Equality and Activism

1. Equality and Activism brought to you by the WOU Safe Zone Committee

2. Introductions • Name • Program of study or academic interests • Where are you from? • Why are you here (what do you want to get from this session)?

3. Who is the WOU Safe Zone? • Students, staff, and faculty make up the WOU Safe Zone • The WOU Safe Zone Committee works with the GLBTQ campus group, Triangle Alliance • Safe Zone trainers can come into classes, clubs, and residence halls to facilitate educational programming on GLBTQ topics

4. GLBTQ—XYZ… What??? • Gay • Lesbian • Bisexual • Trans (Transgender, Genderqueer…) • Queer • And a few more… • Questioning • Intersex • Ally

5. What is Heterosexism? Attitudes, bias and/or discrimination in favor of heterosexual sexuality and relationships.

6. What is Bias? Acts or attitudes directed against people or their property that are motivated by prejudice based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, social affiliation, ability or appearance. Everyone has bias.

7. What Groups are Affected by Heterosexism? • Gay: Emotional and/or sexual attraction to the same sex • Lesbian: Emotional and/or sexual attraction between women • Bisexual: Emotional and/or sexual attraction to both sexes • Transgender: Individuals of any age or sex whose appearance, personal characteristics, or behaviors differ from stereotypes about how men and women are “supposed” to be. Opposition has negative effects on the opposer too!

8. How are people affected by Heterosexism In addressing mental health and well-being, a mental health counselor described the human costs and impact of discrimination on GLBTQ individuals (both youth and adults) as:

9. Self-hate, internalization of stigmatizing beliefs (homophobia) • Loss of family, loss of friends, homelessness • Harassment at school, at work, in public • Fear, anxiety, and inhibition of creativity • Mental and physical stress and distress • Social isolation • Increased drug abuse • High risk sexual behavior • Silencing, compromised skills • Suicide

10. In the News A few recent events demonstrating heterosexism and discrimination against GLBTQ people across the US.

11. In 1987, Senator Jesse Helms offered the ban as an amendment to a bill to fund availability of the antiretroviral drug Zidovudine (AZT).  The law passed almost unanimously by Congress, in part as a political trade to obtain the funds for AZT. • In April 1989, Dutch AIDS educator Hans Verhoef was jailed for several days in St. Paul, Minnesota when he tried to enter the United States to attend the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco.  This led to international outrage and a boycott of the conference by activists in 1990. No international conference on HIV/AIDS has been held in the United States since then. • In October 1992, the ban led to the quarantine of about one hundred HIV-positive Haitians at a U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, once again sparking outrage by the international and human rights communities.   In 1993, President Bill Clinton tried to issue an Executive Order to eliminate the ban and brought the issue into the political spotlight once more. • At the urging of Senator Helms the ban was codified by Congress in 1993, as a climate of fear about HIV and prejudice toward HIV-positive people continued.

12. July 17, 2008 Immigration Equality hails the Senate's vote to lift the HIV immigration and travel ban.  The Senate voted today to repeal the language that bars people with HIV/AIDS from entering the U.S., as part of the legislation reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  The Senate approved PEPFAR by a vote of 80 to 16."Congress has finally moved to end the HIV ban - a ban based on myth and misinformation," said Rachel B. Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality.  "For twenty years, the United States has barred HIV-positive travelers from entering the country even for one day.  Today the Senate said loud and clear that AIDS exceptionalism must come to an end." 

13. May 29th, 2008 Lesbians asked not to kiss at Mariners’ game Two lesbians at a Seattle Mariners baseball game at Safeco Field said they were told tostop kissing and are claiming discrimination based on their sexual orientation. by Jim Buzinski

14. Sirbrina Guerrero says she only gave her date a peck, but a mother sitting with her son complained to security and, as a result, they were told to stop or leave. “And he (the security guard) goes ‘there’s a lady whose son says he saw you guys making out, and I did, too. And you have to stop.’ And I said ‘well, we weren’t making out, but we were kissing and I’m not going to stop,’” said Guerrero. Guerrero says the only reason she was called out was because of her sexual orientation. “(The security guard said) the mom doesn’t want to explain to the kids why two girls are kissing. So I said ‘well, I’m not going to stop, so you’ll have to kick me out. So he said ’so I suggest you leave then,”‘ she said.

15. U.S. school suspends students over Vagina Monologues reading Three girls from a Cross River, N.Y., high school were serving a one-day suspension Wednesday for saying the word "vagina" during a reading of The Vagina Monologues. The students — Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson — used the word Friday evening during a public reading at John Jay High School, a public high school in a New York city suburb. Reback, an honour student, said she and her friends decided to say "vagina" during the feminist play because "it wasn't crude and it wasn't inappropriate and it was very real and very pure." Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, has jumped to their defense, saying the girls were right for "standing up for art and against censorship.“ "Don't we want our children to resist authority when it's not appropriate and wise?" she said Tuesday.

