Anonymous Posts (10.17.11-10.23.11)

Every week, we collect anonymous entries sent in using the link on our sidebar and post them all on Monday. We post anything as long as it doesn't contain personal attacks, hate speech, or express or insinuate that one is at risk for hurting themselves or someone else. Please read this for an explanation of this policy and seek help if your or a friend find yourself in that position. With those exceptions aside, please feel free to submit your thoughts and questions. :)

Wazzzuuuppp, readers!?

I hope a ton of you were able to make it to the faculty/staff student reception on Friday! I was in DC doing research for my thesis and sadly was unable to attend. BUT, while in DC I was able to get to the new MLK Memorial, which was pretty sweet. I was sad to see that my favorite quote did not make the cut ("Our lives [woo! BDU BLOG! ha, jk] begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."), but there was something really special about seeing a ton of five year old Black children running around, smiling, and posing with the statue.

Other noteworthy things: Huffington Post celebrated "Ally Week" this past week, and featured a column by the founder of Athlete Ally. Elsewhere, the founder of Outsports commented on Rick Welts' (newly out, former Phoenix Suns President) hiring.

Even more noteworthy...Anonymous Posts below!

#1
I hate how cynical I have become about possible hate crimes such as the one at the NCSU GLBT-CA Center. The hoax this spring at UNC and this past summer at Iowa are two examples that have made it harder to instantly believe any new event that comes up. What is the best way to show solidarity and support while the facts are not yet known?


#2
In all the discussion following the repeal of DADT, I somehow completely forgot about this article, which I've always found fun: "Why Gays (as a group) are morally superior to Christians (as a group)" by Stanley Hauerwas. It can be found in the Hauerwas reader pg 519-522. Duke readers go here and type "519" in the upper right corner. Non Duke readers you can get part of, or the full essay, here, depending on how merciful Googlebooks feels like being at the time. It's a slightly satirical treatment of the discussion, especially directed against the Conservative Christian groups. It was written in 1993 by Stanley Hauerwas, a renowned theologian who currently teaches at Duke Divinity School. Perhaps it's a bit dated, but it certainly is thought provoking. The first part is probably the most pertinent to general readers of this blog; the second part tends to be of interest to Christians in particular. Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there for those who wanted a bit of a different perspective on DADT, and my personal opinion is that some of the general critiques Hauerwas touches on would be just as pertinent to Prop 8 and the North Carolina referendum coming up.
Shane

#3
A while ago someone wrote a blog post about coming out to god. This post really resonated with me because I am a questioning Christian mainly held back by the fact that God might not approve of homosexuality. The author of the entry seems pretty confidant that gay is ok...and so was I until I read 1 Corinthians 6:9. Now, I want to make it very clear I am not attacking anyone. I would just like to know how one could explain this verse and come to the decision that its ok for Christians to be gay. I just want to know so I can be myself (lately I've been stepping further and further out of the closet but also feel that God may be punishing me for it as my life has been significantly rougher recently) or come to terms with the fact that I might just have to stay single for life.



Please remember that there are a number of resources available on campus and in the local community. These resources are available over breaks and throughout the school year. If you or a friend are experiencing thoughts or urges to harm yourself or somebody else, please reach out to the following resources: In an emergency, please don't hesitate to call CAPS at any time, including "after hours" at (919) 966-3820. Ask to speak to the advice nurse and tell them you are a Duke student. You may also call the Trevor Project, a national hotline specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning youth (college students included). Their number is 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386).

Today, I'm Silent for My Uncle Malcolm

I wasn’t able to get my picture taken for this year’s Day of Silence, which is unfortunate, because I’d already decided on what my poster would say this year: “Today, I’m silent for my Uncle Malcolm.”

I’m silent to honor the memory of my Uncle Malcolm, a memory which has largely been intentionally forgotten and almost erased from my family’s history.

When well-intentioned people criticize the Day of Silence as being unproductive, I think they are taking the “silence” thing too literally. As I wrote last year, today is not really a day of silence. More accurately, it is a day of not talking. For exactly this reason I write this blog post to protest the silence of my family.

My mom was the first one who told me that I had an uncle who’d been murdered for being gay. I was in middle school then and she told me everything she remembered ever overhearing about it, after all, the adults never spoke about it in front of her. Just about everything else I know, I know from my mom’s first cousin. There is a lot that my cousin still does not know, while other details deceive her memory. What remains is the story I’ll tell here.

Sometime before Stonewall (1969), my grandfather and his older brother traveled from Philadelphia to New York City, where they identified Malcolm’s body at the morgue. Days before, my Uncle Malcolm had been beaten and murdered by two teenaged guys. Malcolm loved to cook. He and the two people who killed him had met at a bar, before going back to his apartment so Malcolm could cook for them. What transpired after that, I don’t know, except that he was naked when they found his body and that he’d been beaten so badly that his body was barely recognizable.

By all accounts, Malcolm lived a bohemian kind of high life and sought to enjoy every day. He was a successful advertising executive (Mad Men, anyone?) and spent a few years living in Japan. He sometimes brought a girl, Cookie, to family functions; she was a lesbian. I’m also told that Malcolm was handsome, had “smiley eyes,” and didn’t like to be interrupted. Born as Malcolm Goldberg, he sought to honor his ancestors by legally changing his last name to “Gurbarg,” the name his mother brought to the states with her before it was changed at Ellis Island.

