10 Things You Should Know About Gay Bars From A Castro Bartender
As a Castro bartender at establishments ranging from Badlands to Blackbird for nearly a decade, Yuri Kagan has seen and heard just about everything. On the eve of the publication of his book, Vodka & LimeLight, Queerty asked the drink maker-turned-author to distill 10 lessons from that experience.
Monthly Archives: October 2014
It’s All about the PrEP Work
It’s All about the PrEP Work
NMAC Director of Outreach and Public Affairs applauds HRC’s support of PrEP.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/its-all-about-the-prep-work?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Jillian Michaels Says The Gay Community Misunderstood Her Statement About Wanting To Trade Her Wife For A Husband
Jillian Michaels Says The Gay Community Misunderstood Her Statement About Wanting To Trade Her Wife For A Husband
I am deeply disheartened and sorry to hear that members of the gay community have misunderstood the points I was trying to make about being ‘out.’ I attempted to shed light on how hard and scary it can be to be out. That gay families get attacked and even small daily interactions involve others being ‘shocked and disturbed’ by the gay lifestyle. I was saying if along the way in my life that had been a choice I would have made it, but it’s not who I am. Gay is not a choice. If I was ashamed of who I am, I would be in the closet. Considering my family was on the cover of People magazine, I think I’m pretty far from that.”
— Jillian Michaels explaining to People that her statement in which she said she would trade her wife for a husband was misunderstood
Jeremy Kinser
Pat Robertson Tells Bigoted Idaho Wedding Chapel Owners to Flee 'Onslaught of Homosexual Behavior' – VIDEO
Pat Robertson Tells Bigoted Idaho Wedding Chapel Owners to Flee 'Onslaught of Homosexual Behavior' – VIDEO
Reacting to the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho wedding chapel owners who have filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from enforcing it’s ordinance prohibiting discrimination against gays, televangelist Pat Robertson warned the couple to flee the coming “onslaught of homosexual behavior” in the state or risk having to perform a gay marriage.
Said Robertson:
If I were that couple I’d get ahead of the curve. Get on an airplane and leave Idaho or get in your car and drive across the border into Montana. Get out of that state and if need be close your chapel down. Get ahead of it because this is outrageous. But I was afraid this would happen. The next thing you know it’ll be a church…a church is going to be forced to do things like that.
Of course, with Montana (like Idaho) falling under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit and a hearing for summary judgement set November 20, the couple should probably hold off on opening up any bigoted business across the border too.
Watch the clip, AFTER THE JUMP…
[via Right Wing Watch]
Kyler Geoffroy
Sian's Black LGBT Heroes (Black History Month)
Sian's Black LGBT Heroes (Black History Month)
Our Women’s Programme Co-ordinator talks about who has inspired her and about the Black History Month Women’s event that The LGF are hosting in collaboration with Rainbow Noir (a social…
20141015-3O1O1274
Elvis-Themed Las Vegas Chapel Refuses To Hold Gay Weddings
Elvis-Themed Las Vegas Chapel Refuses To Hold Gay Weddings
Some Elvis-themed wedding chapels in Las Vegas are all shook up about the new ruling on marriage equality in Nevada and at least one is refusing to host ceremonies for gay couples.
A federal appeals court on Oct. 7 declared same-sex marriage legal in Nevada and Idaho, stating that gay couples’ equal protection rights were being violated under the states’ unconstitutional same-sex marriage bans. The ruling opened the gates for same-sex ceremonies in the so-called “marriage capital of the world.”
Some chapels, however, have kept their gates shut.
One location, called A Elvis Chapel, said it would not marry same-sex couples, according to Vegas’ KLAS. When a KLAS crew went to the venue, a company employee refused to open the door, saying “there is no story here.”
However, an unnamed employee with A Elvis Chapel spoke with The Huffington Post Monday.
“We want to follow the law,” he said of performing same-sex unions. “We don’t, however, for Biblical reasons believe in that. It has nothing to do with our feelings toward any people. We don’t want to discriminate against any people at all. But our ministers are unable to do that at this time and we do not believe in that. … We hope not to refuse anyone any service, and we certainly do not want to be in violation of the law. However, we do not fully know what we will do next and we are in touch with legal council.”
