Hawai'i Marriage Equality Testifier Tells Leading Opponent Rep. Richard Fale: "I Resent That You've Made This A Circus"

Testimony by Joe Wilson in Special Legislative Session for Marriage Equality in Hawai'i

by Derrick DePledge - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Nov. 5, 2013:

Hawai‘i State House lawmakers conducting a marathon hearing on marriage equality have heard a sea of Christian voices who oppose gay marriage.

The few gay and lesbian voices who support marriage equality have stood out. One of them was Joe Wilson, a documentary filmmaker who lives on the North Shore of O‘ahu, who spoke late Monday:

During this special session, the people of Hawaii, and indeed the world, have been witness to the hell that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, māhū, and other people deemed unacceptable by self-righteous bullies know all too well.

You have seen us sit here while people speak about us in the most dehumanizing terms as though we were not present, as though such vile mischaracterizations as perverts, bug chasers, cross-dressers, and security threats do not affect or terrify us — as though such heinous lies do not inflict wounds or tear our souls apart.

Having seen this, perhaps you now have an idea of what it might be like to be a young gay or gender non-conforming person in one of our schools terrorized by playground bullies who act this way.

Perhaps now you have an idea of what it might be like to grow up in a family that would create such an environment in its own home, forcing their own gay or gender creative children to suppress their most human of feelings, to torture themselves with guilt for who they are, to live a childhood void of true parental love, to feel that they have no choice but to take to the streets to survive, or worse, to take their own lives to end this hell.

Perhaps now you have some notion what it might be like to be a person who lost a job or apartment or was denied any number of opportunities most people take for granted because one of these loving individuals could not find it within themselves to be accepting or to understand that their personal beliefs do not now, nor will they ever, trump our right to live our lives as freely and openly — and equally under the law — as they live theirs.

Perhaps now you’ll know what it’s like to walk down the street looking over your shoulder, wondering if the person who just called you a faggot or māhū is going to turn and chase you down, punch or stab you because you are not welcome in their world.

If so, I hope you’ll agree that it is time to overcome this intolerance, and to not just pass what should be a simple thing like marriage equality, but to end these harms that have been done in the name of religion, tradition, and state-sanctioned discrimination for far too long — and to begin to make our communities whole again.

Please, do the right thing. Pass SB1.

Rep. Richard Fale, who opposes marriage equality, represents Wilson and his partner Dean Hamer, a geneticist, called Wilson back to the podium after his testimony to explain that, as a Tongan, Fale too has experienced discrimination.

Fale asked Wilson whether there are higher priorities for the state, such as child poverty, that might merit a special session.

“Do you think the governor should have put our children in poverty first?” the North Shore Republican asked.

“I resent that you are making this a circus,” Wilson replied.

"Kumu Hina" - New Film By Wilson & Hamer - Will Give Vast Exposure to Māhū & Transgender of Hawai‘i for First Time

by Wayne Harada - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - Aug. 27, 2013:

“Kumu Hina,” a film about a transgender Native Hawaiian teacher and cultural leader, has been green-lit by national public television funders Pacific Islanders in Communications and ITVS (Independent Television Service).

Thus, the Pacific mahu, or transgender, culture commonly accepted in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, will receive vast exposure for the first time.

The film’s key character, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, pictured, is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools who transitioned from male to female more than 20 years ago. Now, she is a respected and beloved kumu and cultural scholar at Halau Lokahi, a Hawaiian values-based Public Charter School in Honolulu, where she employs her cultural grounding to empower students to be who they are and know that in Hawaii there is a welcoming “place in the middle” for everyone.

The film, two years in the making, is by the Emmy-winning Oahu-based producing team of Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, who decided to focus on the widespread and commonly known community of the mahu to magnify the acceptance of this culture in a world today filled with prejudice and discrimination if you’re different.

“ ‘Kumu Hina’s’ message of aloha — unconditional acceptance and respect for all — is timely and sorely needed,” said Hamer.

“Told through Hina’s very moving personal and Hawaiian perspective,” said Wilson.

At a time when there is rampant discrimination against gender noncomforming people, the filmmakers hope the documentary will ultimately reverse hate to acceptance.

“The film has great potential to inspire and help audiences see themselves, their families, schools and communities, in powerful new ways – and to ensure that no one, particularly younger people, faces harassment, discrimination or violence simply because they don’t conform to modern society’s gender norms,” said Wilson.

