Thursday, February 27, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
HRC Links Antigay Americans to Russia's Anti-LGBT Climate
A new video from the Human Rights Campaign takes American antigay activists to task for stoking the flames of LGBT hatred in Russia.
Friday, February 21, 2014
ARIZONA SENATE PASSES BILL ALLOWING BUSINESSES TO REFUSE SERVICE TO GAYS BASED ON RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Arizona's Senate has voted 17-13 to approve a bill allowing businesses to refuse service to gays based on religious beliefs, the Arizona Daily Star reports:
The 17-13 vote along party lines, with Republicans in the majority, came after supporters defeated an attempt to extend existing employment laws that bar discrimination based on religion and race to also include sexual orientation. Sen. Steve Yarbrough (pictured), R-Chandler, said that's a separate issue from what he is trying to do.
But Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said that's precisely the issue.
"The bill opens the door for discrimination against gays and lesbians," he said.
Yarbrough, however, said foes of SB 1062 are twisting what his legislation says.
"This bill is not about discrimination," he said. "It's about preventing discrimination against people who are clearly living out their faith."
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Anglican Bishops Bar Priests From Celebrating Same-Sex Marriages
Just days after the head of the Church of England warned its bishops that opposing LGBT rights would paint the church in a bigoted light, the bishops adopted new guidelines saying priests should not bless same-sex unions.
With same-sex marriages set to begin in March in England and Wales, the House of Bishops drafted new guidelines that warn "blessing should not be provided" to same-sex weddings but suggests that priests "should respond pastorally and sensitively in other ways."
The guidelines, posted on the church's website Saturday, appear to be somewhat at odds with a bishops' report issued last year, which said priests "should be free to mark the formation of a permanent same-sex relationship in a public service," although they would not be obligated to do so. The Saturday posting states that an "informal kind of prayer, at the request of the couple, might be appropriate," with "the assumption that any prayer will be accompanied by pastoral discussion of the church's teaching and their reasons for departing from it."
Individuals married to a person of the same gender will continue to be barred from ordination, and the rules also prohibit "someone in holy orders" from entering a same-sex union.
Last week Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the world's 77 million Christians in communion with the Anglican Church, warned that opposition to LGBT rights would have a negative impact on how some view the faith.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
‘Juno’ And ‘Inception’ Star Ellen Page Announces ‘I Am Gay’
Ellen Page, best known for portraying intelligent and quirky characters in hit films including “Juno,” “Inception,” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” Friday told an audience attending HRC’s Las Vegas conference for LGBT teens, “I’m here today because I am gay. And because maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.”
Kansas Senate Rejects House ‘Freedom To Discriminate’ Bill
The Kansas State Senate has refused to consider a House bill that would make it legal to refuse service to gays due to “sincerely held religious beliefs”. Senate Republicans say the bill is too extreme.
House Bill 2453, which passed the House by a lopsided 72-49 vote, would have allowed anyone with religious objections to homosexuality to discriminate against gays at any time. Doctors. Teachers. Firefighters. Ambulance drivers.
From HB 2453:
“if it would be contrary to the sincerely held religious beliefs of the individual or religious entity…no individual or religious entity shall be required by any governmental entity to…[p]rovide any services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges; provide counseling, adoption, foster care and other social services; or provide employment or employment benefits, related to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement; solemnize any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement; or treat any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement as valid.”
The Kansas Senate, with its 32-8 Republican majority, was expected to rubber stamp the legislation, but sanity has prevailed. Senate President, Republican Susan Wagle, told the Wichita Eagle that allowing government employees to discriminate went too far:
“I believe that when you hire police officers or a fireman that they have no choice in who they serve. They serve anyone who’s vulnerable, any age, any race, any sexual orientation. Public service needs to remain public service for the entire public.”
Lawmakers Cheer As Ugandan President Declares ‘War With The Homosexual Lobby’
After admonishing the Parliament of his own nation late last year for “repeatedly” breaking the law by passing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill without the required quorum, and strongly suggesting he would not sign it, the President of Uganda announced at his national party retreat last week that he will sign the bill.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill mandates jail sentences — including life in prison — for those accused of having sex with members of their own gender, and for those who know LGBT people but do not report them to authorities. Jail is also mandated for those who support LGBT civil rights and the LGBT community.
