
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
Huge Dar Williams fan, been to a lot of her concerts, and that’s always been a favorite song for me. Yet somehow I had never realized that Amber and Jane were a couple, and not a mom and daughter. I learned something new today!
My wife and sister informed me that they just assumed I knew and were amused at how clueless I was.
It’s been a long time since I listened to the song, but in my recollection, I thought they were just friends.