A Boy and His Flag – Why Will Won’t Pledge

Will Phillips isn’t like other boys his age.

For one thing, he’s smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what’s playing on Radio Disney.

It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will’s mother. “Yes, my son is 10,” she said. “But he’s probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He’s not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s fair.”

Will’s family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said, they’ve been trying to be a straight ally to the gay community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors. They’ve been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals – the right to marry, and the right to adopt. Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance.

“I’ve always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,” Will said. “I really don’t feel that there’s currently liberty and justice for all.”

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, a retired educator from the district, who knew Will’s mother and grandmother. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He did it again the next day, and the next day. Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him. On Thursday, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.

“She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,” Will said. “I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ‘With all due respect, ma’am, you can go jump off a bridge.’ ”

Will was sent to the office, where he was given an assignment to look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, the principal called his mother. 

“She said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge,” Laura Phillips said. “My first response was: Why? He’s not just going to say this because he doesn’t want to do his math work.” 

Eventually, Phillips said, the principal told her that the altercation was over Will’s refusal to stand for the pledge of allegiance, and admitted that it was Will’s right not to stand. Given that, Laura Phillips asked the principal when they could expect an apology from the teacher. “She said, ‘Well I don’t think that’s necessary at this point,’ ” Phillips said.

After Phillips put a post on the instant-blogging site twitter.com about the incident, several of her friends got angry and alerted the news media. Meanwhile, Will Phillips still refuses to stand during the pledge of allegiance. Though many of his friends at school have told him they support his decision, those who don’t have been unkind, and louder.

“They [the kids who don't support him] are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are.”

Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. “In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they’ve been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay,” he said. “It’s always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.”

Even so, Will said that he can’t foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge. To help him deal with the peer pressure, his parents have printed off posts in his support on blogs and websites. “We’ve told him that people here might not support you, but we’ve shown him there are people all over that support you,” Phillips said. “It’s really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.”

At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will’s answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples.  What does being an American mean?

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That’s what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.

Ryan White Act Passage Provides Expansion to Life Saving Programs for People With HIV

The House and Senate passed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, doing so by a unanimous vote in the Senate and with a large majority in the House (408-9).

This means that with President Obama’s signature expected, funding for Ryan White programs is guaranteed for four years, and will be increased by 5%. These programs provide life-saving services to numerous people living with HIV across the U.S.

Click here for the President’s statement on Ryan White.

Health and Human Services Announces Formation of National Resource Center for LGBT Elders

The Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced the creation of a national resource center to assist communities across the country in providing services and support for elderly LGBT people.

This center, a first in the nation, will provide information, assistance and resources to LGBT organizations and mainstream aging service providers at the state and community level. The center will also be available to educate the LGBT community about planning ahead for future long term care needs. The LGBT Resource Center will also help community-based organizations understand the unique needs and concerns of elder LGBT people and assist these organizations in providing help to LGBT caregivers who are providing care for an older partner with health or other challenges.

In addition, the Administration on Aging will award a single Resource Center grant at approximately $250,000 per year. Eligible entities will include public-private nonprofit organizations with experience working on LGBT issues on a national level.

Click here for the detailed press release from HHS.

Housing & Urban Development Announces Historic Proposals for LGBT People

The Obama administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced new policies banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The evidence is clear that some are denied the opportunity to make housing choices in our nation based on who they are and that must end,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “President Obama and I are determined that a qualified individual and family will not be denied housing choice based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Under the new guidelines, the term “family” will now include all eligible lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, couples and families and subsidized housing will be made available to those in need. HUD also announced it will begin a nationwide investigation into the discrimination LGBT people face in housing, a first for the federal government.

Click here for the detailed press release from HUD.

Right Direction on Gay Rights

With two wars, health care and the economy crowding his plate, you’d think President Barack Obama would have no room for another entrée-sized issue. But in his Saturday speech to the Human Rights Campaign, the president added gay rights initiatives to his near-term agenda.

