Rewind: Week of Feb. 12

Originally posted on DC Agenda

Snowmageddon may have kept our nation’s lawmakers from work this week — and effectively delayed same-sex marriage in D.C. — but state legislators have been keeping themselves busy.

On Tuesday, Iowa state representatives and senators blocked efforts by their GOP colleagues to amend the Iowa Constitution to ban gay marriage. Pro-LGBT Democrats, who hold majorities in both chambers, argued that their constituents have far more pressing concerns that indulging conservative homophobia.

Concurrently, in New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, the Judiciary Committee nixed two bills that attempted to reverse the state’s marriage equality law — one through repeal and the other through referendum.

Yesterday, Rhode Island state representatives elected the state’s first openly gay African American House speaker, Gordon Fox. This came in the heels of the announcement by three gubernatorial candidates — former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, State Attorney General Patrick Lynch, and Frank Caprio — that they support marriage equality. This bodes well for expanded civil rights in the only New England state that has not made same-sex marriage legal.

Prominent figures in the marriage debate also have been in the news.

In New York, state senators made history by expelling their colleague Hiram Monserrate who had been convicted of domestic assault. Monserrate was also one of the eight Democrats who voted against marriage equality in the Empire State, disappointing LGBT New Yorkers who had supported him.

In California, Proposition 8 trial judge Vaughn Walker was outed in the mainstream media, prompting some to question whether he could be impartial in ruling on the groundbreaking case. It has been pointed out that, ironically, Walker almost didn’t make it to the federal bench because he was perceived as anti-LGBT. He had helped the U.S. Olympic Committee stop the LGBT community from calling athletic competitions in San Francisco the Gay Olympic Games. He also callously put a lien on the home of a gay games leader who was dying of AIDS. His first appointment in 1987 by President Reagan was thus opposed by House Democrats, led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and stalled out by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Opponents of marriage equality were given some great ammunition this week when the New York Times highlighted a study on gay men and made sweeping conclusions about lesbian and gay couples. Although the research out of San Francisco State University only includes men and does not have a statistically valid and representative sample, the author carelessly pronounces that “monogamy is not a central feature for many” gay relationships. Although only gay and bisexual men in the Bay Area are included in the project, the article leads by recounting the story of one lesbian couple and continues to make hasty generalizations about all LGBT couples.

Meanwhile, there were some uplifting stories this week.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco school board voted to fund a substantial increase in instruction and services related to LGBT issues even though the district is planning major layoffs and program cuts amid the recession. School board members unanimously agreed that it is crucial to support LGBT youth, who are more likely to experience bullying and skip school because they are afraid. About 13 percent of the city’s middle school students and 11 percent of high school students self-identify as LGBT.

The following day, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Administration on Aging announced a three-year, $900,000 grant to SAGE, the nation’s oldest and largest organization serving LGBT older adults. The award is for the creation of the nation’s only national resource center on LGBT aging, which will assist communities across the country in their efforts to provide services and supports for older LGBT people.

Finally, just to be very clear: Lt. Dan Choi has not been ordered to active duty. As Vet Voice explains:

1LT Choi has NOT been ordered back to active duty. It would be difficult to order him “back” to active duty, being that he serves in the New York National Guard, not on active duty, unless he had been mobilized. What has happened is that, with the support of his command, 1LT Choi drilled with his National Guard unit this past weekend for training on critical infantry tasks with his Soldiers.

While it’s good to see 1LT Choi in uniform and back with his unit, the key take away from this story is that the fight isn’t over. 1LT Choi’s discharge is still pending at DA. At any time, this leader could be removed from his post and his unit’s cohesion and mission readiness severely damaged as a result.

Yes, the key takeaway is that come rain, sleet or snow, the fight is far from over.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

Rewind: Week of Feb. 5

Originally posted on DC Agenda

Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was remarkable not only for paving the way for the despicable law’s demise, but for showcasing the two routes conservatives can take moving forward.

