Ben Carson Claims Anti-Gay Bakery Owners 'Might Put Poison' In Same-Sex Couple's Cakes

Ben Carson Claims Anti-Gay Bakery Owners 'Might Put Poison' In Same-Sex Couple's Cakes
GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson reportedly slammed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates at a Jan. 24 press conference following his speech at Congressman Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit.

Carson, a Fox News commentator and former Johns Hopkins University pediatric neurosurgeon, seemed to hint at a series of disputes that have erupted between same-sex couples hoping to tie the knot and bakeries and other wedding-related venues operated by opponents of same-sex marriage.

“What I have a problem with is when people try to force people to act against their beliefs because they say, ‘They’re discriminating against me,’” he told reporters, according to The Hill. “So they can go right down the street and buy a cake, but no, let’s bring a suit against this person because I want them to make my cake even though they don’t believe in it.”

He then added, “[That] is really not all that smart because they might put poison in that cake.”

Carson has been outspoken in regard to his opposition to same-sex marriage rights.

Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are,” he told Sean Hannity in 2012, as cited by Slate. “They don’t get to change the definition.”

He shared similar sentiments in his 2012 book, America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great, noting that attempts to “redefine marriage” would bring about a “disastrous ending” for the U.S. that would mirror “the dramatic fall of the Roman Empire,” according to Media Matters.

Interestingly, Carson may have been in the minority when it came to discussing same-sex marriage at the Iowa Freedom Summit this year. As The Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic reported, the subject “remained conspicuously absent from the lips of many speakers who took the stage, demonstrating how dramatically politics around the issue has shifted in just a few years.”

H/T Back2Stonewall

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/ben-carson-gay-cakes-poison-_n_6547226.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Same-Sex Couples in Alabama Eagerly Await Opportunity to Marry

Same-Sex Couples in Alabama Eagerly Await Opportunity to Marry

Following her ruling in support of marriage equality in Alabama on Friday, U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade issued a 14-day stay on Sunday night, delaying the start marriage equality in the state.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/same-sex-couples-in-alabama-eagerly-await-opportunity-to-marry?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Homophobes Think they Can Save Marriage By Destroying it

Homophobes Think they Can Save Marriage By Destroying it

1-25-15 mnwJust how horrible are the homophobes in Oklahoma’s legislature? About as bad as the segregationists who blocked school integration in the 1950s.

By now, you may have heard that Representatives Todd Russ and Sally Kern have come up with some truly insane antigay laws in response to our recent marriage victories. Russ wants to completely ban marriage altogether — as in, nobody, gay or straight, can get married. If you’re caught issuing a marriage license, you would go to to jail for up to a year. That sounds impossibly nuts, but it’s actually really honestly what he’s proposed.

In a way, it’s not too different from how the Governor of Arkansas responded to Brown v. Board of Education. Rather than allow black students to attend classes with white kids, Governor Orville Faubus (what a name) closed all of the high schools in Little Rock for a year. If the white families couldn’t have their segregated schools, then by God nobody will have any schools!

Apparently Russ is such a close student of racist politicians that he’s taken a page straight out of Faubus’ playbook with his marriage proposal. And just like Faubus, Russ knows that of course he’s going to lose; there’s no way he can actually ban marriage. But that’s not the point. His only goal here is intimidation, making LGBTs feel unwelcome, and scaring whipping up anti-gay sentiment among his ignorant followers. Then when there’s an act of homophobic violence, he can disavow it and say something like “well of course I’d never condone violence” when in fact is hateful rhetoric is exactly what created the environment where violence flourishes.

Kern, on the other hand, is just a kook. She proposed various bills that would prevent the state from paying any employee who allowed gays to marry, and also to force gay kids into abusive “ex-gay” torture camps. (Her son Jesse Kern, it’s worth noting, is DEFINITELY NOT GAY, no sir, absolutely one hundred percent straight, absolutely.) Once again, she knows this won’t pass. And yet she’s pushing it anyway — not because she actually believes she’s being a leader, but because she wants to make life miserable for the gays.

