A concert in Honduras by musician Ricky Martin will proceed but the government has banned children under the age of 15 from attending due to "erotic content," according to Fox News Latino.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
NOH8 Campaign is a photographic silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley in direct response to the passage of Proposition 8.
LET'S CELEBRATE
The state of NY recently passed the marriage bill, giving the lgbt community the right to marry in yet another state
HIV/AIDS CAMPAIGN
The goal behind these ads goes beyond promoting safe sex and getting tested, it touches on our compassionate side to not discriminate and realize this is not an individual's fight, but a social battle.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
SMH: Children Banned From Attending Ricky Martin Concert In Honduras
Marines Recruit at SoCal Pride Event
Marine recruiters looking to add to the ranks of the few and the proud attended the San Gabriel Valley Pride festival in Pasadena over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Via LAT:
With the official repeal last month of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the Marine Corps, the service that was most opposed to ending the policy, appears to be leading the charge into new recruitment territory.
The end of the hush-hush era opens up another qualified pool of applicants, said Sgt. Monique Wallace, marketing and public affairs representative for the Marine Corps' Recruiting Station Los Angeles.
Carlos Ramirez, a board member of San Gabriel Valley Pride, said he believed that his group's Community Unity Day was the first Southern California pride event to host military recruitment.
Via LAT:
With the official repeal last month of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the Marine Corps, the service that was most opposed to ending the policy, appears to be leading the charge into new recruitment territory.
The end of the hush-hush era opens up another qualified pool of applicants, said Sgt. Monique Wallace, marketing and public affairs representative for the Marine Corps' Recruiting Station Los Angeles.
Carlos Ramirez, a board member of San Gabriel Valley Pride, said he believed that his group's Community Unity Day was the first Southern California pride event to host military recruitment.
Read the LA Times report here.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
LMFAO!!!! Beauty and the Beast...the GAY QUEEN VERSION!!!! HEY GIRL!
Or should we say, "Salut, mademoiselle"? The opening scene of Disney's 1991 animated classicBeauty and the Beast gets gayed up with new narration that turns the quaint French village into a “little town full of queens and homos.”
A clever YouTube user known as Wehoguy30 posted the video which includes a male narrator who is obviously inspired by the recent Honey Badger clip that became a viral sensation. Belle's picturesque stroll through her provincial town becomes peppered with sassy phrases like "Bonjour, Bernice, I love your new wig" and "Did you see Donna's tits? Don't they look real?"
Watch the clip below.
Texas College Refuses Lesbian a Job Interview
A college in Texas is being sued for reportedly turning away a qualified teaching candidate because college administrators perceived her to be a lesbian.
Jacqueline Gill, a Ph.D. student and former high school English teacher, was hired as a temporary instructor at Tarrant County College in August 2009. Upon hiring for her temporary position, she was told that temporary instructors typically transition to work full-time at the college upon successful completion of a one-year contract.
According to Lambda Legal, which is corepresenting Gill along with attorney Benjamin D. Williams, she received high praise from her colleagues, supervisors, and parents during her year of teaching. During the year, however, Gill punished a student for academic dishonesty, and the student retaliated by falsely claiming that Gill flirted with girls during class. She denied the claim, but English department chair Eric Devlin subjected Gill to a lengthy tirade against gay people, and said that "Texas and Tarrant County College do not like homosexuals."
In June 2010, near the end of her contract, she was not allowed to interview for a permanent teaching position.
"I'm a good teacher and I work hard," Gill said in a statement Thursday. "But none of that mattered once Eric Devlin suspected that I'm a lesbian. While I have never hidden my sexual orientation, neither have I ever told anyone on campus that I am gay. My partner and I have been together for over 12 years and we're both Texas natives. Finding a job these days is hard enough — no one should have to go through something like this."
Gill's case says that Devlin and Antonio Howell, division dean of humanities at the campus, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by refusing her to interview for the permanent position based on their perception that she is a lesbian. The case is being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Gay Airman Accidentally Exposed: Rolling Out of the Deep
You may be one of the millions who saw a viral YouTube video showing a group of airmen covering Adele's hit "Rolling in the Deep." It just so happens that the guy who posted the video is on the verge of coming out to the world.
