April 13, 2009
Issue XXVIII
In this issue: Portland, Ore., Mayor Sam
Adams
1 A 21st-Century Sex Scandal: Here in the great evergreen-
Would the mayor of Portland be and-gray metropolis of
out of office if he weren't gay? Portland, Ore., we like to
think of our city as a
thriving wonderland of
4 US supports UN statement calling
forward thinking. We prefer
for decriminalization of our urban planning
homosexuality carefully considered, our
light-rail and bicycle routes plentiful, our indie
5 The first GM human embryo musicians erudite and inscrutable, and our movie
could dramatically alter the theaters stocked with beer—progressive policies, all.
future
So when we kicked off 2009 by swearing in Sam
8 Museo Larco – Experience ancient Adams, as the first openly gay mayor of a major
Peru American city, the occasion left a lot of us pretty pleased
with our nonchalant open-mindedness: "Oh, did we just
8 Raped and killed for being a make civil rights history? Funny, we weren't even
paying attention." But the back-patting didn't last long.
lesbian: South Africa ignores
Within weeks of taking office, Portland's new mayor
'corrective' attacks
found himself embroiled in a scandal so lurid and
10 Sex, Science and Stem Cells: combustible that it resembles a plotline from The Young
Inside the Right Wing Assault on and the Restless. Which now leaves Portland as an
Reason innovator of something quite different. The Adams
imbroglio may be the first true 21st-century political sex
11 The eros-HUMOR Corner scandal: one that only a gay politician could survive.
Our saga begins in September 2007, when the young and
wonkishly handsome Adams—a popular, ruthlessly
effective city councilor who seemed all-but-destined to
Please send comments to Felix at: chakool@comcast.net win the following year's mayoral race—faced a sudden,
shocking threat to his political career. Local real estate
developer Bob Ball, also gay and a political rival, had
planted a rumor to end all rumors within Portland's
A 21st-Century Sex Scandal: political set: Back in 2005, he alleged, the then-42-year-
Would the mayor of Portland old Adams had entered into a clandestine sexual
relationship with a 17-year-old legislative intern from
be out of office if he weren't Salem. The teen's name? (Cue Y&R opening theme ...)
Beau Breedlove.
gay?
http://www.slate.com/id/2210913
When the charges hit, Adams handled the situation with
Clinton-esque political deftness, flipping the story line
from that of a shady relationship with a teenager to one
of a role model seeking only to counsel a young gay
erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
man. Of course they were friends, Adams announced in When the public circus finally began, Portland made
a press conference, but it was a friendship of mentor and sure it was of the full three-ring variety: protesters
protégé—in fact, he'd even gone to Breedlove's 18th bearing signs saying "Protect interns from our mayor"
birthday party to show his parents that one could be gay, clashed with those pledging to "Stand by our Sam";
happy, and successful. Breedlove confirmed the story, newspapers (including the gay publication Just Out)
and in one swoop Adams vanquished a political called for Adams' head while others admonished
adversary and bolstered his own image. With an air of Portland for freaking out; local retailers churned out
wounded nobility, he told one local paper that such novelty T-shirts and "Breedlove Cock" doughnuts.
slander merely "plays in to the worst deep-seated fears Hundreds of supporters rallied for Adams at City Hall.
society has about gay men: You can't trust them with Among the all-star cast speaking on his behalf were gay
your young." He won the mayor's race in a landslide. musician Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini, gay
national sex columnist Dan Savage, gay Milk director
All was blissful in the Adams camp until last month, Gus Van Sant (who, bizarrely, sent a member of the
when Nigel Jaquiss, a reporter for the alternative paper local Zoobomber bicycle clique in his stead), gay
Willamette Week (disclosure: and my former colleague), Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (who weathered his
came calling. Jaquiss, who famously uncovered another own sex scandal in the '80s and sent a message of
Portland mayor's underage sex abuse, confronted Adams support), and gay … you get the idea.