If nothing else, the president’s attention reminds everyone that there’s still much work to do on this front. The federal Defense of Marriage Act (signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996) remains a serious obstacle to equal rights for gay couples. The military policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” has probably run the course of its usefulness and needs to be eradicated. And states are still all over the map regarding same-sex marriage.

If Obama can make headway on DOMA and military policy, as he pledged in his speech, it could represent real change in the lives of many gay Americans. And it might get the president a little closer to earning that Nobel Prize he picked up last week.

Even those who oppose gay marriage should be willing to concede, on an intellectual level, that a law excluding gay couples not only from marriage but also from federal benefits available to other citizens goes too far. It’s overkill, and an embarrassment to a nation that considers itself a defender of equality. The immediately lukewarm response from other Democrats (including Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow) to Obama’s suggested repeal of DOMA is equally embarrassing.

Obama may have an easier time moving the country past “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which was a workable compromise during the Clinton administration’s first term but now seems antiquated and a little silly. It’s OK to be gay in the military, so long as you don’t say so? There have been more than enough examples to show that allowing service men and women to be honest (while maintaining the same discipline that heterosexual soldiers are expected to uphold) is a better policy. The key will be getting military buy-in (much of which is already present) to prevent a backlash. That buy-in could also prevent opportunistic demagogues from hijacking what is, and should remain, primarily a military issue.

The president attached no timetables to his objectives. But speaking up for gay rights was and is the right thing to do, and if Obama can follow through, it will go a long way toward forging the presidency he aspires to pursue.

Sarah Graham: My intersex experience
Independent, UK
Tuesday, 22 September 2009

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/sarah-graham-my-intersex-experience-1791132.html

In an open letter to the South African athlete, Sarah Graham, who was born intersex, offers advice and encouragement for the years to come

You are a very special woman: an extraordinary athlete and an inspiration to your South African nation. That has not changed and nothing the International Association of Athletics Federations tests find under their microscope will ever take that away from you.

Whatever happens in these next few weeks, whatever the truth behind all the rumours, media leaks and gossip, I promise you will discover the truth that most human beings are kind-hearted and that the human heart is by far the most important human organ; it has no gender and it’s not interested in your sex.

When I was 25 I found out suddenly that I am an intersex XY woman. I have a very rare condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). This shocking revelation, after years of lies from my doctors, nearly killed me.

We have had very different lives and, of course, I can’t imagine what it feels like to have soared so high, winning your 800m gold medal in such a spectacular fashion, and then having that great achievement pushed aside as the world’s media descended on you, ignoring your feelings, confidentiality and basic humanity, and going in for the kill.

But just like you, Caster, I had never doubted my female sex – I have a female birth certificate and was raised as a girl and had no reason to question my biology. As an adult, I went into shock when my sex was suddenly questioned. And I couldn’t cope with, nor accept, the news that my ovaries were in fact undescended testes. I left the gynaecologist’s surgery feeling very alone in the world – a freak. My shame, self-hatred and sense of failure for being infertile ate at my already fragile self-esteem, driving me to self-harming behaviours: with alcohol and drugs, destructive relationships and putting myself in increasingly risky situations – tempting fate to destroy me.

The papers say you are now on suicide watch. Horrible though that is,as a counsellor, I’m glad to hear this. It’s terribly sad, but up to 30 per cent of young intersex people do attempt to kill themselves. Even where there is good support in place – an endocrinologist, gynaecologist and psychologist working together in clinic is best practice – most intersex people and their families go through a very difficult adjustment period. Now 15 years on, and with the excellent
support of Dr Conway and his team at UCL’s Middlesex Centre, I am very happy, well-adjusted, recently married and I have turned my pain into my work – I’m a “wounded healer”, helping others overcome painful challenges and be happy with who they are. Caster, I implore you, hang in there. It will get better.