At this point, they’re not even trying to hide their admiration for segregationists.

matt baume

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/tEM-rJdte80/homophobes-think-they-can-save-marriage-by-destroying-it-20150126

'Seeking Assistance: Trans Healthcare In America' Engaged In Kickstarter

'Seeking Assistance: Trans Healthcare In America' Engaged In Kickstarter
What does it mean to be a transgender individual living in America who needs access to affordable healthcare?

Filmmaker Christian Hendricks tackles this question in his latest project “Seeking Assistance: Trans Healthcare in America.” Currently engaged in a Kickstarter campaign, this film aims to contribute to a longer conversation surrounding transgender identity and healthcare with a focus on Mississippi.

The Huffington Post chatted with Hendricks this week in order to develop a more nuanced understanding about this project.

The Huffington Post: Why did you decide to embark on this project? What are you trying to accomplish?
Christian Hendricks: I’ve worked on a lot of projects focusing on different aspects of queer culture, but recently I’ve felt especially strong about the concerns of trans people. I think at this point, as a white cisgender gay male, if you’re not getting concerned, you have to be willfully ignoring the issue of trans rights. Basically, being the white cis gay male that I am, part of me is really tired of seeing more protected members of our community failing to acknowledge or help just because things have gotten a lot better for them in the past few years.

Why focus specifically on Mississippi?
I had a really great time in Mississippi and met some of my favorite people during the trip there. However, Mississippi has some of the more unfortunate policies (or lack of policies) for protecting and helping trans people. The issues presented in this documentary will be issues that affect every trans person in the country, but I felt that Mississippi would serve as a strong microcosm for the issue.

How is this building on your previous project?
This project is following in the steps of the previous project, but it’s not necessarily a “Part 2.” I didn’t want to make another documentary about the general experience of being queer in a place. I wanted to address something specific, and attempt to make a difference with this one. The last project got a lot of exposure and afforded me a small platform to say something else. I decided that this what I wanted to say because not enough people are talking about it.

What do you hope people take away from this project in terms of their understanding of how trans identity intersects with access to healthcare?
I hope that this helps motivate a larger conversation about what it means to be trans. — both in general but also within the LGBT community. Transitioning is a combined mental and physical experience that’s certainly more harrowing than what I experienced coming out as a gay man, and it deserves consideration and recognition — on a personal level and absolutely in a medical and political sense.

Head here to check out the “Seeking Assistance” Kickstarter.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/trans-healthcare-kickstarter_n_6535528.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Looking at “Looking”: Season 2, Episode 3

Looking at “Looking”: Season 2, Episode 3

s2e03 01We begin with an ongoing illustration of the ninja-like sneakiness with which Pat and Kevin mask their inappropriate relationship: an ass grab at an office party followed by a conspicuous departure for a private rooftop meeting. I mean, who doesn’t do that with their boss? They’re so cute and couple-y that they even bicker about sweaters and schedules before deciding that Kevin will accompany Patrick to Dom’s rugby game on a totally just friends basis. Because nothing is friendlier than forcing others to act casual while you inflict your terrible decisions on them.

Next, we have the closest thing to a superhero/arch-nemesis pairing this show will ever see: Agustin visits Richie at the barber shop. Pat’s ex immediately re-asserts himself as the best person any of the main characters will ever meet: he listens openly even though the dude he’s talking to is a known dirtbag, he expresses his own feelings in an honest but level-headed manner, and he even cleans up Ag’s hobo beard, presumably for free because where would that money have even come from?

s2e03 02A freshly shorn Agustin arrives home to find Pat freaking out about cleaning because he honestly still expects everyone else to join him in the fantasy that Kevin is some sort of romantic prospect. It’s like a prolonged re-enactment of Lars and the Real Girl as directed by Woody Allen at his most neurotic. There’s one thing our delusional little dilettante hasn’t scrubbed, though, which means it’s time for a trip to the local convenience store for some personal irrigation tools. Pat tries to make cute jokes with the woman at the checkout counter, but she’s too busy being a normal person to tolerate his nonsense. Like the rest of us, she’s wondering how he could have gotten this far in his life as a gay San Fraciscan and still be experiencing so many things for the first time. Was he a mermaid before the first season? Does he still brush his hair with a fork?