with evidence that he had lied about his relationship with
Breedlove—which may have included sex while he was In the strangest turn yet, on the same day (Jan. 25) that
still a minor. The rattled Adams maintained his Breedlove revealed to the Oregonian that he and Adams
innocence, but when it became clear that WW intended had kissed twice before he turned 18—including once
to publish the story, he had no choice but to come clean. for a full minute in a City Hall bathroom—Adams
announced he was staying in office. And this is where
The day after WW's revelation, Jan. 20, Adams hosted things stand today, with opponents pledging a recall
another press conference, this time to admit that he'd drive (which, under local law, can't start until July) and
never really mentored Breedlove and that he had boosters preaching forgiveness.
persuaded the teen to lie about their romance—even
asked political consultant Mark Wiener to teach So now, flush with details, we return to our central
Breedlove how to speak to the media. (For the record: question: Is this a political sex scandal that only a gay
Yes, this gay sex scandal features a Breedlove, a Ball, politician could survive? Before I tread any farther down
and a Wiener.) Yet Adams also avowed that there had this path, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I'm
been no sexual contact before Breedlove turned 18. not saying Adams' sexuality makes his relationship with
Breedlove or his subsequent lying any more right or
It actually took a day or two for all hell to break loose. wrong. It just changes the way the scandal's aftermath
Other than the obligatory "Holy shit," many Portlanders plays out, with the historically unique upshot that
seemed confused about how to react. Everyone was Adams' homosexuality may end up being his saving
disappointed, sure—but was Adams' transgression grace.
actually criminal? (An investigation into this question is
pending.) Should they condemn the lying, or do all Of course, that's not necessarily the way everyone sees
politicians lie? I had friends call me, infuriated, asking it; most commentators have called Adams' sexual
why this scurrilous gossip about a legal private orientation completely irrelevant. "This isn't a gay or
relationship merited a newspaper story at all, while straight issue at the core," one prominent local gay rights
others told me Adams should resign immediately in advocate told Willamette Week, while Adams himself
disgrace. Though seldom spoken aloud, a larger question claimed in his only scandal-related interview that his
hung over it all: Is it different because he's gay? conduct isn't a gay-people issue any more than a hetero
sex scandal would be a straight-people issue.
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
And to whom did Adams give that interview, you might wouldn't excuse the behavior. "Yes, she's hot," we'd say,
ask? To Out magazine, a gay publication, which "but they call it jailbait for a reason. You don't touch
undercuts his own argument; saying sexual orientation is underage girls, period." The male-male relationship
irrelevant to this case is wishful thinking, not reality. brings a moral gray area that helps Adams.
(But who could blame LGBT advocates for wanting to
see it that way, after their historic electoral triumph And let's add another factor to this ethical calculus: For
devolved into a gay rights nightmare?) Adams' most better or worse, the under-40, hyper-liberal Portlanders
prominent boosters, as we've seen, are gay. who make up Adams' support base automatically err
toward nonjudgment when it comes to gay culture.
Many backers are denouncing his opponents as Essentially, the years of school lessons on tolerance are
homophobes or, in Dan Savage's words, as "hysterical, coming to the fore; we were taught not to judge the
terrified, sex-negative idiots." (Although Savage also lifestyles of those who aren't like us, and we're not
proclaimed in a 2008 column that "Gay men in their inclined to start now.
thirties and forties who will date teenage boys are almost
always scum," so that one's a wash.) In a perfect world When you look out on the pro-Adams crowds, there are
we'd all be blind to sexual preference, but our world is the gay advocates who champion Adams out of loyalty
far from perfect. It's not a question of whether it's or out of fear over what's at stake, and there are the
different because Adams is gay; it's a question of how gravy-train riders who worry about their interests losing
it's different—and how that affects Adams' fate. support if he leaves office, but you mostly see young,
educated liberals who feel unqualified to spit venom
To demonstrate the first way it's different, let's ask the about Adams' sex life—despite the fact that they'd be far
obvious question: How would the Portland public react less restrained with a straight politician. (Even if you
if Adams were straight and Breedlove were a teenage fervently disagree with them, it's hard not to see this as
girl? The answer is, we'd see this as a garden variety, progress in gay-straight relations.) Without them giving
morally black-and-white sex scandal, and Adams would Adams the benefit of the doubt, how big would those
be jobless faster than you can say "McGreevey." After rallies be?
