Professor Balkin on the FAIR decision

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/03/alls-fair-in-law-and-war.html

-Ethan

Winning the culture war, one story at a time

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/26878

This is a great post.

-Ethan

Assimilation and discrimination

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15gays.html?pagewanted=all

Professor Kenji Yoshino writes a fascinating article about "The New Civil
Rights" in today's NYT Magazine.

-Ethan

12/13 News Review

1- Brokeback Mountain, while only released in five theaters in three cities (NY, SanFran, LA), has set the 2005 record for highest per-screen average and has been receiving good reviews from all corners. The film will be generally released on the 16th...drag a cadre of straight friends with you when you go see. Advocate's write-up. / A review by our colleagues over at Univ. of Michigan's OutLaws. / And a review by gay.com

2- One of the big questions that has always lingered around LGBT issues has been: how many of us are there? Kinsey gave the 10 percent benchmark, but methodological concerns were paramount. Solid demographic estimates since that time have been scarce. But we may soon have a better measure in the UK's recent legalization of civil partnerships - their government has released estimates based upon internal studies that place the UK's LGBT population at 3.6 million people (6% of the total population).

3- And it seems like everybody's getting on the gay marriage/civil unions train. New Zealand recently passed a bill that will have the nation recognizing civil unions by next April.

4- Well. Almost. A court in the 1st Department Appellate Division of New York reversed a trial court's ruling that found NY's non-inclusive marriage laws violated the state's constitution, using some rather powerfully worded language. Check out the opinion here.

5- CDC warns about a potentially high rate in a new batch of oral rapid-response HIV tests.

6- Shanghai is starting to respond to its high rates of HIV infection by providing the city with more condom machines

discrimination within the community

Today's New York Times has an interesting piece on the disparate treatment of gay men and women within the fashion industry. It's sad but unsurprising that, in a field where sexual orientation has become a non-issue (at least inasmuch as being gay is not a liability), traditional gender hierarchies are present and defended. The article shows the way that gay men can justify this hierarchy, something I frequently saw while living in the Castro before law school. What can we do as a community to fight the tendency to reascribe social hierarchies organized around race and gender into the community as the community becomes more accepted and dispersed?

Casey

Gay AIDS Activist Slain in Jamaica (or Why Buju Banton matters)

I don't know how many of you saw this, but Steve Harvey, a prominent AIDS activist in Jamaica, was killed the day before World AIDS Day.

It's all well and good, when Buju Banton comes to town, for Toad's to explain that they've asked him not to sing the anti-gay songs at the show (which he apparently did anyway). But what people don't seem to realize is that, although in New Haven people may not take him at his word and actually go off to kill the faggots, in Jamaica these words seem to have real meaning, and end in good, decent people being brutally slaughtered.

Here's another take on one other important angle, which Devon has brought up before: the role that race plays in all of this (I'm not sure how old this opinion piece is, and it's about Beenie Man, not Buju Banton, but same difference). Personally, I wonder about the effectiveness of a bunch of white Yale students (even with a couple non-white ones) telling reggae fans the world over that gayness is actually okay. But clearly, this is something that needs paying attention to.

--Janna

S. Africa's high court recognizes gay marriage

Another article on South Africa's gay marriage court ruling

This article doesn't mention it, but it seems relevant that South Africa is the birthplace of Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Funny what decades of oppression does for the understanding and love of liberty.

-Ethan

Inaugural Post!

The birth of SpeakOUT - Yale's new OutLaws blog - and, appropriately, a day jammed packed of LGBT news:

First, a comment and a series of links to various articles on World's AIDS Day (and the 10th anniversary of protease inhibitors). The importance of this day can hardly be overstated. Apathy towards HIV/AIDS issues and the importance of safe sex practices have been rising in the past years. HIV infection rates in gay men in the US have begun to climb again Out of the six million people in poverty stricken countries who are in critical risk of dying without treatment, less than one million will receive drugs. Epidemics continue relatively unaddressed in countries like India, China, and Russia. More statistics on the worldwide situation here. And it is possible that we could be nearing a vaccine? Preliminary trials have been occuring in different areas of the world...

A good collection of articles relating to HIV/AIDS issues can be found here

Second, anybody else confused about what to make of our fair, musclebound govenor of California? First this Republican takes the (ironic) stance in vetoing legislation for state statutes recognizing same-sex marriage claiming that "this is an issue for the courts to decide" (boo!)...and now appoints a long-time Democratic lesbian activist as his top aid (yay!). Oh Arnie, I hope one day you'll decide to commit to loving the LGBT community! Read more here

Third, it appears as though South Africa will be the first African nation to recognize same-sex marriages. The country's highest court made a ruling that gives the SA Parliament one year to make the necessary legal changes. Makes you wonder what is keeping our stodgy group of nine from doing likewise...

And, finally: Keep an eye on your inboxes everybody. Sometime next week, OutLaws will be having a hybrid group planning session and holiday social event!

Kisses!.....-mx

Art Gallery Tour - Tonight!

Just a reminder about tonight's tour of the Yale Art Gallery. Jonathan Katz will take a look at works in the collection by queer artists. Join us for this exciting (and free) event from 5.30pm to 8.00pm. For more details, click here: http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/info/press.html

Welcome to Speak OUT

We thought this would be a good place to post news stories, (public) events of interest, and conversation items. We'll be putting stuff up regularly, so leave comments (and suggestions) and check back often.