Bisexual Former CBS Employee Sues Network Alleging Harassment

The employee says he feared being raped.

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Eliel Cruz

www.advocate.com/bisexuality/2015/04/09/former-bisexual-cbs-employee-sues-network-claims-sexual-harassment

Apple's New Emoji Are The Gayest Ones Yet

A new iOS software update includes over 300 new Emojis, the likes of which include many LGBT and racially-diverse characters.

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Raffy Ermac

www.advocate.com/business/technology/2015/04/09/apples-new-emoji-are-gayest-ones-yet

This Photo Of Two Women Embracing Shows Something Truly Dangerous
There are some lines you just don’t cross in Brazil.

This picture of two women embracing on a train platform has gone crazy viral — but it’s not for the reason you might think.

Facebook user Nelson Felippe posted the picture April 7. Underneath, he wrote: “What one does is in private is their problem, but what one does in public concerns me. And I refuse to see a scene like this and consider it something normal.”

Felippe then asks his readers to think of the children: “What will happen to the mind of a child who sees this every day?”

“Children are going to think that it’s normal to wait for the subway on the yellow line,” he adds. “So, don’t be like that guy over there. Follow the example of the girls. Wait for the subway BEHIND the yellow line.”

The post has received thousands of likes and shares. Here’s the text translated in full:

I’m not prejudiced, I think everyone should do what they want with their life. But I think it’s absurd that I’m forced to witness a scene like this.

What one does is in private is their problem, but what one does in public concerns me. And I refuse to see a scene like this and consider it something normal.

I don’t wish bad on anyone, but these people should be careful. They’re defying social conventions and that can be dangerous. And if a tragedy occurs? Or worse, someone dies. Who is to blame? Me ?

Or worst of all is the example it sets children.

What will happen to the mind of a child who sees this every day? Children are going to think that it’s normal to wait for the subway on the yellow line. So, don’t be like that guy over there. Follow the example of the girls. Wait for the subway BEHIND the yellow line, and only cross it after the subway has made a complete stop and opened its doors.

Rio de Janeiro saw what was billed as the largest communal gay wedding in 2013 and one of the largest gay pride parades last year, but the country has also seen its share of anti-gay incidents: In 2013, two women were beaten and jailed for kissing at a gospel concert, and in November, a politician blamed the gay pride parade for the drought.

Hopefully, Felippe’s photo has reminded some Brazilians of what’s truly dangerous.

H/T BuzzFeed

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/09/brazil-girls-train-platform_n_7036156.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

HRC Commends President Obama for Meeting with Caribbean LGBT Advocates

Earlier today, President Obama met with LGBT advocates in Jamaica, a country that still criminalizes same-sex relationships.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-commends-president-obama-for-meeting-with-caribbean-lgbt-advocates?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

A Transgender Teen’s Tragic Suicide Leads The White House To Call For A Ban On Conversion Therapy

There aren’t many LGBT issues that President Obama hasn’t touched on during his tenure. Now he’s tackling one of the few that remain. Now his Administration is going on record against conversion therapy, the pernicious practice of trying make LGBT teens straight.

In a statement posted on the White House website, senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett came out in favor of laws that would make it illegal to force LGBT youth to undergo the scientifically discredited treatment.

“We share your concern about [conversion therapy’s] potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer youth,” the statement reads. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”

The statement was prompted specifically by the suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year old transgender teen who threw herself in front of a truck during the Christmas holidays last year. Alcorn left a heartbreaking note on Facebook, in which she recounted how her parents turned against her and forced her to go to Christian therapists in an attempt to “cure” her.

Leelah wrote that when she was 14, she told her mom she was transgender. “She reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong,” Leelah said. “If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.”

The administration’s statement came in direct response to an online petition on the White House website that honored Leelah. Jarrett told The New York Times that Leelah’s case wasn’t an isolated one.

“It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately, she has a lot of company,” Jarrett said. “It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.”

Indeed, it’s all too easy to find example after example of LGBT youth subjected to harmful and destructive treatment, some of which have fatal consequences.

So far two states–California and New Jersey–and the District of Columbia have laws that ban conversion therapy for minors. Eighteen states have seen legislation introduced this year.

JohnGallagher

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/bk0pj7DQ3xI/a-transgender-teens-tragic-suicide-leads-the-white-house-to-call-for-a-ban-on-conversion-therapy-20150409

LEGO Considering Producing 'Golden Girls' Themed Playset

Charles Pulliam-Moore

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/lego-considering-producing-golden-girls-themed-playset.html