Watch this video as the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, tells the lawmakers of his party he will sign the bill. Watch as he announces, “We shall have a war with the homosexual lobby, in the world, backed by these people and you.”
Watch as the stand, applaud, and cheer.
Anti-Gay Prejudice Is Killing Gay People
A study just released by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health finds that gay people living in communities entrenched with high levels of anti-gay bigotry, prejudice, and hate, are expected to die 12 years earlier than their peers living in more progressive and accepting environments.
“Shorter life expectancy of 12 years on average for LGB individuals in communities with high vs. low stigma,” a statement on the study reads.
“Our findings indicate that sexual minorities living in communities with higher levels of prejudice die sooner than sexual minorities living in low-prejudice communities, and that these effects are independent of established risk factors for mortality, including household income, education, gender, ethnicity, and age, as well as the average income and education level of residents in the communities where the respondents lived,” the study’s lead author, Mark Hatzenbuehler, PhD, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia, said in a statement. “In fact, our results for prejudice were comparable to life expectancy differences that have been observed between individuals with and without a high school education.”
The study looked at data from 1988 to 2008.
“In order to examine the relationship between prejudice and mortality, the researchers constructed a measure capturing the average level of anti-gay prejudice in the communities where LGB individuals lived… This information on sexual orientation and community-level prejudice was then linked longitudinally to mortality data via the National Death Index, through 2008. Thus, the authors were able to examine whether mortality risk differed for LGB individuals who lived in communities that were characterized by high versus low levels of prejudice. By the end of the study, 92% of LGB respondents living in low-prejudice communities were still alive; in contrast, only 78% of the LGB respondents living in high-prejudice communities were still alive.” [Bolding ours]
LOS ANGELES SEVENTH GRADER MAKES POIGNANT STOP-MOTION MOVIE IN SUPPORT OF GAY MARRIAGE
Scarlett Dennis, a 7th grader from Los Angeles, has created an artistic statement in support of same-sex marriage that demands to be seen. HuffPost reported on the young artist, whose minute-long stop-motion animated film, "The Story of Larry and Gerald," is a poignant and emotional call for gay rights. Larry and Gerald refuse to compromise their love, despite the protests they meet along the way, and something tells us that Ms. Dennis will be a similarly staunch advocate and ally for years to come.
Monday, February 17, 2014
First Openly Gay Eagle Scout
A Maryland teenager has become the first openly gay Boy Scout to achieve the youth organization’s highest rank.
Pascal Tessier, 17, accepted the Eagle Scout badge Monday night in Chevy Chase, Md. Tessier, who received the honor at a meeting of Boy Scout Troop 52, is the first known out scout to attain the Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank since the organization's national council voted to lift its ban on gay members (but not adult leaders) last May. The new policy went into effect January of this year.
“It’s just really amazing, and it honestly hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Tessier told The Washington Post. “We didn’t know if it was going to happen at all.”
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Irish Archbishop: Stop Homophobia in the Church
The highest-ranking Catholic bishop in Ireland is denouncing those who use church teaching and scripture to discriminate against LGBT people.
Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said on national public service broadcaster RTÉ's This Week that he lamented a culture of homophobia in Ireland.
""Anyone who grew up in Ireland would have told jokes that were pointed at the gay community ... it is part of the culture we grew up in, but we have to grow out of it," he said.
While restating the Roman Catholic Church's position that marriage should be exclusive to heterosexual couples in advance of an upcoming referendum of marriage equality in Ireland, he said that same-sex couples should not be prohibited from celebrating their unions in other ways.
Martin said that bigotry toward LGBT people is an insult to God.
"Anybody who doesn't show love towards gay and lesbian people is insulting God. They are not just homophobic if they do that, they are actually Godophobic because God loves every one of those people," he said.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Happy Valentine's Day
President and CEO Scott Fraser says:
“Our Gun Oil products for men and PINK products for women are designed for the wellness and sensual enjoyment of everyone, regardless of orientation, preference, and relationship status. In light of progressive advances in marriage equality and the right to serve our country sweeping across the U.S., we felt this view of life was a story that was not being told with the authenticity and compassion it deserved.”
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Long Island Mom Pens Vile Anti-Gay Response To Kid’s Birthday Party Invite
A homophobic mother in Long Island used a seven-year old girl’s birthday party invitation sent by her two gay dads as a forum to express hatred of gay people.
