del Shores, who has written for really great TV shows such as Will & Grace, Ned & Stacy, and Dharma & Greg. Also, he's currently producer and writer on HBO's Queer As Folk. Here's the info:

The New Conservatory Theatre Center
25 Van Ness Avenue, Lower Lobby
San Francisco, CA 94102
Box Office: 415.861.8972 or boxoffice@nctcsf.org
Southern Baptist Sissies -
Bay Area Premiere Comedy-Drama
By Del Shores
Previews: May 5 thru 14
Opens: May 15
Runs: Wed - Sat @ 8 PM, Sun @ 2 PM thru July 11, 2003
No Show on May 16 and June 27

Southern Baptist Sissies is an exploration into the lives of four Texas gay men raised in the church. Through laughter and tears, each story unfolds to reveal a struggle for self-discovery. We are first introduced to Mark, TJ, Benny, and Andrew, recreating the sermons they endured during adolescence, and the beautiful hymns which gave them hope. The story evolves as the four young men battle between their fear of damnation and their true sense of sexual identity.

Hope I see you there. JR Orlando

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GTU Curious

2004-05-05T17:26:00Z

I am very interested in persuing a masters/phd in something like "Cognitive Theology'. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Cognitive theology involving the study of philosophy, linguistics, physics, neuroscience and theology- sort of like the study of spiritual evolution, consciousness, and ritual. A history of spiritual beliefs and their value in future human consciousness in relation to contemporary society. Similar also to some of the stuff they're studying at the Esalen institute right now. I am local to the Bay Area and would like to go to a state school (while I have to pay for it). Is GTU part of Cal Berkeley? Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks!

posted in GTU QTi's - 1 reply

Methodist Court Says Gay Clergy Prohibited

2004-05-04T00:07:31Z

Washington Post article -Sunday, May 2, 2004

By Alan Cooperman

The highest court in the United Methodist Church ruled yesterday that church law unambiguously says the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and a "chargeable offense" for Methodist ministers.

The 6 to 3 ruling by the Judicial Council was a strong rebuke to a jury of 13 Methodist ministers who acquitted an openly lesbian colleague, the Rev. Karen Dammann, after a three-day church trial in Seattle in March.

The Judicial Council does not have authority to overturn the jury's verdict and remove Dammann. But its ruling will make it harder for any future jury to disregard the church's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" in the clergy.

The ruling was announced in Pittsburgh to nearly 1,000 delegates at the church's General Conference, which has been consumed by debate over the Dammann verdict.

The conference, which takes place every four years, is the lawmaking body of the United Methodist Church, which has 8.3 million U.S. members and is the nation's third-largest religious denomination, after the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention.

Evangelical Methodists who want to retain the ban on openly gay clergy have won votes at the last two general conferences, in 1996 and 2000, by a margin of two to one. But they have been frustrated by their inability to enforce the ban through church courts.

The charge against Dammann was that she engaged in "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teaching." The jury found she was a "self-avowed, practicing" lesbian but said the church had not clearly declared homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teaching.

The Rev. Scott N. Field, the conference coordinator for a coalition of conservative and evangelical Methodist groups, said the Judicial Council rejected the jury's "novel interpretation" of church law.

But he said that "it does not end the debate because people of conscience who disagree with the church's current stand will continue acts of noncompliance, and therefore the real issue before the denomination is whether we can enforce the covenant within the clergy, and that will require additional legislation."

Among the proposals before the conference is to give the Judicial Council authority to reverse a trial court's verdict. In addition, the conference voted yesterday to ask the Judicial Council for a further ruling, on whether Dammann can be reappointed to the pulpit when her current, annual appointment is up in June.

Field said he and other conservatives believe that if Methodists fail to uphold their ban on gay ministers, they may go the way of the Episcopal Church, which is threatened with schism over the consecration of a gay bishop. "There are many, many congregations who have let us know they are watching closely, and the decisions by the General Conference will determine whether they are staying or leaving," he said.

The Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which favors allowing openly gay clergy, said that "the issue is: Can we have different opinions and still be family?"

