Box Turtle Bulletin

LA Times “corrective rape” article

South Africa is a nation with a foot in both the future and the past. With marriage equality and protections for gay people in the constitution, it is a lesson to its neighbors. But outside of the major cities, gay people suffer the same threats and indignities as most elsewhere on the continent.

Robyn Dixon, writing for the LA Times, draws attention to the “corrective rape” of lesbians that is often found in the township.

In South African townships there’s a crime dubbed “corrective rape,” rape to “cure” lesbians, and sometimes gay men and transsexuals. They are told they are being taught a lesson: how to be a real woman or man, survivors say.

“They say, ‘We’ll sort you out. At the end of the day, you are a woman. You have to find a man.’ They feel that being gay is not African and we are bringing another culture to the community,” says Ntsupe Mohapi, 38, a gay activist in Kwa-Thema who has been threatened and taunted, but not attacked.

(Note: Dixon – like most press coverage – errs in a mention about the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill.)

The Difference Between Sarah Palin And Me

When I went on a week-long tour last week that was not a publicity seeking tour, I rented this at the Columbus airport:

But when Sarah Palin embarked on a tour that was “not a publicity seeking tour,” she rented this:

Just sayin’.

NBA’s Steve Nash: Players Would Accept Gay Teammate

New York Times’ Howard Beck asked Phoenix Suns’ point guard  Steve Nash whether the NBA was ready for an openly gay player:

If a player in the locker room came out, it would come and go quickly, too. I really don’t think it’s a big issue anymore. I think it would be surprisingly accepted, and a shorter shelf life than maybe we would imagine. I think the time has come when it should happen soon. I think it will be something that won’t take on this life of its own. It won’t be the O. J. trial.

Nash described the Suns’ CEO Rick Welts’s coming-out annoucement two weeks ago as no big deal since players have little contact with the executive office. But even if a General Manager had come out as gay, “There would be a lot of, ‘Really?’ And then a short period later, everyone’s like, ‘Who cares?’ and moves on.”

US Adults Think 25% of Americans Are Gay

I really don’t know what to make of this:

U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian. More specifically, over half of Americans (52%) estimate that at least one in five Americans are gay or lesbian, including 35% who estimate that more than one in four are. Thirty percent put the figure at less than 15%.

How one views the percentage of gay Americans appears to have mixed results when it comes to equality. Those who support marriage equality peg the percentage of gay people at 25.1% versus 24.1% for those who don’t. But those who believe gay and lesbian relationships should be criminalized peg the percentage at 26.2% versus 23.8 for those who don’t. With a 4% margin of error, both results are a statistical tie, but the results on criminalization might be worth further investigation.

Ben Cohen on CNN About Anti-Bullying Advocacy

I’m Back

By the way, I checked: Falwell is still dead.

Other than the Daily Agendas (which I wrote last week), you haven’t heard from me lately for one simple reason: my partner and I had a lovely week off. Last Saturday, my widowed mother, age 71 going on 16, married a very nice widower. (For future reference: grief counseling. Even if all you’re grieving is Oprah.) And since we had a week to kill between mom’s wedding and my niece’s second birthday, my partner and I decided to take a road trip through the incredibly beautiful West Virginia mountains to see Thomas Jefferson’s homestead at Monticello, as well as his lesser-known home at Poplar Forest, just south of Lynchburg.

Yeah, that Lynchburg. Which was interesting, because the historic city on the banks of the James River is incredibly charming, but the world-famous campus on the city’s outskirts has all of the charms of an industrial park sandwiched between two freeways, a highway, a shopping mall and a cineplex. Which is exactly where it is.

We didn’t stay long. Next stop: Danville, where Mary’s Cafeteria will happily load you up with the best fried chicken, corn pudding, peach cobbler, mud pie. From there, it was an overnight at Hillsville, then a leisurely drive back to Columbus, Ohio by way of Beckley, Charleston, Parkersburg, Athens, Hocking Hills, then Columbus for the big birthday party.

