DOCSLIB.ORG

1 Testimony of Wesley D. Bizzell, Esq. President

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
1 Testimony of Wesley D. Bizzell, Esq. President TESTIMONY OF WESLEY D. BIZZELL, ESQ. PRESIDENT, NATIONAL LGBT BAR ASSOCIATION BEFORE COURTS OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL SUBCOMMITTEE JANUARY 29, 2021 Chairman Mullin, Members of the Criminal Subcommittee, Delegate Roem, I am Wesley Bizzell. My pronouns are he, him, and his. I am privileged to serve as President of the National LGBT Bar Association, which represents tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ attorneys, judges, law students, activists, and other legal professionals across the U.S. We have over 40 state and local affiliated bar organizations, including the Virginia Equality Bar. Additionally, we also have almost 100 affiliated law school student groups, including six student organizations in the Commonwealth. I’m here to convey the National LGBT Bar’s strong support of HB 2132. I’m pleased to join Judy Shepard and so many others in urging you to advance this bill to the full Committee. Some may wonder why this bill is necessary today. Unfortunately, panic defenses are not a relic of the past. This bill is necessary because even today violent preparators go free or have their charges reduced when they kill or violently assault LGBTQ+ victims, simply because of an archaic and prejudiced argument that claims that the sudden revelation or realization of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity provoked or excused the violence. In many instances, these are particularly brutal crimes. In one case where the panic defense was used, the victim was stabbed and slashed more than five dozen times. In another, the victim was choked with a wallet chain, drowned and then his body was doused in gasoline and set on fire. In yet another, the victim was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher, leaving her for dead as the defendant ransacked her apartment. When he later heard her gasping for breath as she regained consciousness he beat her again with the fire extinguisher until he “killed it” as he later told the police. And, many of us are familiar with the horrific and senseless murder of Matthew Shepard, who was brutally pistol-whipped, tortured, and tied to a fence post, where he was left to die. More 1 than 20 blows rained down on him so hard that they fractured his skull a half-dozen times. Reports described how Matthew was beaten so severely that when he was found his face was completely covered in blood, except where his tears had left tracks down his cheeks. As horrific these descriptions are, they do not even begin to describe the brutality of each of these assaults. All of these defendants raised the LGBTQ panic defense in their cases and several of them were successful. So, why is this bill necessary? This bill is necessary because these and so many other horrific cases haunt our judicial system. This bill is necessary for the preservation of justice for these and other victims. It is as simple and complicated as this: LGBTQ+ people are being violently harmed and viciously murdered simply because of who they are, and the noxious LGBTQ panic defense allows their attackers to escape the criminal sentences that would otherwise be imposed on them but for the sexual orientation or gender identity of their victims. This is why the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, at the National LGBT Bar’s urging, voted unanimously in 2013 to endorse a ban on the LGBTQ panic defense. This is why 12 other jurisdictions have enacted such a ban. Violence directed towards LGBTQ+ victims should not be justified simply because of who we are. Our identity should not be a defensible reason for assault or murder. To justify and excuse violence and murder as a result of the victim’s status as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer person is to deem LGBTQ lives as inherently less worthy, less human, and less deserving of justice as compared to those who do not identify as LGBTQ. The National LGBT Bar hopes this subcommittee and the Virginia General Assembly will join other legislatures that have passed similar bills on strong bipartisan votes, some of them even unanimously. We urge you to support enactment of this important legislation which will prevent violent criminals from escaping the punishment they deserve and will make equal justice under the law a living, breathing reality for LGBTQ victims of violence. Thank you. 2 ARTICLES THE TRANS PANIC DEFENSE REVISITED Cynthia Lee* ABSTRACT Violence against transgender individuals in general, and trans women of color in particular, is a signi®cant problem in the United States today. When a man is charged with murdering a transgender woman, a common defense strategy is to assert what is called the trans panic defense. The trans panic defense is not a tra- ditional criminal law defense. Nor, despite its name, is it recognized as a stand- alone defense. Rather, trans panic is a defense strategy associated with the prov- ocation or heat of passion defense. A murder defendant asserting trans panic will claim that the discovery that the