IRIS The
Newsletter of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Classical Caucus
BRITISH
COMMONS VOTE QUOTE
"If
the Lord Almighty had meant men to commit sodomy with other men, their bodies
would have been built differently." –Nicholas Winterton,
Conservative member of House of Commons, as quoted in The New York Times 6/23/98
On
6/23/98 the British HC voted 336 to 129 in favor of lowering the legal age of
consent for same-sex relations to 16, the same as the age for heterosexual
relations. The bill was subsequently voted down by the House of Lords.
AIA/APA
ANNUAL MEETING 1998: LGBCC PANEL
MEN'S
CULTURE, ITS FORMULATION AND TRANSMISSION
John Younger, Panel
Organizer
The Lesbian, Gay, and
Bisexual Classical Caucus sponsors its fourth mini-colloquium on the current state of studies in the area of
gender and sexuality in the Classics. Five papers will be offered, all to
some degree about defining masculinity & masculine desire especially in the
o/apposition to the feminine.
Pam Gordon ("Effeminatus, Gallos, Kinaidologos:
Entries from a Lexicon of Anti-Epicurean Discourse") announces the theme
of the panel: masculinity/ambivalence. This paper describes how Epicurean
teachings on the relationship between pleasure & central social values
problematized them so that their resultant ambivalence looked feminine &
the philosophers themselves assumed a feminized reputation. The feminine
construction of ambivalence contrasts with a masculine construction of
single-purposed performativity.
Mark Anthony Masterson ("The 'Nature' and Use of Roman Slave
Masculinity") takes a structuralist approach in defining Roman masculinity
by analyzing closely the philosophical and legal statuses of slaves; as they
were non-men by nature or by law, so their masters were constructed as "real"
men by both.
David D. Leitao ("A Male Pregnancy Ritual from Amathous,
Cyprus, and the Strategies of Replacement") discusses an odd ritual in
Cyprus where once a year a youth imitates a pregnant woman giving birth; the
replacement of a woman here may mark a male desire to assume even the
capability of creating life, thus displacing women, as well as the fear of
becoming, in the process, woman.
Daniel B. McGlathery ("Reversal of Platonic Eros in Petronius' 'Tale
of the Pergamene Boy'") treats another case of inversion, bringing
together Gordon's and Leitao's philosophic and structuralist threads; a
comparison of Petronius's Eumolpus as adult philosopher to the Socrates of
Plato's Symposion and of the Pergamene boy to his Alcibiades
clarifies Petronius's creative use of parody in defining male homoerotic desire
and an easily upturned definition of masculinity.
Hans-Friedrich Mueller ("Chastening Male Desire in the Age of
Tiberius") locates the origins of male performativity in the troubled
transition from Roman republic to empire; here, erotic desire is replaced by a
rhetorical denial of desire, by chastity, which, as a desired trait, functions
as a conflation of the structuralist polarity of desire and denial. It is also
clear that such a definition of the male dislocates all identities of the
female outside it, eschewing, and thereby appropriating, all feminine desires,
performances, and ambiguities/ ambivalences by denying them.
John Younger will chair the session, introduce the speakers
& moderate discussions; after each 15 min. paper there will be a short
session for questions and discussion; and after the last paper, a general
discussion. Complete abstracts posted on the Web: http://www.duke.edu/web/jyounger/lgbcc/98.html
Iris, the newsletter of the Lesbian,
Gay and Bisexual Classical Caucus, is published quarterly (February, May,
August, November). Send material to Jeri Fogel, Dept. of Romance and
Classical Languages, 214 OHB, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI
48824. Email:
fogelj@pilot.msu.edu
Welcome to the Back to
School Issue
of Iris. In this issue I have tried to emphasize items
relevant to secondary as well as college teaching. I would like to
be able to publish some material on courses that members of the Lesbian, Gay,
and Bisexual Classical Caucus are teaching or have taught that deal directly or
indirectly with issues of sexuality, often a difficult topic for both
instructors and students when it "comes up" in the classroom.