In the movie, Hina inspires a tomboyish young girl to fight for her place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe as she herself takes a chance at happiness when she marries an unpredictable young Tongan man who is having difficulty adjusting to life in modern Honolulu.

“We are so grateful to be able to support this project in hopes that it will bring understanding, acceptance, and enlightenment to all who view it,” said Leanne Ferrer, executive director of Pacific Islanders in Communications, based in Honolulu.

“Kumu Hina” will premiere in film festivals in early 2014 and be telecast on national public television in 2015.

The project’s team includes co-producer Connie M. Florez, musical score composer Makana, and writer-narraor Leonelle Akana.

"Time To Overcome Intolerance in Hawaii" -- Testimony by Joe Wilson in Marriage Equality Special Session

"My Name Is Joe Wilson"

by Derrick DePledge - Nov. 5, 2013:

State House lawmakers conducting a marathon hearing on marriage equality have heard a sea of Christian voices who oppose gay marriage.

The few gay and lesbian voices who support marriage equality have stood out. One of them was Joe Wilson, a documentary filmmaker who lives on the North Shore of O‘ahu, who spoke late Monday:

During this special session, the people of Hawaii, and indeed the world, have been witness to the hell that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, māhū, and other people deemed unacceptable by self-righteous bullies know all too well.

You have seen us sit here while people speak about us in the most dehumanizing terms as though we were not present, as though such vile mischaracterizations as perverts, bug chasers, cross-dressers, and security threats do not affect or terrify us -- as though such heinous lies do not inflict wounds or tear our souls apart.

Having seen this, perhaps you now have an idea of what it might be like to be a young gay or gender non-conforming person in one of our schools terrorized by playground bullies who act this way.

Perhaps now you have an idea of what it might be like to grow up in a family that would create such an environment in its own home, forcing their own gay or gender creative children to suppress their most human of feelings, to torture themselves with guilt for who they are, to live a childhood void of true parental love, to feel that they have no choice but to take to the streets to survive, or worse, to take their own lives to end this hell.

Perhaps now you have some notion what it might be like to be a person who lost a job or apartment or was denied any number of opportunities most people take for granted because one of these loving individuals could not find it within themselves to be accepting or to understand that their personal beliefs do not now, nor will they ever, trump our right to live our lives as freely and openly -- and equally under the law -- as they live theirs.

Perhaps now you'll know what it's like to walk down the street looking over your shoulder, wondering if the person who just called you a faggot or māhū is going to turn and chase you down, punch or stab you because you are not welcome in their world.

If so, I hope you'll agree that it is time to overcome this intolerance, and to not just pass what should be a simple thing like marriage equality, but to end these harms that have been done in the name of religion, tradition, and state-sanctioned discrimination for far too long -- and to begin to make our communities whole again.

Please, do the right thing. Pass SB1.

Rep. Richard Fale, who opposes marriage equality, represents Wilson and his partner Dean Hamer, a geneticist, called Wilson back to the podium after his testimony to explain that, as a Tongan, Fale too has experienced discrimination.

Fale asked Wilson whether there are higher priorities for the state, such as child poverty, that might merit a special session.

"Do you think the governor should have put our children in poverty first?" the North Shore Republican asked.

"I resent that you are making this a circus," Wilson replied.

Petition President Obama to Enact LGBT Equality Now!

by Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer - Emmy-Award-winning directors, ‘Out in the Silence’ Campaign & Youth Activism Award:

The right to petition our government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Not long ago the Obama administration created an online way for us, we the people, to do just that: press our public officials to take action on the issues of utmost importance to us. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure that it's sent to the appropriate policy experts and issue an official response.

Well, as President Obama embarks on a second term, we think it's high time that he use his executive, and moral, authority to demonstrate to a skeptical world and recalcitrant Congress that the federal government of the country that claims to be a beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights for all will finally begin to treat its own lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens with dignity, respect and full and equal treatment under the law by enacting executive orders, amending existing ones and promoting legislation that sets a government-wide precedent for equality.

