Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 2nd, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
Wall St. Executives Discuss LGBT Equality: New York, NY. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan will host the second annual Out on the Street Leadership Summit at the Bank of American Merrill Lynch headquarters in New York. According to a press release, this “represents the first time that so many senior executives will meet to discuss LGBT equality.” The press release continues:
Building on the success of the inaugural summit in 2011, the 2012 summit will focus on the role that support for LGBT equality can play in the retention of talent and the conduct of business. In addition to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, featured speakers include, Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs; Paul Singer, CEO of Elliott Capital Management; Ken Mehlman, head of global public affairs, KKR; Lynn Utter, president & COO, Knoll Furniture; John Veihmeyer, Chairman, CEO KPMG LLC; and special guest moderator George Stephanopoulos from ABC.
The senior-level representation at the full-day summit reflects the groundbreaking role financial services, in particular Wall Street banks, have taken in advancing LGBT rights. Whether reimbursing LGBT employees’ pay to address the tax inequalities of domestic partner benefits or taking highly visible stances on marriage equality, these leaders exemplify the willingness of financial services companies to go beyond the relative safety of employee engagement issues, such as support for LGBT employee groups, into larger issues affecting their LGBT employees.
The all day summit begins at 8:30 a.m. Information on the 2012 summit can be found here.
“Call Me Kuchu” Screening: Toronto, ON. The Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival in Toronto will set the stage for the North American premiere of Call Me Kuchu, which follows the story of Ugandan LGBT advocate David Kato’s struggle for LGBT equality in the face of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which proposes the death penalty for gay people. The film includes the infamous tabloid campaign which outed “Kuchus” — the Ugandan word for gay people — along with the headline “Hang Them!” The unthinkable happened when Kato was brutally murdered in his home. All of this was captured in Call Me Kuchu, which screens tonight at the Isabel Bader Theater at 9:45. Additional showings are scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday. Additional information can be found here.
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Brussels, Belgium, Houston, TX (Black Pride); Norrköping, Sweden and Raleigh, NC.
Other Celebrations This Weekend: Hot Rodeo, Banning, CA; Boston LGBT Film Festival, Boston, MA; Purple Party, Dallas, TX; Frieberg International Gay Film Festival, Frieberg, Germany; and Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Miami, FL.
AIDS Walks This Weekend: Atlantic City/Asbury Park/Morristown/Newark/New Brunswick/Pennsauken/Ridgewood, NJ; Charlotte, NC; Ft. Wayne, IN; Orange County, CA; Poughkeepsie, NY; Portsmouth, NH and Raleigh, NC.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Disloyalty vs. Security Risk: 1950. So if you’ve been following along on the Daily Agendas (for example, Feb 28, Mar 14, Mar 23, Apr 18, Apr 26) you would have a pretty good feel for the incredible anti-gay hysteria that was sweeping the country in 1950. The twin scares — the Lavendar Scare and the Red Scare — cemented in everyone’s mind the argument that gay people in federal employment, particularly in the State Department and in the armed forces, represented a security risk which, in the words of the GOP chairman, were “as dangerous as the actual Communists” (see Apr 18). On May 2, columnist James Marlow took the opportunity to provide a couple of hypothetical situations to explain to readers the difference between being disloyal and being a security risk:
1. Jones, completely loyal, is a good worker, sober on the job. But at night, sometimes or often, he gets drunk and talks too much. In the non-sensitive agriculture department that might not make much difference, as long as Jones did his work and kept out of trouble when drunk. In the commerce department, if Jones held a sensitive job, he might be considered a security risk: he might blab secrets when drunk.
The commerce department could do one of two things: fire Jones on the ground that he was “unsuitable” for government work; or transfer him to a non-sensitive job. But state department officials say that if Jones worked there and was considered a security risk, he’d be fired. (The say emphatically they keep no known security risks or disloyal persons on the payroll, although Senator McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin, says the place is full of them.)
2. Smith is found to be a homosexual. He’s completely loyal but because of his secret sex habits may some day run into an individual or group which would blackmail him. In the state department, he’d be considered a security risk and out, officials there say.
Officials of other government agencies, sensitive and non-sensitive, told this writer they would get rid of a homosexual on the grounds that he was “unsuitable” for government employment, not because he was a security risk.
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Steve
May 2nd, 2012
Of course if you have nothing to hide you can’t be blackmailed. When that finally dawned on someone in the Israeli military, they abolished their ban which was justified with the same rationale. Of course the 90s were a different time than the 50s. No one was out back then.
Timothy Kincaid
May 2nd, 2012
This Summit is so important.
Many Republican legislators see themselves as “pro-business” and working for the economy. What this summit makes clear is that in 2012, being anti-gay is being anti-business.
We have seen some recent changes in New York and New Hampshire. Summits like this increase the pressure and help us shift the dynamic.
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