I don’t know your culture well but some people handle intersex much more sensitively than uptight White Europeans. Native American tribes call intersex “two-spirits” and revere us for being the best warriors and healers. Your South African sports minister, the Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile, made you a promise: “Caster is a woman, she remains our heroine. We must protect her.” The world will hold him to his words.

Since you hit the headlines, every intersex person (that’s about 4 percent of the population) has been exposed to outdated, inaccurate, offensive words such as hermaphrodite. Self-appointed “medical experts”, who often aren’t working in this area of medicine, keep popping up to peddle prejudices and dangerous myths. Such as AIS XY women must have their testes removed straightaway. Wrong! We can keep them. It should be our choice, not that of doctors or fearful, ashamed parents. It means a slightly-increased risk of cancer, which can be monitored. But it’s far better to produce your own hormones naturally rather than have a lifetime of HRT. I take a daily oestrogen pill and a small amount of testosterone gel. I’m a guinea pig. No-one knows what the future holds.

If you are a woman with testes, do not let the doctors, the IAAF, or embarrassed family members rush you into the operating theatre. You are lucky because you can choose to remain a woman with balls! One day you may even be able to laugh at this and enjoy the double meaning. But it will take a long time.

I didn’t get given any choices. My doctors even lied to my parents and, aged seven, my “ovaries” were removed. We were told that if they weren’t, I would “get cancer as a teenager and die”. I am still traumatised by what happened in Hospital 32 years ago: being treated like a fascinating “special little girl”/lab rat, prodded and poked by an army of medical students; held down and given an enema. And I can still picture the bloody scars on my little-girl body, and trace the start of the chilling loneliness; the only child in the Chelsea Hospital for Women.

Intersex is part of all creation and has an important place in the order of things. Operating on intersex children’s bodies to “normalise them” is often damaging to future sexual responsiveness and sometimes fertility. It’s not about what’s best for the child or adult – it’s politically driven, to make society feel safer and reinforce the gender boxes: male/female, pink/blue.

But the person most likely to pose a serious threat to and reject you – is you, Caster. If, in your hiding place, you can bring yourself to read and watch what people are saying, you’ll find they are being kind. They are supporting you and sending you love.

Your head may be telling you that I’m wrong. And these next few weeks are going to be really tough as you wait for the IAAF Council to complete their examination of the “facts” and make their “final decision on this case”.

One day you will understand you were made this way for a reason and you have more than one extraordinary gift to give to the world.

In love and in solidarity,
Sarah

HIV activists angered by no-consent testing legislation

Bill sparks worries about health insurers denying coverage to those infected and tested without their knowledge

Activists with the group Michigan POZ Action are organizing a campaign to get state lawmakers to stop legislation that will remove a law that requires persons being tested for HIV do so with informed consent.

Under current law, anyone seeking an HIV antibody test must sign a document acknowledging they have consented to the test. But under revisions proposed in the House and the Senate, any doctor would be able to order an HIV test for a patient without permission, consultation or counseling.

The legislation has sparked concerns about no-consent testing causing patients to lose their health insurance.

Kendra Kleber who previously practiced law focused on HIV and government benefits, told Michigan Messenger earlier this year:

The whole idea of anonymous testing is that you can control when you are tested and what happens to your results. Everything about this bill, except that little section [on anonymous testing], says you have no control over when you are tested and what happens to your results. You have no control. … But the fact of the matter is that if you went to your normal doctor and had a physical last week and even if you doctor didn’t say anything to you about HIV, he could have tested you and so your results could already be in the record. Which means they are already knowable to an insurance company.

Kleber, who has been appointed to an administrative law judge position in Cleveland, said she found the legislation to be “very, very, very problematic.”

Activists infected with HIV and their advocates are up in arms.

“Being tested doesn’t do anything to prevent anything,” said Mark Peterson, an HIV activist based in Detroit. “This sort of puts a wedge between doctor and patient when it comes to an important health conversation.”

