Estelle Nagel: The Aftermath of Legalizing Gay Marriage in South Africa (Yes, America, This Will Happen to You)

In the last few days, New Zealand and France became the 13th and 14th countries to legalize gay marriage, respectively. My home country, South Africa, legalized it in 2006, becoming the first African country to do so.

Although it was a positive move, it doesn't mean that South Africa is progressive enough for gay people to live their lives entirely without fear. As in many of the countries that have made the move to legalize gay marriage, the decision was met with a good deal of criticism: Internet forums were splashed with derogatory comments, sermons and prayer groups were devoted to seeing the law revoked, and gay people were persecuted as much as, if not more than, ever before. In 2008, Eudy Simelane, a player in the national female soccer team, was a victim of "corrective rape" (a phenomenon in which lesbian women are gang-raped in order to be "cured" of their homosexuality) and murder. And last week, police cautioned against a serial killer who may be targeting gay men in Johannesburg -- with some people lauding the killer a "hero."

This is partially why I follow the U.S. debate surrounding gay marriage with some interest. It's not because I'm gay but because I can't understand why there is so much straight hysteria surrounding the subject, with radicals blaming everything from Hurricane Sandy to the Boston Marathon bombing on Obama's support of gay marriage. "This is just the start," one man wrote on Facebook. "Who knows what will happen when the laws are actually passed?"

You know what will happen, right? It happened to South Africa, and it will happen to you.

Ready?

Wait for it...

A bunch of gay people will get married!

They will do so the same way straight couples have been doing for years: Privately, with their friends and family, without you ever having to know about it.

It's what has happened in South Africa. Gay people got married. The girl who came in third on Idols, the South African version of American Idol, got married. Two men got married in a traditional African ceremony, wearing animal skins and killing an ox so that their ancestors could bless their union. An avid rugby player I went to high school with got married to his partner, whom he met while traveling. A friend of mine from college is thinking of proposing to her longtime girlfriend. Gay people got married, and some got divorced, and some are living right across the road -- and my life has gone on as usual.

I understand the religious fears. I've heard the argument that the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah were "homosexual cities," and that God decided to firmly and mercilessly "smite" them with fire. Therefore, by "endorsing" gay marriage or homosexuality, we open ourselves up to fire and damnation -- a sort of condemnation by association scenario, I'm assuming. Well, that hasn't happened over here yet. Seven years on, and the whole gay marriage thing is still as mundane as straight marriage. It hasn't shaken the foundations of society, and there is no sign of fire raining down from the sky.

In other words, legalizing gay marriage will not make it easier to be a gay man, woman or couple. It's still a struggle, and a scandal, in many communities. My own friends who have come out have had a long, painful battle for acceptance. Some were able to open up to their parents in high school, some cracked under the pressure of bullying, and some are still grappling with the very idea of being "different" in their 30s. Some haven't spoken to their families in years. Some entered disastrous marriages with the opposite sex in order to "fit in."

Thus, legalizing gay marriage has not changed the landscape of South Africa in any way, shape or form. The only effect it has had has been on gay people themselves, and on a deeply personal level. It also won't make it any harder for you to be a straight man or woman, or to raise your children with your values. It won't change your life -- and it might not even change the lives of gay people.

You might therefore wonder why gay people would want the right to get married if it won't change anything. I've lived in the pre- and post-apartheid South Africa. I've seen people who didn't have the right to vote before 1994 go to the polls, year after year, and go home to the same shacks, in the same ill-protected, under-serviced slums, working the same jobs and going to the same subpar hospitals. Perhaps on the surface little has changed for that individual, but the right to vote has meant everything, even if it simply means that there is hope that things will improve for them in the future.

Living with someone for years, knowing them intimately and yet having to do so without being seen as that person's legitimate, legal partner, and without being able to make important legal decisions with and for that loved one, is dehumanizing in the same way that denying someone the right to vote for who will govern them or access to an education in their home language.

Legalizing gay marriage did not flip a magical switch that made our society more tolerant, but it was a very real gesture, a move in a direction where all people, no matter their sexual orientation, will be accepted for who they are, along with those whom they love.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/estelle-nagel/gay-marriage-south-africa_b_3167222.html

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Overseer of U.S. victim funds says work wrenching

BOSTON (AP) ? His work has immersed him in events that read like a roster of recent catastrophes, from 9/11 to the Gulf oil spill. Now, Kenneth Feinberg is adding the Boston Marathon bombings to that list.

