N.C. Judges Continue Resigning to Avoid Officiating Same-Sex Marriages
Due to religious beliefs, magistrates in North Carolina continue resigning from their offices.
Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez
Monthly Archives: November 2014
My Thoughts on the Controversy Over My Comments About the Gay Community and Misogyny
My Thoughts on the Controversy Over My Comments About the Gay Community and Misogyny
Editor’s note: Actress Rose McGowan came under fire today for comments she recently made about the gay community while talking to novelist Bret Easton Ellis. In the blog below, she responds to the controversy.
I was on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast the other discussing sexism and misogyny. I made a dumb generalization, for that I apologize. For everything else I said, no. I will not.
Where does it say that because of a man’s sexual preference, I don’t get to point out character defects? When equal pay for women was voted down by every male Republican there was no LGBT outcry. I wondered why that was? After all, lesbians are women, this affects them, too, right? Misogyny infuriates men and it endangers me as a human. It also endangers the LGBT community. Empathy towards the plight of women isn’t making it better. Your voice will. Could I have articulated my frustration in a better fashion? Undoubtedly. For that I apologize, but I stand by my overall point. The rights that have been earned by the community are simple civil rights. What I want is for gay rights activists to help other disenfranchised groups. These activists are experts while so many other groups flounder. It’s time to share the wealth and knowledge. I may have said it inelegantly, and made a dumb generalization, for which I apologize. Gay men certainly aren’t MORE misogynistic than heteros, but I’ve met some that have come damn close. In some ways it’s more damaging, because it’s coming from supposedly enlightened people. I do expect more from a group of people that understands discrimination.
The LGBT community absolutely needs to combat the misogyny in their midst. I’ve lived and breathed gay rights for as long as I can remember. I’ve seen so much change and now I want more. Women, myself included, have given blood, sweat and tears to the gay rights movement. I’m asking for help in return. Casual and accepted misogyny no longer works for me and it shouldn’t work for you.
Here’s a small example of being the change you want to see: I was with a gay man the other night who was talking about the sexually liberated Blanche Devereux of the Golden Girls. He was going on about what a slut she was. I asked why he’d say that so thoughtlessly? If I’m not supposed to say (and I don’t) “that’s so gay,” surely this man can start thinking about why it’s acceptable to slut shame. He thanked me for opening his eyes. This is how we do this, one on one. Catch it when it’s happening, and challenge it.
By the way, if you want to know what I was doing at the Beverly Hills hotel, just look at the picture. I sent it to the Sultan of Brunei, I’m fairly sure I won’t be getting a response.
And as for those who question my allegiance to the gay community and try to paint me as a gay hater, I have a big eye roll reserved just for you. I’m human, I mess up, but I mess up with love and good intentions. I feel like I’m in a fight with my family.
Now, let’s go do the right thing, myself included.
Nick Jonas gives video 'tutorial' on how to achieve the perfect crotch grab
Nick Jonas gives video 'tutorial' on how to achieve the perfect crotch grab
Singer-actor says one requirement is ‘a willingness to do anything’
gregh
www.gaystarnews.com/article/nick-jonas-gives-video-tutorial-how-achieve-perfect-crotch-grab051114
Olympic Rower Robbie Manson Shares His Inspiring Coming Out Story
Olympic Rower Robbie Manson Shares His Inspiring Coming Out Story
“I started rowing when I was 16,” Robbie Manson (pictured) writes in a new essay published on OutSports. “Who’s going to suspect that I’m gay if I’m a rower, right?”
For years, the Olympic rower for New Zealand struggled with accepting his sexual orientation.
“Deep down I was terrified of anyone finding out that I was gay, especially my teammates,” Manson continues. “I seriously thought that if anyone found out I wouldn’t be able to row anymore. The thought of coming out, in my mind, felt so limiting and terrifying.”
Manson says he feared seeming “inadequate” to others.
“In a strange way, I looked down on other people who were gay, and to a degree felt sorry for them, thinking to be gay was to be ‘less than,’” he writes. “I knew I was gay too, and I hated myself because of it. I would get quite depressed about.”
Until, he says, he realized: “It was all in my head.”
Throughout his teens, he grappled with conflicting feelings about who he was and who he was supposed to be.
“When I was 19,” he writes, “I knew I was attracted to guys, but I still didn’t want to admit it to myself. I thought that I could just deny those feelings and be straight.”
Then something surprising happened. Mason’s older brother, Karl, who is also a rower, came out to him.
Robbie Manson and his brother, Karl.