It would be especially interesting to hear about innovative treatments of
gender and sexuality in Latin and Greek language courses, and in some of the
standard Classical Civilization courses (mythology, drama, epic, etc.), and the
response of students to your ideas in those contexts. If you would like
to share (show off?) your course ideas via the next newsletter, please send in syllabuses and/or other course
materials.
I would also like to request
that those who know of regional or national organizations concerned with GLBT
rights and issues in higher education send information about them for
publication in the newsletter.
BOOK
NOTICES
Note: This section is not meant as a systematic
survey of new literature, but as an exchange. If you have seen something
of interest that you would like to share with other Newsletter readers (in particular, foreign language titles), or
if you would like to review a book for the newsletter, please drop Jeri Fogel a line at the address
above. Please ask if you have a particular title in mind, and the
publisher will be contacted. Iris has received two books recently from interested publishers.
Either can be sent immediately to a willing reviewer: 1. Plato, Symposium, trans. A. Nehamas, Hackett Publishing 1997;
2. J. Snyder, Lesbian desire in the lyrics of Sappho, Columbia Univ. Press 1997 [noted in Iris 1.1].
Philosophy
Cynthia A. Freeland, ed., Feminist
interpretations of Aristotle,
University Park: Penn State University Press 1998. 369p. $55.00. ISBN
0-271-01729-5 (hb); $19.95. ISBN 0-271-01730-9 (pb).
Oliver Leaman, ed., Friendship
east and west: Philosophical perspectives, Surrey: Curzon Press 1996. 288p. ISBN
0-7007-0358-6. Includes articles on "Friendship in Plato's Lysis" (Brian Carr), "Teaching for a fee:
pedagogy and friendship in Socrates and Maimonides" (Daniel H. Frank), "Friendship
in Aristotle, Miskawayh and al-Ghazali" (Lenn E. Goodman).
Plato's Symposium, trans. A. Sharon, Newburyport: Focus
Publishing 1998. Pp. 76, 3 ills. $7.95. ISBN 0-941051-56-0.
Plato, Symposium, trans. A. Nehamas, Bloomington, IN: Hackett
Publishing, Inc. 1997.
History of Sexuality and
Gender
A. Karsten Siems [Éd.], Sexualitśt
und Erotik in der Antike, Wege
der Forschung series, Darmstadt, 1988.
456p. (nr. 605).
Joyce E. Salisbury, Medieval
sexuality: A research guide. Garland Reference Library of Social Science 565, Garland Medieval Bibliographies, New
York: Garland 1990.
Cheryl Anne Cox, Household
interests: property, marriage strategies, and family dynamics in ancient
Athens, Princeton: Princeton
University Press 1998. 253p. ISBN 0-691-01572-4.
$45.00. Uses material from inscriptions, recent work on Athenian law,
prosopography, and women's studies. "Cox sees the family as a
tightly knit but not exclusively a nuclear kinship community, with ties to the
external world through a number of social, economic and political
relationships."—Choice
May '98, E.N. Borza.
Elizabeth B. Keiser, Courtly
desire and medieval homophobia: The legitimation of sexual pleasure in cleanness
and its contexts, New Haven and
London: Yale University Press 1997. 299p. $37.50. ISBN:
0-300-06923-5 (hb). "Ša careful reading of a medieval text and
a discussion of its importance in the history of medieval thought about
male-male love. It is an erudite work, not intended for a general
audience but well worth reading for any medievalist interested in the
history of sexualities." –BMCR review by Ruth Mazo Karras.
Dominic Montserrat, Sex and
society in Graeco-Roman Egypt, London
and New York: Kegan Paul International 1996. 238p. $ 76.50.
ISBN 0-7103-0530-3. 25 plates. Note: this book was cited
with an excerpt from the Choice review in Iris 1.1. I quote at
length here from the BMCR review, since some important bibliography on
the subject is cited therein, and since part of the review deals specifically
with Montserrat's treatment of Egyptian same-sex love.