all, there's a massive double standard in how we think
about the age of consent. When an older man courts a For most Portlanders, though, Adams' lie is the crux of
teenage girl, it's predatory and sleazy; but when it's a the scandal—yet when we're honest, that lie isn't quite
teenage boy receiving advances, gay or straight, we have the same as a straight politician's lie.
trouble believing he's being wronged. (Indeed,
Breedlove was aggressively chasing Adams; he even has Let's put aside for the moment the question of whether
a dog named Lolita.) he broke any laws in his relationship with Breedlove
(which looks increasingly likely, since their restroom
Critics see the movie The Reader, wherein a 36-year-old makeout probably constitutes sexual contact). What are
Kate Winslet beds a 15-year-old boy, and they speak of a the political rules about discussing sex? For hetero
"tender sexual awakening," as every straight man in the politicians, they're simple: When asked about sex, just
theater (including me) thinks, "I would have sold my don't lie, and prepare to go down in flames if you do.
siblings into bonded labor to sleep with Kate Winslet (See Edwards, John.) For gays, though—and not just for
when I was 15, you little bastard." Portray a 36-year-old public figures—these aren't the rules at all; society
man and a 15-year-old girl, though, and you're in … encourages them to conceal their sex lives.
well, Lolita territory—no mercy there. Some have
argued that if Breedlove were female, straight men It's not just that gays had to hide their sexual orientation
would be high-fiving Adams, but this is preposterous. for much of recorded history, it's that our public
We'd understand the attraction—and when you peruse acceptance of homosexuality today is somewhat
Breedlove's unbelievably porny Myspace pics, you can conditional. Society doesn't want to see them kiss or
certainly see what was on Adams' mind—but we hold hands, and it doesn't want to think about what goes
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
on behind closed doors. Adams' lie was callous, Obama administration throws support behind a measure
orchestrated, and self-serving, but at the same time, do that former president George W Bush had refused to
we really expect him to suddenly open up about sex after sign.
a lifetime of burying the subject with the general public?
Even a "no comment" would have been suicide. This The United States today
doesn't necessarily make the lie less wrong—if anything, formally endorsed a UN
it makes the shrewd Adams look like a fool for putting statement calling for the
himself in such a questionable situation—but it's another worldwide decriminalization
moral vagary that leans in his favor. of homosexuality, a measure
that former president George
So far, these quirks of gay-straight perception have let W Bush had refused to sign.
Adams cling to his job when a straight mayor would
likely be holed up in his basement with a case of cheap The move was the
whiskey, but no one knows how long this will last. One administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions
more damning revelation could sink him tomorrow, but that have been heavily criticized by human rights and
he could also ride out the storm and find the public other groups. The United States was the only western
willing to forgive or forget—not least because no local nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up
leaders appear eager to lead a recall push and risk the at the UN general assembly in December.
charges of homophobia. Every morning on my way to
the office, I now pass a large sign that admonishes me in "The United States supports the UN's statement on
scrawled black letters to "FORGIVE," but after a couple human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and
of weeks spent wading through shrieking headlines and is pleased to join the other 66 UN member states who
cultural conflict, you become less inclined to think about have declared their support of the statement," said state
forgiveness or indictment and more inclined to think department spokesman Robert Wood.
about how wrenchingly tragic the whole mess is.
