Trump harms military readiness with misogynistic transgender ban

PHOTO: President Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military is favorably reported by the Christian Broadcasting Network News a.k.a. CBN "700 Club" TV show hosted by the anti-gay Rev. Pat Robertson, which I watched at 12:37PM Jul. 26, 2017 on over-the-air Eugene, Oregon KLSR-TV Channel 34-1 via Comcast Cable Channel 705. This show was originally shown at 10:37AM PT on the Corvallis Comcast Cable TV Channel 739 Freeform (formerly named the CBN and Family Channel) that was started decades ago by Rev. Robertson, and also broadcast for free on the over-the-air Eugene KMTR-TV Channel 16-1 at 11:37PM (simulcast on Comcast cable channel 703). Rev. Pat Robertson apparently has a contract to air his show on the Christian cable TV channel he founded and he apparently pays local TV stations to broadcast his program via their free, over-the-air TV channels because disclaimers are displayed at the start of the program saying it may or may not reflect the views of the station.

When I woke up on Jul. 26, the live TV news broadcast I was watching showed the first of several tweets President Trump was sending, which dramatically teased the next tweet he had not yet written, and so the TV anchors joked how this provided viewers with a great motivation to stick around through the commercial break in order to find out out what Trump was going to say in his next tweet. The anchors also all gave their joke guesses as to what it would be.

A few minutes later, Trump finished his follow-up tweeting and it was quickly reported as a "breaking news" story on my local Corvallis newspaper's Website in an AP story by the Associated Press, "Trump bars transgender people from US military," gazettetimes.com posted Jul. 26, 2017 accessed 11:00AM (The next day print edition front page AP story was by Robert Burns, "Trump prohibits transgender troops -- Tweet catches Pentagon off-guard; decision draws denunciations," Gazette-times, Jul. 27, 2017, p. A1-A2).

This news story prompted me to write the following letter to the editor:

President Trump's Jul. 26 ban on transgender individuals serving in the military is essentially a ban on all women serving in the military, according to my heterosexual, cisgender female cousin who served as one of the first female officers in the U.S. military several decades ago, while also raising a family of children in an opposite-sex marriage to a man.

My cousin's father, a U.S. Marines General, was appalled by how many men in the military angrily discriminated against his daughter because they thought only "real men" could be warriors.

Trump is harming military readiness by discriminating against all women, when he welcomes gay military men, but not women, to serve.

(Quoted from Thomas Kraemer, "Letter: Trump's ban harms the US military," Gazette-Times, Jul. 27, 2017, p. A8)

Also see the following links:

• Barnini Chakraborty, "Trump announces ban on transgender individuals serving in military - President tweets that military cannot be burdened with medical costs, disruption," foxnews.com posted Jul. 26, 2017.
• Michelangelo Signorile, "Trump's Cruel Military Ban On Transgender People Is An Attempt To Save His Base. Trump will throw the most vulnerable people under the bus when he feels threatened," huffingtonpost.com posted Jul. 26, 2017 - "So, to give the base something to chew on, he decided to throw them transgender people. It's an issue that has been percolating for months, driven by Vice President Mike Pence."
• John Aravosis, "Trump bans transgender troops to divert attention from growing Sessions," americablog.com posted Jul. 26, 2017 - "Why did Trump do this? To divert conservative attention from his growing war with Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- conservatives love Sessions, and are increasingly angry at Trump for trying to force Sessions to resign -- and to help Republicans at the ballot box in 2018. Donald Trump is now using the American Armed Forces for politics."
• Cavan Sieczkowski, "George Takei Offers Blistering Takedown Of Trump's Trans Military Ban," huffingtonpost.com posted Jul. 26, 2017
• "cisgender" wikipedia.org accessed Jul. 26, 2017 notes that the word "Cisgender (often abbreviated to simply cis) is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. Cisgender may also be defined as those who have "a gender identity or perform a gender role society considers appropriate for one's sex." It is the opposite of the term transgender. . . . Cisgender was also added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013, defined as 'designating a person whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to him or her at birth (in contrast with transgender).'"

The editor also printed the letter by Michael Beachley, "Letter: Cheering crowds lead to chills," gazettetimes.com posted Jul. 26, 201 who notes how he watched "Donald Trump speaking to the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree about the evils of a free press, encouraging them to boo Barack Obama and other political opponents. They were cheering." This made him recal his trip "Nuremberg a couple weeks ago I went to the Nazi Documentation Center and saw a film of Adolf Hitler speaking to the Hitlerjugend, the Hitler Youth, encouraging them in undermining the values of the traditional structures of German society. They were cheering."

As an aside note, I noticed at the bottom of the letters page it had a search function that listed all of my past letters: Search gazettetimes.com "Thomas Kraemer" -- on Jul. 27 it returned 73 results, including the letter above. I also noticed that the email address of opinion@gtconnect.com for letter submission was no longer on the page, but it had a link to Submit letter to the editor form gazettetimes.com that had a form you could use, and it gave the option to "send us an e-mail at news@gazettetimes.com" -- an email address that is very similar to the Albany Democrat-Herald email address for their sister newspaper.

