RA-news Newsletter of the Rainbow Alliance at the University of Florida January 2007, Vol. 5, No. 4
The Rainbow Alliance is the organization for University of Florida faculty, staff, and alumni concerned with matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity. RA welcomes all members of the University community who share its goals.

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Please contribute to the Rainbow Alliance Fund. Payroll Deduction makes it easy! Next Rainbow Alliance Dinner: Thursday, January 18 at Romano's Macaroni Grill at Oaks Mall. 6 PM for a drink, and 6:30 for dinner. Please RSVP. January Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upcoming Local Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/24 Friends Continuing Education: Trans Identity -- 12-1pm, Dean of Student Conference Room, 202 Peabody Hall 1/27 Speakers Bureau Panelist Training -- 10am-noon, La Casita (across from Library West) 1/30 Friends training for Florida Alternative Breaks -- time TBD, Reitz Union 2/11 UF Women's Leadership Conference -- all day, Reitz Union 2/13 Friends Continuing Education: Black and LGBTQ -- 12-1pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody Hall 2/21 My Gender Workbook discussion group -- 5-6pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody 2/28 Friends training for the Levin College of Law -- 12-1pm, Location TBD (in law school area) 3/7 Friends training for the Levin College of Law-- 12-1pm, Location TBD (in law school area) 3/21 My Gender Workbook discussion group -- 5-6pm, Dean of Students Conference Room, 202 Peabody 4/4 Kate Bornstein -- 7pm, Reitz Union Grand Ballroom Apr 2007 Pride Awareness Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pride Events -- Worldwide Calendar Apr 2007 Equality Ride 2007 Aug 2006 - Jan 2007 Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Traveling Exhibition August 16, 2006 - January 27, 2007 Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, FL  Feb 2007 - April 2007 Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals Traveling Exhibition February 11 - April 7, 2007 University of Miami Otto G. Richter Library, Coral Gables, FL

Contents Features Massachusetts Takes Step to Prohibit Same-Sex Marriage Former Top General Says Don't Ask, Don't Tell Should End Alaskan Legislators Vow to Block Benefits Transgendered Canadian Athlete Challenges Lost Medal New York Gov Spitzer To Promote Marriage Equality American Navajo Take Stand against British "Navajo" Departments Help us Build the Rainbow Alliance Contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund Resources How to Join the Rainbow Alliance Contributors to This Issue of RA-News

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Features

First Words:   [top]

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Massachusetts Takes Step to Prohibit Same-Sex Marriage In May 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that their state must give same-sex couples access to the same rights and privileges as opposite-sex couples. With that decision, Masschusetts became the first state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. In December, the Massahcusetts legislature convened a consitutional convention to consider an amendment to the state constitution which would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Such an amendment would end same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. The measure was passed. However, to become an amendment, it must pass again next year and in the year after that (2008), it must be passed by the people in a referendum. The proposed amendment needed the support of 50 of the 200 lawmakers to stay alive. In the end, it received 62 votes. Outgoing governor Mitt Romney supports the amendment. He is also planning to run for president in 2008 and has adopted progressively more conservative positions in recent months in order to garner support in the conservative base of the Republican party. The new governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, called for the defeat of the amendment and and end to the debate over marriage in Massachusetts. Polls show that over 60% of Massachusetts citizens oppose the consitutional ban. Many believe that same-sex marriage would survive a popular referendum, but supporters of marriage equality plan to take nothing for granted. There are currently more than 8000 same-sex couples married in Massachusetts. If the amendment passes, their marriages would not be affected, but no further same-sex marriages would be allowed. Read more at New York Times [top]

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Former Top General Says Don't Ask, Don't Tell Should End John Shalikashvili, former chair of the Joint Cheifs of Staff, the nation's highest military position, has recented changed his position on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy that prohibits gays and lesbians from discussing their sexuality with others. Shalikashvili opposed allowing openly gay individuals from serving in the military, but now, after many discussions with gay service personnel, he has changed his mind. "These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers," Shalikashvili wrote in the New York Times. It is not clear how eager Congress will be to bring up the contentious DADT policy. A proponent of an open military, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA), has pledged to introduce legislation. The issue may be inevitable after recent calls to expland the US military. Ending the discriminatory policy was given a boost by a recent Zogby poll of US forces. Zogby interviewed 545 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 75% of respondents said they were comfortable around gay men and lesbians. Over 65% believed allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would not hurt morale. However, on the critical question of whether openly gay and lesbian persons should be allowed to serve, only 26% said yes, while 37% said no and a substantial 37% were undecided. [top]

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Alaskan Legislators Vow to Block Benefits In late 2005, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that same-sex partners of state employees and retirees deserved the same benefits as married spouses, even though the couples could not legally marry in Alaska. Justices pointed to the constitution's equal protection clause, which states that "all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law." These benefits were scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2007. The governor, Sara Palin, has pledged to comply with order. Nevertheless, the deadline has provoked opposition to the court ruling from Republican legislators in Alaska. The charge is being led by House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole, and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks. Coghill said he would introduce legislation to strip benefits from everyone -- including spouses of married state employees -- and make them pay their own way. "That's the only solution we've got," he said. The Alaska legislature convenes January 16. [top]

