Op-ed: Push Back On School Pushout of LGBT Youth
LGBT young people are being targeted and pushed out of schools. It is time to push back.
Abram Bolanos
www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/10/10/op-ed-push-back-school-pushout-lgbt-youth
Daily Archives: October 10, 2014
These Are Some Of The Greatest Coming Out Stories Of 2014
These Are Some Of The Greatest Coming Out Stories Of 2014
Did you hear that? It’s the sound of closet doors being busted down all across America.
From NFLer Michael Sam to actress Ellen Page to the vegetable Kale, 2014 has offered up no shortage of great coming out moments. In anticipation for National Coming Out Day — which happens each year on October 11 — we’ve compiled a list of ten more great coming out stories from this year. And with three months left in 2014, we’re sure there will be many more to come.
Scroll down to see our picks.
Federico Díaz
The Latin heartthrob came out in May by posting a note to his Twitter account. “The day has come!” wrote the Uruguayan actor/model. “Only God knows when and how. I only let myself be guided. I feel that God has awarded me with homosexuality.”
Yes, thank you, God!
Lauren Morelli and Samira Wiley
The Orange is the New Black writer made headlines this year when she announced writing for the show had made her realize she’s a lesbian. But it gets even juicer because Morelli also announced that she was leaving left her husband of two years for actress Samira Wiley, who plays Poussey on the hit series.
Kristian Nairn
The Game of Thrones actor/bear magnet came out in March during an interview with Game of Thrones fan site WinterIsComing. “It’s a very small part of who I am on the whole,” 38-year-old Nairn said, “but nonetheless, in this day and age, it’s important to stand up and be counted.”
Derrick Gordon
Derrick Gordon made history in April when he became the first openly gay male NCAA Division 1 basketball player. Gordon told ESPN that he was inspired to come out to his family, coaches, and teammates after watching the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay man in the NBA.
And the crowd went wild.
Vicky Beeching
The Christian rocker came out in August, telling an interviewer: “What Jesus taught was a radical message of welcome and inclusion and love. I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people.”
Amen, sister!
Sen. Jim Ferlo
Pennsylvania Senator Jim Ferlo formally announced that he is gay last month while speaking at a rally in support of updating the state’s hate crime law. Said he: “I never felt I had to wear a billboard on my forehead. But I’m gay. Get over it. I love it. It’s a great life.”
Adam Joseph
The hunky Philadelphia meteorologist made national news in August when he told TV viewers he and his partner, Karl, had become fathers. Reporting live from the hospital where they first held their newborn baby boy, Joseph said the couple were “ready to spoil him with unconditional love.”
Djuan Trent
Fueled by a federal judge’s decision to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages in Kentucky, former Miss Kentucky 2010 Djuan Trent took to her blog to publicly announce she identifies as queer. “I struggled with the decision of whether or not it was necessary to ‘come out,’ ” she wrote, but “over the past few years, we have seen many celebrities and public figures open up and take this step… I would love to one day live in a society where coming out is no longer necessary because we don’t make assumptions about one another’s sexuality and homophobia is laid to rest.”
James Richardson
“I’m a senior GOP spokesman, and I’m gay,” said former spokesman and adviser for the Republican National Committee, James Richardson. “Let me get married.” The conservative Georgian decided to come out last month in hopes of moving the needle on Republican opposition to same-sex marriage, especially in light of Louisiana’s marriage ban having recently been deemed “constitutional” by a federal judge.
Hayden Smith and his mom
Last month, a hidden camera video uploaded by teenager Hayden Smith coming out to his mom went viral. The first five minutes are your typical awkward teen sexuality conversation (not bad, just awkward), but at around the 5:15 mark, his mom drops a bomb of her own: “I’ve had a girlfriend,” she says. “It goes both ways, you know? And I was always worried about what you would think.” Naturally, a tender mother-son hug ensured.
Related stories:
10 Great Coming Outs Of 2014 And It’s Only June
16 Of The Best And Worst Coming Out Stories From Anonymous Sharing App “Whisper”
12 Toothsome Cakes And Cards For Coming Out Of The Closet
Graham Gremore
Court Date Set for Lawsuit Demanding Immediate Marriage for Gay Couples in Wyoming
Court Date Set for Lawsuit Demanding Immediate Marriage for Gay Couples in Wyoming
Yesterday we reported that a federal lawsuit had been filed in Wyoming demanding immediate compliance with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling establishing that a state’s refusal to allow same-sex couples to marry violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Things are moving quickly. A court date has been set for Thursday, October 16, Wyoming Unites reports:
Coming on the heels of a new Wyoming marriage case filed in federal court on Tuesday, today, U.S. District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of the District of Wyoming announced that he will hold a hearing on the case on Thursday, October 16th…
…Two of the cases that were before the case—Utah’s and Oklahoma’s-—had previously had pro-marriage rulings at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also has jurisdiction over Wyoming. The plaintiffs in the case argue that since precedent has already been set by the 10th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review either ruling, Wyoming’s marriage ban is in clear violation of the 10th Circuit ruling.
