Article: Peace Corps Recognizes/Respects Same Sex Couples

In yet another step forward for LGBT rights in the United States, the Peace Corps announced Tuesday that it will allow same-sex couples to serve together beginning this year. 

The change in policy came after President Obama encouraged federal agencies in 2009 to include LGBT employees in whatever way they can. 

“The Peace Corps has long looked to expand opportunities to serve and reflect the diversity of the United States in its volunteers abroad,” says Shira Kramer, press director for the organization. 

The process for accepting same-sex couples will be similar to that used for heterosexual married couples, she says.

“The Peace Corps will only consider placement of same-sex couples in countries where homosexual acts are not criminalized,” says Kramer. “There are many factors that affect ultimate placements, including applicants’ overall competitiveness, program availability, departure dates, medical accommodations, and safety.”

Each partner’s skills will be assessed, and then Peace Corps will find a place that needs the skills of both. Depending on their medical clearance, the volunteers will be placed in a country and receive the same benefits (health care, housing, and stipends) as married couples. Only 10% of current assignments are filled by married couples serving together. 

“Because couples placements require matching the skills sets of both individuals, there are fewer assignments available for couples than for single applicants,” Kramer says. 

“Peace Corps field staff will receive training to support same-sex couples that addresses safety and security issues, host family preparation, job assignments, and available resources,” she adds.

The same-sex pair will sign an affidavit before leaving for service that will verify their relationship. 

For returned Peace Corps volunteers, the news came as a welcome surprise Tuesday morning as the press release spread among volunteers on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Serving in the Peace Corps has always been a bit different from other Department of State jobs. 

Unlike embassy workers or military personnel, Peace Corps volunteers live at a host site, usually a small village, as part of the community, doing all the same tasks as their neighbors: washing laundry by hand, getting water from a well, chopping wood, and so forth. They don’t have bodyguards, gated entrances, or closed-off communities of other expats to help them cope with being perhaps the only American for hundreds of miles. So the job usually requires a great deal of flexibility and patience.

“As a volunteer, being able to have a partner there on site would’ve made the experience much different,” says returned Peace Corps volunteer Alia Scheirman. “The Peace Corps staff advised all LGBT volunteers to stay in the closet. That would have been much less lonely to do that with a partner.”

Scheirman, who served two years as an English teacher in Ukraine, says she never felt unsafe as a lesbian during her time as a volunteer but knew that some others who “looked” gay ran into trouble. She did notice, though, that understanding among the Peace Corps staff did shift after training, and they were able to give more useful, accurate advice to volunteers. 

Todd Harwell, a current volunteer in Peru, said he and his boyfriend (also a volunteer in Peru) always assumed that service for same-sex couples wouldn’t happen until same-sex marriages were recognized federally. The news has the pair thinking about the future and possibly serving again, this time as a couple. 

“We realize and acknowledge how lucky we are that we found each other in this crazy life that we lead, and our sites are relatively close,” says Harwell, who lives seven hours away from his boyfriend. “But the opportunity to serve together as partners seemed like a future fairy tale.”

Harwell notes that although he has a lot of contact with his boyfriend via cell phone, married straight couples have the benefit of face-to-face time together. When it comes to safety, he says, the Peace Corps would have to do take extra steps, but he’s not worried about local reaction. 

“I would certainly feel safe, and it would be incredible emotional support to be with my partner if an uncomfortable situation or reaction did arise,” he says. “I’m sure there would be some community members that would be unaccepting of us, but you have that in every part of the United States as well.”

“I felt that I needed to be cautious, but I did not feel unsafe,” says returned volunteer Thomas Lawson. “I lived in a small, conservative town in a culture that does not talk about homosexuality. So, in my efforts to integrate, I did not talk about it.” 

However, staying in the closet was one of the more difficult adjustments Lawson made during his service in Ukraine. “I am more than a gay man, but I am a gay man.” he says. “And if you do not see my gayness, you do not see me.”

To avoid questions about his relationships, especially whether he had a girlfriend, one of the Peace Corps staffers taught him how to make it a joke by using the phrase “Немає, не хочу, не треба!” (Translation: “Don’t have, don’t want, don’t need!”) But while in the regional capital, Sumy, Lawson was out, and worked with organizations on an LGBT awareness and empowerment campaign. 