On the loosely related subject of President Trump trying to get his attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, I wonder if this is a fake attack on Sessions just to make it look like he doesn't trust Sessions, so that when Congress forces Trump to keep Sessions and Sessions's investigations exonerate Trump from any crime, it will look like it is believable instead of a conclusion fabricated by a Trump loyalists, which was the concern of many when Sessions was picked by Trump for the job.

Pride March in small town across river from OSU

PHOTO: Front page newspaper story by Neil Zawicki, "Message: 'We are all equal' Pride March in downtown Albany attracts a crowd," Mid-Valley Sunday Gazette-Times Democrat-Herald, p. A1,A6 posted online Jul. 22, 2017 as "Albany's first Pride March attracts robust crowd" reports on the Pride March in the small town of Albany, Oregon that is across the river from Corvallis and Oregon State University. Historically, Albany has been a very conservative rural town with many blue collar citizens employed in logging and lumber mills, which is in contrast to Corvallis's population of college students and professors who are more analytically minded, although not as liberal as a typical college town. Also see video by Jessica Habjan, "Video: Pride In Albany," gazettetimes.com posted Jul 22, 2017.

One speaker at the march noted how far Linn County (where Albany, Oregon is located) has come from the days when an ordinance was passed that took away the rights of homosexuals. (The specific ordinance is not mentioned in the newspaper, but I guess the speaker may be talking about the anti-gay measures successfully passed by Oregon anti-gay groups, which have not been repealed and are still on the books, such as Oregon's ban on same-sex marriages that has been overruled by the U.S. Supremer Court decision.)

"There were 550 confirmed marchers Saturday at Albany's first Pride March, an organized demonstration meant as a show of support and unity for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. . .

Keith Kolkow organized the Albany event . . which began in front of the Albany City Hall. . . .

Notable in the crowd were at least a dozen representatives from the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Corvallis. Congregation member Ann Hawkins said Christianity and LGBT rights are one in the same. . .

The march comes on the heels of a contentious July 12 city council meeting . . .

"I think the council meeting last week went a long way to energize people," said march co-organizer Jerred Taylor. . .

The march kicked off, moving north up Broadalbin Street, with drums and rattling cow bells and marchers chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia's got to go!"

As the procession made its way west along First Avenue, the marchers stretched for two blocks, with the marchers shouting "Black, white, gay, straight -- love does not discriminate!" . . .

One person shouted from his car, "Damn faggots! Marching for what!?" but an Albany Police officer emerged from his patrol vehicle to encourage the heckler to move along, which he did. . .

Albany City Councilor Ray Kopczynski also marched. . ." (Quoted from Neil Zawicki, "Message: 'We are all equal' Pride March in downtown Albany attracts a crowd," Mid-Valley Sunday Gazette-Times Democrat-Herald, p. A1,A6 posted online Jul. 22, 2017 as "Albany's first Pride March attracts robust crowd")

Wayne Dynes declares 'queer' word obsolete plus Dan Savage on 'straight' truth

PHOTO: At Oregon State University, queer activism peaked with the creation of the "OSU Queer Resource Center" or QRC as reported in a front page student newspaper story "QRC passes unanimously," OSU Barometer, Mar. 15, 2001, p. 1. The QRC would later become the present-day OSU Pride Center for LGBTQQII+ students. During the 1990's self-described "queer activists" took back the word "queer" from its former use as a pejorative term for homosexuals by proudly identifying themselves as being "queer," instead of using the word "gay," as had become the popular fashion after the Stonewall riot in 1969. The identity of "queer" was promoted as being inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities, similar to how the "gay" identity was embraced by both gay men and gay women after Stonewall, until misogynistic behavior by gay male activists caused many women to adopt their historical lesbian identity. A prior generation of homosexual activists, including the former OSU Professor W. Dorr Legg, had a similar goal of inclusivity when they had adopted the identity of "homophile" during the 1950's and 1960's. Prof. Legg saw "homophile" also as a more correct English construction because it did not mix Greek and Latin, plus it communicated that "sex" was not as central to their identity, as mainstream society thought it was. The student newspaper story, shown above, said Christian Matheis voted as part of the ASOSU student fee committee to fund the OSU Queer Resource Center. Matheis was an early leader of the QRC. (See previous posts OSU Queer Resource Center documentary video review (10/20/10) and OSU QRC advocate Christian Matheis says farewell in 5,000 words (6/3/11))

I recalled the noble goals of queer activists in the 1990's and how it touched Oregon State University after reading the blog post essay by Professor Emeritus Wayne Dynes, "Vagaries of the word queer," dyneslines.blogspot.com posted Jul. 16, 2017, who essentially declares the "queer" word to be obsolete and says, ". . . Queer Theory is collapsing, together with its postmodern cousins in the academy. No one that I know of speaks of queer rights or queer marriage. So the q word has not, despite the aspirations of some observers, become the overall label of choice. That function has been assumed by LGBT - not in my view the ideal solution, but it has in fact become the answer." However, after some analysis he notes, ". . . there is still a use for the queer label. In the current assimilationist climate there is a danger that our heritage (if I may use the term) of outlaw/outsider affirmation will be swept away. . . the word queer should still be employed for this, dare I say, heroic affirmation of the outsider tradition. But the q word is contraindicated as a generic term, and those of us who object to its hegemonic deployment are justified: it does not apply to us." Prof. Dynes was a participant of the homophile movement as well as a witness to the Stonewall era. (See his biography "Wayne R. Dynes" From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia accessed Ju. 17, 2017)