One path is that taken by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It took him a number of years to get to this juncture, but he has chosen to be on the right side of history, be in touch with the majority of Americans, and do what is right by his fellow soldiers. Mullen, who had been nominated to his post by George W. Bush in 2007, told the Senate committee that he believes “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.” He confessed, “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.” He explained that it’s a matter of integrity — “theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.” He clearly meant his own integrity as well.

Then there is the way taken by Sen. John McCain. The Arizona Republican reneged on an earlier promise to heed the military’s top brass on the matter of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Now that both the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are telling us it’s time to repeal the discriminatory law, McCain throws a hissy fit and refuses to budge. Once known for his “maverick” and independent streak, it appears that he has lost his better qualities. Is he pandering to social conservatives to ensure more years in Washington? Or has he yet to accept his defeat to that young upstart, Obama? Or is he simply clinging on to an order that is fast disintegrating — one in which he and other privileged, wealthy and heterosexual white men hold sway?

McCain, joined by a few of his ilk, defiantly displayed how out of synch he is with most of us. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, in particular, uttered inanity that only underscored how divorced these men are from reality. He protested that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would open the flood gates to “alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art” in the military. I believe it’s a bit too late for that.

In other news, at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday, Obama finally addressed the maniacal and murderous anti-LGBT fervor gripping Uganda and other African Nations. He said, “We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as [Secretary of State] Hillary [Clinton] mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”

Clinton, who gave the keynote address, had stressed that the administration is “looking to take on religious discrimination and violations of human rights. But we are also standing up for girls and women, who too often in the name of religion are denied basic human rights. And we are standing up for gays and lesbians, who deserve to be treated as full human beings.”

On Monday, newly minted Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that he had decided to shelve his predecessor’s proposal to allow same-sex partners to be covered under the state’s employee health plan. The proposal had been developed by outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine weeks before the god-fearing McDonnell took over the reins of the Old Dominion State. It would have expanded benefits to qualified adults — straight and gay partners, roommates, caregivers, children and other family members — who live in the same house as an insured state employee.

The following day, in neighboring D.C., Republican Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah and eight other GOP senators introduced legislation that would require the District to subject marriage equality to a referendum before issuing marriage licenses to lesbian and gay couples next month. In response, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said that the Republicans are “disregarding the most basic of American self-government principles.” She argued that “marriage is a fundamental state’s right in the District as elsewhere in America, not a political football to be used or abused to score points back home at the expense of the people of the District, and of democratic principles.”

And while many of us were riveted on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” hearing, the U.S. Tax Court quietly issued a long-awaited decision in a case that has very positive consequences for transgender people. In O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the court ruled that treatment for gender identity disorder qualifies as medical care under the Internal Revenue Code, and that medical treatments for GID, including surgery and hormone therapy, are therefore deductible.

Karen Loewy of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which represented the plaintiff, celebrated the verdict.

“This decision treats Rhiannon O’Donnabhain the way she deserves to be treated — like any hard-working American taxpayer with medical expenses.” She pointed out that “this has been a no-brainer. Every mainstream medical authority from the American Psychiatric Association to the National Institutes of Health recognizes the legitimacy of providing medical care for transgender people. Dismissing these medical expenses as illegitimate and not deductible was discrimination, pure and simple.”

On Wednesday, Maryland lawmakers rejected an effort by their own to prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex marriages lawfully performed elsewhere. Del. Emmett Burns Jr., a Democrat and minister, had proposed the bill as a pre-emptive strike against an anticipated legal opinion the state’s attorney general has been working on. It has been predicted that the attorney general will allow same-sex marriages to be recognized in Maryland, following the state’s legal tradition of recognizing unions, including common-law marriages, which are illegal in Maryland but lawful elsewhere. Same-sex marriage is still not legal in the state.

Finally this week, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans activists and straight allies gather in Dallas for Creating Change 2010, the National Conference on LGBT Equality organized by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. In attendance are young and old activists and advocates, organizers and activists of color, public officials and other LGBT leaders. Its primary goal is “to build our movement’s political power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full equality, social justice and dignity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States.”

