Has Support for Marriage Equality Declined?

Exit poll numbers from this month’s election indicated less support than other surveys — but maybe because the electorate skewed Republican.

read more

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/11/24/has-support-marriage-equality-declined

Mike Nichols Saved Our Lives!
Mike was a mensch. He was the wittiest man I ever broke bread with, and he was a quiet philanthropist who saved lives while he was influencing “the American century.” He improved the quality of life of countless men and women, many of whom died, but many of whom, gratefully, live on.

1991 was a dark time. The gay community, the arts community, was decimated. We needed comfort, we needed hope, and we needed a beautiful space to come together and celebrate life as we struggled to maintain it.

The brilliant tributes to Mike that have flooded the media over the last few days capture the extraordinary gifts his talents brought to film, theater, television, comedy and the American consciousness as it has evolved over the last 60 years. What hasn’t been said is that Mike not only changed lives; he saved them. Back then, in 1991, when Cynthia “Cy” O’Neal told Mike about her idea for a pragmatic spiritual crisis center for people affected by AIDS, Mike immediately said, “I’ve been looking for something to do, and this is it.” Cy’s vision needed Mike’s magic touch — his ability to pick up the phone and call just about anybody. Together they created Friends in Deed: The Crisis Center for Life-Threatening Illness.

Mike was the founding chairman. For 13 years he headed up an eclectic board of creative and powerful people who wanted to serve with Mike because anything done with Mike was as much fun as it was work. Board meetings could be tough, but they were also illuminated by his wit and contagious good will. We had a blast creating brilliant fundraisers: Picture Mike and Elaine May performing some of their classic routines with Simon & Garfunkel (reunited for the first time in over a decade) as their opening act in an intimate Broadway theater; Whoopi Goldberg recreating the one-woman show that Mike had directed for her (after typically recognizing an unusual talent); Mike and Steve Martin performing in a loft for a fortunate few one night; and so many other brilliant evenings that only Mike could have made happen — and he did, for Friends in Deed, for the clients. Mike was not only a force when it came to fundraising; he was a part of the community. Mike attended many a Tuesday-night Big Group. I can picture Mike’s stunning wife, Diane Sawyer, singing Christmas carols by the piano at the annual holiday parties that were lavishly catered with food that they had quietly sent ahead. Clients were not “other”; they were friends.

A former client wrote to me last week, “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for Mike Nichols and Cy O’Neal…and everyone who has made Friends In Deed what it has become….”

The work continues. Mike became Chairman Emeritus, and Hamilton South and I succeeded him as Chairman (it took two of us to fill his shoes), and today Andy Cohen heads up a vibrant board that supports Cy and the wonderful staff and volunteers. Mike’s deed still provides comfort and safety.

Friends in Deed serves men and women dealing with any life-threatening physical illness, grief and bereavement, and caregiving at its center in Soho, as well as in groups in Harlem and Westchester County, New York. For more information, visit friendsindeed.org.

www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-levithan/mike-nichols-saved-our-lives_b_6199200.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

HRC Expresses Disappointment After Grand Jury Fails to Bring Michael Brown Shooting Case to Trial

As advocates for equality, it’s our job to show solidarity with a growing national movement to break this cycle of police violence.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-expresses-disappointment-after-grand-jury-fails-to-bring-michael-brown?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Father Can’t Cope With Deceased Trans Daughter, Presents Her As A Man At Funeral

Friends of Jennifer Gable were astonished when they attended her open casket funeral to discover her dressed as a man, complete with short haircut and suit.

Her identity as a trans woman was completely erased and replaced with her former self, the version of her that her father was more comfortable with, reports Miami Herald.

Programs featured her birth name “Geoffrey Gable,” and gave a briefing of her life that completely left out her transition. It read:

Geoffrey Charles Gable, 32, Boise, passed away suddenly on October 9, 2014 while at his job at Wells Fargo Bank.

He was born in Twin Falls on January 27, 1982 to Anthony Clark Gable and Lori Ann Walton.

Geoff and his brother, Steven, were raised from toddlers by their maternal grandparents, George and Joan Walton.

He attended Morningside Elementary School, O’Leary Junior High and graduated from Twin Falls High School in the year 2000.

He was married to Ann Arthurs in 2005 in Hawaii. They were later divorced.

Geoff grew up as a member of the Twin Falls First Christian Church, where he was baptized in 1996.

Meghan Stabler, a board member of Human Rights Campaign and member of HRC’s National Business Council, had contact with Jennifer a few years back. She had this to say of the ordeal:

“No mention of the woman she knew she was and had lived as for several years. Just erosion of her identity and an old photograph of how the father perceived her to be.

She had done what she needed to do legally to be seen as her authentic self. Her father erased her identity either though ignorance or arrogance.”

She added that this injustice shows the importance of keeping an updated will.

Here’s what attendees saw on the program:

Our thoughts go out to Jennifer and those who truly knew her.

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/sjomBGz_ueE/father-cant-cope-with-deceased-trans-daughter-presents-her-as-a-man-at-funeral-20141124

Grand Jury: No Indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the Shooting Death of Michael Brown

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/11/wilson.html

Hollywood Chick-fil-A Hosts LGBT Fundraiser

A Hollywood franchise of the fast-food chain donated 20 percent of its Saturday proceeds to Campus Pride.

read more

Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/business/2014/11/24/hollywood-chick-fil-hosts-lgbt-fundraiser

'Ass Hunter,' Game Where Users Kill Gays, Removed By Google App Store
Google has removed a game from Google Play that involved the killing of gay people for sport and survival.

Called “Ass Hunter,” users reportedly downloaded the game over 10,000 times and gave it over 200 five-star ratings prior to its removal. According to The Independent:

In the game, players control a hunter with a shotgun who must kill naked men before they approach him. If they are able to reach him then the game shows a cartoon depiction of the men having sex with the hunter… That description remains cached on Google, though the page has now been taken down. Cached versions of the original site continue to be held by Google.

The description of the game listed by its makers is even worse. According to Towleroad it read:

Play and do not be gay! Legendary game where you are hunter and your mission is to kill gays as much as you can or escape between them to the next level. Gays may be hidden in bushes and unexpectedly catch you. Remember when they catch you they will do with you whatever they want.

The game is reportedly several years old but was downloaded at an exponential rate after recently being made available in the Google app store.

A petition for to see the game removed from the app store was launched at the end of last week.

A spokesperson for Google confirmed to The Huffington Post that the app is no longer available on Google Play. He did not comment on how the app ended up on the site in the first place but noted, “we remove apps from Google Play that violate our policies.”

(h/t Towleroad)

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/24/ass-hunter-google_n_6212766.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices