Daily Archives: December 19, 2014
Dear Santa
Dear Santa
Dear Santa,
This is a little awkward, as we haven’t talked in quite awhile…as in 21 years “awhile.”
In my defense I got a bit caught up with puberty, and then college, and then starting a career, followed by relationships and then, well, you get the point. Isn’t it crazy though that the last time we spoke I was stressing out about you bringing me a Teddy Ruxpin and to make sure to bring the tapes, because it wouldn’t work without the tapes and the stores wouldn’t open for another 24 hours. I’m happy to report that life and maturity have broadened my horizons and an animatronic teddy bear would rank fairly low on my list of stress these days.
I’m coming to you this year with a pretty large request though, and one that I think only your magic can help with.
You see Santa, I look around and see a world that is moving forward in such powerful ways and that our government is finally affording my LGBT community the rights we have fought so long for. We almost have all 50 states granting same sex marriage rights and that in itself feels like a Christmas miracle.
I also see a world that, in many ways, wants nothing more than to deny us every possible right. Every day a story pops up in my email or Facebook feed about some state that is trying to implement some form of discrimination, or some lawmaker that is using religion as another fatal blow to our struggle, or a country where people are being killed because they just want to feel the love they were born to feel.
My heart can’t take it anymore Santa, it all starts to pile up and I feel as if my heart has no more room for sadness within it. I lie awake at nights trying to find the space to digest the news that an 11 year old has committed suicide because he felt there was no place for him on this Earth. I feel chest pains when I hold a crying 22 year old whose heart has begun to fill up with the hurt of their first time feeling discrimination. They grew up in a progressive state within a “modern family” world, where their icons told them it was okay because they were “born this way.” They then want to help the society that nurtured them, offer to donate blood and are told because they love someone of the same sex, they are banned from helping others. Ouch! There’s just no room to hold anymore of these stories.
Now, it may seem like I am about to ask you for more room in MY heart to be able to bear all of this, but in the spirit of the holidays, I’d like you to drop off a little room into the hearts of everyone else you visit this year.
I’m not a politician or an advocate of any sort. I don’t study sociology or know everything there is to know about civil rights struggles around the world.
I am just a 33 year old gay man with eyes and ears that see and hear the world around him and know that we just need a little more space to fill with love.
Put space in the heart of the politician who will adhere themselves to policies that will promote the discrimination of others. Not because they believe in these, but because powerful institutions are filling their campaign funds in exchange for promises of bigotry. Let this space remind them that true leaders govern on principle and we remember those who support the advancement of people and not the degradation of minorities.
Put space in the hearts of the families that tarnish religion with their own agenda instead of spreading its message of love. Allow this space to promote charity among the church. Charity that feeds the millions that go hungry every day, many of them within the borders of our own country, and not “charities” that use their funds to rip families apart and keep us sociologically within the dark ages. Let it remind them that love is the greatest force of all, and that when you allow the world to love one another without constraint, we flourish and advance towards the greater good that our God intended.
Most of all though Santa, save enough space for the hearts of those who are still growing, and need as much space as they can get. Allow bullies to realize how powerful words can be and that you never know anyone’s personal battle until you walk in their shoes. Allow children to question when they hear bigotry in their home and to remind their parents what children all too often know, bigotry is not born within us but instead taught to us. Remind that child with a fistful of pills that there is a huge beautiful world out there and there is absolutely a place for them within it. In fact, this world NEEDS you. You have no idea yet what you will be and all that you have to offer to the rest of us. Feel that extra space in your heart and know that so many of us felt the exact same pain but stuck with it until we saw the light at the end of that tunnel. And the light is glorious! It’s blinding in fact. You have a history of millions behind you who fought and continue to fight, and we need you. Our future needs you.
So Santa, I know it’s a tall order, but I also know that miracles can and do happen when you really believe in them, and this is the season for such things. We live in a pretty great place as it is, but I know if we all just found that extra bit of space within us, we could love so powerfully that any wall of hatred would crumble at our feet.