Unlike McCain and his friends, these people are not wealthy, privileged and powerful men cocooned in Washington, shaking their fists against welcome change. These ordinary Americans are acting with more wisdom, courage and integrity than the senators, leading the way to our shared future in which the next generation of conservatives, liberals and independents will wonder what the fuss was all about.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

Rewind: Week of Jan. 29

Also posted on DC Agenda

The only thing new in President Obama’s mention of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during his State of the Union address was the phrase “this year.”

Although it is always helpful when the president uses the word “gay,” especially when stressing the equality of all citizens, it is not as helpful to keep on promising the repeal of a discriminatory law without saying or committing much else. Having surrogates — like Valerie Jarrett — try to assure us without giving any details does not foster much confidence, either.

Considering the ambitious agenda Obama intends to keep, his depleted political capital, the resurgence of GOP confidence, strident opposition from the Pentagon, and the reality that members of Congress have already “run for the hills” in anticipation of the November elections, will “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” be repealed this year? Will skittish and self-serving politicians do the right thing and finally permit “gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are”?

And if the antiquated and disproven law were to survive another year, will Obama sign an executive order banning any further discharges of out lesbian and gay soldiers?

In related news, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law released a report Tuesday that increased the estimated number of gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals serving in the military to 66,000. The study also calculates that about 13,000 of these brave Americans are on active duty while the remaining 53,000 gay and bisexual women and men serve in the National Guard and reserves.

Wednesday was quite eventful. In Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) introduced an historic piece of legislation, H.R. 4350, the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which seeks to protect LGBT students. The bill establishes a comprehensive federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill debuted with 60 co-sponsors.

While Polis was working for equality, his colleague, U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), introduced a disapproval resolution to block the District’s marriage equality law, even though he admits that the motion is almost certain to fail. Chaffetz clearly had nothing better to do than indulge his homophobia and bigotry. In response, House Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) issued a statement saying she had received assurance from Democratic leaders that the House will ignore the conservative congressman’s useless resolution.

Meanwhile, in California, testimony in the federal Proposition 8 trial ended and the presiding judge, Vaughn Walker, could rule as soon as March. Whatever his decision, it will most likely be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals and all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Internationally, Moscow’s mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, vowed Monday to once again prevent this year’s gay pride parade, which he considers “satanic.”

“We haven’t permitted such a parade and we won’t permit it in the future,” he said. “It’s high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about human rights, and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law.”

The LGBT community plans on marching nonetheless, even though they had been harassed and dispersed during previous attempts.

On Wednesday, Mexico City’s lesbians and gays got the bad news that Mexican federal prosecutors will try to overturn the city’s same-sex marriage law. The federal Attorney General’s office issued a statement that says the law “violates the principle of legality, because it strays from the constitutional principle of protecting the family.”

In contrast, the United Kingdom’s LGBT community got props from the nation’s conservative leader, David Cameron. At a recent meeting on education, the Tory head said that schoolchildren should be taught about gay relationships and equality.

“We do need good sex and relationship education. That education should teach people about equality, that we treat people the same whether they are gay or straight. I think that is really important that we embed that in the ethos of our education.” Cameron added, “Should we teach children about relationships? Yes we should. Should we teach them about the importance of equality, whether you’re heterosexual or homosexual? Yes we should.”

Perhaps American conservatives should listen and learn from their British counterparts and finally uphold the American ideal of equality for all its citizens. After all, more and more of their ranks — young and old — are starting to see lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as equals worthy of respect and the most basic of rights.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

Importing hate

Originally posted on DC Agenda

Immigrant congregations are indispensable to the integration of newcomers. However, they can also import prejudice and breed hatred.

While studying community-based organizations founded by and for immigrant groups, I learned how crucial these non-profits are to incorporating newcomers into the American mainstream. Congregations such as churches and mosques are especially helpful for individuals and families that have just arrived. As I wrote in a report for the Urban Institute:

Congregations are often the first and main points of contact for newcomers. They provide a ready-made community with shared religion, language, culture, and norms. Religious community leaders are often keenly aware of newcomers’ needs. They often provide direct services or educate individuals and families about how and where to find help. In this safe environment, immigrants learn from their compatriots about American life and ease into it.