The airman who uploaded the video, using the nameAreYouSuprised, had also been keeping a vlog on YouTube about being gay in the military, chronicling his delicate coming-out process. Soon enough, his military colleagues started to figure out that the guy posting the videos of the band of singing airmen was also the guy posting the intimate (yet mostly faceless) vlog posts.
He's a 21-year-old stationed in Germany who has yet to have his first drink, isn't really a movie person, and really likes when people cook for him. Here is the performance that went viral and the still-unidentified airman's entries on being gay in the military.
Rolling in the Deep — Military Cover — August 8
U.K. to Lift Lifetime Ban on Gay Blood Donors
England, Scotland, and Wales will lift a lifetime ban on gay men donating blood, a restriction instituted in the 1980s but one not supported by scientific studies on blood supply safety.
The BBC reports that government ministers have agreed to allow men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate if they have not engaged in sexual activity within the past 12 months, effective in November (earlier this year, the U.K. had considered putting a 10-year deferral on MSM blood donation). Northern Ireland is expected to issue its own decision on the matter in the near future.
Citing recent research — including a December article in the journal Transfusion that found no evidence of increased HIV infection risk resulting from a 12-month deferral policy in Australia — the U.K.’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues, and Organs argued earlier this year that the lifetime ban could no longer be scientifically supported.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration’s lifetime ban on MSM donors remains in effect, despite efforts by advocates, blood bank organizations, and lawmakers to overturn it. Last year an advisory committee voted against recommending that the MSM donation policy be changed, though committee members also voted that the current restrictions are “suboptimal” and recommended further research into distinguishing between high- and low-risk donors, regardless of sexual orientation.
Read the BBC report here.
The BBC reports that government ministers have agreed to allow men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate if they have not engaged in sexual activity within the past 12 months, effective in November (earlier this year, the U.K. had considered putting a 10-year deferral on MSM blood donation). Northern Ireland is expected to issue its own decision on the matter in the near future.
Citing recent research — including a December article in the journal Transfusion that found no evidence of increased HIV infection risk resulting from a 12-month deferral policy in Australia — the U.K.’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues, and Organs argued earlier this year that the lifetime ban could no longer be scientifically supported.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration’s lifetime ban on MSM donors remains in effect, despite efforts by advocates, blood bank organizations, and lawmakers to overturn it. Last year an advisory committee voted against recommending that the MSM donation policy be changed, though committee members also voted that the current restrictions are “suboptimal” and recommended further research into distinguishing between high- and low-risk donors, regardless of sexual orientation.
Read the BBC report here.
Update: British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell issued the following statement on the blood donation policy change:
"Although the new policy is a big improvement on the existing discriminatory rules, a 12 month ban is still excessive and unjustified. Most gay and bisexual men do not have HIV and will never have HIV. If they always have safe sex with a condom, have only one partner and test HIV negative, their blood is safe to donate. They can and should be allowed to help save lives by becoming donors."
Lesbian Student Asked to Leave Christian School
Honesty is a virtue. Unless you’re a lesbian student at the Master's School, a K-12 Christian school in West Simsbury, Conn.
Rachel Aviles was a popular kid who excelled in academics, sports, and extracurriculars. And even though she isn’t a Christian, she says she respected the school's faith. Unfortunately, Aviles wasn’t able to attend what would have been her senior year because of circumstances resulting from an incident last spring.
The Harfort Courant reports that on a class trip, Aviles and several students pretended to be married, holding hands and making “wifey” phone calls to each other.
"Looking back, it was kind of stupid," Aviles says. "But it was harmless."
After the school learned of the innocent event, the students were called in and asked about their sexual orientation. When asked, Aviles admitted to administrators what her friends already knew: that she is a lesbian.
Aviles says she was asked to leave the school to avoid being expelled.
While the school's headmaster, Jon Holley, declined to discuss Aviles because of privacy concerns, the teen’s former coach, Heather Lodovico, said she phoned administrators to see if they would reverse the decision. The answer was no.
