Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Trans
When the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on same-sex marriage over two
days in late March, it signaled how far the fight for
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer rights and liberation has come. Mass
consciousness has changed. An ever-increasing majority of people in this
country now support same-sex marriage. Regardless of how the high court rules
in June, this trend will continue. One day soon the marriage battle will be
won....
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In Michigan, only married couples, married individuals and single
individuals may adopt children. Same-sex couples are denied legal recognition
under one of the most restrictive anti-marriage laws in the country —
passed by the voters in 2004 — that has even been used to deny
union-negotiated health benefits to state workers’ same-sex partners.
Michiganians in same-sex relationships cannot jointly adopt children or adopt
the children of their partners....
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The July 26th Coalition, a solidarity group that supports the Cuban revolution, hosted a March 13 evening of information and open dialogue with two representatives of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) in New York City. The women were here participating in events held at the United Nations and hosted by the Commission on the Status of Women during International Working Women’s Month....
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Nearly two years after the New York City Lesbian Gay
Bi Trans Community Center first barred the groups Siegebusters and Queers
Against Israeli Apartheid from meeting there, the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer community erupted in outrage in mid-February, when the
Center again denied a space request from QAIA, as it had continually done for
the last two years....
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Pepe Palacios, a LGBTQ leader and activist from the
resistance movement in Honduras, spoke at an event hosted by the Venezuelan
Consulate here on Feb. 12. Palacios described the brutal government repression
in Honduras, as well as the courageous, unified resistance of the Honduran
people. The event was presented by the International Action Center and El
Colectivo Honduras USA Resistencia — Partido Libre. Palacios is traveling
throughout the U.S. as part of a national tour organized by the Honduras
Solidarity Network....
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Minneapolis — Transgender activist and author Leslie Feinberg declared
in court here on Feb. 4 that she/ze was “not guilty” on a charge of
third-degree gross misdemeanor (property damage) for spray-painting “Free
CeCe Now” on the walls and pillars of the courthouse/jail in
Minneapolis....
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Pepe
is traveling throughout the US as part of a national tour organized by the
Honduras Solidarity Network. Please come to learn about the brutal repression
being carried out against the LGBT community in Honduras. But also learn about
the heroic resistance of the Honduran people who are organizing against the
illegal coup of 2009 and for a new society. Since 2009, over 80 mainly
transgender women and gay men have been killed in
Honduras....
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CeCe McDonald survived a racist, transphobic attack by a group of neofascists, who attacked her and her friends on the streets of South Minneapolis on June 5, 2011....
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CeCe McDonald survived a white-supremacist, anti-woman, transphobic hate crime.
Today, she is in a cell where sadistic racist and anti-trans guards hold the
key. Now, the city of Minneapolis is re-charging Leslie Feinberg with
3rd-Degree Gross Misdemeanor for writing the peoples’ verdict “Free
CeCe!” on the jailhouse/courthouse walls on June 4, 2012.
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I am dedicating the 20th-anniversary author edition of “Stone Butch
Blues” to CeCe McDonald and the ever growing struggle to free her....
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Drop the charges against Leslie Feinberg: Court re-charges transgender author for action supporting CeCe McDonald
Call the City Attorney today! ...
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Charlotte, N.C. — Volunteer activists with the March on Wall Street South coalition are in high gear mobilizing for a week of protest actions Sept. 1-6 around the Democratic National Convention. These events include a Festivaliberacion on Sept. 1, a march and rally on Sept. 2, and a Southern Workers Assembly on Sept. 3....
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Chavela Vargas, born Isabel Vargas Lizano in the town of San Joaquín de Flores, Costa Rica, died at the age of 93 in Cuernavaca, México, on Aug. 5. A singer as well as a sex and gender rebel, Vargas emigrated to Mexico at the age of 14 and lived most of her life there as a naturalized Mexican citizen....
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Ecuador, with the support of much of Latin America, is in what may be a long-term standoff with British imperialism over the fate of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange....
