Indiana

Hate Crime Legislation: A Respectful Response to Common Assertions

I had this article on my site a few years ago while the State legislature was debating the hate crimes legislation. It was written by Chris Douglas. I’m re-posting it because he needed to find it again, and because it’s an informative and well-written piece.
It’s quite long, though, so I’m putting the body of the piece below the jump.

Continue ReadingHate Crime Legislation: A Respectful Response to Common Assertions

You’ll need to tell me more before you get my money

I got a fundraising letter from a local gay organization today (quoted below the jump line) in my inbox today… the kind that drives me absolutely bananas. I’ve written it on my site and on the gayindy.org mailing list dozens of times, and I’ll say it again: this is not enough information for me to give you money.
Specifically the sentence that caused my knee-jerk reaction of anger was this: “By taking swift action and working in conjunction with civil rights, child protection, and family rights organizations, Indiana Equality forced Senator Miller to withdraw her bill from consideration.”
How delightfully ambiguous, and yet credit-seeking at the same time.
Define “swift action” please.
Now, I witnessed several organizations take swift action on the Pat Miller issue: Rock Indiana sent out emails and told people how to call, several women’s rights organizations did the same, Nuvo Newsweekly wrote articles, numerous bloggers posted information (including me; maybe I should ask for money). I don’t recall hearing a peep from IE about it. I also don’t notice any of the people I did see take action hitting me up for cash at Christmas time.
Maybe they did something behind the scenes? Did they call people? Lobby on the issue (using the same paid lobbyist that, coincidentally also works for other “civil rights, child protection, and family rights organizations”)?
Whatever they actually did, they need to tell me about it, because I know better than to take e-mails like this at face value.
I volunteered for a little organization a few years back called Justice, Inc., that asked me to write fundraising newsletters just like this, when they didn’t actually have the lobbyist they claimed to have, or the influence with political leaders or the media, and they never actually took action on anything. They asked me to write delightfully ambiguous prose like this for them, and I finally quit because I felt awful about doing it, because I knew it was lies. So I know how to read between the lines.
All I’m asking is to be plain and specific about what the “swift action” was and who took it.

Continue ReadingYou’ll need to tell me more before you get my money

Last night’s City county council meeting about the HRO

Advance Indiana does an excellent job of narrating the action from last night’s city county council meeting, so I won’t duplicate the effort here.
If you want to see it for yourself, the committee meeting will be broadcast several times on Channel 16, so haul out your TIVO.
I was asked to speak at the council meeting, and I was too freaked out by the idea to do so. I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll be speaking about my experiences at the next Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 13th. I’ll need all the moral support I can get, so if you could make it, I’d appreciate it.
Several things that struck me as really interesting: the obviously miserable “ex-gay” couple (notice how they always marry each other so they don’t have to make excuses for why they don’t want to have sex) who testified were strange and heartbreaking. The man, who flamed more than any other gay man I know, actually said that “I can’t guarantee that I won’t slip and fall back into the lifestyle. But I’m here to testify that it can be done.” Um, if there’s a greater indicator that this law is needed than that, it was this:
19 people, most of them ministers and religious people, stood up and testified against the HRO, and every one of them spewed hatred and malice against gay people, and then had the audacity to claim that there’s no real discrimination against gay people and that the laws aren’t needed. It’s was as ironic as if we held a civil rights hearing, and the KKK showed up in their cloaks and testified that black people are 2/3rds of a person, then tried to claim that there’s no discrimination against blacks so civil rights laws are not really needed anyway.
And every single person against Prop 622 invoked the Christian God. So those of you who aren’t Christian — if you’re Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, agnostic or atheist, be aware that your beliefs aren’t important to the city-county council.

Continue ReadingLast night’s City county council meeting about the HRO

Not My Man

Caught sight of this over on Taking Down Words: a site dedicated to ripping on Mitch Daniels called NotMyMan.org.
Now the design is a bit squidgy — aside from the big ol’ typo in a graphic on the front page and suspect rounded corners, the text doesn’t play well with CSS/web standards. And I question why the site doesn’t identify who’s behind it, although given that they’re offering up the same bumperstickers we got from the Indiana Democratic Party, I suspect there’s a connection.
But I TOTALLY dig the photo on the “Citizens for Services” page of two African-American people with their arms crossed in disgust to signify their disapproval with Mitch’s privitization schemes. Because how true is that? So true. I just love the internets.

Continue ReadingNot My Man

Anti-Gay Christians Burn Flag at Bloomington Business

According to the Indiana Daily Student:

About 25 members of the Old Paths Baptist Church protested Monday afternoon outside The Inner Chef, chanting anti-gay slogans, burning a gay pride flag and brandishing signs with messages like “Fags Die, God Laughs.”
Bobb Easterbrook, a clerk at the store, was the only person working there at the time.
Bloomington police officers responded to the scene but only to prevent it from getting out of hand, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Mick Williams. He said police did intervene, stopping protestors when they began burning the New Glory, a gay-pride variation of the American flag that features rainbow colors as the stripes.
John Lewis, pastor of the Old Paths church, said his group burned the flag there because it believes gay people will burn in hell.
“The elite city of Bloomington harbors an elitist, faggot business called The Inner Chef which openly and unabashedly claim they are against God Almighty,” Lewis said. “… We were there to cry against it. We burned the flag, and we will do it again.”
Lewis said he plans to research the legality of burning the flag and intends to burn the flag legally the next time his group protests.
This protest came less than a month after two minors stole and burned a version of the New Glory that had been hanging outside The Inner Chef’s storefront. The minors admitted to stealing the flag Oct. 8 because they thought it was “unpatriotic.”