"The strength and appeal
of the book rest in its breadth. Informed by current theoretical work
(and debate) in gender studies, Dominic Montserrat thinks of sexuality 'in
terms of a complex of
reactions, interpretations,
definitions, prohibitions and norms that is created and maintained by a given
culture, and, just as importantly, something that can only be understood in
relation to the entire anatomy of the society under scrutiny' (p.
13). Of particular importance to the author are the coexistence and
interplay in Egypt of cultures (indigenous, Greek, and Roman) whose attitudes
to sex and sexuality were markedly different, and his reflection is guided by
the possibility that boundaries between the various ethnic and cultural groups
were effected and maintained through the conscious manipulation of private
lifeŠ. 'Homosexuality' is treated in Chapter 6 (pp. 136-162). M. takes as
his point of departure P. Oxy. XLII 3070, perhaps a letter of the first century
C.E., in which Apion and Epimas express, rather crudely, their lust for
Epaphroditus. The desired sexual domination of a social subordinate
conveyed by the message constitutes, according to M., an eloquent expression of
the 'construction and practice of male homosexuality in Graeco-Roman Egypt' (p.
137). No mention is made of the tentative nature of the traditional
interpretation of the piece as a 'proposition' nor are other possible readings
entertained. C. Gallavotti, for example, has interpreted the text as a note of
abuse and adduced the metrical features and the structure of the text, together
with the comparative evidence of graffiti and other forms of popular
expression, in support of his view ('P. Oxy. 3070 e un graffito di
Stabia,' Museum Criticum 13-14
[1978-1979] pp. 366-368)Š.
The scanty evidence from
the Pharaonic period presents homosexuality as socially problematic since the
life-giving power of sperm was wasted in non-reproductive intercourse; it also
shows no particular concern for the dichotomy between active and passive roles
so central to Greek thought and suggests that relationships between coeval
males were not prohibited. Explicit information on same sex
relationships in documentary texts of the Greek and Roman periods is equally
limited and, except for two Callimachean epigrams, most of the discussion of 'city
homosexual life' centers around magico-mystic texts such as the Cyranides (a probable Alexandrian product of the 1st or 2nd c.
C.E.) and the polemical writings of Clement of Alexandria. M. next
discusses homosexual practice in towns and villages in light of a few graffiti,
some epitaphs and a marriage contract, and the chapter closes with a brief
survey of texts in which sexual relationships between women are evidenced,
unsurprisingly conceptualized in the terms of power and control familiar from
heterosexual liaisons. Considered within the nature/culture debate, the
combined evidence of Egyptian, Graeco-Roman, literary and documentary data is,
in the end, declared ambiguous. Š"
—BMCR review by Maryline Parca.
Lynda L. Coon, Sacred
fictions: Holy women and hagiography in late antiquity, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
1997. 228p. ISBN 0-8122-3371-9.
"Šan examination of five
hagiographic representations of fourth and fifth-century holy women, as well as
three early medieval female saints' lives from Merovingian Gaul. [Coon's]
central thesis is that hagiographers in late antiquity use different 'types' of
women, which are derived from biblical representations, in their portrayals of
ascetic women, in order to make a variety of theological points." –BMCR review (98.6.1) by Rebecca Krawiec.
Ancient Magic and Medicine
James Longrigg, Greek
medicine from the heroic to the Hellenistic age: A source book, London: Duckworth 1998. 244p. Ł14.95. ISBN 0-7156-2771-6.
Fritz Graf, Magic in the
ancient world, F. Philip, trans.,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1997. 313p. ISBN
0-313-54151-0. $35.00.
Gender/Sexuality in Ancient
Literature
Claude J. Sumners, ed., The
gay and lesbian literary heritage: A reader's companion to the writers
and their works from antiquity to the present,
NY: Henry Holt 1995. Articles are signed.
Barbara Weiden Boyd, Ovid's
literary loves: Influence and innovation in the Amores, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 1997.
252p. $39.50. ISBN 0-472-10759-3.
