As Americans, it is our birthright that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights, privileges, and opportunities. Since our earliest days of independence, our Nation has striven to fulfill that promise. An important chapter in our great, unfinished story is the movement for fairness and equality on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This month, as we recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans, we renew our commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.

LGBT Americans have enriched and strengthened the fabric of our national life. From business leaders and professors to athletes and first responders, LGBT individuals have achieved success and prominence in every discipline. They are our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, and our friends and neighbors. Across my Administration, openly LGBT employees are serving at every level. Thanks to those who came before us, the brave men and women who marched, stood up to injustice, and brought change through acts of compassion or defiance we have made enormous progress and continue to strive for a more perfect union.

My Administration has advanced our journey by signing into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which strengthens Federal protections against crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. We renewed the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides life saving medical services and support to Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and finally eliminated the HIV entry ban. I also signed a Presidential Memorandum directing hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to give LGBT patients the compassion and security they deserve in their time of need, including the ability to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions.

In other areas, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a series of proposals to ensure core housing programs are open to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. HUD also announced the first ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services has created a National Resource Center for LGBT Elders.

Much work remains to fulfill our Nation’s promise of equal justice under law for LGBT Americans. That is why we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. We must protect the rights of LGBT families by securing their adoption rights, ending employment discrimination against LGBT Americans, and ensuring Federal employees receive equal benefits. We must create safer schools so all our children may learn in a supportive environment. I am also committed to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” so patriotic LGBT Americans can serve openly in our military, and I am working with the Congress and our military leadership to accomplish that goal.

As we honor the LGBT Americans who have given so much to our Nation, let us remember that if one of us is unable to realize full equality, we all fall short of our founding principles. Our Nation draws its strength from our diversity, with each of us contributing to the greater whole. By affirming these rights and values, each American benefits from the further advancement of liberty and justice for all.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2010 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

The provision would allow military commanders to repeal the ban. The repeal would permit gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.

It was adopted as an amendment to the annual Pentagon policy bill, which the House is expected to vote on Friday. The repeal would be allowed 60 days after a Pentagon report is completed on the ramifications of allowing openly gay service members, and military leaders certify that it would not be disruptive. The report is due by Dec. 1.

The House vote was 234 to 194, with 229 Democrats and 5 Republicans in favor, after an emotionally charged debate. Opposed were 168 Republicans and 26 Democrats.

Read the full story at NYTimes.com.

“I never dreamed so many people would support my fight to take my girlfriend to the prom, much less that I’d end up being asked to be a Grand Marshal at NYC Pride,” said McMillen, an 18-year-old high school senior from Fulton, Mississippi, adding, “I’m really honored and touched to be asked to be part of this celebration.”

McMillen is the plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging her school’s decision to cancel the prom rather than let her bring her girlfriend as her date and wear a tuxedo to the prom. According to McMillen, who has been out as a lesbian since she was in 8th grade, Itawamba Agricultural High School officials told her that she could not arrive at the prom with her girlfriend and that they might be thrown out if any other students complained about their presence at the event.

A federal judge ruled that the school had violated McMillen’s First Amendment rights but stopped short of ordering IAHS to put the school prom back on the calendar because of assurances that an alternative “private” prom being planned by parents would be open to all students. But when McMillen went to the event on April 2, she was one of only a small handful of students from her school present. Later local news reports revealed that the rest of the students from IAHS had spent the evening in a nearby town at another private prom to which McMillen wasn’t invited.

While McMillen has been ostracized and harassed by her classmates at IAHS over the prom cancellation, her struggle has attracted national and even international support. She was invited to attend the GLAAD Awards with Wanda Sykes, was presented with a $30,000 scholarship check on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and a Facebook group supporting her has attracted over 400,000 supporters.