I still believe,
Eric Ulloa
www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-ulloa/dear-santa_2_b_6354512.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices
Ugandan Parliament Adjourns for the Year Without Passing Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Ugandan Parliament Adjourns for the Year Without Passing Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Ugandan parliamentary member Latif Ssebaggala’s attempt at pushing through a revised version of the country’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill has stalled after running into significant political hurdles, Buzzfeed reports.
Earlier this year Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni first signed into law an earlier version of the bill that mandated heavy jail time and fines for Ugandan citizens found engaging in homosexual acts. In August, the law was repealed due to a parliamentary technicality that invalidated its initial passing. Ssebaggala spearheaded the effort to reintroduce a revised version of the bill almost immediately.
“The draft is ready and we have strengthened the law, especially in areas of promotion and luring children,” he told Reuters in November. “Next week we expect to meet the speaker to fix a date for the re-tabling to parliament.”
The roadblocks facing the revised bill are complex and larger than Uganda’s social views on homosexuality. In August, facing economic backlash from countries that provide aid to Uganda, President Museveni endeavored his cabinet to reconsider their positions on the bill. A revised version, it was suggested, should focus more on the protection of children and the disabled, rather than expressly criminalizing homosexuality.
Though Museveni called for the new bill to forego punishing consenting gay adults, Ssebaggala’s new bill more or less featured a more intense set of legal consequences for gay people. Though Ssebaggala insisted that a new bill would be passed in time for Christmas, it would appear as if Museveni’s personal political machinations are standing in the way.
In February, after the initial passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, foreign aid from the U.S. and the World Bank were suspended and drastically cut, severely wounding Uganda’s governmental finances. Museveni, who has been Uganda’s president for the past three decades, is up for election once again in 2016.
Historically Museveni has always poured massive amounts of Western money into projects meant to please voters in the months leading up to elections. In short, he can’t afford to lose Western aid in the near future for fear of risking his position, and wholeheartedly backing a new Anti-Homosexuality bill would do just that.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
www.towleroad.com/2014/12/new-ugandan-anti-homosexuality-bill-halted.html
Inclusion and Belonging: Why Gay-Straight Alliances in Catholic Schools Matter
Inclusion and Belonging: Why Gay-Straight Alliances in Catholic Schools Matter
Inclusion and belonging: Words that don’t often come to mind for LGBTQ people in the church.
But this space was different.
I recently gave a keynote talk and spoken word workshop at the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s Inclusion and Belonging Retreat last week. It was a beautiful space where high school students could come as they are, encourage one another, share their struggles and know they weren’t alone.
This retreat opened up inclusive spaces for Toronto students involved in gay-straight alliances (GSAs), a place where LGBTQ and straight students come together as allies. It’s pretty incredible this student-led space existed, let alone for the second time this year with more than 170 students.
A space like that would have changed my life.
But it wasn’t always like this for students in the Toronto Catholic school board. It wasn’t until 2012 where the Ontario government passed Bill 13 (the Accepting Schools Act), which allowed students to create groups based on issues related to gender, race, sexuality and disability. This included GSAs in Catholic school boards.
Several Toronto trustees tried to ban GSAs in Catholic schools last year, arguing these groups promoted a “positive view of homosexual activity, which undermines Catholic teaching on chastity and marriage.” The Toronto Catholic board, however, rejected the trustees’ motion.
Being LGBTQ and Christian do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Despite the hostilities and fears towards GSAs and LGBTQ students in Catholic school boards, these spaces are so crucial for the mental health, well-being and self-worth of these youth.
LGBTQ students in Catholic boards also face the added dimension of shame and self-hatred from entrenched homophobia in the church. As a gay Christian, I’m all too familiar with these experiences.
According to Egale Canada, 33 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth have attempted suicide in comparison to seven per cent of youth in general. Forty-seven per cent of trans youth have thought about suicide over the past year. It has been estimated that 25 to 40 per cent of homeless youth identity as LGBTQ.