16. Uncovering Attitudes Consider the following definitions: Homophobia: thoughts, feelings, or actions based on fear, dislike, judgment, or hatred of gay men and lesbians/of those who love and sexually desire those of the same sex. Homophobia has roots in sexism and can include prejudice, discrimination, harassment, and acts of violence. Compulsory heterosexuality: the assumption that women are “naturally” or innately drawn sexually and emotionally toward men, and men toward women; the view that heterosexuality is the “norm” for all sexual relationships. The institutionalization of heterosexuality in all aspects of society includes the idealization of heterosexual orientation, romance, and marriage. Compulsory heterosexuality leads to the notion of women as inherently “weak,” and the institutionalized inequality of power: power of men to control women’s sexuality, labor, childbirth and childrearing, physical movement, safety, creativity, and access to knowledge. It can also include legal and social discrimination against homosexuals and the invisibility of or intolerance toward lesbian and gay existence.

17. Daily examples • Find some examples of compulsory heterosexuality in your daily life. Consider the mainstream media, advertising, religion, your workplace, the law, your discipline/major, and the like. What assumptions and values do these venues represent? • Do the same with examples of homophobia. • Ask yourself the following questions: • How are you affected by compulsory heterosexuality? • How are you affected by homophobia? • How would you be affected if your sexual orientation were different than it is now? • How would others you know — friends, family members, classmates, members in your clubs or organizations — be affected? • How will understanding these definitions change your thinking about compulsory heterosexuality and homophobia? • Will it change any of your behaviors? If so, how?

18. Brainstorming Time! Shout out ideas of what you can do to promote equity and diversity on the WOU Campus and negate the impact of heterosexism and discrimination among your peers.

19. What can you do? 1. Attend a play, listen to music or go to a dance performance by artists whose race, ethnicity, sexual or gender identity is different from your own. 2. Volunteer at a local social services organization. 3. Participate in a diversity program on campus. a. Join the WOU Safe Zone committee b. Become an Ally through training 4. Speak up when you hear slurs. Let people know that bias speech is always unacceptable. 5. Imagine what your life might be like if you were a person of another race, gender or sexual orientation. How might "today" have been different? 6. List all the stereotypes you can — positive and negative — about a particular group. Are these stereotypes reflected in your actions?

20. 7. Think about how you appear to others. List personality traits that are compatible with tolerance (e.g., compassion, curiosity, openness). List those that seem incompatible with tolerance (e.g., jealousy, bossiness, perfectionism). 8. Create a "diversity profile" of your friends, co-workers and acquaintances. Set the goal of expanding it by next year. 9. Ask school counselors what resources they have for supporting GLBTQ youth. Offer additional materials if necessary. 10. Make sure that anti-discrimination protection in your community extends to GLBTQ people. Based on our brainstorming and the list provided, what is one action or change you can commit to in helping stop heterosexism at WOU?

21. WOU Safe Zone Mission The Western Oregon University Safe Zone program seeks to form a network of students, faculty and staff committed and trained to provide safe, non-judgmental and supportive contacts for all WOU community members regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer (GLBTQ) issues. It is symbolic of a willingness and a commitment to provide an atmosphere of unqualified acceptance and assistance. How can we all work towards achieving this mission here at Western?

22. The WOU Safe Zone is YOU! Sign up to attend a Safe Zone training! Become a Safe Zone ally! Become a Safe Zone trainer! Join the Safe Zone Committee!

23. Sources for our presentation • Out in Jacksonville: The Status and Impact of our GLBT Community, Spring 2007 • Immigration Equality, July 17, 2008. http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs016/1101130264150/archive/1102173904804.html • Lesbians asked not to kiss at Mariners’ gameMay 29th, 2008 by Jim Buzinski. http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2008/05/29/lesbians-asked-not-to-kiss-at-mariners/ • U.S. school suspends students over Vagina Monologues reading. Last Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | 11:56 AM ET CBC Arts http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2007/03/07/students-suspended.html • Teaching Tolerance. 101 Tools for Tolerance. Be Prepared. July 10, 2008. www.tolerance.org/101_tools/yourself.html • Writing for Change. Uncovering Attitudes about Sexual Orientation. Lockhart & Shaw. July 10, 2008. http://www.tolerance.org/teach/web/wfc/pdf/section_1/1_05_uncovering_attitudes.pdf

24. Where to find out more? • Resources: www.wou.edu/SafeZone http://www.campuspride.org/ http://www.diversitycentral.com/ http://www.sjti.org/resources.html http://www.stophate.org/ http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/ wfc/index.html