"The United States is an outspoken defender of human
As with President Obama, we elected Adams not for his rights and critic of human rights abuses around the
minority status but because he was the best man for the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with
job, and the hope we felt about our new, boundary- other supporters of this statement, and we will continue
shattering leader soured into the kind of scandal that to remind countries of the importance of respecting the
could actually make the city more intolerant and divided. human rights of all people in all appropriate international
Soon enough, we'll see how progressive a city Portland fora."
truly is—and whether that will haunt us in the years to
come. Gay rights groups hailed the move. "The administration's
leadership on this issue will be a powerful rebuke of an
earlier Bush administration position that sought to deny
the universal application of human rights protections to
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
US supports UN statement individuals," said Mark Bromley of the Council for
calling for decriminalization Global Equality, which promotes equal rights for
homosexuals.
of homosexuality
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/homosex "This is long past overdue and we are encouraged by the
uality-un-statement-obama signal it sends that the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people will now be considered human
rights," said Rea Carey, the executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
Human rights groups had criticized the Bush Human_embryo “The
administration when it refused to sign the statement advance of genetic
when it was presented at the United Nations on 19 engineering makes it quite
December. US officials said then that the US opposed conceivable that we will
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that begin to design our own
parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed evolutionary progress.”
further review.
Isaac Asimov, famous
According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns thinker and sci-fi writer
that those sections could commit the federal government
on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some Cornell University
states, landlords and private employers are allowed to researchers in New York
discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the revealed that they had produced what is believed to be
federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the the world’s first genetically altered human embryo—an
military. ironic twist considering all the criticism the US has
heaped on South Korea over the past several years for
But Wood said a "careful interagency review" by the going “too far” with its genetic research programs. The
Obama administration had concluded that "supporting Cornell team, led by Nikica Zaninovic, used a virus to
this statement commits us to no legal obligations". add a green fluorescent protein gene, to a human embryo
left over from an in vitro fertilization procedure. The
When it was voted on in December, 66 of the UN's 192 research was presented at a meeting of the American
member countries signed the non-binding declaration, Society of Reproductive Medicine last year, but details
which backers called an historic step to push the general have emerged only after new controversy has emerged
assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay over the ethics and science of genetically modifying
discrimination. It was endorsed by all 27 European humans.
Union members as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.
Zaninovic has pointed out that in order to be sure that
But 70 UN members outlaw homosexuality and in the new gene had been inserted and the embryo had been
several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution. genetically modified, scientists would ideally want to
More than 50 nations, including members of the keep growing the embryo and carry out further tests.
Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the However, the Cornell team did not get permission to
declaration. keep the embryo alive. The GM embryos created could
theoretically have become the world’s first genetically
Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting altered man or woman, but it was destroyed after five
sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization days.
and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as
pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed British regulators form the Human Fertilization and
by the Vatican. Embryology Authority (HFEA), have warned that such
controversial experiments cause “large ethical and public
interest issues”.
Much of the debate stems from the fact that the effects of
The first GM human embryo genetically altering an embryo would be generational
could dramatically alter the and permanent. In other words, if we create a mutant
baby and it grows up to have children of it’s own—
future they’ll all be mutant gene carriers too. Genes injected
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the- into embryos and reproductive cells, such as sperm,
worlds-fi-1.html
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
affect every cells in the body and would be passed on to “Certainly, sometimes we want competitive advantage
future generations. Critics say current humans don’t [for our children], but for the enhancements I talk about,
have the right to tamper with the gene pool of future the competitive advantage is not the prime motive. I
generations. didn’t give my son a good diet in the hope that others eat
a bad diet and die prematurely. I’m happy if everyone
On the other hand, proponents of such technology say has a good diet. The moral imperative should be that
that this science could potentially erase diseases such as enhancements are generally available because they are
cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and even cancer. In theory, good for everyone.”