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Organizing is in high gear for protests outside the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in Charlotte, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., respectively. In Charlotte, the Sept. 2 “March on Wall Street South” will target the big banks that are headquartered in that city as well as the Democrats’ role in keeping up the status quo of the wealthy 1% or ruling elite....
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This year, the International AIDS Conference is being held in Washington, D.C., a city with one of the highest HIV rates in the world. At 3 percent, the HIV rate in this country’s capital is close to that of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 5 percent rate. (unaids.org) This situation prevails despite the enormous wealth held by the 1% and the existence of a monumental academic and scientific establishment....
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Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald, a 24-year-old African-American transgender woman from Minneapolis, was sentenced June 4 to 41 months in prison for defending herself against a brutal attack by neofascists who verbally and physically assaulted McDonald and her friends outside a bar in June 2011. McDonald, who courageously defended herself and her friends against anti-trans, anti-woman, racist slurs and violence, was the only one arrested, charged and jailed at the time....
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On the evening of June 4th, Leslie Feinberg--renowned transgender activist and author of Stone Butch Blues and Trans Liberation--was arrested in solidarity with Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald. CeCe McDonald is a 24-year-old African American transgender woman who was walking with a group of her friends in Minneapolis on the night of June 5th, 2011. As CeCe and her friends walked by the Schooner Tavern, a group of white bar patrons began shouting racist and transphobic slurs at them. One of the women in the group smashed her beer glass across CeCe's face. In CeCe's struggle to defend her life from this violent attack, one of her attackers died. CeCe was quickly arrested and charged with two counts of second degree murder. In May 2012, CeCe accepted a plea agreement to a reduced charge of second degree manslaughter by negligence, and on June 4th she received a 41-month prison sentence. On June 5th, 2012, she was transferred to a men's prison in St. Cloud, MN....
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The following statement was given by Leslie Feinberg on June 4 prior to the sentencing of CeCe McDonald. Feinberg was arrested later that night at a protest outside the county jail in downtown Minneapolis....
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June 5 — As Pride 2012 is being celebrated this June, bigotry and oppression against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals and communities — along with virulent racism — are alive and well across the United States....
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Cuban President Raul Castro’s daughter heard nothing but applause on May 23 as she made her first public appearance in San Francisco....
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On May 9, President Obama held an interview with Robin Roberts [ABC-TV host], in which he expressed his “evolved” personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry....
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People today [May 19] released a resolution supporting marriage equality. At a meeting of the 103-year-old civil rights group’s board of directors [in Miami, Fla.], the organization voted to support marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law....
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The second-degree murder trial of Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald in Minneapolis started April 30 and ended May 2. McDonald’s situation highlights the anti-transgender bigotry and racism rampant in society, as well as the inability of the “justice” system to mete out justice for the oppressed....
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he following speech was given by the late Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, on Aug. 15, 1970, on gay and women’s rights. Shelley Ettinger, a lesbian activist, wrote on her blog, “Read Red,” about Newton’s speech: “I think it's important to remember this speech because the Black liberation movement and even the Black community as a whole are so often slandered as though they're somehow more sexist and/or homophobic than other movements or other sectors of society, and here we have a great revolutionary leader speaking out just one year after the Stonewall Rebellion, far earlier than almost anyone else.” In light of President Barack Obama’s recent announcement in support of same-sex marriage, we are reprinting in its entirety Newton’s historic speech that urged revolutionary class solidarity with these oppressed groupings. ...
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Atlanta, Feb. 11 – Blustery, frigid winds buffeted the crowd gathered in support of Brandon White, a 20-year-old gay man whose videotaped beating at the hands of reputed gang members outside a corner store shocked millions of viewers nationwide. Just a week earlier, the slight youth was viciously attacked by three young men, who used anti-gay slurs as they punched and kicked him repeatedly, while two others videotaped the assault....
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The struggle to free Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald in Minneapolis deserves wide publicity and support. McDonald, 23, is an African-American transgender woman who was brutally attacked by racist, anti-lesbian/gay/bi/trans/queer bigots on June 5. As is often the case in a society permeated by racism, sexism and anti-LGBTQ bigotry and oppression, McDonald, the victim and survivor, was the only person charged after the attack. She goes on trial April 30 on charges of second-degree murder and intent to commit murder....
