2

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE January 15, 2010

•

www.GayPeoples Chronicle.com

Right wing goes crazy over Obama's TG appointee

by Anthony Glassman

Washington, D.C.-President Barack Obama's administration quietly appointed a transgender woman to an obscure post in the Department of Commerce at the end of December.

Amanda Simpson, a former test pilot, is now a senior technical adviser with the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Commerce Department.

Simpson is Obama's first openly transgender appointee, and one of the few transgendered federal appointees overall.

But perhaps just as interesting is the sturm und drang coming from religious conservatives and the rest of the far-right publicity machine.

Focus on the Family argues that Simpson was put to Obama by "a gay activist group," and that the appointment is "payback to his far-left base for their political support."

Compared with some of what's being said and written, Focus on the Family's tirade, which refers to the post as a "high level Commerce Department position," seems unusually sedate and progressive.

The Huffington Post points out that an associate dean at Liberty University, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, approves more of token hiring for African Americans than for transgender people.

"This isn't like appointing an AfricanAmerican in order to try to provide diversity and right some kind of discriminatory

Amanda Simpson

wrong," said Matt Barber of Liberty University. "This is about political correctness."

"The transgender thing doesn't play well with millions of conservative Evangelicals,"

said David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I understand President Obama wont' be after die hard conservative Evangelicals in 2012 but let's remember

that moves like this don't play well with the millions of conservative Independent voters and Catholics who will be up for grabs in 2012 as well."

Apparently, Brody believes that transgendered people should not be hired at

all.

His view, however, is far kinder than that of the American Family Association, who seems to be confused on a number of issues. "'Amanda' is a biological male in every cell of his body, and no amount of surgical mutilation is ever going to change that," said organization president Tim Wildmon. "Gender is assigned by the Creator at the moment of conception, and no healthy society should ever regard sexual mutilation, even if it's self-inflicted, as something that's normal and merits approval. But that's exactly the kind of signal the president has sent here. This appointment should be rescinded immediately."

It is not known how the AFA obtained DNA samples from Simpson to conduct genetic testing to prove that she has male chromosomes.

However, the outcry from the extreme right has made one thing very clear: Simpson's appointment obviously has nothing to do with her 30 years of experience in her field.

""

"I'm sure I will have to do and intend to do a far superior job than other any person,' Simpson said. "But I'm sure I will always be second-guessed." ✓

Former Marine held in Indiana professor's death

by Anthony Glassman

Bloomington, Ind.-A leading academic in the fields of African American and LGBT studies was murdered on December 27, and a 25-year-old Iraq War veteran is in custody for the crime.

Don Belton, 53, was stabbed to death on December 27. An assistant professor of English at Indiana University, Belton edited the anthology Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream and wrote the novel Almost Midnight.

He also wrote for Newsweek and the Advocate.

Police were called to Belton's home on December 28 when one of his colleagues found his body.

His journal led investigators to Michael J. Griffin, 25, a former Marine.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the journal mentioned "in the week prior to Christmas, 2009, that he is very happy than an individual by the name of Michael has come into his life. Additionally an item taken as evidence from the scene includes a 4 x 6 card

that had been lying by the computer keyboard which provided a phone number, an e-mail, and directions for an individual by the name of Griffin..."

In addition to the information found at Belton's house, Griffin's girlfriend called the Batesville, Indiana police department, telling them she believed her boyfriend was involved in Belton's killing.

She also knew too much, and too quickly, for her information to have come from news reports about the death. Griffin was arrested, and waived his right to remain silent, confessing that he had stabbed Belton "until he quit moving."

Griffin told police that Belton had sexually assaulted him twice on the evening of Christmas, and when he went to confront Belton two days later, "Mr. Belton was not in any way forgiving and that he did not show or express any type of feeling that what had taken place was a mistake," the affidavit reads.

He left the house and changed into clean clothes, putting his bloody

Don Belton

garments in a garbage bag and disposing of them in a trash container. When police checked it after arresting Griffin, the bin had already been picked up. Griffin is being held without bond on a charge of aggravated murder.

"Assistant Professor Don Belton was an important African-American writer specializing in fiction and nonfiction who began teaching at IU Bloomington in fall 2008," Provost Karen Hanson said in a release on Indiana University's website. "He was a generous and talented professor who had much potential. We were shocked and saddened by his death."

Jonathan Elmer, chair of the Department of English at Indiana University, added, "Don Belton's friends, colleagues and students in the English Department are shocked and terribly saddened by the news of his death. His great talents as a writer, his extraordinary generosity to his students, and his warmth of personality were gifts to us all. We will miss him terribly."

Marriage loses N.J. Senate vote; issue returns to court

by Anthony Glassman

Trenton, N.J.-A state senate vote on same-sex marriage failed on January 7, bringing only 14 of the 21 needed yeas.

Had it passed in the senate, the New Jersey General Assembly was expected to take it up quickly, to give exiting Gov. Jon Corzine a chance to sign it into law before his successor, Chris Christie, was sworn in on January 11.

Corzine supported the measure strongly, while Christie opposed and ridiculed it during the campaign before November's general election.

"Most assuredly, this is an issue of civil rights and civil liberties, the foundation of

GayPeoplesChronicle.com

our state and federal constitutions," Corzine said in a statement. "Denying any group of people a fundamental human right because

Former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine strongly supported the marriage bill, but his successor Chris Christie opposed it.

of who they are, or whom they love, is wrong, plain and simple."

Proponents of the bill believe that Christie's victory in the election put a pall over the legislation, indicating to some state senators that the voters wanted a stricter focus on economic issues instead of social ones.

Despite the legislative loss, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund immediately said that it would take the issue back to the courts, which ruled in favor of equal rights for same-sex couples in 2006, although the ruling did not specifically require the institution of full same-sex marriage. Instead, the legislature passed a civil union law.

At the time of the court's decision in Lewis v. Harris-argued by Lambda-Connecticut and Vermont both had civil union laws as well. Since then, both states have instituted full same-sex marriage.

A 2008 report by the Civil Union Review Commission asserted that New Jersey's civil unions failed to equalize same-sex and opposite-sex couples, as was required in the unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruling.

equal" system of civil unions.

"We also encourage media outlets to share stories of the New Jersey couples who are left vulnerable after today's vote," Corzine said.

"As was the case when Americans faced legal discrimination on the basis of their race or gender, history will frown on the denial of the basic right of marriage equality," he added. "I regret that the state's recognition of equal justice and equal treatment under the law will be delayed. Certainly this process and the resulting debate is historic, but unfortunately, today's vote was squarely on the wrong side of history."

As for the erstwhile senate supporters of the same-sex marriage bill, Garden State Equality chair Steven Goldstein had a warning for them.

"No party should take any constituency for granted," he said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We will continue to support those who support us."

One of the senators who will likely enjoy continued support from the state's LGBT community is Sen. Teresa Ruiz.

"If I have the honor and privilege to continue to serve here, I don't ever want to In addition to Lambda's impending suit, take a vote that says it's okay for me, but not Corzine urged the media to illustrate the for you," she said, speaking before the chaminequities inherent in the "separate but inherent in the " but ber ber on the bill.