New York City’s annual Pride March began in 1970 as a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The March has since grown to become the oldest and one of the world’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) events. This year’s Pride March will begin at 12:00 noon on Sunday June 27th. Step-off for more than 350 groups and 500,000 participants will take place on 39th Street and Fifth Avenue. The March then follows the Lavender Line to its conclusion at the intersection of Christopher Street and Greenwich Street. The Line is an identifying symbol of New York City’s Pride March and will mark all four miles of the March’s route. The route moves south on Fifth Avenue and turns right (west) on 8th Street and proceeds to the top of Christopher Street by the Jefferson Market Library. From here, the March will pass down Stonewall Place and the Stonewall Inn, site of the riots in June of 1969.

McMillen tells The Advocatethat a parent-organized prom happened behind her back — she and her date were sent to a Friday night event at a country club in Fulton, Miss., that attracted only five other students. Her school principal and teachers served as chaperones, but clearly there wasn’t much to keep an eye on.

“They had two proms and I was only invited to one of them,” McMillen says. “The one that I went to had seven people there, and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to.”

Read more at Advocate.com.

If you have legally married your same-sex spouse in any state, you may choose the “husband or wife” option, and the Census will record and report on these figures in its official Census tables on married couples in the U.S.

While many people in our community are uncomfortable with these terms, we have to remember that the Census is slow to respond to changing language and social realities. For example, for many years, the Census provided no way for people of multiracial origins to accurately record their race. Now is not the time to refuse to check the “husband or wife” box because it doesn’t fit our political or linguistic views of ourselves. Having a count of LGBT married couples will be an historic, important first step in changing the way the entire country understands LGBT partnership. If you are legally married, don’t miss out on being counted!

Many, many more of us will check the “unmarried partner” box in this year’s Census and this is equally important. Last year, the annual Census survey, the American Community Survey (ACS), reported a significant decline in same sex couples. This is partly because the ACS had been improperly recording some opposite-couples as same sex, due to poor survey design. Regardless, any drop in our numbers is not good for our community.

The reality is, few federal surveys record any information whatsoever about LGBT people. The Census recording of same sex unmarried partners and married couples gives a rare glimpse at our community: where we live, how we create family, and whether we own or rent our homes.

Researchers report that people who live in states without any recognition for same-sex couples are 248.2% more likely to experience general anxiety than gays who live in states with marriage recognition.

Full story at Advocate.com.

“Prom is one of those high school moments everyone should get to experience and enjoy. I didn’t go to prom last year, so this is my only chance to go,” said McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at the school in Fulton, a small town of about 3,900 in the northeastern corner of Mississippi. “We just want to be able to be ourselves at our own prom.”

McMillen said she approached school officials shortly before a memo about prom was circulated at school on February 5 that said same-sex dates would not be allowed, because she knew same-sex dates had been banned from prom in the past. McMillen met with the assistant principal and later the superintendent, who told her that they would not be allowed to arrive together, that she would not be allowed to wear a tuxedo to prom, and that she and her girlfriend might be thrown out if their presence made any other students “uncomfortable” at the April 2 event.

“Prom is supposed to be about all students being able to express themselves, have fun, and make memories that will last the rest of their lives,” said Kristy Bennett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Mississippi. “Constance has a constitutional right to take the person she’s dating to the prom, just like any other student at any other public school.”

In today’s letter to Itawamba County School District officials, the ACLU cited federal court cases guaranteeing students’ First Amendment right to bring same-sex dates to school dances, and also pointed out that treating McMillen and other lesbian, gay, and bisexual students differently from other students violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees. In addition to illegally barring McMillen and her girlfriend from attending the prom together, the ACLU said that the school further violated McMillen’s free expression rights by telling her that she can’t wear a tuxedo to the prom.

“We hope that informing the school about its legal obligations towards its students will make it think twice about treating Constance and her girlfriend any differently than it does any other student couple who wants to go to the prom,” said Christine P. Sun, Senior Counsel with the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, who represents McMillen along with the ACLU of Mississippi. “Schools that discriminate against lesbian, gay, and bisexual students who want to bring same-sex dates to school dances need to know that by doing so they’re violating established federal law, and we will call them on it.”