In my personal opinion, I see nothing wrong with the evolving fashions for how those with a minority sexual orientation or gender identity choose to identify themselves. In fact this is why I specified it in this generic way for my research endowment with the OSU Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld Fund for research concerning humans or animals with a minority sexual orientation or gender identity. I fully expect it will change again in the future as new generations learn and adapt to new information and fashions.

For example, after decades of studying sex and gender roles, it was only recently that I noticed how the space of sexual orientation and gender identity can be theorectically modeled with either discrete and or continuous variables in a three-dimensional space.

What made me think of this concept was the answer written by a popular Seattle sex advice columnist and gay man, Dan Savage, "Savage Love: Savage Love Letter of the Day: 100% Straight Guys Who Also Love Sucking Dick," thestranger.com posted Jul. 11, 2017. In an answer to a reader's question, Savage notes, "self-identification isn't always congruent with behavior and behavior isn't always congruent with desire and blah blah blah. Think prisons, pirate ships, and boardings schools --think situational homosexuality. . . A few more wrenches to throw in the werks: There are straight guys who don't have dicks, DICKS. A straight guy with a dick could find himself in a relationship with a guy with a vagina. (Guy with dick marries woman with vagina, woman transitions to male, couple remains married. Voila: a 100 percent straight guy is having sex on the regular with another dude.)"

I had also thought of the double standards Savage mentioned in his previous post, but the new thing that I specifically thought of while reading Savage's current answer is that there is an axis of gender or biological sex, which can described with the discrete categories, such as male, female, intersex, or described with continuous variables (e.g. 25 percent male, 75% female.) Also, there is another axis of sexual identity or sexual orientation, which can be described with the discrete categories of heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, or with a continuous variable. Finally, there is a third axis of sexual behavior, which Savage points out can be incongruent with your identity without requiring the excuse of being in a situation where you feel it is your only option. For example, sexual behavior can be described with the discrete categories of heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, which may or may not be the same as your sexual orientation or identity.

Any college freshman student taking a combinatorial mathematics class can easily calculate the number of possibilties for any given model. The simplest case is the one most people think of, which is you are either straight or gay, and either male or female, while your sexual behavior matches your sexual orientation. In this simple model, all humans could be categorized as one of four possibilities -- a person could be straight and either male or female. Or a person could be gay and either male or female.

If you expand this simple model to include the axis of either homosexual behavior or heterosexual behavior, then the number of catgegories increases by a factor of 2 to be equal to 8 total possibilities. One example would be a heterosexual male who identifies as being a heterosexual, but has sex with his male friends like the person mentioned in Savage's column. As you add in all of the other possibilities, the number of combinations literally expands exponentially, and if you include continuous variables, such as being a percentage part male and part female, then there are an infinite number of possibilities.

Like I said, I have no problem with each person choosing their own identity, and I fully expect the fashions will change over time for how people identify themselves. However, I hope to live long enough to see if and how these changes in identity fashion will take place over the next few decades. I am curious too, what will be the impetus for these changes?

Finally, a side note to Prof. Wayne Dynes of a still current current usage of the word "queer" by by the "OSU Queer Archives (OSQA) that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State, Corvallis, and Benton County", including the OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection (OH 34). (See previous post OSU Queer Archives collaborates with German Professor Bradley Boovy (7/7/17)). In my opinion, even though I would not have used the word "queer for this archive, it does cover the breadth of Archive well and I can't imagine it causing confusion in the future, even though it could become quaint as the term "homophile" in the future.

OSU alumna Tim Weber talks on HP 3-D printers

PHOTO: OSU alumna Tim Weber of HP Inc. in Corvallis, Oregon talks about HP 3-D printers, in his keynote address at a local technology festival for da Vinci Days, as shown in the local newspaper article by Jim Day, "The 3D printing revolution underway: HP expert discusses technology in Whiteside talk," Gazette-Times, Jul. 15, 2017, p. A1-A2 posted online Jul. 14, 2017 as "The 3D printing revolution: Tim Weber discusses technology in Whiteside talk". For more information see the trade publication article by Lucas Mearian, Senior Reporter, Computerworld, "manufacturing: HP said it has 30 reseller partners in North American and Europe," computerworld.com posted May 8, 2017 that says, "After announcing its first revenue from sales, HP Inc. today said it is now focused on scaling up its Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing business that it believes will rival standard manufacturing technologies, such as injection molding. . . . HP claims its Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers will enable mass production of parts through additive manufacturing (3D printing), instead of rapid prototyping, for which the technology is typically used. The new printers are unlikely to be used to produce millions or billions of production parts. Think, instead, in terms of hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of parts, HP said. The printer works by first depositing powder (about 100 microns thick, or the thickness of a standard sheet of paper) onto a print bed using a print bar that looks like a scanning bar on a typical 2D printer. The print bar has 30,000 nozzles spraying 350 million fusing agent droplets per second in specific patterns as it moves back and forth across a print platform." Also see, official HP site, "Introducing the HP Jet Fusion 3D printing solution - New 3D printing technology for a new era in manufacturing," hp.com accessed Jul. 17, 2017 linked to from top Google search for "HP 3-D printer open platfrom standards".

