Stanford Students React to DOMA and Marriage Equality

by Sammie Wills, ’16

Yesterday, on June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional by a 5-4 vote, because “it violated the right to liberty and to equal protection for gay couples.” With this decision, Facebook exploded with the reactions of many individuals — some full of sheer bliss, some seething with anger, and some couldn’t care less.

I wanted to explore some of these reactions, and hear first-hand what students and alumni had to say about the recent rulings.

Strategies in White Anti-Racism

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, PhD student

Women of today are still being called upon to stretch across the gap of male ignorance and to educate men as to our existence and our needs. This is an old and primary tool of all oppressors to keep the oppressed occupied with the master’s concerns. Now we hear that it is the task of women of Color to educate white women — in the face of tremendous resistance — as to our existence, our differences, our relative roles in our joint survival…
–Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”

Hello everyone. This is my first writing about anti-racism from a white, American perspective. I’m writing it in response to calls from people of color for white folks to educate each other about how racism continues to operate, and for committed white anti-racists to support each other in our learning and unlearning. Many calls to the general public, and one from a friend who made a semi-serious remark, “you should write a book on white anti-racism”.

The people I am addressing here are other white people (mostly Americans) who seek to resist racism, and who understand that while people who have directly experienced racism are experts on how it works, we can still learn from each other if we cast aside our egos and our fears of being seen as “not good enough allies”. I welcome critiques from anti-racist people of color who decide to read. If on the other hand you’re someone who doesn’t like to talk about race, then unless you’re willing to learn that historical racism has resounding effects and the status quo is still racist, this post is not for you. In particular if you’re a white person and you don’t like thinking about race because you are worried about feeling like a bad person, then please go instead to this comprehensive resource for all the good white people.

Welcome to Transgender Awareness Week

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, PhD student

Many student groups have pitched in with Stanford Students for Queer Liberation to bring the events of Transgender Awareness Week to campus.  This is the third year doing it, and every year is different.  Last year’s week was discussed here and here.

The week begins with a “trans* 101” panel, designed to introduce everyone and anyone to the experiences of the panelists, to give space for questions, and to give cis students (those who are not trans*) tools to use in supporting trans* folks.  We call that “being a trans ally”, but as many people will tell you, ally is not a thing you can be, it’s a thing you can strive to do.  The tools of allyship are a theme throughout the week and this post.

However, we believe that to focus only on the oppression that transgender people face will firstly not serve transgender students who want to attend without getting depressed or triggered, and secondly not point in the direction of the kind of respect that transgender people deserve.  

Stanford perspectives on California propositions

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, PhD candidate in Mathematics + Leslie Wu, PhD candidate in Computer Science

Eleven different propositions are on the California ballot this Tuesday, November 6th, ranging from tax hikes for education to GMO labeling and the death penalty. Here are a select few Stanford perspectives on these 2012 CA propositions.

For a summary, see the matching vote listing on ipolitic.com and a detailed ballot comparison.

Prop. 34: Repeal Death Penalty (more on Prop. 34 at ballotpedia)

“Regardless of your opinion on the death penalty itself,” writes Stanford undergraduate Lindsay Lamont of the Stanford Democrats, “it is clear that the current implementation of this policy in California is an ineffective waste of taxpayer dollars. Since 1978, about 900 people have been sentenced to death and only 14 have actually been executed. Prop 34 would change this sentence to life in prison without parole, saving potentially innocent people who have been convicted and saving CA $130 million annually. YES.”

Similarly, Stanford Amnesty International say yes: “not only the financially responsible choice for Californians, but also the only morally responsible option to protect human rights.”

Just Say NO to More Prison Violence

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, third-year graduate student in Mathematics

This piece originally appeared on Elizabeth’s personal blog, nonviolentrage.

Warning: this article discusses incarceration and sexual assault. 

Please, if you can, vote NO on proposition 35, the CASE Act.  The California Coalition for Women Prisoners has a very informative short page about why. Basically, all it does is increase punishments for things that are already illegal, and massively broaden the definition of who can be jailed for anything related to sex work, as well as the definition of who must register as a life-long sex offender.

The problem is broader than the specifics of this bill. It’s not just that not all sex workers are victims. It’s not just that many of the people who do business with sex workers are landlords, roommates, and many other people–all defined as “pimps”, all to be criminalized under Prop 35. It’s not just that the threat of law means that people who could potentially help get the most serious victims out of the system–clients, other sex workers, people who run the system–will be less likely to do so.

Introducing STATIC Staff ’12-’13

This year, we’re excited to announce that our staff has expanded from 2 to 20! Here are the folks who make STATIC happen:

EDITORS IN CHIEF

Holly Fetter is a Texafornian majoring in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity while pursuing her M.A. in Sociology. She’s also writing an honors thesis about civil society in China. She’s been involved with a lot of student groups, from FLIP to Las Hermanas to Stanford Students For Queer Liberation. She’s trying to figure out how to get people with privilege to talk about it. She wears a lot of blazers. She is the Managing Editor of STATIC online.

Jovel Queirolo is a junior from the San Francisco Bay Area majoring in Biology. She is interested in the intersections of the sciences and the humanities, particularly the patterns and themes that emerge in both. She’s really into ants. And Star Wars. She is the Managing Editor of Static in print.

FINANCIAL OFFICER

Lea Gee-Tong is a senior studying Human Biology who is involved in queer student activism, education programming and outreach, and cultural competency health research and advocacy.

WEBMASTERS

Joel Kek is very interested the intersection between technology and social change. Along these lines, he is also involved with Stanford in Government and Code the Change.

Leah Thomas is a senior majoring in Human Biology with a concentration in education. She is active in the queer community and seeks to create safe spaces on campus.