The positive impact of GSAs has also been documented. A recent UBC study showed the probabilities of homophobic discrimination and suicidal thoughts were reduced by more than half for lesbian, gay and bisexual youth in schools where a GSA has existed for three years or more.
When I went to a Catholic high school more than a decade ago, I could have never imagined having a GSA at my school. Homophobia was alive and well, and those who were out or suspected of being gay were often marginalized, mistreated and shamed.
I wish I had the courage to speak up and be visible.
But I wasn’t ready and it took many more years to accept and come to terms with being gay and Christian. These students, however, are living in a different time where they can exist, be visible and share their stories. It was encouraging to see change happening right before my eyes and imagining how different my life would have been with a GSA at my high school.
It was great to connect and have an opportunity to speak to several of the students at the retreat. Some students said they could relate to my story and felt encouraged they weren’t alone in their experiences. Others simply hugged me. Some shared struggles of homophobia in their schools, personal difficulties and asked if it got better after high school.
I was blown away by their courage and stories, as well as their desires and dreams to fight for change. They believe change is possible both personally and within their school communities.
The students gave me courage to keep fighting and believing LGBTQ people could feel safe and belong in Christian communities. The fact that someone like me – someone like them – could share their story still amazes me.
Toronto and Waterloo are the first Ontario Catholic school boards to have GSA retreats. These conversations are happening and people are hungry for dialogue and change.
Right now, there is much debate in Alberta on Bill 10, which would allow school boards to rejects students’ requests to create a GSA. A recent Leger Poll of more than 1,000 Albertans showed that 52 per cent of Catholics support GSAs in schools, while 18 per cent are opposed to it. There are no GSAs in Catholic school boards in Alberta.
It won’t be an easy road ahead, but to see students know they belonged — even if it was just one day — is worth the fight.
Ireland Will Ask Its Voters for Marriage in May
Ireland Will Ask Its Voters for Marriage in May
Ireland appears poised to follow Scotland and may soon become the 18th country to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/world/2014/12/19/ireland-will-ask-its-voters-marriage-may
Chinese Clinic Pays Out After Attempting To Turn Gay Man Straight With Electroshock Therapy
Chinese Clinic Pays Out After Attempting To Turn Gay Man Straight With Electroshock Therapy
This sounds like something out of a horror movie.
Yang Teng, a gay man living in Bejing, says he was left “traumatized” after receiving a series of electroshock treatments when he told his doctor that he had been having sexual thoughts about other men, the Malay Mail Online reports.
The Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic, where the procedures took place, has now been ordered by a court to pay Yang 3,500 yuan (approximately U.S. $560) and issue a public apology on its website.
The court also ruled that homosexuality does not require medical treatment. It is the first time the country has issued a verdict of this kind.
“I’m going to take this verdict and show it to my parents so they can see a Chinese court said homosexuality isn’t a mental illness,” Yang said.
According to Malay Mail Online, China stopped classifying homosexuality as a “mental disorder” in 2001, but gay people there still often face pressure from family and friends to undergo “treatment” to turn straight, or to marry someone the opposite sex.
Activists are calling the verdict in Yang’s case as a huge step forward. Yang says he plans to continue working on advancing gay rights in his country so others like him won’t have to suffer similar treatment in the future.
Related stories:
Average Beijingers Sound Off On Gay Men: “I Think They Are Repulsive”
How A Chinese Gay Dating App You’ve Never Heard Of Just Hit 15 Million Users
ART: Chinese Artists Reveal “Secret Love” In Stockholm Exhibit
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
News: The Interview, Michael Phelps, Firefighters, Carmel Apples
News: The Interview, Michael Phelps, Firefighters, Carmel Apples
George Clooney is pissed that Sony pulled The Interview from theaters. “We know that to give in to these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy and personal liberty. We hope these hackers are brought to justice but until they are, we will not stand in fear. We will stand together.”
