Download Your Copy Of: A Studs Guide To Success With Femmes -
Wow! The ebook has had over 300 downloads. Thank you to everyone who has downloaded the book so far, thank you for your comments and responses.
Read the Book? Let us know what you think, leave a comment below. All comments are welcomed. Thanks.
This is an interesting article I found and I wanted to share with everyone who comes to the site. A recent UCLA study found 28% of persons in lesbian/gay relationships had experienced intimate partner violence, compared to 17% of persons in heterosexual relationships. That is almost double. Further more, in regards to lesbians the study also look into why this happens. Why? One reason, because of the “stigmatization invoked by lesbians themselves who believe in a sort of same-sex utopia, the feminist belief that maintains female-female relationships are inherently more peaceful, gentle, and “pure,” compared to male-female relationships.” Read on below.
By Carey Roberts
A series of high-profile cases of lesbian-perpetrated domestic violence has sent shock-waves through Massachusetts communities in recent months:
1. On February 16, a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Nicole Chuminski on two counts of second-degree murder, following a fire that killed the two daughters of her lover Anna Reisopoulos. During a heated argument between the two, Chuminski reportedly fell into a fit of rage. A few hours later Chuminski returned to her partner’s apartment and hurled an acetone-laden firebomb into the front door.
Sophia and Acia, ages 2 and 14, were burned beyond recognition, so dental records were needed for positive identification.
2. On March 29 Annamarie Rintala of Granby, Mass. was found dead by strangulation in the basement of the house she shared with her domestic partner Cara. Cara had been previously charged with domestic violence after she struck Annamarie in the back of the head with a closed fist.
3. Eunice Field of Brockton, Mass. found herself on the losing end of a bitter ménage à trois. So on August 9 she marched to the apartment of Lorraine Wachsman. There she grabbed a serrated knife and stabbed Wachsman in the back and neck. Dispelling any doubt about her intentions, she then penned a note admitting she had killed Waschsman “for taking away the love of my life.”
Ms. Field is now being held without bail pending a September 3 court appearance.
Experts on lesbian domestic violence were shocked, but honestly not surprised by these incidents. Last November a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported a 125% increase in domestic violence fatalities in lesbian and gay couples around the country during the prior year. According to Beth Leventhal of The Network/La Red of Boston, “partner abuse in LGBT communities can be just as lethal as that in heterosexual communities.”
Ms. Leventhal’s commentary actually understates the extent of the problem. Earlier this year the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research published the results of a survey of over 51,000 California adults . The UCLA study found 28% of persons in lesbian/gay relationships had experienced intimate partner violence, compared to 17% of persons in heterosexual relationships.
It’s also believed that lesbians are more likely to engage in partner violence than gay men. According to the Boston Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project, one in three homosexual women experience partner aggression, compared to only one in four homosexual men. Kaitlin Nichols of The Network/La Red notes, “The myth of women’s communities as safe communities has prevented many women from reaching out for support. If they have shared what is happening, they are met with disbelief from their community.”
And why are lesbians more likely to abuse?
According to Nomi Porat, an abuse-prevention expert, the reason is poor limit-setting: “An issue common to women, particularly battered women, is the fear of demanding physical and emotional boundaries. In part, battered lesbians are afraid their lovers will leave or become more violent if any limitations are set in the relationship.”
A nearly impenetrable double wall serves to keep lesbian battering tucked away in the proverbial closet. The first wall is the stigmatization invoked by lesbians themselves who believe in a sort of same-sex utopia, the feminist belief that maintains female-female relationships are inherently more peaceful, gentle, and “pure,” compared to male-female relationships.
In Naming the Violence: Speaking out About Lesbian Battering, Barbara Hart maintains that female batterers should be subjected to a form of shunning by the lesbian community: “one of the consequences of [female batterers’] violence is that they may have to limit any contact with the person they assaulted/abused. This may mean that the batterer cannot attend public gatherings or movement meetings.”
The second wall is the broader domestic violence industry that maintains a cult-like belief in the notion of patriarchal sexism, the theory that men abuse their wives due to an innate and irrepressible urge to oppress women. So every time a woman pummels, rapes, or otherwise abuses her female partner, the patriarchal dominance theory takes a body-blow.
These ideological blinders serve to justify shelters policies that turn away of needy women. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the problem of abuse shelters that discriminate on the basis of gender identity is widespread.
Intimate partner aggression is not a problem limited to any particular sex, or gender identity, or economic group. Indeed, research shows women are at least as likely as men to engage in partner abuse.
When the Sisterhood gets over its denial of the truth, we’ll stop seeing so many women and men victimized by domestic violence.
The whole process for this new board took one whole a year. Whats really interesting is how all of a sudden since the death of Durand Robinson, the process for this board to came into play much quicker. So not right! Will this cause any ease as the gay community waits for justice. Hmmm. Read on. Folks. What do you think?
The Atlanta Police Department on Tuesday announced the nine members of its gay and lesbian advisory board, putting in place a panel that the agency hopes will help improve relations with the city’s gay residents that soured in the wake of the Eagle raid last September.