So the same-sex couple, two dads from Baldwin, New York, decided to send the anti-gay mother’s response to local radio station K-98.3.
“You’re invited to Sophia’s 7th Birthday Party,” the invitation reads.
“Tommy will NOT attend,” the mother wrote on the invitation. “I do not believe in what you do and will not subject my innocent son to your ‘lifestyle.’”
“I’m sorry Sophia has to grow up this way. If you have an issue or need to speak to me call *** ****,” Tommy’s mother, Beth, wrote.
K-83 writes on Facebook that Beth “gave us permission to post her phone number and said anyone who has a problem with what she wrote can call her, too!”
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
NFL: Celebrating our differences
Dale Hansen, from Dallas, sharing his thoughts on Michael Sam being the first openly gay player in the NFL.
Dale has twice been named Sportscaster of the Year by the Associated Press and with thoughtful commentary like this, it's easy to see why.
Nevada Drops Defense of Marriage Ban
The state's attorney general and governor announced today that the 'legal landscape has changed' and the 2002 anti-gay marriage amendment is 'no longer defensible in court.'
The two top-ranking legal officials in Nevada will no longer defend the state's constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, according to a brief filed Monday.
In a brief filed with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Nevada's Democratic attorney general. Catherine Cortez Masto. writes that since the marriage equality case, known as Sevcick v. Sandoval, was first decided in federal district court in November 2012, "the legal landscape has changed." Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican, signed on to to Masto's request to remove his office from the state's defense of the ban.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Blake Brockington, Transgender North Carolina Teen, Crowned Homecoming King
A North Carolina teen made local history after being crowned his state and school's first transgender homecoming king last week.
As WCNC is reporting, 17-year-old Blake Brockington was honored during a halftime ceremony at East Meck High School on Feb. 7.
A senior at East Meck High, Brockington said he felt "amazing" after the victory, telling WBTV, "I hope this makes everybody know that they can be themselves regardless of what anybody else says. Even though you go through some things and you have some negative encounters in your life -- anything's possible."
He then added, "You can do anything you set your heart to."
Indiana Committee Sends Anti-Gay Marriage Bill To Full Senate For Vote
The Indiana Senate Rules Committee has just voted, 8-4 across partisan lines, to send a highly-controversial and likely unconstitutional bill banning same-sex marriage to the full Senate for a vote.
SPORT IS FOR EVERYONE, NO MATTER WHAT TEAM YOU PLAY FOR
XXL, a Norwegian sports and outdoor clothing retailer across Scandinavia, created an ad to coincide with the Sochi Games that sends a message in support of the LGBT community: sport is for everyone, no matter what team you play for.
Monday, February 10, 2014
On Friday evening, Greek-yogurt maker Chobani released on Twitter an image of stacked yogurt cups representing the colors of the rainbow with the tagline “Naturally Powering Everyone.” The post comes just after Chobani, a sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee and Team USA, publicly denounced Russia’s anti-gay laws.
On Friday evening, Greek-yogurt maker Chobani released on Twitter an image of stacked yogurt cups representing the colors of the rainbow with the tagline “Naturally Powering Everyone.” The post comes just after Chobani, a sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee and Team USA, publicly denounced Russia’s anti-gay laws.
Michael Sam Comes Out As Gay: Missouri Football Star Could Be 1st Openly Gay NFL Player
Former Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam, named a first-team All-American after the 2013 season, has publicly come out as gay. The college football standout is eligible for the 2014 NFL Draft and is poised to become the first active openly gay player in the league's history. He spoke publicly about his sexuality for the first time to The New York Times and ESPN on Sunday.
"I am an openly, proud gay man," Sam told ESPN.
The 24-year-old from Hitchcock, Texas revealed to both outlets that he had come out to his teammates during a preseason football practice before the Tigers' 2013 campaign.
"I understand how big this is," Sam told ESPN. "It's a big deal. No one has done this before. And it's kind of a nervous process, but I know what I want to be ... I want to be a football player in the NFL."
A 6-foot-2, 255-pound senior who was voted co-defensive player of the year in the vaunted Southeastern Conference for the 2013 season, Sam made his announcement just two weeks before the NFL Scouting Combine begins on Feb. 22 in Indianapolis.