And now Tucson. It’s good to be home and time to get back to work. Congratulations Mom and Gus, and happy birthday Lily!

The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, May 31

TODAY’S AGENDA:
EQCA Town Hall: Palm Springs, CA. Equality California will host a “Back to the Ballot?” Town hall meeting in Palm Springs to discuss whether we should wait for the courts to restore the freedom to marry — a decision which could have a nationwide impact — or whether Californians should try to overturn Prop. 8 through a ballot measure in 2012. The town hall will take place this evening at the Golden Rainbow Center, 611 S. Palm Canyon Drive, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Scientists Trace AIDS To 1951: 1986. The summer of 1986 looked to be another terrible year in the nearly five-year-old AIDS epidemic. To be precise, that should be the five-year-old known AIDS epidemic. The CDC first noted the new disease in 1981 with the death of five young men, “all active homosexuals” whose immune system had been mysteriously and severely compromised. Out of the 23,000 known cases of people with AIDS between 1981 and the end of 1986, 56% were already dead (PDF: 32KB/5 pages).

While anti-gay activists rushed to declare that the so-called “gay plague” was a divinely inspired “terrible retribution,” scientists rushed to determine the source of the deadly virus. It wasn’t long before doctors in Europe and Africa noticed that the new disease first reported in America was remarkably similar to a mysterious illness striking the Congo River basin of Zaire and was already spreading eastward to Uganda. Swedish doctors remembered an infant born in Zaire who had contracted a similar disease in 1975 and finally died in 1982. Others recalled a Danish surgeon who died in 1977 after working in the Congo River region. Preserved blood and tissue samples tested positive for HIV, and this sent scientists scurrying to identify earlier possible samples which may offer clues to the disease’s origin.

On May 31, 1986, a team of American scientists published a letter in the British journal The Lancet announcing that they were able to test a blood sample that had been taken from an unknown patient at a Kinshasa hospital in 1959. Nothing was known of the patient — neither a name nor medical records survive — but we can certainly guess at the suffering he or she must have endured. Nevertheless, this finding was an early clue that the epidemic itself was much older than previously thought. It was only the stigma surrounding the disease that was then approaching its fifth birthday.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Walt Whitman: 1819. Usually I commemorate famous birthdays by providing a brief biographical sketch. But when describing the life of the great American poet, it strikes me as unseemly to describe a man’s life when he has already written all that needs to be said:

When I Heard At The Close Of The Day.

WHEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been
             receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy
             night for me that follow’d,
And else when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d,
             still I was not happy,
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health,
refresh’d, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in
             the morning light,
When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing bathed,
             laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way
             coming, O then I was happy,
O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food
             nourish’d me more, and the beautiful day pass’d well,
And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening
             came my friend,
And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly
             continually up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to
             me whispering to congratulate me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover
             in the cool night,
In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined
             toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast and that night I was
             happy.

These two facts, when considered together, are fascinating to me:

1. During the construction of the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia during the 1950s, the Catholic Diocese of Camden organized a unsuccessful letter-writing campaign to try to prevent naming the bridge after Whitman because of his homosexuality.
2. Wikipedia in 2011 remains uncertain about his sexuality.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 30

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebration Today: Pensacola, FL.

Paul Guilbert and Aaron Fricke

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Male Couple attends Senior Prom: 1980. Aaron Fricke was a Senior in High school when he publicly came out as gay and stated dating Paul Guilbert and decided to ask him the Cumberland (Rhode Island) High School senior prom. His principal prohibited their attendance, saying the move “upset other students, sent the community abuzz, and rallied out-of-state newspapers to consider the matter newsworthy.” It also earned Fricke five stitches under his eye when he was attacked in the hallway. Fricke filed a lawsuit in Federal court, charging that the school district was infringing on his first amendment right to free speech. “I feel I have the right to attend,” he told the judge. “I feel I want to go to the prom for the same reason any other student would want to go.” The judge agreed (PDF: 60KB/7 pages), and not only ordered the school district to allow the couple to attend, but to beef up security in case there were any problems. And on this day in 1980, Frike and Guilbert attended the prom, and the case of Frike v. Lynch became an important legal precedent for other gay couples across the nation since then.

