Alison Gardner

Reporting Live from Netroots Nation 2011

Dan and I are lucky to be attending Netroots Nation 2011 (#NN11) this week, especially the LGBT pre-convention all day today, organized by the illustrious Mike Rogers. NN11 is the in its sixth year and has grown geometrically to the several thousand bloggers and citizen journalists converging on the Minneapolis Convention Center right now. The LGBT pre-convention is fabulous so far because it is entirely hands-on and focused on affecting change. We will try to post transcripts and videos that have been promised.

This morning, the 100+ LGBT bloggers and organizations/organizers worked as a group to raise the on-the-ground issues that most concerned us, how they were being covered, and what support is needed. This session was exhaustive, exhausting, and exhilirating all at the same time, and this spirit continued throughout the day.

Next we brainstormed strategies in small groups to end gaps in the LGBT movement and answering how we can engage more effectively across generations, race/ethnicity, faith/non-faith, and, overall, how we can ensure that the LGBT blogosphere is strong and well-funded.

This afternoon, we broke into two very informative groups. One was about utilizing blogging, social media, and online activism to effect change and offered a future where LGBT organizations would offer breaking news as an exclusive; sponsor fellowships to reliable bloggers; and, as a group establish an endowment or permanent fund to be used to support bloggers financially (for example, sponsoring travel to events). This was prefaced by a brief presentation by Eden James on behalf of change.org which has resources for individuals/bloggers to carry out successful campaigns. Check out change.org, an amazing resource for bloggers/activists as recently shown when truthwinsout.org collaborated with change.org to successfully petition Apple and get them to drop an app for reparative therapy on the grounds that it is an entirely discredited practice to “cure” the gay.

Next up was a rather heart-wrenching panel of young immigrants, most of whom have come out as LGBT and come out as undocumented, whose personal stories disclose the important intersections and overlap of both struggles, namely the DREAM Act and the Uniting American Families Act.

We wrapped up with a fishbowl panel (audience participants rotating in to make a point or ask a question) answering, “How can (same-sex) marriage strategically help us get closer to full federal equality?” And, “What other equality opportunities does (same-sex) marriage open up to us?” Is this the galvanizing issue because “that’s where the money is?” Does this disenfranchise others with more life-and-death issues they care about such as LGBT homeless youth? Transgender equality? Immigration equality? Won’t marriage equality become a chief pillar for diminishing discrimination overall? What do you think?

At the end of the program we joined with a parallel pre-convention, Labor Netroots Connect, meant to strengthen the existing alliance between Labor and LGBT rights, over cocktails.

When it comes to economic and social justice, it was made clear yet again that all of the issues discussed today are connected. Until there is true pluralism, full personal sovereignty for each person, we have to continue fighting them together on all fronts.

Last, we are especially happy to welcome this week Jos Truitt of feministing.com, who plans to cross-post her impressions and ideas here throughout the week. Thank you, Jos!

VenusPlusX helped sponsor today’s event, along with National Center for Lesbian Rights, Human Rights Campaign, Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Victory Fund, Servicemembers United, AlterNet, The Raw Story, Gill Foundation, Freedom to Marry, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and Evelyn & Walter Haas Fund, providing dozens of scholarships to deserving young bloggers.

Tomorrow the rest of Netroots Nation programs begin and we will continue to report out items of interest.

— Alison

P.S. We brought along beautiful commemorative posters for Netroots. If you’d like to receive one by mail, just send your snail mail address to columbia@venusplusx.org.

 

in Events  by 15 Jun 2011 1 comments

A DC Pride Photo

Soaking in DC Pride, my thoughts drift in several directions.

 

 

 

 

 

The first is topical, these pictures were snapped on P Street, just hours before the Parade kicked off, at the chain store, Lululemon Athletica. When asked, the store clerk said that this was just something they cooked up, not a chain-wide campaign. The whimsy, frivolity, and good nature of this window display was backed by a few employees minding the store with the courage to put their mannequins where their hearts were.

It was great seeing all the young people, many of them straight suburban kids, pour out like syrup from the Metro stations. They come to see perhaps a spectacle but more than that they are following inner wonderings about their own sexuality and they have come not only to check out others but also to check out themselves.