At a press conference today, meanwhile, President Obama called Sony’s decision to pull the film “a mistake”
Too cute: Neil Patrick Harris shares a video of twins Harper and Gideon singing “Jingle Bells” while decorating the Christmas tree.
New UK study finds lesbians earn more than straight women, but gay men earn 5% less than their heterosexual counterparts.
The 15 worst internet hoaxes of 2014.
Michael Phelps has received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to driving under the influence late September.
The GA Voice names the gay marriage plaintiffs as its 2014 People of the Year.
Rand Paul blasts Marco Rubio on Cuba.
Natalie Portman says no one wanted to hire her after she did the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Beefy Anchorage firefighters strip down for charity calendar.
Jennifer Aniston awarded Movie Performance of the Year (Actress) at the inaugural People Magazine Award.
Albania is set to get its first LGBT shelter.
Five people have died and over 20 others have been hospitalized after they were infected with a listeria outbreak linked to prepackaged caramel apples.
Prince Harry cuddles up with some adorable kids while visiting his charity project in Africa.
Bill to legalize civil unions in Poland fails for the third time.
Are the die-ins in response to the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner succeeding in putting the spotlight on police violence? “The latest die-ins are some of the first to garner national attention since environmental activists in the 1970s donned Cold War-era gas masks on Earth Day and conducted die-ins to protest polluted air, or Aids activists – especially from Act-Up – staged die-ins and political funerals to protest the government’s failure to act to study or prevent the mass deaths of mostly gay men from Aids in the 1980s and 90s. In the latter case, predominantly gay and lesbian protesters targeted places like Wall Street, the Food and Drug Administration and the White House with calls of “Silence=Death”, calling attention to the fact that the government’s willingness to ignore a public health crisis functioned as a death sentence for those without available treatment – and they worked with allies to eventually make Aids a mainstream social cause.”
Study reveals half of Dr. Oz’s medical advice is baseless or wrong.
Kyler Geoffroy
HRC to Honor Pioneering Social Worker Caitlin Ryan at Time to THRIVE
HRC to Honor Pioneering Social Worker Caitlin Ryan at Time to THRIVE
Dr. Caitlin Ryan has spent the past 40 years working to build happier and healthier futures for LGBTQ youth and adults and to prevent major health risks for LGBT youth.
HRC.org
How A Law From 1964 Suddenly Protects Transgender Government Workers
How A Law From 1964 Suddenly Protects Transgender Government Workers
Attorney General Eric Holder released a memo Thursday outlining the Justice Department’s decision to redefine its interpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender people.
Effective immediately, the Justice Department can now prosecute on behalf of people who claim to have been discriminated against by state and local public employers based on sex identity.
“The federal government’s approach to this issue has also evolved over time,” Holder wrote in the memo, adding that the new interpretation is the “most straightforward reading” of the law.
This is essentially a 180 from their decision in 2006 under George W. Bush that stated the law did not cover transgender workplace protections.
Holder’s memo comes on the tail of a series of moves from the Obama administration to grant stronger workplace rights to transgender employees. In July, Obama ordered protection for gay/trans employees of the federal government or companies with active federal contracts.
The Justice Department has no authority, however, to sue private employers, so the memo does not affect them.
via LGBTQ Nation
Dan Tracer
These Human-Handed Pets Perfectly Nail The Holiday Family Dinner Tradition: VIDEO
These Human-Handed Pets Perfectly Nail The Holiday Family Dinner Tradition: VIDEO
Freshpet’s new ad features a group of 13 dogs and 1 cat all gathered round the table for a holiday family dinner that is sure to have you reminiscing about your own holiday dinner experiences from past years. And by that, I mean the ad features all the personalities that likely show up at your own holiday get-together – the heavy drinker, the asocial texter, the kleptomaniac, and the relative who always muches off of others’ plates.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy