Why Straight Marriages May Not Benefit Society More or Less than Gay Marriages

On Friday, during a campaign stop at William Woods University University in Fulton, Missouri, anti-gay Republican presidential nominee Rick Santorum said: “Two people who may like each other or may love each other who are same-sex, is that a special relationship? Yes, it is, but it is not the same relationship that benefits society like a marriage between a man and a woman.”

While this is not surprising at all, it brings up some important points. One, it is a flimsy statement if used in the practical sense. It may be a valid argument that same-sex marriages do not benefit society in the same way that straight marriages do. After all, we can’t have children without outside help or adoption. That’s about it. But then a counterargument can emerge where one says that we do benefit society in that sense because we are adopting children that may not be adopted if there wasn’t a relationship.

The second point is that straight, American marriages are definitely a great strain on society. Though it is frequently heard that 50% of marriages in the US end in divorce, this is not 100% accurate. Surprise! It’s worse, and though the numbers vary, they are pretty close, going up for second and third marriages.

Divorce has an economical and social strain on our society. First of all, it's expensive for both parties in terms of time and money. Second, it tears apart families.

Kim Kardashian was married for 72 hours, and Republican presidential nominee Newt Gingrich was married 3 times. How is this beneficial to society? In addition, marriage is federal civil right, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. I don’t know anyone who would vote for Rick Santorum. Do you?

David Tejeda (Secretary)

First GLASS General Meeting

Hello fellow Baruch students! Thursday February 9 will be our First General Meeting for the Spring 2012 semester. It will be held in our regular meeting room in VC 4-190 and refreshments will be served. This will be a chance for new and old members to meet, get to know each other, and have fun. The meeting will include:

• Introductions
• Upcoming Events
• Event Ideas
• OUTC
• Q&A Session
• Ice breakers and games
• Mingling

We'll see you there!

David Tejeda (Secretary)

Out for Undergraduate Technology Conference

Hey everyone! Here is an excellent opportunity for undergraduates who want to work for big technology companies:

On Saturday, April 21, 2012, on the corporate campus of Facebook, the team behind the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference will host the Out for Undergraduate Technology Conference, a convention of LGBT students interested in working for computer science, ecommerce, and social media firms.

The Conference will facilitate networking opportunities with fellow students, industry leaders, and corporate recruiters. While attending panels, workshops and discussions, students receive an ‘inside’ view of the fastest growing companies in America through the eyes of their LGBT employees, all while developing strategies for managing and leveraging their identities in the workplace.

Our program will help participants:

• Build fundamental business knowledge crucial to the interview process

• Polish resume and interview skills

• Network with LGBT professionals and students from other schools

OUTC will also serve as a high-impact recruiting pipeline into computer science, ecommerce and social media firms with sponsors like Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, Spotify, Microsoft, HP, Groupon, and more.

The Conference will be held Saturday, April 21^st in Palo Alto, CA on Facebook’s campus.

OUTC admission includes air and hotel accommodations. The Conference application fee covers all conference meals, memorabilia, and events, and the fee will be refunded if a student cannot attend or is not admitted.

Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors should apply as early as possible at http://bit.ly/xc1dYE to be exposed to tech careers in Coding, Development, Sales, and Programming while celebrating the individual they are. We are now accepting applications for the 2012 Conference, but registration ends on March 31st. More information can be found at http://www.facebook.com/OutforTech.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, David Tejeda

Baruch College OUTC Campus Ambassador

Davidptejeda@gmail.com

Housing Discrimination Against LGBT Families Gets Federal Attention

One of the problems that the LGBT community has been facing for years is if they should be included in the definition of family. Common sense would say yes, but apparently many landlords and housing authorities lack common sense.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD for short, oversees the nation’s many housing authorities and provides affordable housing through Section 8, public housing, and subsidies paid to landlords if they agree to offer reduced rents to qualifying applicants, which include low-income families, the disabled, and the elderly. Unfortunately, many landlords and housing authorities involved in the programs chose to deny families that would otherwise be qualified on the grounds that one or more of their members were or perceived to be LGBT. HUD failed to clarify this in their definition of family, so landlords were allowed to this without fear of repercussions.

To fix this loophole, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan will prevent discrimination against LGBT families by landlords and prohibit lenders from denying LGBT families HUD-insured mortgage financing.

According to this article, Donovan provided an example of discrimination when Michelle DeShane wanted to add his partner Mitch DeShane, a transgender man, to his Section 8 voucher, but were denied because they didn’t meet their local housing authority’s definition of family.

Of course, this is only a first step, but Donovan has stated that his department will undertake further steps to ensure training and education happen to implement the measure. He thanks LGBT groups for providing feedback for the new rule. Hopefully, other federal departments will follow suit.

David Tejeda (Secretary)

Reflecting Back at Eric James Borges

As many of us have heard, one of the pioneers of the famous “It Gets Better” video campaign, Eric James Borges, has passed away from the exact thing his videos were meant to prevent. This is a tragic event for his friends, family, and the LGBT community.

This just goes to show everyone that there are many factors that bring someone to suicide and it takes more than words from the public to prevent these unfortunate phenomena amongst LGBT youth. I believe it takes action from those who are close to the person, friends, family, and peers. I believe we have to personally show the people who are close to us, whom we believe to be showing signs of suicide, whether we are sure they are LGBT or not, that you care for their life and that you will be there for them. The reason I say this is because it can happen to someone who is struggling with their own sexual identity or being harassed because they are perceived to be gay or bisexual, as this website shows.

The sad possibility was that because he was so involved in a project to prevent teen suicide, nobody close to him thought he would do this to himself and any clues that this would happen were ignored, which is logical. Hopefully Eric James Borges’ passing won’t be in vain and will show that no one is “immune” to suicide.

Here are some resources for suicide prevention among LGBT youth:

LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-866-4-U-TREVOR

http://www.thetrevorproject.org/lifelinechat

http://www.sprc.org/library/SPRC_LGBT_Youth.pdf

http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?page_id=6FB9BA00-7E90-9BD4-C33BD398EAAE73C0

http://www.hhd.org/resources/story/lgbt-youth-suicide-risk-and-prevention

David Tejeda (Secretary)