Despite the step forward, the future for LGBT Peace Corps volunteers is hard to predict. In an organization that requires so much flexibility, how will individual couples deal with their site? Come out? Stay in the closet? 

No matter what, though, volunteers are in agreement — there’s no substitute for support from a loving partner. 

“As long as we could serve and live together, we would be happy,” says Harwell. “Peace Corps requires a large amount of flexibility, and I’m curious to see how much flexibility will be asked and/or required of same-sex couples.”

As for the number of potential LGBT volunteers interested in serving as couples, Kramer says, “We will have to wait and see, but the agency has recognized an interest among prospective volunteers.”

It will take some time and work, but current and returned volunteers seem optimistic about the policy change — even if it means being flexible with the definition of their relationships. 

“There are downsides for everyone serving in the Peace Corps,” says Lawson. “Compared to bucket baths and hand-washing your laundry, though, introducing your partner as your ‘friend’ does not seem like such a biggie.”

My little rant: Serving in the Peace Corps with one’s partner has got to be the most romantic, rewarding, fulfilling life EVER! How come I’ve never thought of this as an option/idea? haha

Source: gay.com

Canada Lifts Lifetime Ban on Blood Donations by Gay Men

The country’s nearly 30-year-old ban will be updated to allow some gay men to give blood by midsummer. However, restrictions will still apply.

Canada will soon lift its ban on blood donations by gay men, a policy that has been in place for nearly 30 years, Metro Newsreports.

However, the new Canadian Blood Services donation policy will still include restrictions. Gay men will only be allowed to donate blood if they have abstained from having sex with another man for five years prior to their donation.

Though the policy change still discriminates against gay men who are sexually active, agency executives hope the change will pave the way for gay men to fully integrated into the pool of blood donors in the future.

“So the message to them today is to simply bear with us,” said Dana Devine, vice president of medical, scientific, and research affairs at Canadian Blood Services. “We are working toward attempting to make the opportunity for additional people to donate blood … and we just aren’t quite there yet for that group of people.”

Approval to lift the ban for gay donors who meet the new five-year requirement came from Health Canada Wednesday. The ban had been initiated in the 1980s in response to the AIDS epidemic, as HIV can be transmitted through blood transfusions, and at the time blood products could not be screened for the virus, as they are now.

However, several health activists argue that the policy change does little to alleviate the stigmatization of gay men and say the policy should instead focus on screening out high-risk donors of all sexual orientations.

“A five-year ban on the ability for gay men to donate blood is not science-based and is still just as discriminatory as a lifetime ban,” members of Parliament Libby Davies and Randall Garrison said in a statement.

In recent years, several other countries have amended their blood donation policies to allow gay men to give blood, many of which use a smaller window of deferral for sexually active gay men than the Canada has adopted.

Both Australia and the U.K. allow gay men who have abstained from sex with another man for one year to donate, while South Africa requires only a six-month period of deferral.

In the United States, however, a lifetime ban  remains in place.

My Little Rant: Well, I suppose we shouldn’t rejoice too quickly. This is just another one of those worn out stigmas attached to gay men that people are having a hard time releasing. I believe the best solution is for blood banks to hold a person’s blood for 3 months after being drawn. That way, the blood can be tested after the period of time in which the HIV virus can go undetected. Just a thought…

jonesgetbizzy:

Peace, 

My name is Bakari Jones and I’m the Founder & Executive Director of Bois of Baltimore. We’re not a non-profit, we’re a group of local Bois that came together to change our city. With the money we raise we’re going to: secure a physical space to use as our headquarters, start a mentoring program for young Bois (including homeless youth!!), expand to other cities (so far we’ve received requests from Oakland (CA), Jackson (MS), Detroit (MI), and Houston (TX), and oh yea, sustain ourselves WITHOUT money from our oppressors!

We have until 11:59pm (EST) on Tuesday, Saturday April 30, 2013 to raise $20,000 or we have to return all the donations we’ve received thus far (at the time of this post over $7,000).  You don’t have to be queer or a person of color to contribute to our campaign. If you ARE a queer person or a person of color or both you should definitely consider donating $1 or more. If anyone has ever stood up for you I’m asking that you pay it forward today with as little as $1.

<Bois of Baltimore LIFT OFF Campaign Link>

In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was nobody left to speak up. ~Reverend Martin Niemoller

Your reblog would be greatly appreciated. 