Plummer accused conservatives of using the example of the Episcopal Church as a "scare tactic" at the convention.

"Continuing to try to solve this issue with legalisms and legislation is an error," he said. "The holy spirit will not be tied down. It is present in loving couples creating loving families, and it will always find a way to break free."

Helen King, 63, a retired elementary school teacher from Durham, N.C., who is an observer at the conference, said the church's position has driven away her 33-year-old lesbian daughter. "The last time I asked her to go to church with me, tears rolled up in her eyes, and she said, 'Mom, please don't ask me to do that,' " King said.

King noted that the church has formally declared homosexuals to be persons of "sacred worth" who are welcome in Methodist congregations. "You can't have it both ways," she said. "They want to say that they love and welcome gays and lesbians, at the same time that they will not allow gays and lesbians to be full participants in the life of the church."

Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=A59735-2004May1&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle

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Oakland Community Garage Sale

2004-05-02T00:41:11Z

SFGrrlz member Jessie Ortiz is organizing a garage sale. It's a special event to Help CLEAN OUT THE WHITE HOUSE with a garage sale. All proceeds will go to the Kerry campaign. Many of us want to help and this seems like
a good thing to do.

Right now we are in the process of organizing and getting stuff out of our garages to donate to this event. Basically, cleaning out our house to help clean out the Whitehouse. This email is more of an FYI and Save the Date for
those who want to participate in the event by donating stuff, helping sell, or selling lemonade. We'll send out another email closer to the event as a reminder, and as an announcement for potential shoppers in 2 weeks.

Date: Saturday May 22
Place: Several houses on the same block in Oakland near Mills College & Maxwell Park
Time: from 10 AM to 6 PM
The Plan: Let's get in touch

We can work on collecting things to sell, and how to get this event to go smoothly and successfully. Thank you.

C L E A N O U T T H E W H I T E H O U S E .

If your house would like to participate, please contact Jessie at 510-261-5303 or email Jessie at: limpiala@yahoo.com.

So, contact Jessie now to let her know what you have to donate, and join a bunch of SFGrrlz and a bunch of Jessie's neighbors -- helping sell and helping buy -- on May 22.

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How to Get Married in MA :)

2004-04-26T23:09:27Z

http://www.glad.org/marriage/howtogetmarried.html

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Mary Cheney ads

2004-02-27T18:38:00Z

DearMary.com is "the most audacious surprise attack yet." - Newsweek

About Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter.
Check it out.

--L

http://www.dearmary.com/mary/index.html

posted in GTU QTi's - 2 replies

Tolbert in Chron Article on Marriage

2004-02-26T01:26:52Z

Marriage's lineage a bit convoluted
C.W. Nevius, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ

To opponents of same-sex marriage, it seems so simple. Let's just preserve marriage the way it has always been.

"OK,'' says feminist biblical scholar Mary Ann Tolbert. "What is that?''

The fact is from issues of divorce, race, religion and the role and rights of the partners, the concept of marriage has always been in play. And it continues to be today, including in this country.

Many would be surprised to know that as recently as 1967 in many states it was illegal for a mixed race couple to be granted a marriage license. An even bigger surprise, given current debate over same sex marriages, is that when the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of interracial marriage, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that the "freedom to marry or not marry a person of another race resides in that individual.'' Note that Warren wrote "person,'' and refers to "persons'' -- not man or woman -- throughout the opinion.

So, when President Bush said yesterday that the country needed a constitutional amendment to beat back attempts to redefine marriage in this country, at least some legal experts suggested he was far too late. The institution of marriage has changed and morphed constantly through the years, and almost always to a hue and cry from those who worry about the structure of traditional marriage.

As the Massachusetts Supreme Court said in last year's ruling to allow same-sex marriage in that state, "alarms about the erosion of the 'natural order of marriage' were sounded over the demise of anti-miscegenation (mixed race marriage) laws, the expansion of rights of married women and the introduction of no-fault divorce.''

Or perhaps you would be safer going with the strict biblical definition. That gets a little tricky too.

