Equal Marriage in the UK - A Video and a Petition

A beautiful ad in support of marriage equality in the UK. Absolutely worth watching.

And here is the petition that comes with it.

Minnesota Hate #17 - Very Few Same Sex Couples Have Kids, So Fuck Them

So, um, why should we make some people happy without it costing us anything, when we can... uh... not?

Obama Administration Endorses Student Non-Discrimination Act

A great development from yesterday - the Obama administration officially endorsed the Student Non-Discrimination Act. From Metro Weekly:

White House spokesman Shin Inouye tells Metro Weekly, "The President and his Administration have taken many steps to address the issue of bullying. He is proud to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act, introduced by Senator Franken and Congressman Polis, and the Safe Schools Improvement Act, introduced by Senator Casey and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez. These bills will help ensure that all students are safe and healthy and can learn in environments free from discrimination, bullying and harassment."

Also check out Huffington Post and Joe. My. God. for more quotes and links to resources on the subject.

Anti-Gay Discrimination Bill Progresses in Colorado

I mentioned this a while back. Despite One Colorado's efforts, Focus on the Family managed to place a legalization of anti-gay discrimination on the November ballot. Should this pass, it will allow gay people to be denied housing, employment, literally anything really, on the basis of "religious freedom".

Here's a Note from Brad Clark from One Colorado:

I’m sitting in the Secretary of State’s office. Today’s title board hearing just finished up. Despite having some of the best legal minds in Colorado working for us and mounting a strong legal case, we lost our initial challenge to Focus on the Family’s deceptive ballot initiative to write discrimination into our state Constitution.

Now we have to take our challenge to the Colorado State Supreme Court. If we don’t, this dangerous measure is all but certain to appear on our ballot this fall. If enacted, this measure’s radical effects will be felt in Colorado for decades to come—and would have far-reaching implications for LGBT Coloradans.

[snip]

This extreme measure would undermine all the advancements we’ve made to protect LGBT people from discrimination in housing, public accommodations, and employment. An employer could fire a transgender person when she comes out. A mortgage lender could deny financing to a gay couple. Everything we’ve done to protect our community could be undone.

You can follow the link to find out how you can help the cause. I find it absolutely disgusting that in 2012 such a thing could be up for voting. Is this country moving backward in time? What does it take for people to get it into their heads that Church and State are separate for a reason?

Minnesota Hate #16 - There Are Very Few Gays Really

There aren't that many gays, and the general population doesn't really like them anyway, so why do we even need to be talking about it? After all, the hate groups' numbers say people are against gay marriage, and they can't be wrong, right? Right?

The United Dominion of Christian Clarity Is Upon Us

Yay for things getting called with their real names! Not that it's a surprise to anyone.

You are cordially invited to:

The First National Convention

of The Christian Party of America ® (CPA)

Dates and Times: April 20 from 7:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.,

April 21, 2012 from 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M. and 7 P.M. until close

Location: The Hilton of Raleigh/Durham Airport, North Carolina

Please make plans to attend this exciting event, the first quadrennial convention of the Christian Party of America, at which we will introduce our party to the nation. The list of speakers includes Michael Peroutka (former Presidential candidate), Dr. Patrick L. Wooden, Sr. (Pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ), Tami Fitzgerald (Director of Vote for Marriage NC), Jeff Lewis (Co-Director of the Patriot Coalition), Don Watson (CPA National Vice-Chairman), and Clell M. Drumheller, II (CPA National Chairman). Also, there will be various activities for all in attendance. Besides, you will have the opportunity to tour the beautiful eastern North Carolina area.

Hear the good news and rejoice! And you might notice who is leading the prayer - Pastor Patrick "Gay Men Wear Diapers" Wooden, who I'm sure will have many and more delightful insights on gay men physiology...

If nothing else, this scareshow might give the GOP a chance to cleanse itself of the talibangelicals. If we put all the crazies in their own party, we can finally see how big the loud Christian Cabal of Evil actually is...

Praying the Gay Away

Michele and Marcus Bachman's clinic sees a second scandal regarding ex-gay Christina therapy. From Huffpost:

Documentary filmmaker Kristina Lapinski, who is currently at work on "GAY U.S.A. the Movie," went undercover at Bachmann & Associates, the Minnesota-based Christian counseling clinic co-owned by Marcus and Michele Bachmann, and once again captured a staff member conducting what she described as "reparative" therapy.