Unfortunately, some of these congregations also import religious beliefs and cultural traditions that clash with the secular and pluralist character of America. This conflict was on display last week during the federal Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco. The plaintiffs presented videotapes of Hak-Shing Tam, a 55-year-old immigrant from Hong Kong and one of the main progenitors of the referendum that ended same-sex marriage in California.

The New York Times reported that Tam is one of the most respected and heeded leaders of the “burgeoning world of evangelical Chinese Christianity in the Bay Area.” The proponents of marriage equality chose Tam to prove their central argument that Proposition 8 came out of hate for a minority. Ironically, the prejudice and bigotry of one minority — fundamentalist Christian Chinese — targeted another minority: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

An example of this prejudice can be drawn from a 2008 Chinese-language essay that Tam distributed online, which includes this passage:

In a macro environment in which homosexuality is gradually accepted as being normal, child molesting by gays is gradually being viewed as normal in academia. Children who were subjected to sexual abuse only know to socialize with other men through sex. When they grow up, they would do the same to other children by molesting children of the same sex. Therefore, gay people grow in numbers even as most of them do not have children of their own.

In a Chinese-language letter that Tam disseminated among Chinese Christian churches in the Bay Area, he warned of a “gay agenda” and some inevitable legalization of prostitution and pedophilia if Prop 8 failed. All of Tam’s assertions are patently false and designed to incite discrimination and action against the LGBT community.

In a follow-up article, the Times reporter muses:

It was fascinating to realize that same-sex marriage, and the successful campaign to ban it was really the first political issue to galvanize this community. It has been rapidly — and quietly — growing for two decades but only recently tried its hand at political action.

The Bay Area’s Chinese Christians are overwhelmingly evangelical, especially in the South Bay, although there is smattering of main-line Protestants and Catholics as well in San Francisco. Evangelical Chinese Christians were one of the region’s most vocal and well-organized groups supporting Proposition 8, the ballot measure banning same-sex marriage, which voters approved in 2008.

It is safe to say that most of these Evangelical Chinese agree with Tam’s warped sense of reality because of their religious belief system, cultural traditions and general conservative bent.

This is not to say that all faithful immigrants are like Tam and his coreligionists. Neither am I advocating for newcomers to leave their religions, cultures and traditions at the border. After all, this is a nation of immigrants and they should always be welcome along with the energy, determination, talent, optimism and hope they bring into their adopted country.

However, people who choose to come to the United States also should be willing to live in a society that embraces many different kinds of people who do not necessarily share the same beliefs, customs and traditions. Newcomers need to respect and at the very least tolerate others just as they should be respected and at the very least tolerated. Immigrants have to learn and imbibe the American ideals of freedom and equality.

Ours is a liberal democracy, not a theocracy.

You can follow Erwin on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon

Rewind: Week of Jan. 22

Originally posted on DC Agenda

The loss of Edward Kennedy’s U.S. senate seat to a Republican and the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down elements of campaign-finance law have caused much anxiety for the Obama administration, Democrats and progressives in general. But does the LGBT community need to worry?

On Tuesday, Massachusetts state Sen. Scott Brown defeated state Attorney General Martha Coakley to become the 41st GOP member of the U.S. Senate, ending the Democratic “filibuster-proof” majority and putting the brakes on the administration’s agenda, particularly health care reform. And yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations, unions and similar entities can spend as much as they want in advertisements supporting or opposing federal political candidates, giving an outrageous advantage to pols backed by firms with very deep pockets.

For the LGBT movement, these developments may not necessarily be bad. In the first place, the Democratic majority has shown meager enthusiasm for our civil rights and was not likely to act on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act anytime soon. And as for senator-elect Brown, he shares the fierce advocate’s anti-gay-marriage-but-pro-civil-unions stance. The former Cosmo centerfold is also indebted to independent voters who tend not be rabid conservatives when it comes to social issues. Most of all, President Obama, Brown and other elected officials will have bigger things in their mind than fighting for or against our rights: pressing issues such as health care reform, major unemployment, wars, and the elections in November.

