A Father-Daughter Dance Revives Charges of Discrimination; New York Times, 9/27/12

Jess Bidgood, New York Times; A Father-Daughter Dance Revives Charges of Discrimination: [A] single mother identified only as Melissa complained first to the district and then to the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent the school superintendent a letter citing federal Title IX rules that prohibit sex-specific events in educational settings unless “reasonably comparable” events are held. “A dance for girls and a baseball game for boys, particularly in light of the stereotypes they embody, are not, we submit, ‘reasonably comparable’ activities,” the letter from the state A.C.L.U.’s director, Steven Brown, said. “To the contrary; the stereotypes at their core undermine the goal of school anti-discrimination laws.”

Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds; New York Times, 9/24/12

Kenneth Chang, New York Times; Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds: "Science professors at American universities widely regard female undergraduates as less competent than male students with the same accomplishments and skills, a new study by researchers at Yale concluded. As a result, the report found, the professors were less likely to offer the women mentoring or a job. And even if they were willing to offer a job, the salary was lower. The bias was pervasive, the scientists said, and probably reflected subconscious cultural influences rather than overt or deliberate discrimination."

Voices from the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color; Library Journal, 9/20/12

Library Journal; Voices from the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color: "[Library Journal: More than one program item at the JCLC conference focuses on microaggressions; is this new research and if so, how does it change our understanding of how librarians should relate to one another or to their customers? Alanna Aiko Moore: The term microaggression was coined by psychologists in the 1970s, but psychologist Derald Wing Sue has expanded upon the theory in the past five to ten years. To paraphrase Sue, microaggressions are subtle, everyday insults, demeaning messages, and indignities which are sent to the targeted group by people who are often unaware of the hidden messages that they are sending. What makes microaggressions so dangerous is not only the impact of those subtle messages, but the uncertainty of not knowing if the oppression that the victim experienced really happened. It is vitally important that we discuss microaggressions in our profession. As a profession with few people of color, it is important to have trainings that prepare people with skills to acknowledge, name, and interrupt this behavior, so that we can work internally to stop microaggressions and build strong organizations. As a public service profession, it is imperative that we recognize and interrupt microaggressions when they take place in interactions with our patrons. As librarians, we serve incredibly diverse communities, and microaggressions can create unseen barriers to library use."

A New Inning, Late in the Game; New York Times, 9/22/12

Frank Bruni, New York Times; A New Inning, Late in the Game: "McClatchy, whose interview with The Times was his first public acknowledgment of his sexual orientation, could do considerable good. He remains well known in baseball — he’s been informally advising the mayor of Sacramento on the city’s interest in having a major league team — and is the chairman of the board of the McClatchy Company, which publishes more than two dozen newspapers, including The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald. And pro sports offers a frontier on which there’s considerable good to be done. One reason there has been so much attention lately to statements about homosexuality, supportive and derogatory, from prominent male athletes is that they inhabit a stubborn bastion of reductively defined masculinity, and many impressionable kids take their cues from it. If its heroes make clear that being gay is O.K., the impact could be profound: fewer adolescents and teenagers bullied, fewer young and not-so-young adults leading stressful, painful double lives... I asked one of them, the Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, about the notion that such a teammate would make the locker room a less comfortable place. “That assumes that a gay person in the locker room is going to find you attractive, which I think is pretty narcissistic,” Kluwe said in a phone interview. “Isn’t that the shallowest kind of thinking: that all of a sudden if a gay guy comes out, he’s going be staring at you?”"

Since Suicide, More Resources for Transgender and Gay Students; New York Times, 9/21/12

Ariel Kaminer, New York Times; Since Suicide, More Resources for Transgender and Gay Students: "...[Ttoday, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and their supporters can choose from four specialized housing options, three of them new, ranging from a service to pair them with like-minded roommates to Rainbow Perspectives, a floor in a residence hall organized around common interests. They can now turn for support to the 130 staff and faculty members who have been trained as official campus liaisons, or to the graduates of a new training program for “allies,” whose inaugural session is already booked to capacity. This year’s edition of a handbook that lists campus resources for “queer issues” is 92 pages long."