Sunday, January 29, 2012

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is the Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a national legal organization that fights for the civil and human rights of LGBT people and their families. Today's Out Spotlight is Kate Kendell.

Kate Kendell (Kathryn Dean Kendell) was born April 15, 1960 and raised as a Mormon/Latter-day Saint in Utah. She received her J.D. from the University of Utah College of Law in 1988. After a few years practicing corporate law, she pursued her real love, civil rights advocacy.

In 1992, Kendell became the first staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, where she litigated high-profile cases. She focused on LGBT, reproductive, and prisoners’ rights, and the separation of church and state.

In 1994, Kendell was hired as NCLR’s legal director. She was promoted to executive director in 1996. Under her leadership, NCLR’s impact has grown exponentially.

Each year, through litigation, public policy advocacy and public education, NCLR helps more than 5,000 LGBT people and their families nationwide. NCLR was one of the organizations that argued before the California Supreme Court for the overturn of Proposition 8.

She joined the NCLR in 1994, as its Legal Director. Two years later, she was named their Executive Director.

During her leadership, the issues facing the LGBT community—from homophobia in sports to immigration policy—have taken center stage in the United States’ discussion of LGBT civil rights issues.

She is a nationally recognized spokesperson for LGBT rights and has an active voice in major media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,The Advocate, NPR,CNN,and many others. Despite the national success of NCLR under her tenure, her most rewarding responsibilities still include fostering alliances on the community and organizational levels, and advocating from a grass-roots perspective on issues concerning social justice.

On May 26, 2009, when the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, Kendell responded, “Today, the California Supreme Court diminished its legacy as a champion of equality. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot, and the Court should not have permitted such a travesty of justice to stand.”

In 2002, Kendell received the National LGBT Bar Association’s Dan Bradley Award. In 2004, she was named one of California's Top 100 Attorneys and also won the Del Martin/Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award at Equality California’s 2004 San Francisco Equality Awards. In October 2009 she was named a hero for National GLBT History Month.

On March 23, 2010, Kate was named a "woman who could be president" by the League of Women Voters of San Francisco at their annual “Women Who Could Be President” gala.

Kendell and her spouse, Sandy Holmes, were legally married in San Francisco in 2008,and live in San Francisco with their son, Julian,and daughter, Ariana. Their family includes Kate’s daughter Emily.

“The only way to win full equality is to engage in the hard work of making our lives real to everyone we know.”

34 comments:

  1. I don't know what to make of the day care tweet. Jason made some really good points about the tweeter, but I'm having a hard time believing Jake would use day care, not only because of the risk of it getting out, but also because I can't believe he wouldn't have a nanny traveling with him.

    As for the photos, Special knows what she's talking about when it comes to photography.

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  2. Wasn't LAOD filmed in the fall/winter of 2009? The tweeter said Summer and made it sound like the past Summer (2011), not 2 summers ago.

    Maggie filmed a movie in PA last Summer and I'm sure Ramona was with her since it was Summer and school was out.

    I could see the mix up, especially if she wasn't actually there, Maggie who still uses her maiden name and Ramona who I would assume was signe in as Ramona Saasgard, still months later that could be a mix-up.

    We would have seen tweets 2 years ago if he would have done that, besides he has nannies.

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  3. No, as Jason explained, the woman who tweeted this said she worked there during the summer, implying that this happened when she wasn't there, i.e., some other time of the year.

    No one is going to mix up a Saarsgard with a Gyllenhaal.

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  4. No you cannot see Maggie carrying a leather purse in the earlier photo. She has a different purse when she's with Ramona.

    You can see the same strap, the same chain, and the same black purse on Maggie in the "wall" picture as in the "street" picture. She's got the strap slung over the same shoulder and has the purse resting against the same thigh.

    Can someone please point a big red arrow at Maggie's shoulder and hip and then tell me with a straight face that they can't see the strap, chain and purse?

    When all else fails, simplify or dumb down the point being made. Thank you, Just Focus on Maggie. That one fact alone tells you the photo was tampered with because she is so not pregnant in that pic. Then when you look at the earlier foursome walking down the sidewalk, you can easily see that Peter and Jake are hiding Maggie's stomach from the shot.

