Tracy Baim

Seeing White

The undercurrents of racism, sexism and homophobia are everywhere in the United States; they are just more subtle now than with the police dogs and water hoses of the 1960s.

There is an excellent blog on White Privilege out now White Privilege. Tim Wise rightly points out that Sarah Palin is the PERFECT example of whites being treated so different on some the same issues (especially vs. African Americans): teen pregnancy, multiple colleges to get a degree, historical ignorance, etc.

White people, my people, often just simply do not pay attention to the myriad ways we more easily walk through the world. Most people of privilege do not "see" that privilege, and it is up to the outsiders to view the big picture. That is why (sometimes) lesbian and gay people can view our relationships as more unique than the heterosexually married. It is why women can see the sexism that men often can not. It is why people of color are the ones that often have to point out the obvious racism and classism in our society.

But racism should be the burden of white men and women if it is to be fully eradicated in the coming generations. People who claim to not "see" color are only fooling themselves. We all see color. What we do with that vision is up to us -- and that is the true challenge. If you do nothing when confronted with seeing or hearing racism, sexism or homophobia, you are not helping solve the problem.

Sophisticated civil-rights supporters know that most "isms" are hard to track, hard to pin down. It is nearly impossible to fix thousands of years of racism with a single generation, or a single inspirational presidential candidate. Some people say they will vote for Obama and not "see" his color. But by denying they see it, they are likely denying their gut, and may be fooling only themselves. When election day arrives, what will they truly "see" in the voting booth? Please don't say you are color-blind. Say you see all the colors, and know fully how valuable they all can be.

Media Matters

There are lots of terrific Web sites that cover the elections better than the network TV news shows. Partly because the sites have more space and time, but also because corporate-owned media are having a tough time trying to keep their heads from exploding faced not with doublespeak but triplespeak, quadruplespeak, and more. The perfect example was Sarah Palin simply not answering Charlie Gibson's direct questions. Corporate media thinks there are always two sides to a story. Sometimes, it's just two screaming heads.

Media Matters at http://mediamattersaction.org Media Matters is among my favorite sites to check out to get to the truth of the matter. And they hold the media accountable on many fronts. Check out excerpts from today's press release on how McCain's straight talk express keeps charging right through the truth:

MEDIA MATTERS WRITES: "In recent days, John McCain’s campaign has continued to make claims in ads and stump speeches that have been widely discredited. While much of the back-and-forth of campaigns consists of the contenders arguing about what is true and what isn’t, the claims cited here are not open to interpretation. The statements are clearly and objectively false. This poses a direct challenge to the press. If they are to be the referees of the claims made by the two campaigns, they must impose some sort of cost on a campaign when it persists in spreading falsehoods. This document details some of the McCain campaign’s recent falsehoods, where and when they were debunked, and how the campaign has continued to repeat them nonetheless."

• The Bridge to Nowhere. Almost every time Sarah Palin has appeared in public since becoming John McCain’s running mate, she has claimed that she “told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ on that Bridge to Nowhere.” Even after admitting to ABC’s Charlie Gibson that the claim was false, she returned to the stump and began repeating the claim again.

• “Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just 42,000 dollars.” Barack Obama cast no such vote, and his tax plan lowers taxes on anyone making under $200,000. This claim has appeared in a McCain ad and has been repeated by McCain surrogates and spokespeople many times since it was debunked.

• Obama would raise taxes on 100 million Americans. This claim is based on two false assertions: that 401(k) holders would pay more taxes if the capital gains tax were increased, and that Obama’s proposal to increase capital gains taxes affects all taxpayers and not just wealthy taxpayers. Though it was debunked, McCain and his surrogates have continued to repeat it.

• Obama’s health-care plan would “force families into a government-run health-care system.” Obama’s health-care plan is centered on private health insurance and forces no one into any government plan. McCain continues to repeat this falsehood, even after it was debunked by journalists and independent fact-checkers back when he was making the claim about both Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s health-care plans.

• Obama wants kindergarteners “learning about sex before learning to read.” The legislation Obama voted for actually provides for teaching young children to avoid sexual predators. McCain’s campaign continues to defend the ad in which this claim appears, despite the fact that it has been widely condemned.

• Palin “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.” McCain, Palin, and their campaign have repeatedly made this claim, despite the fact that Palin requested hundreds of millions of dollars in federal earmarks for Alaska.


Check out Media Matters regularly to get a dose of the truth and to stop your head from spinning from the MSM.