Burning a gay flag is the equivalent of burning a cross on someone’s lawn. It’s intended to intimidate and harrass.

Continue ReadingAnti-Gay Christians Burn Flag at Bloomington Business

Patricia Miller’s failed Orwell plot

Regarding Indiana’s proposed Orwellian plan to criminalize “unauthorized reproduction”:
State Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, issued a one-sentence statement this afternoon saying: “The issue has become more complex than anticipated and will be withdrawn from consideration by the Health Finance Commission.”
Scott was lamenting yesterday that we look even more like hicks now that the entire country reacted with horror to this idea… but I think it was a very Good Thing. However creepy and dystopian the idea was, it wasn’t a dumb-ass, igner’nt idea… just a totally fascist idea. While that’s not great, what it did do was expose the right-wing, conservative (radical) Republican party for what it really is, which more people really need to catch onto, not just those of us who pay attention to the news every day.

Continue ReadingPatricia Miller’s failed Orwell plot

Criminal Penalties for women concieving out of wedlock

Yep, that’s what state lawmaker Patricia Miller (R) is proposing legislation for here in Indiana. A bill will be heard by the Health Finance Commission intended to restrict any form of “assisted reproduction” defined as “causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in-vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection.” These types of reproduction would only be allowed to married women who pass a court petition and receive a “gestational certificate.”

According to the current draft of the legislation, an intended parent “who knowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproduction procedure” without court approval,”
commits unauthorized reproduction, a Class B misdemeanor.” The criminal charges will be the same for physicians who commit “unauthorized practice of artificial reproduction.”

The married parents who might want to participate in “assisted reproduction” are in for some bad news too: some of the required information includes the fertility history of the parents, education and employment information, hobbies, personality descriptions, verification of marital status, child care plans, letter of reference and criminal history checks. A description of the family lifestyle of the intended parents is also required, including individual participation in faith-based or church activities.

A really excellent analysis of how many people are affected and how is posted on bopnews.com.
The main intent is to keep lesbians from having kids, but the bill affects unmarried heterosexual women as well, so sit up and take notice single women in Indiana.

Read text of the proposed legislation in this downloadable PDF file.

Article by Laura McPhee in Nuvo
An article about this topic
IndyStar article
The Health Finance Commission
Contact your representative

As several bloggers have pointed out, this legislation would have made Christ’s conception illegal.

“We did want to address the issue of whether or not the law should allow single people to be parents. Studies have shown that a child raised by both parents – a mother and a father – do better. So, we do want to have laws that protect the children,” Miller explained.

Okay — this has got to stop: ” Studies have shown that a child raised by both parents – a mother and a father – do better.”

LIE LIE LIE LIE. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT. DEBUNKED DEBUNKED DEBUNKED DEBUNKED DEBUNKED. It’s a blatant falsehood, people. Studies show no such thing. In fact, studies show the exact opposite; that children raised in households with single parents or with two parents of the same gender do just as well, are just as happy and well-adjusted as kids that grow up with a mom and a dad.

WE HAVE TO TAKE THIS FALSE WEAPON AWAY FROM THEM, BECAUSE PEOPLE BELIEVE THIS LIE.

Continue ReadingCriminal Penalties for women concieving out of wedlock

Job Posting: Executive Director, Indiana Youth Group, Inc.

If you know anyone qualified for this position, please pass this along.

Indiana Youth Group is a lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender youth agency with a 15 year history in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Executive Director (ED) is a member of a two-person management team directly responsible for the organization’s achievement of its mission. The ED and the Operations Director constitute the IYG Management Team and together they direct the daily operations of the agency. The ED’s primary responsibility is to ensure the financial viability and growth of IYG. He/She reports directly to the Board of Directors, and manages all aspects of fund development and public relations. These goals are achieved by maximizing the opportunities for giving, educating the community on the needs of IYG, and providing exceptional donor recognition. Fundraising objectives will be developed with the Board of Directors, and will be mission-driven, clear, attainable, and evaluated. The specific responsibilities of the position are available upon request at info@indianayouthgroup.org.

Position requires 3—5 yrs of fundraising experience; Bachelors degree a necessity, post-graduate work particularly in fundraising a plus. Professional, responsible, organized, with the utmost discretion and integrity. Competitive compensation and benefits. Respond with cover letter, resume, and salary requirements by October 10, 2005, to Search Committee, Indiana Youth Group, PO Box 20716, Indianapolis, IN 46220-0716, or info@indianayouthgroup.org.

NOTE: This position was eventually filled by the uber-capable Mary Byrne.

Continue ReadingJob Posting: Executive Director, Indiana Youth Group, Inc.