Anderson Cooper gets the giggles after staff ridicules him for smelly candle in his office
They liken basil-scented candle to things like ‘a brothel in Tuscany’ and ‘dumpster ravioli’
gregh
Daily Archives: November 12, 2014
HRC Condemns Non-Discrimination Amendment In Michigan Excluding Gender Identity
HRC Condemns Non-Discrimination Amendment In Michigan Excluding Gender Identity
Today, HRC strongly condemned an amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives by State Representative Frank Foster because of its exclusion of gender identity.
HRC.org
This Gay Couple Is About To Have Three Babies With Three Different Surrogates
This Gay Couple Is About To Have Three Babies With Three Different Surrogates
Luke and Daryl pose with their three surrogates.
Life is about to get three times more hectic for Luke Harris and Daryl Lee.
The gay couple from the U.K. is about to have not one, not two, but three kids. Simultaneously. With three different surrogates.
The couple first met in 1999. Both men had babies on their mind.
“We’re both from very close-knit families and I always thought I’d love to have children but it never even crossed my mind that it would be possible,” Luke told New York Daily News. “We thought we are gay, we are going to miss out on that chance in life.”
“We started to look into adoption,” he continued. “But then Elton John announced he had become a father in 2010 and I realized a gay person could have a baby, too. At first I thought he’s got mega bucks. It’s alright for him, but it’s not possible for us.”
Last year, they began looking into it. They learned that under U.K. law, surrogate mothers cannot be paid, though they are entitled to expenses of up to about $24,000. After realizing it wouldn’t be as expensive as they initially thought, the men began looking for potential mothers through various online surrogacy forums.
The first woman they met was Becky Harris, a three-time surrogate. At the time, she was three months pregnant with another couple’s child, so she referred them to her former sister-in-law, Bex Harris.
Bex agreed to carry the men’s child. Then she mentioned her friend, Viktoria Ellis, was also interested in becoming a surrogate mother.
Luke and Daryl figured “What the hell?” and reached out to Viktoria, who also agreed to carry a child for them.
Months passed. Then Becky called the guys back to say she’d given birth to the child she was carrying and was ready to help them out now.
“When we told our families we are having our first surrogate baby, they were so excited for us, as they know for the past 15 years we’ve dreamed of having a family of our own,” Luke told The Sun. “When we told them we were having a second baby they were amazed. And then, when we announced we’re actually having three babies of our own they were stunned but overjoyed.”
Two of the babies were conceived with Daryl’s sperm and one with Luke’s. All three babes are due within seven months of each other, between January and July of next year.
“We never imagined in our wildest dreams we would have three all at once,” Luke said.
“I’ve been blessed with two children of my own,” Victoria said. “It’s about wanting to help someone have a family of our own.”
“And none of us can think of two people more deserving of the joy of fatherhood,” Becky added.
Related stories:
Gay Dads Walk Their Stylish Modern Family Through Toronto
See The Amazing Photos Of Two Dads Holding Their Newborn For The Very First Time
PHOTOS: Adorable Gay Dads And Their Kiddos
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
North Carolina Gay Man In Critical Condition After Being Beaten, Robbed, Set On Fire By Man He Met At Bar
North Carolina Gay Man In Critical Condition After Being Beaten, Robbed, Set On Fire By Man He Met At Bar
When Stephen Patrick White and Garry Joseph Gupton left a gay bar together in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, early Sunday, “everything seemed normal,” according to qnotes.
White, 46, and Gupton, 26, hailed a cab outside the Chemistry Nightclub and traveled to the Battleground Inn, a hotel about 4 miles away. At about 4:30 a.m., an employee at the Battleground Inn called 911 after he heard screaming and a fire alarm was activated.
White is now in critical condition at a hospital in nearby Winston-Salem with life-threatening injuries, including burns over 52 percent of his body, qnotes reports. Gupton was arrested and charged with aggravated assault after allegedly setting White on fire in what authorities say was an attempt to kill him.
Gupton is being held on $150,000 bond. White was found naked, robbed and beaten inside the hotel room.
Jen Caltrider told Towleroad that White was her best friend in college and was injured in the Iraq war.