Second, I have dwelled on the remarkable fact this year that the LGBT community-at-large is now raising more money for HIV/AIDS prevention than anyone else, as Rick Rosendall said in his column this week in Metro Weekly, meaning “women and children with HIV will live thanks to those who were once ostracized.” That is a maturity and benchmark for this movement to be proud of.

Last, the gaiety prompts me to again be dumbstruck how a community that is all about love so often itself is the scene where mutual support and success is often sabotaged by personal grudges socked away in the minds of people, sometimes for years. This is always bad, retarding our progress by dismissing out of hand new ideas, initiatives, and people as they join in our struggle. We’ve got to stop doing—not just because it is counterproductive but because it is so small-minded and mean-spirited and should have no quarter in what we are all about. The LGBT movement rather should be a model for others displaying unified action, without requiring uniformity, among its constituency. Get people to say, “Wow, look at how they all get along and treat each other so respectfully. I want to be a part of that.”

Gladly there are signs that this distemper is being weeded out so that growth is steadier, stronger, and more long lasting. For example, it has been a miracle to witness how Maryland trans folk are rising up from the ashes of the failed legislative session and their historic disagreements on approach. The Maryland legislators said no to gay marriage and no to gender identity and expression protections, but gender activists are joining hands in a new spirit of cooperation, putting aside petty competitiveness and time-worn grudges, to win these important battles this year because it is really a grossly overdue matter of life and death.

Nowhere is this more evident than the leadership of a new organization called Gender Rights Maryland, which plans to work non-stop as advocates and lobbyists to first educate and then win the hearts and minds of the state legislators. In May, Maryland Governor O’Malley voiced support for gender identity non-discrimination legislation, and Gender Rights Maryland is going to make him stick to it.

It’s a new day and a new dawn. Happy DC Pride 2011.

—Alison Gardner

Editor’s Note: While not Maryland residents ourselves, Dan Massey and I have been asked to help by joining the Gender Rights Maryland Policy Advisory Board, further deepening our own commitment to these issues, both in Maryland and nationwide.

 

 

in Events  by 12 Jun 2011 0 comments

We are our pride – Kushaba Moses Mworeko

It was June 5, 1981, when the first cases of HIV were reported (CDC.gov).

Yes, in the USA, this was referred to as a gay disease and to some people it still is. But to a person like me who comes from a place where the disease was and is heavily among heterosexuals, I have to disagree.

As years have gone by, education and awareness campaigns and research on this disease have helped to dispel the myths. It has taken years for Africans to understand that a witch doctor’s diagnosis and prescription of expensive sacrifices for this disease were not only hurting the patient but the whole family, culture, and tribe. On this other side of the world, in North America, where technology flourishes, people have come to understand that HIV/AIDS is a non-discriminatory disease and is not a curse deserved by sexual minorities because of alleged deviant behavior.

While attending an HIV/AIDS conference in South Padre, Texas, two years ago, I shared the impact of this disease on me, and practically everyone on this planet. Everybody has either been infected, knows someone who is, or been affected in one way or the other. Some may argue there has been no personal effect on them personally, but consider that by just going school and hearing about or being taught something about HIV/AIDS, or just listening the nightly news makes an impact on each person’s attitude.

Now that we are no longer pointing fingers at each other, whether straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, young, old, educated, uneducated, upper-class, peasants, white or people, what do we know and what don’t we know still about this disease? How do we feel about ourselves now? Yes, progress has been made in our knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and advancements in technology, research, and medicine, is that all? Are we done?

Definitely NO, people are still getting it and dying, so what are we missing here?

Yes, there must be something missing because in spite of advancements in treatment there has been a RELAPSE. People need to wake up and look at this disease afresh, fear it as if were back in the 80s. Take precautions and use preventative measures at all time. Take medication as prescribed. And, TALK about it.

Last week on Thursday, June 2, 2011, I watched a documentary Messengers of Hope about a gospel choir from Oakland, California, that engages African American churches in conversation about HIV and AIDS. This whole concept of this documentary is a new strong voice about the importance of speaking out, especially in religious organizations where finger pointing remains common. The film goes a step further in urging pride in who we are, one of the choir members saying, “This is what HIV looks like; strong people, people of faith, black people.”