any “good” gene could be added to embryos to offset
any “bad” genes they are currently carrying. That could The only other route to equality, he says, is to level
potentially mean the difference between life and death down so that everyone is as uneducated, unhealthy and
for many children. unenhanced as the lowest in society – which would be
much more unethical in his opinion. Even though we
John Harris, the Sir David Alliance Professor of can’t offer a liver transplant to all who need them, he
Bioethics at Manchester University, takes it a step says, we still carry them out for the lucky few. “Much
further. He believes that as parents, citizens, and better to try to raise the baseline, even if some are left
scientists, we are morally obliged to do whatever we can behind.”
genetically to make life better and longer for our
children and ourselves. Society currently devotes so The Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill in
much energy and resources towards saving lives, which, currently under consideration in Britain will likely make
in reality, is simply postponing death, he notes. If it is it legal to create GM embryos in that country, but only
right to save life, Harris reasons, then it should also be for research—implantation in the womb will still be
right to postpone death by stemming the flow of diseases banned—at least for now. However, ethicists believe
that carry us to the grave. that the legislation could easily be relaxed even further
in the future.
For Harris, having the ability to improve our species lot
in life but refusing to do so, makes little sense. He has a People who believe that genetically modified humans is
difficult time understanding why some people are so something way into the future might want to consider
insistent that we shouldn’t try to improve upon human that many experts are worried that some forms of it are
evolution. already happening in the sports world.
“Can you imagine our ape ancestors getting together and Faster, bigger, better, stronger—in theory, the single
saying, ‘this is pretty good, guys. Let’s stop it right most effective way to radically alter your physical
here!’. That’s the equivalent of what people say today.” capacities is to manipulate your genes. Athletes are
beginning to take notice. Now that we’ve mapped out
Ethicists, however, warn that genetically modifying the human genome and identified exactly which genes
embryos will lead to designer babies preloaded with make you buff, tough and rough—experts are concerned
socially desirable traits involving height, intelligence about the future of genetic doping.
and coloring.
Gene doping could spawn athletes capable of out-
Dr David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, running, out-jumping and out-cycling even the world’s
warns, “This is the first step on the road that will lead to greatest champions. However, researchers at the
the nightmare of designer babies and a new eugenics.” University of Florida are attempting to prevent that from
happening by detecting the first cases of gene doping in
Harris, however, doesn’t support that argument. He says professional athletes before the practice becomes
it’s not about “beauty” it’s about health, and what parent mainstream.
wouldn’t want a healthy child, he asks.
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), It is even thought possible to so drastically alter human
responsible for monitoring the conduct of athletes, is genomes that a type of superhuman species could
working with investigators around the globe to develop emerge. The fear with germline engineering is that since
testing to identify competitors who have injected it is inheritable, offspring and all succeeding generations
themselves with genetic material that is capable of would carry the modified traits. This is one reason why
enhancing muscle mass or heightening endurance. this type of engineering is currently banned- it could
lead to irreversible alteration of the entire human
“If an athlete injects himself in the muscle with DNA, species.
would we be able to detect that?” asked one of France’s
leading gene therapy researchers, Philippe Moullier, Ethics, not scientific limitations, is the real brick wall.
M.D., Ph.D., director of the Gene Therapy Laboratory at Most scientists believe manipulating genes in order to
the Universite de Nantes in France. make an individual healthy is a noble and worthwhile
pursuit. Some are against even that notion, arguing that
Right now, he says the answer is clearly “no”. But that historically amazing individuals have sometimes been
may soon change. The UF scientists are among several plagued by genetic mental and physical disorders, which
groups collaborating with national and global anti- inadvertently shaped the greatness of their lives. Should
doping organizations to develop a test that can detect we rob the human race of character shaping frailty? Very
evidence of “doped” DNA. few scientists would dare to publicly endorse the idea of
using genetic engineering to make a normal, healthy
“WADA has had a research program in place for some individuals somehow superior to the rest of the human
years now, to try to develop tests for gene-based race.