Local boy made good Timothy Weber gave Corvallis a taste of the future Friday night with a 40-minute talk on 3D printing to kick off the summer da Vinci Days program.

Weber, a Corvallis native who received his doctorate in engineering from Oregon State University, called himself "head nerd" of HP Inc.'s 3D printing team. . .

Weber emphasized that HP "is not a materials company," and that it is working with high-wattage international partners such as BMW, Nike, BASF and Siemens on an open-platform basis that all but assuredly will accelerate the pace of innovation -- and change.

About two-thirds of the way into the lecture Weber lost this reporter, when he launched into a discussion of HP's multijet fusion technology. It didn't get any better when he moved on to fabrication of functional polymer nanocomposites.

Then he reeled it back in when he started talking about the things 3D printers will be able to do with color, elasticity and texture. His example was an automobile tire whose tread would be color-coordinated. When you see red peeking through the tires, you know it's time to head to the tire store. No more pulling quarters out of your pocket to measure tread depth! . .

(Quoted from Jim Day, "The 3D printing revolution underway: HP expert discusses technology in Whiteside talk," Gazette-Times, Jul. 15, 2017, p. A1-A2 posted online Jul. 14, 2017 as "The 3D printing revolution: Tim Weber discusses technology in Whiteside talk")

Tim Weber, after graduating with his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, joined my group at HP in the 1990's where I shared with him my knowledge of the HP Way that I had learned from experience over the prior two decades. Everyone who dealt with Weber saw him as being very smart and capable. It has been heartening to hear of his progress in the 3-D printer product arena. An interesting coincident is that the HP Corvallis Site was first envisioned and ordered built in the 1970's by a 1954 graduate of OSU John Young, to house the rapidly growing HP handheld programmable calculator business, which soon built HP's first portable personal computers. The first Corvallis HP building was occupied shortly before John Young became the first non-founder of HP to be named the President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard (the original HP was recently split into four companies, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., Agilent Technologies, and Keysight Technologies.)

As a natural outrowth of the portable calculator and computer businesses, in the 1970's HP invented the first battery operable inkjet printers, which grew rapidly in sales after personal computers became common and the demand for printing rose exponentially. See previous post History of HP inkjet printers in American Heritage Invention & Technology (2/19/12) to read the original article text for my magazine article. My personal copy, a scanned PDF that is intended only for fair use under the copyright law is at this link: Thomas Kraemer, "Printing Enters the Jet Age, How today's computer printers came to eject microscopic dots with amazing precision," American Heritage Invention & Technology, Spring 2001, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 18-27 (PDF)

In my previous post Year 2016 in review - 11 years of blogging - Am I too blind to blog? *12/24/16) I also quote from related newspaper articles of interest by Staff, "Future of 3-D printing is topic of forum," Gazette-Times, Nov. 1, 2016, p. A2 and a follow-up article by Anthony Rimel, "HP Plans 3-D printers for manufacturing," Gazette-Times, Nov. 3, 2016, p. A2, online as, "HP exec says company's 3-D printers will lead to new industrial revolution," posted Nov. 3, 2016 that mentions Tim Weber, global head of 3-D materials and advanced applications for HP Inc. talking about. Clearly, he has adopted the HP founder's strategy that avoided dependence on the retail market, like inkjet printers ended up in, by focusing on 3-D printers and materials for manufacturers.

Also, my previous post HP 3-D printers praised by Jim Cramer CNBC Wall Street reporter (7/24/16) links to my letter to the editor (Thomas Kraemer, "High hopes for HP," Corvallis Gazette times Mid-Valley Sunday edition, July. 24, 2016, p. A10) and it preceded two related newspaper articles of interest by Staff, "Future of 3-D printing is topic of forum," Gazette-Times, Nov. 1, 2016, p. A2 and a follow-up article by Anthony Rimel, "HP Plans 3-D printers for manufacturing," Gazette-Times, Nov. 3, 2016, p. A2, online as, "HP exec says company's 3-D printers will lead to new industrial revolution," posted Nov. 3, 2016 that mentions Tim Weber, global head of 3-D materials and advanced applications for HP Inc. talking about. Clearly, he has adopted the HP founder's strategy that avoided dependence on the retail market, like inkjet printers ended up in, by focusing on 3-D printers and materials for manufacturers. Tim's PhD in Mechanical Engineering makes this a perfect cap to his career.