Obama: the Real Deal

In early 2007, when I was visiting places outside of Illinois for conferences and such, the question on almost everyone's mind was "Who is Barack Obama? Is he for real?"

I did not hesitate to express my opinion that, absolutely, he was and is the "real deal." I recently was interviewed for The Advocate's cover story on Obama, and I said that both Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have true gay and lesbian friends, and that any White House betrayal of gays would be a personal betrayal of their friends. Of course, this did not stop the Clintons from such betrayals on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. But Obama benefits from being in the 2000s, not the 1990s; which in gay years is the difference between Neanderthals and Stonewall (sorry Geico guys).

Many gay people, especially Hillary Clinton backers, are having trouble converting their Hillary loyalty to Barack support. While I understand the stages of grief, I also understand that we have held our noses to vote for far worse candidates than Obama. In fact, in my lifetime of voting (my first vote was cast for Jesse Jackson in 1984 while a college senior), Obama is perhaps one of the easiest votes gays will ever cast. While my paper, Windy City Times, does not endorse in elections (our readers can make up their own minds), I can certainly say that, objectively, Obama presents possibly the most pro-gay candidate ever with a serious chance for the White House. (Many more pro-gay folks have run, but he is closest to winning. And some became more pro-gay after leaving the post.)

It is a really easy slam to say "well, he doesn't support same-sex marriage." Does McCain? No, of course not. So neither candidate supports marriage, that makes it a wash. Go down the list and then you see that Obama pretty much supports everything ELSE, from ending the military ban to adding civil unions protections. There is not just ONE gay issue. In fact, not all of us agree that government should be involved in ANY marriage, much less gay marriage. Our own community never agreed that marriage was a top agenda item, and it came almost out of nowhere a few years ago as a right-wing scare tactic. It was forced too soon onto our own agenda, before we even were able to get employment and hate-crimes legislation fully implemented. We did not have time to do our own job of laying the national groundwork for change on marriage, so we can't expect someone else to do it for us. Build it and they will come -- but we have to build it.

As someone who has covered the Obamas from state to national office posts, I am here to state that he is no late-comer to gay rights, and his depth of knowledge of legal, economic and foreign issues is "real." This week's Windy City Times features an exclusive interview with Obama, conducted by the Gay History Project based in Philadelphia.

See:
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com Windy City Times

And for those interested in consistency, see my interview with Obama from early 2004, when he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate; he was an underdog and it was well before his "purple states" DNC speech. He got our issues then, and he does now. He may not be able to fully support marriage politically now, but civil unions is a stop-gap solution that our allies can get behind more safely.

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=3931 Obama Interview with Tracy Baim 2004

I am hoping that the subtle and not-so-subtle racism that exists within the LGBT community erodes somewhat before the elections. I know that it is there, having covered this community for more than 24 years. Sometimes people do not admit their racism, and that's fine. But then please just look at the facts. Obama and Clinton were in agreement more than 90% of the time; which means for our community, and the U.S. as a whole, there is no reason NOT to vote for him if you backed Hillary. Unless you believe that voting for McCain, who instead agreed with George W. Bush more than 90% of the time, is the "right" thing to do. Staying home is not really an option, because doing so supports the status quo. So which 90% candidate will you go for?

Title IX Victory

Not sure if Barracuda basketball mama Sarah Palin understands how deep the hatred and inequality for women has been in this country for generations. She seems to naively think she got to play basketball and win trophies all on her own, not on the backs of generations of women who fought for equal rights in all areas, including sports.

If she did understand this, she might not be so easily swept up in all things right wing. Because make no mistake, Title IX, which gives a (somewhat) more even playing field to girls in sports has been attacked for decades by those same boosters using Palin as their "softer side of fundamentalism" frontwoman. There have been serious fights across the country to keep Title IX, and hearings and court challenges crop up all the time.

There was a victory reported Sept. 16 from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the top groups fighting for LGBT rights in this country, including for women in sports.

Below is the press release from NCLR. Check their site (www.nclrights.org) out for more details. And don't bet on Sarah Palin and John McCain defending your right to shoot hoops.

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed “substantial and unjustified” Title IX violations in San Diego Mesa College’s (Mesa) athletic program. The violations OCR identified were initially the subject of a complaint by former head basketball coach Lorri Sulpizio shortly before she and her domestic partner, the former Director of Basketball Operations, Cathy Bass, were terminated from their employment with Mesa. OCR’s investigation focused on gender disparities in the treatment of student-athletes and did not include Sulpizio’s and Bass’ retaliation and employment discrimination claims, which are the subject of a pending lawsuit.

