LGBT Forum II for Library Faculty & Staff

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
10:00am - 12:00pm
McKeldin Special Events Room (6137)

Maryland's highest court recently upheld a state law banning same-sex marriage. What does this decision, and other legislative and judicial actions around the country, mean for gays and lesbians, and for all citizens? Do you know the differences between a civil union and a civil marriage? What are the hidden costs of this "separate but unequal" system, and how does it affect our workplace?

Please join your library colleagues, the Diversity Team, and special guests Chris Edelson of the National Human Rights Campaign and Dr. Liora Moriel of the UM English Department for a lively discussion of the state of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the state of Maryland and beyond.

View the LGBT Forum II Event Flyer [PDF]

Suggested Reading

• For a list of books in UM Libraries on the subject of gay marriage and other civil rights, see LGBT Forum II: A Selected Reading List [PDF].
• "Struck Down, But Undeterred": College Park couple presses ahead after gay marriage ruling. Diamondback, 9/26/2007
• The Human Rights Campaign [www.hrc.org] is "America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality." They produce outstanding reports covering many facets of LGBT life in America, including: aging, coming out, hate crimes, health, military, parenting, religion and faith, and more. Some useful HRC pages:
  • An Overview of Federal Rights and Protections Granted to Married Couples: Summarizes the 1,138 benefits, rights and protections provided on the basis of marital status under Federal law. This report updates a 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office Memo [PDF], prepared for Rep. Henry Hyde as background to the Defense of Marriage Act, which identified more than 1,400 federal and state laws in which marriage was a factor.
  • Marriage and Relationship Recognition: Discusses state laws related to Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships. Find out which states offer benefits and protections to same-sex couples, read legislative updates and HRC's daily news feed, Equally Speaking.
  • The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Children and Their Same-Sex Parents: This report "documents the extra costs same-sex couples with children are forced to pay as a result of being denied the right to marry, including costs paid for health insurance, parenting-related federal income taxes and lost Social Security survivor benefits. It also includes a comprehensive analysis of 2000 Census data about same-sex couples with children, including adoption rates, relationship stability and stay-at-home parenting."

• Same Sex Marriage Timeline prepared by the National Conference of State Legislatures. NCSL also provides an excellent summary of the status of same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

• more coming soon!

Suggested Viewing

The following titles are selected from the Libraries' vast media collections. These and other titles are available in the Nonprint Media Services Library, Ground Floor, Hornbake Building. For more LGBT-related titles, see the Diversity Mediagraphy on sexual orientation and the Queer Cinema Collection.

• Gay Marriage (23min.)
  KF539 .G37 2004
  Summary: Ted Koppel moderates a debate about gay marriage and its legal ramifications.
• I Can't Marry You (57 min.)
  HQ1034.U5 I334 2004
  Summary: Explores the real life stories of twenty long term gay and lesbian couples, revealing the obstacles they encounter due to not being able to marry in the U.S.
• In My Father's Church: A Wedding Diary (49 min.)
  HQ1034.U5 I5 2004
  Summary: A minister's lesbian daughter wishes to have a religious wedding at her father's small-town United Methodist Church. Though he is privately supportive of her relationship, he fears that officiating at her ceremony may jeopardize his career.
• Just Married : The Epic Battle over Gay Marriage (58 min.)
  HQ1034.U5 J87 2005
  Summary: Follows events in Massachusetts after the state supreme court ruled 4 to 3 in favor of allowing same sex marriage. The film follows Ellen Wade and Maureen Brodoff, both attorneys, through the filing of the original lawsuit to their historic wedding, supported along the way by gay and lesbian organizations. It also presents the ideals of the opposition to same-sex marriage, whose deeply held convictions mobilize them to political action.
• Lifetime Commitment: A Portrait of Karen Thompson (33 min.)
  HQ75.4.T56 1993
  Summary: Karen Thompson chronicles her legal battle concerning guardianship and rights of a disabled person to determine her own care. The disabled person in this case is Sharon Kowalski, her lover. Ms. Thompson also discusses homophobia, sexism, and discrimination against the handicapped.
• One Wedding and a...Revolution (19 min.)
  HQ1034.U5 O54 2004
  Summary: On February 12, 2004, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, instructed city and county officials to allow lesbian and gay couples to marry. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, founders of the first lesbian-rights organization and celebrating their 51st anniversary, were invited to be the first couple married.

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Campus Resources:

Office of LGBT Equity: Start here for LGBT-related issues at Maryland

President's Commission for LGBT Issues: Includes links to Campus Climate reports, hiring guidelines, and more.

LGBT Studies Program: A 21-credit certificate program designed to complement any undergraduate major.

Student Organizations: Pride Alliance (open to all students) and Graduate Lambda Coalition (for graduate students)

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UM Library Resources:

LGBT Forum 2006. Visit last year's Forum Web page to find more recommended readings, links to campus reports on LGBT issues, and campus and professional resources. You can also view the Power Point slides from last year's Forum here: "Let's Talk About Our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Colleagues."

LGBT Studies Research Guide and Tutorial: Excellent guide to academic resources available in the UM Libraries.

LGBT Life with Full Text [UM only]: The most inclusive index to literature pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Indexes and abstracts data from more than 80 LGBT-specific core periodicals, over 70 priority periodicals, and over 5,000 select titles. Very multi-disciplinary, with subject areas in social sciences, humanities, and science and medicine.

Queer Cinema Collection: Collection of documentary, feature and experimental films maintained by Nonprint Media Services.

Diversity Mediagraphy--Sexual Orientation: List of videos in the Libraries' collection dealing with sexual orientation and related issues.

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Professional/Library-Related Organizations:

American Library Association GLBT Round Table: "The nation's first gay, lesbian & bisexual professional organization." Site includes links to the newsletter and the Stonewall Awards for outstanding books with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered themes.

GAY-LIBN: GLB Librarians Network: Email "forum for gay, lesbian, and bisexual library workers and friends. As such, issues discussed may include outreach programs, social programs, finding out what other groups, individuals, and libraries are doing, and general library issues." See also the Lesbian and Bisexual Women Library Workers List, Lezbrian, "a forum for discussing professional issues of interest to lesbian and bisexual women library workers."

Lambda Literary Foundation: "The country's leading organization for LGBT literature." Their mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians--the whole literary community." The group gives out the annual Lambda Literary Awards for excellence in LGBT literature.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Health Science Librarians, a Special Interest Group of the Medical Library Association.

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues Caucus of the Special Libraries Association.

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