doping,” said Theodore Friedmann, M.D., head of the
agency’s panel on genetic doping and director of the “The push to redesign human beings, animals and plants
gene therapy program at the University of California, to meet the commercial goals of a limited number of
San Diego. individuals is fundamentally at odds with the principle of
respect for nature,”said Brent Blackwelder, President of
Nearly every day now we are inundated with new Friends of the Earth in his testimony before the Senate
genetic discoveries. Scientists can now pinpoint many Appropriations Committee.
specific genes including being lean, living a long life,
improved self-healing, thrill seeking behavior, and However, would it be so bad if the human race were
having an improved memory among many other slightly improved? What if a relatively simple procedure
incredible traits. Many believe that these genes can be could make an individual and his or her offspring
manipulated in ordinary humans, in effect creating resistant to cancer? After all, Nature isn’t always right.
Super-Mutants. Nature has naturally selected many people to carry the
burden of uncomfortable and often lethal genetic
Theoretically, options are nearly limitless. Even a gene disorders. If nature knows best, then shouldn’t we quit
that exists in another species could be brought over to a trying to “improve” upon nature by “curing” people of
human cell. Imagine some of the incredible traits of the genetic conditions we consider inferior? Many say we
animal kingdom that some humans don’t possess such as shouldn’t change human genetics, UNLESS it’s the
night vision, amazing agility, or the ability to breath RIGHT thing to do. Who gets to decide where the line is
underwater. The precedence for these types of radical between righteous endeavor and the corruption of
changes is already in place. Experimental mice, for nature? These are the questions facing our generation.
example, were successfully given the human ability to
see in color. If animals can be engineered to have human
traits, then humans can certainly be mutated to have
desirable animal traits.
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
The partially clothed
body of Eudy Simelane,
former star of South
Africa's acclaimed
Museo Larco – Experience Banyana Banyana
national female football
ancient Peru squad, was found in a
http://www.museolarco.org/iep_er.shtml
creek in a park in Kwa
Permanent Exhibition Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had
Erotic Gallery been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being
stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as
being one of South Africa's best-known female
footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights
campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as
a lesbian in Kwa Thema.
Her brutal murder took place last April, and since then a
tide of violence against lesbians in South Africa has
continued to rise. Human rights campaigners say it is
characterized by what they call "corrective rape"
This hall displays the selection of archaeological objects committed by men behind the guise of trying to "cure"
made by Rafael Larco Hoyle in the 1960s, as a result of lesbians of their sexual orientation.
his research on sexual representations in Peruvian pre-
Columbian art, published in his book Checan (1966). Now, a report by the international NGO ActionAid,
backed by the South African Human Rights
Renovated in November 2002, this exhibition of erotic Commission, condemns the culture of impunity around
ceramics is being displayed with comments and new these crimes, which it says are going unrecognized by
perspectives resulting from advanced research about the state and unpunished by the legal system.
these sexual representations, which belong to a greater
representation system. The report calls for South Africa's criminal justice
system to recognize hate crimes, including corrective
rape, as a separate crime category. It argues this will
force police to take action over the rising violence and
ensure the resources and support is provided to those
Raped and killed for being a trying to bring perpetrators to justice.
lesbian: South Africa
The ferocity and brutality of Simelane's murder sent
ignores 'corrective' attacks shockwaves through Kwa Thema, where she was much
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/eudy- known and loved for bringing sports fame to the
simelane-corrective-rape-south-africa sprawling township.
Her mother, Mally Simelane, said she always feared for
• Women living in fear of brutal assaults by male
her daughter's safety but never imagined her life would
gangs
be taken in such a way.
• Country's 'macho politics' lead to lack of action
"I'm scared of these people that they are going to come
and kill me too because I don't know what happened,"
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
she said. "Why did they do this horrible thing? Because A statement released by South Africa's national
of who she was? She was a sweet lady, she never fought prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes –
with anyone, but why would they kill her like this? She especially of a sexual nature – are rife, it is not
was stabbed, 25 holes in her. The whole body, even something that the South African government has
under the feet." prioritized as a specific project."
