Maria Angeline over at Daily Dose of Queer has some exciting news that I wanted to pass along to you. Her long awaited book project called Queer Shorts is now available!

Here’s a little blurb about the book description from MergePress.com:

Love. Loss. Memory. Choice. Friendship. Identity. Gender. Sexuality.

In a new collection of literary shorts, eleven new and experienced writers serve up queer in eleven different ways. Their accounts explore the queer world nearly four decades after Stonewall through unique, deeply personal perspectives.

The writers’ diverse viewpoints take readers on a journey that spans four generations. Their stories explore, among other themes, the way that attraction can change identity and that new love can uncover the memory of a love lost. The pieces cover moments in time across the range of human experience, including the need to separate, wanderlust, and an extramarital affair.

Intense, often meditative, and embroiled in the power of recollection, this anthology explores many slices of queer culture through themes that will universally resonate with readers.

Queer Shorts features work from: Gayle Lloyd, Jeff Mann, William Reichard, Nairne Holtz, Ethereal, Alan Witchey, S.G. Reichen, Monica Dulberg, F.I. Goldhaber, Jen Burke and Sally Bellerose.

You can get 35% off the cover price of Queer Shorts throughout September when you enter the voucher code HUSH before checkout when placing an order at MergePress.com.

I am always excited to see women coming up with ideas, taking full hold of the reigns, and birthing something new. That’s what the creative process and really living your desires is all about. If you’re looking for a good read, head on over to MergePress and pick up a copy…

Hats off to Maria and the contributors!

Let’s face it, if you work for a corporation, there is always the dance around whether to come out or not. And, since it is basically legal to fire someone simply for being a lesbian, it is all the more important to make sure the company you decide to work for has policies and benefits that help you get the equal treatment you deserve. The HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index was just released today and it rates top American businesses on how they are treating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. You can learn about the index and read the 2006 Corporate Equality Index in its entirety by downloading it.

Some key points from their press release include:

In all of the policy and benefits areas that were measured, the report reveals double-digit increases in the number of companies adhering to the criteria. Among the companies surveyed in the new report, this year:

• 75 percent more companies than in 2005 prohibited discrimination against transgender employees in employment practices;
• 64 percent more companies than in 2005 implemented at least one wellness benefit for transgender employees;
• 35 percent more companies than in 2005 extended COBRA, vision, dental and dependent medical coverage to employees’ same-sex domestic partners; and
• 14 percent more companies than in 2005 engaged in philanthropic or marketing activities directed toward the GLBT community.

Almost all of the companies rated — 436, or 98 percent — include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination polices.

This indeed is good news for employees and consumers alike. As someone who has been in the corporate halls a decade or so too long, I know firsthand that what is in the policy and how things actually happen aren’t always aligned. BUT, if you have benefits and protections in writing it greatly reduces the chances that you might experience discrimination or difficulties because of your sexual orientation and it gives you a fallback to dispute any violations that might occur. Not to mention it is simply a relief to be able to cover your long term domestic partner for medical and other benefits (even if the IRS remains discriminatory and taxes you to death on the “value” of the benefit).

Here’s to sure progress forward in terms of equality and the ability to be your authentic self on the job. Happy reading….

Goodness knows it is hard enough to be a successful lesbian business owner or professional. Add to that being a lesbian Mom and you have more than the usual share of back to school angst. Being a kid is challenging enough, but when you have a “nontraditional” family you not only have to deal with the other kids not getting it, but sometimes teachers and administrators aren’t as supportive as they could be either.

The good news is Family Pride has just released their publication “Building Family Equality in Every Classroom” to help people just like you ensure your child’s success in the classroom.

To get your copy go to www.familypride.org or call (202) 331-5015.