Posted on 06/17/2005 2:14:57 PM PDT by SolidSupplySide
Eager to advance hard-won social and political gains and repel ongoing attacks from social conservatives, Houston gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities will circle the wagons at the George R. Brown Convention Center Saturday to devise a plan of action for the 21st century.
Part attack, part defense, the so-called Futures Conference will be the first community-wide strategy session since 1978's Town Meeting I, which gave birth to an array of counseling, medical, business and social organizations.
Formally known as The Conference of the Futures of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Intersexed, Questioning and Allied Residents of the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area, the three-hour session will consider resolutions dealing with key health, educational, domestic and legal issues facing the group.
"It even surprised me that we came up with something so comprehensive, sober, rational, caring and professional," longtime activist Phyllis Fry said of the proposed resolutions. "It's going to be great. ... The next time a bigot is drooling about the 'gay agenda,' we will have one."
Among resolutions on the table are ones calling for freedom to marry and divorce, affordable care for senior citizens, safe schools for sexual minority youths, secure shelters for homeless youth, more money for HIV/AIDS programs and protection from hate crimes.
Resolutions also call for halting "mistreatment" by law enforcement, jail, prison, probation and parole officials; increasing representation on elected governmental bodies; and creation of new sports organizations.
Coy Tow, executive director of the Greater Houston GLBT Chamber of Commerce, which is sponsoring the conference as part of a daylong series of lectures and exhibits, said Saturday's session will highlight "common goals, an understanding of what it is that we value, what we are willing to stake a claim on and really defend."
Tow said the city's sexual minorities have made significant gains through "our own self-empowerment" since the 1978 meeting.
"Back then they didn't have the infrastructure," he said. "Now we have nonprofits that address every aspect of our lives. We now have a chamber of commerce with a paid staff. Much of that just happened because there were needs and people willing to step forward to address them."
Nationally, the movement has made gains through the 2003 Supreme Court decision striking down a sodomy law, a case that originated in Houston. Massachusetts has sanctioned same-sex marriage, and the Episcopal church has ordained its first openly gay bishop.
Such victories for the gay-rights movement remain controversial, though, and have generated intense opposition from conservatives. Colorado-based Focus on the Family, which opposes same-sex marriage and "ideological indoctrination" of students in school, was critical of the planned Houston meeting.
"Pro-gay organizations have a tendency only to provide one side of the story," Melissa Fryrear, the group's gender issues spokeswoman, responded in an e-mail. "They say they are for accurate information concerning issues surrounding homosexuality. If that is the case, then the dialogue needs to include the truth about homosexuality, for example, that it is not genetic and it is changeable. Let's have the truth and not a pro-gay agenda."
Focus on the Family was sponsor of a February "Love Won Out" presentation at a Houston church designed to persuade homosexuals they could become heterosexual.
"There's no doubt we have become a boxing bag in the last few decades," Tow said.
Chris Kerr, coordinator of life and antiviolence programs at the Montrose Counseling Center, said the coming decade may be tough for the sexual minorities movement.
"We need to take care of ourselves," he said. " ... We can't be complacent anymore."
The counseling center is one of a number of organizations submitting resolutions. Kerr said opposition can be a spur to action.
An early manifestation of gay activism in Houston came in 1977 when an estimated 12,000 people protested an appearance by stridently anti-gay singer Anita Bryant, then featured in ads for Florida orange juice.
"Sometimes," he said, "even orange juice can be a catalyst."
Futures Conference sessions will begin at 3 p.m. in the convention center's General Assembly Room A. Tow said the event is open to all who wish to participate; a donation of $10 is recommended. That price will permit ticket holders to attend the Empower 2005 exposition in Exhibit Hall B.
Speakers announced Also Saturday, the Equality 101 Conference, featuring keynote speakers Eileen Terry, senior vice president of diversity for Blockbuster, and David Pallone, longtime National League umpire and author of Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball, will begin at 9 a.m. in Assembly Room A.
Other sessions will deal with political, religious and aging issues.
Admission to Equality 101 is $10 in advance and $15 at the door.
What does "intersexed" mean?
I wouldn't touch that headline with a ten foot...never mind.
You don't want to know.
OK, it means hermaphroditic, with both male and female sex organs.
I told you you didn't want to know.
"....keynote speakers Eileen Terry, senior vice president of diversity for Blockbuster...."
If I were a shareholder, I would be even more irate.
"....keynote speakers Eileen Terry, senior vice president of diversity for Blockbuster...."
If I were a shareholder, I would be even more irate.
7am - Gym
9am - Breakfast (fruit bowl, mimosas)
10am - Massage, facial, body wrap
12noon-4pm - Shopping!
4pm - teatime
6pm-Dinner (tossed salad, white zinfandel)
8pm-NAMBLA meeting
10pm - Will & Grace
11pm-3am - Dance party!
Ping!
If this is a euphemism in the "GLBTWXYZ community", I don't want to know what it means.
"What does "intersexed" mean?"
I'd be more concerned about "questioning"...the other (...) at least already know what they are, but questioning?! Do you remember how unsure of everything you were when you were 13 or 14? It's like vegetables...how do you know you won't like it till you try it... (that line was used, by the way at FistGate, the GLSEN conference in Massachusetts in 2000)
There are a variety of conditions where the sexual organs may not match the child's sex chromosomes, or the sexual organs aren't developed normally and are ambiguous.
Intersex does not necessarily mean hermaphrodite.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/spectrum.html
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