Vegas Wed, another location offering Elvis-themed wedding packages, has refused to perform the service for same-sex couples. “My faith won’t allow me,” Dolly de Leon, owner of the business and a born-again Christian, told the station.
“I would be a hypocrite if I said I’m a Bible-believing person and yet I would perform a marriage that I believe is totally against God’s law,” de Leon, who has reportedly turned away gay couples, added.
Putting aside the religious beliefs of business owners or employees, however, Vegas wedding chapels are for-profit businesses and not religious institutions.
“Any Las Vegas wedding chapel that operates as a business is covered under Nevada’s public accommodations law and is not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples seeking a wedding ceremony, or any other couple for that matter,” Tod Story, executive director for the ACLU of Nevada, told The Huffington Post. “Currently, the way the law is written, it’s a misdemeanor crime. Any couple refused service has to file a complaint with the state. … [Vegas Wed] has turned away couples. I don’t know if [those couples] even knew there was a law that protected them.”
Other Elvis-themed wedding spots are more than happy to embrace same-sex unions. Gay partners Ron DeCar and Jamie Richards own and operate the Viva Las Vegas chapel on the Las Vegas Strip and have included same-sex ceremony packages since 1999, even though they were not legally binding.
“From Day One we were doing commitment ceremonies,” Richards told the Daily Beast. “I worked at the MGM (Grand) years ago when you literally went to board meetings and stuff, and nobody could know you were gay. And now all the hotels embrace the gay population, and they embrace the gay dollar. It’s got to help the economy.”
Omaha Native Drew Heckman to Serve as HRC Nebraska’s First Ever Field Organizer
Omaha Native Drew Heckman to Serve as HRC Nebraska’s First Ever Field Organizer
Today HRC announced Drew Heckman as HRC Nebraska’s first-ever field organizer and released results of its statewide LGBT survey.
HRC.org
Antigay State Officials Waste Everyone’s Time With Pointless Marriage Tantrum
Antigay State Officials Waste Everyone’s Time With Pointless Marriage Tantrum
Oh, for crying out loud, Kansas and South Carolina officials. Could you please not be huge jerks about having failed to prevent queers from getting married? Just face it: you lost. Now please stop trying to stall.
Here’s the situation: federal courts are in near-unanimous agreement that state marriage bans simply aren’t constitutional. That’s particularly true in states like KS and SC, where Circuit Courts overturned marriage bans and the US Supreme Court allowed that decision to stand.
In other words, the marriage bans have to go. And that’s exactly what’s happened in places like North Carolina and Colorado. State officials there were completely reasonable, and said “oh, we can’t have marriage bans? Well, OK. Go get married, gays, we’re not going to stop you.”
But not so in Kansas and South Carolina. They tiptoed up to the line of overturning their bans, with a few officials actually ordering a start to marriage. But then other officials were like “not so fast” and went to court to defend the marriage bans. Why? What are they hoping to accomplish? Do they really think they can win at this point? Our theory is that this is all a ploy by antigay elected officials to look good in front of their mouth-breathing base next time they’re up for election.
In any case, we’re likely to have marriage in those states sooner rather than later. Courts have ordered more briefing and maybe oral argument in the next few weeks, so we’ll have a final decision soon enough. We’ve just got to be a liiiiiittle more patient.
matt baume
Teens React to Leg Warmers, Neon Headbands, and Other 80s Fashion Staples: VIDEO
Teens React to Leg Warmers, Neon Headbands, and Other 80s Fashion Staples: VIDEO
YouTube users TheFineBros has a new video out with teenagers reacting to the fashion trends their parents rocked back in the 1980s: built-in shoulder pads, neon fitness clothing, leg warmers, headbands, scrunchies, Zubaz, and the infamous fanny pack.
“People would wear this on a daily basis, not just when they’re working out? It just seems like a whole generation that was so lost.”
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