victim was a transgender femaleÐan individual who identi®es as a woman but was thought to be male when bornÐprovoked him into a heat of passion, causing him to lose his self-control. If the jury ®nds that the defendant was actually provoked into a heat of passion and that the ordinary man in the defendant's shoes would have been so provoked, it can acquit him of murder and ®nd him guilty of a lesser offense. This Article starts by discussing the problem of violence against transgender individuals in the United States today. It then focuses upon a particular manifes- tation of this violenceÐcases in which a man kills a transgender woman with whom he was intimate or to whom he was attracted, is arrested and charged with a criminal homicide, and then asserts a trans panic defense. * Cynthia Lee is the Edward F. Howrey Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School. She thanks I. Bennett Capers, Em Holmes, Hunter Iannucci, Kelly Strader, and Jordan Blair Woods for reading and providing extremely helpful suggestions on an earlier draft of this Article. She also thanks her colleagues Jeremey Bearer-Friend, Robert Cottrol, Alan Morrison, Anne Olesen, Dick Pierce, Steve Saltzburg, Peter Smith, Ed Swaine, and Kate Weisburd for their questions, comments, and suggestions when she presented this Article before the GW Law faculty on September 6, 2019. She thanks Nancy Cantalupo, Eve Hanan, and Alexis Karteron for providing additional helpful feedback when she presented this Article at LatCrit on October 18, 2019 at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. She also thanks her current and former Research Assistants Lisa Haight, Stephanie Hansen, Casey Matsumoto, and Katherine Yue Meng for excellent research assistance, Lesliediana Jones for additional research assistance, and Prerna Balasundarum for administrative assistance on this Article. Finally, she thanks the American Criminal Law Review at Georgetown University Law Center for inviting her to participate in its symposium on women and the criminal justice system in March 2019. Special thanks to Monica Attia, Abbe Dembowitz, Ian Bruckner, and Julie Bessler from the American Criminal Law Review for their editorial assistance and support for the ideas expressed within. Parts of this Article are adapted from Cynthia Lee & Peter Kwan, The Trans Panic Defense: Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and the Murder of Transgender Women, 66 HASTINGS L.J. 77 (2014) and Cynthia Lee, The Gay Panic Defense, 42 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 471 (2008). © 2020, Cynthia Lee. 1411 1412 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 57:1411 Next, this Article offers several reasons why the trans panic defense strategy is deeply problematic. First, the trans panic defense appeals to negative stereotypes about transgender individuals. Second, it legitimizes the enforcement of norms of masculinity and heterosexuality through violence. Third, it inappropriately vali- dates bias against transgender individuals when we live in a pluralistic society that should be tolerant and accepting of all individuals. The Article then addresses the normative question of what should be done to rec- tify the harms rendered when a defendant charged with murder asserts a trans panic defense. In the past, the Author was reluctant to support proposals to legislatively ban the trans panic defense. She felt that the best way to defeat the trans panic defense was not to ban it, but to allow it to be aired and then have a strong prosecu- tor explain to the jury why it should be rejected. She also argued that it was crit- ically important to eradicate the underlying structures of masculinity that encourage violence against transgender women to reduce the risk of such violence taking place and to undermine the effectiveness of the trans panic defense. She opined that the best way to achieve these goals was to educate both the public and the jury about the dif®culties transgender individuals face just trying to exist in society and make the existence of bias against transgender individuals salient to the jury. While the Author still believes in the importance of education, she now feels education alone is insuf®cient to ensure that juries reject the trans panic defense. The Article explains the Author's shift in position and concludes by examining recently enacted legislative bans on the trans panic defense and offering concrete suggestions on how legislative reform in this arena could be strengthened. INTRODUCTION On August 17, 2013, James Dixon was walking on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem with some friends when he spotted Islan Nettles, an attractive transgender woman.1 Dixon crossed the street and began chatting with Nettles, asking her for her name and where she was from.2 Soon he heard his friends 1.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Transgender Representation on American Narrative Television from 2004-2014
