Renna Communications

Report: LGBT Youth and Smoking

Julie Bolcer | Advocate.com | August 25, 2010

Everyone knows that insecurities and peer pressure make teenagers susceptible to tobacco use, but in the case of LGBT youths, it has long been suspected that the unique challenges associated with having a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity heighten their smoking risk. For the first time, a new survey explores the links between the stress of antigay discrimination and teenage tobacco use and suggests improved prevention strategies.

New study examines young LGBT smokers

Hannah Clay Wareham | Bay Windows | August 24, 2010

A new report from the National LGBTQ Young Adult Tobacco Project, entitled “Coming Out About Smoking: Tobacco Use in the LGBTQ Young Adult Community” and released Aug. 24, revealed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young adults have higher rates of smoking than their heterosexual peers. Results indicated that the disparity could be due to the added pressure and stress gay teens experience as a result of anti-LGBT discrimination at school and at home.

Marine Corps Commandant Signals Last Days of Gay Ban

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: L. Indra Lusero, Assistant Director, Palm Center, 303-902-9402, info@palmcenter.ucsb.edu

Cathy Renna, cathy@rennacommunications.com, 917-757-6123

Marine Corps Commandant Signals Last Days of Gay Ban
Marine Corps Would Not Obstruct New, Inclusive Policy

SANTA BARBARA, CA — August 25, 2010 — Remarks made yesterday at a Pentagon briefing by Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway signal the removal of one of the final hurdles to the implementation of openly gay service and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Commandant Conway stated that “if the law changes, we pride our Corps in leading the services in many, many things, and we’re going to have to lead in this too.”

Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin stated, “Commandant Conway’s words are powerful. He has not been supportive of this change but he has now made clear that once the law is changed, the Marine Corps will set the pace for implementation of open service without delay.”

Moving the middle on marriage

Lanae Erickson and Jon Cowan |“Politico::http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41214.html | August 19, 2010

This month, a federal district court judge in California struck down Proposition 8 — the state ballot measure that banned gay and lesbian couples from marrying — as unconstitutional, and the case is most likely to be settled by the Supreme Court. Although the decision has been stayed, many understandably saw it as a victory and perhaps an indication that legal arguments — not public persuasion — are going to be the fastest way to bring about equality.

But lawsuits are not a substitute for public support, and legal arguments do not operate in a vacuum. This decision makes it all the more crucial to build a solid majority of Americans who strongly support the full range of legal relationship recognition, including allowing gay couples to marry.

In our view, there are three essential steps to moving the persuadable middle.

Active Duty Gay Troops Helping Pentagon Prepare For Life After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Pentagon Leaders Advised to Expect “Business as Usual” After Repeal

OutServe | July 26, 2010

SANTA BARBARA, CA – July 26, 2010 — Gay and lesbian service members are organizing themselves in order to help the Pentagon prepare for life after “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This week, they are publicly launching OutServe (formerly known as Citizens for Repeal), the first-ever organization of actively serving gay troops and they have started speaking openly with Pentagon officials as well as public audiences. For information about the group go to www.outserve.org

NEW DATA ON FINANCIAL, HUMAN COSTS OF "DON'T ASK DON'T TELL" POLICY

NEW DATA SHOWS MANY COSTS, FINANCIAL AND PERSONAL, OF DADT ON MILITARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: L. Indra Lusero, Assistant Director, Palm Center, 303-902-9402, info@palmcenter.ucsb.edu

Cathy Renna,
cathy@rennacommunications.com, 917-757-6123

PALM CENTER SHOWS HUMAN, FINANCIAL, AND SECURITY COSTS OF DADT

New DoD Data, Palm Study Illustrate DADT’s Consequences

FOR A PDF OF THE REPORT GO TO:
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/DetailingCostofDADT.pdf

Following the release of new data from the Pentagon showing that women bore the brunt of discharges under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2009, and that the policy continues to cost the military the services of mission-critical specialists, a new study has also identifued twelve different costs to the military on DADT, including financial waste and harm to unit cohesion and morale. Said Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center: “Taken together, this information starkly illustrates the real costs of DADT – financial, human, and to our national security. As the Senate prepares to vote on the fate of the policy next month and the next steps towards dismantling DADT, we hope that these facts are seriously considered as part of any decision made regarding the next steps towards ending DADT.”

Doing Away with ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Nick Welsh | The Santa Barbara Independent | July 15, 2010

How UCSB’s Palm Center Is Winning the War Against Gay Discrimination in the Military

It’s only a matter of time before the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy governing gays in the military is buried once and for all. When that day comes, Aaron Belkin’s fingerprints will be all over the shovel.

For the past 12 years, the political science professor has run the Palm Center at UCSB, a small think tank of scholars and lawyers focused on the fate of sexual minorities within the military. The situation, they soon found, was cruelly absurd and gratuitously self-defeating. At the same time the United States was waging two full-blown wars across the globe, the military was kicking out nearly 14,000 servicemen and -women for violating the dangerously nebulous terms of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” including more than 50 skilled translators — many fluent in Arabic — who had not securely locked themselves in the closet.

SAGE Announces New Director of Community Advocacy and Capacity-Building: Serena Worthington

SAGE | July 26, 2010

[NEW YORK, NY] Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older adults, announced today that Serena Worthington will join SAGE as its new Director of Community Advocacy and Capacity-Building.

Worthington will lead SAGENet, SAGE’s national program of affiliates across the country that provide critical services to LGBT older adults. She will also work with local, state and federal groups nationwide to continue coordinating a federal policy agenda on LGBT aging and ensure that LGBT elders have the platforms to advocate on their own behalf.

Closeted Gays in Military Organize Against DADT

Eve Conant | Newsweek: The Gaggle | July 26, 2010

Today marks the official launch of OutServe —an organization of gay and lesbian active-duty service members who say they will work with the Pentagon as it moves toward implementing what they hope will be the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military’s 17-year-old ban on gays and lesbians serving openly.

The organization started as an underground network on Facebook last October. It now has some 450 members, including nearly two dozen serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's Do-or-Die for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Aaron Belkin | Huffington Post | August 17, 2010

Over the past two days, we have been treated to new evidence about the ever-mounting costs of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Yesterday, as reported in the Washington Post, the Palm Center released new Pentagon data which demonstrated the heavy burden that “don’t ask, don’t tell” places on women. What does this mean? It means a failed policy continues to fail us.

Author Justin Reed Early to Receive National Network for Youth’s Golden Pen Media Award

National Network for Youth | January 4, 2010 | Los Angeles

Justin Reed Early, author of StreetChild: An Unpaved Passage will be honored at the National Network for Youth’s Annual Awards Dinner on January 26, 2010 with the prestigious organization’s annual Golden Pen Award.

PALM CENTER ISSUES KEY RECOMMENDATIONS ON GAY BAN TO PENTAGON WORKING GROUP

The Palm Center | February 17, 2010| Santa Barbara, CA

(Santa Barbara, CA) — The Palm Center has released eight key recommendations to the Pentagon Working Group on gays in the military. These recommendations are intended as a first step in providing full support to the Working Group and acknowledging the importance of a thorough and timely process.

EVENTS RELATED TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY BEGINNING 3/3 IN DC

DC Marriage | March 2, 2010 | Washington, DC

COUPLES, SPOKESPEOPLE AVAILABLE, LIST OF RELATED EVENTS AND MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES BELOW

HHS Awards Major Grant to SAGE to Create First-Ever National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders

New York, NY | SAGE | February 10, 2010

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Administration on Aging have awarded Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) a three-year, $900,000 grant to create the nation¹s only national resource center on LGBT aging.

Joanne Herman, author of "Trangender Explained For Those Who Are Not," talks business with DiversityINC

DiversityINC | Joanne Herman | February 2010

You’re Trangender? You’re Fired!

In much of the country you can be fired just for being transgender. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, only 37 percent of Americans live in areas that explicitly ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression. For others, legal proceedings may be the only way you can establish your rights. This means that revealing your transgender status could have the same result as that experienced by Sarah Blanchette and Diane Schroer.

To read this full article, click here