NEWSLGBT WOMEN

Carol Ann and Laura Sutte returned from an anniversary celebration to find their Tennessee home burned down and "QUEERS" spray-painted across their garage. Six months later, not only has law enforcement failed to rule this an obvious case of arson and a hate crime, the couple's insurance refuses to cough up the money they owe for living expenses.

In a moving interview, Carol Ann recounts both how painful it was to face the destruction of their home, and on top of that the insurance company's refusal to reimburse their living expenses, despite the fact that the Sutte's paid for this additional disaster coverage. The women had long faced homophobic harassment at the hand of one of their neighbors, who told them before the attack on their home: "What's better than one dead queer? Two dead queers." But Carol Ann also said that the support of thousands of Change.org members has been "like Christmas tree lights," a reminder that people in the world do care and making it easier for them to press on.

Early in December, I wrote about the Belmont University women's soccer coach removed from her position after sharing the happy news with her players that she was expecting a baby — with the woman she loves.

Coach Lisa Howe's players were furious and rallied in her defense, but the Belmont University administration, which has also refused to recognize a student LGBT group on campus as going against their religious tradition, didn't budge. Well, that was 21,000 Change.org member emails and a lot of controversy ago. Michael Jones reports on Gay Rights that the Tennessee university has now announced that they will add sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policy. Goooooooooooal!

Though Belmont U President Bob Fisher has denied that Howe's firing related to her sexual orientation, soccer players reported that their discussions with administrators sounded a little different. Team captain Sari Lin said she was told by Belmont's Athletic Director that the school has "the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy and when she told us about the pregnancy, it violated that." But even if the University had admitted that Howe's sexual orientation got her the "resign or be fired" ultimatum, they wouldn't have been violating any of their own policies.

A student's sexuality should be nobody's business but her own, and the choice to come out hers to make. But softball coaches at a Texas school begged to differ. Brandon Miller writes on Gay Rights that they first cornered a female student in the locker room, accusing her of being gay, and threatening to tell her parents. Then they said she wouldn't be allowed on the field unless she outed herself. Finally, they called the student's mother, insisted she come down to the softball field, and tattled that her daughter was a lesbian, following this by kicking the girl off the team.

The one positive element of this story is the mother's reaction: pissed off. Not at her daughter for her sexual orientation, but at her coaches for making a decision about sharing private items without the girl's consent, and for kicking her off the team.

The school principal, district superintendent, and Board of Trustees have rejected the mother's complaint about the coaches' bullying of her daughter, defending all of their decisions as absolutely right. This stance by the Kilgore School District sets a precedent that jeopardizes the privacy of other LGBTQ students, and sanctions what is really bullying and harassment by an authority figure.

What if the student had not been lucky enough to have a mother more concerned with the violation of her daughter's civil rights than her sexual orientation? A teenager choosing not to reveal her sexuality might have strong reason for doing so, such as homophobic parents or a history of abuse. Softball coaches don't know what kind of harm they're opening up a student to by outing her against her wishes.

It's shaping up to be a Happy New Year for gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) troops in the military: over the weekend, the Senate finally passed Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal, and this morning, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.

DADT was an absurd policy which forced GLB servicemembers to stay in the military closet about their sexuality — they weren't supposed to tell, others weren't supposed to ask, and we could all live in a little fantasy land pretending that the only people who serve and die for our country are straight perfect zeroes on the Kinsey scale. It's the same land where the Air Force rides on magic carpets and members of the Army steer unicorns instead of tanks.

But back in the sphere of reality, there were gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons serving and dying for the American flag, and thousands of others being found out and shipped home no matter how important their expertise might be to the military. The policy came down hardest on lesbian and bisexual women in the service, who were discharged at a higher rate than their male counterparts. Meanwhile, challenges to the law from women like flight nurse Margaret Witt helped to bring the attention and criticism to the policy needed to bring it down.

In fact, DADT repeal ame about in large part due to the concerted efforts of LGBTQ organizations and activists, servicemembers and veterans organizations, the star power of celebrities like Lady Gaga, and finally military leaders who admitted that doing away with the absurd policy would just strengthen our military. DADT was not a gift from the Democratic party leadership: it represents a hard-fought victory by advocates and countless people who stepped into the role of "activist" with their opposition to this destructive policy. Kudos to them.