Lapinski says she played the part of "a confused 24 year old lesbian who had just moved from California to Minnesota to marry her long time male friend, Jake, all to please her Christian parents" while making an appointment. After speaking to counselor Sheila J. Marker about her situation, Lapinski says Marker then pulled out a Bible, informing her that God intended only men and women to come together, and captured the experience on a hidden pen camera.

Make sure you read the whole article. Poor, poor Crazy Eyes with her God-fixed husband... As much as I despise the wretched woman, I don't wish an "ex-gay" on anyone.

Dr. Robert Spitzer on "Ex-Gays": Oops, Might Have Been Wrong on That One!

In a move that serves as a significant blow to "ex-gay" programs and anti-gay organizations, Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiated his much-criticized 2001 study that claimed some "highly motivated" homosexuals could go from gay to straight. His retraction occurred in an American Prospect magazine article that hit newsstands today. Spitzer's rejection of his own research, which was originally published in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior, is a devastating blow to "ex-gay" organizations because it decisively eliminates their most potent claim that homosexuality can be reversed through therapy and prayer.

"Dr. Spitzer's repudiation of his 2001 study is an earthquake that severely undermines the validity of 'ex-gay' programs," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen, who criticized the study in his 2003 book, Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. "Spitzer just kicked out the final leg from the stool on which the proponents of 'ex-gay' therapy based their already shaky claims of success."

You can read the full article here and Huffpost also has an entry about it. Poor "ex-gays" have now lost one of their main arguments. Can you imagine - now all those three hundred leaflets they were going to pass around in those two schools somewhere in their "Day of Dialogue" are going to have to be reprinted! Deep, deep sadness...

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/11/4406240/dr-robert-spitzer-renounces-infamous.html#storylink=cpy

Family Equality Council: "The Outspoken generation"

Family Equality Council - "the national organization that connects, supports and represents the two million children in this country being raised by parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender" - launched a new project, titled "The Outspoken Generation. From their page:

The program is designed to empower these young adults to raise their voices in support of LGBT families by speaking publicly at community events across the country, in front of local, state and national legislative bodies, and directly to the media.

[snip]

Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler said the program was borne out of conversations with LGBT families over the last year. However, she said the need for the initiative became increasingly clear following recent news that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) considered a strategy of recruiting the children of LGBT parents to criticize their own families. It’s clear that NOM will stop at nothing in their efforts to demonize LGBT parents, and their malicious attempts to spread misinformation about these families will not go unanswered.

“We are now seeing the first generation of children, who were lovingly raised by LGBT parents, coming into young adulthood,” said Chrisler. “We know, from our conversations with these young people and from our experience with them, that they are terrific kids who are thriving and succeeding in life by any measure you choose to use. Many of them are now telling us that they are eager to tell the truth about their families. Who better to refute the myths and lies of hate groups like NOM than our grown up children?”

I love the idea and can't wait to see videos of kids with same-sex parents. Here's a great video from Zach Wahls - one of the two co-chairs of the program, who became famous after his speech in front of the Iowa House Judiciary Committee.



Here's a bit more about him and the initiative, as well as a link to his Iowa speech, from Huffpost.

Geekiness: Wiccan and Hulkling's First Kiss

I realize this is as nerdy as one can get, but I am super excited about it. Childish as it would sound, I didn't know it was coming, and my heart skipped a beat when I opened the page and saw it.

A little background. Wickan (Billy Kaplan) and Hulkling (Teddy Altman) are part of Marvel Comics' Young Avengers - a new group of teenage heroes that first appeared in 2005, and after an initial run of 12 issues were relegated to different mini-series instead of an ongoing book. Wiccan - supposedly carrying the soul of one of Wanda Maximoff's dead twin boys - is a warlock, while Hulkling is a Krull-Scree hybrid with shape-shifting powers. They have been openly gay and in a monogamous relationship since the very beginning (there is even a hilarious yet touching coming out scene for Wiccan in one of the early issues), but they had never actually kissed until now. In the final ninth issue of the epic Avengers: The Children's Crusade miniseries (which brought Wanda back, among other earth-shattering events) writer Allan Heinberg finally gave the fans what they'd wanted since Young Avengers #1 - Billy and Teddy's kiss.

