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Georgia Lesbian Mom Wins Appeal, Will Not Be Jailed

The Amercian Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced yesterday that the Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of one lesbian mom, who had volunteered to adopt and care for a seven-year-old girl, at the request of (and with the permission of) the girl’s biological mother. Elizabeth Hadaway was convicted of criminal contempt of court in 2007 for not handing her daughter over to foster care after she lost custody solely because she’s a lesbian. A year and one day after a county court judge sentenced Hadaway to 10 days in jail, the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned her contempt conviction, which had been staid pending appeal, yesterday. The ACLU represented Hardaway in the appeal and secured the little girl’s return home from foster care last May.”Just yesterday I was watching Emma hunt for Easter eggs and thinking how the possibility of going to jail and being separated from her again made it hard to just enjoy the moment,” Hadaway said in an ACLU press release. “I’m just so grateful that the court has lifted this burden so we can move on and I can keep focused on making sure Emma has a happy home and a good life.”

Hadaway’s legal problems began in 2006, when a Wilkinson County Superior Court judge was on the verge of granting her request to permanently adopt Emma when he noticed in a home study that Hadaway was living with her female partner of seven years. The judge abruptly changed his mind solely because Hadaway is a lesbian. Although Emma’s biological mother told the court that she wanted the child to be raised and adopted by Hadaway, the judge denied the adoption and ordered that Emma be sent back to her biological mother. Hadaway met with the biological mother, who is a truck driver struggling to care for her daughter, at a truck stop to hand over the girl. After accepting custody, thus satisfying the court order, the biological mother saw how distraught Emma was at being taken from Hadaway and again insisted that Hadaway should raise the girl. Because Hadaway took Emma back, the Wilkinson County judge then ordered that Emma be sent to live in a foster home and sentenced Hadaway and her attorney to 10 days in jail for contempt of court. Wilkinson County is in middle Georgia, between Macon and Milledgeville.

Emma was eventually returned to Hadaway’s care last May after an expert commissioned by Wilkinson County Department of Children and Family Services found that the little girl was experiencing emotional trauma because of the separation from Hadaway. A judge in another Georgia county then granted Hadaway permanent custody. The Department of Family and Children Services let Emma return home. The ACLU describes the three months of foster care as an experience in which Emma’s “welfare was seriously compromised.”

“We’re pleased that the court has agreed with us that Elizabeth Hadaway shouldn’t do jail time simply for doing the right thing for her child, but it’s unfortunate that it’s taken almost two years of court proceedings to end up with things where Elizabeth, Emma, and Emma’s biological mom wanted them to be in the first place,” said Debbie Seagraves, Executive Director of the ACLU of Georgia. “Elizabeth Hadaway did everything the judge ordered her to do, and she should never have been punished.”

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Girls Gone Pride Resurrects Atlanta Lesbian Nightlife

Those Girls Gone Pride have gone and done it again. The party promoter’s Resurrection Party last night at My Sister’s Room in East Atlanta brought out several hundred women for dancing, beer pong, a wet t-shirt contest and more. Holding a party on Good Friday took a fair amount of faith, but Girls Gone Pride proved they can draw a crowd despite traditional family holidays, even despite Jesus. A standing-room-only crowd danced to the combined mixes of DJ Yvonne Monet and DJ Duck. Red and green glow bracelets were available to announce one’s availability, even flashing devil’s horns for those who felt particularly less-than-holier-than-thou. It was both a Good Friday and a Wanna-be-bad Friday.

If you have never attended a Girls Gone Pride event, it is highly recommended. Girls Gone Pride Chief Partier Bird told me that the team will be up to some new tricks, just in time for the delayed Atlanta Pride celebration this July. A new Website is under development, and more parties in the planning. Stay tuned to Life on Q. We’ll let you know where you can go get pride, and girls, as soon as we do.

Storms Give Atlantans Reason to Beware the Ides of March

The last 24 hours have given Atlantans good reason to beware the Ides of March. It was quite a surreal night and day from my vantage point in Grant Park, just a half mile or so south of the Cabbagetown neighborhood (on local and national TV news continuously since last last night), and about a mile or so from CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park. Thanks to Tivo, I was not watching live TV last night, and was oblivious to any approaching storm. There was lightening far in the distance, but nothing that seemed at all alarming. Then, suddenly, it was chaos all around me. The power was flickering on and off in rapid bursts. The lightening was suddenly very strong and very close. I ran upstairs to shut down my computer and grab my weather radio. Looking outside, I saw neighbors run from their car in a torrential rain. I stepped outside and asked, “Are there tornado warnings or anything?” No one knew anything. The rain became horizontal, and wind was swirling in dramatically different directions, turning instantly. I saw nothing other than swaying trees and rain, but the sound took me several seconds to process. It was a very strange moment, followed by many similar moments throughout the day today.

More storms hit Georgia this afternoon, with many likely tornados north of the city. Another, smaller tornado as spotted just south of here, adding to already frayed nerves. Huddled in my bathroom with two dogs and one cat (with another cat M.I.A.), I listened to the wind whip around the house, and hail hitting the windows. After the storms began to calm, I took the short walk up toward Cabbagetown, and was stunned to see how extensive the damage truly is, with so many homes badly damaged in addition to the lofts. Sadly, dozens of large trees were knocked over, or had their tops twisted off, in historic Oakland cemetery. I took a few photos, and I’ve included a few in this post.  You can also see a slideshow here. We were lucky in Grant Park, where barely a limb seems to have fallen in my immediate area. Our neighbors just across I-20 in Cabbagetown were not so lucky.

