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![Current Event (cont.)
“Two years ago, my son Will, then a college
freshman, told my wife, Jane, and me that
he is gay. […] Jane and I were proud of him
for his honesty and courage. We were
surprised to learn he is gay but knew he
was still the same person he’d always been.
The only difference was that now we had a
more complete picture of the son we love.”
–John Portman](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/gaystraightalliancepresentation-130324214405-phpapp02/85/Gay-straight-alliance-presentation-9-320.jpg)
Gay straight alliance presentation
- 1. The Gay StraightAlliance of Georgia Southern University A Home for Gender and Sexual Minorities and their Allies
- 2. Upcoming Events Annual DragShow March 28th, 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. • Free Attendance • Q&A Following Show • Volunteers Still Needed! • Counts Toward Service Hours • Sign Up After the Meeting!
- 3. Upcoming Events (cont.) UnityConference University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill April 12th-14th • Cost is $25 • Let the Exec. Board Know if You’re Going by April 1st • Pay Treasurer
- 4. Pay Dues! Paying DuesLets You: • Go to Potlucks! • Go to Conferences! • Run for an Exec. Position! $15 for Semester or $25 for Year • Pay Treasurer • Fill out Membership Form and Give to President
- 5. Committees Programming Committee • Planning Drag Show Fundraising Committee • Needs More Members! Social Committee • No Meeting this Week!
- 6. Committees (cont.) Coffee Talk • Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. at the Rotunda! • There Will Be Coffee… Advocacy Committee • Looking for Other Groups to Collaborate With
- 7. Historical Highlight Albert D. J. Cashier 1843 - 1915 • Born Jennie Irene Hodgers in 1843 • Irish-born immigrant who served as a male soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War • Lived his entire life after the war as a man, hiding his “secret” well.
- 8. Current Events Republican SenatorJohn Portman
- 9. Current Event (cont.) “Twoyears ago, my son Will, then a college freshman, told my wife, Jane, and me that he is gay. […] Jane and I were proud of him for his honesty and courage. We were surprised to learn he is gay but knew he was still the same person he’d always been. The only difference was that now we had a more complete picture of the son we love.” –John Portman
- 10. Current Events (cont.) “I’vethought a great deal about this issue, and like millions of Americans in recent years, I’ve changed my mind on the question of marriage for same-sex couples. As we strive as a nation to form a more perfect union, I believe all of our sons and daughters ought to have the same opportunity to experience the joy and stability of marriage.” —John Portman
- 11. Current Events (cont.) DOMAHurts Gay Military Couples —U.S. Marine Corps Captain Matthew Phelps http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21 /doma-effect-gay-couples-matthew-phelps- _n_2735677.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&c omm_ref=false
- 12.
Editor's Notes
- #8 Women cross-dressing to fight in the war was not uncommon. Other soldiers just thought that Cashier was small and preferred to be alone. He was once captured in battle, but escaped back to Union lines after overpowering a prison guard. Cashier fought with the regiment through the war until1865, when all the soldiers were mustered in and out. For over forty years after the war, he lived in Illionois as a man and worked as a farm hand, church janitor, cemetery worker and street lamplighter. Because he lived as a man, he was able to vote in elections and later claimed a veteran's pension under his male name. Over that time, a few people found out his “secret,” but did not reveal it to the public. In 1911, shortly after a car accident took his leg, Cashier was moved to the Soldier and Sailors home. He lived there as a man until his mind deteriorated and was moved to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane in 1913. Attendants at the Watertown State Hospital discovered that he was female-bodied when giving him a bath, at which point he was forced to wear a dress for the last 2 years of his life. In 1915, he was buried in the uniform he had kept intact all those years and his tombstone was inscribed with his male name and his official army rank.
- #11 Portman is the first sitting Republican Senator to endorse marriage equality and speak out against the Defense of Marriage Act. He has been a steady opponent of equal marriage rights in the past. He was a co-sponsor of DOMA in 1996 and supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have written a ban on marriages for same-sex couples into the U.S. Constitution. Portman’s announcement means that there is now bipartisan support for marriage equality and against DOMA in both houses of Congress. Portman chose to announce his new position at this time of coursebecause the Supreme Court will consider oral arguments in the Prop 8 and thepivitolDOMA cases later this month.