The Guardian talked to lesbians in townships in The failure of police to follow up eyewitness statements
Johannesburg and Cape Town who said they were being and continue their investigation into another brutal
deliberately targeted for rape and that the threat of double rape and murder of lesbian couple Sizakele
violence had become an everyday ordeal. Sigasa and Salome Massooa in July 2007 has led to the
formation of the 07-07-07 campaign, a coalition of
"Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that human rights and equality groups calling for justice for
they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll women targeted in these attacks.
become a girl," said Zakhe Sowello from Soweto,
Johannesburg. "When you are raped you have a lot of Sigasa and Massooa were tortured, gang raped and shot
evidence on your body. But when we try and report near their homes in Meadowland, Soweto in July 2007,
these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys shortly after being verbally abused outside a bar.
who raped you walking free on the street."
Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping that
Research released last year by Triangle, a leading South the public outrage and disgust at Simelane's death and
African gay rights organization, revealed that a the July trial of the three men accused of her rape and
staggering 86% of black lesbians from the Western Cape murder will help put an end to the spiraling violence
said they lived in fear of sexual assault. The group says increasingly faced by lesbians across South Africa.
it is dealing with up to 10 new cases of "corrective rape"
every week. Despite more than 30 reported murders of lesbians in the
last decade, Simelane's trial has produced the first
"What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women conviction, when one man who pleaded guilty to her
coming to us having been raped and who have been told rape and murder was jailed last month.
throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame
for what was happening to them," said Vanessa Ludwig, On sentencing, the judge said that Simelane's sexual
the chief executive at Triangle. orientation had "no significance" in her killing. The trial
of a further three men pleading not guilty to rape,
Support groups claim an increasingly aggressive and burglary and murder will start in July.
macho political environment is contributing to the
inaction of the police over attacks on lesbians and is part In Soweto and Kwa Thema, women seem unconvinced
of a growing cultural lethargy towards the high levels of that Simelane's case will change anything for the better.
gender-based violence in South Africa. Phumla talks of her experience of being taught a "classic
lesson" by a group of men who abducted and raped her
"When asking why lesbian women are being targeted when she was returning from football training in 2003.
you have to look at why all women are being raped and She says that "practically every" lesbian in her
murdered in such high numbers in South Africa," said community has suffered some form of violence in the
Carrie Shelver, of women's rights group Powa, a South past year and that it will take more than one trial to stop
African NGO. "So you have to look at the increasingly this happening.
macho culture, which seeks to oppress women and sees
them as merely sexual beings. So when there is a lesbian "Every day you feel like its a time bomb waiting to go
woman she is an absolute affront to this kind of off," she said. "You don't have freedom of movement,
masculinity." you don't have space to do as you please. You are always
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
scared and your life always feels restricted. As women "The reason I did this book now," DeGette explained in
and as lesbians we need to be very aware that it is a fact a telephone interview Tuesday, "is because as the fall
of life that we are always in danger." elections approach I wanted to let the American public
know how health policies must be based on sound
science. The United States is based on separation of
church and state, and federal, public health programs
ought to be based on science, not on religion."
Sex, Science and Stem
Cells: Inside the Right Wing Bush and his colleagues denounce embryonic stem-cell
research, which uses embryos from past in-vitro
Assault on Reason fertilization procedures that are otherwise scheduled to
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sex-Science-and- be destroyed. Stem cells extracted from embryos a few
Stem-Cells/Diana-DeGette/e/9781599214313 days old can morph into any type of tissue and are
widely considered to hold the greatest promise of
treatments and cures for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's
Rep. Diana DeGette is known and other ailments.