    But that's a completely different argument. Saying "A picture was photoshopped" is completely different to saying "A picture was taken in one month and then falsely reported to have been taken in a different month".

    And that argument doesn't make sense either. Why are Jake and Peter blocking her stomach if she isn't pregnant? Is she pregnant in the wall pictures, but not in the street ones? And if that's what you're saying, are you then saying that Maggie and Peter wore the same outfits in both sets of pictures months apart so that Jake could be photoshopped into the earlier pictures more easily?

    I'm going to make this easy for Special K, Methodical Muser and Just Focus on Maggie. Can you just say Yes or No to the folllowing questions, just so I can fully understand what you're saying.

    1) Is Maggie pregnant in the "wall" pictures (The ones with Ramona present)?
    2) Is Maggie pregnant in the street pictures (The ones without Romona)?
    3) Is Jake with Maggie in the wall pictures (if you think he was photoshopped in, say No)?
    4) Is Jake with Maggie in the street pictures (if you think he was photoshopped in, say No)?
    5) Were the wall pictures and the street pictures taken on the same day?

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  5. No, as Jason explained, the woman who tweeted this said she worked there during the summer

    Not to be pedantic, but the tweet says:

    just found out Jake gyllenhaal's daughter was at the daycare center I work at during the summer because he was filming a movie here.

    The lack of commas and the fact that she said "I work" rather than "I worked" means she could be saying that she works there and found out that Jake's daughter was their during the summer, or that she works there during the summer and just found out Jake's daughter was there at some other time.

    There's an easy way to clear this up. Why doesn't someone just tweet her and ask for more details?

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  6. Why don't you? You seem to ask everyone if Jake is with a blond every time there is a tweet.

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  7. No this time it's a brunette, and one of the tweeters has an e-mail so i used that to ask.

    The PA girl I will tweet.

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  8. Did anybody see the picture of Adam Lambert in HS on Dlisted? It's his birthday today.

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  9. I believe I have now been surpassed as Queen of the #Comment Longer.

    I bow in deference and give up my sash.

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  10. Old time Toothy BelieverJanuary 29, 2012 at 5:18 PM

    It's UV or FL, Britpop Baby or Prophecy Girl. It doesn't really matter what the name is because they all play the same subversive game. They are classic bullies. No offense to the good ones, but there are plenty of lawyers like UV who make their living trying to twist words and trip people up when the truth is staring them right in the face. Trying to spin something based on a technicality or a word out of place. The posters here are mostly old timers who remember how these undermining elements ruined the Cullen forum with their badgering ways and JiS agenda. They are so nervous now I can smell it. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here.

    Everybody needs to ignore people like Eye Check Up because the blogger name doesn't matter, their fingerprints are all over this kind of harassment.

    I compliment Special K and folks like Methodical Muser, the Real M, Prairie Girl, Destiny, Tom and the rest. Some of them have struggled with notions like Jake and Austin being fathers, but so much evidence is being compiled that they are willing to have an open mind. That's what this blog is about. Not a playground for trolls.

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  12. She's from Pittsburg!

    Watching AI to see Pittsburgh :) My city!! My dream is to know one of the people who suck.

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  13. @Pebbles430Bethany S.

    one of my preschoolers today was like "Do you know when you're going to die?" I was like...um...no. hahaha. Morbid

    26 Jan via web

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  14. @Pebbles430Bethany S.

    @StarPittsburgh Thank you SO MUCH for playing Adam!!! I <3 him.
    26 Jan via web

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  15. Looks like Pebbles doesn't work at the Daycare Center just in the summer any longer because that tweet about her preschooler's question is recent.

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  16. But that's a completely different argument. Saying "A picture was photoshopped" is completely different to saying "A picture was taken in one month and then falsely reported to have been taken in a different month".

    Of course, the photo was taken at a different time because Maggie is not pregnant!

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  17. Hey thanks for the information that let us know, the tweet came from Pittsburgh and that would mean when Jake was there for Love & Other Drugs.

    Dest - There could a have been a number of reasons that Jake needed to use a daycare in Pittsburgh. Illness, scheduling conflicts, or even just social interaction with kids the same age could be reasons.

