Tuesday, December 31, 2013

MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE AT ODDS WITH HRC OVER POSITIVE 'DUCK DYNASTY' MESSAGE


FredFred Sainz (pictured right), the VP of the Human Rights Campaign gave a statement to CNN regarding the lifting of Phil Robertson's suspension from "Duck Dynasty," and Michelangelo Signorile was not happy about it. The statement was positive and affirmed A&E's decision, and the Sirius XM radio host took to Twitter to air his grievances.

Joe.My.God. reported on the HRC statement:
"It's not really a reversal [to reinstate Phil Robertson]. We think it's actually a positive outcome, and we want to thank A&E for their attentiveness and collaboration over the course of the last few weeks. We've received assurances also that the Robertson family is now open to working with African-American and (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people to address the real harm that such anti-gay and racist comments can cause. That's been our 'ask' since Phil's comments ran in GQ, and while it's a positive step, it certainly cannot and should not be the last one."

Signorile fired back with his own 140 character statement:
Signoriletweet


Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz2p5gFishd

2013: A Historic Year for Marriage Equality

GLEE'S HARRY SHUM JR. HAS AN INSPIRATIONAL DANCE MESSAGE FOR THE SHY PEOPLE OUT THERE

Monday, December 30, 2013

Gay Wedding Plans At 2014 Rose Parade Spark Controversy

gay wedding 2014 rose parade

A small backlash is brewing over plans to include a gay wedding ceremony at the 2014 Rose Parade, which this year is themed "Dreams Come True."
Long-term gay couple Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair are to be married atop the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's wedding cake-shaped float. Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer, a recently-married lesbian couple who have been together for 42 years, will also join Loots and Leclair on the float.
San Diego resident Karen Grube launched a Facebook page campaign against the planned wedding ceremony, asking people to stay home and keep the TV off on the day of the Rose Parade to boycott the marriage equality message. Grube also encouraged people to contact Rose Parade sponsors like Disneyland, the Los Angeles Times and Taco Bell to voice their opposition.
"Now gay activists want to destroy the Rose Parade by performing a Gay Wedding[emphasis hers] on one of the floats," says the Facebook page's cover photo. "I guess that's what they mean by 'Dreams Come True' or is it nightmares?"
She defended her campaign to local paper Pasadena Star-News.
“Gay marriage is illegal in over 30 states, why would they promote something that is blatantly illegal?” Grube said to Pasadena Star-News. “That’s just stupid.”

“She Keeps Me Warm”

Robin Roberts Comes Out

"Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts came out Sunday in a touching post thanking her "long time girlfriend."
Roberts disclosed the relationship in a Facebook post in which she reflected on the past year. On Dec. 29, 2012, the news anchor celebrated 100 days post bone marrow transplant during her battle with myelodysplastic syndrome.
"At this moment I am at peace and filled with joy and gratitude," Roberts wrote. "I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses for my restored good health. I am grateful for my sister, Sally-Ann, for being my donor and giving me the gift of life. I am grateful for my entire family, my long time girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together."
Amber Laign is a licensed massage therapist from the San Francisco Bay Area, according to People magazine. She and Roberts met through mutual friends and have been together for 10 years.

Boy Scouts of America prepare for historic policy change to allow gay youth

The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications — ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades.
Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year’s Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded.
“My hope is there will be the same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare,” said Brad Haddock, a BSA national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee. “It’s business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward.”
Some churches are dropping their sponsorship of Scout units because of the new policy and some families are switching to a new conservative alternative called Trail Life USA. But massive defections haven’t materialized and most major sponsors, including the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches, are maintaining ties.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of fallout,” said Haddock, a lawyer from Wichita, Kan. “If a church said they wouldn’t work with us, we’d have a church right down the street say, ‘We’ll take the troop.’”
The new policy was approved in May, with support from 60 percent of the 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council. The vote followed bitter nationwide debate, and was accompanied by an announcement that the BSA would continue to exclude openly gay adults from leadership positions.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

A COMING METHODIST SCHISM OVER MARRIAGE EQUALITY?