"She's a fantastic kid," said Lodovico. "My reaction was: 'Wow. Your God's really small.' Whether it's a sin or not, take that out of the picture, and this is still wrong. I think God's up there shaking his head going, 'Really? Really?'
Read the full story here.
Rachel Aviles was a popular kid who excelled in academics, sports, and extracurriculars. And even though she isn’t a Christian, she says she respected the school's faith. Unfortunately, Aviles wasn’t able to attend what would have been her senior year because of circumstances resulting from an incident last spring.
The Harfort Courant reports that on a class trip, Aviles and several students pretended to be married, holding hands and making “wifey” phone calls to each other.
"Looking back, it was kind of stupid," Aviles says. "But it was harmless."
After the school learned of the innocent event, the students were called in and asked about their sexual orientation. When asked, Aviles admitted to administrators what her friends already knew: that she is a lesbian.
Aviles says she was asked to leave the school to avoid being expelled.
While the school's headmaster, Jon Holley, declined to discuss Aviles because of privacy concerns, the teen’s former coach, Heather Lodovico, said she phoned administrators to see if they would reverse the decision. The answer was no.
"She's a fantastic kid," said Lodovico. "My reaction was: 'Wow. Your God's really small.' Whether it's a sin or not, take that out of the picture, and this is still wrong. I think God's up there shaking his head going, 'Really? Really?'
Read the full story here.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Google Honors Freddie Mercury With Doodle
Google paid tribute to the late Queen front man Freddie Mercury with an animated doodle Sunday, the day the gay British singer would have turned 65.
The doodle, which first appeared on Google sites in locations including the U.K., took center stage on the U.S. Google site Monday. It features a 90-second video set to the song “Don’t Stop Me Now,” with Mercury performing onstage, soaring across sky and land on various rides, and vacuuming at home while dressed as a woman.
Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
The doodle, which first appeared on Google sites in locations including the U.K., took center stage on the U.S. Google site Monday. It features a 90-second video set to the song “Don’t Stop Me Now,” with Mercury performing onstage, soaring across sky and land on various rides, and vacuuming at home while dressed as a woman.
Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
Murders Put Focus on Same-Sex Domestic Abuse!!!
A spike in the number of same-sex partners killed in domestic violence episodes in Massachusetts draws attention to the inadequate response of law enforcement to the problem.
The Boston Globe reports on seven killings of same-sex partners since 2010, a sharp increase from one to three such murders in previous years. Advocates report that law enforcement officials and the court system fail to recognize, understand, and address the problem of same-sex domestic abuse, with fatal consequences for victims.
“Advocates say there is a deep resistance from some police departments to learn more about the issue,” according to the Globe. “They report dropping off brochures about services for victims only to have officers scoff or discard them. A few years ago, officers from one department in the state walked out of a workshop on helping gay domestic violence victims, said Curt Rogers, executive director of the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project in Cambridge.”
The Globe continued, “There are regular reports of both victim and batterer receiving restraining orders to stay away from each other because a judge was unable to identify the abuser. For the same reason, victims have been arrested along with their abusers after police received a report of an assault.”
While advocates acknowledge the increase in murders could be the result of more reporting and not a jump in violence, they view the tragedies as an opportunity to call for more attention from and specialized training for law enforcement agencies.
The Boston Globe reports on seven killings of same-sex partners since 2010, a sharp increase from one to three such murders in previous years. Advocates report that law enforcement officials and the court system fail to recognize, understand, and address the problem of same-sex domestic abuse, with fatal consequences for victims.
“Advocates say there is a deep resistance from some police departments to learn more about the issue,” according to the Globe. “They report dropping off brochures about services for victims only to have officers scoff or discard them. A few years ago, officers from one department in the state walked out of a workshop on helping gay domestic violence victims, said Curt Rogers, executive director of the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project in Cambridge.”
The Globe continued, “There are regular reports of both victim and batterer receiving restraining orders to stay away from each other because a judge was unable to identify the abuser. For the same reason, victims have been arrested along with their abusers after police received a report of an assault.”
While advocates acknowledge the increase in murders could be the result of more reporting and not a jump in violence, they view the tragedies as an opportunity to call for more attention from and specialized training for law enforcement agencies.