One thing I have noticed after coming to America is that people have taken for granted the privileges and rights that come with being an American. I am talking about the freedom, the liberty, the equality, the power . . . all this is taken for granted.

I was reading Ida B. Well’s (1862-1931) autobiography, Crusade for Justice (University of Chicago Press 1970) and came across this statement, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Ms. Wells argues that although the United States does have some ‘wonderful institutions’ to protect our liberty, we have grown complacent and need to be ‘alert as the watchman on the wall.’” I totally agree with her because it is still so relevant today, not just regarding the end of slavery, but all human rights.

Last weekend was Black Pride, and this weekend is Capital Pride in Washington, D.C. We must ask ourselves hat are we proud of?

Pride can be one of the times throughout each year we remind ourselves of our rights, human rights that we are born with, not man-made. We should embrace them and ponder what we have and what we have been denied.

Pride reminds me of the unforgettable occurrence of the pneumonia that was found in these gay men 30 years ago. It reminds me of the resistance that people have put on fighting this terrible disease.

It’s time to show the world that LGBT people are great people, with great potential. If gay men exit the church . . . there wouldn’t be any services. If we decided not to pay tax the states would file for bankruptcy. If we didn’t enlist, there would be shortages in the military. We are everywhere . . . we are not silent and never will be.

With Charlie Sheen’s “Winning” mantle still echoing in our ears, we say too,” The only thing I’m addicted to right now is winning.” Recently it seems like everyone is addicted to winning.

The White House launched a new page in concert with D.C.’s Pride Month 2011 called
Winning the Future: President Obama and the LGBT Community.” During its launch, the President said, “We’ve got a lot of hard work we still have to do, but we can already point to extraordinary progress that we’ve made . . . on behalf of Americans who are gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender”

I strongly believe that, we are going in the right direction to WINNING. I am talking about WINNING THE FUTURE.

Let us not be afraid or ashamed. Let us embrace who we are…it is our PRIDE.

— Kushaba Moses Mworeko, independent global LGBT and HIV+ rights activist, guest blogger, and Editor of VenusPlusX’s Global Sexual Freedom Annotated Bibliography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch  by 09 Jun 2011 0 comments

What lies in our power — Kushaba Moses Mworeko

A few days ago I was watching CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and the show ended with this quote, “What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do,” which I remember from reading Aristotle’s writings.

It reminded me also of what most people have been asking me over the last 17 months: Moses, what do you intend to do? I have not been answering this question well because of the uncertainty surrounding my future.

Being in limbo for over a year has taught me a lot. My patience, assertiveness, and aggressiveness were all put to the test. These are qualities that all human rights activists and defenders have to have. You can’t wake up one day and go to Capitol Hill and tell them what you want and get it, no, no, there are procedures, there are bureaucracies, there are many stakeholders who have to be involved to help advance the cause by recognizing its legitimacy. Yes, we have what we believe in, and the fundamental human rights that we cannot be denied, so we have to keep fighting until…

Now the limbo part is over for me, and the threat to my own personhood has ended. After 17 months I have finally qualified for U.S. asylum and the ability to work in this country. At last, the fight, my fight, is restarted in earnest.

What next?

One goal has been with me since my teen years — reaching out to disadvantaged people, restoring them to their normal life functioning. This is what I have always wanted to do and it’s what I want to do and I will do it. It lies in my power.

Today, I can see with renewed clarity where I am going, that I will do whatever I can, for the sky is the limit.

May I humbly say thank you to all of you who have touched me and held my hand through these past tough 17 months. Thank you for being my friend.

–Kushaba Moses Mworeko

Editor’s Note: Moses is a frequent contributor to VenusPlusX and edits our Global Sexual Freedom Annotated Bibliography. He is also featured this week in Metro Weekly.