Untitled

Reverend Dean Snyder, a senior pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church — a Washington D.C. church commonly visited by sitting presidents — has told USA Today that Methodist Bishops should call a special General Conference to address the church's policies regarding same-sex weddings instead of waiting until the church's 2016 General Conference.

Snyder said, "Some of us believe this issue is critical enough to do that. There's more and more pressure from one side to enforce the rules and more and more pressure from the other side that thinks the rules are unjust and unloving..."


Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz2oszQHEhR

A&E reverses decision on ‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch’s suspension

“Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson will return to work on A&E’s reality show despite his comments about gay immorality, the channel said Friday, reversing its decision to suspend him after facing a boycott backlash.
In a statement Friday, A&E said it was bringing Robertson back after discussions with his Louisiana family featured in the hit reality series and “numerous advocacy groups.”
Last week, the channel had put Robertson on what it called an indefinite “hiatus” because of his comments in a GQ magazine article that the Bible views gays as sinners akin to adulterers, prostitutes and swindlers.
A&E said it decided to drop Robertson from the show about a wealthy family that makes duck calls because it is part of a company whose core values are “centered around creativity, inclusion and mutual respect.”
While reiterating that Robertson’s views are not those of the channel, A&E noted Friday that he has publicly said he would “never incite or encourage hate.” The show itself is more than one man’s views, it added.
“It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family, a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness,” A&E said.

Same-sex Couples Shatter Marriage Records In Utah

In the week since a federal judge overturned Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, the number of weddings in the state has skyrocketed, shattering records and accruing thousands of dollars for Utah’s 29 counties.
As of close of business Thursday (Dec. 26), more than 1,225 marriage licenses had been issued in Utah since last Friday (Dec. 20). Of those, at least 74 percent, or 905 licenses, were issued to gay and lesbian couples.

Here's Everything We Learned From the Duck Dynasty Controversy Summed Up in Just One Sentence

You can say whatever you want, including that gay people are sinful and full of "murder, envy, strife, hatred" and are in the same league as those who enjoy being penetrated by barnyard animals and that black people were "happy" and were not "singing the blues" when Jim Crow laws ruled America, and as long as you later tack on "I love all of humanity" and I would "never incite or encourage hate" and throw around the word "tolerance," and as long as there's enough money and publicity swirling and more ready to be made, you will face absolutely no consequences and if anything you'll be celebrated as a hero and lauded as an icon of freedom -- some will even go so far as to call you the "Rosa Parks" of our generation -- while the people you were talking about will still be vilified and will have to fight even harder against society's belief that they are -- even in the 21st century, even in a country that is not supposed to be ruled by religion or heartless, hateful zealots -- at their very core all of those vile and (let it be said once and for all) patently untrue things that you said about them.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

ANTI-GAY MN ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT ACCUSED OF INAPPROPRIATELY TOUCHING UNDERAGE MALE

Nienstedt


Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt, who launched a mass mailing campaign of 400,000 anti-gay DVDs in 2010, created a special "marriage prayer" to support for the anti-gay amendment on the state's ballot last November, told the mother of a gay son that she must reject him or risk burning in hell, and said Satan is behind gay marriage, has been accused of inappropriately touching a minor, KSTP reports:
Archbishop John Nienstedt denies the allegations, but is removing himself from ministry pending an investigation.
  
The archdiocese says the incident allegedly occurred in 2009 after a confirmation ceremony. Nienstedt is accused of inappropriately touching an underage male on the buttocks during a group photography session.
  
The archdiocese learned of the allegation last week and instructed the person who brought it forward to go to police.
  
In a letter posted Tuesday on the archdiocese website, Nienstedt says the allegation is "absolutely and entirely false." He says he hopes the investigation will be thorough and quick so he can return to work.

Gays ‘Are Cooperating With The Devil’ Says GOP Candidate



In discussing a judge’s recent decision that a Colorado bakery discriminated against a same-sex couple, Pastor and Colorado House Republican candidate Gordon Klingenschmitt decided that gay people and the judge — not the bakery — are at fault. And he used Martin Luther King, Jr., to claim that it’s OK to discriminate against gay people because of their “character.”