"It is really much more complex in religious perspective than you might think,'' says Tolbert, the George Atkinson Professor for Biblical Studies at the Pacific School of Religion. "What the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) suggests as a general model for marriage is polygamy. You look at someone like Solomon who had 200 wives and 600-and-some concubines. Or Abraham, who had his first child by his wife's slave. It sounds as if it was quite normal.''

Tolbert, who is also the executive director for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, points out that marriage didn't even become a sacrament of the church "until the 12th century. For the first 1,200 years (A.D.) in Europe there were civil unions by town or village government.''

Nor does the New Testament offer much help. In fact, by some selective readings it sounds as if the Bible has mixed views of marriage. As Tolbert says, Jesus says very little about marriage, and both he and Paul were single men. And Paul, at least, recommended chastity.

"Marriage is not a sin,'' says Paul in First Corinthians, "but it is better to be unmarried.''

"The Bible is an incredibly important sacred icon in our culture,'' says Tolbert. "But I just think a lot of people don't read it.''

Although same-sex marriage will be the subject of sermons and a source of debate in churches, the real battle as the president has framed it will be in the courts. His point, he says, is that "local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization.''

If so, it won't be the first time.

The roles of the people in a civil union have changed dramatically over history, including the recent history of the United States. It begins in the 1700s and 1800s, when married woman actually lost many of their legal rights when they agreed to get married. After marriage, they were not allowed to own property, pay taxes or sign a contract. Any money women earned outside the home was to be turned over to their husbands.

"You go back to the early years of this country,'' says Joan Hollinger, a professor at Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley specializing in child welfare and family law, "and you find that the wife became a kind of possession of the husband." It was not until the latter half of the 19th century, she said, that married women reacquired the rights they had when they were single.

As recently as 1920, the states of Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and New Mexico hadn't changed their laws.

A far greater change in marriage law came in 1948, when California was the first state to make it legal for a couple of mixed race to be married. It took another 19 years for the U.S. Supreme Court to make the same ruling. So until 1967, in many states, a couple of mixed race could not get a marriage license, and if they went to another state and were married, when they returned home they could be arrested.

"When I tell my students that was in 1967,'' said Hollinger, "they sort of gasp.''

And if you think the commotion over at City Hall is something, Hollinger says you should have been in the South when attempts were being made to overturn the anti-miscegenation laws.

"I hear Gov. Schwarzenegger talking about riots,'' she says. "I was in Mississippi in 1964. Compared to that, this is a lovefest.''

E-mail C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.

URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/25/MNGNG57QMP1.DTL

posted in GTU QTi's - 2 replies

Sign thank you cards for the mayor and county clerk staff

2004-02-24T21:40:48Z

Dear friends & colleagues,
I've made three thank you cards (one for SF Mayor Gavin Newsom & staff, one for County Clerk staff, and one for Assessor/Recorder Mabel Teng & staff) and hope you'll come and sign them. Each of these offices have, with vision and courage, made possible the same-sex marriages in San Francisco county over the last two weeks. During the Valentine's weekend City & County staff worked without comp time or pay - as Volunteers - to make this historic change possible. I, for one, was deeply moved by the graciousness, persistance, and integrity they exhibited to all of us who were there - especially the couples marrying...

The cards will be available today, Tuesday 2/24, after PSR chapel (11:10-Noon) and then will be in my office: Holbrook 125/Field Education (just past the PSR reception area) until Wednesday afternoon. I'll be delivering them to City Hall Thursday morning. If you can't get here to sign, simply reply directly to me - not the GTU list - with a brief message & your name - I'll print it and add it to the card.

Yours in the struggle for justice,
Joellynn
jmonahan@psr.edu

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EBV Weddings Announcements

2004-02-23T21:02:50Z

Here at EastBay Voice, we are going to start a new feature on our Community pages: we'd like to include a list and photos of East Bay couples who have been among the many issued marriage licenses and married recently. If you'd like your nuptials included, please send us your names, the date of your wedding, and if available, a photo in digital format. Thanks much, and congratulations to all the newlyweds!