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A significant legal victory for trans and gender nonconforming workers was
recently won in a case brought by Vandy Beth Glenn. A three-judge panel of the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Dec. 6 that Georgia
Legislative Services had discriminated against Glenn when it fired her in 2007.
Glenn went back to work on Dec. 9....
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African-American lesbian activist, poet and writer Audre Lorde wrote that
“the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s
house.” Published in 1984, her statement is a perfect response to U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Dec. 6 announcement that the U.S.
will supposedly be championing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer people around the world. Clinton gave her outrageously
hypocritical remarks at an event recognizing International Human Rights Day in
Geneva, Switzerland....
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The scene was a perfect storm of organized chaos. Here
were the young and old, students and workers, immigrants and oppressed, all
addressing the failures of capitalism’s current worldwide crisis,
outlining the destructive forces of global banking systems and highlighting the
lack of communal values in a place that loves to cry patriotism....
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These are hard times. There doesn’t appear to be any respite coming soon. The political atmosphere has shifted in response to the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression. This crisis, because of how the changes in technology, communication and production have made the world smaller, is global in its impact....
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The North Carolina House of Representatives voted 75-42 on Sept. 12 to place
a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the ballot for the 2012 state
elections. If Amendment One is ratified, it would permanently ban all same-sex
marriages in North Carolina, prevent private employers from providing health
insurance benefits to same-sex couples, and render null and void in this state
all same-sex marriages made in other states....
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Nearly 300 people rallied April 25 in front of a Rosedale, Md., McDonald’s restaurant, which was the site of a vicious attack on a transgender woman several days before. The rally numbers made it the largest event to date in Baltimore County, Md., in support of the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer community....
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In Michigan there is currently a struggle over whether or not to pass “anti-bullying” legislation. To define its opponents as “bigoted extremists” would be an understatement. Who could possibly stand in the way of protecting a child from assault, harassment and intimidation?...
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Today marks the one year anniversary of the assassination of Walter Trochez, a human rights, LGBTQ and democracy activist in Honduras. His death, like those of many other activists, LGBTQ leaders, journalists, unionists and teachers has been nominally investigated by a police force that itself has been implicated in violence against civilians since the coup on June 28, 2009. Despite the efforts of the U.S. State Department, multinational corporations, the Government of Honduras and their lobbyists to portray the current situation as sporadic violence, attributable to generic 'crime' within a post-election return to normalcy, it is clear that targeted bloodshed and a culture of impunity has taken hold....
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A United Nations Human Rights Council gathering in Switzerland heard testimony from oppressed groups inside the United States who exposed Washington’s official state policy of gross violations against peoples of color and workers in general....
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The recent spate of suicides by young people who are lesbian, gay, bi or trans or perceived as such by their peers is heartbreaking. It is also a call to action.
We stand with all those stepping forward in solidarity with LGBT youth against the bashers, the bullies. We add our voices to the chorus telling our beautiful, precious children and teens: “Hang in there. It will get better.” But we say something else, too. Our message to the youth, LGBT and straight allies alike, is: Join us in the struggle....
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Rutgers University held a silent vigil the night of Oct. 3 for 18-year-old
Tyler Clementi, a first-year student and serious violinist, who jumped off the
George Washington Bridge after he and a male friend’s encounter in his
dorm room was secretly streamed online. Clementi’s death is but one in a growing number of teen suicides....
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Racism and ageism were themes for the keynote speakers at the Old Lesbians Organizing for Change national gathering here in July, and for the speakout sessions done in a format known as “fishbowls.” The 150 participants ranged in age from 59 to 87....
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Hate crimes against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities
are far from rare in the United States. In many cases, it is not just
hate-filled bigots who commit these crimes, but the government itself....
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On April 17, the openly Nazi group NSM held a rally at Los Angeles City Hall. Many groups, including socialist, anti-war and anti-racist organizations, mobilized to challenge their so-called right to free speech that motivates violence, racism and genocide against non-European peoples and the LGBTQ community....