Fricke later wrote about his experiences in Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story about Growing Up Gay. He also collaborated with his father on another book about coming out, Sudden Strangers: The Story of a Gay Son and His Father.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Christine Jorgensen: 1926. She was born in the Bronx, and described herself as “frail, tow-headed, introverted little boy who ran from fistfights and rough-and-tumble games.” She was also known as George. After a stint in the army following World War II, her identity as a woman was  overwhelming — and her physical development as a man was underwhelming. As she attended dental school, she began taking the female hormone ethinyl estradiol on her own and began researching the subject of sexual reassignment surgery. At the time, the only surgeries being performed were in Sweden. But at a stopover in Copenhagen to visit relatives, she discovered Dr. Christian Hamburger, a Danish endocrinologist and specialist in rehabilitative hormonal therapy. Denmark’s Minister of Justice allowed her surgery to take place.

Christine’s surgery was not the first of it’s kind, but that’s how it was presented on December 1, 1952 when the New York Daily News carried the front-page headline, “Ex-GO Becomes Blonde Beauty.” When she returned to New York the following February, she became an instant celebrity. She was reputedly the most written-about person in 1953, and she tried to use her celebrity as an opportunity for education. Educating the entire world turned out to be a huge task, but it was a task she was ready to take on. She acted in summer stock, toured the lecture circuit, wrote an autobiography, and made countless radio and television appearances. After her surgery, she was engaged to marry John Traub, but that engagement was called off. In 1959, she announced her engagement to Howard J. Knox, but the couple were unable to obtain a marriage license because Jorgensen’s birth certificate still listed her as a male. By the time the engagement was called off, Knox had already been fired over the publicity. Shortly before she died in 1989, she said she had given the sexual revolution “a good swift kick in the pants.” She died of bladder and lung cancer just a month shy of her 63rd birthday.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 29

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations: Birmingham, UK; Melbourne, FL; Pensacola, FL; Washington, DC (Black Pride) and Waterloo, ON.

Francine (Divine) and her lover Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter)

TODAY IN HISTORY:
“Polyester” Premieres: 1981. The John Waters film Polyester made its debut on the silver screen. Divine once again stared, this time as Francine Fishpaw, a suburban housewife whose world is thrown into chaos when her pornographer husband declares he’s been unfaithful, her daughter becomes pregnant, and her son’s accused of breaking local women’s feet as part of his fetish. Nineteen-fifties heartthrob Tab Hunter appeared near the end as lounge-suit-wearing Todd Tomorrow who swept Francine off her sweep and proposed marriage — only to plot with Francine’s mother to embezzle her divorce settlement and drive her insane. The film was notable for a unique technological breakthrough: it was presented in “Odorama,” in which theatergoers were handed scratch-and-sniff cards so they could smell along with the action. It remains a scandal that Polyester earned no major cinematic awards.

Barney Frank Comes Out: 1987. Barney Frank became only the second member of Congress to confirm that he was gay, when he told a Boston Globe reporter:

“If you ask the direct question: ‘Are you gay?’ the answer is yes. So what? I’ve said all along that if I was asked by a reporter and I didn’t respond it would look like I had something to hide and I don’t think I have anything to hide.”

Rep. Franks said that the disintegration of Gary Hart’s presidential campaign earlier that month over reports of his extra-marital relationship with a young model, and the recent revelation that Rep. Stewart B. McKinney of Connecticut had died of AIDS, had prompted his decision to come out. On May 31, the Globereported that most of his constituents were unperturbed by his announcement, and some not unsurprised.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Gene Robinson: 1947. When he was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of New Hampshire, he became the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be elevated to the episcopate. His election was so controversial, he wore a bullet-proof vest during his consecration. In a BeliefNet interview the day after he gave a prayer at the opening of President Barack Obama’s inaugural celebrations, he talked about his journey toward coming to terms with his sexuality:

I’ve been the reparative therapy route. I did that. My own experience is it doesn’t work. I think what it does it that it teaches gay and lesbian people to become so self loathing that they are willing to not act in a natural way, and deprive themselves of the kind of love and support that makes life worthwhile, that makes sense of our own lives and being. I can’t be supportive of that. It only underscores the way the church has gotten this wrong. God doesn’t ever get it wrong but the church often does.

