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By jrnelson • 13 years ago

Yet Another Reason to Love Hillary Clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke today at an LGBT pride event at the State Department (the full transcript can be found here ). I was lucky enough to be able to attend because of a friend I have interning in the department, and the speech really was something to behold. Among the topics discussed was the recent change to the State Department’s equal employment opportunity statement to include gender identity, a big step in the right direction that will hopefully have a rippling effect through other government agencies and then in the private sector.

Here’s the full video.

And here are some of the highlights (in my opinion):

"Today, I’m pleased to announce that for the first time, gender identity will be included along with sexual orientation in the State Department Equal Employee Opportunity Statement."

"Just as I was very proud to say the obvious more than 15 years ago in Beijing that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, well, let me say today that human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights, once and for all"

"The struggle for equality is never, ever finished. And it is rarely easy, despite how self-evident it should be. But the hardest-fought battles often have the biggest impact."

It was really a great event, and it is especially optimistic that the State Department is including both sexual orientation and gender identity ...
By jrnelson • 14 years ago

Interview with Justice Ginsburg

The NY Times Magazine has a fantastic interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, available online here . The interview is conducted by Emily Bazelon, a graduate and member of the faculty of Senior Research Scholar in Law and Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School and the senior editor of Slate.

It’s a fantastic (but long) interview which touches upon the role of women on the Court, Judge Sotomayor’s hearing, and some recent gender civil rights cases.

Some interesting highlights:

In response to Sotomayor’s wise Latina comment: "Yes, women bring a different life experience to the table. All of our differences make the conference better. That I’m a woman, that’s part of it, that I’m Jewish, that’s ...

The NY Times Magazine has a fantastic interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, available online here . The interview is conducted by Emily Bazelon, a graduate and member of the faculty of Senior Research Scholar in ...
By jrnelson • 14 years ago

Sexual Health on College Campuses

Feministing readers:

I’m working on writing a piece for a newsmagazine at my university (the College of William and Mary) as part of a series that informs incoming freshman and transfer students about things that can easily get left out of official admissions materials. The topic of this week’s piece is sexual health.

So what I wanted to do was ask other readers the kind of sexual health services––for both men and women––that we think college campuses should provide to their students. I want to get a broader view than just my own on what a progressive, feminist student needs and wants from his or her college.

Thanks! Please feel free to respond with anything. I won’t be directly or indirectly quoting anyone ...

Feministing readers:

I’m working on writing a piece for a newsmagazine at my university (the College of William and Mary) as part of a series that informs incoming freshman and transfer students about things that can easily get ...
By jrnelson • 15 years ago

The Birds and the Bees, Part Two

This is a column I wrote for a newsmagazine at my school, the College of William and Mary. This poster is in plain view at one of our three dining halls, and it upset me and some of my other progressive-minded friends. Here’s the poster in question, and below is text of the article.

Any comments, anecdotes, stories of similar situations at other schools, etc. would be appreciated!

***

Good news: William and Mary students are healthier than you think!

Or at least that’s what’s being touted to onlookers by a series of posters around campus, most prominently in each of the campus’ three dining halls.

This is a column I wrote for a newsmagazine at my school, the College of William and Mary. This poster is in plain view at one of our three dining halls, and it upset me and some ...
By jrnelson • 15 years ago

Talking about abortion, reproductive rights.

I am a male feminist, and the issue of abortion and/or reproductive rights often comes up in my informal collegiate debates.

However, since I am at a college, the majority of the students and the majority of my friends are female.

In my experiences, it is extremely difficult for a male feminist to debate this with conservative or Republican or anti-choice young women. Because the issues of abortion and reproductive rights boil down to women’s bodies, I certainly cannot present myself as an expert or show too much empathy.

To clarify, the problem is certainly not that I want to hold back when debating with women. I go all out, tearing people’s arguments apart limb by limb. But when it comes to these ...

I am a male feminist, and the issue of abortion and/or reproductive rights often comes up in my informal collegiate debates.

However, since I am at a college, the majority of the students and the majority of my ...