Archive for Equality Forum
A Conversation with Alex Nicholson
Here’s something to think about:
Getting married, or civilly united, as a same-sex couple can get you discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. As the New Jersey Civil Union Commission Report pointed out, declaring that you’re in a civil union is actually “worse” (read: more hazardous) than saying “I Got Married!” — since [...]
Equality Forum: Picking up an Important Piece on Health Services
On the day after Equality Forum’s week-long stampede finished trampling me, I’m able to stagger back to my computer and pick up a piece from last Saturday’s collaborative programming that I didn’t want to leave behind. (Tomorrow I hope to be able to post on the National Equality Rally that took place on Sunday.)
One of [...]
Equality Forum: The International Equality Dinner Starring the One and Only Gavin Newsom
Talk about your gala events!
Well, for $200 a plate, Saturday night’s International Equality Dinner needed to be a fabulous, star-studded affair, and it was. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a true ally of the gay and lesbian community since forever, was Honorary Chair and delivered his usually warm, amusing, and affirming speech. With no elections left [...]
Equality Forum Day 6 (2): All About Me
OK, I’ll ‘fess up: I attended the program From PTA to GSA mostly because, as the parent of four-year-old twins, I wanted to hear strategies for navigating what I assumed to be the dark waters of the school experience for my kids. As soon as I walked in, I knew I’d made a good decision; [...]
Equality Forum Day 6 (1): “Would Jesus Discriminate?”
Today the orderly procession of Equality Forum that held sway all week breaks up: This afternoon, there were four EF panels — two at a time — and eighteen “collaborative” programs, running six at a time. Even as I write this, there’s a political strategizing reception going on. The week’s glamor event, the International Equality [...]
Equality Forum Day 5: What Now?
After a political eternity, several bills directly relevant to LGBT equality are queued up before Congress. In order of both expected ease of passage and anticipated timeline, these are: hate crimes, which has already passed the U.S. House, and is expected to navigate the more treacherous waters of the Senate and be signed, possibly within [...]
Equality Forum Day 4 (Part 2): Politics 101 (Russian)
Everything about Russia seems difficult to me. In college, I took five semesters of Russian to no discernible end. Neither French nor Spanish had proven too challenging, but this was a different critter. Each noun comes with six different endings, one for each “case.” Russian verbal aspects can’t be fully mastered by anyone without a [...]
Equality Forum Day 4 (Part 1): Politics 101 (Domestic)
How important is bipartisanship in pursuing full equality for the LGBT community? Is it better to work on the state law level, or to push for national policy changes? How are our issues connected to larger issues? And what will be the questions facing the community ten years from now?
Moderator Patrick Guerriero used these open-ended [...]
Equality Forum Day 3 (Part 2): It’s Always Personal
Family Law is an exciting yet weird course to teach. The law school model (now admittedly under both siege and reconstruction) emphasizes legal reasoning and analysis, the parsing of cases and statutes, and the occasional foray into broader constitutional issues. Of course, very few legal scholars or students today think that a legal result can [...]
Equality Forum Day 3 (Part 1): “Tomorrow Hour Zero”
The day before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence intercepted a communication known to be from al-Qaeda, boasting that “tomorrow is zero hour” (literally translated above). This possibly interesting statement went untranslated, though, until September 12. According to Alex Nicholson, who apparently speaks all living and several dead languages (and also looked [...]