OCR investigated whether Mesa operates an intercollegiate athletic program that provides benefits, opportunities, and services to female athletes that are equivalent to those provided to male athletes. Based on its investigation of Mesa’s treatment of male and female student athletes, OCR “identified disparities with respect to the scheduling of games, the provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, and the provision of medical and training facilities.” OCR further concluded that: “These disparities were more than negligible and collectively established a violation of Title IX.” Specifically, OCR found that:

· Mesa had scheduled football games at the same time as a women’s basketball tournament, and “the result of this was that the female basketball players were not allowed to use the women’s locker room.”
· “Only female athletes have been scheduled to play at a time when they were not able to use their own locker rooms.”
· “The women’s basketball team has been displaced from the women’s locker room by a visiting football team,” forcing the women’s team to use inferior facilities and preventing the visiting team from using any restroom facilities.
· “Softball is the only College team that shares its competition field with another team of a different sport. The baseball field is used exclusively by baseball, while the softball field is shared with the men’s and women’s soccer teams.”
· Mesa’s policy with respect to student-athletes’ access to athletic service trainers “has a disparate, negative impact on female athletes.”
· The OCR determined that these gender inequities have “a negative impact on female athletes,” are “of a substantial and unjustified nature” and “established a violation of Title IX.”

As a result of OCR’s investigation, Mesa entered into a resolution agreement with OCR that addresses the issues that OCR identified. Mesa’s compliance with the agreement will be monitored by OCR.

“Mesa should comply with the law and ensure that women student-athletes and coaches have the same resources and opportunities as their male counterparts. We are pleased that the Office of Civil Rights is addressing these inequities at Mesa,” said Helen Carroll, Sport Project Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

On July 24, 2008, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the law firms of Boxer & Gerson, LLP and Stock Stephens, LLP filed a lawsuit in state court in San Diego, California on behalf of Sulpizio and Bass. The complaint alleged that despite Sulpizio’s and Bass’s dedication and demonstrated track record of success leading the women’s basketball program at the community college, Mesa officials unlawfully fired both coaches after they spoke out about the unequal treatment of female athletes and women coaches and following publication in a local paper of an article identifying them as domestic partners.

My Crush on Michael Sneed Ends

Ok, well, my crush ended long ago. But when I was around 10 years old, my parents, both Chicago journalists (Joy Darrow and Steve Pratt), hosted and attended hundreds of parties with lots of loud and party-animal journalists. Very drunk ones, mostly. They dragged my sister, brother and I along, and I learned a lot about what journalists were like, what I wanted to be, and what I did NOT want to be. I learned what drinks and drugs to avoid (all of them).

Well, Mike Sneed, now a Sun-Times columnist, was among those older women journalists I crushed out on at around 10 years old (that would be 1973). Please forgive me now.

Sneed kissing the red shoes of Sarah Palin in the Sept. 16 Sun-Times goes a bit far. She tells people to revoke her feminist card because she LIKES Palin. I am sad to say I ever liked her and her chromosomes (Sneed that is).

Of course, Sneed has been on a Republican rant and lovefest for a long time, and she's a columnist not a journalist these days. So she has a right to her opinion. And I DO understand her 42 years of fighting in the macho world of Chicago journalism. My own mom hit the glass ceiling VERY hard at the Chicago Tribune and was forced out in the 1960s when she wanted to cover hard news. So Sneed has a right to be bitter--but not at the high cost of having Sarah Palin's finger on the nuclear button; or having her in the bedrooms of gays trying to cure us; or in the medical rooms of women facing a difficult choice; you name it, I don't want Sarah Palin making a decision for me personally or for the world politically.

A true feminist has ALWAYS understood it is about quality, not just hormones. (Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers might be regretting her ill-timed new book Why Women Should Rule the World.) We never wanted just ANY woman in charge ... and while in general women may be more palatable on most issues, that does not mean there are not exceptions. Palin is an exceptional exception, not anywhere near qualified and the worst kind of McCain/Schlafley/Dobson/Limbaugh puppet.

Let's forget about the gender issue they are distracting us with (Arianna Huffington's Trojan Moose again). Let's focus on the issues. Palin is anti-women along almost every measuring stick. Sneed says Palin is "real". What does that mean? We are all real, and Palin is certainly a very real threat. Bush Jr. was sold to us as "real" by people like Sneed, and look where that got us. All the candidates are "real"--some of them just have a bit more reality than others. Obama and Biden are more true feminists than Palin will ever be.