    TRANSJACKING TELEVISION: TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION ON AMERICAN NARRATIVE TELEVISION FROM 2004-2014 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Kelly K. Ryan May 2021 Examining Committee Members: Jan Fernback, Advisory Chair, Media and Communication Nancy Morris, Media and Communication Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Media and Communication Ron Becker, External Member, Miami University ABSTRACT This study considers the case of representation of transgender people and issues on American fictional television from 2004 to 2014, a period which represents a steady surge in transgender television characters relative to what came before, and prefigures a more recent burgeoning of transgender characters since 2014. The study thus positions the period of analysis as an historical period in the changing representation of transgender characters. A discourse analysis is employed that not only assesses the way that transgender characters have been represented, but contextualizes American fictional television depictions of transgender people within the broader sociopolitical landscape in which those depictions have emerged and which they likely inform. Television representations and the social milieu in which they are situated are considered as parallel, mutually informing discourses, including the ways in which those representations have been engaged discursively through reviews, news coverage and, in some cases, blogs. ii To Desmond, Oonagh and Eamonn For everything. And to my mother, Elaine Keisling, Who would have read the whole thing. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout the research and writing of this dissertation, I have received a great deal of support and assistance, and therefore offer many thanks. To my Dissertation Chair, Jan Fernback, whose feedback on my writing and continued support and encouragement were invaluable to the completion of this project.
    [Show full text]
  • FORALL12-13 Proof Read
    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331998586 FOR ALL: The Sustainable Development Goals and LGBTI People Research · February 2019 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23989.73447 CITATIONS READS 0 139 2 authors: Andrew Park Lucas Ramón Mendos University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles 17 PUBLICATIONS 6 CITATIONS 4 PUBLICATIONS 69 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Gender Identity and Expression View project LGBTI and international development View project All content following this page was uploaded by Andrew Park on 26 March 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. FOR ALL The Sustainable Development Goals and LGBTI People “We pledge that no one will be left behind…. [T]he Goals and targets must be met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society.” United Nations General Assembly. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. PREFACE This report was produced pursuant to a consultation contract (2018-05 RAP/SDGs) issued by RFSL Forbundeẗ (Org nr: 802011-9353). This report was authored by Andrew Park and Lucas Ramon Mendos. The views and interpretations expressed in this report are the authors’ and may not necessarily reflect those of RFSL. Micah Grzywnowicz, RFSL International Advocacy Advisor, contributed to the shaping, editing, and final review of this report. Winston Luhur, Research Assistant, Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law, contributed to research which has been integrated into this publication. Ilan Meyer, Ph.D., Williams Distinguished Senior Scholar for Public Policy, Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law, Elizabeth Saewyc, Director and Professor at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, and Carmen Logie, Assistant Professor at Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, provided expert guidance to the authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Transgender Equality
    THE REPORT OF THE About the National Center for Transgender Equality The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is the nation’s leading social justice policy advocacy organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people. NCTE was founded in 2003 by transgender activists who recognized the urgent need for policy change to advance transgender equality. NCTE now has an extensive record winning life-saving changes for transgender people. NCTE works by educating the public and by influencing local, state, and federal policymakers to change policies and laws to improve the lives of transgender people. By empowering transgender people and our allies, NCTE creates a strong and clear voice for transgender equality in our nation’s capital and around the country. © 2016 The National Center for Transgender Equality. We encourage and grant permission for the reproduction and distribution of this publication in whole or in part, provided that it is done with attribution to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Further written permission is not required. RECOMMENDED CITATION James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016).The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by: Sandy E. James Jody L. Herman Susan Rankin Mara Keisling Lisa Mottet Ma’ayan Anafi December 2016 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • October 23, 2019 Good Morning Chairman Allen and Members Of
