Little Monsters Unite! Lady Gay Gay Shirt Wins the Day!

VIA Blog of Rights

If you're like my colleague Mandy, and you follow Lady Gaga's Twitter feed, you might've seen this tweet on April 7:

Been in the studio for days and hours of record after record, and when I hear that a little monster was discriminated against* BY TEACHERS

It turns out that Lady Gaga herself was speaking out against the censoring of a gay high school freshman in Tennessee, who was sent home on April 5 for wearing a T-shirt that said "I [love] Lady Gay Gay."

The student, Cole Goforth, and his mother Julie Gordon contacted the ACLU of Tennessee and Lambda Legal after he was sent home. School officials told him that wearing a pro-gay T-shirt was "disruptive" and that he "had brought [harassment] on himself by coming out."

The school, in negotiations with the ACLU of Tennessee and Lambda Legal, hasagreed to stop censoring him from wearing this T-shirt. The school will also provide training on its anti-bullying policy to staff and students to ensure that it is clear that harassment of any student, regardless of sexual orientation, is not acceptable.

Student Sent Home for 'Lady Gay Gay' Shirt

VIA ADVOCATE.COM

by Julie Bolcer

Greenbrier High School in White House, Tenn. sent a student home Monday on the grounds that his “I (Heart) Lady Gay Gay” T-shirt caused a “disruption,” prompting allegations of a free-speech violation. The shirt refers to gay icon Lady Gaga. According to NBC affiliateWSMV-TV in Nashville, “Cole Goforth's mother said the school is violating her son's freedom of speech and expression rights because kids who wear religious shirts and rebel flag shirts aren't sent home. The school said a shirt he wore is a disruption.” Julie Gordon said she believes her 15-year-old son is being singled out. “I think they are singling him out, I really do, and they've made statements that if he wore this in California, he'd fit in just fine,” she told WSMV-TV. While shirts with the word “gay” on them are not specifically banned, the Robertson County School Board leaves it to principals to interpret the dress code. Administrators said they feared an escalation in the tense atmosphere sparked by a recent fight. The school invited Julie Gordon to appeal the dress code.

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Its Abuse

Throughout my life, I've been around and in abusive relationships. Regardless of which partner is doing the abusing, relationship abuse is often silenced and rarely addressed amongst all age groups. It is sometimes a misunderstood concept as well. Sometimes referred to as intimate partner or domestic violence, it is known as the assaultive and coercive behaviors used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over one other partner in an intimate relationship (Itsabuse.com). Relationship abuse isn't limited to violence either. When one partner in the relationship is humiliated, ridiculed, harassed, or subjected to controlling behavior its abuse, and it is wrong. ItsAbuse is campaign that provides peer support to break the silence about abuse on college campuses. The website states the campaign goals:

Raise awareness among students of the warning signs of physical, verbal, and emotional relationship abuse; it's all about control;

Educate students about maintaining healthy relationships now, and throughout their adult lives; it’s all about respect;

Generate awareness of campus and community resources for victims (and perpetrators) of relationship abuse.

The Its Abuse campaign has expanded to Ohio State, Captial University, DeVry University, Columbus State, and Ohio Dominican. Setting up weekly group meetings to help college students in abusive relationships. Ohio Dominican University begins their weekly Relationship Abuse Groups on February 11th and it will continue every Thursday from 1:00PM to 2:30PM. Please visit ItsAbuse.com to learn more, or set up a chapter at your university.

Post my Bra Color on Facebook? No Thanks. I will though if..

Its apparently been all the rage for women all over the facebook world to inform their friends via status update what color bra they are wearing. This trend has derived from intent to raise Breast Cancer Awareness. I understand the purpose for good cause, but I am having a hard time accepting that this hasn't become more of a promotion for sexual promiscuity than it is a call for actual awareness. Instead of protesting or ignoring this huge trend, I've decided to take it a step further and refuse to expose the color of my bra until we take a little action. I, the official Galliegirl of galliegirl.com will appear, photograph, and edit a 12 month calendar if and only if a sum of at least $5,000 is raised. The calendar will appear in PDF form and may be available for print upon request depending on the success of this project.  $5,000 may seem like a lot, but if all of my facebook friends simply donate a mere $2.00 we will be more than halfway there. Lets get to it! Updating a facebook status is effortless. Lets actually make a difference. Donate any amount big or small. All donations will go to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Click below to help! Accepting all major credit cards. *Checks, cash, money orders are accepted--inquire at megan@galliegirl.com for snail mail details

First HIV+ Man Set to Legally Visit U.S.

By Kerry Eleveld

Clemons Ruland may become the first known HIV-positive person to legally visit the United States after he filed papers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Monday, the day the HIV travel and immigration ban was officially lifted after 22 years of barring HIV-positive people from entering the U.S.

Ruland (pictured right), a Dutchman who will travel with his HIV-negative partner, Hugo Bausch, from the Netherlands, is scheduled to land Thursday at New York’s JFK International Airport. According to the Netherlands-based NGO AIDS Fonds, which is sponsoring Ruland’s travel to the U.S. after he won an essay contest, Ruland and Bausch simply plan to spend a week touring New York, shopping, and visiting friends. Paul Zantkuijl of AIDS Fonds said his organization has been working alongside others to change the policy for years and wanted to celebrate their success by sending an HIV-positive person to the states. “We all had to be patient, but finally this discriminatory and stigmatizing ruling has ended!” he said. President Barack Obama announced in late October that the Department of Health and Human Services would be eliminating all travel restrictions tied to a person's HIV status starting in 2010. The ban, first implemented in 1987 and codified into law by Congress in 1993, prevented non-U.S. citizens who were HIV-positive from traveling or immigrating to the United States without an official waiver. President George W. Bush signed the policy reversal into law in the summer of 2008, but his administration was unable to finalize the change before his term ended.

Ruland, now 45, was diagnosed with HIV in 1997 after being infected by an ex-lover in New York. He has been on an antiretroviral regimen since and the virus remains undetectable. [Below] is the poem Ruland wrote as part of his entry in the contest to win a trip to the U.S.

Positive No more lies No more pretending No more hiding In the crevices of exclusion Honesty to the land where once lay my destiny in one viral load Free I am Free to travel To hug, share, love And once more be united Alive and proud I turn to you, America America, here I come Come as I am HIV+

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