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NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2009
Queer Notes
by Elise
International human rights groups call on Honduras to actively protect LGBT people by repealing its law that is supposed to protect "public morality." They want Honduras to enact laws prohibiting all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender expression. Violence against Transgender people is particularly rampant, with many incidents often perpetrated by police and never investigated nor prosecuted. While similar "public morality" laws exist in Guatemala, some Mexican states and Argentinian provinces, they have been struck down in Colombia and some other Latin American nations.
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As the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which sparked the U.S. LGBT rights movement, approaches, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Under this act, sexual orientation, gender identity, as well as disability, would be protected categories along with race, ethnicity and religion. Hopefully, the Senate will vote on the legislation before their summer session ends.
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Even though U.S. President Barack Obama declared June Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, it remains to be seen how much the President will actually do for the LGBT community. Obama's chief military adviser, Admiral Michael Mullen, said that if Congress repeals the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy (DADT)--which keeps Gays and Lesbians from serving openly in the military--the Pentagon will conform. The President, however, has taken no steps toward its repeal. In fact, Obama's administration successfully asked the Supreme Court to not hear challenges to DADT and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Repeal of DADT and DOMA was one of his campaign promises.
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From California to New York, there have been protests against the California Supreme Court's upholding of Proposition 8, the ballot measure defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. The 18,000 same-sex couples married prior to Proposition Hate's passage, however, remain legally married. In New Hampshire, same-sex marriage was legalized. Nevada's domestic partnership bill was passed by its Assembly, overriding Governor Gibbons' veto.
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