The Daily Agenda for Monday, January 7

Jim Burroway

January 7th, 2013

Merry Christmas! Yes, today is Christmas day — if you grew up in or are a member of an Orthodox Church which follows the Julian calendar. That would include churches in Ethiopia, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Moldova. (Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Antiochian and others celebrates Christmas on December 25). Christmas day formally ends the 40-day Nativity Fast. In Russia, the main celebration takes place on Christmas Eve, where the family returns home from services for the traditional “Holy Supper” consisting of 12 dishes, one for each of the apostles. In Georgia, people dress up and go an an “Alilo walk” and wish each other Christmas greetings and hand out sweets to children. Serbs spread their Christmas celebrations out over three days with numerous feasts, gatherings and traditional activities for each day.

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Court Hearing In Lawsuit Against Scott Lively: Springfield, MA. Last March, the Center for Constitutional Rights announced that they were suing Scott Lively in Federal District Court on behalf of Sexual Minorities Uganda for Lively’s “decade-long campaign he has waged, in coordination with his Ugandan counterparts, to persecute persons on the basis of their gender and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.” He is being sued under the Alien Tort Statute, which provides federal jurisdiction for “any civil action by an alien, for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” Oral arguments on Lively’s motion to dismiss are set for today before Judge Michael A. Ponsor at the Federal Courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. Oral arguments are set for 11:00 a.m. For those planning to attend either the hearing or a planned rally, CCR provides this advice:

WHEN: You are advised to arrive at 9:00am. The hearing is at 11:00am, however, word is that Lively’s people have been advised to arrive at 9:30am. It also takes one hour in advance to allow time for going through courthouse security. After the argument, there will be a press conference and rally in front of the courthouse, organized by CCR and the Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition of Western Massachusetts.

Prior to the hearing, starting at 10:00am, the Stop The Hate And Homophobia Coalition is organizing a “stand-out” along State Street in front of the courthouse, where we will be holding supporting signs and informational flyers.

CCR and Sexual Minorities Uganda are also organizing a Twitter Rally from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. EST using the #StoptheHate hashtag.  CCR will hold a press conference in front of the Court House after the hearing, which is expected to take less than two hours. You can learn more about the lawsuit at the CCR’s website. Vince Warren, CCR’s Executive Director, wrote this op-ed for The Washington Post.

Murder, she wrote.

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY:
Phyllis Lyon Kills Ann Ferguson: 1957. When the Daughters of Bilitis began publishing The Ladder in October 1956, it’s masthead identified its first editor as Ann Ferguson. In the second issue, Ferguson penned a short article addressing the first problem they encountered in publishing what would become the nation’s first magazine for lesbians. As Ferguson explained it, too  many people feared “that names on our mailing list may fall into the wrong hands, or that by indicating interest in this magazine a person will automatically be labeled a homosexual.” She assured readers that subscribers included all kinds of people, including lawyers, social workers, psychiatrists, business, and other professionals. She also assured readers that “Daughters of BIlitis is not outside the law — we advocate no illegal actions by anyone.”

Ferguson revealed that the organization had obtained legal council and would file for incorporation under the laws of California. She also explained a recent Supreme Court decision which upheld the rights of citizens to refuse to reveal to Congressional committees the names on subscription lists or lists of purchases. So in addition to the organization’s own bylaws prohibiting the disclosure of The Ladder’s subscription lists, “the decision also guarantees that your name is safe!”

Ferguson had been at the helm for only thee months when the January 1957 issue included this startling announcement:

ANN FERGUSON IS DEAD!
I confess. I killed Ann Ferguson. Premeditatedly and with malice aforethought. We ran an article in the November issue of THE LADDER entitled “Your Name is Safe”.” Ann Ferguson wrote that article. Her words were true, her conclusions logical and documented — yet she was not practising what she preached.

Somehow it didn’t seem right,

She spent some time considering the situation. Then came to a conclusion. At the November public discussion meeting of the Daughters of Bilitis we got up — Ann Ferguson and I — and did away with Ann. Now there is only Phyllis Lyon.

Seriously, my pseudonym was taken in the first place without much thought. Somehow, it seemed the thing to do. But all it did was create problems. If you’re going to write under a pseudonym then you should go by that name in personal contacts. But everybody connected with the Daughters of Bilitis already knew me as Phyllis and the attempt to call me Ann confused everyone, including me.

I’m sure that I’m not placing myself in any jeopardy by using my real name — and I’m only simplifying matters and practising what I preach.

Phyllis Lyon (see Nov 10) with her partner Del Martin (see May 5) were among eight women who founded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955 (see Oct 19). In 2008, they Phyllis and Del became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the state of California. Del passed away later that year. At last report, Phyllis still lives in their home in San Francisco.

[Sources: Ann Ferguson. “Your Name Is Safe!” The Ladder, 1, no. 2 (November 1956): 10-12.

Phyllis Lyon. “Ann Ferguson Is Dead!” The Ladder, 1, no. 4 (January 1957): 7.]

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Jann Wenner: 1946. He founded Rolling Stone in 1967 when he was just 21, after borrowing $7,500 from family members. In 1977 he founded Outside magazine, and in 1985 he bought a share of US. In 1995, he separated from his wife, Jane Wenner, to live with Matt Nye, a former model and fashion designer. Jann and Jane have never divorced — she is still vice president of Wenner Media — and Jann and Matt are still together. In addition to the three sons he had with Jane, Jann and Matt also have three children.

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

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Snowman

January 7th, 2013

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2013/1/6/163615/7579/Front_Page/Anti_Gay_Persecution_on_Trial

This may be of interest, Scott Lively is being sued by Sexual Minorities Uganda in Federal Court.

cowboy

January 7th, 2013

Oh golly gee…someone with a radical homoseksul agenda or part of the Homosexual Lobby has infiltrated a new development in Utah.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55572389-78/morning-glory-street-lehi.html.csp

How long before all the GPS navigation maps are updated so we no longer have to be embarrassed by the actions of these radicals?

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