Engaging the Reader at GCLS Annual Conference

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GCLS, Publishing

The 2015 Golden Crown Literary Society Annual Conference will be held July 22 through the 26 at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans.

The Keynote speaker will be Dorothy Allison – author of such noted works at Bastard Out of Caroline, Cavedweller and Trash.

The Special Speaker will be Ali Vali – author of numerous books including the Caine Casey Devil series and the new release, The Romance Vote.

Plan on meeting many of your other favorite lesbian fiction authors throughout the conference and at the Author Autograph session!

Also held at the event will be the 2015 Goldie Awards. Click to see the nominees here of some the best books written by, for, or about lesbians in the past year.

Register Now for the conference.

Contact me at marygriggs_AT_gmail.com if you’re interested in volunteering for the host committee. Some of the fun things volunteers can do:

1) Local Sponsors: Identify and approach local businesses to be sponsors of the event (we can provide brochures, offer to put their name/logo on our website, in our programs etc., whatever we all work out) or donors to the silent auction;

2) Local/Regional Marketing: Provide marketing in the region to get the word out to local Lesbian/LGBT organizations (e.g. deliver pamphlets for distribution to their members, ask them to put a link on their website/Facebook to our website/Facebook in exchange for us to put their logo and a link to their site on our website), contact local colleges and universities creative writing and LGBT student orgs to get the word out; and

3) NOLA Information: Information for the attendees – a map of the area immediately surrounding the hotel that shows any and all amenities – especially food options; sightseeing opportunities; areas to avoid; any safety precautions, driving tips, etc.; LGBT venues of interest; etc.

4) Conference Support: Receive and store boxes for the Con as they come in the last few months before the Con; deliver boxes to the Conference Hotel.

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Another step on our journey

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Marriage Equality, Politics

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~Lao-tzu

Team Louisiana! (from the Advocate)

I felt amazing, standing before the John Minor Wisdom (himself a champion of civil rights) US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals building this morning.

While the Louisiana marriage equality case received an unfavorable ruling from Judge Martin Feldman, we are confident of our grounds for appeal. Not only was it the only (at the time) case decided against love and fairness, the opinion also rehashed several arguments that had been discredited by other appeal courts (procreation, biological mother and father best, et al).

Lambda Legal had joined our fight and brought some great insights, borne from their experience at the appellate level, to the table. Camilla Taylor, Counsel and National Marriage Project Director at Lambda Legal, delivered a cogent and passionate argument to the three judge panel.

At least two of the judges seemed inclined our way (if their questions are anything to go by) but we won’t know until they render a decision how they will rule.

Frankly, we had the stronger argument as you can hear from the audio here.

Also today, the Supreme Court was to consider the Louisiana case among several others. Their day ended with no orders, so we will wait until Monday to find out if the Supreme Court will have our case leapfrog past the 5th Circuit. If no decision comes out of next week’s conference, the Supremes won’t have a same-sex marriage case on the docket this session.

They said that it would be a cold day in hell before marriage equality came to Louisiana. Considering the record breaking cold temperatures in New Orleans these past couple of days, the forces aligned against love better get ready. If New Orleans can get this frigid, Hell isn’t far behind.

Love and Revolution,

Mary

Mary Griggs, Chair
Forum For Equality Louisiana
4035 Washington Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70125
http://www.forumforequality.org

#JeSuisCharlie

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Censorship, Politics

There is not much I can add to the discussion following the tragic events at Charlie Hebdo this morning, when three armed intruders murdered 12 people, included two police officers, at the offices of a satirical magazine in Paris, France.

The image was created by Thierry Puget (@titi1960)

Anyone who honors the twin freedoms of speech and religion knows that such freedom demands our tolerance of the viewpoints of others no matter how much we may disagree with them.

As my friend, Matt Davis, wrote: “Counter the opinions you find heinous with your reason, with your activism, with your persuasion, and not with your weaponry.”

Author Salman Rushdie, who has lived under a fatwa for his writings, issued the following statement:

Religion, a medieval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today.

I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.

‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion’. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.

Our greatest weapons are our brains and our voices. Let us use them now.

Do Your Job or Get Out of the Way!

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LGBT Equality

Have you heard about the Florida Clerks of Court, who first thought they could disregard a Federal Judge’s ruling? Then, when that didn’t work out and the Supreme Court didn’t come out on their side, decided to throw a temper tantrum?

Judge Robert Hinkle declared in August that the Florida ban on marriage to be unconstitutional. Greenberg Traurig, the law firm for the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers warned that his ruling overturning the state ban on gay marriage only applies to the one Panhandle county that was named in the lawsuit. According to them, clerks in all other counties are not bound by Judge Hinkle’s ruling and were warned they could spend a year in prison for violating a separate state law that prohibits clerks from marrying anyone but a man and woman.

Last week, after Hinkle reaffirmed that his ruling was binding across the state, the Association has reversed themselves and now say that clerks should issue licenses or face the consequences. In response, clerks in five counties (Duval, Clay, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Baker) have said they will stop performing marriages. *Update 1/5/15 – 13 counties now have decided to stop performing marriages. All but one county is in the Panhandle.*

Excuse me? It seems to me that these officials having forgotten that they were elected to serve the people. All the people, not just the ones with whom they go to church.

Does anyone remember from their history lessons Strom Thurmand’s famous Dixicrat speech against desegregation?

And I want to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the n***** race into our theatres, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches.

Is this the lesson we intend to repeat as a nation? Is this the path Florida wants to forge?

When a federal judge declares a law unconstitutional, all public officials should cease enforcing that law. If your religion prohibits you from performing your elected duties, then resign. Do not deny others their civil rights based on your religious beliefs.

There are responsibilities inherent with public office. A person’s so-called religious duty does not give anyone a pass from doing their duty of public service to the entire public.

True, performing marriages was a convenience and not a requirement, just like public pools once were. When a public servant decides that the cost of applying laws fairly should result in less public access to services, that’s when the most insidious forms of discrimination begin.

Further, in their rush to make a stand at the courthouse door (a la George Wallace), they are also ignoring the financial loss they’ll bear – the Clerks in Duval and Clay last year performed a total of 2,241 wedding ceremonies at the two courthouses and charged $30 for that service, over and above the cost of the wedding license. That’s $67,230.00 brought in by performing marriages.

Not only will the counties will suffer the loss of those funds, they will lose any additional sums which would have been paid by those who previously were not allowed to marry.

I hope that the voters in those counties remember where their Clerk’s stood at the next election. Against equality and against fiscal responsibility.

Into the New Year with Hoppin’ John

Happy New Year! Here is a recipe from my food/restaurant/eating blog:

Mouth Brothels

My family is a stickler for having black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. The rest of meal could change but it still had to center around this little legume. These beans really swell when cooked, so they’ve come to symbolize prosperity and plenty of people believe that eating such meager fare on the 1st of January will bring better tidings for the rest of the year.

I took the bone from the holiday ham my parent’s had and used it as the base for Hoppin’ John. This traditional rice and bean dish is a good hearty way to see in the New Year.

Hoppin’ John

1 tablespoon bacon grease
1 large ham hock
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock
Bay leaf
1 heaping teaspoon of Creole seasoning…

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