By Kyle Rohen on Aug 19, 2014 04:34 pm
Good afternoon, and welcome to This Week in LGBT! We'll dive right in to the news after our standard disclaimer. As stated before, this article is written by Kyle Rohen, VP of NOVA Pride. It's written as a hybrid fact/commentary blog and may include snark, shade, and personal opinions of the author and is not intended to be representative of anyone's opinion other than the author. Feel free to sound off on the NOVA Pride Facebook page, tweeting NOVA Pride, using hashtag #TWILKyle, or by emailing me at kyle@novapride.org.
Tomorrow night is our monthly Karaoke and Condoms night at Kalypso's in Reston! We'll be (hopefully) celebrating the eve of marriage equality in Virginia (more on that down the article) as well as my third wedding anniversary! We'll have cake, wedding favors, singing, drinking, and good times. Come out and celebrate life and love with NOVA Pride!
NOVA Pride is proud to announce they are teaming up with IOTA Club & Café in Clarendon for a weekly LGBTuesdays Happy Hour – every Tuesday, beginning August 5th at 2832 Wilson Blvd! Patrons 21 and over, regardless of how or whom they love, are encouraged to come together for a night of unity. We hope to see all of you there tonight!
Our first annual Northern Virginia Pride Festival will be held Sunday, October 5th! Interested in volunteering? Go here! Interesting in vending? Go here! Performing - here! Sponsoring? Go here! See you at NOVA Pride Fest!
As of right now, we are less than 48 hours from legally recognized and sanction gay marriage in Virginia. It's been a long fought court battle, but we're finally potentially here! I say potentially, of course, because Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States Supreme Court presides over the Fourth Circuit, which is the circuit court which declared Virginia's gay marriage ban unconstitutional. Appeals have been made for a stay to the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice Roberts has the power to unilaterally approve or deny a stay (or punt it to the full court if he so decides). It's a waiting game at this point to see if a stay will be granted.
(c) Bonnie Cline
While we recognize that there's a greater than 50% chance a stay could be granted, we are still holding out hope. Besides, even if we're not celebrating actual marriages in the Commonwealth on Thursday, in October at the NOVA Pride Festival, a nice Christmas 2014 wedding, Valentine's Day weddings, et cetera, we are on the brink of something quite extraordinary not only in this state or the Fourth Circuit but in these entire United States. To think that a mere decade ago we were seeing the initial waves of gay marriage bans being enacted across the country, and now we are waiting in the midst of a truly historical moment for the advancement of LGBT rights. Either way the Supreme Court goes concerning the stay, NOVA Pride will be celebrating life and love tomorrow night at Kalypso's at Lake Anne in Reston. If there is a stay, we will be celebrating the idea that we are one short stop away from legally recognized gay marriage in this country. If there is not a stay, we will be celebrating the ability of our friends and family to say "I do" in their home state. If you are free, I'd like to personally invite all of you to come celebrate with us - grab a drink, have some cake, pick up wedding favors, celebrate the rich history being made, and raise your glass to my husband and myself as we celebrate our third wedding anniversary.
Rachel Pepe (photo credit: Peter Ackerman)
In New Jersey, 13 year old Rachel Pepe, who recently began transitioning, has been informed by her school that she can only return to school if she goes back to dressing as and being addressed as a boy. Her mom, Angela Peters, states that the school is unwilling to provide any other accommodations for her daughter, despite the transition alleviating years of depression and anxiety.
It's disheartening to see such treatment of a young transgirl, especially at the hands of school administrators. New Jersey does have transgender-inclusive anti-discrimination policies enshrined in their laws, but there is not a specific code concerning school accommodations. The superintendent of the district in question has reached out to Ms. Peters to hopefully come to some sort of mutually beneficial agreement, but no announcements have been made yet.
Sort of good news for the GOP came out of a McClatchy-Marist poll recently concerning LGBT's - apparently, sixty-eight percent of self-identified republicans do not feel as if a candidate's sexual orientation would matter to them when it comes to voting. This is actually pretty good news for the GOP that they are finally moving toward general acceptance. While some in the party may be celebrating this news and the progress it would appear to indicate, further questioning leaves a lot to be desired.
Republican Party Logo
The same poll finds that there's still a 63 percent opposition to marriage equality. Some 73 percent would be upset by finding out their child was gay, ranging from 23 percent "very upset," 37 percent "upset" and 13 percent "not very upset." By contrast, nearly half of all Americans would not be upset at all. 59 percent of the GOP believes marriage equality is a state's rights issue, versus 50 percent of all America believing the federal government should issue the final say. Still, though, these are the best numbers where LGBT's and the GOP intersect that we've seen. All of America is heading toward greater acceptance of LGBT, though the GOP is lagging behind across all major metrics (far fewer are accepting period, their shifts are slower and less pronounced, et cetera).
That's it for This Week in LGBT, See You Next Tuesday!
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