Out & Proud Book Launches

Well, I am going to just slowly get into this blogging world. Testing the waters as a journalist who may write in more detail on a blog than we can in Windy City Times or our other Windy City Media Group titles.

Since it is a busy election season, plus a book I just edited and co-wrote is coming out, I anticipate rare posts for now.

But for full details please visit these sites:
www.windycitymediagroup.com Windy City Media Group
www.chicagogayhistory.org Chicago Gay History

Below are some details on the book, from the press release.

Signings Set for Out and Proud in Chicago
Prominent Historians Jonathan Ned Katz and John D'Emilio to Make Rare Chicago Joint Appearance

CHICAGO -- Lavishly illustrated with almost 400 historical color and black-and-white photographs, and drawing on the scholarly, historical, and journalistic contributions of a breadth of authorities on Chicago's LGBT culture and scene, Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community (Surrey Books, 224 pages) is the first overview of Chicago’s LGBT community and its history. Published as a companion to the WTTW public television documentary of the same name, and to the Web site www.ChicagoGayHistory.org, the book is organized into a few main chronological sections, from Prairie Settlement to the 2000s. Windy City Times Publisher Tracy Baim edited and co-wrote the book, and was joined by more than two dozen other writers.
Several booksignings have been scheduled for the Chicago area in September and October, to promote both the book and the launch of the Chicago Gay History Project Web site (www.chicagogayhistory.org). There will be co-authors at each of these events, depending on their schedules. All events are free except for the Sept. 26 fundraiser.
-- Sept. 18, 2008: Book launch: Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. at Women & Children First Books, 5233 N. Clark Street, Chicago, 773-769-6729. Come meet many of the writers and photographers featured in this new book.
-- Sept. 26, 2008: History Project fundraiser featuring a rare Chicago appearance by national gay historian Jonathan Ned Katz and Chicago-based historian John D'Emilio. Hosted by Michael Leppen at the Sears Tower Metropolitan Club, 5:30-7:30 p.m., $500 donation. Call 773-387-2394 for details tickets. Sign language interpreter.
-- Sept. 27, 2008: History Project and Community Book Launch, featuring more than a dozen of the writers from Out and Proud, plus Jonathan Ned Katz and John D'Emilio. Hear about the Web site's future and get copies of your book signed. Saturday, Sept. 27, noon-2 p.m., Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted. Sign language interpreter.
-- Oct. 1, 2008: The Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Branch downtown, is hosting a panel discussion of the Web site and book, 6 p.m., Wed., Oct. 1, 6 p.m., 400 S. State Street, Chicago. This free event features panelists Tracy Baim, Marie J. Kuda, Jorjet Harper, William B. Kelley, Pat McCombs and Chuck Renslow, followed by Q&A and booksigning.
-- Oct. 5, 2008: Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore hosts our first suburban Out and Proud booksigning, featuring writer Marie J. Kuda and Tracy Baim, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2-4 p.m., 7419 W. Madison Street, Forest Park, Ill., 708-771-7243.
-- Oct. 11, 2008: National Coming Out Day is the occasion for this signing in Oak Park Saturday 2-4 p.m. at Borders, 1144 Lake Street, 708-386-6927. Hear from Oak Parker Marie J. Kuda, Tracy Baim and other writers about Coming Out Day, the 10th anniversary of the Matthew Shepard murder, and its impact on Chicago.
-- Oct. 12, 2008: A special far west suburban booksigning in St. Charles Sunday, 2-4 p.m., at the TownHouse Books & Cafe, 105 North 2nd Avenue, St. Charles, Ill., 630-584-8600.
-- Oct. 16, 2008: Signing at Borders Books in Lincoln Park, Thursday, Oct. 16, 7 p.m., 2817 N. Clark Street, Chicago, 773-935-3909.
Out & Proud in Chicago begins the work of capturing a history that often has been hidden, or at least elusive. As editor Tracy Baim writes in her introduction, “A few brave people did try to document our community, either as major events were happening or through groundbreaking historical research. These writers, journalists, photographers, filmmakers, academics and historians have tried to find many needles in the haystack, through interviews with pioneers, digging into old university and museum archives, and reading the often-biased coverage of the mainstream media. In some cases, finding out if there was a ‘there’ there meant reading between the lines and piecing together what it was to be ‘gay’ 100 years ago.”
See www.ChicagoGayHistory.org or e-mail editor@windycitymediagroup.com.