The legislation was proposed in March by State Rep. Roy Schmidt, a Grand Rapids Democrat. He told Michigan Messenger in April the bill was created at the request of Spectrum Health, a large health care provider in West Michigan. The system’s spokesman Bruce Rossman confirmed Spectrum had requested the law, noting that Spectrum physicians had indicated the current law created a barrier.

He also noted that Spectrum had not implemented a policy mandating HIV testing for patients over 16, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended.

“We have not [implemented the CDC guidelines] under the current law because, unfortunately, a lot of our current physicians feel that it [informed consent] is a hurdle,” he said.

An official with the Michigan Department of Community Health told Michigan Messenger the agency was opposed to no-consent testing.

“We feel [the CDC recommendations] can be implemented successfully in the state without changing the law,” said Debra Szwedja, acting director of the MDCH’s Division of Health, Wellness and Disease Control.

The Senate Health Policy Committee will take up the legislation Wednesday at a 2:30 p.m. hearing in Lansing, and Michigan POZ Action members plan to organize a grassroots lobbying campaign to oppose the legislation.

“This is about a convenience for doctors versus the ability of patients to have an informed conversation,” said Peterson. “The patient’s informed consent outweighs the convenience issue for physicians.”

MSU: ‘Ex-gay’ website will remain hosted on school servers

EAST LANSING — After assuring LGBT activists and leaders for two years that a controversial website would be removed from its computer servers, Michigan State University said last week it will continue to host the website of the ex-gay ministry Corduroy Stone.

In an email, David Gift, vice provost for libraries, computing and technology at MSU, told Michigan Messenger that the university’s hands are tied because Mike Jones, who runs the site that promotes therapy as a way to convert gay individuals to a straight lifestyle, is a retired university employee:

We have made systematic progress over the past year at removing public purchased web publishing and e-mail accounts that had been established at MSU. However, retirees have the benefit of continued use of their MSU web space and our existing policies for controlling their use of that space are quite limited and do not permit us to address this particular case. The owner of this site is a retiree, and after we closed his purchased account under our general change of business practices he set up shop in his retiree space. He apparently has arranged for a .com URL, but has that URL redirected to his MSU personal webspace.

The website became an issue in June 2007 when the American Family Association of Michigan hired a plane to fly over the Motor City Pride celebration in Ferndale. The plane dragged an aerial advertisement behind it advertising a website for ex-gay programs, which included Corduroy Stone. At that time, MSU officials said the website would be removed. But in March 2008, the website remained. Officials at the time said it had been an oversight and the website would be disabled. Apparently, based on Gift’s email, the site was disabled, but Mike Jones, the man who runs Corduroy Stone, is allowed website space because of his retiree status. He has moved the organization’s web pages to his personal MSU account.

Terry Denbow, vice president for university relations, explained MSU’s decision via an email:

The point is that we do allow retirees to have Web spaces that link to other organizations. The fact that this organization has material that is offensive does not, in and of itself, violate any University policies. We cannot, under the First Amendment, make content based distinctions on what sites we allow and which ones we do not. We are continuing to review and update our acceptable use policies and will take this under advisement as we do so. In the meantime, so long as Mr. Jones is in compliance with U policy, his web space will remain available to him.

Denbow said that while the university was blocked from further action under current policies, it might be time to revisit those policies.

While MSU’s hands may well be tied due to the First Amendment, experts and activists say the content of the website is still false and even dangerous to the well-being of LGBT people.

Jack Drescher, a New York-based psychiatrist, distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a member of that organization’s working group on sexual and gender identity issues, called the website’s content irresponsible. In an email to Michigan Messenger he wrote:

Both the American Psychiatric Association and more recently the American Psychological Association have raised strong warnings about the lack of scientific evidence supporting sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) as well as the possible harm that these practices sometimes cause. A publicly funded State University should, in principle, provide a forum for a diverse range of community voices. However, since ex-gay ministries make hopeful promises that they cannot keep to many hopeless and desperate individuals, providing such a group with the appearance of official university sanction may unintentionally do more harm than good.

