Last month Pres. Obama signed the Matthew Shepard - James Byrd jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which extended the definition of federal hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Matthew Shepard died as a result of a brutal homophobic attack in Laramie Wyoming in 1992. James Byrd Jr., and Afircan American, died in June of 1998 in Jasper Texas when he assaulted and dragged behind a truck for threee miles until his death.
Read about the bill in this article on the NAACP website, and here in the Washington Post.
Formerly known as the Common Ground Small Grants program, the Inclusive Community Fund provides funding for campus projects designed to promote an inclusive community on campus and create learning opportunities across differences. Students or employees may apply for funding for projects that enhance classroom learning, explore different cultures, or investigate issues of social justice. Past funded projects have included theatre productions, student or faculty-promoted cultural events, class field trips, or guest speakers. Your innovative and challenging ideas are welcome! For more information go to the Common Ground website or contact Lisa Miles at 484-1655.
South African runner, Caster Semenya, who recently won a gold medal at the World Track and Field Championships, has had her gender tested on order of the International Association of Athletics Federation, and reports are leaking out of Australia that she may be intersex, exhibiting both male and female physical characteristics.
Raised in a poor village in South Africa, it is very possible Caster herself, who has lived her life as a woman, did not know this fact.
What can be learned from Caster’s story? Read here to learn more about the current controversy over her testing. Click here for noted sociologist Mike Messner’s thoughts from a post to the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. For more about what intersex means, click here.
