The next Carnival of Bent Attractions will be held at Les Faits de la Fiction on October 10th. Submissions are due by midnight tomorrow!

Submit here.

Show me you love me by posting a reminder to submit to the carnival on your blog, too.

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

In “Lesbian Nurse Loses Title VII Discrimination Case,” Professor Leonard describes the situation of a nurse, Penelope Lynch. Lynch was fired after a heated discussion with a subordinate who objected to Lynch’s homosexuality. Even though Lynch worked for twenty years at Baylor Medical Center and received promotions, she was discharged through the following series of events:

On or around May 30, 2004, [Lynch] got into a confrontation with one of her subordinate nurses who was uncomfortable with gay people, purportedly because in college a lesbian had pressured her for sex and because homosexuality offended her strong religious views. Lynch attempted to apologize and patch things up with the other nurse, but the nurse remained agitated about the incident and called the hospital’s ethics hotline to complain. This triggered an “investigation” of Lynch by the hospital administration, which purportedly uncovered various problems with her work and led to her discharge.

Judge Solis ruled that Lynch “failed to allege the necessary facts to make a prima facie case under Title VII” for her employment discrimination claim on the basis of sex and religion. Lynch v. Baylor University Medical Center, 2006 WL 2456493 (N.D. Texas). Lynch argued that she was the “victim of gender stereotyping discrimination and religious discrimination,” but Judge Solis didn’t see enough evidence for either theory to apply adequately:

Solis pointed out that there was no evidence that Lynch’s appearance or mannerisms were the cause of her discharge, but rather the various items of inadequate job performance proffered by the defendants. Solis also rejected the argument that this was religious discrimination because the subordinate’s religious objections to homosexuality triggered her call to the ethics hotline.

Professor Leonard mentioned an unusual, unfortunate piece of reasoning in this case:

Addressing more generally the sex discrimination claim, Solis observed that the management officials who hired, evaluated and supervised Lynch were all women, as if this could be determinative of whether gender stereotyping was taking place.

To read more about this case, click on the banner for the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes.

Jen also blogs at Transcending Gender and A Life Less Convenient. Her book is available here.

I knew that would get your attention. Rumor is it got Robert Downey Jr.’s and Alec Baldwin’s attention too.

Ryan Murphy, the creator of Nip/Tuck, has a new project: 4 oz. 4 oz. is a “new FX drama about a transsexual sportswriter with a wife and two teenage sons” and Robert and Alec are among the actors reported to have shown interest in joining the show’s cast.

“This will be one of the great parts, if done correctly,” says Murphy, 41. “It will be like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie - a man who becomes a better man by being a woman.” (Hoffman grabbed an Oscar nomination for his performance in the ‘82 film.)

…snip…

The 40-ish protagonist in 4 oz. lives in Pasadena, Calif., and is “an everyday guy who’s been fighting this secret all of his life,” says Murphy. The series follows the “trajectory” of his sexuality.

Murphy calls 4 oz. his version of “My Three Sons, with the father being a tranny.” In his mind, the common thread among the three males “is all their conflict and joys caused by their penises.”

Are we sensing a theme?

Murphy has mapped out several seasons’ plotlines. In Season 1, the character grapples with his secret. In 2, he lives and dresses like a woman. In 3, he undergoes the surgery, and in 4, he’s a woman in the world looking for love.

“I think people will be charmed by how sweet it is,” Murphy says. “It’s daring. There are things in the pilot that are jaw-dropping. It’s not salacious or violent.”

Murphy says 4 oz. will be “more straightforward and dramatic” and “less theatrical” than Nip/Tuck, FX’s most popular show. “The most shocking thing for me to do now is not be shocking.” (Right.)

Murphy, who’s gay, says he has been fascinated with transsexuality since he took a course in sexual deviance his senior year at Indiana University. (He copped an A-plus on his thesis, he says. “I know my trannies.”)

