Happy International Women's Day 3/8/10

International Women's Day is a global celebration of women's economic, social, and political achievements. The 2010 theme is Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all. It is imperative that all unite in the effort to ensure that women are able to live with full respect, equality and dignity.

Women around the world are still subject to rape, violence, workplace discrimination, sexism, genital mutilation and lack access to quality health-care and education. More needs to be done to combat unfair laws and societal perceptions and biases that plague the advancement of all women.



Women of color, disabled, transgender women, and lesbian,bisexual and queer women suffer additional hardships that come with being a "double minority"

Resources for International Women's Day:

International Women's Day 2010 - United Nations holiday website

The Lesbian Herstory Archive - Collection of historic material of W4W

Transsexual Roadmap - Resources for transsexuals

The Zuna Institute - Advocacy for Black Lesbians

Regard - Advocacy for disabled LGBT people

National Organization for Women - Stories and feminist advocacy

International Foundation for Gender Education - Advocating for freedom of gender expression and an understanding of all identities.

Word of the Gay: "Fish"

"Fish" is a derogatory term used among gay males to describe women. The term insinuates that women's private parts smell bad.

Happy International Women's Day

Make a difference by celebrating, honoring and acting for full liberation for women. Annually, March 8th is International Women's Day. In particular queer women have been ignored by not only the broader global women's movement, but also within the LGBT movement. It is unacceptable that the Intl Women's Day website fails to acknowledge or mention lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans women. All women regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression deserve full recognition, respect and equality, and with that in mind here is a video to celebrate the day as well as some queer-centric feminist links.



Lesbian.org - Promoting lesbian visibility on the internet.

National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) - Lesbian, feminist non-profit law firm.

The Mautner Project - The health organization for lesbian, bisexual, and trans women.

International Foundation for Gender Education - Advocating for freedom of gender expression and an understanding of all identities.

Lesbian Herstory Archives - A record and collection of documents, photographs and videos containing lesbian events.

Zuna Institute - National advocacy coalition for black lesbians.

To learn more about the day and to get involved goto http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Open Forum: Gay Civil Rights and The Bible

The Bible has long been used as a weapon against civil rights battles for African Americans and women, and on the contrary has also been used as a tool to empower and institute government reforms for minority groups.

The Bible has long been used to justify slavery and to subjugate women. Multiple verses can be pointed to in making any case that fits the philosophical view of the majority opinion.

Many religions and denominations are coming to see homosexuality as based in science and psychology and are rendering different interpretations of what it means to be gay. We are in the epicenter of a civil rights battle between secularists, those who believe church/state must be separate, and those who take the Bible at its literal word.

Verses in the Bible were ill interpreted to condone slavery of African-Americans, and the repression of women. As a society we are beginning to see that these groups are not to be treated as second class citizens and that they are fully capable of leading healthy, independent and productive lives.

Is it possible that the shift in religious views on homosexuality will change beyond the realms of progressive/liberal denominations? Will people come to see the authors of the Bible as having not referenced homosexuality, or how the verses have been misinterpreted, or will there always be some element of society that continue to point to religion as a basis for denying gay civil rights?

Word of the Gay: "Lesbyterian"

A "lesbyterian" is a rare synonym for lesbian.

Word of the Gay: "Stem"

A "stem" is a term used to describe lesbian or bisexual women who fall somewhere in between stud and femme.

Intersex People - The Missing Vagina Monologue

The Vagina Monologues is a hugely successful account of women's lives and advocates for gender equality. Eve Ensler the creator of the play went on to found V-Day an organization committed to ending violence against women.

The organization has made a tremendous impact on women's lives including lesbian and trans-women but has failed to accurately include Intersex people in their accounts.

Please politely contact V-Day and ask them to include Intersex people in their awareness campaigns. In addition please tell them that childhood genital mutilation of intersex babies is wrong and must be considered an unethical and violent choice by the medical establishment.

Contact V-Day!

In the meantime check out this clip from Gendervision.

Word of the Gay: "LUG"

"LUG" stands for Lesbian Until Graduation, the term is used to describe women who are of high school or college age and are experimenting with their sexuality or self-identify as lesbian or bisexual while they are in school. These women later go onto live and self-identify as heterosexuals.

The Bisexual community looks at this term as a form of Biphobia and that these women were never really lesbian to begin with, nor straight after school ended, but merely Bisexual and sexually fluid regardless of how they choose to self-identify.