CONTENT EDITORS (BLOG)

Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, who also goes by her middle name “Quirk”, is a mathematics PhD student expecting to graduate in 2014. She admires cities as many admire “Nature”: strange humans and strange art are interdependent, powerful, beautiful. She enjoys living and volunteering in San Francisco, but is also excited to have joined Stanford Students For Queer Liberation.

Alex Nana-Sinkam is a Senior studying International Relations, minoring in African Studies and (fingers crossed) Art Studio Photography. She currently feels strongly about: using art and other unconventional methods to address and articulate issues in international social health. She is currently into: honest words, pop chips, Frank Ocean. She is currently trying to: write more, eat breakfast, look forward to (rather than panic about) the future.

CONTENT EDITORS (JOURNAL)

Angela Cenzon is a senior majoring in Human Biology with a minor in Political Science and is excitedto support activism on campus after spending her junior year abroad.

Edward Ngai is a news and politics junkie who loves running, the Canucks, and oxfordcommas.

LAYOUT EDITOR

Dania Marinshaw is a junior from North Carolina majoring in Human Biology with a concentration in Design for Human Performance and Wellness.

OUTREACH COORDINATORS

Raymond Luong is currently a sophomore majoring in Management Science & Engineering. Aside from his major and STATIC, he’s interested in sociology, pop culture, digital media, and laughing.

Gabriella “Gaby” Moreno is currently a sophomore considering studying Anthropology and or CSRE with a concentration in community development. While at Stanford she’s worked for the College Board in improving student access to higher education. She has also worked with Street Yoga, a Portland Oregon non profit facilitating healing for youth and families at risk through meditation and yoga.

Thanh D. Nguyen likes making art and owning pillow pets…for justice! He is primarily interested in refugee issues and international human rights.

Lina Schmidt is a sophomore interested in writing and playing music. She is also a member of SSQL and is excited to be on the STATIC team!

Caitlin Wraith is a junior from New Jersey in Stanford’s Urban Studies program, concentrating in Education. In her free time not spent as the WestFlo PHE, Caitlin engages in queer and feminist activism on campus, reads biographies, watches documentaries, and spends time with friends.

COMMUNITY LIAISON

Kristian Davis Bailey is a junior from New York studying Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. He’s interested in how to use media to discuss identity, privilege and power. He’s also interested in building a coalition of justice-minded students on campus.

STAFF WRITERS

Annie Graham is a junior from Phoenix, Arizona majoring in English, and is a founding member of the group Stanford Athletes and Allies Together- ensuring that a safe space exists for queer and allied athletes, on and off the field of competition.

Abaho Katabarwa is still doing this journey thing, but so far he was born in Uganda and has lived in Atlanta. As a member of EPASA, FLIP, and EJHS, he hopes to make his first step to increasing opportunity in underrepresented student populations.

Lewis Marshall is a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering. He is the former president of Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics @ Stanford.

CONSULTANT

Ingrid Heller, aka ABCrane, is the founder of Gungho Publishing company and has just released two nonfiction books on her economic philosophy and green franchising vision. She is currently collaborating with local musicians and theater professionals to launch her musical stage play, Kangaroo Fu, which reveals her economic model through song, dance, martial arts and an incredibly fascinating story line.

If you’re interested in getting involved with our crew, please email StanfordSTATIC@gmail.com. Frosh can apply to be interns using this form, and the deadline is October 10th at 10 PM (PST). We’re always looking for new Staff Writers as well, and you can find that application here.

Why I Protested at the San Francisco Pride Parade

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, third-year graduate student in Mathematics

Early in the protest, the parade organizers made a wall to separate protesters from Kaiser.

On a typically beautiful Sunday in San Francisco, at the annual Pride parade of June 24, I joined SF Pride at Work for the second of two protests. We had one focus: to demand that Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare insurer that has been certified LGBT-friendly by the Human Rights Campaign, remove certain exclusions from its healthcare plan.

It is very hard to say what effect a protest has, but this should be only part of a conversation healthcare companies need to have about their care of transgender patients. SF Pride at Work chose to target Kaiser because we have reason to hope that they may change their plans. The Human Rights Campaign endorsed Kaiser Permanente for LGBT patients, in 2010, but an endorsement from the HRC is not one trans people can trust. Kaiser does make efforts to support LGBT patients, and there are people within Kaiser who would like to remove the exclusions against transgender people (which fall particularly on transsexual people). Indeed, there were people on the float and among the Kaiser marchers who were glad of this protest, and who were having conversations about it as they walked. Kaiser needs to cover the sex reassignment surgery and “related” care that many transsexual people undergo; if it does not, then it is not truly an LGBT-friendly healthcare provider.

Let’s talk about Trans Rights, And That Means You

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, third-year graduate student in Mathematics 

I use some terms in this article which may be unfamiliar to many readers. Here is a useful glossary that gives definitions I believe to be current. Also, trigger warnings for several brief discussions of violence.

A full-time blogger named Natalie Reed recently wrote about an upcoming bill, C-279, which aims to make gender identity protections in Canada. Many Canadians, she says, assumes that transgender people already have protections against discrimination; but these laws are not sufficiently explicit, have been subject to interpretation, and even a court case about discrimination against a trans woman ultimately ruled that such discrimination was legal. Please read her article, skip my piece if you already care about trans rights, and if you’re Canadian, I hope you’ll write to your MP. Even if you’re not, you can sign this petition which is gaining momentum, and you can spread the word.

So, why should cis Canadians worry about trans rights? Why should cis Stanford students or Americans care? Even if we do care, what good will it do to talk about rights for transgender people, particularly transsexual people?