Suzanne Corson
Editor
--
EastBay Voice
Connecting the GLBT Communities of the Greater EastBay http://www.eastbayvoice.org

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L Word

2004-02-19T00:30:22Z

This Sunday night at 8 p.m. in Benton Hall I will be showing the second episode of the L Word. YAHOO!!!

posted in GTU QTi's - 2 replies

Boston Globe on Gay Marriage

2004-02-18T18:23:25Z

The Boston Globe

By Bill Maher, 2/14/2004

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/02/14/valentines_day_that_great_state_holiday/

NEW RULE: You can't claim you're the party of smaller government, and then clamor to make laws about love. If there's one area I don't want the US government to add to its list of screw-ups, it's love.

On the occasion of this Valentine's Day, let's stop and ask ourselves: What business is it of the state how consenting adults choose to pair off, share expenses, and eventually stop having sex with each other?

And why does the Bush administration want a constitutional amendment about weddings? Hey, birthdays are important, too -- why not include them in the great document? Let's make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake -- you know, to send the right message to kids.

Republicans are always saying we should privatize things, like schools, prison, Social Security -- OK, so how about we privatize privacy? If the government forbids gay men from tying the knot, what's their alternative? They can't all marry Liza Minnelli.

Republicans used to be the party that opposed social engineering, but now they push programs to outlaw marriage for some people, and encourage it for others. If you're straight, there's a billion-five in the budget to encourage and promote marriage -- including seed money to pay an old Jewish woman to call up people at random and say "So why aren't you married, Mr. Big Shot?"

But when it comes to homosexuals, Republicans sing "I Love You Just the Way You Oughta Be." They oppose gay marriage because it threatens or mocks -- or does something -- to the "sanctity of marriage," as if anything you can do drunk out of your mind in front of an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas could be considered sacred. Half the people who pledge eternal love are doing it because one of them is either knocked-up, rich or desperate, but in George Bush's mind, marriage is only a beautiful lifetime bond of love and sharing -- kind of like what his Dad has with the Saudis.

But at least the right wing aren't hypocrites on this issue -- they really believe that homosexuality, because it says so in the Bible, is an "abomination" and a "dysfunction" that's "curable": they believe that if a gay man just devotes his life to Jesus, he'll stop being gay -- because the theory worked out so well with the Catholic priests.

But the greater shame in this story goes to the Democrats, because they don't believe homosexuality is an "abomination," and therefore their refusal to endorse gay marriage is a hypocrisy. The right are true believers, but the Democrats are merely pretending that they believe gays are not entitled to the same state-sanctioned misery as the rest of us. The Democrats' position doesn't come from the Bible, it's ripped right from the latest poll, which says that most Americans are against gay marriage.

Well, you know what: Sometimes "most Americans" are wrong. Where's the Democrat who will stand up and go beyond the half measures of "civil union" and "hate the sin, love the sinner," and say loud and clear: `There IS no sin, and homosexuality is NOT an abomination. . . .The only thing abominable about being gay is the amount of time you have to put in at the gym.

But that aside, the law in this country should reflect that some people are just born 100 percent outrageously, fabulously, undeniably Fire Island gay, and that they don't need re-programming. They need a man with a slow hand.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Bill Maher is host of "Real Time with Bill Maher."

posted in GTU QTi's - 0 replies

Married in San Francisco

2004-02-17T23:26:38Z

On February 13th, as I was heading to the BART station in San Francisco after work I was suddenly surrounded by hundreds of gay and lesbian couples holding hands and rushing their children down the street. I had never seen so many formally dressed gay and lesbian couples rush to the same place when Cher was not in town.

I moved with the crowd and found myself in front of City Hall where hundreds of gay and lesbian people were getting married. There was a surge of joy in my heart as I watched two women lead their three children inside to watch their mommies get married.

As tears formed in my eyes, I thought how appropriate that the gayest city in the world would legalize gay marriage. Let the straight people flock to “sin city” to get married in Vegas, this Midwestern lesbian would rather get married in “gay city.”

I was so moved by the historic and beautiful site of so many gay people declaring their love publicly, that I turned to by girlfriend Gade and said, “Do you want to go inside and get married too?” She shrugged her shoulders and headed for the door.

