Herland Sister Resources

Cimarron Alliance Foundation and other community partners are sponsoring Stop Hate In The Hallways—A Bullying Prevention Conference to address bullying based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Training will be provided for the intervention and prevention of bullying and harassment in a variety of break-out sessions.  Keynote speaker will be Kevin Jennings, Founder & Executive Director of GLSEN.  The one-day conference will be held:

October 11, 2007
Metro Tech Springlake Campus
1900 Springlake Drive
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Why is this conference needed?

Harassment and assault in high schools is still a big problem for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender teens.  Most teens (75%) report hearing homophobic remarks at school often or at least sometimes.  As the current hit teen movie Superbad illustrates, calling someone “fag” is still a very common putdown in high schools.  While the name-calling is rather benign in Superbad, in reality almost all LGBT students report having been harassed or assaulted at school for their perceived or actual orientation.  Two-thirds of those students never report it and LGBT students are much more likely than straight students to say that they do not feel safe at school.
Students of a race other than white are also much more likely to experience harassment due to their race.
Most schools do not have an anti-harassment policy that includes sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, specifically.  But most teachers believe that anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies would be helpful in securing a safe learning environment for LGBT students.

Who should attend? 

School Administrators, Classroom Educators, Mental Health Professionals, Law Enforcement Officers, School Psychologists, School Superintendents, National, State & Local Policy Makers, School Police Officers, Social Workers, Attorneys, and School Board Members are encouraged to attend.
Total tuition for the conference is $35  which includes lunch.  You may apply for a conference scholarship by sending a letter of need to:  Mr. Randy Tate, Conference Chair, North Care Center, 4436 NW 50th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73112.  Or call him at (405) 858-2700 office or fax (405) 858-2720.

It’s that time of year again!  Time for a quick getaway to womyn and nature.  Don’t miss this opportunity to relax, hike, read a book, tie-dye a T-shirt, bird watch, ride a bike, fish, play games, listen to live music, or play your new song at the open mic.  Coming up on Halloween weekend in October, Herland will have its Fall Retreat at Lake Eufaula State Park.
We’ve always had great weather at Eufaula in the fall and we don’t expect this year to be any different.  Since it is Halloween weekend, consider bringing a costume (for you and any four-legged friend you might bring) and enter the Saturday evening costume contest.  Another contest will feature pumpkin carving (please bring one if you can).  Last year’s entries in both contests were great!  Look for more details and a registration form in next month’s Voice.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a state law preventing gay couples from getting birth certificates for children adopted in other states is unconstitutional. 
The Adoption Invalidation Law, hastily passed at the end of the 2004 Oklahoma legislative session, had said that Oklahoma “shall not recognize an adoption by more than one individual of the same sex from any other state or foreign jurisdiction.”  Although single gays may become the parent of adoptive children in Oklahoma, same-sex couples were barred from adopting and the state could invalidate adoptions where couples have been awarded joint parenting rights in states where co-adoption is legal.
Lambda Legal, representing same-sex couples, took the state to court. Lambda represented two same-sex couples and their families who adopted children while living in other states and later moved to Oklahoma or wanted to visit the state with their family.  Lambda Legal argued that the law was unconstitutional based on the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection, due process and right to travel, as well as the mandates of the Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

“The very fact that the adoptions have occurred is evidence that a court of law has found the adoptions to be in the best interests of the children,” wrote U. S. District Judge Robin Cauthron.

In 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Robin Cauthron agreed, finding that the statute violated the United States Constitution by singling out a specific group for discrimination.  Now the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Cauthron’s ruling and declared Oklahoma’s law unconstitutional.  (Likewise, in 2004, Oklahoma’s own Attorney General gave an official opinion that the law would violate the Ninth Amendment.)
In a 31 page ruling, the court was highly critical of the state legislature for passing the law.  “The very fact that the adoptions have occurred is evidence that a court of law has found the adoptions to be in the best interests of the children,” wrote Cauthron.  “To now attempt to strip a child of one of his or her parents seems far removed from the statute’s purpose and therefore from [the state’s] asserted important government objective.”
“Gay and lesbian parents in Oklahoma can now breathe a collective sigh of relief because their relationships with their children are no longer threatened by the state of Oklahoma,” said Lambda attorney Ken Upton. “We’re gratified that justice has been handed down in our case and that the court saw to it that Oklahoma has to treat the children of gay and lesbian parents the same as all other kids.”

A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that social networks are more important than genes when it comes to determining what a person weighs.  These findings may explain why people’s best efforts to slim down on their own are often short-lived.  It also suggests that public health initiatives to help people achieve a healthy weight should take social networks into account.
The study by Harvard researchers found that behavioral norms shift depending on how people in a social circle look and act.  In particular, the chance of a person gaining weight rose 71% if a same-sex friend had gained weight.  There was a lesser effect of one spouse on the other for straight married couples and no effect from neighbors who weren’t part of the social network. 
In other studies, networks have been found to be important for shaping political attitudes and teen sexual behavior. 
The researchers hypothesize that if weight gain can spread through a social network, then presumably, so can healthy eating habits.  Medical and public-health interventions to promote achieving a healthy weight might be more cost-effective than previously thought since health improvements in one person might spread to others.

Preliminary findings of research at St. John’s University and Howard University are suggesting that racism could help explain disparities in health across races.  Discrimination seems to act as a source of chronic stress the same way that marital conflict or strains at work do, increasing the stress hormone cortisol, raising blood pressure, and suppressing the immune system. 
One of the studies found that racism experienced in the day led to elevated blood pressure at night, suggesting the body can’t turn off its stress response.  Other studies have shown that the stress of suppressing the inner turmoil caused by racist encounters can itself lead to ill effects.