2009 January Archive | Feministing

Senate passes SCHIP expansion.

This is good news and will ensure coverage for immigrant children. Previously, these children have been denied adequate healthcare and had to wait 5 years to get any medical coverage. Bush had vetoed the expansion to the bill.

Senate Democrats moved one step closer to handing President Barack Obama an early health care victory Thursday, passing a bill extending government-sponsored health insurance coverage to about 4 million uninsured children.
The bill, which was approved 66-32, authorizes an additional $32.8 billion over the next 4 1/2 years for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The House plans to take up the same measure next week.
Even with the added spending, an estimated 5 million children still would be without health ...

By Miriam • 15 years ago

Creating Change 2009!

Hello from the Mile High City! I’m here for Creating Change 2009, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual conference. It’s essentially the largest queer activist gathering. This is my second year here (you can find last year’s blogs here and here).
I’ll be posting some of my thoughts and reflections about the conference over the next few days.

By Courtney • 15 years ago

Quick Hit: PETA’s Ad Banned from the Super Bowl

PETA’s incredibly ridiculous ad trying to convince all those hot wing munchers to convert to vegetarianism during the Super Bowl has been rejected. Shocker. It contains thin white woman prancing around in their underwear rubbing vegetables all over their perfectly toned bodies. I’m not even going to post the video, cause it’s, well, inane. Suffice it to say that, once again, PETA proves it has no notion of intersectional exploitation.
Thanks to all the readers who let us know. Why can’t PETA spend some of that money hiring community blogger lorenc to talk about his actual experience being a dude vegetarian? See his smart post below.
And other community posters take:
Peta’s New Strategy
Peta Denied Commercial Airtime

By Courtney • 15 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Surprised by God

The only Jewish kid I knew growing up in Colorado Springs, CO was a nerdy guy whose mother sued the neighborhood elementary school when she realized we only sang Christmas carols around holiday time (this was in the mid 80s). I felt bad for him, even though I thought it was very brave of his mother. It must have been a pretty alienating childhood.
But then I moved to Barnard and lived in New York City and I was actually the one who sometimes felt alienated from Judaism–the thing that gave the other girls on my hallway an immediate social circle when school started, the thing that made my roommate wait for me to turn on the bathroom light on ...

By Courtney • 15 years ago

The Pandora’s Box of Cohabitation

So remember awhile back when I asked for your advice on sharing space with a partner and not losing your mind? Well, I’m happy to report that it’s been about three months of cohab-ing and things seem to be going along swimmingly. I think in my effort to make sure that my body wasn’t invaded by sexist body snatchers (laundry, dishes, dinner oh my!) the second he moved in, I forgot how much fun he is, how much I adore watching TV with him, and telling one another jokes while we try to fall asleep. We just make a lot of sense, which, it turns out, is one major protection against stupid gender role defaults.
Having said that, I ...

By Courtney • 15 years ago

Obama Signs the Lilly Ledbetter Act!

Woo hoo! Obama has officially signed, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, fair pay legislation! In Obama’s own words:

It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign … we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness. If we stay focused, as Lilly did, and keep standing for what’s right, as Lilly did, we will close that pay gap and ensure that our daughters have the same rights, the same chances, and the same freedom to pursue their dreams as our sons.

Full remarks here.

Woo hoo! Obama has officially signed, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, fair pay legislation! In Obama’s own words:

It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign … we are upholding ...

By Courtney • 15 years ago

Pariah

Check out two quick versions of a trailer for this amazing movie my friend Claire told me about.

The website explains it thus:

Pariah is a coming-of-age drama about a lesbian teenager who unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family.
Set against the kinetic and incongruous social landscape of middle class New York City, Alike vacillates between being a proud and sexually independent woman amongst her openly gay friends and being the feminine, obedient girl that her strict Christian upbringing dictates she be.
Torn by mounting pressure from home, school, and within, the line between her dual personas wears thin with explosive consequences.

It doesn’t currently have any theater distribution deals, but you can see it on ...

Check out two quick versions of a trailer for this amazing movie my friend Claire told me about.

The website explains it thus:

Pariah is a coming-of-age drama about a lesbian teenager who unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to ...

By Courtney • 15 years ago

My Unsolicited Advice to the Women of “Dating a Banker Anonymously”

Check out smarty pants Linda Holmes interesting research on the legitimacy of lack there of, of the DABA ladies on NPR.
Warning: best read on an empty stomach. This one is a puker.
The New York Times rounded out its seemingly never ending informal series on how the economy’s downturn is affecting wealthy white people with a special little story yesterday entitled, “It’s the Economy, Girlfriend.” It turns out that women accustomed to dating men with lots of money (Do these women have jobs? Is heterosexuality a prerequisite for making it into the series?) are gathering online and in hot spots around New York City to commiserate about these tough, tough times. An excerpt:

In addition to meeting ...