We walked inside City Hall and saw more than a dozen people getting married and kissing on the foyer stairs. I grabbed Gade’s hand and pulled her forward. Gade eyed the metal detector that we would have to walk through and sighed in relief: “We can’t get married, I have a pocket knife.”

Well, you cannot separate a girl from her knife. We went back outside where a newly married lesbian couple offered to take our picture. When they left they both wished us luck.

Maybe next time, if I am lucky, Gade will choose me over the pocket knife!

posted in GTU QTi's - 1 reply

Rainbow Ride 2004

2004-02-06T23:35:00Z

http://rainbowlaw.com/newrainbow/html/Rbowride.htm

posted in GTU QTi's - 0 replies

CLGS publicity help

2004-02-04T19:55:22Z

Does anyone have time to post a few
flyers from the CLGS office for the
Marlon Bailey event on the 14th?

We need to get them posted around the GTU
and Cal. Would appreciate you taking a few
to places you have class. Feel free to
stop by Holbrook 210.

--Leah

posted in GTU QTi's - 1 reply

Other calendars

2004-01-30T23:55:40Z

Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in Religion & Ministry
http://www.clgs.org/

Queer Berkeley (UCB events)
http://queer.berkeley.edu/

East Bay Voice
http://www.eastbayvoice.org/

SF LGBT Community Center
http://www.sfgaycenter.org/

The Sappho List (Bi/Lesbian SF Bay announcement list - heavy volume)
http://asylum.sf.ca.us/sappho/

MCC San Francisco
http://www.mccsf.org/

Castro Theater Listings - SF
http://www.thecastrotheatre.com/calendar.html

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All GTU Sexuality Classes

2004-01-30T23:46:36Z

Number of seats available only as of 1/30/04
____________________________________________

BSED-3120 01 TEACHING BIBLE & SEXUALITY 3.0 PSR:6 T 06:00PM-09:00PM Tolbert(PSR) -3 seats open

HS-3577 01 HOMOSEXUALITY & CHRISTNTY 1.5 n/a n/a n/a Schlager(PSR) NoLmt

ST-2424 01 PRIESTHOOD:THEOLGY & SPIRTLTY 3.0 CDSP:113 TH 02:10PM-05:00PM Osborne(FST) 11 seats open

STFT-2896 01 CONSTRCTVE TH & LGBT EXP II 1.5 n/a n/a n/a Johnson,J(CDSP/PSR) NoLmt

ST-4694 01 LOVE, SEX & MARRIAGE 3.0 MUDD:205 M 02:10PM-05:00PM Johnson,G.(PSR/SHS) NoLmt

CERS-2850 01 ETHICS & QUEER ISSUES II 1.5 n/a n/a n/a Hunt,M.(PSR) NoLmt

PS-4258 01 SEX AND SENSIBILITY 3.0 PLTS:GH1 M 07:10PM-10:00PM Pence(PLTS) 30 seats open

FE-4072 01 OUR WHOLE LIVES FOR ADULTS 3.0 SKSM F 02:10PM-05:00PM Dlott(SKSM) Gould(SKSM) 9 seats open

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Spring 2004 Q- Courses

2004-01-30T23:39:04Z

Courses designed for PSR's Certificate in Sexuality & Religion:

BSED-3120 Teaching Bible & Homosexuality. Instructor: Mary Ann Tolbert. 3.0 Units. Prereqs: OT 1115 or its equivalent OR NT 1016 or its equivalent; 15 max enrollment.

CERS-2850 - Ethical Issues in Queer Studies. Instructor: Mary E. Hunt. **online course** 1.5 Units, No Prereqs.

HS-3577 - Homosexuality & Christianity. Instructor: Bernie Schlager. **online course** 1.5 Units. Prereqs: Homosexuality & Christianity I;
Faculty written permission required.

STFT-2896 - Constructive Theology & LGBT Experience II. Instructor: Jay Johnson. **online course** 1.5 Units. Prereqs: STFT 2895: Constructive Th & LGBT Experience I; Faculty written permission required.

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