PHOTO: Given that the first non-founder CEO of Hewlett-Packard, John Young, graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1954, and given his strategy was to locate HP divisions near universities to help recruit engineering talent, it made sense to move the Hewlett-Packard calculator factory and research lab to Corvallis, Oregon in 1975, which was first reported in the local Corvallis newspaper story by John Atkins, "H-P executive predicts 700 new jobs," Gazette-Times Aug. 8, 1974, p. 2. (See previous posts HP breakup making Bill and Dave spin in their graves (8/11/15) , Don't Cali-fornicate Oregon and HP annexation history (6/14/12) and HP and Corvallis newspaper history (3/11/09) about the move of the Hewlett-Packard calculator division to Corvallis in 1975)

Homophile magazines in 1960's 'Perversion for Profit' film about U.S. Supreme Court obscenity rulings

PHOTO: The former OSU Professor W. Dorr Legg's homophile magazine ONE May 1961 cover headline 'Homosexual Viewpoint' as shown in the 1960's movie "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com watched on Turner Classic Movie cable channel Jul. 9. 2017 2:30-3:00am PT

PHOTO: The homophile magazine 'Mattachine Review' April 1961 cover is shown next to homosexual "pornography" magazines 'Physique Spectacular' and 'Man Alive' with men posing provocatively' on the cover are also shown in the movie "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com watched on Turner Classic Movie cable channel Jul. 9. 2017 2:30-3:00am PT

VIDEO: The homophile publications hhat are shown above in this post were featured in this 1960's film, made by Charles Keating and Citizens for Decent Literature, Inc. For background information, see "Perversion for Profit," wikipedia.org accessed Jul. 11, 2017. This so-called "homosexual pornography" is shown in the film as examples of obscenity that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled is not protected as free speech under the U.S. Constitution. While the Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity is not protected free speech, in fact, the former OSU Professor W. Dorr Legg's homophile journal "ONE" had had its free speech rights of publication upheld in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling shortly before this film was made. The film epitomizes the common anti-gay prejudices of the 1960's, for example, by conflating the ideas that homosexuals preyed on young men, turning them gay, and that homosexuals are part of a Communist plot to take over America. From: "Perversion for Profit_ Citizens for Decent Literature Film (1965)," youtube.com (30:57) posted Aug 16, 2012)

I finally got to watch the "Perversion for Profit" movie as shown on the "Turner Classic Movies" cable TV channel a few days ago. I knew that it had been created by an anti-pornography crusader who later became the head of President Richard Nixon's "Commission on Pornography." However, I had not heard about how much it focused on "homosexual obscenity" as the still frames shown above indicate. (See "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com and "Perversion for Profit," wikipedia.org accessed Ju. 11, 2017)

The producer of the film Charles Keating (December 4, 1923 - March 31, 2014) from the late 1950s through the 1970s, was a noted anti-pornography activist, founding the organization Citizens for Decent Literature and serving as a member on the 1969 U.S. President Richard Nixon's President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. He also stole billions of dollars from taxpayers by exploiting the loosened regulations on Savings and Loans in the 1980's that was championed by Republicans and President Ronald Reagan. (See Charles Keating From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The film's narrator, George Putnam (July 14, 1914 - September 12, 2008) was a famous L.A. TV news anchor. Putnam was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota. His radio career began on his 20th birthday in 1934 at WDGY in Minneapolis. (See George Putnam (newsman) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I have not been able to determine what religious organizations were behind this. The Catholic Church was publically anti-pornography and anti-gay like many other churches back then. I am sure the film was made in reaction to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings on obscenity that were being issued during this era.

PHOTO: ONE Magazine was ahead of its time when it mentioned the idea of "homosexual marriage" in 1953 long before "gay marriage" or same-sex marriage became a cause of some gay liberationists. Former Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture W. Dorr Legg was one of the major contributors to the ONE homophile magazine and he was a conservative who probably saw gay marriage as being a conservative value. (See my previous post W. Dorr Legg OSU archives records 1935-1942 (7/21/10) and James T. Sears, PhD, "1953: When ONE Magazine, Headlined 'Homosexual Marriage,'" GayToday.com posted Aug. 11, 2003).

PHOTO: Letter signed by Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture W. Dorr Legg from the original paper in OSU personnel files that are now stored on microfiche in the OSU Archives, Corvallis, Oregon. The letter, dated 1942, was requesting a sabbatical leave to allow Dorr to spread his "Christian Science" religious beliefs to soldiers at Camp Adair north of Corvallis, Oregon during World War II. Legg was a cofounder of the 1950s homophile political movement for homosexuals and the present-day Loc Cabin Republicans. See my previous posts:

• W. Dorr Legg OSU archives records 1935-1942 (7/31/10)
• FBI files on gay OSU professor 1956 (7/7/10)
• OSU W. Dorr Legg homosexual marriage 1953 vs. CA Prop 8 2010 (8/22/10)
• Gay Oregon Professor 1935 (9/16/06)
• OSU professor recognized equality hypocrisy decades ago (6/5/12)
• Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," OutHistory.org posted June 2010
• OSU professor recognized equality hypocrisy decades ago (6/5/12)
• OSU gay marriage and the Corvallis Creeper (2/9/13)
• Churches self-destruct over gay marriage (6/18/09)
• Protection of Religion Amendment - GT letter (11/23/08)
• Slippery slope argument against marriage equality is predictable (6/22/12)
• Sam Champion gay marriage 2012 vs. 1970 Jack Baker (1/9/13)