No Lesbian Pagans Allowed in Isreal

The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports that Starhawk, a prominent American pagan, feminist, environmentalist and lesbian, was deported from Isreal today. She had traveled to the Middle East on March 12 to teach a course on permaculture in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian area, and to work with earth activists to develop a project in the Bethlehem area.

According to Wikipedia, permaculture is formally defined by a set of ecological values as they relate to human communities:

• Earthcare – recognizing that the Earth is the source of all life (and is possibly itself a living entity- see Gaia theory) and that we recognize and respect that the Earth is our valuable home and we are a part of the Earth, not apart from it.
• Peoplecare – supporting and helping each other to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves or the planet, and to develop healthy societies.
• Fairshare (or placing limits on consumption) - ensuring that the Earth’s limited resources are utilised in ways that are equitable and wise.

In the IMEMC article, British psychologist Dr. Joanne Taylor, said of the deportation that “clearly the Israeli authorities are paranoid even about letting people grow crops and conserve rainwater on their own land.”

Or perhaps the presence of a queer wiccan was just too spooky.  Apparently Starhawk didn’t make it to the temple.  She was too busy practicing witchcraft and being a lesbian.

Starhawk is well-known as a global justice activist and organizer. She is the author or coauthor of ten books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, in continuous publication for more than 25 years and long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement. Her first novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, won the Lambda award for best Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction in 1994. Her newest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature.

UPS Delivers Inclusion to the LGBT Community

What can brown do for queers? Atlanta’s own UPS announced today that it has added lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-owned businesses to its supplier diversity process. As an added bonus, LGBT-owned businesses can also take advantage of discounted shipping services. The package delivery giant made the move in partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). The company’s supplier diversity process was started in 1992 in an effort to expand business opportunities for small businesses and those owned by minorities, women, veterans and now lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

“Partnering with the NGLCC not only helps LGBT businesses grow by conducting business with UPS, but we also gain access to excellent suppliers,” said Lisa Johnson, UPS’s procurement and supplier diversity manager, in a company press release. “Expanding our process to include LGBT-owned businesses reinforces our commitment to supplier diversity.”

To participate in UPS’s supplier diversity process, queer-owned businesses must be certified by the NGLCC.  The NGLCC is the largest LGBT business development and economic advocacy organization in the country, with an affiliate network of 45 state and local gay chambers and other business organizations. The NGLCC estimates that there are an estimated 1.4 million LGBT-owned businesses in the United States.

UPS also delivers equality to its queer employees. The company received a top rating of 100 percent, the highest in its industry, from the Human Rights Campaign’s 2008 Corporate Equality Index, which measures how LGBT employees are treated based on factors such as non-discrimination policies, diversity training, and benefits for domestic partners and transgender employees.

LGBT-owned companies interested in obtaining NGLCC certification can begin the process at www.nglcc.org. There’s more information about UPS’s supplier diversity process at community.ups.com.

Ga. Legislature to Vote on Bullying Bill

Georgia Equality has issued an alert urging the LGBT community to call your state senator and urge him or her to vote “yes” on an anti-bullying bill, scheduled for a vote today. SB 461 would amend current law to strengthen schools’ efforts to stop bullying. Introduced, ironically, by a decidedly right-wing Republican, the bill changes the definition of bullying in schools from “student” to “person” and would include non-physical threats as a form of bullying. Senator Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) told Southern Voice that he introduced the bill in response to an bullying incident in his district.

Sen. Rogers is best known for his crusade against illegal immigration and allegations of campaign sign-stealing during his re-election campaign. The anti-bullying bill is co-sponsored by another Republican, Senator Judson Hill (R-Marietta), a decidedly conservative politician who campaigned as “pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.” His positions are obviously anti-gay, but his cosponsorship could inadvertantly protect LGBT students from harrassment and violent attacks in Georgia schools.

In light of the recent murder of California junior high school student Lawrence King, shot in the face by a fellow student because he was gay, the anti-bullying bill is particularly timely. Call your state senator now and urge them to support SB 461. To find your senator, visit votesmart.org.

You Too Can Join the Sit-in Against Hate Crime on YouTube

YouTube users are posting videos in honor of 15-year-old hate crime victim Larry King in hopes of raising awareness of homophobia.  The continuous stream of videos includes video blogs, a message from Lizzy the Lezzy and Gary the Gay, a clip of Ellen Degeneres discussing the incident on her show, and many more.  By viewing the stream, users help keep the tribute at the top of YouTube’s list.  At this writing, the stream has been at the top of the list for more than 24 hours.   You can also post your own tribute and chat with other viewers.

With the attention YouTube gets from other media, perhaps this gimmick will finally prompt news organizations to pay more attention to victims of homophobia.  Even though Larry was shot at school, the incident received virtually no national news coverage.  Just a few days after he was shot, a college campus shooting was the top story nationwide.  Perhaps Larry’s death was not considered newsworthy because only one young man died.  Or perhaps it was because his skin is brown.  Or perhaps it was because he was gay.  No matter the reason, there’s no excuse for a lack of concern when a 15-year-old boy is murdered simply because he is gay.  There’s no excuse for continuing to tolerate gay-hate-baiting by our politicians and our preachers.  Ever since Karl Rove and company turned “gay marriage” into a talking point, conservative pundits, politicos and fundamentalist preachers have pulled no punches in their attempts to demonize and marginalize the queer community.  It’s time for this country to change the tone.  It’s time to return to a respect for our differences, or at least respect for human life.  It’s too late for Larry King, but outrage can be changed into action, and action against hate crime would be a welcomed change of pace.

You can learn more about Larry, see photos and videos,  and contribute to a memorial fund at his family’s tribute site at rememberlarry.com.  The YouTube streaming sit in URL is http://youtube.com/stream?s=1785069568.