Rupert Everett: 1959. It was his 1981 role as a gay schoolboy in the stage version of Another Country that proved to be his break, opening the way for his screen appearance in the 1984 film version with Colin Firth. In 1989, Everett moved to Paris and came out as gay, which he said may have damaged his career. Wags would say that the 1987 flop Hearts of Fire may have been a factor. But his appearance in the 1997 film My Best Friend’s Wedding and 2000’s The Next Best Thing showed that his career wasn’t entirely over — although it did appear that he would forever be typecast as the heroine’s gay best friend. In 2009, he told the British newspaper The Observer:

The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business. It just doesn’t work and you’re going to hit a brick wall at some point. You’re going to manage to make it roll for a certain amount of time, but at the first sign of failure they’ll cut you right off… Honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.

Melissa Etheridge: 1961. Her debut album was completed in just four days after her record label rejected her first effort as too polished. That stripped down album, titled simply Melissa Etheridge, not only defined her sound, but it yielded a hit single, “Bring Me Some Water” and a Grammy nomination. In 1992, she won her first Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance on the strength of her third album, Never Enough. Her breakthrough album, 1993’s Yes I Am, was certified Platinum and garnered her a second Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for her single “Come to My Window”. Her 2006 song “I Need to Wake Up” was recorded for Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

She came out publicly in 1993 and has been a committed gay rights advocate ever since. She is also a committed advocate on behalf of the environment and breast cancer research, having herself undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2004 and 2005. On an interview with Dateline NBC, she discussed her recovery and her use of medical marijuana while undergoing chemo. Last year, she announced her separation from her wife, Tammy Lynn Michaels, after seven years together. They have two children, fraternal twins, who were born in 2006. Etheridge also has two children from her previous long-term relationship with Julie Cypher.

David Burtka: 1975. He began as an actor, appearing in a guest role on The West Wing and How I Met Your Mother. It was that appearance which fed rumors that Burtka was romantically involved with one of the series’ stars, leading Neil Patric Harris to publicly acknowledge in 2006 that he was gay. Last October, Burtka and Harris, who have been together since 2004, became fathers to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Birtka is no longer acting, and is now running a Los Angeles catering company and working as a full time chef.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 28

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Birmingham, UK; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL; Washington, DC (Black Pride) and Waterloo, ON.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
First Pro-Gay Film Released 1919. The German silent film Anders als die Andern (“Different From the Others”) tells the story of a famous concert violinist, Paul Körner (played by Conrad Veidt, who later appeared in Casablanca as Major Heinrich Strasser) who falls in love with his student Kurt Sivers (Fritz Schulz). Both men experience the disapproval from their parents, and Körner becomes the subject of a blackmail attempt. The real-life Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the famous German sexologist and gay-rights advocate, makes several cameo appearances in the film. In one scene, he explains to Körner’s parents that their son “is not to blame for his orientation. is not wrong, nor should it be a crime. Indeed, it is not even an illness, merely a variation, and one that is common to all of nature.”

Hirshfeld’s appearances appear directed more toward the audience than the characters he’s speaking to. In one flashback scene, when Körner first meets Hirschfeld’s character after discovering that an “ex-gay” hypnotherapist was a fraud (some things never change), Hirschfeld tells him, “Love for one of the same sex is no less pure or noble than for one of the opposite. This orientation can be found in all levels of society, and among respected people. Those that say otherwise come only from ignorance and bigotry.”