“I’ve always been moved by that journey of somebody trapped inside a different body. It’s just a metaphor for artistic expression - something caught inside, fighting to get out.”

For his part, Murphy has no desire to bend genders. “As a gay man, I certainly feel equal parts man and woman sometimes, but I’ve never had that battle.

“I’ve always been very comfortable in my shoes. I’ve had no desire to turn them into pumps.”

And with that last sentence, I’m giving up any hope of the majority of people ever understanding the difference between sex and gender presentation.

Thanks for the link, Femmester!

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who refused to comment on rumors that he is gay back in 2003, included the following apology in a statement about his resignation from Congress issued today by his office:

”I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent…”

Foley’s abrupt resignation came after questions about email exchanges between Foley and a male teenage page (an employee who carries messages and runs errands).

Campaign aides had previously acknowledged that the Republican congressman e-mailed the former Capitol page five times, but had said there was nothing inappropriate about the exchange. The page was 16 at the time of the e-mail correspondence.

The page worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen’s parents. Alexander added, ”We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem.”

…snip…

Foley, who represents an area around Palm Beach County, e-mailed the page in August 2005. The page had worked for Alexander and Foley asked him how he was doing after Hurricane Katrina and what he wanted for his birthday. The congressman also asked the boy to send a photo of himself, according to excerpts of the e-mails that were originally released by ABC News.

It doesn’t stop at those emails:

ABC News reported Friday that Foley also engaged in a series of sexually explicit instant messages with current and former teenage male pages. In one message, ABC said, Foley wrote to one page: ”Do I make you a little horny?”

In another message, Foley wrote, ”You in your boxers, too? … Well, strip down and get relaxed.”

Read more at NYTimes.com: Florida Republican Leaves Congress Over E-Mails

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Viviane’s Sex Carnival is the newest addition to Daily Dose of Queer’s blogroll and the Carnival of Bent Attractions upcoming hosts list.

I visited Viviane’s Blogger profile a few days ago and followed a link to NYC Perverts’ Saloon, “a place for a group of NYC sex bloggers to announce news, events, new sites, etc.” Viviane blogs at NYC Perverts’ Saloon with nine other contributors; among them, Audacia Ray, who recently announced her first book, Naked on the Internet:

So the book is called Naked on the Internet, and it will be published in the early summer of 2007 by Seal Press. It’s about female sexuality and the internet and will be cover the wide range of ways that women experience and explore their sexualities online: camming, chatting and making websites; dating, hooking up and forming friendships; sex blogging; watching, modeling for and producing porn; sex worker advertising and networking; as wives and girlfriends of partners who indulge in sexual activities online; sexual health and online support communities; and technology that enables physical sexual encounters.

Audacia Ray is looking for interviewees for her book:

For each topic, I plan to interview a variety of women who have experienced the internet with respects to the topics of the chapters.

And this is where you, my dear readers, come in. If you’re a lady and use the internet for any of the purposes I’ve listed above or any other sexy uses that I haven’t listed, and you wouldn’t mind being interviewed (by email, IM, phone, or Skype), send me an email and tell me a little bit about your personal history of sexy internetting (dude, its totally a word), and then we’ll take it from there.

If you’re interested in being interviewed, email Audacia at dacia@wakingvixen.com.

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Soulforce, an organization committed to ending religious and political oppression against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender individuals has announced the following event:

The Right to Serve campaign to lift the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban to allow all people, regardless of sexual orientation, the right to serve openly and proudly in our nation’s armed forces will begin in Richmond, VA on the morning of Wednesday, October 11th. There will be a training beginning around 9am at the Willow Lawn Recruitment Center (in the Shops at Willow Lawn, beside the Barksdale Theatre).

Richmond is one of 30 cities across the nation to participate in the Right to Serve campaign where openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual young adults will attempt to enlist. Upon denial we will begin a nonviolent sit-in campaign to demonstrate our commitment to the cause. The Richmond action will be conducted on Wednesday morning, October 11th. All people regardless of sexual orientation or age are welcome to join us.