Earlier this year, the American Psychological Association released a report on reparative therapy for gay individuals, calling the practice harmful and illegitimate.

Wayne Besen, executive director of the national organization Truth Wins Out, which opposes the ex-gay movement, also called on the university to remove the website:

“Michigan State should cancel Jones’ e-mail address and immediately stop hosting his site. It gives the false impression that the university endorses a dangerous form of therapy that was just condemned by the American Psychological Association.”

Besen is particularly familiar with Corduroy Stone because when he was in Grand Rapids earlier this year to speak at an event at Grand Valley State University aimed at countering the national ex-gay conference held locally. While there, he met Patrick McAlvey, 24, of Lansing, who says he was victimized by Jones and the Corduroy Stone programs. He even went so far as to do a video interview with Besen, which was posted last month on YouTube. And Besen features McAlvey’s story on his website.

“As both a graduate of Michigan State University and a recovering victim of Mr. Jones’ “ex-gay” therapy I find it sickening that the Corduroy Stone website continues to be supported by MSU. It is horrifying to think that taxpayer money, including my own, is supporting Mr. Jones and his strange and dangerous “work” with Corduroy Stone,” said McAlvey in an email to Michigan Messenger. “I am disturbed that this use of MSU server space could be be mistakenly interpreted as lending Corduroy Stone some sort of credibility it certainly doesn’t deserve and in reality does not enjoy.”

Affirmations launches LGBT statewide tobacco-free coalition

Affirmations has partnered with Tobacco Free Michigan to establish a statewide coalition of LGBT and ally organizations that will focus on statewide tobacco use and secondhand smoke in the LGBT community.

Tobacco Free Michigan is a network of more than 200 organizations aimed at reducing the harmful effects of tobacco use and second hand smoke in the state of Michigan. It is funded by the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Affirmations is metro Detroit’s LGBT community center, located in Ferndale. It offers programming, workshops and fun events for local LGBTs and allies.

The first coalition meeting will take place at Affirmations at 11 a.m.-noon on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Affirmations is inviting LGBT and ally organizations throughout Michigan to join them in addressing these crucial health related issues.

“We are interested in combining what other LGBT and ally organizations are doing in this area of health, with the initiatives and resources that Affirmations has to offer,” said Affirmations Health and Human Services Coordinator London Bell. “We hope to engage those who are passionate about (ending) tobacco use and second hand smoke within the LGBT community, so these issues are brought to the forefront.”

Organizations, businesses, individuals and community leaders that are interested in becoming involved with the LGBT statewide coalition should contact London Bell at 248-677-7218 or via e-mail at lbell@goaffirmations.org.

For more information on this and other health programs at Affirmations, visit http://www.goaffirmations.org.

Dance, Lythgoe Advance Same-sex Couple

There was a time when So You Think You Can Dance judge and producer Nigel Lythgoe thought a same-sex ballroom couple would probably “alienate a lot of our audience.” But Lythgoe seems to have changed his position.

In last night’s episode of Dance, Lythgoe was blown away by a same-sex couple who auditioned for the show, saying, “Thank you for showing me that same-sex ballroom dancing can be very strong, and very good.”

The pair moved guest judge Mia Michaels to tears.

In fact, Willem de Vries and Jacob Jason wowed all three judges and were advanced to the choreography round. Tonight, audiences will see if the pair advances to the Vegas semifinals.

Lythgoe’s comments in the last season of Dance — further fueled by a Twitter update in which he said he wasn’t a fan of Brokeback ballroom — prompted a call to action from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Lythgoe apologized.

De Vries and Jason run the Baliamos dance studio in West Hollywood, catering to same-sex ballroom dance partners. They told Entertainment Weekly they wanted to audition despite what happened last season because there is “a world of same-sex dancers.”

Yesterday, producers for the show announced that openly gay choreographer and director Adam Shankman had joined the cast as a permanent judge.