Moreover, the Supreme Court’s ruling which permits corporations and the like to spend as much as they want on advertising for or against a candidate presents us with an excellent opportunity for our gay dollars to work. A pro-LGBT entity or one owned by an LGBT individual can back politicians committed to equal rights or oppose those who want to perpetuate our second-class status. Going forward, this approach should be folded into a strategy which includes supporting pro-LGBT candidates of all parties, reaching out to communities that do not support us, and aiming for victories at the local and state levels.

These incremental gains can take the form of small steps toward the right direction, such as the one taken by South Miami city commissioners when they voted Tuesday to allow city employees’ domestic partners, both straight and gay, to enjoy the same benefits and rights an employee’s spouse would get, including hospital visitation rights and health care coverage.

Getting pro-LGBT politicians into all levels of government is crucial to furthering the cause and can guarantee victories in legislative initiatives such as those happening this morning in Hawaii’s state Senate. A vote on a bill that would allow same-sex and different-sex couples to enter into civil unions has been scheduled. If the bill is approved, it would move back to the state House, where lawmakers passed a civil-unions bill during their last session. Having elected officials committed to equality will also hinder actions such as the one made by an Indiana state senate committee last Wednesday which endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

In other news, the Obama Justice Department finally intervened in a gay rights suit last Friday by filing a motion in support of an openly gay student’s lawsuit against his school district in upstate New York. School officials did not appropriately respond to abuse the 14 year old suffered because of his sexual orientation. In its motion, the Justice Department argued that school district officials also violated the Equal Protection Clause.

Today, Stars and Stripes, a military community news source, reports that Department of Defense schools will now recognize same-sex relationships when transferring overseas teachers to new assignments. This means that lesbian and gay teachers in domestic partnerships with other teachers must be given the same consideration their married heterosexual colleagues receive when requesting to be transferred to new jobs in the same area.

Internationally, the United Nations called on Uganda to abandon its Kill-the-Gays bill. On Friday, Navi Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights, called the proposed legislation “draconian” and “blatantly discriminatory.” Pillay reminded Uganda of its human rights obligations, warning that the bill would “seriously damage the country’s reputation in the international arena.”

On Wednesday, a dozen Democratic U.S. senators also sent a letter to Uganda’s president urging Musseveni to block enactment of the pending bill. The letter says, “This troubling legislation would sanction prejudice toward people in Uganda based solely on sexual orientation, or even HIV status. This is in great contrast to trends toward greater tolerance in the global community. By creating harsh penalties for homosexuality, this bill not only codifies prejudice, but could also foster an increase in violence towards people simply based on sexual orientation … this proposed legislation will be a glaring setback in Uganda’s human rights standing. Unfortunately, even the mere threat of the new and severe penalties for homosexual behavior suggested in this bill, including life imprisonment and the death penalty, could easily add to an already intolerant atmosphere in Uganda based on sexual orientation.“

Meanwhile, Malawian officials express no regret for their continued oppression of LGBT individuals. In a statement released Monday, Malawi’s information minister, Leckford Mwanza Thoto, was unapologetic about laws that criminalize homosexuality. Referring to a gay couple that held a marriage ceremony, Thoto said they were “clearly breaking the laws of Malawi.” He also defiantly added, “We depend on our Western friends, yes, but we are a sovereign country.”

Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people likewise persist in Russia. On Tuesday, a Moscow court rejected a lesbian couple’s appeal against an earlier ruling upholding a registry office’s refusal to register their marriage. The lawyer for the two women anticipated the ruling but is not giving up.

There were bright spots, however. On Tuesday, the daughter of Cuba’s president said that the communist state has been performing state-sponsored gender reassignment operations since 2008, a year after the government lifted a longtime ban on the procedure. Mariela Castro is a sexologist and gay-rights advocate and runs the Center for Sex Education, which prepares trans people for the procedures.

And finally in the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party will release its election manifesto today which contains a “cast-iron pledge” to give financial benefits to same-sex and different-sex couples who stay together. It says: “We will recognize marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system in the next parliament. We are one of the very few countries in the western world that doesn’t do so and we will put that right. This will send an important signal that we value the commitment that people make when they get married.”