Unfortunately, while that may be all I ever know about him, it’s only half of the story. Malcolm led a double life for the 40 years that he lived. Before his murder, nobody in my family except Malcolm’s mother knew that he was gay.

The men who so tragically interrupted Malcolm’s life were convicted, though apparently no one from my family went to the trial (which really irks me).

Today, Malcolm, I honor and remember you. With my silence, nobody can interrupt me. And with this blog, your story will no longer go untold.

Across the Atlantic

Thursday, I saw news of this:

On January 26, 2011 a Ugandan gay rights activist was beaten to death near his home.

It took me back to 2009, when Rachel Maddow completely destroy Richard Cohen on her show (which can be found here). He was the man who was lobbying anti-homosexual sentiments to the Ugandan government through a book he wrote—the government was very close to passing a bill that would’ve led many homosexual Ugandans to their deaths.

Africa, as a whole, is not known to be the most gay-friendly continent. I will confidently say that if you’re gay in certain parts of Africa, your life is in danger.

Approximately 3200 miles west of Uganda is a small West African country that I happen to have direct ties to; Sierra Leone. My parents and family hail from this country that is rich in culture and varying social dynamics.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country also has one of the lowest life expectancies and literacy rates in the world. To counter these “underdeveloped country traits”, Sierra Leone is ranked as the most generous country in Africa and ranks amongst the top 12 most generous in the world—which is saying a lot for a country that suffered civil war during the turn of the century and is still recovering from the widespread death and destruction. I’m sure many of you have seen the film “Blood Diamond”.

The previous paragraph (sorry about the social studies lesson there!) was to give you a bit of info on the country that I claim as my second home. Needless to say, it’s very different from the US.

Every now and then, I allow myself to wonder what it’d be like if my parents hadn’t immigrated to the US. I allow myself to imagine who I’d be and where I’d be, if I had been born in Sierra Leone. I would’ve grown up, attending all girls’ Catholic schools in Freetown, having my uniforms sown before school started in the late summer. My skin would be darker, my body thinner, and my accent thicker. I probably would’ve had more siblings and I certainly wouldn’t be at Duke—I’d be attending the local Fourah Bay College.

I would also be hiding my sexuality. Despite the fact that the life imprisonment sentence is only for homosexual males, it would still be unsafe for me as a queer woman. There is no legal protection against discrimination, hate crimes go unpunished, and the general public lacks tolerance, acceptance, and/or understanding.

In October of 2004, the founder of the Sierra Leone Gay and Lesbian Association, was found raped and murdered in her office. Since then, the organization has been renamed the Dignity Association—this association has struggled with government support, was refused NGO renewal by the government, and has had fairly low membership (120 people as of 2007).

Living in America, despite the fact the LGBT community here has had so many set backs and so many struggles, I do appreciate how open I may be about my sexuality. My sexuality had always been a difficult thing for me to accept, as a first generation American in my family, and I’m sure that it factors into the somewhat strained relationship I have with my parents. Where they’re from, homosexuality is regarded as one of the worst things you can do (I’m not saying top 10, but it’s up there), and I can see how hard it is for them to shed their old views and assimilate into “American” culture. My parents are tolerant, but not entirely accepting (as I’ll explain in my “coming out story” post, whenever I get around to doing it…)

I’ll end this post here with the hope that there is some discussion of culture and sexuality, especially in the immigrant (1st, 2nd, etc. generation American) population, especially with all the race-talk on the blog recently (because, experiences differ not only for different people, but for different types of people). How much do you think culture or environment affects openness about sexual orientation?

Womyn Wednesday!

[WOMYN magazine is excited to announce that we will be featuring polls from our community in the magazine! We want to hear what you have to say about LGBTQ issues, queer women and Duke! The general goal of WOMYN magazine is to increase the visibility of queer women on this campus.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's poll. The responses were great, and if you haven't voted yet you still can.

This week's WOMYN poll is:

"What is the most important LGBT rights legislation that has yet to be passed (or repealed)?"

Click here to vote!

This week we want to focus on the political legislation that many LGBT activists are currently fighting for all around the country. Most recently, the Matthew Shepard Act was passed and signed into law by President Obama in October 2009. Not only was the Matthew Shepard Act the first federal legislation to create federal protections for transgender individuals, but it also removed a past requirement that mandated that the victim of a hate crime had to be involved in a federal activity, such as voting or attending school.

The Matthew Shepard Act made crimes motivated by gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability fall under the umbrella of the federal hate-crime law of 1969. The experiences and statistics of LGBT individuals, especially LGBT youth, show that this legislation is an important necessity for the safety of our community.

What other legislation(s) do you consider the most important for our LGBT community today?

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Want to see the results of this week's poll? Pick up a copy of the WOMYN magazine in late Fall when it hits the newsstands!

Have an idea for next week's poll? Let us know, or email us to guest write it!

Want to submit to WOMYN magazine? Click here to look at some ideas of what to submit. (The submission deadline is September 15th.) Check out our website for more information on how to submit, and feel free to email us with any questions you might have: womynatduke@gmail.com.

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Reports of anti-gay or religious-based hate crimes rise in US in 2008; more agencies tracking: Reports of hate crimes against gays and religious groups increased sharply in the U.S. in 2008, according to new FBI data released Monday.

Overall, the number of reported hate crimes increased about 2 percent. These same figures show a nearly 11 percent increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation, and a nearly 9 percent increase in hate crimes based on religion.