Transgendered Canadian Athlete Challenges Lost Medal Santhi Soundarajan is a 25-year-old runner. A very good runner. She won silver after finishing second in the 800 meters at the Asian Games, held in Doha, Qatar. Later, the Indian Olympic Association stripped Soundarajan of her medal, claiming that she "does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman." The test was administered by a medical commission set up by the Games' organizers. The International Olympic Commission (IOC) no longer does genetic testing of athletes but the Olympic Council of Asia continues to conduct tests, according to the India Times. Now a Canadian transgendered athlete, has joined tht fight to have Soundarajan's medal returned. Kristen Worley, a cyclist and waterskier, has written IOC president Jacques Rogge a pair of letters criticizing how the Indian runner was stripped of her medal. Worley argues Soundarajan should never have been subjected to a gender test. She also says the incident is an example of the misconceptions surrounding the issue of gender in sport. "The very reason they stopped sex testing before the Sydney Games was specifically because of the inconsistency, genetically, of a women's makeup," Worley said in a telephone interview. "Chromosomes do not give the actual sex or gender of a person's make up." Mianne Bagger, the first male-to-female golfer to play professionally, has also sent Rogge a letter of protest. Bagger, a Dane, was barred from the professional golf circuit when she had sex-reassignment surgery in 1995, but finally won admission in late 2004. In 2004 the IOC allowed athletes who have undergone sex reassignment to compete in elite level sports. Some of the conditions imposed include: athletes having to wait for two years after surgery to compete; and legal recognition of their assigned sex. [top]

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New York Gov Spitzer To Promote Marriage Equality The newly elected governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer, has promised that within the first year of his administration he will propose legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. The New York Court of Appeals ruled in July that the state constitution does not require that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. However, the court said the Legislature has the authority to legalize same-sex unions. Spitzer has supported marriage equality consistently, but failed to mention it in his first address as governor -- the State of the State Address -- in early January. Observers were concerned that Spitzer was signalling a change of poolicy, but a spokesperson for the governor has stated that the governor's commitment remains firm. All of the other statewide candidates elected in November — Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who has since resigned — said they supported gay marriage. [top]

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American Navajo Take Stand against British "Navajo" A new initiative in Great Britain provides local councils, police, health trusts and the probation service with a way of assuring potential clients that they are "gay-friendly." The groups sign up for the initiative called "Navajo" and display a distinctive symbol that resembles a shield. More than 100 organizations have obtained the Navajo charter mark. The project's supporters say the name was chosen because the Navajo traditionally believed that homosexuals had "special spiritual powers", and afforded them a "unique" status in society, where they were "admired and honoured for their sexuality". According to a spokesperson for one local council at Wyre, "The Navajo project takes its name from a tribe of native North Americans who recognised sexual diversity in their community. Wyre has an equality strategy and Navajo links with that because it recognises diverse groups in the community." Real Navajos may not agree. The 300,000 Navajo live on a huge reservation in north-eastern Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, and enjoy considerable independence from Washington. They make many of their own laws, including one passed overwhelmingly in 2005, banning homosexual marriages. The attorney-general of the Navajo nation, Louis Denetsosie, has written a letter expressing "great concern". Some native American anthropologists claim that primitive Navajos used to honour men known as the "nadleeh" – said to have "two spirits", one masculine, one feminine – who were allowed to dress like women, and to perform their duties. They say the tradition died out more than 100 years ago under the influence of Christian missionaries. But most Navajo politicians and medicine men dispute the claim. Read the original story on the Telegraph [top]

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Departments

Help Us Build the Rainbow Alliance 1) UF Faculty and Staff: We want every LGBT staff or faculty member and ally to be a Rainbow Alliance member. Tell interested friends and colleagues about Rainbow Alliance. They can check out the Web site at <www.ra-online.org>, or bring them along to a monthly dinner. They can join by sending an e-mail to <info@ra-online.org>. 2) Alumni: Our mailing list of UF alumni is growing. Alumni are a vital part of the University community. Anyone with an interest in improving the LGBT envrionment at the University of Florida should look into Rainbow Alliance. Working together with Pride Student Union and the Director of LGBT Affairs, we are working to keep alumni informed, to help them connect, and to draw on their expertise. 3) Contribute: The Rainbow Alliance Fund at the University of Florida Foundation (established March 2003) is the only one of its kind at the UF Foundation specifically dedicated to the support of the LGBT community at UF. The Fund needs continuing support if we are to realize our goals. As always, details about contributing to the Rainbow Alliance Fund can be found at the end of the newsletter. Details about payroll deduction will be e-mailed to RA members soon. A word to out contributions: Your donation is fully tax-deductible, and the RA Fund is not used to support operations of the Rainbow Alliance. Learn more below. 2) Statewide: Help us connect with staff and faculty on other Florida/Deep South campuses working on LGBT issues. We have some unique challenges in the South. Maybe we can support each other and collaborate on progress. [top]