Peace & Power,

Bakari

(via todaystie)

Source: jonesgetbizzy

Wash. man arrested in spree of violent attacks on gay men

KENT, Wash. — Police in Kent, Wash., say they have arrested a man who used popular gay dating and cell phone apps to set up dates with gay men at remote locations and then robbed them at gunpoint.

Assistant Chief Pat Lowery said that Leverne Lee Maxwell, 32, was arrested last week at his Kent apartment and is currently charged with seven separate counts of rape, robbery, burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm and more. The most serious allegations center on the April 7 sexual assault, which Maxwell is alleged to have perpetrated against a man he contacted through the “GROWLr” website and mobile phone app, reported Seattle PI.

Maxwell also reportedly used the site “Scruff” to connect with other potential victims.

Having met through the site, Maxwell posed as a buyer for a Kindle eBook the man was trying to sell, the detective told the court. Once inside the man’s home, he asked for a glass of water and again became very aggressive.

“You’re a little (anti-gay slur) aren’t you,” Maxwell told the man, according to charging papers.

“You’re gonna suck my (expletive),” he continued.

Maxwell then pulled a pistol and threatened to kill the man before sexually assaulting him.

Four days later, a second man was robbed at gunpoint in South Seattle by a man he met on GROWLr. The detective noted Maxwell also asked for a glass of water during that robbery before pulling a pistol and holding the man at gunpoint.

Maxwell is alleged to have taken a laptop computer and iPhone during the robbery.

On April 13, Maxwell is alleged to have robbed another man of his iPhone after holding him at gunpoint in Kent. According to police, the man said he met Maxwell on the SCRUFF website, another gay social networking site and app.

More at Seattle PI →

Maxwell is an 11-time felon who allegedly used the cell phone belonging to the mother of his 2-year-old child to contact the victims.

Assistant Chief Pat Lowery said there may be other victims and they should contact police.

“We’re concerned that there may be still more victims in the community that are afraid to come forward,” he said.

Connect with LGBTQ Nation.

deeplezstonerwitch:

dynamicafrica:

Select artworks from Nigerian artist Njideka Akunyili:

“Nigeria is almost a third character in my work,” she said. “A lot of my work is about investigating my love for Nigeria and my life in America.

“I met my husband at college and there was some anxiety that if I married outside my culture I would lose my identity, but there is a space in my work where these things come together.”

Akunyili is hoping to help change attitudes to art in Nigeria, where she said appreciation is growing slowly.

“If I hadn’t left Nigeria, I wouldn’t be an artist, I would be a doctor,” she said. “When I told my parents I wanted to be an artist, they couldn’t get their heads around why an educated person who went to college in America would want to be an artist.

“If people think of artists, it’s somebody by the side of the road painting signs.”

[…]

“When I was young, the less Nigerian you were the cooler you were, but now we have gone back to tradition,” said Akunyili. “There’s a nice energy about the country that’s finally coming into its own.”

x

(via blackcontemporaryart)

Source: dynamicafrica

newyorker:

Nearly two years ago, Tim Hetherington was killed by mortar shells in Libya while he was photographing the civil war there. Hetherington, who is known for his work in West Africa and with U.S. Army soldiers in Korengal Valley, in Afghanistan, worked in both still and moving images, and, as Whitney Johnson wrote in her 2010 post, explored “the boundaries… between photojournalism and conceptual work.”

This week, Yossi Milo Gallery presents “Inner Light: Portraits of the Blind,” an exhibition of the black-and-white photographs Hetherington took between 1999 and 2003 at the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he was fondly known as Uncle Tim. About the conflict in Sierra Leone, Hetherington said, “As a result of the civil war, many people were left with serious medical conditions. As well as the more common abuses of amputation, the fighters of the Revolutionary Front (R.U.F.) also terrorized people blind by cutting their eyes out. Others lost their eyes to shrapnel or as a result of being caught up in combat. Many simply lost their eyesight because they did not have access to a doctor and therefore a simple medical condition developed went untreated.”

The Yossi Milo show opens on April 11th, and the HBO documentary “Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington,” directed by Hetherington’s friend and filmmaking partner Sebastian Junger, premières on April 10th.

—Richa Sinha. Here’s a selection of photos from the exhibition: http://nyr.kr/16K1ter 

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