See BMCR review by S. James.
Karen Bassi, Acting Like
Men: Gender, Drama, and Nostalgia in Ancient Greece, Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. of Michigan Press 1998. Examines the
concept of gender in relation to Greek drama and its spectators. Cloth
$39.50
Lillian Eileen Doherty, Siren
songs: Gender, audiences, and narrators in the "Odyssey," Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. of Michigan Press
1995. 232 pages. A feminist critique of the Odyssey. $42.50. ISBN 0-472-10597-3.
Kathryn J. Gutzwiller,
Poetic garlands: Hellenistic epigrams in context, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press
1998. 358p. $45.00. ISBN 0-520-20857-9. "The bulk
of the book consists of two closely related kinds of material: 'close readings'
of individual epigrams arranged (broadly) by author, and arguments about the
arrangement of books of epigrams published by the leading figures of the
genre. G. is already well known through her articles for some very
perceptive epigram readings, and the current book does not disappoint. She is a
subtle and alert reader who understands the particular kind of demands which
epigrammatic silences impose." –BMCR review (98.6.15) by Richard Hunter.
Farouk Grewing, Martial,
Buch VI (Ein Kommentar), Hypomnemata 115, Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht 1997 (pb).
160 DM. ISBN 3-525-25212-9. "The book is a slightly modified version
of his 1996 Göttingen dissertation. And what a dissertation it is! If this is
the new standard in German dissertations I can only recommend that scholars
write their Habilitationsschrift before their PhD dissertation. Grewing's
strength for the present reviewer lies in the fact that he painstakingly
explains the joke in every poem and in so doing reveals many obscenities that would
otherwise have escaped meŠ. [for example] 6.44.6 people don't get too close to
Callidorus because his ozostomia betrays him as a fellator. Grewing gets a lot
of mileage out of connecting bad breath with oral sex (cf. 6.50.6, 6.66.9, 6.69
intro, 6.81 intro). 6.54.4 the pathic tendencies of Sextilianus are
alluded to. Š" (+ much more!)—BMCR review by Martin Helzle.
Froma Zeitlin, Playing the
other: essays on gender and society in classical Greek literature, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
1996. 474p. ISBN-0226979229. BMCR review (98.5.7) by Victoria Pedrick.
Harold Bloom, ed., Lesbian
and Bisexual Fiction Writers, Philadelphia:
Chelsea House 1997.
Sharon Malinowski, ed., Gay
and Lesbian Literature, Detroit: St. James
Press 1994.
Academia, Libraries and
Public Policy
V. Clark, S. Garner et al.,
ed., Antifeminism in the academy,
NY/London: Routledge 1996. Includes "Talking about Race, Talking
about Gender, Talking about How We Talk" (by Patricia Williams, Columbia
Univ., author of the column Diary of a Mad Law Professor in The Nation, of which she is also a contributing editor), "The Meanings and
Metaphors of Student Resistance" (Dale Bauer with Katherine Rhoades, on "feminist
style" and student perceptions of and definitions of it), "Anti-lesbian
Intellectual Harassment in the Academy" (Greta Gaard), "Transforming
Antifeminist Culture in the Academy" (Shirley Nelson Garner, Univ. of MN,
on successful protests within the structure of departmental and college
politics).
Rita M. Kissen, The last
closet: The real lives of lesbian and gay teachers, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann 1996. Kissen
is associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the
University of Southern Maine; she began her research after her lesbian daughter
became a teacher. It is not uncommon, still, for people generally sympathetic
to equal rights for gays and lesbians to remark "but I don't think they
should be allowed to teach children." Kissen's book illustrates the
difficulties faced (and, remarkably, often overcome) by mostly high school
teachers through a series of interviews and excerpts from interviews with
teachers and administrators, arranged about themes such as identity discovery
and formation, tactics and reasons for hiding, horror stories about being "uncovered,"
efforts toward outreach, and activist efforts.