OSU Queer Archives collaborates with German Professor Bradley Boovy

PHOTO: Still frame of Oregon State University Dr. Bradley Boovy, Assistant Professor of World Languages and Cultures and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as accessed Jul. 3, 2017 from the video player provided for the OSU Queer Archives Oral History VIDEO: Item 11: Bradley Boovy, June 6, 2017. (Video is part of the "OSU Queer Archives (OSQA) home page - Archival collections and materials in the university's archives that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State, Corvallis, and Benton County" including the OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection (OH 34), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon. OSU Queer Archives (OSQA): ORAL HISTORIES & Videos. (Note: the provided video player does not seem to be accessible to Microsoft Internet Explorer browser users like me who are low vision blind and using some standard accessibility settings because the player controls, such as the play button, are not visible, as seen in the still frame above. I was still able to play this video, but only because I could guess at where to hit the button to play or pause the video.)

I am not trained in the library sciences, but I found it interesting to read the journal paper by Natalia Fernández, Bradley Boovy, "Co-Founding a Queer Archives: a collaboration between an archivist and a professor," "Archival Practice," Vol 3 (2016) (also HTML and PDF) This journal describes itself as "A peer-reviewed, open-access journal published biannually, Archival Practice provides a scholarly forum for discussion of real-world application of archival theories and practices in the modern archival repository. This may include archival acquisitions, processing, reference, outreach, preservation, or management in any archival setting."

A new phrase to me that was used in their paper was "intersectional community activism" as one of its core missions. This is clearly a cutting gedge concept because a Google define:"intersectional community activism" links first to the OSU Queer Archives, but a less restrictive search suggests it is "is intentional in exploring social concerns through multiple dimensions of identity" and links to a page discussing "Intersectional Community Organizing for Social Justice" as well as the book "Enacting Intersectionality in Student Affairs: New Directions" by Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe. This might be a good topic for a future post, if I learn more about it.

Links related to the OSU Queer Archives:

• "OSU Queer Archives (OSQA): HOME - Archival collections and materials in the university's archives that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State, Corvallis, and Benton County," oregonstate.edu accessed Jun. 6, 2017 -- the tab at top of page goes to the following page:
• "OSU Queer Archives (OSQA): ORAL HISTORIES & VIDEOS - Archival collections and materials in the university's archives that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State, Corvallis, and Benton County," oregonstate.edu accessed Jun. 6, 2017. For a complete list of oral history interviews see the OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection, 2015-2016 (OH 34)
• Finding aids 2934 goes to "OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection, 2015-2017," oregonstate.edu accessed Jun. 6, 2017
• Browse through all the OSQA videos available by doing an OSU media "Search for tag: 'oh34osqa'" oregonstate.edu accessed Jun. 6, 2017 to produce a list with still photos
• Access through OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) via the finding aid Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) finding aid ID: OH 034"OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection, 2015-2017" oregonstate.edu accessed Jun. 6, 2017 to produce a text list of OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection (OH 34), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon. (Preferred Citation is: OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection (OH 34), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.)

On Jun. 11, 2017, I emailed the second part of my oral interview answers to the OSU Queer Archives, which after it is posted in the Archives I plan to post a link to it from my blog page. Unfortunately, I was unable to do a video interview due to my low vision blindness and partial paralysis -- just visiting a doctor is hard for me to do today -- but I am still able to touch type my answers, albeit very slowly, over a couple of weeks of time. (See my previous post OSU Queer Archives request for my participation (1/28/17))

See previous posts and related links

• Student produces video history of OSU LGBT community (5/16/15) - Oregon State University student Kiah McConnell displays her thesis poster, concerning OSU LBGT community history, May 14, 2015 -- See video at about 28:40 minutes: From Natalia Fernández, "OSU LGBTQ+ Community Film by Kiah McConnell, 2015," Oregon State Queer Archives oregonstate.edu accessed Oct. 14, 2015. The documentary shows the first gay student meeting notice printed in the student newspaper in 1976 (at about 26:39 minutes)
• OSU Queer History Month hits front page of student newspaper (10/8/15) See Natalia Fernández, "OSQA ~ The OSU Queer Archives," Oregon Multicultural Archives Blog posted May 9, 2015 that says, "film was created by Queer Archives intern Kiah McConnell. . ." Also see Oregon Multicultural Archives Blog and video posted by Natalia Fernández, "OSU LGBTQ+ Community Film by Kiah McConnell, 2015," OSU Queer Archvies posted 2015 (40:00)
• Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in WGSS; Queer Studies Minors Qwo Li Driskill
• Vanessa Alexandra Vanderzee Oregon State University The Valley Library Women, Gender, and Sexuality
• Natalia Fernández, Oregon State University Librarian-Oregon Multicultural OSU Queer Archives
• Dr. Bradley Boovy Assistant Professor of World Languages and Cultures and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• "OSU Queer Archives (OSQA): ORAL HISTORIES & VIDEOS: Archival collections and materials in the university's archives that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State, Corvallis, and Benton County," oregonstate.edu/osqa/ accessed Mar. 12, 2017 - In spring term of 2016, the OSU Queer Archives (OSQA) collaborated with the history class HST 368 Lesbian and Gay Movements in Modern America with Professor Mina Carson. Carson, along with OSQA co-founders Natalia Fernández, Curator and Archivist of the Oregon Multicultural Archives, and Professor Bradley Boovy, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, developed an oral history project for the students.
• Google search site:http://library.oregonstate.edu Thomas Kraemer

Baker-McConnell ask court to require County legally record their 1971 marriage

PHOTO: Cover of "The Advocate" magazine print edition (left) included inside (right) a photo of Jack Baker and Michael McConnell being legally married in 1970 as part of the article by Jacob Anderson-Minshall, "Marriage Equality Was Won by Widowers - the love stories behind the landmark cases both ended tragically," The Advocate, Jun.-Jul. 2017, p.80-81 advocate.com posted 5/3/2017. (Note: This was a special 50th anniversary edition of "The Advocate") As a law student, Baker took his marriage equality case to the U.S. Supreme Court (Baker v. Nelson 1972) where the court's decision essentially said that marriage is decided by State laws and not Federal laws. Baker believes his marriage is still valid because Minnesota State law did not prohibit same-sex marriage at that time, and so he has initiated legal proceedings to establish that fact. (See previous posts Baker-McConnell marriage in 'The Advocate' 50th anniversary issue (5/22/17) and Book by Michael McConnell on his marriage to Jack Baker that led to the first Supreme Court case on gay marriage (12/29/15))

The gay marriage pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell recently cc'd me on their email to a marriage law attorney working with them, Yale Law School Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr., which included a PDF copy of a legal brief they have filed in their quest to get a Minnesota court of law to require a Minnesota County to legally record their 1971 same-sex marriage that was legally performed under Minnesota State law at the time, and never legally dissolved by any court order. Blue Earth County, without any legal authority or a court order, refused to record the marriage retroactively after it was legally performed, despite the fact that no Minnesota law prohibited same-sex marriages at that time and later anti-gay marriage legislation was not retroactive before it was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court decision on gay marriage.

I was barely able to read the 30 page legal brief, given my worsening low vision blindness, but for my own notes I have selected a few quotes below, which may be hard to read and understand due to the legal language that I was too lazy to edit into some less technical language:

"Cases

Baker v. Nelson, 191 N.W.2d 185 (Minn. 1971)

Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972) . . .

Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. v. Nadasdy, 76 N.W.2d 670 (Minn. 1956) . . .

Obergefell v. Hodges,135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015). . .

United States Social Security Administration, Survivors Planner: If You're Surviving Divorced Spouse, https://www.ssa.gov/planners/survivors/ifyou3.html . . .

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell a/k/a Richard John Baker (Appellants or the McConnells) appeal from the April 7, 2017 Order of the Honorable Bradley C. Walker, Judge of Blue Earth County District Court, which denied their Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and requests for injunctive relief. (Add. 1 (Order).) . . .

The basis for all claims is that the County and its local registrar improperly refused to fulfill their ministerial duties to record Appellants marriage certificate and to provide them with certified copies of the recorded certificate as required by Minnesota law. . . .

STATUTORY BACKGROUND

When Appellants were married in 1971, marriages in Minnesota were governed by Minn. Stat. ch. 517 (the 1971 Statute). . .

After the examination period expired, and once the license was issued, the 1971 Statute provided no authorization to revoke, withdraw, or invalidate an issued marriage license. . .

Finally, and relevant to this appeal, under the 1971 Statute, the clerk of court was required to record the marriage certificate. The statute affirmatively mandated that [t]he clerk shall record such certificate in a book kept for that purpose.Œ Id. á 517.10. The statute even imposed a penalty for failing to comply with the mandatory duty to record the marriage certificate. . . .

. . . only three specific types of prohibited marriages were deemed automatically void: marriages between close relatives; underage marriages; and marriages where one party was already married. . .

All other prohibitedŒ marriages, 5 such as remarrying within six months of being divorced, were not automatically deemed void by the 1971 Statute. Same-sex marriages were not expressly prohibited by Section 517.03, and were not made absolutely void by Section 518.01. . .

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

The McConnells are residents of the State of Minnesota. (Add. 12, K 4.) They were married in 1971 after being issued a marriage license by Blue Earth County. (Id.) The McConnells, who were 74 years old at the time the Verified Petition was filed, have lived together as a married couple for more than 45 years. (Id.) They have been continuously recognized as a married couple by their family members, friends and colleagues, and in their church and community. . . .

On September 3, 1971, well within the six-month period of validity of the Marriage License, the McConnells solemnized their marriage in a ceremony conducted by an authorized minister of the United Methodist Church. . .