The Massachusetts native and attorney is managing the payouts from The One Fund, which was established to help victims of the explosions that killed three and injured 260.

Feinberg is experienced dealing with people facing profound loss, but he doesn't seek the work.

"I must tell you every time I do one, you say to yourself, 'God I hope this is the last one," he said.

Feinberg handled victims' compensation after 9/11, the BP oil spill, the Virginia Tech shootings and the Colorado movie theater shootings, among other calamities.

He's now advising a panel distributing money after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and mediating Penn State's settlement discussions with the sex abuse victims of former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The experiences are wrenching, he said. And recipients invariably resent him, thinking he's trying to put a price on the priceless things they've lost.

"Don't expect thanks or appreciation or gratitude, none of that," Feinberg said. "We have very emotional victims and you're offering them money instead of a limb, instead of the return of a family member. This is a no-win situation."

He keeps saying yes in the same spirit of those who donate, he said.

"Look at the amount of money that pours in from private people, private citizens," he said. "How do you say no if the governor calls, the mayor?"

The 67-year-old Feinberg is a native of Brockton, about 20 miles south of Boston, and his Washington D.C. firm specializes in mediation and dispute resolution. In 1984, a judge appointed him to distribute money from a $180 million settlement for veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. His work on that project got notice from President George W. Bush's administration, which asked him to manage the 9/11 victims' compensation fund.

Since then, the calls have come regularly.

Most of his work is pro bono, including the Boston Marathon job. But Feinberg is being paid for the Penn State job and was paid by BP after the oil spill ? a job that saw Feinberg absorb significant abuse. In his 2012 book, "Who Gets What," he said he became a "human pinata." Residents complained about the speed and distribution of the payouts, and insults flew at public meetings. "You are such a lying piece of (garbage)," one person told him.

Lawyers, meanwhile, scoffed at his vigorous declarations of independence from BP, which he still makes.

"The spin was that he was independent, but he was working for BP, that's just the way it is," said attorney Anthony Tarricone, now of the Boston firm Kreindler & Kreindler, who represented both BP and 9/11 families.

But Tarricone called Feinberg the perfect person to manage the Boston fund, citing both his legal skills and his respectful manner with the 9/11 families.

"He was fair, he listened to the families, the families felt as if they were being listened to, and that he was understanding what they were going through," Tarricone said.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who appointed Feinberg to handle the 9/11 fund, said Feinberg balances compassion with vigilance in managing the money.

"I can't say exactly how he handles it emotionally and psychologically. I just know that he does it professionally," Ashcroft said. "I don't think the world would keep going back, knocking on his door, saying, 'Ken, we need you again,' if they were displeased."

The One Fund had notched more than $26 million by Saturday. Its eventual total will determine exactly who can be helped. For instance, compensation for deaths is the top priority, followed by compensation for physical injuries. Payment for psychological damages comes only if there's money left, Feinberg said.

In Boston, Feinberg will be dealing with complex injuries, such as numerous amputations, including cases where victims lost both legs. Feinberg hopes to be ready to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30.

By then, he'll have immersed himself in Boston's stories, and all the senseless pain and loss. The classical music aficionado will also likely have relied on the refuge offered in the music of composers he cherishes.

"During the day, I'm working on a project that shows you how uncivilized some people can be and how they willy-nilly, at random, kill and maim people," he said. "And at night you turn on Mozart, and it's the height of civilization."

It helps him recognize, he said, "that mankind isn't all bad."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overseer-us-victim-funds-says-wrenching-070532658.html

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Feds Demand Answers From Nevada Psychiatric Hospital Accused Of Busing Patients Out Of State

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The federal agency that oversees Medicaid and Medicare compliance has put Nevada on notice of "serious deficiencies" at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital following reports of patients being improperly discharged.

A letter Thursday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, first reported by The Sacramento Bee and obtained Friday by The Associated Press, gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems in its mental health discharge policies at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital or risk the loss of federal funding, potentially tens of millions of dollars.

The move follows an investigation launched by the Bee after James F. Brown, a patient at Rawson-Neal, was put on a bus alone in February and sent on a 15-hour trip to Sacramento, Calif., where he knew no one. Brown suffers from schizophrenia and depression.

The newspaper then reviewed bus ticket receipts dating to 2008 and found the hospital, part of the Southern Nevada Ault Mental Health Services, had transported about 1,500 patients to other states. Roughly 500 went to California.

Last year alone, Rawson-Neal bused out patients at a pace of more than one per day, shipping nearly 400 patients to a total of 176 cities and 45 states across the country, the Bee reported.

City attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco this month launched their own criminal investigations into whether Nevada engaged in "patient dumping."

California state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, who also called for an investigation, said Nevada has put people at "grave risk" and he welcomed the intervention by the federal agency.

"People with mental health disorders can recover with access to prevention, early intervention and treatment," Steinberg, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday. He called Brown's treatment "tantamount to abuse," adding that the hospital and Nevada "must be held accountable by federal regulators."

Earlier this week, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said his administration launched three separate investigations after he learned of the Brown case. He said disciplinary actions were taken and a new policy was implemented to strengthen oversight. The state now requires two physicians instead of one to sign a discharge order for patients, and the decision must be approved by a hospital administrator.

The governor's office said Nevada will also require chaperones for all state psychiatric patients who are bused out of state.

"Let me be clear, improperly discharging one patient is one patient too many," Sandoval said this week.

Late Friday, Sandoval's office said measures Nevada has implemented will be filed with the federal agency as part of its response to remediate problems.

"Corrective action was taken immediately and the corrective action plan will be submitted to CMS next week," Mary-Sarah Kinner, Sandoval's communications director, said in an email.

The federal agency noted that if Nevada's efforts are sufficient, the hospital's status as being "deemed" to meet Medicare conditions of participation will be restored after a re-survey of practices.

In the meantime, the hospital can continue billing Medicare.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/nevada-psychiatric-hospital-feds_n_3167373.html

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Alaska mine would damage streams and wetlands: EPA report

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Digging a large mine in southwest Alaska would inflict widespread ecological damage, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a report on Friday that could hurt the chances of a proposed project in that region winning regulatory approval.

A large scale open-pit mine in Alaska's unspoiled Bristol Bay region would destroy up to 90 miles of salmon and trout spawning streams, harm thousands of acres of wetlands that support fish and subject local waters to chemical spills and releases of untreated wastewater, the EPA report said.

The report did not specifically analyze the plan for Pebble Mine, the project proposed for the area, because developers have not officially made permit applications. But it studied the implications of a hypothetical project similar to Pebble. (EPA report: http://r.reuters.com/dew67t)

Pebble Mine, located 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, would be one of the world's largest open-pit copper mines. Developers have described it as a potential economic boon that would target both known and anticipated reserves of 80 billion lbs (36.3 billion kg) of copper, over 100 million ounces (2.8 million kg) of gold and 5.5 billion pounds (2.5 billion kg) of molybdenum.

But the latest EPA report predicted a wider scope of environmental damage than outlined in a draft report the agency released last year.

The EPA's conclusion drew a pointed reaction from the mine's developer, Pebble Limited Partnership President John Shively, who called the latest version of the assessment "flawed" and a waste of public money.

Shively in a statement blasted EPA for what he said was a decision to heed mine opponents' demands for a "pre-emptive veto" before development plans are final.

Even "the threat of a ?pre-emptive veto' will introduce uncertainty into the process that threatens to hurt the entire U.S. economy, not just a proposed mine in Alaska," Shively said.

The new EPA assessment backs up the previous draft report's conclusions about stream and wetlands damages, but gives more details about expected damages from roads, culverts, traffic accidents and other industrialization that would likely accompany mine development.

The EPA has made no decision about whether to invoke its legal powers to block the Pebble Mine, said Dennis McLarren, Pacific Northwest regional director for the agency.

The new report will be used to make any decisions about Bristol Bay protections, McLarren said in a conference call.

"We want to better understand the delicate ecological balance the produces the extraordinary fish and wildlife resources in Bristol Bay and assess the risk that mining could pose to that balance," he said.

Developers have already spent $680 million on the Pebble Mine project and plan to spend another $80 million this year, co-owner Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd said this week. The other owner and Pebble partner is mining giant Anglo American.

The Pebble Mine plan has drawn fury from commercial and sport fishermen, Alaska Natives and environmentalists.

It is upstream from waters that hold the world's largest sockeye salmon runs and other rich marine life, including endangered whales and other vulnerable marine mammals. On land, national wildlife refuges and parks are nearby.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alaska-mine-damage-streams-wetlands-epa-report-031217221.html

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Why mom of alleged Boston bombers buys conspiracy theories

Despite a reported confession by one of the suspects, the parents of the two alleged Boston Marathon bombers say their sons are innocent.

"I am sure that my kids were not involved in anything," said a tearful Zubeidat Tsarnaeva at a press conference in Russia on April 25. Tsarnaeva maintains that her sons have been set up, and has also suggested that the bombing might have been staged.

