Compiled by Howard Israel
S/he Said
"The anti-LGBT crusaders at Focus on the Family, the $120 million per year organization supporting America's culture wars, helped perfect the 'what about the children?' message of fear used to prevent policies that would address bullying and enable kids to learn age-appropriate information about LGBT people in their school's library and curricula. …we need to stand our ground when extremist groups like Focus on the Family rant about 'homosexuals recruiting school children.' This ridiculous scare tactic, used to prevent anti-bullying laws or ban books is actually their Achilles Heel. Support for protecting all youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is not just empirical, it's moral. Anyone who stands in the way, regardless of the 'family values' they claim to represent, is at least enabling if not contributing to the physical and mental abuse of children in schools across the country. 'What about the children?' is not their winning argument. It is ours."
-Jason Cianciotto, co-author of the new book "LGBT Youth in America's Schools," in his column titled "Yes, 'What About The Children?'," http://www.ontopmag.com, July 01.
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"I feel this is our message. To parents and anyone growing up with a transgender child: love and support is all they need. I was constantly aware that I was somehow different. Like all children with gender identity issues, there were times when I felt alone, isolated and awkward. I was determined to have my inner person revealed. I would always wear t-shirts tied in a knot under my breasts. Never showing my chest. I crushed on all my male school friends and went so far as to have three relationships in my high school years and I'm actually friends with all three of them to this day. Crazy days, but still always enjoying the support of my family. One day, it all made sense. I remember meeting a window dresser at a ladies department store who had transitioned and I immediately identified with her. The pain vanished that day. From that moment forward, I was determined. With the love and support of my wonderful parents I had sexual reassignment surgery at age 18."
-Lauren Foster, former international magazine and runway model, in a conversation with Alex Davis, singer-songwriter, titled "Lauren Foster, Transgender Model, and Alex Davis, Transgender Musician, Discuss Trans Issues," about how being transgender affected their childhoods, http://www.huffingtonpost.com, July 12.
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"I said that I did not want to support any efforts like this, in fact, we are a part of boycotting efforts similar to this with other businesses. This is going to be hard for a lot of us. A lot of us are so integrated into Google and Google products, this is going to be a tough one. It's more than just a search engine – many of us have Android phones the Android system is a Google product. Many of us use Google calendar and Google task, and Gmail, and all those kinds of things. YouTube and all the other things – it's not just the search engine. So this is going be tough. This one's going to be one of those situations where I guess we'll test the meat of our convictions."
-Buster Wilson, general manager, American Family Association's radio network, in a radio broadcast, suggesting conservatives boycott Google because of its "Legalize Love" campaign to decriminalize homosexuality around the world, http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com, July 10. The goal of Google's "Legalize Love" campaign is to be active in every country in which it has an office, especially on those places that have anti-gay policies and legislation.
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"Recent polls reveal that the president's position on the issue (of same-sex marriage) now falls squarely in line with the increasing majority of Americans who support the freedom to marry. These polls show increased support among nearly every single demographic group, including men, African Americans, Latinos, political independents, and generations young and old. In short, marriage equality is now a mainstream American value. Just a decade ago, however, a majority of Americans opposed laws and policies that extended marital rights to same-sex couples. In the ensuing 10 years, the U.S. has come a long way with states passing marriage equality legislation, national leaders coming out in support of equal relationship recognition rights, and same-sex couples sharing their stories of love and commitment with their friends and family."
-Crosby Burns, Research Associate and Ben Harris, intern, at the Center for American Progress's LGBT Progress project, co-authors of their column titled "Marriage Equality Now a Mainstream Value," examining the data of four national polls released over the past two months that confirm an increasing majority of Americans support marriage equality for same-sex couples, http://www.americanprogress.org, July 10.
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