in Other news…

Welcome to a (semi)weekly roundup of news related to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and otherwise “Other” community.

• The New York Times reports on the worsening situation for queer Iraqis since the American invasion, which has allowed a sharp increase in religious fanaticism:  
  

  In 2005, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for gay men and lesbians to be killed in the “worst, most severe way.”

  He lifted it a year later, but neither that nor the recent ebb in violence has made Mohammed or his friends feel safe.

  The article covers the rollercoaster of social opinions on queer culture from 1990 through now, and is well worth the read.

• Good luck finding student housing if you’re transgender: Southern Utah University is denying a transgender student housing until he can provide a doctor’s note (literally!) verifying his gender, a requirement not exactly placed on its other housing applicants.  The University’s policy requires proof of full, complete transition; otherwise says the housing director, “Where they’re in the process [of gender transition] I have no place to put them.”  Meanwhile the prohibitive cost of gender reassignment surgery will likely keep the student, Kourt Osbourn, from meeting the University’s requirements.
• Accused of homosexual acts, Iranian Makwan Moloudzadeh was murdered in prison by guards earlier this month.  I’m not one to flare up in anger, but this is fucking barbaric.  In the meantime, the U.S. is still considering deportation of Iranian gays begging for amnesty… further proof that our own fundamentalists have more in common with Iran than they’d like to admit.

More below the fold…

• Transsexual advocates are terrorists!  Marti Abernathy of The Transadvocate responds to an inane letter from the American Family Association blaming the transgender community for security loopholes destined to lead to the impending terrorist apocalypse.
• 60 Minutes suggests that the military is “too soft” on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during wartime.  During the interview, Army Major Daniel Davis repeats the tripe that gay servicemen will hurt unit cohesion, an argument nothing whatsoever like racial integration in the military.  I’ll quote the loathsome Duncan Hunter in full:
  

  “We aren’t the Brits. We’re not the Europeans. We’re not the Swedes,” says Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

  Hunter argues that gays do not belong in the U.S. military because American troops need to be hardened warriors, unlike soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly.

  “The Fallujahs of the world, the Ramadis of the world that require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability – those are the places the Americans go. The other countries tend to go to the so-called peacekeeper zones, where they have fewer fire fights and less contact with the enemy,” Hunter says. “And the European nations show little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places.”

  At least we can count on Hunter to blame whatever future military losses we incur on gay and lesbian soldiers, since the nearly 3/4 of Americans who support the repeal of DADT will likely lead to open service within the next few years.

• John Kerry joined forces with Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith to introduce legislation toward lifting the travel ban on people who are HIV+.  As worded the legislation would actually give power to make the decision to the Department of Health and Human Services rather than Immigration, since every other medical ban is under their jurisdiction.
• The University of Virginia has posted notes from a debate on same-sex marriage and adoption, between Virginia law professor Kim Forde-Mazrui and Professor Lynn Wardle from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.  I’ll let you guess which was on which side…
  

  Forde-Mazrui said that statistics, for example, show that families of veterans have significantly higher rates of domestic violence, alcoholism, drunk driving, suicide and child abuse. Statistics also indicate that “states that predominantly go Republican have higher rates of divorce, teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births.”

  Even though these risks exist, we don’t deny marriage or adoption to individuals based on whether they are veterans or from states that are predominantly Republican.

  Ooh…Snap!

• Hungary now has civil unions.  F’n Hungary!  (Actually, given Hungary’s domination of the gay porn market, this isn’t a huge surprise.)

  Meanwhile, the Church of Sweden (Lutheran by affiliation) has okay’d performing same-sex marriage in the church.  Why can’t our religious be like their religious?  I’m sure Duncan Hunter has an explanation.

I won’t be around next week to post a news roundup, so I hope everyone has a happy holiday and all that.  Cheers!