The Good News

Orlando Shootings Stitch Together Gays and Latinos, 2 Cultures Once at Odds

It is a seismic shift from the atmosphere four decades ago after the firebombing of the UpStairs lounge in New Orleans. Back in 1973, some relatives refused to claim the bodies of their gay sons, banishing them to potter’s fields and the New Orleans community joked that the ashes of the dead would be buried in “fruit jars.” Thirty-two people died.

In Toronto the vigil for the Orlando victims was attended by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (Liberal) and Toronto's mayor John Tory (Conservative).

'Now we know the fight is not over': Toronto LGBT community, friends honour Orlando victims in silent vigil

I was thinking about something much like the article you link to in the first post this morning: police were called to a gay bar as rescuers, and they came. (Also, my first reaction to the headline in the NYT article was "Weren't a lot of the original Stonewall rioters Puerto Rican?")

On Stonewall, I don't recall exactly but I think it's becoming more widely known how many of the original protesters were "minority within minority"--people of colour, transgender, drag queens...

police were called to a gay bar as rescuers, and they came.

Yes.

I think this might be the place to post this:

http://www.hbook.com/2016/06/opinion/orlando/

The ALA Children's Book conference was in Orlando last week. This is one children's writer/illustrator piece about what it means to be at an event like then during the aftermath of such a terrible tragedy.

In the aftermath of incidents like what happened at Pulse or in Charleston, Ferguson, Steubenville, or anywhere around the world where violence becomes the chosen language to translate inequality or difference or the desire for power, there is a need for stories to contain, to comfort, to process, to prevent. Each time a body falls, there ought to be a story there to catch them.

U.N. Panel Moves to Curb Bias Against L.G.B.T. People

(...) The body, the 47-member Human Rights Council, voted to appoint an independent expert to monitor and report on violence against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The initiative passed, 23 to 18, with six abstentions. (...)

But the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Faisal Bin Hassan, filed a motion to block the resolution, saying that it “ran counter to our beliefs and culture.”

Pakistan’s ambassador, Tehmina Janjua, saying the resolution promoted “certain notions, concepts and lifestyles on which there is no consensus,” proposed a series of amendments on behalf of Islamic states that would have stripped all reference to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Nigerian envoy, Peters Omologbe Emuze, objected even to the title of the resolution: “Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The British ambassador, Julian Braithwaite, said in response: “By voting against this resolution you are voting to block the U.N. from trying to stop violence and discrimination. How is that acceptable?”

“This affects people in this room, and people in my team who are L.G.B.T.,” he continued. “Are you saying it is O.K. to discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation and gender identity? To hit, torture, or possibly kill them? Because that is what you are supporting, if you vote against this resolution.”

Human rights groups hailed the outcome.

“By creating a U.N. expert, the Human Rights Council has given official voice to those facing violations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity the world over,” John Fisher, the Geneva director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “There can be no turning back.”

Here's a store I'd volunteer to work at for free:

Sex shop/feminist bookstore opens in Brooklyn

I think Babes in Toyland in Manhattan qualify too... I'm sure there are at least a few more women-centred sex shops--or, there were...

Toronto's Good For Her even has women-only hours.

>8 LolaWalser:

Not having clicked on the link, I'd have thought it was the "feminist bookstore" combo that sets this one apart? Those are probably harder to find these days than the other half. There's only one that I know of that's still standing (Antigone Books in Tucson, AZ).

>9 lorax:

Possibly, although as far as I know Babes... and other also offer books, magazines etc. But, yes, I expect a shop that calls itself a bookstore (on the link it turns out to be a laundromat as well! :)) might be that substantially more so.

>8 LolaWalser:

There's also Good Vibrations which is now operating as a worker's co-op, iirc.

This is great! One day it will be universal...

Why California Is Teaching Its Students About the LGBT Community

(...) Students will start learning about the LGBT community as part of family diversity as early as second grade. In fourth grade, Harvey Milk and other LGBT activists will be introduced, and in high school, the students’ work will continue to integrate LGBT contributions. This will finally culminate in 11th-grade U.S. history, which will now include references to the fight for LGBT equality.

>12 LolaWalser: Definitely good news!

>12 LolaWalser:

That's fantastic news. I'm not sure why they're waiting until second grade, though; wouldn't "there are lots of different types of families" tend to naturally come up earlier? My kid's preschool is certainly aware that some of the kids have two moms or two dads, and it's a natural thing to come up if they're drawing family pictures or talking about Mother's Day and Father's Day and the like.

(As a side note, my kid's preschool appears to have deliberately put all the kids with queer parents into the same room - there are four kids in his room out of 10 or so who have same-sex parents. That makes me feel a little better about there only being one other black kid in the room.)

>14 lorax:

Yes, agreed, the topic could come up earlier, basically as soon as there's any mention of family life. Maybe this regards only the structured, specific material? I know there was some essential stuff teachers had to cover, specific things they had to teach, but then there was also additional, less strictly defined stuff...

>14 lorax:, 15

i think that's probably right, that it refers to specific curriculum. any progressive teacher will be bringing it up earlier, really any time families are talked about, but this dictates that everyone has to at certain points, for a bare minimum.