The acting is stilted, as is common for that era, and the plot is fairly predictable. Körner reports Bollek for blackmail and has him arrested. In retaliation, Bollek exposes Körner. Both men wind up in court, and both are found guilty, despite Hirshfeld’s testimony on Körner’s behalf (and another soliloquy for the audience). The judge has mercy on Körner however, and sentences him only to one week. Disgraced and shunned by his family, Körner kills himself. Sivers also tries to kill himself, but Hirschfeld intervenes. “You have to keep living; live to change the prejudices by which this man has been made one of the countless victims. …Justice through knowledge!”

Many prints of the film were burned by the Nazis after they came to power in 1933, and censorship laws prevented its general viewing. Only small fragments of the film survives today. You can see some of those fragments here.

Ma Vie en Rose: 1997. The Belgian film Ma Vie en Rose (“My Life in Pink”) premiered in France. It’s the story of a little boy named Ludovic (Georges Du Fresne), who insists that she is a girl and talks of marrying her best friend, a boy who lives next door. When the film opened in the U.S., it received an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, even though the film has minimal sexual content, minimal violence, and mild language. Nevertheless, the film was critically acclaimed and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Kylie Minogue: 1968. She began her career on Australian television as a child actress before beginning her singing career in 1987. Her first hit single, a cover version of “The Loco-Motion,” remained as number one in Australia for seven weeks. For whatever reason, she somehow managed to become a gay icon. “I am not a traditional gay icon” she once remarked. “There’s been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits.” But there was one touch of tragedy; in 2005 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. That sidelined her career, but not for long. But late 2006 she was touring again, and the video for her 2010 hit “All the Lovers” firmly re-established her presence in video bars everywhere.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

Happy Memorial Weekend

I imagine that the above illustration was intended to be seen as a commentary about the introduction of much needed American soldiers in World War I. But with Leyendeker, there’s always a subtext.

(But if you want to really see homoerotic, check out the January 1919 cover painted by Norman Rockwell, Mr. Straight Middle America, himself. Good heavens, give that story two more minutes and it would have a NSFW rating.)

Happy Memorial Day.

But ‘freedom of religion’ means that you have to give me taxpayer money!!

The State of Illinois has changes the way in which it wants one of its programs to operate. One of their contractors doesn’t think that it can operate under the new rules, and so it is not going to apply for further contracts with the state. The policy change is that same-sex couples cannot be excluded from consideration by state-funded adoption agencies, and the contractor is the Rockford Diocese of the Catholic Church.

Yeah, they made good on their threat. And, of course, they are whining and moaning that their “moral stance” actually cost them anything. They seem to believe that when you claim that you are taking a moral stance, then everyone else should cater to you and make exceptions for you. (Beacon-News)

Officials from the Rockford Diocese, which includes Aurora, Kane County and much of Kendall County, said they were forced to terminate state contracts worth $7.5 million after lawmakers failed to pass an amendment exempting religious groups from provisions of the state’s new civil unions law. The law, which will let gay and lesbian couples form civil unions, a rough equivalent to marriage, takes effect on Wednesday.
…
“The law of our land has always guaranteed its people freedom of religion,” diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert said. “Denying this exemption to faith-based agencies leads one to believe that our lawmakers prefer laws that guarantee freedom from religion.”

Yes, they believe that it’s a matter of religious freedom. Of course, they also believe that the Pope should dictate civil policy to “Christian Europe”, so it’s a little difficult to take them seriously when they talk about “religious freedom.”

So now the other 40-odd private agencies (including two other religiously-based groups) will have to pick up the Catholic Church’s 15% of the burden. Or perhaps not even that much if the other three Catholic agencies decide that their faith doesn’t exactly compel them deny orphans a loving adoptive family.

