AUGUST 2013 • number 470 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet
local and state (Black from page 3) the park admission, buffet lunch, and parking. Both the MOCHA Center and Evergreen Health Services are providing a bus from each of the sites. The bus will leave each site at 11 a.m. and depart Darien Lake at 7 p.m. The MOCHA Center price for the Park Admission, Buffet Lunch and Bus is $35. Tickets must be purchased and picked up at Evergreen Health Services, MOCHA Center Buffalo or MOCHA Center Rochester, 107 Liberty Pole Way. For more on WNY Black Gay Pride events in Rochester, see the article in this issue and the August calendar, page 34. For more information on Darien Lake Day and to purchase tickets: Evergreen – Life Changes Program – Dana McKnight, 716-847-0212; dmcknight@ evergreenhs.org; The MOCHA Center Buffalo, DeMarkis Bonner, 716-852-1142 x19; dbonner@mochacenter.org; The MOCHA Center Rochester – Barbara Turner, 585-420-1400 x14; bturner@ mochacenter.org.
national and international ( Colombian from page 5) plinary action against any official who took up this authority. His case was based on the fact that the court’s ruling did not specifically say that couples can “marry,” nor did it directly change the law. Instead, it gave congress until June 20, 2013 to change the law to give equal rights to same-sex couples. The 2011 ruling only gives the power directly to judges and notaries because congress failed to act, and ambiguity in the ruling left it unclear whether they will call these unions “marriages” or something else entirely. On Friday, the court rejected Ordoñez’s petition for it to clarify that it did not intend to open marriage to same-sex couples. And Constitutional Court President Jorge Iván Palacio sternly warned Ordoñez to “observe the determinations of this Court and monitor their strict and timely compliance.” Feder notes that the Court has still not clarified the murky wording of their 2011 ruling. LGBT activists, however, are taking their message to Ordóñez as a very positive sign. RELATED: Same-sex marriage is legal in the South American nations of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Texas regulates women’s bodies, not factory safeguards Texas, whose lax regulatory climate has come in for scrutiny in the aftermath of the deadly West fertilizer factory explo-
sion, went into a special session of its state legislature on July 1 to push through an omnibus abortion bill designed to regulate 37 abortion clinics out of existence. But the 2013 session will come to a close without any significant action to impose safeguards on the 74 facilities in the state that contain at least 10,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate. Lawmakers in Austin have a handy excuse for punting on new fertilizer regulations: That would be intrusive. State Sen. Donna Campbell, the Republican who helped to shut down Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis’ filibuster of the abortion bill on procedural grounds, told the New York Times that lawmakers should be wary of monitoring chemical plants more closely because there’s “a point at which you can over-regulate.” Because why try to prevent giant explosions when you could be all up in women’s parts? As usual with Republicans, freedom is for the powerful. -Posted by Laura Clawson on Daily Kos
LGBT coalition sends open letter: Trayvon deserved justice A coalition of 35 national LGBT rights groups have issued a joint denouncement of the Zimmerman verdict. Via press release: An Open Letter: Trayvon Deserves Justice We cannot begin to imagine the continued pain and suffering endured by Trayvon Martin’s family and friends. We stand in solidarity with them as they continue to fight for justice, civil rights and closure. And we thank everyone who has pushed and will continue to push for justice. Trayvon Martin deserves justice and his civil rights. We support the organizations and community leaders who are urging the federal government to explore every option to ensure that justice is served for Trayvon and that his civil rights are honored and respected. But our work does not end there: we will honor Trayvon Martin by strengthening our commitment to end bias, hatred, profiling and violence across our communities. We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituencies. Our community has been targets of bigotry, bias, profiling and violence. We have experienced the heart-breaking despair of young people targeted for who they are, who they are presumed to be, or who they love: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney, Brandon Teena, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Marco McMillian, Angie Zapata, Sakia Gunn, Gwen Araujo and countless others. Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their safety. Justice delayed is justice denied and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “a right delayed is a right denied.” We honor Trayvon by seek-
ing justice for all people. The letter is signed by: All Out, American Civil Liberties Union, Believe Out Loud, BiNet USA, Bisexual Resource Center, Center for Black Equity, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, Equality Federation, Family Equality Council, Freedom to Work, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network), GetEQUAL, GMHC, GLAD, GLAAD, Harvey Milk Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal, Movement Advancement Project, National Black Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Minority AIDS Council, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project, Trans Advocacy Network, Transgender Law Center, Trans People of Color Coalition.
Indiana school district settles with bullied, expelled gay teen Darnell “Dynasty” Young, the openly gay Indianapolis teen who was expelled after bringing a stun gun to school to defend himself against bullies, subsequently sued Indianapolis Public Schools for discrimination, restriction of free speech, and negligence, alleging that school officials did nothing to protect him. According to WTHITV News, Young has agreed to settle for $65,000. The proposed settlement filed July 9 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis also calls for the school district to remove all references of Darnell “Dynasty” Young being expelled from school from the 18-year-old’s academic record. The agreement still must be approved by a judge. Young also told WTHITV in a telephone interview that “he’s pleased with the settlement,” and that “he plans to use the money to launch an anti-bullying magazine. -Towleroad.com
Iceland cuts ties with Moscow over gay ban While many nations have formally denounced Russia’s ban on “gay propaganda,” Reykjavik is doing something about it. According to the contract between Reykjavik and Moscow drawn up in 2007, the cities were going to cooperate on family issues. But now, a statement from the city council reads: “In light of the developments concerning the affairs of gay, bisexual and transsexual people that have taken place in Russia over the last few
13 months, the district attorney, Human Rights Office, Office of the Mayor of Reykjavík, and City of Reykjavík chief administrative officer propose amendments or the termination of the collaboration agreement between Reykjavík and Moscow, in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.”
Gay Dutch tourists are arrested in Russia Russian officials arrested three Dutch tourists on July 22 under the country’s new anti-gay “propaganda” ban. GayNZ reports: The Dutch trio are the first tourists to be told they have ‘violated the rules of stay’. They were arrested in Murmansk, and Gay Star News says unconfirmed reports suggest they were helping gay activists in the city protest Russia’s position on human rights. They have been told they have broken the law of ‘nontraditional sexual relations’ propaganda among children, which was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin last month. A hearing was scheduled for July 22. The Russian LGBT Network is providing legal assistance. Patriarch: gay marriage bringing apocalypse That wasn’t the only bit of anti-gay news out of Russia on July 22. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a strong supporter of the “propaganda” bill, told parishioners this morning that same-sex marriage is leading to the end of the world. According to News.com.au, he said: “This is a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse ... It means people are choosing a path of self-destruction,” Patriarch Kirill told churchgoers at Kazan Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square. Fierstein calls out Putin Finally, in a just published New York Times op-ed, Harvey Fierstein took on Vladimir Putin and his homophobic policies, writing that the Russian president “has declared war on homosexuals. So far, the world has mostly been silent.” He concludes: “Mr. Putin’s campaign against lesbian, gay and bisexual people is one of distraction, a strategy of demonizing a minority for political gain taken straight from the Nazi playbook. Can we allow this war against human rights to go unanswered? Although Mr. Putin may think he can control his creation, history proves he cannot: his condemnations are permission to commit violence against gays and lesbians. Last week a young gay man was murdered in the city of Volgograd. He was beaten, his body violated with beer bottles, his clothing set on fire, his head crushed with a rock. This is most likely just the beginning. “Nevertheless, the rest of the world remains almost completely ignorant of Mr. Putin’s agenda. His adoption restrictions have received some attention, but it has been largely limited to people involved (Gay Dutch continues page 14)