“I was initially shocked,” he says. “But then I sat back and realized that there had been little clues all along — I had just been blindly caught up in my own struggle. But I was in no way ready to admit that I was gay to myself let alone come out to anyone else.”
Two years later, Manson decided he was finally ready. He came out to his brother when he was 21, and 10 months after that, he came out to his mother, who was very supportive. Over time, he found the courage to come out to even more people, including his friends and teammates.
“It was the night after being named to the NZ rowing team for the London Olympics that I came out to more people,” he writes. “I was ecstatic to be selected in the quad. Going to the Olympics was a dream of mine ever since watching the Sydney Games when I was 10 years old. We were having a few drinks and near the end of the night I had a heart-to-heart with two of my friends. In a very emotional state I told them that I was different, and then finally that I was gay.”
“Much to my surprise,” he continues, “everyone was fine with it. I didn’t have a single bad reaction, and most people were demonstrably supportive.”
After years of struggling with his sexual orientation, Manson says, he was finally able to accept himself for who he was.
“I feel like my perspective has changed so much and now I’m not only proud to be gay, but I’m glad that I am,” he writes. “I wouldn’t want to be any other way.”
“I have learned so much about myself and what it means to be gay over the past couple of years, and also what it means to be gay in a competitive sporting environment,” he concludes. “It’s how hard you’re prepared to work for something and your talent that determines what you can achieve, not your sexuality.”
Related stories:
College Athletes Are Leading The Way For The First Pro Star To Come Out
Notre Dame Tennis Star Matt Dooley’s Remarkable Journey To Self-Acceptance
College Swimmer Parker Camp Told Everyone He’s Gay. The Reaction He Got Will Inspire You
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
Prominent LGBT Attorney From D.C. Killed In Dominican Republic
Prominent LGBT Attorney From D.C. Killed In Dominican Republic
The Washington Blade is reporting the shocking story of the Halloween-eve murder of a well-known and highly respected D.C. defense lawyer. Van Teasley, 55, headed to the Dominican Republic last Thursday for a long weekend and was found dead in his own apartment on October 30th, bound and gagged with no sign of forced entry. There have been no arrests or suspects in the case but local police in Santo Domingo are still investigating.
Back at home, Teasley often represented low-income and LGBT clients and was a regular presence at Washigton’s Superior Court building. Local affiliate NBC 4 did a piece on Teasley’s murder, saying that he visited his second home in Santo Domingo regularly, sometimes as often as once a month. His cousin speculated that Teasley may have grown “too comfortable” in a country known for religious intolerance when it comes to gay issues.
You can watch the full NBC 4 video AFTER THE JUMP…
(photo via Instagram)
Brian Sloan
ABC's of LGBT
ABC's of LGBT
Despite Conservative Opposition, Marriage Equality Headed to Missouri
10 Things I Learned From Having Brunch With Billie Jean King at the 2014 Out & Equal Workplace Summit
10 Things I Learned From Having Brunch With Billie Jean King at the 2014 Out & Equal Workplace Summit
I attended the 16th annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit at Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, California. There were more than 3,000 attendees from 30 different countries. Billie Jean King spoke at the brunch plenary on election day, Nov. 4. Here are 10 things I learned about Billie Jean King:
1. Billie Jean’s brother, Randy Moffitt, played for the San Francisco Giants.
2. She was brought up in Long Beach, California.
3. Elton John wrote the song “Philadelphia Freedom” about her.
4. She described herself as a “public park rat” who didn’t start playing tennis until she was 11 years old and in the fifth grade.
5. At age 12, after playing tennis for one year, she had an epiphany and realized that everything in tennis was literally white. She wanted to know, “Where is everybody else?”
6. She knew that tennis would be her platform and cultivated three values that people who have inner and outer success need: “One, relationships are everything; two, never stop learning, and learning how to learn; and three, be a problem solver.”
7. After being outed in 1981, she was involved in the first trial requesting “galimony.”
8. She says that she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin until just 20 years ago, when she was 51.
9. She doesn’t think life is a marathon but “a series of sprints and breaks.”
10. She encouraged all to be active listeners, telling us we are influencers and should “be alert” and adding that we need more inclusion, not just diversity.
Peace, love, compassion, and blessings.
Dallas voters approve protections for LGBT city employees
Dallas voters approve protections for LGBT city employees
The vote is the first time a Texas city approved nondiscrimination language by the ballot
Jamesw
www.gaystarnews.com/article/dallas-voters-approve-protections-lgbt-city-employees051114
Radical Anti-LGBT Leader Elected to Colorado Legislature
Radical Anti-LGBT Leader Elected to Colorado Legislature
A radical anti-LGBT activist was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives yesterday.
HRC.org