for writing purposeful,
impactful legislation Congresswoman DeGette is in her sixth term
addressing difficult issues in a representing Colorado's First Congressional District,
straightforward way. The which includes the municipalities of Denver,
Democratic Congresswoman Englewood, Glendale, Cherry Hills Village and
from Colorado routinely and Sheridan. Her life orbits around a busy voting schedule,
bravely challenges the religious committee hearings, constituent-service work and family
right's positions on sex commitments. Still, she found time to write an important
education, birth control, book on an important topic.
abortion and embryonic stem
cell research. In her new book, "The book is not targeted at opponents, because frankly I
"Sex, Science and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing don't think I will ever convince them," DeGette said. "I
Assault on Reason," DeGette does more of the same. wrote it for the 87 percent of Americans who think
public health policy should be based on sound science."
This probing philosophical work exposes the
politicization of science by the right wing in the U.S. The book offers an absorbing look at life-changing
Congress and the heavy influence of the religious right. medical breakthroughs and the untoward and polarizing
In "Sex, Science and Stem Cells," the author details the dialogue that accompanies that innovation.
complete progression of events in the stem-cell debate --
she is credited with being the chief architect of stem-cell DeGette's daughter, Francesca, was diagnosed with Type
legislation -- as well as discussing other issues, such as I diabetes in 1998 at the age of 4. The author shares her
the opposition to science-based sex education, birth personal struggle with the disease and how it has
control policy and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. propelled her and her colleagues to become activists on
diabetes research. Admittedly, she has carved out a niche
DeGette, who signs copies of her book Tuesday at the for herself as an expert on children's healthcare issues
Boulder Book Store, explains how President Bush's twin and other important related scientific research.
vetoes of bills to put taxpayer dollars behind embryonic
stem-cell research shows that he lets ideology block Rep. DeGette currently co-chairs the bipartisan
progress in finding cures to diseases that afflict millions Congressional Diabetes Caucus. And as vice chair of the
of people. Committee on Energy and Commerce, she helps draft
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erosWORLD n e w s - XXVIII April 13, 2009
legislation that might make it easier for scientists to difficulties of the stem-cell debate. Yet while we wait,
solve the medical puzzles of our time, she said. the conversation continues.
"That's why it angers me to think of George W. Bush
sitting up there in the White House, deciding that the
welfare of a bunch of frozen embryonic cells is
somehow more important than the welfare of my child --
The eros-HUMOR Corner
or any child for that matter," DeGette writes. "There are
thousands and thousands of parents just like me, whose
kids have diabetes or cancer or muscular dystrophy, who
feel the same way; and, there are thousands and
thousands of adult children whose parents have
Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or a stroke. Together we're
counting on those embryos to see us through and take
some of that weight off our shoulders and set our world
right once again."
DeGette, like so many others, firmly believes that stem-
cell research should not be a partisan issue.
Unfortunately, because of President Bush's vetoes and
Congress' failure to override those two vetoes, stem-cell
research has become a political issue, as evidenced in the
last election.
"What seems radical to one person might appear
conservative to another," she notes. It is time for religion,
Readers who get enthused participating in current ideology, and politics to stand
political debate will find this thought-provoking book
offers rich rewards. The text describes in detail how the
out of the way of scientific
religious right and its Congressional allies not only progress… Let there be light,
oppose abortion but also birth control. Efforts to
insinuate its agenda to restrict birth control, DeGette man!! ☺☺
writes, have included an attempt to remove coverage of
birth control from federal insurance coverage despite the
fact the plans cover Viagra. Conservative supporters,
however, reason that birth control is not a medical
condition, whereas Viagra treats a medical condition.
DeGette's vivid writing includes some pretty captivating
conversation-starters. She presents actual Congressional
floor debates, testimony and statements, exposing what
she believes is the dangerous right-wing Christian
conservatives' stranglehold on Republicans and
Democrats. It's unlikely that the religious right and those
aligned with it will leapfrog the perceived moral
11