Stand Up for LGBT Women on International Women's Day

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.

Since Michael A. Jones first wrote about this story on the Gay Rights blogger, over 25,000 Change.org members have signed a GetEqual petition telling American National Property and Casualty (ANPC) to get with the program. Yet the insurance company nonetheless remains mum on their claim, so it seems we need to turn on some more Christmas tree lights.

It's fitting to recognize on International Women's Day (IWD) the added challenges faces by LGBT women due to the intersection of discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation. Another campaign we're highlighting for IWD makes this all too clear: the battle against the epidemic of corrective rape, in which a man rapes a lesbian women in an attempt to "turn her straight," in South Africa. Over 150,000 of you have joined with a non-profit on the ground, Luleki Sizwe, to insist that the South African government take real steps to end corrective rape, starting with declaring it a hate crime. Right now, our own Human Rights editor is actually in South Africa to help in meetings with the government: that's thanks to all of you who signed. So keep taking action for women from Tennessee to South Africa in need of your support.