 

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch  by 30 May 2011 0 comments

No call for celebration – Kushaba Moses Mworeko

Editor’s note: Moses has this month received official notice that he has qualified for U.S. asylum, finally. He will post something trying to capture his personal joy soon, but here republished is his post from April when the Ugandan bill was again in flux, showing how important it is to be thinking globally about human rights. Also see Will O’Bryan’s spotlight on Moses today in Metro Weekly and visit Moses’ Global Sexual Freedom Annotated Bibliography in our Library for more information.

 

Even as Uganda’s government shows it might shelve its “kill the gays” bill, there can be no call for celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

The country’s reluctance to move forward is due to the international pressure it has experienced since the bill’s inception and how the country’s image has been tarnished. I can imagine now the millions of dollars it has lost in tourism and other areas because of being referred to as “the world’s worst place to be gay,” collateral damage as one blogger put it.

But more is to be done. It is paramount for the world to know about ther repressive legislation in Parliament now and or already the law in Uganda, such as The Sexual Offences Bill, The Pornography Bill, The HIV AIDS Bill, and The Marriage Bill which prohibits same-sex marriage or cohabitation, and its entire Penal Code is rife with infringements on several basic human rights such as the right to Privacy.

In Ugandan society, the mere introduction of this “kill the gays” bill has actually created a new trigger on how to treat lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people (LGBTI). Since the government has strongly and consistently said that it is illegal for people to be LGBTI, then this gives citizens a strong backup to punish them, feeling they are acting within the constitution’s jurisdiction. This is evident in the case of leading gay activist David Kato’s brutal murder and other murder attempts against his associates. This week alone, the notorious rag sheet in Uganda Rolling Stone, reported two incidents of mob justice against gay men alleging they were killed because one stole a necklace and the other a motorcycle. Now that people believe that homosexuality is the worst of sins, then one can imagine what is likely to happen to LGBTI people. I can imagine a scenario where a gay person is lynched by the community while their family members watch in despair.

Mob Justice Increases as Court Backlogs Escalate by Joshua Kyalimpa covers the supreme court’s order to the media houses in Uganda to cease publishing LGBTI names in newspapers. This brings a temporary sense of relief to the LGBTI community but the actual result is that this has encouraged more mob justice since society seems to think that even if these homosexuals are reported, the courts will not do anything, so the community would rather punish them than report them to the authorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bad seed has been sown by religious extremists and its consequences are now spreading like bush fire across the world. Even in countries where homosexuality has not been talked about, the governments are now pushing for bills that will criminalize the act. This is scary politics. We have a great deal of work to be done. We have to double our efforts like never before.

Frank Mugisha is a leading Ugandan LGBTI activist on the front lines, currently serving as the Executive Director of SMUG, Sexual Minorities of Uganda, believes it one thing for government to stop the bill but without creating laws on hate crimes, there are many dangers we are still faced with. “This is simply government saying let us not talk about homosexuality in Uganda, but we want government to be clear and create laws on hate crimes against LGBT people and also to decriminalize homosexuality.”

Mugisha extended his gratitude to all who fought for the Bill to be stopped. “We appreciate so much our efforts and our partners’ both nationally and internationally in stopping the bill.”

The Ugandan Penal Code criminalizes homosexuality with a life sentence for consensual sex between adults of the same gender. “We need to pay attention to what will happen to the Sexual Offences Bill (SOB) as much as we paid attention to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” Ugandan activist Val Kalende said.

“We are waiting to see what comes out of the SOB and yes it is a bill to worry about as it could carry clauses from the Anti Homosexuality Bill,” warned Mugisha. He highlighted that the next steps will be to continue with their advocacy, not allow any form of discrimination against LGBTI people, and to “make sure that we have equal rights like any Ugandan.”

Working with Team COLUMBIA at venusplusx.org, we have kept updated a Global Sexual Freedom Annotated Bibliography to keep activist and advocates informed and inspired to help bring about laws and protections for persecuted sexual minorities all over the world.

—KMM

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch  by 25 May 2011 0 comments

Sexual Healing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight, we just returned from the opening of Momentum, a weekend about “making waves in sexuality, feminism, and relationships through new media.”