The four couples who filed the case each want to marry in Wyoming or want their marriage recognized in the state they call home. Now that their case has been scheduled for a hearing next Thursday, it is expected that a ruling on Wyoming’s marriage ban could come on or shortly after next week’s hearing.
A rally is planned in Casper at 11 am the day before the hearing.
Andy Towle
LGBT Gay Vocabulary in English
LGBT Gay Vocabulary in English
Op-ed: Where Coming Out Is Dangerous
Op-ed: Where Coming Out Is Dangerous
This National Coming Out Day on Saturday, celebrate your identity, but also remember the LGBTs around the world who must still hide behind the closet door.
Boris Dittrich
www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/10/10/op-ed-where-coming-out-dangerous
LGBT Classic Books | Gender in Mademoiselle de Maupin
LGBT Classic Books | Gender in Mademoiselle de Maupin
A discussion of gender in the LGBT classic book Mademoiselle de Maupin by Theophile Gautier. Textual bisexual, yo. The first in my series of LGBT classic books 🙂 I reuploaded this video…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=364OZ_TcDo8&feature=youtube_gdata
NYTimesOUT and GeeksOut Presents LGBT in Comics
NYTimesOUT and GeeksOut Presents LGBT in Comics
The last seven minutes of the NYCC panel featuring Phil Jimenez, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKevlie, Luciano Vecchio, and Annie Mok – Phil Jimenez raises an interesting question for discussion.
Gay Movie Thailand: Timeline [English Subtitles, Full] The best LGBT films of 2013
Gay Movie Thailand: Timeline [English Subtitles, Full] The best LGBT films of 2013
Gay Movie Thailand: Timeline [English Subtitles, Full] The best LGBT films of 2013 Since the birth of YouTube, a number of low-budget, gay-themed films have been made. Timeline is one of those….
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_hO_evP38&feature=youtube_gdata
lgbtq, lgbt, activis
Why Coming Out on Coming Out Day Still Matters
Why Coming Out on Coming Out Day Still Matters
Can you even believe that it’s Coming Out Day again already?
October 11th seems roll around faster every year – or at least it seems that way to me. Launched in 1988 to mark the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, National Coming Out Day it is the annual opportunity for us to step up, speak out and to “come out of the closet” by naming our reality as LGBT people. It is our annual opportunity to stand on the shoulders of Harvey Milk — who famously challenged us, saying “You must come out … and once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions.”
And this year – in the wake of momentous gains on marriage equality and the dramatic shift in public opinion that has pollsters scratching their heads and candidates adjusting their strategies – it’s also the opportunity to explain why coming out still matters.
Seriously. The White House is posting marriage equality memes on Instagram, the Supreme Court has just ended marriage discrimination in a majority of states and Modern Family is the top rated show on television. Even the Honey Maid Graham Crackers folks are on board with adorable commercials featuring fabulous two-dad families. How much more out do we need to be, for heaven’s sake? Aren’t we done yet?
The answer of course is no. We are not done. And we won’t be done until no gay kid is afraid to go to school because he’ll be bullied. We won’t be done until no lesbian teenager is afraid to walk home because she’ll be jumped. We won’t be done until no transgender woman has to hope she can make it to the ATM and back to her car without “an incident.” And we won’t be done until no child ever has to grow up being taught by his youth pastor that he is an abomination to God.
We won’t be done until this story – Chad’s story – has become a sad chapter in our history rather than a sad reality in our present.
That’s why this year on Coming Out Day I’m Coming Out again, all right. But I’m not just coming out as a lesbian — which frankly by now is breaking news to absolutely nobody. I’m Coming Out as a Christian.
I’m going to do whatever I can to offer a rebuttal to the rabid rhetoric of the religious right who have taken the Good News of God’s inclusive love and distorted it into a weapon of mass discrimination. Of humiliation. Of homophobia.
Because the stakes are too high. Because the damage to precious souls is too costly. And because the truth that there are people of faith who proclaim justice and compassion – not judgment and condemnation – is too important not to step up and speak out. As Harvey Milk said “You must come out … and once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions.” And for me as a Christian, those lies and distortions include hijacking my faith and turning it into weapon to wound God’s beloved LGBT children.
So Come Out, Come Out wherever you are. Come Out as proud LGBT members of the rainbow tribe. And if you happen to be the Christian variety, then Come Out as a Christian, too. Break down some myths. Destroy some lies and distortions. And if we do it long enough and loud enough and together enough eventually we will be done. And October 11th will roll around and nobody will need to Come Out because there won’t be any closets left.
And wouldn’t that be fabulous?