The nine members, culled from dozens of applications received since Atlanta police asked for nominations in July, include a cross-section of business owners, community activists, non-profit leaders and a member of the clergy.
“One of my priorities on becoming chief was to repair the relationships and build the trust we had lost in various communities over the years,” Atlanta Police Chief George Turner (top photo. left) says in a press release announcing the panel. “We recognize the importance of the GLBT community all over Atlanta, and want to make sure we are listening to their concerns. We hope they can help us become a smarter department, and together work to create a safer city for all.”
Atlanta police moved to create the panel after the idea surfaced in May during a public meeting with LGBT activists, non-profit leaders and the media to introduce the agency’s latest LGBT liaison, Officer Patricia Powell. Since then, the agency has faced a formal complaint from longtime LGBT liaison Officer Dani Lee Harris and placed her on leave, a call for sanctions against some officers involved in the Eagle raid, an internal investigation into the raid that has lasted nearly a year, a federal lawsuit over the action, and continued questions over how it uses its LGBT liaisons.
But Turner, Powell and other department brass faced critics during an LGBT town hall meeting in July, and the department has used Powell in recent investigations. The agency also admitted to not following its own operating policies in how it had previously deployed its LGBT liaisons.
Powell (second photo) says the new panel—formally named the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual 
and Transgendered (GLBT) Advisory Board—will help continue recent efforts from the department to improve its relationship with LGBT residents.
“I’m proud of the group we’ve put together,” Powell says in a press release. “The response from the community to serve on this board has been overwhelming. I heard from many conscientious, bright and accomplished Atlantans wanting to give their time. It wasn’t easy making these selections, but I believe we have a group that will take their positions seriously, and work diligently and earnestly with the APD.”
The board will hold its first meeting Sept. 20. All meetings will be open to the public, Atlanta police say.
Mayor Kasim Reed (top photo, right), who has faced continued criticism over the raid and his comments about the federal lawsuit, calls the board “a step in the right direction.”
“Atlanta has a vibrant, caring and active GLBT community—and I have pledged to make sure that our Police Department is well-trained to respect their unique needs,” Reed says in the press release. “I firmly believe this is a step in the right direction—but by no means is it the end of our work. It is just the beginning.”
Members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgendered Advisory Board
Ebonee Bradford Barnes. Business owner and grassroots GLBT activist. Founder of Sunshine Productions, an events coordinating and fundraising company. She is vice president of In The Life Atlanta and a member of the Board of Governors of Diversity and Inclusion for the Human Rights Campaign.
Betty Couvertier. Activist/Community Organizer and Producer of WRFG Radio’s “Alternative Perspectives,” a program about the GLBT community and its allies. Couvertier has been involved in a number of organizations over the years, including the Human Rights Campaign, Georgians Against Discrimination and the Atlanta Pride Festival Committee.
Tracy L. Elliot. Executive Director of AID Atlanta since April, 2007. Elliot is currently on the board of the Southern AIDS Coalition and the Harvard Club of Georgia, and he is a graduate of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2009. Elliot has also served as a bank vice president and division head for 13 years.
Glen Paul Freedman. Executive Assistant to the Honorable Lisa M. Borders, President of the Grady Health Foundation. Freedman currently serves on the board of directors and has served as the past president of the Atlanta Gay/Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Pride Committee.
Tracee McDaniel. Transgender advocate, founder and executive director of the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, Inc. McDaniel is a certified peer counselor and certified HIV/AIDS Risk/Reduction Prevention Pre & Post-test Counselor. She has been involved in a variety of organizations, including serving on the Atlanta Pride Committee board of directors, the Human Rights Campaign Diversity Committee and the board of directors for Someone Cares, Inc.
Terence McPhaul. Executive Director and CEO of Youth Pride. McPhaul has a host of knowledge and certification in HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and mental health counseling. He has also been an adjunct professor in the psychology and organizational management and leadership departments at Morris Brown, Spelman and Clark Atlanta universities.
Joshua M. Noblitt. Minister of Social Justice at Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Midtown. Noblitt also serves as a mitigation specialist at the Federal Defender Program, Inc. for the Northern District of Georgia. He has also served on various boards and organizational leadership teams, including the board of directors for the Reconciling Ministry Network, an organization dedicated to full inclusion for GLBT people in the United Methodist Church both in policy and practice. Noblitt was attacked in Piedmont Park in July.
Philip Rafshoon. Founder, owner and operator of Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse since 1993. Rafshoon is involved in a broad range of community and political organizations. He has received numerous awards over the years including the Human Rights Campaign Community Leadership award and two Atlanta Phoenix awards. Rafshoon served as a corporate co-chair of the 2004 AIDS Walk Atlanta and received the Community Service Award from AID Atlanta in the same year.
Molly Simmons. Emory School of Law graduate and Assistant Vice-President of Legal Services and Ethics, Privacy & Compliance Officer for Chamberlin Edmonds, an Atlanta-based company providing patient advocacy-based eligibility and enrollment services for its clients. Simmons is also a former DeKalb County Police patrol officer who won Officer of the Month in February 2000.