Please register to attend via our website!

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Here’s the scoop from the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes’ article, “6th Circuit Rejects Sex-Stereotyping Suit Under Title VII as ‘Bootstrap’ Attempt”:

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 cannot be the basis for a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit, even if the complaint is couched in the terminology of gender stereotyping discrimination. Vickers v. Fairfield Medical Center, 453 F.3d 757 (July 19, 2006), affirmed a summary dismissal of the lawsuit by the federal court for the Southern District of Ohio.

These are some of the shocking facts of the case:

Christopher Vickers was a private police officer at Fairfield Medical Center (FMC) in Lancaster, Ohio. Vickers’ fellow officers found out that Vickers had become friendly with an openly gay doctor at FMC, and had gone on vacation to Florida with a male friend. The fellow officers, Kory Dixon and John Mueller, started relentlessly harassing Vickers, and some incidents were witnessed, and one even photographed, by their supervisor, Police Chief Steve Anderson. From May 2002 through March 2003, Dixon and Mueller did such things as imprinting the word “fag” on Vickers’ report forms, disparaging Vickers’ sexual preferences and activities, calling Vickers a “fag” and “gay,” subjecting Vickers to vulgar gestures, placing irritants and chemicals in Vickers’ food, using the nickname “Kiss” for Vickers, suggesting that Vickers should provide them with sexual favors, and, in one instance, handcuffing Vickers while simulating sex with him, while the supervisor took pictures. A photograph of that incident circulated widely at the hospital.

To learn more about this case, see page 9 of the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes (banner to the right) in the September ’06 issue.

Jen also blogs at Transcending Gender and A Life Less Convenient. Her book is available here.

For those of you who may not have already heard, Merge Press is offering a discount of 35% off the cover price of each book you purchase at MergePress.com throughout September. Enter the voucher code HUSH before checkout to get your books at sale price.

Queer Shorts (my first book-child, which you’ve read about previously on Daily Dose of Queer here, here, here and here) is one of the titles you can pick up on sale if you act quickly.

Jen Burke’s A Life Less Convenient, based on ALifeLessConvenient.com, is also available on sale right now at MergePress.com.

A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex is a collection of fictionalized short stories told in the form of letters to loves lost during the onset and daily complications of chronic illness. Each letter details the emotional and physical realities of a couple dealing with illness, and the transitions that inevitably occur as they learn to navigate through the bodily changes. The book portrays the complex, often ambivalent relationship of the body in love and in disease through both pictures and text.

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Senate co-leaders Mike Gronstal and Mary Lundby have written a letter supporting anti-bullying legislation.

The letter says — quote — “We can no longer afford a ’sticks and stones’ attitude.”

According the letter, about 83 percent of gay and lesbian students in Iowa are verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation, and more than 33 percent are physically abused.

The article is here.

GenderPAC has plenty of information on bullying.

I have heard so many stories of the ways that people’s lives and self-image were altered because of bullying focused on sexual orientation and nonconformity to gender presentation stereotypes.

Jen also blogs at Transcending Gender and A Life Less Convenient. Her book is available here.

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center has been selected as a finalist to receive a $100,000 grant from American Express for the Fallon building’s repair, painting and exterior lighting. The funding comes from the Partners in Preservation program of The National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express.

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center is 1 of 25 Bay Area sites vying for a share of $1,000,000 in grants and they need your help! The site that receives the highest number of votes is guaranteed to receive funding. Not all sites will receive funding. Follow the below link and register to be able to vote for the Fallon Building each day until the contest closes on October 31st.

American Express, the National Trust and the Advisory Committee, comprised of local Bay Area dignitaries, will review the public’s votes, along with each site’s monetary needs, to determine how the $1 million in preservation grants will be awarded.

You can find Maria on MySpace here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.