Regardless of the legal outcome of the case, such denial is not uncommon in the families of killers, experts say, though plenty of killers? family members are also well aware of their relatives? capability to kill. [Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]

"In some cases, they deny the participation of their kids; in other cases, they say they were surprised," said Dean Alexander, director of the Homeland Security Research Program at Western Illinois University and a researcher of terrorists' family ties. "In other cases, they condemn."

Psychologists say the Tsarnaevs' reactions may also stem from circumstances unique to the case ? for instance, the family's history in the volatile Caucasus region, the parents' distance from the bombing and other personal factors.

Family dynamics

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged on April 22 for his role in setting off two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three and injuring hundreds. Also allegedly involved was Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, who died after an overnight shoot-out with police on April 18.

After the FBI released photos of the suspects, the two brothers allegedly hijacked a car, leading police on a chase during which the alleged bombers threw improvised explosive devices. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, along with an MIT police officer, was killed in the subsequent shoot-out, but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaped.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later arrested after being found wounded and hiding in a stored boat in Watertown, Mass. Authorities said that when Tsarnaev was questioned, he confessed to the bombings.

While the Tsarnaev parents have maintained their sons are innocent, other family members see the situation differently ? illustrating how variable reactions can be. The Tsarnaev brothers' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, who had not spoken with the brothers since 2010, called the men "losers." According to Tsarni, Tamerlan Tsarnaev began adopting radical Islamist ideas and then influenced his younger brother.

"Dzhokhar is being used by his older brother. [Tamerlan] used him as his ? not even accomplice ? as some kind of instrument," Tsarni told CNN.

But very little research has focused on how families respond when a loved one goes bad, or why some family members may have more trouble than others accepting a perpetrator's involvement.

"There's a lot of literature on the effects of parental incarceration, for example, on children, but there isn't the opposite," said Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, a trauma psychologist at Georgetown University Medical Center.

For parents, acceptance can be the hardest. Ten years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School, the mother of shooter Dylan Klebold wrote an essay in O magazine describing what it was like to find out her son was one of the killers.

"It took about six months for the sheriff's department to begin sharing some of the evidence explaining what happened that day. For those six months, Dylan's friends and family were in denial," Susan Klebold wrote in the essay. "We didn't know that he and [fellow Columbine shooter] Eric [Harris] had assembled an arsenal of explosives and guns. We believed his participation in the massacre was accidental or that he had been coerced. We believed that he did not intend to hurt anyone."

As she came to terms with how wrong she and her family had been, Klebold was overwhelmed with grief and guilt. She second-guessed every parenting choice, even questioning whether she should have told her son she was proud of him, fearing those words made him feel pressured. [10 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids]

"It was impossible to believe that someone I had raised could cause so much suffering," she wrote.

Shock and denial

The Klebolds stayed quiet and isolated after the Columbine shooting, whereas the Tsarnaev parents have been outspoken, participating in press conferences and speaking to the media.

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has even gone so far as to entertain conspiracy theories about the bombing, saying she's seen theories that the blood shown at the scene near the Boston Marathon finish line was actually red paint.

Much is still unknown about the Tsarnaev family, Dass-Brailsford told LiveScience, but the media interactions suggest defensiveness and denial.?

"When you think about a mother with one child in the hospital and the other dead in the morgue, she's just lost two children. That's the place I go to as a trauma psychologist," Dass-Brailsford said. "She's just lost two children. The only way she can cope with it is by denial."

The family's history may also contribute, Dass-Brailsford said. Father Anzor Tsarnaev is Chechen, and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva is Avar, both minorities in the conflict-torn Caucasus region of Eastern Europe. Oppressed people tend to be suspicious of government authority, Dass-Brailsford said, which could explain some of the Tsarnaevs' skepticism about the bombing.

Another unusual aspect of the case is the parents? extreme distance from the site of the bombings, said Nancy Berns, a sociologist at Drake University in Iowa who has researched grief. Being in Russia, so far away, could make it easier to remain in denial, Berns told LiveScience.

The media attention likely isn?t helping, either. Loved ones of victims or perpetrators of violent deaths often lack the luxury to grieve in private, Berns said.

"They're often having to try and make sense of it in the public eye, through interviews, through people asking them questions," she said. "I am hearing that process unfold for them."

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-mom-alleged-boston-bombers-buys-conspiracy-theories-113004676.html

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Video: Congress ends FAA furloughs (cbsnews)

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