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  18. These trolls are just too stupid to be believed. All these issues have been addressed yet they still act like they are clueless.

    I won't deny that there is a family resemblance between Maggie and Jake, but I do think that even a daycare center staff member would know the difference between a man and a woman. She said that "he" was filming there. Not, she.

    I'll repeat she said:

    just found out Jake gyllenhaal's daughter was at the daycare center I work at during the summer because he was filming a movie here. Damn

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  19. M&M, the tweeter never said that Jake picked up his daughter from the daycare center, she said that his daughter has at the Daycare while he was filming. A PA could have dropped her off or picked her up.

    I posted @ 4:04pm already and pointed out that it was LAOD in 2009, I guess Daycare Tweeter and SK mnissed that.

    So she finds out over 2 years later, odd you would think she would have found out right thn and there.

    I'll tweet her and find out what year it was.

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  21. No confusion among GyllenhaalsJanuary 29, 2012 at 7:37 PM

    The poster up above needs to get a clue. Jake's children are not going to be registered anywhere as Gyllenhaal. Too risky. More than likely they use the name Nichols to stay under the radar.

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  22. Let me rephrase my point about the Pittsburg tweeter because I was multitasking while typing:

    I agree, Destiny. The daycare center tweeter could care less about the kid, she was disappointed that she worked there in the summer and missed her opportunity to possibly meet Jake Gyllenhaal because his daughter was there while he was filming in town.

    And then like Jason pointed out her friends on Twitter don't even think anything of it. It's in the past and they are concentrating on Adam Lambert. They seem to be completely oblivious to the Toothy or Baby Tile rumors.

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  23. Austin's got moves.Tumblr

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  24. I fianlly watched the latest OTH today. I missed it last week. Austin looked great, really fit and trimmed down. Sexy, I must say. He had some decent shots in the episode too. Not just background scenery.

    Very impressive outspotlight today. That would be something if the first female president turns out to be gay.

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  25. Pretty safe bet that if Baby Tiles are seen anywhere in public, it will be with the nanny or a PA. At least until the boys officially come out. How else to explain it otherwise. But the risk of the truth coming out gets greater as time passes and the kids get older.

    Did something stupid today and took a fall. Fortunately not so high that I did more than just get a sore finger and a bruised shoulder. But as I was falling and thinking, well that was really stupid of you, I realized how easy it is to get hurt. I could do nothing to stop the fall until I landed and just hoped for the best as it happened. I was on a slippery surface with no traction. Lesson learned.

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  26. Busy is Michelle's date for the SAG Awards tonight.

    Michelle looks really nice in red.

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  27. Oh, I am so sorry to hear that, m. Luckily you didn't sustain any worse injury but it's possible you could still wake up sore somewhere in the morning.

    3 point contact whenever possible!!! Was the floor just wet? Was it rainy? Slips, Trips and Falls is one of the most common category of injuries, both at work and at the home. We actually will get in trouble at work if we are spotted not using a handrail when ascending or descending stairs. If there is any slippery substance on the floor, you are expected to take care of it or report it immediately.

    Course, there's not a whole lot you can do if you are just on a wet floor, sidewalk or parking lot surface except just be very aware and go very slow. And if you are at a store or public business and notice a puddle or something, we all need to report it to an employee or manager so that it gets taken care of before someone else could fall.

    Hope you heal quickly, m!!!

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  28. Mary Tyler Moore received the lifetime achievement award at the SAG awards. Dick Van Dyke introduced her. It's own right now.

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  29. M! It's the worst when you know you are falling and you can't stop it. Hope you heal up quick and in the meantime your hubby will be a great personal nurse for sure.

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  30. sophizzm Sophie
    As if Jake Gyllenhaal is only 31 wtf, always thought he was loads older.
    41 minutes ago

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  31. If it's not Jake's height, it's his age or his sexual orientation. Such basic characteristics should not be so hard to determine.

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  32. Hope you don't feel too sore tomorrow M, and glad it wasn't worse.

    Forgot about the SAGs, we watched Moneyball tonight, really enjoyed it.

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