And a Happy New Year to everybody in the military service.

Photo credit: DVIDSHUB

Chloe Alexander Moore, a 25-year-old transgender woman living in D.C., says that she pepper-sprayed a man in self-defense after he hurled transphobic comments at and pushed her. He then tackled and seriously hurt her as she tried to get away to safety, at which point Raphael Radon revealed himself as an off-duty police officer. He and his buddies claim that she launched an unprovoked attack, and that's the story the official police report is sticking to, charging Moore with assault while Radon goes along his merry way.

But Moore's version is backed up not only by her companion, but by the one witness on the scene who wasn't with either party.

In fact, the responding officers found Radon to be at fault, but were prohibited from charging him by a supervisor at the other end of a telephone. According to the Washington Blade, which obtained leaked documents about the case, "two police sources said a sergeant and detective who responded to the scene determined through interviews with witnesses that Officer Radon initiated the altercation and may have committed a bias-related assault against Moore." But when they called in the attack, Capt. Michelle Williams at the First District D.C. Police Station insisted that Moore be charged with assault instead, a move that smacks of a higher-up trying to protect one of their own and perhaps anti-trans bias. Moore further alleges that she was initially denied medical attention despite her requests.

The D.C. Trans Coalition (DCTC) has rallied in support of Moore and against police transphobia. DCTC attorney Allison Gill points out that while they and other LGBT organizations have been training volunteer officers on appropriate sensitivity, "What this incident shows us is that training self-selected volunteers is only a small step toward ensuring that MPD officers fully comply with DC’s human rights law." Of course, it's rarely the people willing to volunteer who really need this kind of training. Gill further calls for "a swift rejection of this kind of behavior from the highest levels within MPD, along with a real plan for making sure that every law enforcement officer knows and follows the law, including mandatory training for the entire force."

In South Africa, lesbian women are raped or gang-raped by men who believe that unwanted penetration by a penis can screw them straight (or sometimes the assailants throw that goal out to go ahead and kill the woman). It sure sounds like a hate crime to me. But the South African government doesn't seem to agree, and it doesn't take the average 10 reported "corrective rapes" every week in Cape Town alone very seriously.

As Benjamin Joffe-Walt reports on Human Rights, if you kidnap a woman, imprison, threaten, strangle, and repeatedly rape her for five hours, you can get out on bail for the equivalent of 10 bucks. Does that say, "we take violence against women seriously" to you?

I didn't think so. And neither does Luleki Sizwe, a South African charity, named for two victims who died from diseases contracted during the assault, that provides support and counseling to survivors of corrective rape. Because people like Andile Ngcoza can get out of jail for a few dollars, Luleki Sizwe had to raise money for a safe house to protect survivors and their founder, Ndumie Funda. Oh, I almost forget: when released, he threatened Funda, his victim, and her family, violating the terms of bail. Yet was nonetheless still left to wander free.

As a victims' care organization, Luleki Sizwe can only try to heal some of the physical and mental wounds of the traumatic attacks, which impact hundreds every year. And not all victims end up surviving their attacks. So they're branching out and calling upon their government to do something to check the corrective rape epidemic. They want corrective rape to be recognized as a hate crime.

You can sign this petition created by Luleki Sizwe to tell the South African government to declare corrective a hate crime subject to harsher sentencing. The organization is also calling for an investigation into Andile Ncoza's case and the reason behind his release on such absurdly low bail. Time for South Africa's government to take its fingers out of its ears and start listening to advocates demands to protect women.

Photo credit: Luleki Sizwe Facebook page

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Isn't it time to stop seeing bullying as something that just happens within school walls? What happens when we catch bullies in action among the grown-up set, in positions of authority -- like, say, the police force? We should call it out, speak up, and make it clear that bullying will not be tolerated, no matter who's doing the bullying.

A transgendered woman, Akasha Adonis, was attacked by a fellow shopper outside of a Kohl's department store in Jackson, Tennessee, on the day after Thanksgiving. Her treatment from the Jackson Police Department can be classified as nothing short of bullying and the behavior displayed by Kohl's employees was clearly neglectful.