Wallace K. Swan, ed., Gay/Lesbian/
Bisexual/Transgender public policy issues: A citizen's and administrator's
guide to the new cultural struggle, in the
series HAWROTH Gay and Lesbian Studies, John P. De Cecco, Editor in Chief, New York/London: The
Harrington Park Press 1997. Section III on "Youth and Education"
is especially relevant. Chapter 6 deals with K-12 Education and issues of
sexual orientation, that is, the "cultural war" in the school
districts, including much information on the work of the American Federation of
Teachers on this issue. Chapter 7 discusses public schools, focusing on the
case studies of New York City's "Children of the Rainbow" curriculum;
Des Moines' School Board's passage of a policy in 1991 prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation with further updates on expansion
and outcome; and California's battle over the adoption of a new health
curriculum framework which includes 16 pages (out of 114) discussing human
sexuality education and family structures, defining "family" more
broadly than the "nuclear family." Chapter 8 is on organizing
resources for LGBT youth in school and communities, and, being written by the
school and community outreach coordinator of the University of Minnesota Youth
and AIDS Projects (John Yoakam), it takes as its case studies a small, unnamed
town on the Mississippi (mainly German Catholic), Northfield (St. Olaf and
Carleton Colleges are in the neighborhood, and Yoakam briefly discusses their
contribution to the coalition-building in Northfield's larger community), and
Minneapolis/St. Paul. Also included in the book are chapters on religion
and the religious right, workplace issues (including an entire chapter on the
impact of policies on the behavior and health of lesbians in the workplace),
and domestic partnerships and same-sex marriage. The last section treats "Justice
Issues," including sections on sodomy law repeal, hate crimes, AIDS
issues, transgender issues (not thoroughly addressed anywhere in the book,
however), bisexuality issues, and criminal justice interventions and the White
House responses to gays and lesbians.
Ellen Greenblatt & Cal
Gough, eds., Gay and Lesbian Library Service, Jefferson, NC: McFarland 1990.
SAME-SEX COUPLE HOUSEMASTERS
AT HARVARD'S LOWELL HOUSE
Profs. Diana Eck and Dorothy
Austin are due to take up residence this summer as housemasters of Lowell House
of Harvard University, home to 450 students. Eck and Austin are the first
same-sex couple to serve as housemasters in the history of the
university. They have been together for 20 years. (info from press release, via LTN)
NEA AWARENESS WORKSHOPS
NEA conducts awareness
workshops on issues of concern to gay and lesbian employees and students,
including education, stereotyping, counseling, and school policies. For
more information, or to obtain a copy of the action sheet "Understanding
Gay and Lesbian Students Through Diversity," contact: NEA Human and
Civil Rights, 1201 16th St.
NW, Washington, DC 20036. (202) 822-7700.
mfaber@nea.org (from Lesbian Teachers Network Newsletter #41 [1/98])
LESBIAN TEACHERS NETWORK
LTN (Lesbian Teachers Network)
is a grass roots organization of an estimated 500 women, mostly from the U.S.
and Canada, but also representing several countries around the world. The
network began forming in 1987Š In 1993, a system of regional contacts was
designed.Š [T]he network newsletter [is] published four or five times a yearŠ.
[It contains notes from readers, events in areas around the U.S. and Canada,
clippings and news, book reviews and lists, etc.] To add your name to the
mailing list, send name, address, telephone, teaching subject area, email
address, and instructions as to whether you would like to share your name and
address with other LTN members or not, to: LTN, P.O. Box 301, East
Lansing, MI 48826. A donation on a sliding scale from $10 to $15 is
requested. For more information, send a SASE to the above address.
GLSEN NATIONAL REPORT
According to a report issued
last September by the National Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
(GLSEN), a typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs as often as 25.5
times a day. Only 3% of faculty generally intervene in such
incidents. 19% of gay and lesbian students suffer physical attacks
associated with sexual orientation; 13% skip school at least once per
month; 26% drop out.