Dom, Lynn, Doris, and Malik all boned and then slept in the same apartment last night, and it’s a situation that no one seems fully comfortable with. Everyone is in agreement that they’re all too old for this kind of dorm-room tomfoolery, but they still enjoy the special brand of youthful exuberance that can only be achieved through rimming. Because that’s another thing that we’re candidly discussing now for no reason having to do with wanting to feel fun and current after last season’s reviews. Take that, Girls! The gang gets dressed, brushes their tongues (one assumes), and heads out to breakfast to celebrate Dom’s recent meeting with a potential investor and impending game of rugged, gruff, homosexual rugby.

s2e03 03The game is, it turns out, pretty lackluster. (Gay amateur rugby is a little specific to draw a crowd.) Lynn can’t make it, so Doris is left to fend for herself with Ag and Eddie, who has returned from wherever he was last week. Kevin and Pat are late because they were busy having faux-adorable drinks while nearly discussing marriage. (Green card marriage, not the romantic kind, but of course Pat still got his hopes ALL THE WAY UP.) They also leave early because this is seventh grade and making out is important. Besides, Eddie is proving to be a little too much of an Anglophile and it’s making everyone more uncomfortable than they already were.

After winning the game and having a celebratory group dick wiggle in the shower, Dom learns from a teammate that Lynn set up the investor meeting knowing that it would only result in the offer of a manager job, and not the blank check he’s apparently looking for. This leads to some daddy-on-daddy sniping in the parking lot, because it’s important never to discuss these things at home in private. Sending your roommate to stand ten feet away makes public arguing completely acceptable.

s2e03 04Back at the homestead, Kevin is surprised to learn that Patrick reads self-help books, even though everything about the man says “I understand human behavior on a purely academic level.” Baby Boy doesn’t want to jump straight to fucking because he’s such an innocent, a fact driven home by his decision to put on literal children’s programming. Surprisingly, Kevin is all about this choice. Even more surprisingly, Kevin wants to bottom when the completely natural cartoons-to-buttsex segue occurs. Slightly less surprisingly, Kevin then waits until he thinks his fake boyfriend is asleep and calls his real boyfriend on the phone. Patrick is left to lie alone in bed and convince himself that there’s no way he could have seen that coming. Maybe next week Ag can take him to buy a new book about this situation. Or maybe just a new brain.

Chris Kelly

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/kgIVsT0YRYc/looking-at-looking-season-2-episode-3-20150126

Chris Christie Launches PAC Following Speech to Conservatives in Iowa: VIDEO

Chris Christie Launches PAC Following Speech to Conservatives in Iowa: VIDEO

Christie

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has launched a Political Action Committee, an expected move as he prepares the way for a 2016 presidential campaign.

The AP reports:

Christie, who has been pitching himself to donors as a candidate who can expand the Republican Party’s tent by appealing to minority, women and independent voters, also appears to be forging a populist message, adding that, “We must support candidates who share our vision, people who know that only through strong, bold leadership will we be able to take on these challenges and act on the promise of a better tomorrow for working and middle-class Americans.”

TIME adds:

Former Republican National Committee Finance chairman Ray Washburne, who announced earlier this month he would step down to take a position with Christie, will hold the same role for the new group. Former Republican Governors Association executive director Phil Cox and longtime Christie strategist Mike DuHaime will serve as political advisers. Matt Mowers, the outgoing New Hampshire GOP executive director, and Phil Valenziano, a former aide to Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, will be the PAC’s on-the-ground presence in those two presidential early states.

Christie spoke over the weekend at the Iowa Freedom Summit hosted by Rep. Steve King which attracted several far-right conservatives interested in testing the water for a 2016 run at the presidency. These included Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and word salad masterchef Sarah Palin.

Upon introducing Christie, King trumpeted him as “pro-life” and praised him for vetoing the gay marriage bill in New Jersey. Christie was heckled at the beginning of his speech on immigration by Cesar Vargas of the DREAM coalition.

Watch the heckling and the speech, AFTER THE JUMP

Vargas


Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/christie.html