The ACLU and the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition have given the school district until March 10, 2010 to respond to their letter.

Additional information, including a copy of the school’s prom memo and the ACLU’s demand letter, is available at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/fulton-ms-prom-discrimination.

The Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition was formed in the fall of 2008 to address discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, or students perceived to be LGBT, in Mississippi public schools and colleges. The MSSC works closely with the ACLU of Mississippi to educate teachers, students, and administrators about the rights of LGBT students with the aim of making schools safer for all. The MSSC is youth-led, and any questions about student rights at prom, starting a gay-straight alliance club, or any other safe schools issues can be directed to Ashley Jackson, facilitator, at ashley@mssafeschools.org.

If you want to express your support for this young woman, there are several ways to do it. The Itawamba County School District can be reached by telephone, e-mail and regular mail.

Superintendent:
Teresa McNeece
605 S. Cummings St.
Fulton, MS 38843
(662)862-2159
tmcneece@itawamba.k12.ms.us

School Board Members:

• First District – Eddie Hood (a082315@allstate.com)
• Second District – Jackie Nichols (jnichols@itawamba.k12.ms.us)
• Third District – Harold Martin (hmartin@itawamba.k12.ms.us)
• Fourth District – Clara Brown (cbrown@network-one.com)
• Fifth District – Tony Wallace (twallace@nexband.com)

The addresses above are the last known addresses and are listed on the Itawamba County School site. There are reports that some of the board member addresses are bouncing.

You might note that the published “Notice of Non-discrimination Policy” on the school district’s website is:

The Itawamba County School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or disability in the provision of educational programs and services or employment opportunities and benefits.

The following address and number have been designated to handle inquiries and complaints regarding the non-discrimination policies of the Itawamba County School District.

• Itawamba County Superintendent’s Office, 605 S. Cummings St. Fulton, MS 38843 | (662)862-2159

Unity Mississippi strongly condemns Restoration Grace and encourages Morrison Heights Baptist Church to review the countless studies that demonstrate how dangerous ex-gay “therapy” is for individuals, families, and communities.

The APA has declared that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments. Further, the APA has stated that research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

It is time for Morrison Heights to educate itself on the science of sexuality and stop selling snake-oil to its congregation and the community at large.

Have more suggestions–especially throughout Mississippi? Leave us a comment.

Art

Art is one of the ultimate gifts. Make it unique by supporting local artists that support our community.

• Brown’s Fine Art (Jackson)
• Elizabeth Robinson Glass (Jackson)
• Rachel Misenar (Jackson)
• Tony DiFatta (Jackson)

Body/Mind/Soul

Start 2010 with a clear mind, strong body, and vibrant soul.

• Butterfly Yoga (Jackson)

Food

Everyone loves to eat! So, why not treat someone to a holiday dinner or a gift certificate?

• Bravo (Jackson)
• Broad Street Bakery (Jackson)
• Crazy Cat Bakery (Jackson)
• Cups (Jackson)
• Hal & Mal’s (Jackson)
• Julep (Jackson)
• La Cazuela (Jackson)
• Pizza Shack (Jackson)
• Que Sera Sera (Jackson)
• Sal & Mookies (Jackson)

Gifts

These businesses have unique gifts for everyone whether they’ve been naught or nice.

• Chane (Jackson)
• Diva Dog – 601-856-1616 (Madison)
• Moonlight Video (Jackson)
• Over the Rainbow (Jackson)
• Rainbow Food Co-op (Jackson)

Salons

Who doesn’t like being pampered?

• William Wallace Salon – 601-982-8300 (Jackson)
• Sun Gallery (Jackson)

Registered Charities and Non-Profits

Give the gift of giving. These charities and non-profits are very dedicated to the LGBT community.

• Unity Mississippi
• Grace House
• Rise Above for Youth
• HeARTS Against AIDS
• Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition
• Safe Harbor Family Church (Jackson)
• Jackson NOW