GLSEN
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, September 10th,
1998
Back-To-School Press
Conference:
Results of the 1998
Back-To-School Campaign will be released, including reports on 42 of the
largest school districts in the country, evaluating how they are doing with LGBT
issues ranging from discrimination to inclusion in curriculum.
National Press Club, Washington
DC.
Saturday, October 3rd, 1998
GLSEN/NY Metro Youth Conference
Local GLSEN Chapter to hold a youth conference in New York. Call Miriam Yeung
at 212-620-7310 for information & to register.
Thursday, October 15th, 1998
Out of the Past, a highly acclaimed recent queer history film, is set
to air on PBS. The hour-long film, shot on 16mm, explores gay history in
the U.S. through the eyes of a young female student (character is based on an
actual Utah H.S. student and gay rights activist). Featured in June and
July at the NY and San Francisco Gay Film Festivals.
Friday, Oct. 30th to Sunday, Nov. 1st, 1998
Second Annual National
Conference.
GLSEN expects 1000 teachers,
parents, students, and community members at the Second Annual GLSEN National
Conference. Oakland Marriott City Center, Oakland, CA.
—Gay, Lesbian
& Straight Education Network (GLSEN):
121 West 27th Street, Suite 804
New York, NY 10001 USA
(212) 727-0135; fax: (212)
727-0254
e-mail: glsen@glsen.org
LGBT
ARCHIVES OF THE MIDWEST SEEKS MSS.
The Gerber/Hart Archives is a
collection begun in 1995 of historical materials (manuscripts, transactions,
photos, oral histories, recordings, etc.) of the LGBT communities especially
around Chicago and the Midwest U.S. in general. The following is
excerpted from its mission statement. The Archives' Web page contains
more information: http://www.gerberhart.org/
"The mission of the Gerber/Hart
Archives shall be to collect, safeguard and provide access to archives and
manuscript materials which document the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
community of Chicago, Illinois and the Midwest region of the United States
[=IL, IN, OH, MO, KS, NE, SD, ND, MN, IA, WI, MI]. Š These archives and
manuscript materials shall be made fully accessible to the public, and any
restriction on their use will be imposed only by the original donor and
applicable legal statutesŠ. The materials in the Archives shall be maintained
for the protection and safeguarding of records considered to be of timely value
to the GLB&T community. Materials of value shall be defined as documents
that record the transactions of GLB&T individuals, organizations and businesses.
Š
Gerber/Hart Library will
actively seek to acquire:
1. Personal papers, which
include journals, diaries, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs and
manuscripts of persons who live or have lived in Chicago, Illinois or the
Midwest. Gerber/Hart Library especially seeks the papers of:
a. GLB&T persons
living with, or who have lived with, AIDS or HIV.
b. Persons of local,
regional or national renown, e.g. politicians and leaders in the GLB&T
community, and society at large; artists, playwrights, photographers,
filmmakers, architects and athletes.
c. GLB&T people of
color (e.g. African-, Hispanic-, Asian- and Native Americans, and biracial
individuals)
d. Persons whose papers
contribute in some way to a greater understanding of GLB or T people.
2. The records of
organizations and businesses whose services are marketed solely or primarily to
the GLB&T community of ChicagoŠ.
The Gerber/Hart Archives will
accept into its collections completed and transcribed oral histories by or
about members of the GLB&T community. Š The Archives will accept electronic
records provided that those records can be read and printed by equipment
currently owned by, and available at, the library/archives facility."