First up, sex positivity stars Jenny Block, Tristan Taormino, Reid Mihalko, and Carol Queen (pictured left to right above with moderator Lynn Comella on the far right). The fivesome talked and took questions about the role of sexuality in today’s culture and what all of us can do to generate conversations about sexuality that fit into daily life.

The best half hour of the night was stolen, though, by the stand-up stylings of Maria Falzone. According to the write up, this was an abbreviated version of Falzone’s “SEX RULES,” an act she performs all over the country, talking about “serious sexual subjects in a frank and funny manner” resulting in a few hundred people laughing uncontrollably.

We’ll keep you updated on the sold-out weekend (#mcon). Based on the diverse audience this conference has brought to Washington, D.C., it should be very interesting. In a sex-positive world, sex work is respected, and a lot of Saturday and Sunday’s sessions will delve into taking this work out in the sunlight. One of the campaigns Team COLUMBIA at venusplusx.org has started this year has to do with just that.

Decriminalization or legalization of the oldest profession is long overdue in this country. In Washington, DC, one of just a handful of locales with truly progressive human rights laws, we are participating in a multi-year campaign starting with satisfying immediate public health needs and full access to health care, zero tolerance for all forms “survival sex” and human trafficking and slavery, and the full-on creation of a legitimate, out-of-the-shadows “sexual healing” industry, licensed, regulated, and even unionized to serve interested clientele out of the shadow of criminality and shame. Like, “By the way, dear, I’m stopping off for a sexual healing session right after my yoga class.”

If you are interested in getting involved, please write to Dan or Alison at columbia@venusplusx.org.

in Events  by 01 Apr 2011 0 comments

We’re rolling

We’ve returned from several weeks helping a young trans woman fleeing Mexico and seeking U.S. asylum. This is the personal part of our work advocating for global sexual freedom that from time to time requires all of our attention and resources.

But we are now back to our nascent adventure as bloggers and webmasters, balancing it with our ongoing involvement with other individuals and organizations active on campaigns such as Global Sexual Freedom Rights, Trans Leadership and Politics, and just beginning in 2011, the legalization of sex work in the District of Columbia. More on these campaigns to follow.

We appreciate the 400+ who signed in at February’s Creating Change conference and since then and hope everyone will stay posted at venusplusx.org for news and views on universal sexual freedom. Thanks, especially, for the patience of all those who submitted free T-shirt requests — you’ll receive one of our updated new ones in April.

Together, we will work to uphold the eminent and inherent right to universal sexual freedom, something absolutely necessary to guarantee mutual personal sovereignty, respect, and dignity. There is no democracy without true pluralism and true pluralism requires individual autonomy, equality, and shared privilege. Universal sexual freedom is also crucial to finally rid the world of its problems — war, hunger, and economic and social turmoil — because all of them can be traced directly to the unwelcome and ill-advised coercive ideologies (that always include sexual repression in some form) imposed by governments, religious hierarchies, corporations, and backward social custom.

Again, more to come . . . Alison

 

in Events  by 30 Mar 2011 0 comments

Twin Cities on my mind . . .

This quiet bastion of liberalism, Minneapolis – St. Paul, is a stone’s throw but also a universe away from anything Michele Bachmann, and an enchanting community of people who live and let live as a way of life, accept all manner of queer or kinky people as their neighbors and friends, and happen to be among this country’s leaders in establishing equality for all its citizens as a matter basic human rights.

Minneapolis-St.Paul gives pause to anyone with any shade of coastal mentalities, and I’m checking myself here too, who thinks fly-over country holds nothing of interest except the occasional museum or ski resort. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who lives there, straight, gay, or kinky, who could be described as jaded or insincere. The breath of fresh air was more than the wind chill. For me, it was a rediscovery and a new love affair with the frontier spirit I had read about and dreamed about in my youth.

Never thought of as anything like a romantic getaway (especially in sub-zero winter), the Twin City area is nonetheless an oasis where you can be who you are, no matter how extreme or gender-bending, pretty much without interference. That freedom, that sexual freedom, conveys a palpable feeling of safety, comfort, and inner joy that no travel agent or city booster could package and affix a label even if he tried.