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon

Helping Haiti

Originally posted on DC Agenda

The breathtaking tragedy in Haiti put things in perspective.

As images of fallen buildings, dead bodies and wailing wounded streamed in, I found it difficult to write — even about the groundbreaking Proposition 8 trial in California. Seeing such devastation took my focus away from my own worries. Our community’s very real struggle seemed not as important.

Like many others, I teared up, thought about what I could do to help, and did what I can. I was elated to find out that the LGBT community has mobilized to help. The Rainbow World Fund, the world’s only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender driven international humanitarian aid charity, offered a giving alternative that promised to get the funds to those who need it through groups that do not exclude LGBT individuals or discriminate against anyone. The relief agency has been in Haiti since its founding in 2004 and has improved the lives of thousands in the impoverished nation by supporting projects that improve nutrition and develop safe drinking water access. The organization’s disaster relief partner, CARE, has been on the ground since last week, providing emergency food, safe water, plastic for shelters, blankets and basic medicines.

The owners of LGBT cruise companies Atlantis, Olivia and RSVP also have teamed with community activists in a coordinated effort to raise money which will be channeled through the Red Cross.

Haiti has been a regular destination for gay-themed cruises. Judy Dlugacz, the president of Olivia Companies, a lesbian-oriented vacation company, said that “so many of our passengers have been touched by the destruction and poverty in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. It is important that as LGBT Americans, we come together to show our community’s solidarity and support for those living through this unimaginable disaster.” Rich Campbell, the CEO of Atlantis Events, agreed, saying “now is the time for us to lend our gay dollars to a compelling human tragedy that knows no gender or sexual orientation.”

Claire Lucas, a community activist and political fundraiser, also is raising awareness within the LGBT community. She said “the symbolism of a unified, community-based financial response is important” and that it “represents a fitting effort to reach beyond our borders with a message of hope and goodwill from LGBT Americans.”

Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equity, added that “too often the LGBT community in the United States is portrayed as inwardly focused and unattached to the larger suffering beyond our borders, but we know that to be untrue, and as we watch the devastation in Haiti today, we can also send a message about our community’s larger concern for human suffering.”

In spite of our status as second-class citizens, we do have it much better than others across the world who live on less than $2 a day and are set back all the more after calamities. I’d like to think that our own marginalization and disadvantage — though not as urgent as the dire needs of Port Au Prince survivors — allow us to empathize with the images we see flashed on front pages, cable news and streaming videos.

The humanitarian crisis in Haiti allows us to show the world that we do care and that we do what we can as part of the community. Let’s take this moment to help.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon

Photo from Mirror.co.uk

Double Jeopardy

The many layered discrimination suffered by LGBT of color was in full display yesterday at the Prop 8 trial. The New York Times reports on the deposition of Helen Zia, a noted journalist, author, scholar and activist:

...her testimony was striking. There was a noticeable undercurrent of race that coursed through these moments in the proceedings, as a Chinese-American witness, prompted by an Asian-American lawyer, described a tableau of fear and hostility that she she said had faced as a lesbian. The testimony was a not-so-subtle reminder of the letter that Hak-Shing William Tam, a Chinese-American opponent of same-sex marriage, had sent to the Asian-American community in the Bay Area during the Proposition 8 campaign.

The letter was the centerpiece of a riveting moment Wednesday, when Mr. Tam was shown in a video discussing how he found evidence of a “gay agenda” on Google that indicated that gays and lesbians intended to legalize prostitution and sex with children after winning the gay marriage fight. The plaintiffs say the Fremont resident has distributed those views through a letter to the Asian Americans.

Ms. Zia vividly discussed her own experience working as a community organizer, when Asian and black leaders confronted her with the question of her sexual orientation, saying “it would be really terrible to have somebody who was homosexual to be working with us,” she said.

She denied that she was lesbian, and then “stepped into the closet and slammed the door.”

Her experience, sadly, is not unique.

You can follow me on Twitter @ErwindeLeon