For more information about
research use of or contribution to the archives, contact:
Gerber/Hart Library, 3352 North
Paulina, Chicago, IL 60657; (773) 883-3003; fax (773) 883-3078; e-mail
info@gerberhart.org
SOUTH AFRICAN EMPLOYMENT
EQUITY
"During National Assembly
public hearings held in Cape Town on July 22, representatives of the AIDS Law
Project reported that 11 percent of companies they surveyed conduct HIV tests
on prospective employeesŠ. South Africa's National Coalition for Gay and
Lesbian Equality and the AIDS Legal Network called on the National Assembly to
include HIV-positive people and people with AIDS among the groups covered for
anti-discrimination in employment. The hearings revolve around the
Employment Equity Bill, a major piece of affirmative-action legislation. The
governing African National Congress is pushing the billŠ"
(from Workers World
8/6/98)
LAMBETH CONFERENCE INVOLVES
HEATED DEBATES ON SEXUALITY
The Episcopal (Anglican) Church
held 18 July to 9 August its 1998 Lambeth Conference, convened once per decade
to allow priests and other members of the Church to discuss and meditate on
larger issues in Church policy and practice. Looming large on the agenda
this time was the attitude of the Anglican Church toward "Lesbigay"
members and priests. For extensive coverage of the debates, and links to
relevant Church documents (including the text of the "Lambeth Conference
Resolution on Sexuality"), see http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/rel2.html
(those are L's, not 1's), an amazing and complete page created and kept up by
Louie Crew, an Episcopal priest (a.k.a. Quean Lutibelle of the Alabama
Belles!). Thanks to Paul Halsall for the address.
Integrity is an Anglican group that seeks to gain full rights
for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans persons within the Church. To
contact them, and/or receive a list of local chapters in your state, write
to P.O. Box 5255, NY, NY 10185-5255, or call (603) 595-4245, or visit
their Web page at http://members.aol.com/natlinteg
BRITISH COLUMBIA PENSION
BENEFITS
"British Columbia may
become the first Canadian province to voluntarily grant pension benefits to
public employees who are in same-sex couples. Other provinces have moved
that way, but only under duress. Court decisions have forced Ontario and
Nova Scotia to address pension issues involving lesbian and gay couples.
And Ottawa decided recently to not appeal a court decision saying that it was
discriminatory for its tax laws to define a spouse as a member of the opposite
sex."
(from The Globe via Lesbian
Connection; LC is a long-standing bimonthly American journal
distributed free to all lesbians [suggested donation $4.50/issue]. To
subscribe, write to Ambitious Amazons, P.O. Box 811, E. Lansing, MI
48826.)
WCC PARTY AND AWARDS
PRESENTATION AT AIA/APA
will take place, with luck, in
the usual slot, December 27, 10pm to midnight, place TBA. Roberta Stewart
warns however that she has received notice that space is limited this year, so
keep an eye out for possible changes of time/date.
JOIN THE LGBCC DISCUSSION
LIST!
The LGBCC list is meant as a
forum for discussion of gender and sexuality in the ancient world, and the
place and issues of GLBT persons in the modern world as it affects those in
academia.
To subscribe, send e-mail to
majordomo@acpub.duke.edu with no subject line, and this message:
subscribe classicslgb
No name is necessary.
Anonymous posting is possible, and the subscriber list is confidential.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE OF THE
LGBCC
The Lesbian, Gay, &
Bisexual Classical Caucus is an affiliate of the American Philological
Association. The purpose of the Caucus is twofold: scholarly and political. Our
scholarly purpose is to facilitate and promote research that reflects the
personal and intellectual interests of Lesbians, Bisexuals and Gay Men; and our
political purpose is to focus upon and educate about the effects of homophobia
in the profession, and actively assist Lesbian, Gay Male and Bisexual scholars
in their struggles against stigmatization.
IRIS ISSUES ARE ON-LINE!
For Iris on-line, go to the LGBCC Web page, maintained by
John Younger:
http://www.duke.edu/web/jyounger/LGBCC/
STILL GROWING UP ABSURD?
"Most sexual behavior
would give more satisfaction and do lasting good, and certainly result in far
less damage, if any, if it were completely ignored by the police and not
subject to any social disapproval qua
sexual. There may be grounds for debate about the harmfulness or
indifference of 'corrupting the morals of a minor'—many societies have
managed handsomely without such notions; but all competent authority would
agree that, in most cases, more damage is done by the fear and shame
accompanying a sexual act than can possibly follow from the simple act itself."
—Paul Goodman, Growing up absurd: Problems of youth in the organized society, NY: Vintage Books 1956, p. 200.