Quickies: The Queen’s Holiday Message, Dr. Robert Spitzer’s Legacy, Expanding Coverage of Title IX

• The Significance of Dar Williams’s “The Christians and the Pagans” – In and interview with Slate, Williams talks about how a lighthearted song about Wiccan lesbian couple having Christmas with a devout Christian family took on special significance to the LGBT community.
• “Queen Panti Issues Holiday Message” – With a nod to Queen Elizabeth’s annual holiday message, Panti Bliss, self-proclaimed (drag) Queen of Ireland, spoke about Ireland’s new gay marriage law, and how change can be scary as we grow older, but how essential it is for societal progress.
• “‘Here Come The Brides’: Same-Sex Weddings Call For A New Soundtrack” – “Since [achieving marriage equality], the number of same-sex weddings in the U.S. has leapt significantly — and many gay couples have been ditching the ‘Bridal Chorus,’ as it was originally known, for a different kind of soundtrack to their ceremonies.”
• American Gay Groups Closing After Achieving Marriage Equality – Abandoning the greater LGBT fight, or clearing the way for the new leaders?
• Psychiatrist Who Championed the Removal of Homosexuality from the DSM Dies at 83 – “Dr. Robert Spitzer — a psychiatrist who played a leading role in establishing agreed-upon standards to describe mental disorders and eliminating homosexuality’s designation as a pathology — died Friday in Seattle. He was 83.” He pushed to ground the DSM in data and evidence rather than authority and tradition.
• Federal Judge: Title IX Covers Sexual Orientation – “A federal judge in California has ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation falls under the purview of the landmark Title IX law, giving a broader interpretation to the 1972 statute that prohibits sex discrimination in the nation’s schools and colleges.”
• “China’s first ever domestic violence law excludes gay couples” – “The country did not previously have a law protecting against violence at home. The new law covers physical and psychological abuse, and allows spouses or partners to obtain restraining orders more easily.”
• HIV Antibody Trial Shows Mixed Results – “The broadly neutralizing antibody, called VRC01, reduced the level of circulating virus more than 10-fold in 6 of 8 HIV-positive patients who had not received antiviral drugs. The other two were found to have a strain of HIV resistant to the antibody. And in 15 people whose infection was already suppressed with antiviral therapy, the antibody had no effect.”
• “53 People Who Came Out This Year” – The Advocate has a list of 53 celebrities who came out as LGBT this year.

Featured image: Panti Bliss