NEWS & LETTERS, December 2008 - January 2009
Queer Notes
by Elise
Nov. 20 marked the tenth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Observed internationally, the Day of Remembrance was originally created to memorialize the still unsolved 1998 murder of Transgender woman Rita Hester and to honor all murder victims of anti-Transgender hate.
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Gays and Lesbians did not do well at the polls this year. Arkansas voters approved banning all unmarried couples and single individuals from fostering and adopting children. Gay marriage bans were approved in Arizona, California and Florida. It is encouraging that the California Supreme Court will hear challenges to Proposition 8, also known as Proposition H8 (read Hate), in March and that the U.S. continues to witness rallies and demonstrations against it from coast to coast.
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One bright spot at the polls was the rejection of holding a Constitutional Convention by Connecticut voters. Such a convention could have been used to ban same-sex marriage. Gay couples commenced getting married Nov. 12 after the State Supreme Court ruled that the state's civil unions were a separate and unequal institution and, therefore, unconstitutional.
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