The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 27

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Family “Research” Council’s National Pastor’s Briefing: Washington, D.C. The FRC’s Watchmen On the Wall project’s National Pastor’s Briefing wraps up today at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Today’s speakers consist mostly of pastors from around the country, although before they do, they will hear some legal advices from Kevin Theriot, Senior Counsel from the Alliance Defense Fund, with a talk titled, “Defending the Right to Engage the Culture.” One of those pastor, Maine’s Bob Emrich, has voiced support for Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. But then, that shouldn’t surprise us. The FRC themselves lobbied Congress against its resolution condemning Uganda’s “Kill the Gays Bill,” calling the lobbying effort, “Uganda Resolution, Pro-homosexual promotion.” Because, you know, not killing gay people only encourages them.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Birmingham, UK; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL; Washington, DC (Black Pride) and Waterloo, ON.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Russia Decriminalizes Homosexuality: 1993. President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree which repealed the law forbidding male homosexuality on this date,. Since 2006, Moscow gay rights advocates have attempted to commemorate the anniversary of this historic event by conducting a gay pride march in Moscow. And every year, Moscow authorities have suppressed the march, usually violently. This year the pattern remains the same: LTBT advocates have announced a gay pride march (for tomorrow this year) and Russian authorities have vowed to prevent it from happening.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Chris Colfer: 1990. If you watch Fox’s Glee, you know him as Kurt Hummel, the fashionably gay kid who is routinely bullied in school. He had auditioned for the wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams, but the show’s creators were so impressed with Colfer that they created the role of Kurt especially for him. Colfer, who is gay himself, says that he was accepted by his family but often bullied in school. You can see Colfer’s video for the “It Gets Better” project here.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 26

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Family “Research” Council’s National Pastor’s Briefing: Washington, D.C. The FRC’s Watchmen On the Wall project’s National Pastor’s Briefing continues today through tomorrow at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Today’s speakers include FRC President Tony Perkins, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) , Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., and Rev. James Robison, among others. FRC’ers Ken Blackwell, Peter Sprigg, and Jeanne Monahan will present a forum titled, “Life, Marriage and Freedom: A Threat Assessment.” Oh my, but the conspiracies will fly, won’t they?

Lambda Literary Awards: New York. The Lambda Literary Foundation will holds its 23rd Annual Literary Awards this evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the School of Visual Arts Theater.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Birmingham, UK; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL; Washington, DC (Black Pride) and Waterloo, ON.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Massachusetts Buggery Law: 1697. After the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies were united into the new Massachusetts Colony, a revision to the old Massachusetts Bay Law of 1672 revised its old sodomy law. The death penalty remains, but now “Buggery” is defined to include bestiality as well as sodomy:

For avoiding of the detestable and abominable Sin of Buggery with Mankind or Beast, which is contrary to the very Light of Nature; Be it Enacted and Declared … That the same Offence be adjudged Felony … And that every Man, being duly convicted of lying with Mankind, as he lieth with a Woman; and every Man or Woman that shall have carnal Copulation with any Beast or Brute Creature, the Offender and Offenders, in either of the Cases before mentioned, shall suffer the Pains of Death, and the Beast shall be slain and Burned.

Massachusetts abolished the death penalty for sodomy and bestiality in 1805.

First Intersex Actress On Film: 1976. She made her debut on the screen in the 1976 movie Drive-In. Set in small town Texas, the story portrays a slice of life as the town’s teens gather at the local drive-in to watch a disaster flick. The film’s movie-within-a-movie (the movie being screened at the drive-in) is a hilarious sendup of action movies. Among the cast is Katherine Connella (billed as Neely Richlond) who plays a student and is the first intersexed person to star in a motion picture. Katherine’s biography, released in 2001, describes her experience of being born and growing up a combination of genders.

MD Adds to Hate Crime Law: 2005. Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich signs legislation which adds sexual orientation to its hate crime law. The act also makes Maryland the ninth state to add gender identity to the state’s hate crimes law as well. Conservative religious groups naturally protest.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

An important indicator of future equality

Anti-gay activists have many catch phrases and arguments, but ultimately they all boil down to one thing: they believe homosexuality to be morally wrong. And, until recently, America has agreed and voted accordingly.

Which makes the following graphic very very interesting: