May 2005 – Page 13

Leaving The Dollhouse

I have always had a little crush on this girl:

Heather Matarazzo hated high school. The 22-year-old actress, best known for her movie roles in ”Welcome to the Dollhouse” and ”Saved,” said she has known since second grade that she was attracted to other girls. But shame forced the actress into years of silence and self-destruction. She abused drugs and alcohol. She ran away from home.

Yesterday, Matarazzo described her experiences to more than 500 teachers, students, and parents who attended the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Boston’s 15th annual conference at Brookline High School. As the keynote speaker, Matarazzo drew tears and applause when she described her struggle to gain acceptance of her sexuality.

”It was such a burden, because I had to pretend to be this person that I wasn’t,” Matarazzo told the audience…

…Jiovani Robles and Valdir DePina, eighth-graders at the Academy of the Pacific Rim, a charter school in Hyde Park, attended the conference to support their gay teachers. Robles said he had not known until hearing Matarazzo’s speech that gay youth struggled so much for acceptance. He said his Catholic parents had taught him to respect everyone. But the boys said the conference opened their eyes to how much work still needs to be done to teach tolerance in schools.

I hated these conferences in high school (god, I hated high school), in part because they always turned into Cryfest ’99 so a particular set of kids could prolong their absence from class. But maybe that is unfair. Judging from the last paragraph, if these boys are honest, talks like this might actually make a difference.

via JC. Again.

Kitten Wars

I’m incredibly busy today. Cat lovers, go busy yourselves.

Link via JC. Thanks!

On Being a Breed Mare, Part II

The Well-Timed Period responds to the story about catholic hospitals who refuse to give emergency contraception to rape patients who may have ovulated:

If Catholic hospitals may ignore the standard of care, and treat patients based on religious doctrine, any and all hospitals should be able to do the same. This means we abolish the FDA, and any government regulation of hospitals and the practice of medicine, and allow anybody to set up and run a hospital according to whatever criteria they deem acceptable.

Bottom line: It will be most interesting to see what happens when men in this country manage to finally achieve equality with women, and can look forward to hospitals where only, for example, men with a sperm density greater than or equal to 20 million per milliliter are to receive adequate medical care.

Read the rest.

Bravo!

Bitch Ph.D. on the Florida case in which the state believes it is in the best interest for a 13-year-old girl to be forced to carry her pregnancy to term even though she has explicitly stated every step of the way that she doesn’t want to:

The fact of the matter is, young girls do sometimes get pregnant. It happens. Abortion is legal, having children is legal. Butt the fuck out and let these girls decide what to do for themselves, and if you’re so goddamn concerned about it, offer to help. Advocate for providing financial support to single moms; advocate for young women’s right to continue their education, even if they have children; argue with people who cluck cluck about young mothers; don’t assume that every young woman you see with a little kid is a big sister or a nanny (and don’t assume that, if she’s the mama, that that’s an awful pity); if you know a young woman who has a kid, offer to babysit once in a while. If she decides that adoption is the way she wants to go, support her in that (and don’t pretend that it’s an easy decision, going through forty weeks of pregnancy, with everyone treating you like a social pariah, risking your health and changing your body, only to give up the child you’ve borne at the end of the process, possibly never to see it again).

And for god’s sake, if a thirteen-year old kid decides, “hey, I’m not up for all that,” don’t argue with her.

And quotes from the girl’s testimony in front of a judge, courtesy of Shakespeare’s Sister:

L.G.: Why can’t I make my own decision?
Judge Alvarez: I don’t know.
L.G.: You don’t know? Aren’t you the judge?

* * *

Department of Children and Family Services: The Department of Children and Families has the custodial responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the child.
L.G.: I think if I want to make the decision, it’s my business and I can do that. It would make no sense to have the baby. I don’t think I should have the baby because I’m 13, I’m in a shelter and I can’t get a job. DCF would take the baby anyway [but] if I do have it, I’m not going to let them take it.

* * *

L.G.: Since you guys are supposedly here for the best interest of me, then wouldn’t you all look at that fact that it’d be more dangerous for me to have the baby than to have an abortion?
Judge Alvarez: A good point.
OBGYN: At her age and at her stage of gestation … her risk of death from an abortion procedure is about 1 in 34,000. The risk of death in pregnancy is about 1 in 10,000.

* * *

Judge Alvarez (paraphrase): Who is the father?
L.G.: That’s not really necessary.

I want to give this girl a hug for being so damned brave.

One More Week

I almost asked where April went, but then I realized I don’t care.

Only one more week, finals week, and this hellish semester is over.