Compiled by Howard Israel
S/he Said
“Our first Poll Position topic is the glitter bomb. The tactic has divided the LGBT community with some celebrating the flamboyant, performative nature of the activism and others arguing the act is silly and distracts attention away from the true mission – achieving LGBT rights. Do you think glitter-bombing is fabulous or foolish? 49.52% – Fabulous. It’s an inventive, visibility-raising tactic we can use to protest anti-gay politicians and rhetoric. 50.48% – Foolish. It distracts people from concentrating on achieving our goals and gives our enemies more fuel for their fires.”
-Poll Position, a new section of HuffPost Gay Voices, this week titled “Glitter-Bombing: Is It Fabulous Or Foolish?,” results as of Feb. 12, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gay-voices/, posted Feb. 10.
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“The most convincing evidence that nondiscrimination policies are good business policy comes from businesses themselves. A recent Williams Institute study of the 50 largest federal contractors and the 50 biggest Fortune 500 companies found that nearly all had policies against sexual orientation discrimination, and almost all said that diversity was good for business. They also described their policies against sexual-orientation and gender-identity discrimination as a sound business decision, resulting in more productive and loyal employees, more good ideas and a stronger customer base. That means the federal government and American taxpayers get more efficient contractors, whether for designing software applications or supporting troops in Afghanistan.”
-M. V. Lee Badgett, in his column titled “What Obama Should Do About Workplace Discrimination,” http://www.nytimes.com, Feb. 07.
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“Enough is enough. Our children are dying and they’re taking each other’s lives. Simply because it’s anti-LGBT violence doesn’t change the fact that it’s Black-on-Black crime. We need to act now. This tragic string of attacks is a clarion call that more deliberate action within the Black community is needed now more than ever. Anti-gay violence is not only a civil rights issue; it is a Black issue. It is a Black issue because violence against gay and transgender individuals is disproportionately affecting our Black youth. The civil rights community can no longer stand on the sidelines while our LGBT sons and daughters continue to suffer in silence.”
-Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director, National Black Justice Coalition (NBLC), in a press statement titled “The National Black Justice Coalition Stands With Community to Condemn Recent Anti-LGBT Attacks,” about several recent anti-LGBT attacks and murders of Black youth, http://nbjc.org , Feb. 10.
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“Gov. Rick Snyder often expresses similar aspirations (that disparate treatment of gays is inconsistent with the quest for the best technical talent available) but he made a mockery of his own words last December when he signed legislation barring medical benefits for the same-sex partners of public employees. He did so despite polling data that show Michigan voters’ support for same-sex unions has increased steadily since the state’s constitutional prohibition was enacted more than seven years ago. It seems clearer with each passing year that laws prohibiting same-sex marriage will ultimately be viewed with the same embarrassment as those that formerly codified discrimination against women and citizens of African or Asian ancestry. But since the federal courts seem in no hurry to intervene on gay couples’ behalf, it will be apparently be up to Michiganders to rescue their own state from its history of homophobic folly.”
-From the editorial titled “Ruling won’t erase Michigan’s anti-gay folly,” about the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that California’s recent ban on gay marriage violates the federal Constitution’s equal protection clause, Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com, Feb. 09.
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