    October 23, 2019 Good morning Chairman Allen and members of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Sasha Buchert and I’m a Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal. I’m testifying in support of the Tony Hunter and Bella Evangelista Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2019 and in support of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2019. LGBTQ people, and transgender women of color in particular, move through the world under the constant threat of impending violence. In the words of one transgender woman of color in a recent New York Times article, “it’s always in the forefront of our minds, when we’re leaving home, going to work, going to school.”1 This fear is well-substantiated. At least 21 transgender people, almost all of them transgender women of color have been murdered this year already.2 Almost all of the murders involve the victims being shot multiple times, and commonly involve beatings and burnings. Two of those murders this year took place in the DC area; Zoe Spears a Black transgender woman, was found lying in the street with signs of trauma near Eastern Avenue in Fairmount Heights last June and Ashanti Carmon, also a black transgender woman was fatally shot this year in Prince George's County, Maryland.3 There has also been a troubling increase in violence targeting people based on their sexual orientation. Hate crimes have increased nationally over the last three years,4 and there were a record number of suspected hate crimes in D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • SB-2 Submitted On: 2/7/2019 9:40:07 AM Testimony for JDC on 2/12/2019 9:00:00 AM
    SB-2 Submitted on: 2/7/2019 9:40:07 AM Testimony for JDC on 2/12/2019 9:00:00 AM Testifier Present at Submitted By Organization Position Hearing Testifying for Public John Tonaki Oppose Yes Defender Comments: Office of the Public Defender State of Hawai‘i Testimony of the Office of the Public Defender, State of Hawai‘i to the Senate Committee on Judiciary February 12, 2019 S.B. No. 2: RELATING TO CRIMINAL DEFENSE Chair Rhoads, Vice Chair Wakai and Members of the Committee: The Office of the Public Defender opposes S.B. No. 2. This measure would prohibit the accused from claiming discovery, knowledge, or disclosure of a victim’s gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation resulted in extreme mental or emotional disturbance sufficient to reduce a charge of murder to a charge of manslaughter unless the other circumstances of a defendant’s explanation are already sufficient to reasonably find extreme mental or emotional disturbance. Our current manslaughter statute provides, in pertinent part, “The reasonableness of the explanation shall be determined from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be. The added language is simply not necessary for fair application of the defense. A defendant asserting the affirmative defense of EMED must present a reasonable explanation for the defendant to be under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance. The trier-of-fact has always should determine the reasonableness of the accused’s explanation from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the circumstances as the accused believed them to be Moreover, this measure would create a “preferred class” of individuals to the exclusion others who might equally be aggrieved as potential victims of manslaughter.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trans Panic Defense: Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and the Murder of Transgender Women, 66 Hastings L.J
    Hastings Law Journal Volume 66 | Issue 1 Article 2 12-2014 The rT ans Panic Defense: Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and the Murder of Transgender Women Cynthia Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Recommended Citation Cynthia Lee, The Trans Panic Defense: Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and the Murder of Transgender Women, 66 Hastings L.J. 77 (2014). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol66/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. Lee&Kwan_21 (TEIXEIRA).DOCX (Do Not Delete) 11/26/2014 2:20 PM The Trans Panic Defense: Masculinity, Heteronormativity, and the Murder of Transgender Women Cynthia Lee* and Peter Kwan** When a heterosexual man is charged with murdering a transgender woman with whom he has been sexually intimate, one defense strategy is to assert what has been called the trans panic defense. The defendant claiming this defense will say that the discovery that the victim was biologically male provoked him into a heat of passion causing him to lose self-control. If the jury finds that the defendant was actually and reasonably provoked, it can acquit him of murder and find him guilty of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. The trans panic defense strategy is troubling because it appeals to stereotypes about transgender individuals as sexually deviant and abnormal. In this article, we examine the cultural structures of masculinity that may lead a man to kill a transgender woman with whom he has been sexually intimate.