Previously, the McConnells had applied for and been denied a marriage license in Hennepin County on the sole basis that they were of the same sex, a decision that was on appeal at the time Blue Earth County issued the Marriage License. See Baker v. Nelson, 191 N.W.2d 185 (Minn. 1971), overruled by Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2605 (2015). The Minnesota Supreme Court¡s decision affirming the denial of the Hennepin County license application was issued on October 15, 1971. Id. The United States Supreme Court opinion dismissing the appeal was issued in 1972. Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972), overruled by Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015). . . . Connor received the Marriage Certificate on September 8, 1971.

Evidence submitted to the district court suggested that the County determined sometime before August 31, 1971¢that the Marriage License, although it had been duly issued, was defective, but the County provided no basis for the purported defect. (Add. 5.) The McConnells did not receive notice that the Marriage Certificate had not been recorded, and believed that it had been. . .

Forty-three years later, on September 29, 2014, Michael McConnell wrote to the County requesting three certified copies of the recorded Marriage Certificate. (Add. 15, * 24; Add. 28.) The McConnells sought the certified copies of their recorded Marriage Certificate for the purpose of securing certain Social Security benefits and for estate planning purposes. . . .

The United States Supreme Court, recognizing that marriage is a fundamental right, acknowledged the harm that flows from the failure to recognize a person ¡s status of being legally married. See Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at 2601-02 (explaining that laws excluding same-sex couples from the marriage right impose stigma and injury of the kind prohibited by our basic charter).

Respondents also argued that an adequate remedy for their failure to record the McConnells¡ Marriage Certificate would be for the McConnells to get married again. . . .

Remarriage would deny that the McConnells are already married, and have been so for many years. This fact has tremendous personal significance to the McConnells, their friends, and family. It also has legal significance, to the extent that a marriage of 46 years conveys additional rights and benefits in comparison to a marriage of just a few months.5 Therefore, remarrying would not be as complete, beneficial, and effective of a remedy as simply compelling Respondents to record the Marriage Certificate, as the law requires.6

The duration of a marriage can have legal significance in many ways, such as affecting retirement and survivor benefits available from the Social Security Administration, private pension rights, spousal coverage under employee health and welfare benefit plans, inheritance rights and others. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. á 416(f) (The term husband means the husband of an individual, but only if . . . he was married to her for a period of not less than one year immediately preceding the day on which his application is filed[.]Œ); United States Social Security Administration, Survivors Planner: If You're The Worker's Surviving Divorced Spouse, https://www.ssa.gov/planners/survivors/ifyou3.html (explaining that a 10-year marriage is required for eligibility for certain Social Security survivor benefits). . . .

First, there is no express authority in either the 1971 Statute or the current Marriage Statute that permits Respondents, after a marriage has been solemnized, and after the marriage certificate has been signed by the presiding official and returned to the County, to invalidate the marriage license or the marriage itself. The Marriage Statute expressly permits the clerk of court (or today, the local registrarŒ) to refuse to issue a license before a marriage occurs if, during the five-day examination period, it discovers that there is a legal impedimentŒ to the marriage. Minn. Stat. á 517.08, subd. 1 (1971); Minn. Stat. á 517.08, subd. 1b (2016). However, there is no express authority in the Marriage Statute for the clerk or the local registrar after a marriage license has been issued and a marriage has occurred to retroactively deem either the license or the marriage to be invalid. Neither Respondents nor the district court¡s Order identify any such express authority. . .

. . . the long-established rule in Minnesota is that once a marriage has occurred, it cannot retroactively be deemed a nullityŒ or voidŒ unless the legislature, by statute, has expressly declared that type of marriage void.

The legislature did not declare same-sex marriages voidŒ until 1997, at which point the McConnells had already been married for 26 years, and then did so only prospectively, not retroactively. See 1997 Minn. Laws ch. 203, art. 10, secs. 2 and 4. The 1997 legislation amended Minn. Stat. á 517.03 to, for the first time, expressly prohibit same sex marriage. At the time, á 518.01 declared marriages prohibited by á 517.03 to be void. However, the 1997 enactment was not retroactive; it expressly did not apply to marriages contracted within this state prior to March 1, 1979. 1997 Minn. Laws ch. 203, art. 10, sec. 4. The prohibition was repealed in 2013. See 2013 Minn. Laws ch. 74, sec. 2. Accordingly, not only was the McConnells marriage in 1971 not deemed void by the legislature at the time; it has never been deemed void. . .

CONCLUSION

For the reasons set forth above, Appellants respectfully request that the Court reverse the district court's Order and remand the case to the district court for issuance of the requested writ of mandamus and injunctive relief."

(Quoted from State of Minnesota Court of Appeals, notice of case filing No. A17-0688, Apr. 27, 2017. James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell a.k.a. Richard John Baker, Appellants, vs. Blue Earth County, et. al. Respondents - accessed Jul. 1, 2017 from 30 page PDF copy)

(See previous posts Baker included in new gay marriage history book (6/16/17), Book by Michael McConnell on his marriage to Jack Baker that led to the first Supreme Court case on gay marriage (12/29/15) and Baker on gay marriage in 1972 vs. 2015 reaction to Supreme Court ruling (7/17/15))