Women meet at U-M

ANN ARBOR – Paula Ettelbrick, who will assume the helm of the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission in May, was a featured speaker last week at a "Women and Girls: the Law and Social Change" conference at U-M. The daylong conference attracted 200 people to seminars on domestic violence, adolescent issues and lgbt rights. Here are excerpts from Ettelbrick's remarks:
On lgbt rights during war time:
"During war time, Freedom of speech is limited … It has already been limited legally by our Attorney General and limited culturally by the fear people feel about dissenting to this war.
"I am fearful that our quest for marriage, our quest for equality, our quest for family rights are going to be viewed as selfish and un-patriotic in time of war. We have to be very, very clear on how this war will affect our ability to move forward. So if people think that this does not affect us and it's not gay issue, I would challenge that."
On the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the Texas sodomy case:
"There is no scenario that makes sense for (the Supreme Court) to take the case on if they don't intend in some ways to strike the law down …
"Conceivably, the court could strike it down and this could mean that all general sodomy laws – that applies to all people not just gay people – might be unconstitutional when applied to gay people but not unconstitutional when applied to straight people …
"But, the end result both in the law and in our society, it will finally remove the stigmatizing effect of the criminal law of being gay."
On the need for flexibility:
"The road to social change sometimes is not a straight-forward path. It's one in which every contest and generation has to re-examine what the world is looking at this particular moment."