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Articles From Our June, 2003 Newsletter |
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LGBT Youth Violence Prevention
Project PFLAG's next program, Sunday, June 8, will be Jaron Asher, Project Please join us at our regular meeting time, 3 pm, at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Room 307, for what will be an interesting and informative program. Double Your Pleasure with 250 Handsome Men on Stage! Imagine, 250 men standing before you on stage. Hair combed nicely (unless
they have that shaved look going), shirts all tucked in, standing up
straight with chests out and stomachs in, eyes and mouths wide open… Who are these guys? How can they look and sound so good? Where did they come from? More importantly, where are they going after the concert? So many questions! If you’re sitting in the Folly Theater on June 14 or 15, you’ll get the answers to all these questions and more. After all, it’s not often that you get to hear 125 men singing “Naked Man” (gasp!) and another 125 men singing popular show tunes. Then you get to hear all of them at the same time as they fill the hall with incredible sound. So who are these guys? You know half of them already. They’re the
Heartland Men’s Chorus of Kansas City. The same guys you usually see in
tuxedos at the Folly Theater performing some of the best music to be heard
in town. The other half is the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, visitors to our
city who want to have a good time by singing out to a theater full of music
lovers. From Our President PRIDE WEEKEND SCHEDULE The Heartland Gay Pride Parade will kick off the weekend on Friday, June
6. Registration begins at 4:30pm at Westport Road and Mill Street.
PFLAG's The PFLAG booth will be open from 9:00am till 5:00pm. on Saturday.
The Sunday will be family day....Noon till 8pm. JAPAN ELECTS FIRST TRANSGENDER
OFFICIAL The first transgender woman to seek election in Japan has won a municipal seat in Tokyo. That Aya Kamikawa even was allowed to run as a woman was seen as a major victory for the country's transgender community. When she submitted her candidacy forms with a blank space for sex, election officials referred it to the federal government. Under Japanese law birth documents cannot be altered and Kamikawa had been listed as male. The transgendered in Japan are referred to as people "suffering gender identity disorder." The government finally relented and allowed her to run as a female. Kamikawa placed sixth among all candidates in the election, assuring her a seat. "I will proudly attend the assembly as a woman," Kamikawa said at her campaign office after the election results were announced. Even though she will sit as a woman, she will be listed as male in official election records, according to the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry. The 35-year-old writer says she will work to improve minority rights. Washington Post, May 16, 2003 Gay rights activists racked up a string of victories last year in their efforts to make it illegal to discriminate against gays at work and to encourage employers to offer health insurance to workers' same-sex domestic partners. In 2002, 15 cities and counties passed laws banning workplace discrimination against homosexuals, up from eight in 2001, according to a report to be released today by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobbying group. Also, 16 jurisdictions added protection on the basis of gender identity, up from five in 2001, adding coverage for people who do not conform to sexual stereotypes, such as men who are seen as not masculine enough, women deemed unfeminine or those who have changed their sexual identity. Federal anti-discrimination laws do not include sexual orientation or identity. "When you add it all up, it shows a huge amount of progress for our community," said Kim I. Mills, the HRC's education director. Peter Sprigg, director of the Center for Marriage and Family Studies at the Family Research Council, did not dispute the findings but said he and many others are philosophically opposed to the movement. He said such legislation had been turned back in Nashville and Nebraska in the past year. "There's no question they've made some gains, but we're not giving up the fight," Sprigg said. "We believe this is a result of intense political pressure by pro-homosexual activists, but these laws are built on a false premise that sexual orientation is a characteristic like race or sex, and it simply isn't true." In December, Republican Gov. George E. Pataki of New York signed legislation banning discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace, in seeking housing, in receiving credit and in public services. In November, Chicago and surrounding Cook County passed laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity. Miranda Stevens-Miller, who describes herself as "a woman of the transgender experience," said the Illinois laws were the culmination of seven years of lobbying. "We tried our best, our little grass-root group, and we got it through," she said yesterday. The Human Rights Campaign also said 20 more Fortune 500 companies,
including Pfizer Inc.; Procter & Gamble Co.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; and
Raytheon Co., began offering health insurance benefits to domestic partners
last year, bringing the total to 169. |
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PFLAG SUPPORTS REAL FAMILY VALUES |