“I admit that the two men … are humans — they’re men!” 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Bob Newhart Cancels Gig At Anti-Gay Catholic Conference

Post image for Bob Newhart Cancels Gig At Anti-Gay Catholic Conference — What Did He Say?
Many across the nation were dismay and surprised that comedian Bob Newhart, beloved for decades, had accepted a gig to headline the conference of a lesser-known but exceptionally powerful anti-gay Catholic organization. Legatus, founded by former Domino’s Pizza founder and Catholic activist Tom Monaghan, boasted the comedian’s scheduled performance earlier this month.

While the announcement remains on their website, at least for now, Newhart yesterday made a simple one of his own.
Via Twitter and Facebook, the 84-year old Catholic and star of iconic sitcoms including “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart,” merely stated, “Upcoming Bob Newhart Tour Date Change — Bob will not be performing at the Legatus Summit in Orlando FL on February 6th, 2014.”

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Rose Parade Gay Wedding

At this year's Rose Parade, attendees can expect to enjoy the usual array of flowers, floats and marching bands, as well as an unexpected surprise to ring in 2014: a same-sex wedding ceremony.
With this Rose Parade the first since marriage equality passed in the Golden State, one Los Angeles gay couple will celebrate by marrying each other on top of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's wedding cake-shaped float. 

Obama Picks Openly Gay Delegates For Winter Olympics In Russia

President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced his delegates to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. And, in what may be a thumb in the eye to Russian President Vladimir Putin over his crackdown on gay rights, two of Obama's delegates are openly gay.
Billie Jean King, the tennis legend, and Caitlin Cahow, an Olympic medalist in women’s ice hockey, are both part of the U.S. delegation. Both are out lesbians.
Another member of the U.S. delegation, figure skating Olympic medalist Brian Boitano, routinely declines to answer questions about his sexuality, saying "everybody's got their own path" to discovering who they are.
Others in the delegation include University of California President Janet Napolitano, the former Homeland Security secretary; U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul; White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors; Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, and speed skating Olympic medalists Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden.
In what may be another slight to the Russian president, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the opening ceremony. This marks the first time since the 2000 Summer Olympic Games that a president, vice president, first lady or former president won't be part of the opening ceremony.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Russian television star says gay people should be burned alive

A popular Russian actor said he wants to burn gay people alive because they pose a danger to his children, reports the Moscow Times.
“I’d put them all alive in the oven … it’s a living danger to my children,” said Ivan Okhlobystin, a father of six, in a chat with fans in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
Local news website News.ngs.ru reported Wednesday that Okhlobystin ranted about “gay fascism” and demanded that “faggots” be stripped of their voting rights as homosexuality is a “psychical anomaly.”

Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Salvation Army's History of Anti-LGBT Discrimination

In recent years, the Salvation Army has come under fire for its lengthy history of anti-LGBT political maneuvering and other incidents. The church has publicly articulated its belief that homosexuality is unacceptable, stating:
Scripture opposes homosexual practices by direct comment and also by clearly implied disapproval. The Bible treats such practices as self-evidently abnormal. ... Attempts to establish or promote such relationships as viable alternatives to heterosexually-based family life do not conform to God's will for society.
While such statements were recently removed from the Salvation Army's website, the church has yet to repudiate any of its explicitly anti-gay beliefs. And though these positions may seem to be limited to the group's internal doctrines, they've become a persistent element of the church's overtly political activities -- activities which have negatively impacted the Salvation Army's ability to provide charitable services, and have aimed to limit the rights and benefits of LGBT citizens in multiple nations.
1986 — The Salvation Army of New Zealand collected signatures against the Homosexual Law Reform Act, which repealed the law criminalizing sex between adult men. The Salvation Army later apologized for campaigning against the Act.
1998 — The Salvation Army of the United States chose to turn down $3.5 million in contracts with the city of San Francisco, resulting in the closure of programs for the homeless and senior citizens. The church backed out of these contracts due to San Francisco's requirement that city contractors must provide spousal benefits to both same-sex partners and opposite-sex partners of employees. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Love stated:
We simply cannot agree to be in compliance of the ordinance.
In 2004, the Salvation Army in New York City also threatened to close down all of its services for the city's homeless due to a similar non-discrimination ordinance.
2000 — The Salvation Army of Scotland submitted a letter to Parliament opposing the repeal of Section 28, a law prohibiting "the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". Colonel John Flett, the church's Scotland Secretary, wrote:
We can easily envisage a situation where, due to active promotion of homosexuality in schools, children will grow up feeling alienated if they fail to conform.
The Salvation Army of Scotland has never retracted or apologized for its suggestion that homosexuality would be promoted in schools or that children would be encouraged to become gay.
2001 — The Salvation Army of the United States attempted to make a deal with the Bush administration ensuring that religious charities receiving federal funding would be exempt from any local ordinances banning anti-gay discrimination. Church spokesman David A. Fuscus explained that the group did not want to extend medical benefits to same-sex partners of its employees.
The deal fell through after it was publicized by the Washington Post.
2012 — The Salvation Army of Burlington, Vermont allegedly fired case worker Danielle Morantez immediately after discovering she was bisexual. The church's employee handbook reads, in part, "The Salvation Army does reserve the right to make employment decisions on the basis of an employee's conduct or behavior that is incompatible with the principles of The Salvation Army."
Later that year, Salvation Army spokesperson Major George Hood reaffirmed the church's anti-gay beliefs, saying:
A relationship between same-sex individuals is a personal choice that people have the right to make. But from a church viewpoint, we see that going against the will of God.
2013 — The Salvation Army continues to remove links from its website to religious ministries providing so-called "ex-gay" conversion therapy, such as Harvest USA and Pure Life Ministries. These links were previously provided as resources under the Salvation Army's section on dealing with "sexual addictions."