    [Show full text]
  • GOP Over Anti-LGBT Platform CLEVELAND – the First Openly Gay Member of the Republican Party’S Platform Committee Said July 19 She Does Not “Plan to Leave” the GOP
    Election 2016: Democrats Ratify Most Pro-LGBT Platform Ever 3 pg. 7 Aug. 2 Primary Could Put Three More Out Candiates on Nov. Ballot Dem VEEP Pick has Strong LGBT Advocacy Record BTL Talks with 'Looking' Creator Michael Lannan KHAOS REIGNS AT HOTTER THAN JULY INTERNET SENSATION TO HOST LIVE SHOW AT PALMER PARK PICNIC pg. 20 WWW.PRIDESOURCE.COM JULY 28, 2016 | VOL. 2430 | FREE ELECTION 2016 Follow our DNC coverage online CREEP OF THE WEEK COVER 20 Khaos Reigns at HTJ, Internet Sensation to Host Live Show at Palmer Park Picnic. Photo: Jason Michale NEWS In spite of promises from 4 Study Finds LGBT Adults Experience Food Trump to “protect” LGBTQ Insecurity people, his party’s platform 6 Aug. 2 Michigan Primary Could Put Three is most anti-gay in history! Additional Out Gay Candidates On Nov. 8 Ballot Platform comparison is stark! RNC looks to reverse marriage 7 Democrats Ratify Most Pro-LGBT Platform Ever equality, DNC looks to achieve full equality 8 GOP Convention Wrap-Up See page 17 See page 12 9 Dem VEEP Tim Kaine Has Strong LGBT Record 14 Jeffrey Montgomery, LGBTQ Leader Dies at 63 20 Khaos Reigns at HTJ, Internet Sensation to Host FERNDALE COVER STORY: HTJ Live Show at Palmer Park Picnic July 30 21 HTJ Spotlight: Kai Edwards 23 Great Lakes Folk Festival Celebrates Culture, Tradition and Communit, A Conversation with Rhonda Ross Legendary Singer’s Daughter is a Star in Her Own Right OPINION 12 Parting Glances 11 Viewpoint: Dana Rudolph 11 Creep of the Week: Donald Trump LIFE Transgender Pride in the Park 25 Through the ‘Looking’ Glass Coming Up, Commemorates 28 Transgender Pride in the Park Commemorates See page 22 Compton’s Cafeteria Riots 1966 Compton Riots 30 Happenings 32 Classifieds See page 28 See Coverage page 20 – 22 33 Frivolist: 6 Tricks to Throwing the Gayest Pool Party Ever VOL.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex Workers at Risk Condoms As Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities WATCH
    HUMAN RIGHTS Sex Workers at Risk Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities WATCH Sex Workers at Risk Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-914-3 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington, DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org JULY 2012 1-56432-914-3 Sex Workers at Risk Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Key Recommendations .............................................................................................................4
    [Show full text]
  • Gay Panic Defense By: Kevin Drahos
    Human Rights Committee - Introduced Anu Lamsal Jillian Baker Kevin Drahos Sydney Uhlman Tyler Juffernbruch Will Keck Gay Panic Defense By: Kevin Drahos Contact: Kevin Drahos | Cedar Rapids, IA | [email protected] ​ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Position Statement: The State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council supports legislation requiring the elimination of the gay and trans panic defense. ​ Position It is the position of the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council, the voice of Iowa’s youth, that legislation pertaining to elimination of the gay and trans panic defense be enacted. Rationale The gay panic defense is an attempted legal defense, usually against charges of assault or murder. A defendant using the defense claims they acted in a state of violent temporary insanity because of unwanted same-sex sexual advances [4]. The defendant alleges to find the same-sex sexual advances so offensive and frightening that it brings on a psychotic state characterized by unusual violence. The Trans panic is a similar defense applied in cases of assault, manslaughter, or murder of a transgender individual, with whom the assailant(s) engaged in sexual relations unaware that the victim is transgender until seeing them naked, or further into or post sexual activity [6]. This defense tactic is utilized when unwanted advancements are made towards heterosexuals by members of the LGBTQ+ community; however, any justification for murdering or brutalizing a member of the LGBTQ+ community solely because of their sexuality or gender caused panic perpetuates homophobia and transphobia [5]. The most infamous example of the gay trans panic defense is the story of Matthew Shepard: beaten, tortured, and brutally murdered by two men.
