In Brief

Staff Reports

SOUTH CAROLINA EQUALITY ANNOUNCES EQUALITY LICENSE PLATE

Courtesy of South Carolina Equality

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA -- South Carolina Equality, the Palmetto State’s LGBT education and political advocacy organization announced today that South Carolina joins Indiana this week as one of three states to claim pro-equality license plates, Maryland being the first in 2008.

Christine Johnson, executive director of South Carolina Equality, in an e-mail said;

“2012 represents our 10th Anniversary of providing LGBT advocacy in the Palmetto State, and we can think of no better way to kick off our year of celebration! We begin the New Year feeling grateful and fortunate that South Carolina license plate policy allows a broad expression of diverse opinion and organizational support. We have collaborated with the DMV to create a license plate we hope will appeal not just members of the LGBT community, but their families, friends and allies.”

The license plate, which will be available for purchase to the public in late January 2012, was created as a way of "allowing residents of South Carolina to publicly display their support of community, culture and policy that encourages and advocates for equal treatment for all South Carolinians, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," according to Johnson's e-mail.

The SC Equality specialty plates will cost South Carolina residents one of the lowest specialty license plate fees in the state ($25.00),in addition to regular registration or renewal fees.

SC Equality Board Chair, Dean Pierce said, “South Carolina is now a national leader in securing a pro-equality license plate. We wish LGBT equality supporters in every state could take advantage the public advocacy opportunity our great state has provided to South Carolina Equality”.

SC Equality announced that it is hosting three license plate launching events in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville, Friday, January 20th, for the statewide debut of the license plate.

Homophobic Nurse In Texas Veteran's Hospital Forced To Retire After Harassment Of Lesbian Marine Corps Vet

Lance Corporal Esther Garatie

DALLAS, TEXAS -- A spokesperson for the Dallas Veterans Affairs Center has confirmed that Lincy Pandithurai would "retire from federal service" effective Saturday, January 21, 2012. Pandithurai, a nurse practitioner, was accused of homophobic harassment directed at Lance Corporal Esther Garatie, an honorably discharged lesbian Marine Corps veteran who was seeking treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Garatie, Pandithurai reportedly said to her among other things, "The reason you are so upset is because you feel the darkness surrounding you, and you feel guilty about being a homosexual and living in sin. I'm going to prescribe you some anti-depressants, maybe they'll help, but I'm not saying that you aren't going to continue to want to kill yourself."

In a statement released today, the Veteran's Affairs spokesperson said;

The Administrative Investigation Board has completed its investigation. The board was able to substantiate material portions of the veteran's claims. VA North Texas Health Care System will continue to provide an environment where veterans can receive the physical and emotional healing that they desire and deserve. As such, we remain committed to respecting diversity and providing the best possible care to all veterans. Our commitment to equal rights remains strong as we practice our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence."

The story first broke last November by the Dallas Voice who reported that Garatie went in for counseling after suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. Instead, she was greeted by a bizarre three-hour tirade from nurse Pandithurai.

At the time Garatie told the paper, she had initially sought treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder and after coming to the VA Hospital was screened by Pandithurai who inquired about her sexual orientation.

“She sat down and looked at me, and her first question was, ‘Are you a lesbian?’” Garatie wrote in a statement. “Her second question to me was, ‘Have you asked God into your heart? Have you been saved by Jesus Christ?’"

She concluded, "This is when I realized that I was no longer a United States veteran in her eyes, I was just a homosexual.”

Following the incident, Garatie and a friend, Jessica Gerson, authored a Change.org petition effort calling on the VA hospital for Pandithurai to be fired. The online petition drew over 19,500 signatures, and in response the VA hospital launched an investigation last November taking Pandithurai away from patients in the interim.

Upon learning of Pandithurai's removal Thursday, the 28-year-old Garatie issued this statement:

"I really want to thank all of the people that have come together to support me and other veterans," she said "Thank you for standing up against anything like this ever happening -- to any veteran -- ever again."

NEW STUDY: OLDER GAY MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH JEOPARDIZED BY SEXUAL MINORITY STRESS

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Sexual minority stress, along with aging-related stress, jeopardizes the mental health of midlife and older gay men, according to a new study published by the American Journal of Public Health. In the study, sexual minority stress included the men’s perceptions that they needed to conceal their sexual orientation or that others were uncomfortable with or avoided them because of their sexual orientation.

The study also found that legal marriage for same-sex couples may confer a unique protective effect against poor mental health. Having a same-sex domestic partner or same-sex spouse boosted the emotional health of the studied men, but having a same-sex legal spouse appeared to be the most beneficial relationship arrangement. Said lead author Richard G. Wight, MPH, PhD, Associate Researcher at the Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, and Visiting Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute at UCLA: “This study shines a light on the mental health of a generation of gay men who survived the early years of the AIDS crisis and came of age on the heels of the gay rights movement. Whether legal marriage benefits mental health within same-sex couples in the way it has been proven to benefit different-sex couples deserves much more empirical attention, particularly given that same-sex marriage is not available in most states and was only briefly available in California in 2008.”

The study’s findings further suggest that targeted campaigns may be necessary to address this generation of gay men’s heightened risk for poor mental health. In addition to sexual orientation stigma, the studied men’s mental health was also negatively affected by having experienced the loss of many of their peers to AIDS. General aging-related stress, such as concerns over finances and independence, also affected the mental health of these midlife and older gay men.

The study was based on self-administered questionnaires completed in 2009 or 2010 by approximately 200 HIV-negative and HIV-positive gay-identified men between the ages of 44 and 75. The studied men were a subsample of participants in the UCLA component of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, one of the largest and longest running natural-history studies of HIV/AIDS in the United States.

The study was conducted by the Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, and the Williams Institute, School of Law, at UCLA and the Department of Sociology and the Health Equity Institute, San Francisco State University.