Fiercely independent is the way U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.-5) described Minnesota in his address closing Creating Change, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s annual conference on equality, which brought more than 2000 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people to the Minneapolis Hilton, February 2-6.

VenusPlusX and Team Columbia’s message and cause of universal sexual freedom drew hundreds, mostly young people, to our high-tech and interactive display in Creating Change’s exhibition hall. Team Columbia’s two days of additional sexual freedom programming next door at the Hotel Ivy was open to Creating Change registrants and free to the general public, and culminated with one of the best parties in town on Saturday night.

The local people we connected with were without exception unforgettable, highly personable, and clear-headed about respect for everyone’s individual autonomy, something so crucial to ending sexual repression in our culture. They were not only passionate about the interest group they happen to represent, they were passionate about the rights of every other group or individual to pursue happiness in the manner of their choosing, and enjoy the right to be who they want to be, without the interference of government, religion, or social practice.

For these and many other reasons, Team Columbia has confirmed its plans to return to the Twin Cities this summer for more sexual freedom programming and receptions open to the public. Stay tuned.

–Alison Gardner

in Events  by 08 Feb 2011 0 comments

Transgender, Sexuality, Pleasures, Protections

Editor’s Note: Jennifer M. Barge, founder of TransHealth Coordinators, offers this contribution to our blog-based conversation about sexual freedom emanating this week from VenusPlusX and Creating Change in Minneapolis. Jennifer is a frequent guest speaker and produces health services access portals for municipalities, conferences, and at www.transhealthcoordinators.org.

Transgender-Sexuality-Pleasures-Protection

I started doing a workshop a few years back called “Safer Sexual Practices and Pleasures for the Transgender Bodied Person.” The reason for these classes is both to educate about the risks of unsafe behavior and to encourage the ideas that pleasure can come in a safe form. Many times people confuse safe sex with no sex. As an advocate of safe sex, I am hear to tell you that there is no reason any person can not find pleasure in the flesh-while still being responsible with their actions.

As a trans-feminine person I know all to well that at times we in the transgender community can feel separated from our bodies. Some even feel “wrong” in the body, and so then when we factor in the idea of sex, we close down. If we do not like or accept our own bodies, how would any other person? So we continually live with the false shame, and deny ourselves.

The other side of that is that many of us are not able to live fully in the gender that we feel most comfortable in, and because of that, while in the “preferred gender,” we might step outside of our usual cautious behavior and allow some risky behavior to happen. My goal is not to condemn the action, but to enforce the idea that we should always remain in control and protect ourselves. It is not what you do, but how you do it.

As for sexual freedom, we should take advantage of the beauty of the flesh. Sex is not dirty. Man and religion has tainted the most natural and instinctive act by turning physical love into “SIN.” I see no sin when at the zoo and the turtles, monkeys and elephants are taking care of their primal need. So then why do we as humans allow others to take away what we find pleasure in?

The transgender persona has been a healing and sacred leader in many civilizations for thousands of years, so why feel shame? Our bodies, so wonderfully diverse and uniquely different, should not be looked down upon. Our exotic energy exuding sexual energy and delight should not be denied or dismissed by any person including ourselves.

To make love with a person who might only be there for just that moment is not a negative event. For in that moment the physical love, comfort and connection is just as great as making love to a partner you have had and experienced for years. Energy that is transferred from spirit into physical form in the act of giving and receiving pleasure is a great gift to share.

So we all as people should step out of the shadow of shame, regret and guilt and reclaim our natural, beautiful gift of the flesh! But do it responsibly with protection.

–Jennifer M. Barge, Director, TransHealth Coordinators

in Library  by 03 Feb 2011 1 comments

Sexual Freedom Printed Program for Minneapolis Now Available

For everyone who lives in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area and everyone coming to the Twin Cities for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference next week, here is VenusPlusX’s Printed Program. It includes Presenter’s Bios and the complete Program Schedule for two days of sexual freedom workshops, presentations, demos, and parties on Friday and Saturday (February 4 and 5) at  The Hotel Ivy, FREE, next door to Creating Change headquarters at the Minneapolis Hilton.

Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Alison Gardner & Dan Massey

in Events  by 28 Jan 2011 0 comments