“He suffered severe injuries in an explosion in Iraq nearly 10 years ago while protecting a US base as a private contractor,” Caltrider said. “He’s served on both the Border Patrol and the Air Marshals. He is a good man who deserves all of our love and support right now.”
Chemistry Nightclub, as well as another local gay bar, have organized benefits this weekend to help defray White’s medical costs. An online fundraising campaign had raised $520 by Wednesday afternoon.
Drew Wofford, owner of Chemistry Nightclub, posted the following on the bar’s Facebook page:
To All Greensboro: with great sadness and a heavy heart I write this post. Sunday morning our friend and regular customer Steven left Chemistry by cab to a local hotel with Garry Gupton whom he met earlier that evening. A few hours later, Steven was viciously assaulted, robbed and set on fire in the hotel; over 52% of his body is severely burned. This brutal attack has left Steven hospitalized and fighting for his life. Now it’s our turn to help. This weekend, on Saturday November 15 the Q will be holding a silent auction from 2 – 6pm to raise money. That night, all of us at Chemistry will be doing our part. First let me say how proud I am of my staff and entertainers for their willingness to help. They have all agreed to donate their pay and tips; Chemistry will be donating the entire door cover, and all Jello Shot sales. Steven has a long road ahead of him but he is a fighter and he is definitely not alone. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are all fighting for him. Also I remind you to please use caution when leaving our bar or any bar with someone you don’t know. I never would have dreamed something like this would happen here in Greensboro … but let’s make sure it never happens again.
John Wright
City gets perfect score for LGBT inclusion
City gets perfect score for LGBT inclusion
Award recognizes huge progress from decade ago.
Stepping High
New York Life Partner Shares Life Insurance Tips for the LGBT Community
New York Life Partner Shares Life Insurance Tips for the LGBT Community
A partner at New York Life shares his experiences working for the Fortune 500 company as well as advice for LGBT households seeking life insurance.
Advocate.com Editors
www.advocate.com/health/2014/11/12/new-york-life-partner-shares-life-insurance-tips-lgbt-community
'My Family Kicked Me Out for Being Gay'
'My Family Kicked Me Out for Being Gay'
“My family kicked me out for being gay.”
It’s one of the most common statements we hear when a young adult first contacts the Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization that provides life-saving services to at-risk LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 24. In fact, about 80 percent of HMI youth are homeless or lack secure housing, most often because of family rejection for identifying as LGBTQ. At HMI, we have been caring for these young people for the past 35 years; it is at the core of what we do.
At HMI, we serve more than 2,000 LGBTQ youth and their straight allies annually, providing services such as hot meals, clothing, showers and laundry, and homelessness outreach in New York City as well as in Newark, New Jersey. In addition, HMI services include on-site HIV/STI testing, high-school equivalency and SAT preparation, college scholarships, job readiness, arts and cultural programming and a supportive community that fosters positive emotional development.
And yet we know that providing such comprehensive services to LGBTQ young people on-site is simply not enough; we recognize that there are so many young people in need who are beyond our geographic reach. Consequently, HMI has made it a priority to share our best practices with others, both nationally and around the world. Our newest initiative, the Center for LGBTQ Youth Advocacy and Capacity Building, offers training and best practices to other organizations and government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The goals of the Center are twofold: 1) to empower groups and individuals with the skills necessary to care for their own LGBTQ youth, and 2) to educate leaders and decision makers so that they can make wiser, more informed and inclusive policies that improve the lives of all constituents and all people. In the last year alone, through our partnership with the U.S. State Department and USAID, HMI trained governmental employees, advocates and NGO leaders from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Macedonia, Cyprus, Argentina, Brazil and beyond as well as over half a thousand service providers throughout the State of New York.
Today, Nov. 12, at our 2014 Emery Awards, we will be celebrating not only our 35-year history but HMI’s new Center and its outreach to the world. We will be honoring some of our own home-grown “Legends” who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the LGBTQ community: Dr. Joyce Hunter, a founding member of HMI and co-founder of the Harvey Milk School; David Mensah, HMI Executive Director from 2002 to 2007, having ensured the expansion of the Harvey Milk School into a fully Department of Education-accredited, diploma-granting transfer high school; and Orville Bell, an inaugural teacher at Harvey Milk High School and Director of After School Programs and Education Services at HMI. These individuals, alongside other honorees including eight-time Grammy award winner Fergie, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Tobias and Wells Fargo, have truly made the world a better place for LGBTQ youth.