Adonis and her mother were waiting outside of one of four Kohl's entrances just before 3 a.m., ready for those magic doors to open to embark upon a "Black Friday" shopping spree. A fight broke out when another woman shoved Adonis' mother aside to get through the open door, so Adonis naturally moved in to protect her mother. Then a male made his way into the frenzy and assaulted both Adonis and another woman at the doors. What happened next was horrifying. According to the Tennessee Equality Project's (TEP) blog, Grand Divisions, the man "hit Akasha and pulled out her hair ... then shoved his hand in her mouth with his thumb, tore three of her teeth out of socket, and broke her jaw as he forced Akasha to the ground." After that? The male assailant walked into the store to go shopping, as Kohl employees stood by and watched the scene unfold, greeting customers.

When the Jackson Police showed up and began questioning Akasha Adonis (who was obviously badly hurt), her mother, and the other woman attacked, they were initially respectful. But when Officer Ashley McCullar saw that her driver's license had a man's name, he turned his back, dismissed Adonis' story, and told other officers Adonis was the "He not She."

Students on the women's soccer team at Belmont University, a Christian institution, are "upset and outraged" at the loss of their coach. The players say that coach Lisa Howe was given an ultimatum: resign or she'd be fired. All because she shared with her players the exciting news that she and her partner were expecting a baby. This is a big problem for Belmont because Howe is in a same-sex partnership.

Belmont University has a reputation for taking an intolerant anti-LGBTQ stance. As Michael Jones reported previously on the Gay Rights blog, although students have tried for two years to form an LGBT student group with significant campus support, university officials claim it would be against their religious tradition.

In this case, the University is attempting to claim that Coach Howe resigned, which was her decision. But the members of her team say that they learned through unofficial sources that their coach's abrupt tear-filled departure had been forced, and senior forward Erica Carter reported that they are united in their opposition to losing their coach, who lead the team to the championship in 2009.

Digital video artist Melissa Ulto went to Greece last month as a part of a European tour with a feminist performance group. To keep costs down, Ulto followed a friend's advice and connected with people on CouchSurfing, a website that links travelers to residents in different cities around the globe who agree to provide a place to stay and act as a resource to navigate the city ... for free. While a fantastic service in theory, Ulto quickly discovered that CouchSurfing has a disturbing downside. The second night she was in Athens, her host and his friends subjected her to verbal sexual overtures, homophobic harassment, frequent attempts to grope and kiss her, and frightening demands for sex. Fortunately, Ulto escaped the situation and moved to a hotel.

Shocked by what had happened, Ulto contacted CouchSurfing to report the host's misconduct and left negative feedback on his profile warning other women to stay away. The host retaliated by posting nasty comments to Ulto's profile, including calling her a "psycho." CouchSurfing remained silent. So, she contacted them again. Silence. On the third try, she threatened legal action and got their attention. But even that failed to keep it.

Safety Team Coordinator Rachel diCerbo wrote to Ulto, "Because we are not there to witness events, we rely on members to talk about their experience with one another through references ... we certainly empathize and will help people use the system in order to allow others to make informed decisions, but we simply must maintain as much neutrality as possible." In other words, without irrefutable evidence beyond he-said-she-said, CouchSurfing will not intervene or eject someone from their site to protect other users. (They did remove the host's retaliatory comments from Ulto's profile.)

One young woman from Hong Kong found out the hard way the failure of CouchSurfing's so-called safeguards fail to weed out sexual predators: she was raped and held captive by her CouchSurfing host last year while traveling in the United Kingdom.

All Tyjanae Moore wanted was use the restroom at Houston Public Library, but that simple act landed her in jail.

Did she go in and start vandalizing public property? Did she scrawl graffiti on the walls? Break mirrors? No, no, and no. She just needed to use the bathroom.

Michael Jones reports on the Gay Rights blog that Moore, a transgender woman, was tossed in jail on Friday for being a "man" using a women's bathroom, which is banned under state law. Though Houston has a non-discrimination ordinance covering gender identity enacted by Mayor Annise Parker's executive order earlier this year, police defended the arrest as valid because Moore hasn't had a complete sex change operation. Opponents of the non-discrimination order claim it violates state law and that transgender persons should only be allowed to switch bathrooms after they've gone through a complete sex change.

But Moore does identify as female, and lives her life under that gender expression: whether or not she has undergone a sex change operation is irrelevant to her gender identity and how she should be treated.