This blog is primarily for members of the APSA to discuss 1) the general question of siting annual meetings so that all members of the association feel reasonably safe, comfortable, and welcome at the site and 2) the specific question of siting the conference in New Orleans in 2012.
The blog's main work will be through comment threads. I encourage and expect vigorous debate, but any posting I deem to be a personal attack, or to be racist or homophobic, will be removed as soon as I see it or hear about it.
Unlike some of the comment blogs, I will make occasional new posts to update on the situation as it develops on the ground. If you hear about some major development, drop me a line and I will try to blog it here.
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In response to the blogger who asked about future meetings, the 2009 meeting is in Toronto, the 2010 meeting is in DC and the 2011 in San Francisco. As you know, New Orleans is scheduled for 2012. No conference has been scheduled for after 2012, though that position might be interpreted as a way of putting additional pressure on those "holding up" subsequent decisons by their opposition to New Orleans.
Dear Friends/Colleagues,
I offered the following observations to a small group conversing on a list serve a week or so ago and was asked to place it on the board for general discussion. Here it is:
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I have to tell you that I believe that attending a conference on a site in Louisiana is a real danger.
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Thus, I will not be attending either the ISA convention in two years in New Orleans or the APSA annual conference should it be held in New Orleans in 2012.
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For me, this is NOT symbolic politics; nor is up for discussion.
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It is based on previous experience.
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Although I am presently in a 17 year relationship, a few years prior to getting together with my current partner, I experienced the problems that come with a freak accident and no rights to legal access to a patient.
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I had been in a relationship for about 2 1/2 years and my partner was in an automobile driving down the highway in Ohio. A truck veered over and smashed her car forcing it off the road. They had to cut open her smashed car to get her out and get her to a hospital in rural Ohio.
When I showed up I was told I was not a family member, they could give me zero information, and I had no rights to visit - only family members could visit intensive care. [She pulled through and went on to live a healthy life.]
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In the last year, I have had three friends fall and seriously hurt
themselves just by 1) going up and down steps (while sight seeing in Berlin, Germany), 2) stepping on uneven pavement, 3) or losing their balance. The results are hospitals stays and operations for a broken hip, a broken knee, and in the first case all four extremities are
broken as well some ribs.
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I will not risk traveling to Louisiana so that if i have some unexpected accident I place my partner in the position of not having access to me. Or, if I have a serious accident of not being able to see my partner should I be critically ill.
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This issue at hand is a real one. It is not one of symbolic politics.
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I will not go to New Orleans. I will not go to "educate" other people about the risks I am incurring. That will have to be the task of straight allies.
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I can tell you that partners 1) not having access to one another, and 2) trying to negotiate the health care world -- is a nightmare that I want to avoid at any cost.
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> I am amazed that a professional organization would plan a convention knowing that a subgroup of its members cannot attend or else run the risk that their physical and mental well being may be comprised.
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> If this were affecting any other group, wouldn't We be active on Their behalf?
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> In the past, our membership has boycotted sites where political leverage was being requested.
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> THIS situation is not simply Political; it is a real life health and security issue. I simply won't risk it.
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> The APSA has decided that it does not care whether or not I can attend its conference in safety.
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> As far as assisting those in New Orleans - I was active [enough to be written up in the county newspaper] in organizing our town's efforts to send supplies to hurricane victims and to continue after the initial efforts from a number of other people had ceased.
As Harry Hirsch has suggested we do now, I have already donated money to Dillard College, the historically black college that continues to need assistance in order to survive.
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> There is much we can do for New Orleans and its residents without
> placing our selves in danger.
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> I will not be attending the APSA convention.
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> As the current Section Chair of the International Studies Association (ISA) Feminist Theory and Gender Studies (FTGS), I raised this issue at our business meeting the last week in March because we will need to do something when the ISA meets in New Orleans the year after next. It is too late for the ISA to pull out. In this case, it is my hope that those straight allies who can travel to New Orleans will do something to contribute to political leverage when dealing with the Louisiana legislature. But I cannot attend.
The APSA, however, has YEARS in which it can still make alternative
> arrangements and do the right thing.
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> From my perspective, anyone who thinks this is just a question of
> strategy lacks the experience to know how horrible it is to be placed in this situation.
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> Thanks for reading a long email.
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> Eve Sandberg, Ph
FYI: The State Constitution is not the whole story regarding the rights of same sex couples in New Orleans. See the story below from Lambda Legal
Lambda Legal Applauds Decision Upholding Benefits for Same-Sex Partners of New Orleans City Employees
‘This lawsuit needlessly jeopardized the health and well-being of city employees and their families.’
(New Orleans, January 24, 2008) — The Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans has granted Lambda Legal's motion for summary judgment, and ruled that the city of New Orleans was within its authority when it granted health benefits to domestic partners of city employees and established a domestic partner registry for city residents.
"This lawsuit needlessly jeopardized the health and well-being of city employees and their families by threatening to take away their health insurance," said Lambda Legal Senior Staff Attorney Brian Chase. "We're pleased the court dismissed the lawsuit and we are gratified that fairness prevailed in this case. Gay and lesbian employees of the City of New Orleans can breathe easier knowing that their domestic partners will remain covered by their health insurance as they rebuild this great city."
The city of New Orleans extended health insurance benefits to same-sex partners of city employees in 1997, and in 1999, the city council created a domestic partner registry that allows couples to make a public declaration to care for and support each other. Those policies came under attack in 2002 from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), on behalf of a group of city taxpayers claiming a right to challenge the laws. At the city's request, Lambda Legal joined the lawsuit, representing city employee Peter Sabi and his partner, Philip Centanni, Jr. Sabi and Centanni later left Louisiana, and city employee Brian Barbieri and his partner Howard Lees joined the lawsuit.
Chief District Court Judge Nadine Ramsey ruled on January 15 that the State Constitution does indeed grant the city of New Orleans the authority to offer benefits to the domestic partners of city employees and maintain a registry of domestic partners. She also ruled that extending health care benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of city employees does not violate state laws restricting marriage to one man and one woman. "The extension of health care benefits does not afford a legal status 'identical or substantially similar to that of marriage,' nor does it in any way trample on any purported public policy favoring marriage over unmarried cohabitation," Ramsey wrote in her judgment. "The City's decision to extend health care benefits to the domestic partners of city employees simply provides health insurance to a greater number of persons, without regard to marital status."
Lambda Legal Senior Staff Attorney F. Brian Chase is counsel in Ralph v. City of New Orleans. Michael Vincenzo of King, LeBlanc and Bland is co-counsel.
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Jason Howe, Lambda Legal Public Information Officer: 213.382.7600, ext. 247; Email: jhowe@lambdalegal.org
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