This should include but is not be limited to:

• Nondiscrimination protections for employees of federal contractors based on sexual orientation and gender identity
• Prohibition of federal funds being used to discriminate against LGBT Americans
• A moratorium on deportations of foreign same-sex partners of LGBT Americans
• Strong promotion of legislation to prevent bullying and harassment of students
• Strong promotion of legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and action to include LGBT federal workers and their families in all federal benefits programs
• A statement declaring his specific second-term priorities regarding full LGBT equality in his 2013 State of the Union address

In order to get the White House to respond to this petition, we need to gather 25,000 signatures by Feb. 7. Please, add your name to the petition HERE, and share it with your family, friends, allies and online networks.

And if you need some inspiration, we encourage you to read Langston Hughes' powerful poem "Democracy."

Beautiful Letter from a 15 Year-Old Gay Boy in Canada

While the march toward marriage equality may make it feel like the tide is finally turning, this note from a teen who just watched OUT IN THE SILENCE is a poignant reminder of the work to be done on behalf of, and alongside, those still living in the shadows, in fear and isolation, in places near and far ...

November 15, 2012:

My name is John, I am a 15 year old boy that is gay.

I live in a small city just on the Atlantic Ocean near a city called Halifax in Canada.

I know you live in the United States but I just wanted to email you and tell you how your documentary helped me with the struggle of 4 years because I did not like the fact that I was gay.

I had lived in two cities during the 4 years and was out of the closet in the last town I lived in.

I had came out to my parents at the age of 13 and they were perfectly fine with it. Everyone around me thought that I was the happiest most energetic person they knew but what they didn't know was that I had cut myself and used to be suicidal do to the fact that I hated myself because I was gay.

I am in grade 10 now and about one week ago I was still suicidal but not cutting anymore. The depression I was dealing with was dropping my grades and making me anti-social.

No, I was not getting physically bullied by my peers but I was getting cyber and verbally bullied by people who I used to call my "friends."

I found your documentary while searching for a good movie to watch late at night. I have watched "Out In The Silence" seven times in the last four days.

I have friends who know these things about me and would try to help me through it and try to help me accept that I am gay. I also tried to tell myself I was fine with it but realized I couldn't force myself to accept something.

All the stories and things that happened in this movie finally helped me to realize that I am OK with the fact I am gay and that it was a waste of my time fighting it and that I should embrace it.

I know I am gonna face a lot more difficulty in my life but I have never felt this happy since I was 9 years old.

I just wanted to say thanks for the documentary. I enjoyed it and it helped me a lot with everything.

Kinsey Institute Welcomes Dean Hamer Collection To Its Archives

October 2012

The Kinsey Institute welcomes the addition of the Dean Hamer collection to the Kinsey Institute Library at Indiana University. Best known as the discoverer of the “gay gene,” Dr. Hamer’s papers, correspondence, news clips and videos provide fascinating insights into the excitement and controversy that surrounded one of the most important periods in the scientific study of human sexuality.

Hamer, like Alfred Kinsey, began his career as a research biologist. He obtained his BA at Trinity College, CT, his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, and was an independent researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 35 years, where he directed the Gene Structure and Regulation Section at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. He invented the first method for introducing new genes into animal cells using viral vectors, which allowed the production of numerous biomedical products, and elucidated one of the first animal gene regulation circuits to be understood at the molecular level.

As the techniques of molecular genetics became increasingly powerful in the 1990s, Hamer turned his attention to the roles of genes in human behavior. He focused on sexual orientation because it was one of the most fundamental aspects of human biology, yet one of the least studied from a molecular perspective – a situation he believed was due to a conservative political climate that stigmatized the objective study of human sexuality.

Combining classical family studies with the newly developed technology of gene mapping by DNA linkage analysis, Hamer's group produced the first molecular evidence for the existence of genes that influence homosexuality in males, and showed that one of these genes is associated with the Xq28 marker on the X chromosome. This finding was replicated in two studies in the United States but not in a third in Canada; meta-analysis indicated Xq28 has a significant but not exclusive effect. Subsequently, several additional linked regions on other chromosomes have been described. The maternal transmission pattern was also confirmed in studies showing a possible evolutionary advantage at the level of female fecundity.

Hamer’s findings, first published in Science in 1993, ignited an international media firestorm that quickly spread across newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the internet. The research was the topic of front page stories across the world, major articles in Time and Newsweek, news and talk shows including Nightline and Oprah, and even became the subject of a Broadway play.Reactions varied from cautious support from the scientific community to passionate disavowals from religious conservatives. Many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals felt the results would increase understanding and acceptance, while others feared that they might medicalize or even eliminate non-heterosexual orientations. Hamer described his work, and the range of reactions to it, in his 1994 book The Science of Desire, a New York Times Book of the Year.