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Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba Agricultural High
School in the small town of Fulton, Miss., just wanted to do what millions of
high school students around the country look forward to every spring: get
dressed up, go to prom and have a great time. But McMillen is a lesbian. She
wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom. She wanted to wear a tuxedo....
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A visit of the “Tea Party Express” to cities in the Midwest
— a region of the country that has been most devastated by the economic
crisis of capitalism — did not go unchallenged. Rather, activists and
community members confronted them at several stops to denounce the right-wing
attempt to divide working and oppressed people and to show that the racist,
sexist, anti-lesbian-gay-bi-trans, anti-immigrant, corporate-funded Tea Party
does not speak for working people....
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The corporate media may give it a different spin, but for
Palin and Wall Street’s Tea Party, Boston was a bust....
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The discussion of this legal project, named Organic Law of
Gender Equality, represents a further advance of your Revolution and
demonstrates the wish to correct these inequalities and discriminations which
for decades have plagued our societies. We understand that it is not possible to have a society with justice and equality when some of the members of that society suffer discrimination, whether it is because of their age, the color of their skin, their ethnic origins, their sex or their sexual orientation....
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For the better part of the last 75 years, revolutionary
peoples’ artist Irving Fierstein used his immense talent to depict the
many struggles of working and oppressed people for social and economic justice
and against imperialism. In the early 1980s Fierstein created a unique genre of
art—striking full-color revolutionary banners thoughtfully composed and
painstakingly painted by hand....
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The plight and suffering of children and teenagers who are
subjected to sexual and other forms of abuse cannot be relieved by a
reactionary campaign to foment racism, anti-gay bigotry and hatred of gender
and sex variance....
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The People’s Summit and Tent City in Detroit was by far one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. It was like going to Cuba, or Venezuela, and seeing the level of solidarity that exists among the people in those countries—solidarity that is borne of the struggle to build, in the case of Venezuela, or retain, in the case of Cuba, socialism....
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Type the words “Cuba Day against Homophobia” into Google’s search engine and you will find video clips and news stories about a festival on May 16 of this year in Havana and many other Cuban cities that raised public consciousness about the rights and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people....
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On June 26, 2009, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color and allies
will take to the streets of NYC once again and demand justice to let the world
know, that on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, the rebellion is not over and
we will continue fighting for justice, raising our voices until we are
heard....
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Several thousand protesters gathered in front of San Francisco City Hall
March 5 as the marriage rights struggle made its way to the California Supreme
Court....
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When there is no longer any need for a Harvey Milk School, when LGBT youths
don't have to fear for their physical safety, when repression and hiding
and discrimination are bad old memories, the work of Milk and the countless,
nameless others who battled for full rights will be complete....
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The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Cleveland won a major victory with City Council’s passage of a domestic partner registry on Dec. 8....
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As part of its effort to forge new ties, Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five held a meeting at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City June 2. Leaders from various organizations voiced their commitment to work on behalf of the Cuban heroes,...
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From June 27 to July 1, Atlanta will host the first-ever Social Forum held in the United States. The U.S. Social Forum will gather thousands of grassroots and community activists from across the country who will engage each other in political discussion and strategy planning. The operating slogan for the five-day event is "For another world to be possible, another U.S. is
necessary."...
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The Women's Fightback Network is a grassroots alliance of poor and working women, immigrants, disabled activists, students, elders and youth, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and transgender women--all standing together to protest budget cuts, racism, sexism and war. As women, we have a special place in the fight for equality and human needs....
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We the undersigned--lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender-nonconforming, and other activists fighting oppression based on sexuality, gender and sex--express our support for the right of the Black community in Brooklyn to decide to rename an avenue for the late Black community activist Sonny Abubadika Carson, who some called the "Mayor of Bed-Sty" for his long-time community activism....
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Aug. 26, "Women's Equality Day," marks the day, 87 years ago, that women legally got the right to vote in the U.S. There was no equality for all women back then and today there is still no "equality" to celebrate....
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