by the light of the moon...

Hooray for new data that makes our case that much more powerful!

In the July issue of Pediatrics magazine you will find this study that found that children from all kinds of families benefit when that family is legally recognized.

A quote from a press release I received:

Ellen C. Perrin, MD, Director of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and The Center for Children with Special Needs at The Floating Hospital for Children Tufts-New England Medical Center and one of the authors of the report, stated, "The scientific data overwhelmingly demonstrate that there is no relationship between parents' sexual orientation and any measure of children's emotional, psychosocial, and behavioral adjustment. We conclude that civil marriage is beneficial to children, regardless of the gender of the parents, because it strengthens families and helps foster financial and legal security, psychosocial stability, and an augmented sense of societal acceptance and support."

Hell yeah.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 17th is the birthday of Chana Szenes.

At the same time, Israel is caught up in yet another bloody escalation.

Save the Children reports that children are bearing the insane brunt of the Israeli bombings and violence, and that a humanitarian crisis is looming fast, especially in Gaza.

I feel so stunned and helpless and deeply angry. How many more innocent people must die, how many lives ruined needlessly, before it is over? The question itself is cliche. It is unbearable.

To give money to help end this madness and suffering:
Middle East Children's Alliance
Save The Children

What is significant about Chana, especially today?

Chana emigrated to Israel before parachuting behind Nazi lines to try and save Hungarian Jews; before being tortured and then executed at the age of 22. By the accounts I've read she was brave, fiery, passionate, a gifted poet. She knew what was worth dying for. I have looked up to her for much of my life.

Yet knowing what is worth dying for is not enough, if the cause is unjust. In Chana's time the cause was just, I think. Today, I don't think it is. Not many people do, outside of the United States and Israel. The blindness of my peoples is terrifying.

I find it a likely, although ugly, truth that as a Zionist who saw the deaths of so many Jews, Chana might in all likelihood have supported Israel's current actions.

But perhaps not everyone would succumb to this madness. Perhaps she would not have. Perhaps she would have the seen the difference between parachuting into Yugoslavia to save European Jews, and killing 200 civilians (as of today, as reported on KPFA as well as the BBC) in Lebanon over two soldiers.

Can we not harness these deep passions for something better?

-----

Found in Chana's cell after her execution:

One - two - three... eight feet long
Two strides across, the rest is dark...
Life is a fleeting question mark
One - two - three... maybe another week.
Or the next month may still find me here,
But death, I feel is very near.
I could have been 23 next July
I gambled on what mattered most, the dice were cast. I lost.

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I first discovered Mr. Yoshino, a professor at Yale Law School, when I read about his book: "Covering: The New Assault on our Civil Rights."

The concept of "covering" - hiding the attributes of oneself that put the self at risk of personal harm based on rasicm, homophobia, etc. - has been a very useful tool to me as I negotiate this world as an queer activist. When do I feel safe to act "female", or to speak of my bisexuality? Where must I pretend to be a member of a dominant group in order to keep myself safe? What can I do in situations when I have power - as a white person, as a member of the US middle class, as someone for whom English is their first language, etc. - to create spaces where covering is not necessary?

Throughout this process, I have realized that for me, the spaces where I don't have to cover my activism are the most precious of all.

(I realized as I drafted this blog entry that I haven't actually read Mr. Yoshino's book, so I'm picking it up today. I assume I'll be recommending it to y'all highly in the next couple of weeks.)

--------------

I was reminded of Mr. Yoshino because of his new Op-Ed today in the New York Times. In an analysis of the current rulings against gay marriage, he describes a dangerous legal technique with which I was not familiar: "restrict(ing) rights with a flourish of fond regards."

In other words, the LGBT community doesn't get marriage rights because we are too good to need such guidance.

Lovely. Thanks for the compliments, but gee, I think I'd rather have my rights. Funny that.

It's a good article, and it's also enlightening to learn of the convoluted arguments people use to prop up tired oppressions. He points out that similar arguments were used to deny women's rights, and also that the law that was upheld is based on provisions from 1909. Not exactly an era known for celebrating the moral superiority of the queer community.

As Mr. Yoshino concludes: "The “reckless procreation” argument sounds nicer — and may even be nicer — than the plainly derogatory “role model” argument...but equality would be nicer still."

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Found a great essay by this essay by Ben Barres, a male-to-female (MTF) transgendered scientist who has experienced profound changes in treatment after becoming male.

His stories include being denied credit for solving a math problem as a women when an MIT professor accused her of having her boyfriend solve it, and a colleague who rated Barres' research much more highly once Barres had transitioned to male gender.

The piece that really speaks to me (from a sidebar):

By far, the main difference that I have noticed is that people who don't know I am transgendered treat me with much more respect: I can even complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man.

There's also a great bibliography, including a book called Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women which looks very interesting.

photo is from http://pages.prodigy.net/fljustice/faith_pics/hypatia.jpg. It is of Hypatia of Alexandria, an early woman scientist.

And thanks to feministing.com for the heads-up!

Posted by Lythande (formerly T) at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)