The Hamer Collection includes a wide range of scientific materials including the original research protocols, sample questionnaires and participant responses, detailed statistical analyses of the data, and drafts of the research papers. His correspondence with other scientists and laypeople reveals the diverse reactions that the research evoked. Popular materials include extensive press coverage in both mainstream and LGBT periodicals. Of special interest are the materials relating to Hamer's appearance in the Colorado Supreme Court Amendment 2 trial, in which the role of biology in sexual orientation received high level judicial scrutiny.

In more recent years Hamer's research focused on related topics in human behavioral genetics, including the discovery of the “Prozac gene,” and new biomedical forms of HIV prevention. He also became a director and producer of documentary films, including the Emmy Award-winning PBS film OUT IN THE SILENCE, which examines the reactions to his marriage to his partner Joe Wilson in a small conservative town in rural Pennsylvania.

Selected Resources to Accompany "Out In The Silence" Events

A list of resources compiled by University of Oregon Libraries' Community Conversations program, the flagship living-learning community within the residential co-curriculum of University Housing.

Gambone, Phillip. Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010. HQ75.2 .G36 2010 (Knight Library)

In Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans, author Phillip Gambone spends 2 years traveling the U.S. to speak with LGBTQ people to honestly discuss what it means to be a LGBTQ person in a heteronormative society like the U.S.

Gherovici, Patricia. Please Select Your Gender: From the Invention of Hysteria to the Democratizing of Transgenderism. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. HQ77.9 .G43 2010 (Knight Library)

Please Select Your Gender: From the Invention of Hysteria to the Democratizing of Transgenderism aims to revise current notions of human sexuality. In doing so, it challenges the theory and practice of psychoanalysis with questions typically addressed only indirectly, but which are themselves transforming how analysis is done, advancing new ideas for the clinic that can be extrapolated to social and intellectual contexts in an effort to engage the broader dialogues of gender and sexuality.

Gray, Mary L. Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America. New York: New York University Press, 2009. HQ76.27.Y68 G73 2009 (Knight Library)

Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America is about the experiences of young people living in the rural areas of Kentucky and gives insight into what gay life is like outside of the big cities. This book describes how they not only use the resources around them in their community, but also the online spaces to help shape their emerging identities. Their trials and successes help bring understanding of just what “queer visibility” is and its political stakes.

Herdt, Gilbert H. Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights. New York: New York University Press, 2009. HQ76.8.U6 M67 2009 (Knight Library)

Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights is a work that focuses on case studies ranging from sex education, to AIDS, to race in order to illustrate how sexuality is at the heart of many political controversies. This book attempts to illustrate how moral panics are detrimental to our society.

Nelson, Emmanuel S. Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States. Santa Barbra: Glenwood Press, 2009. PS153.S39 E53 2009 v.1-2 (Knight Library Reference)

Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States explores contemporary American LGBTQ literature and its social, political, cultural, and historical contexts.

Stein, Marc. Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons/Thomson/Gale. 2004. HQ76.3.U5 E53 2004 v.1-3 (Knight Library Reference)

Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America cover workplace movements, Queer Nation, fashion and clothing, out out and outing, family issues, heath care and clinics, and federal law and policy. Also included are more than 200 biographies, 230 photographs, a 400-year chronology of LGBT history, and an appendix of repositories in the United States and Canada.

Seckinger, Beverly. Laramie Inside Out. Harriman, N.Y.: New Day Films, 2004. HV6250.4.H66 L37 2004 (LIMITED LOAN) (Law Library Video)

Laramie Inside Out is a movie about a town’s response to the death of a Wyoming college student named Matthew Shepard. He was beaten and left for dead sparking a nationwide debate about hate crimes and homophobia. In this movie Beverly Seckinger goes back to her hometown and meets with many people to discuss their views on homosexuality.

Wilson, Joe & Hamer, Dean. Out In The Silence. Qwaves Productions, Penn State Public Broadcasting, Sundance Institute, 2010. (Amazon.com)

Following the story of a small American town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement and the brutal bullying of a gay teen, Out In The Silence will challenge you to rethink your values and help close the gaps that divide our communities.



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