Crazy 8: Our Year in Review

May 21, 2010 Sharyn Jackson, Stephanie Schroeder, Abby Tallmer

Marriage Equality The battle for same-gender marriage raged on these past months, with Maine voters echoing the 2008 decision of California voters on Proposition 8 and choosing to take away marriage rights that had previously been given to gays and lesbians. On the upside, Vermont, Iowa, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia all passed laws allowing same-gender marriage in the past year. Connecticut and Massachusetts already have formalized gay marriage provisions.

This year has been a whirlwind. As we celebrate yet another milestone, we invite you to reflect with us upon the last 364 plus days’ high moments, low moments, and everything in between. In no particular order, the events that helped shape our year…

Run, Caster, Run

When the South African runner Caster Semenya won the women’s 800-meter title at the World Championship in Berlin last August, gender/sex testing found its way back into amateur sports. After a remarkable win, other female athletes cried foul and claimed Semenya was not a biological woman at all. While the world watched, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) subjected then-19-year-old Semenya to several weeks of testing to ascertain her “true” gender. The diagnosis: intersex. In response to this mortifying debacle, New York lesbians set up a web site called Caster Runs for Me (casterrunsforme.com) to carry messages of support to Semenya from all over the world.