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Wants The Kids To Know Santa And Jesus Are White



For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white. But this person is maybe just arguing that we should also have a black Santa. But, you know, Santa is what he is, and just so you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids

GAY DIVERSITY TRAINER WON'T HAVE RACISM IN HARLEM BARBERSHOP IN EMOTIONAL 'WHAT WOULD YOU DO?'



In an recently-aired emotional segment of ABC News' hidden camera show What Would You Do?, Marsha Bonner, an HR executive and diversity trainer who is also a lesbian, took matters into her own hands when she was confronted with racism at Harlem barber shop Denny Moe's.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

IOC Head Warns Athletes Against Protesting in Sochi

Athletes attending the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, have been warned by the head of the International Olympic Committee not to get involved in political or LGBT-related protests.\
IOC president Thomas Bach, who won a gold medal for West Germany in fencing in 1976, will issue a letter to athletes reminding them that Russia has a law that bars people from engaging in so-called LGBT propaganda.  
"As an athlete, you do not want to be confronted with any kind of political controversies at the Games," he said, according to BBC News.
Due to Rule 50 in the Olympic Charter, athletes can be expelled for participating in a demonstration or in political, religious, or racial propaganda. 

Australian Marriage Just Got Complicated



As of this weekend, marriage equality has suddenly come to Australia -- but there's a catch. In fact, there are a lot of catches. Courts in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Utah could all be the first to rule on marriage in a post-DOMA world. And an equality lawsuit in Louisiana got knocked down, but not out.

Monday, December 9, 2013

The German President Is The First Head Of State To Boycott The Sochi Games

Post image for The German President Is The First Head Of State To Boycott The Sochi Games
German President Joachim Gauck has informed the Kremlin that due to Russia’s human rights abuses, including their “gay propaganda” law, he will not be attending the Sochi Olympic Games.
Sometimes in life, you stumble over someone you really really like sight unseen, and I really, really like Joachim Gauck, the president of Germany. According to Der Spiegel, the man they call the “president with the heart” announced yesterday that he informed the Kremlin last week that he will not attend the Olympic Games in February, as a protest to Russia’s human rights abuses. He called it a “moral decision”.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis score early Grammy nomination for ‘Same Love’


Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were the early focus of “The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” with seven nominations and one spirited performance.

The Seattle rap duo kicked off the televised special to announce nominations for the 56th annual Grammy Awards on Friday night with their hit “Thrift Shop,” then received nominations for Song of the Year for their gay marriage anthem “Same Love,” and for top honor Album of the Year.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Magic Johnson on HIV, His Gay Son, And His Own Legacy

Basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson candidly discussed HIV and his recently out gay son with Anderson Cooper