“We admire Michael Sam’s honesty & courage," the NFL said in a statement released on Sunday, via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. "Michael is a football player. Any player with ability and determination can succeed in NFL.”
Sunday, February 9, 2014
'Faith Commander' Book By Duck Dynasty's Robertson Family Is Jesus-Based Church Curriculum
The Robertson family of "Duck Dynasty" fame is now wading into the world of Christian publishing with the release of a new book and DVD, Faith Commander: Living Five Values From The Parables Of Jesus, which is a five-week church curriculum.
Written by Korie Robertson and her mother Chrys Howard, the content focuses on the five themes of faith, forgiveness, obedience, prayer, and kindness. Robertson, the wife of Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson, explained in a press release from Christian publishing house Zondervan that "There are some things that the Bible tells us are God’s guidelines." She continued, "He gives us examples throughout the Bible so that we may live a better life and those are the lessons that we have tried to cover in ‘Faith Commander.’ We hope that people will bring these lessons into their own family through this curriculum.”
Friday, February 7, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Clay Aiken’s Moving First Video Announcing His Run For Congress
Clay Aiken just released his first video announcing his run for the U.S. Congress. The 35-year old Democratic North Carolina native wants to unseat Tea Party Congresswoman Renee Ellmers.
Gay Russians Brutally Attacked on Camera
A new video from activist organization Human Rights Watch provides a terrifying look into just how bad anti-LGBT violence has become in Russia.
Using clips from videos posted to Russian social networks that proudly document the violent assaults against people perceived to be LGBT, the Human Rights Watch video gives a brutal and all too real face to the hostility fostered by Russia's state-sanctioned homophobia. The video includes clips showing members of the Neo-Nazi vigilante group "Occupy Pedophilia," which claims to protect children by luring gay men with false offers of dates online, then humiliates and often brutalizes the young men captured, forcing them to "confess" to their homosexuality or pedophilia on-camera.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Moscow Helsinki Group Tells Putin Propaganda Law Is Harming Children
The Moscow Helsinki Group , (MHG) Russia’s oldest and most respected human rights group ,has released a report highly critical of Russia’s new “propaganda” law. The study points to the climate of homophobia the law has engendered, saying it has put the lives of teens at risk.
The MHG report says Russia is disregarding the United Nations provision that member countries must always act in best interest of the child. They say the propaganda law disregards what is truly in the best interest of Russian teens in favor of ”preserving Russian family values”.
A spokesman for MGH said in a statement:
“With formal recognition of international law, [the propaganda law] denies one of the basic concepts of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the concept of the “best interests of the child”, created to customize the decisions taken within the framework of national legal systems in the interests of the individual child .”
Scotland Establishes Marriage Equality
Scotland passed the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill today, paving the way for same-sex marriages to begin in the fall, reports BuzzFeed.
The bill passed by a vote of 105-18 in the Scottish Parliament, allowing Scotland to join with fellow United Kingdom jurisdictions England and Wales in establishing marriage equality.
"I believe this bill will have a hugely positive impact on our society and on the health and well-being of LGBT of people in our country," said Jim Eadie, a member of Parliament. "This is a profound moment in our nation’s history."
Monday, February 3, 2014
America Is Beautiful
The only thing more beautiful than this country are the people who live here. #AmericaIsBeautiful Coca-Cola
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Disney Channel's 'Good Luck Charlie' Introduces Same-Sex Couple
The Disney Channel just introduced its first-ever lesbian couple on the series "Good Luck Charlie."
As TV Guide pointed out:
In the storyline, parents Amy and Bob Duncan (Leigh-Allyn Baker and Eric Allan Kramer) set up a playdate for preschooler Charlie (Mia Talerico) and one of her new friends. When the kid arrives, the Duncans learn that Charlie's pal has two moms. That's fine, but the potential new friendship is put to the test as one mom chats with Amy, and the other is stuck listening to Bob's dull stories.
A Disney Channel spokesperson told the publication that the episode was "developed to be relevant to kids and families around the world and to reflect themes of diversity and inclusiveness."
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Jonny McGovern Premieres 'Whoa Dude!' Web Series
A hilarious new web series has hit the Internet that takes a look at some of the most unintentionally homoerotic viral videos that make the viewer say "Whoa, dude!"
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