    [Show full text]
  • February 11, 2020 the Honorable Luke Clippinger House Judiciary
    2526 SAINT PAUL STREET BALTIMORE, MD 21218 TEL (410) 625-LGBT (5428) FAX (410) 625-7423 www.freestate-justice.org C.P. Hoffman Interim Legal Director [email protected] February 11, 2020 The Honorable Luke Clippinger House Judiciary Committee House Office Building, Room 241 6 Bladen Street Annapolis, MD 21401 Testimony of FreeState Justice IN SUPPORT OF HB0488: Crimes - Mitigation - Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation To the Honorable Chair Luke Clippinger, Vice Chair Vanessa E. Atterbeary, and esteemed members of the House Judiciary Committee: FreeState Justice is Maryland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights advocacy organization. Each year, we provide free legal services to dozens, if not hundreds, of LGBTQ Marylanders who could not otherwise be able to afford an attorney. Despite significant advances in recent years, the LGBTQ community continues to be subjected to discrimination and violence at rates significantly above the state and national averages. From hazing and gaybashing to gruesome homicides, LGBTQ individuals often find themselves the targets of violence simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. But while the state of Maryland rightly treats these acts as hate crimes,1 criminal defendants are nonetheless able to rely on a “queer panic” defense to mitigate their offenses. The queer panic defense can take many forms, but prototypically claims that a criminal defendant’s crimes are excused or justified because “his violent actions were in response to a (homo)sexual advance.”2 In effect, the defense argues that the 1 See Crim. Law § 10-301 et seq. 2 Cynthia Lee, The Gay Panic Defense, 42 U.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Love in Action: Noting Similarities Between Lynching Then and Anti-LGBT Violence Now
    Love in Action: Noting Similarities between Lynching Then and Anti-LGBT Violence Now Koritha Mitchell Callaloo, Volume 36, Number 3, Summer 2013, pp. 688-717 (Article) Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cal/summary/v036/36.3.mitchell.html Access provided by The Ohio State University (21 Sep 2013 15:03 GMT) Princeton © 2012 Koritha Mitchell (center) LOVE IN ACTION Noting Similarities between Lynching Then and Anti-LGBT Violence Now by Koritha Mitchell I use the word “love” here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace—not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth. —James Baldwin At my job I am the only out, visibly black woman in the college— when I remind colleagues that I am integrating the university but have no National Guard to help me do so, they are both surprised by the fact of my uniqueness and puzzled by my recourse to that history to drive home my point. Queers have long since been cautioned to stay away from the use of the moniker “civil rights” . To whose body does this history truly belong? —Sharon Holland If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it. —Unknown At the 2012 CALLALOO CONFERENCE, participants examined a topic too seldom explored in intellectual spaces: love. One panel in particular demanded that I continue to wrestle with its implications.
    [Show full text]
  • Cc13 Program.Pdf
    Welcome to CONTENTS Schedule at a Glance 1 Welcome Letters From the Executive Director 3 From the Conference Host Committee 5 Two-Spirit Open Letter 7 Greetings from Elected Officials 9 Conference Information Host Committee & Thank You’s 4 Creating Safer Space for Everyone 20 A Guide to Bisexual/Pansexual/Fluid Etiquette 20 Trans Etiquette 21 Creating Accessibility 24 General Information First Timers’ Orientation, Childcare, Cyber Café 28 Host Committee Services 28 Spiritual Gatherings 29 Exhibitors 33 Conference Events Plenary Programs 36 Award Honorees 38 Film Screenings 41 Sessions By Topic 45 Wednesday Schedule of Events 61 Thursday Schedule of Events 63 Friday Schedule of Events Academy Training Session 1, Session 1, Session 2 73 Academy Training Session 2, Session 3, Session 4 84 Caucus 1, Evening Events 94 Saturday Schedule of Events Academy Training Session 3, Session 5, Session 6 103 Academy Training Session 4, Session 7, Session 8 113 Caucus 2, Evening Events 123 Sunday Schedule of Events 133 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Task Force Leadership Council 140 Task Force Board and Staff 142 In Memoriam 143 DOwnLOAD nOw! The Creating Change App available for both iPhone® and AndroidTM devices View the full schedule Stay up to date with the latest news Hotel maps Register for the conference Look through or add your own photos App Sponsored by Available at Developed by Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of
    [Show full text]