This is a remarkable moment for mainstream comic book gay heroes for a number of reasons. First of all, it is to my knowledge the first one in the Marvel universe between major characters in a best-selling series. Second, it is the first such scene between teenagers. But most importantly, unlike any other previous gay kiss, it is not the culmination of a buildup and a way for the characters to finally admit their feelings. No, instead, it is something that we know those two kids must do all the time. They have been in a committed relationship since before they were even introduced. But Heinberg chose the smartest and most meaningful way to show them being intimate with each other - by doing it when the story called for it. In a scene set after the dramatic events of the main plot. The impact of the scene is even bigger because of how naturally it fits the narrative.

And, as you can see below, Jim Cheung's art is nothing short of breathtaking:

Mormons Tell You That It Gets Better

This is probably the weirdest thing you'll see tonight - an LGBT group in Brigham Young University (considered one of the most LGBT-unfriendly campuses in the country) have made an "It Gets Better" video. I think it's really touching. Please take the time to see it:





And because we both know you were checking out Adam:





You're welcome :p

A Teen’s Brave Response to “I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay”

I stumbled upon this article a few days ago on Facebook, and then someone posted it on my own timeline a day later. Weird coincidence, I guess, but either way, I just had to share it with you. Here's the intro:

I received the following email today in response to my post I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay. I had decided a couple months ago that it was time to let the whole thing rest, but this response was so powerful, I couldn’t not share it with you all. It was from a woman who simply called herself, “One proud mom.”

Make sure you read the whole article. I hope this is a real story, because it's a very promising thing for a Christian parent to does such an 180.

#tomyunbornchild

n early March, the hashtag "#tomyunbornchild" became a worldwide trend on Twitter. By and large, these tweets were loving, hopeful messages to the next generation -- but many people saw it as an opportunity to express hate speech towards LGBT children: http://storify.com/homophobes/100-homophobes-who-would-kill-their-gay-child

Reading their bile, the only thing I could think was: how would we feel if we heard actual parents saying this to actual children?

I got the idea on a Thursday. By Sunday, we -- me, my boyfriend, and whatever friends we could find to help us -- had it filmed.

It's easy to dehumanize hate speech online because we've gotten so used to seeing it. We tell ourselves that it's the product of trolls, of random, anonymous strangers.

Except they're not. They're real people. Many of them will be parents. And some of their children will be gay.

But what can we DO about it? I don't think there are any easy answers.

Whenever you believe life begins, I hope we can all agree: life is essential, and rare, and precious. We can't stop anyone from having kids. But we can resolve to stop this toxic cycle. We can wish better for our own children. And we can support the kids who weren't so lucky.

Still Totally Gay...

This lovely video is part of the "Day of Dialogue" project - Focus on the Family's hateful answer to the Day of Silence. The goal - to use the fact that the little faggots are keeping their mouth shut to try and indoctrinate them with ex-gay propaganda. So here's Chris with his heartbreaking tale of woe.



Too bad really. The kid is clearly not happy. Pretty cute too. Oh well...

DOMA's Immigration Context Under Attack Again

Via Prop 8 Trial Tracker:

Immigration Equality has filed a new lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act as it applies to the immigration rights of gay and lesbian bi-national couples. The complaint, which can be found here, notes the reasons that the Defense of Marriage Act treats same sex couples dealing with immigration issues particularly harshly:

The discriminatory impact of DOMA is particularly acute in the immigration context. For immigration purposes, whether the federal government recognizes a couple’s marriage can determine whether a family may remain in the United States and live together, or may be torn apart.

The group’s press release says:

Five lesbian and gay couples filed suit today in the Eastern District of New York, challenging Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevents lesbian and gay American citizens from sponsoring their spouses for green cards. The lawsuit, filed on the couples’ behalf by Immigration Equality and the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, alleges that DOMA violates the couples’ constitutional right to equal protection.

“Solely because of DOMA and its unconstitutional discrimination against same-sex couples,” the lawsuit states, “these Plaintiffs are being denied the immigration rights afforded to other similarly situated binational couples.” Were the Plaintiffs opposite-sex couples, the suit says, “the federal government would recognize the foreign spouse as an ‘immediate relative’ of a United States citizen, thereby allowing the American spouse to petition for an immigrant visa for the foreign spouse, and place [them] on the path to lawful permanent residence and citizenship.”

Make sure you read the full post. For me this is a particularly important issue, as the immigration side is the biggest reason of why DOMA is harmful to me specifically. I hope this case adds to the pressure this abomination is already under.