We will also recognize the members of the LGBT Caucus of the New York City Council who offer continuing and unwavering support for HMI’s mental-health services, strong advocacy for anti-bullying measures in schools, vital programs and services that address the scourge of homelessness among LGBTQ youth, and so much more.
In sum, acknowledging the incredible progress the LGBTQ community has made in recent years and the extraordinary impact that HMI has had in the lives of LGBTQ youth, there is still more work to be done, and the future success of HMI’s mission rests in the hands of the next generation. Whether you’re a young person in need of our services or an LGBTQ advocate interested in supporting our cause, you can visit www.HMI.org to learn more, or follow the Hetrick-Martin Institute on Facebook and @HetrickMartin on Twitter and Instagram. For the past 35 days leading up to the 2014 Emery Awards, we’ve been sharing inspiring stories and photos from our 35-year history using the hashtag #HMI35, and we welcome and encourage you to join the conversation.
Together, we can help ensure that no young person ever has to say, “My family kicked me out for being gay.”
Stephen Sondheim to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Stephen Sondheim to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Earlier this week, President Obama announced that Stephen Sondheim will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
HRC.org
The Homophobic Shopping Guide For God-Fearing Bigots
The Homophobic Shopping Guide For God-Fearing Bigots
Anthony Morris III, a top Jehovah’s Witness leader, has urged his followers to avoid tight pants at all costs. In his words:
“They are tight all the way down to the ankles. It’s not appropriate. It’s not sound of mind. The homosexuals that are designing these clothes – they’d like you in tight pants.”
We hate to break it to you, Tony, but if you want to avoid things associated with homosexuals, you’re going to have to cast your net a lot wider than pants.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are some things to start avoiding at all costs.
iPhones
Any Apple product, really. In case you’ve been living under a rock (and considering your religious fervor, we aren’t ruling out that possibility), Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is now openly gay. That means you need to turn in your iPhone, get rid of that iMac, and forget about jamming out to your hymns on an iPod. In fact, you should really just avoid the lower-case letter “i” whenever possible. Chances are a gay has had some say in it, and you wouldn’t want your kids to get the wrong idea.
UCLA School of Medicine
If you’re in the market for med schools, you should probably steer clear of this one. Sure, it’s a renowned institution that ranks among the top choices for future doctors, but there’s the whole name issue. It’s really the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. And that is problematic for obvious reasons. Geffen donated $200 million to the school in 2001, and God knows what kind of gay shenanigans are going on with that kind of money. Geffen also co-founded Dreamworks Pictures, so don’t ever see How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek or Kung Fu Panda.
You’re going to need to deactivate your Facebook account if you want to abide by the Lord, sorry. Chris Hughes helped Mark Zuckerberg found the site in those early Harvard days, and we can only imagine the mark he left in the company. Don’t be fooled. Luckily there are lots of alternatives to choose from — MyFaith, ChristianFaithBook, MyFlock, JesusCrowd. Take your pick.
Surgery
This one’s going to hurt. We’ve already shattered your dreams of attending a top medical school, but unfortunately you’re going to have to get very creative when it comes to seeking medical attention as well. The Stryker Corporation is one of the leading suppliers of medical tools. You’d be hard pressed to find a hospital without something bought from them. Homer Stryker founded the company in 1964, but his gay grandson Jon is currently a billionaire stockholder in the company. You’ll be playing right into the gay agenda if the hospital is your first stop after a broken bone.
The Olympics and The Voice
Speedos aside, these two may seem like good clean fun, but they’re both broadcast on NBC. You know, the same NBC that thought it was a good idea to make Robert Greenblatt its chairman. Be warned. Greenblatt is gay, out, and wants you to view NBC‘s subversive programming. Don’t fall into the trap. Plus the Olympics and The Voice actually let gays compete right next to straights. The horror.
Dan Tracer