Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
By John Mack Freeman Quitman High School in Arkansas banned a homecoming speech by a 15-year-old homecoming court member because she had planned to discuss being a lesbian during her speech. Despite the student agreeing to revise her speech, the school banned all of the speeches this year. Via Advocate.com: After the rehearsal, she and […]
By John Mack Freenan The FBI released the latest edition of the Hate Crime Statistics report this week. Among its other findings, they found that 20.8 percent of reported hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation and .5 percent was motivated by gender identity. The 5,928 reported crimes were down from 6,573 in 2012. These statistics have […]
By John Mack Freeman This week, Secretary of the United States Air Force Deborah Lee James expressed support for removing the military’s ban on trans soldiers serving openly. This makes her the first leader of one of the branches of the military to publicly support open trans service. She joins House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, […]
By John Mack Freeman This week, an FDA Panel responsible for advising the organization on blood product issues discussed changing the ban on blood donations from men that have had sex with men since the late 1970’s. However, the groups discussion did not lead to a vote. Via ABC News: “If I look at the […]
By Ashley R. Lierman Having written about Constantine last column, I thought it’d be only fair to move on to another comic-to-television adaptation that’s been in the news for issues of LGBT representation. Gotham, Fox’s new Batman prequel/reboot, got some attention earlier this fall when executive producer Danny Cannon confirmed the show would include Detective […]
By Ashley K. Lierman In a recent blog post, Patrick Weekes, a member of the writing team for the recent video game Dragon Age: Inquisition, discusses the process of creating that game’s trans character, Cremisius “Krem” Aclassi. Weekes mentions the feedback the developers had received from queer fans regarding previous offensive and stereotypical depictions of […]
By Ashley R. Lierman The off-Broadway musical of Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir enjoyed great success last year, and will arrive on Broadway this spring. Tickets can now be purchased for its upcoming run at the Circle in the Square Theatre, which will begin March 27, 2015. (via SheWired) Earlier this year, Bechdel was awarded […]
By John Mack Freeman If you haven’t stopped by GLBTRT’s homepage yet, take a look. We’ve received a brand new look. Special thanks to the Board and to David Isaak, Chair of the GLBTRT Web Committee. David worked with ALA staff and with the board to come up with a new look, and it really does look fantastic! […]
By John Mack Freeman With a little more than six weeks before Midwinter, many people are starting to plan their conference schedules. Be sure not to miss these programs of special interest to the GLBTRT Membership: Blood Donation: Facts, Fear and Discrimination GLBTRT will be hosting a panel at the 2015 Midwinter Meeting entitled “Blood […]
By John Mack Freeman Last week, we announced that this year’s fundraising committee had set a goal to raise $5,000 this year. Erin Berman raised $600 through selling baked goods to friends, family, and coworkers. Also, this week, Bill Cohen and Harrington Park Press donated $1,000 to GLBTRT. Add this to the $500 matching funds […]