Although gender identity is already included in both their admissions and employment policies, the University Senate at New York University has recommended the university approach issues of gender identity individually as opposed to adding gender identity to the university anti-discrimination policy.

What statement is being made by this? Does the University Senate feel there will be situation that will come along where discrimination might be needed? I sure does seem so.

How sad. If NYU has a hard time getting gender identity into their anti-discromination policy, what can we expect of schools in Kansas?

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Gary Hirte, 19, was sentenced to a mandatory life prison term on Thursday for the murder of Glenn Kopitske, 37. Hirte, who admitted to the murder, claims it was a homosexual encounter with Kopitske that made him kill. Friends of Hirte aren’t buying the reason he killed, but I’m gonna since I have nothing else to go on (and that is why he said he did it).

So… assuming that a 19-year-old boy murdered someone because of the rage he felt from a homosexual encounter with them, shouldn’t we, as a society, examine what messages we are sending out about homosexual activity? Did Hirte kill because he didn’t want to be seen as a “pansy” or a “faggot?” When parents repeatedly tell their sons to act like a real man, do they realize their child might one day end up in prison because he was that affected by their definition of a real man? Is it worth it? I don’t think so. It may be hard at first to question what your beliefs are based on, but it needs to be done before they are forced on to children - for their sake.

Kathy La Madrid, a lesbian who has been missing for over three months (it is feared bias may have played a role in her disappearance), is no where to be found.

Kathy is described as:

a white woman who stands 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs 160 to 170 pounds. She has green eyes, hair color that varies from dark blond to black, and a red and black tattoo on her left ring finger.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Kathy La Madrid, 40, (she is believed to be in the San Francisco Bay Area) please call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 463-4107 or Community United Against Violence at (415) 777-5500.

Thank you.

Under new policy of the U.S. Golf Association, transgender athletes will be eligible to compete two years after having gender reassignment surgery, subject to proof of gender guidelines.

Both the International Olympic Committee and the Ladies Golf Union of Great Britain have also recently adopted similar eligibility standards for trans women.

Michigan (with a policy of denying the entrance of anyone who is not a woman-born-woman) could learn a lesson from all of you.

The Boston Red Sox are getting a makeover! A few, now very excited, Boston wives contacted Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and the Fab 5 accepted their pitch. Five members (Damon, Kevin Millar, Doug Mirabelli, Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek) of the recent World Series winners will be made over under a queer eye.

Taping began on March 14, 2005.

I’d like to see Queer Eye For The Hopeless Butch. Ha.

Bishop Joseph Devine, a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop, does not want Catholic schools hiring gay teachers. The Catholic Education Commission he leads is drafting a new educational charter which will make sure gays are not employed in Catholic schools.

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Also in the news - former Catholic school teacher charged with pedophile offenses by South Australian Police.

Here’s a thought… maybe they should add required psychological testing for prospective teachers into future plans while they’re tuning their checks and references system to make sure they’re not hiring anyone gay.

Check out ButchDykeBoy.com’s piece on Lisa Jackson, All The Pretty Horses and Lipstick Conspiracy. ButchDykeBoy.com is an on-line resource for the Boston transgender
and gender queer communities.

Support queer music.

Denise Fairchild, who was artificially inseminated in 1997 and raised her child with her partner until their relationship ended in 2001, is now citing Ohio’s gay marriage ban in hope of keeping her former partner from receiving visitation rights to see their child.

I’m sure others will do the same if she is successful.

What does this say about how badly gays want the right to marry? Gays want marriage but don’t really like everything that comes along with the institution (like easier gotten visitation rights)? Gays want marriage when it is convenient for them?

I really do believe in the act as if method of getting what you want. At this rate, that idea isn’t going to get so far.

Read more here, or pick up the current issue (March 21, 2005) of Time Magazine.

I won’t be acting as if I’m anything, but I’m not looking to get married either.

Ritch C. Savin-Williams’ new book, The New Gay Teenager, argues that the majority of teens who have attractions to or sexual relationships with others of the same sex do not call themselves gay. I completely agree. I didn’t know anyone in high school who identified as gay. I didn’t identity as gay during most of my teen years. I identified as gay in college. I now identify as queer.

Here’s where things get problematic. When I read the review below from Amazon.com, I didn’t know exactly how to take the comment in bold.

Adolescence is no picnic–but is it especially hard for gay teens? Ritch Savin-William’s ground-breaking book reveals that being young and homosexual is not the identity crisis we might expect. Today’s teenagers are more at ease with homosexuality–and with a more flexible and shifting view of human sexuality in general–than their parents’ and grandparents’ generation. With a conversational style, personal history, and intimate interviews with teens, Savin-Williams transforms research into a great read. At a time when adults argue passionately over who has the right to do what with whom, kids must be laughing behind their backs.

If kids really are laughing, it’s because they have yet to deal with the type of discrimination they will see when they are adults. Many of the teens that do not identify as gay will one day. Many of them will want to marry their partners. Many of them will want to start a family. They will want to be able to provide for themselves and their families regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

The tone of this review makes it seem like adults out there fighting for gay rights could learn a lesson from teens who do not yet need to care as much about rights regarding their identity as they one day will.

I just hope we can all remember that it took a long time to be able to laugh.

I’m wondering what type of tone will be present in the book. It hasn’t yet been released. I’m thinking I may be coming back to this in the future…

I’m a femme.

I love Marilyn Monroe.

I couldn’t not let everyone in New York City know that today is the last day to see this exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep.