Daily Archives: February 11, 2015
Damn, Sam: Reaction of a Kansas Activist
Damn, Sam: Reaction of a Kansas Activist
Several years ago, I committed my life to trying to make certain that it was more possible for more LGBT youth in Kansas to see a light in the darkness. To know that they are precisely and perfectly who they are supposed to be. There are many others who have made the same commitment.
In 2007 an executive order signed by then-governor Kathleen Sebelius provided protections for about 25,000 Kansas employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. On Tuesday, Sam Brownback issued his own executive order, repealing those protections.
In so doing, he took an action that extinguishes part of the light so many have worked to create. But the spark that is left will grow into a flame of truth and dignity. Why? Because the flame of truth and dignity is far more powerful than any amount of hate and discrimination.
My message to LGBT Kansans is this. DO NOT let him tell you who you are. DO NOT let him tell you who you have to be or who you can love. DO NOT let Brownback, or any other bigot, tell you what your value is. You are perfect. Not only is there nothing wrong with being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender; it is beautiful. You are undeniably and exactly who you are supposed to be.
I am not frightened by this monstrous action, nor am I afraid of this man. He does not speak for Kansas. He does not speak for God. Hate is not a Christian value. Hate is not a Kansas value. Hate is not an American value. The greatest possible gift I can give to this world is to be my true, authentic self. Sam Brownback has no power to change that.
Ideologues like Brownback are a dying breed. The future belongs to equality. Legalized discrimination is breathing its last breaths. But those who would see the light extinguished, for young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, are fighting the battle of desperation.
They are pulling out all the stops and clinging to the dying branches of a tree that no longer has roots. They are no longer able, will never be again be able, to stop the progression of human dignity and civil rights.
However, in this battle of desperation, there are and will continue to be the last desperate acts of hate. Absolute and indefensible by their very nature, carrying the despicable and desolate mark of inhumanity. These inexcusable acts are not all-powerful. In the movie Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Princess Leia says, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” True that.
We must stand together against the immoral designation of LGBT people as second-class citizens. We must do this in Kansas, across America, in Russia and in Uganda. We must do it anywhere the ugly two-headed snake of homophobia and transphobia dares to make its nasty presence known.
We are going to fight tooth and nail. That is a promise.
So I will endeavour to shine my light even more truthfully, even more powerfully, and even more brightly than ever before. I do not stand alone. We will continue the fight until there is a light in the darkness that can not be extinguished; until the darkness is no more.
The day is coming, sooner that you might think. Don’t ask me what’s the matter with Kansas. This is a great state. This is my state. You might want to ask me what’s the matter with Brownback. He’s not looking too good.
Brutal Attack in Tacoma Leaves Community Stunned
Brutal Attack in Tacoma Leaves Community Stunned
Local authorities in Tacoma, Washington, are investigating a brutal attack early Sunday morning against a 45-year-old lesbian as a potential hate crime.
HRC.org
Italy's Highest Appeals Court Rules Against Gay Marriage
Italy's Highest Appeals Court Rules Against Gay Marriage
Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appeals court has ruled that same-sex marriage is not constitutionally required. However, the court did rule that same-sex couples in Italy were entitled to certain rights and protections which the state must guarantee. Italian news site Ansa reports:
Italy’s highest appeals court on Monday rejected same-sex marriage, saying there was nothing in the Constitution that requires the government to extend marriage rights to gays. However, the Cassation Court added that homosexuals have the right to a “protective” law that would ensure same-sex couples have the same rights as unmarried Italian couples. Neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions between same-sex partners are legally recognized in Italy but some cities, including Rome, have a civil union register.
In October, Rome’s Mayor married 16 gay couples in defiance of Italy’s laws on same-sex marriage. As the above report mentions, the eternal city created a register of civil unions for same-sex couples, a historic move. Bologna also came out in favor of recognizing same-sex unions in September.
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2015/02/italys-highest-appeals-court-rules-against-gay-marriage.html
DISCRIMINACION LGBT
DISCRIMINACION LGBT
LGBT.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXWKvLSyM-s&feature=youtube_gdata
British Clinic: Young Trans Patients Have Increased Five-Fold in Four Years
British Clinic: Young Trans Patients Have Increased Five-Fold in Four Years
As trans youth become open and comfortable with their identities at younger ages, health trends may see positive changes, reports a London health clinic.
Mitch Kellaway
President Of The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Thinks David Axelrod's Just 'Out To Sell Books'
President Of The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Thinks David Axelrod's Just 'Out To Sell Books'
President Obama’s stance on gay marriage has come under fire recently after former White House advisor David Axelrod made the claim that the President supported same-sex marriage all along, despite articulating to the pubic that he didn’t in earlier campaigns. In response to Axelrod’s allegation, Obama told BuzzFeed on Tuesday that “the notion” that he was “always in favor of [gay marriage] isn’t quite accurate,” and that his feelings have, in fact, evolved.
Justin Nelson, President of The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, came to President Obama’s defense in a Wednesday conversation with HuffPost Live, arguing that Axelrod’s comments are just a ploy to promote his new book, even though Obama’s proven to be a consistent ally to the gay community.
“David Axelrod is out to sell books and probably will sell a lot of books, and we all know controversy helps sell books,” he explained. “The fact of the matter is Americans were not there. It was somewhat widely known that the President when he was running for his state senate seat had answered a questionnaire that he was in favor of marriage equality.”
Regardless of what Obama’s saying now or has said in the past, Nelson feels the President’s done a more than sufficient job fighting for LGBT rights.
“I think the thing we have to remember here is that we had a choice in that election between a candidate who was pro-civil unions, pro-repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and another candidate who was supportive of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ did not support civil unions and supported a constitutional amendment in his home state banning marriage equality,” he recalled.
“So was there an issue playing politics with an election? Of course — that’s always the case on hot button issues,” he continued. “[But] we judge a man by his actions, not by his words, and I think the actions of this president have been very pro-LGBT.”
Watch more from HuffPost Live’s conversation surrounding Obama’s stance on gay marriage here.
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Alabama Minister Arrested Trying To Marry Same-Sex Couple; Obama Predicts Major National Shift
Alabama Minister Arrested Trying To Marry Same-Sex Couple; Obama Predicts Major National Shift
This can’t be the first time these words have been connected in a sentence: Things are a mess in Alabama.
What do you get when a state’s chief justice (in this case Ray Moore, the same idiot who defied a federal court order to remove a monument to the 10 commandments from the state courthouse) orders state judges to disobey the ruling of a federal judge who has determined that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional? It’s not the set up to a joke. Alabama. You get Alabama.
And the situation is a bit confusing. Some counties are issuing marriage licenses to eager same-sex couples (see map, via New York Times), and some have closed up shop altogether, preventing both gay and straight couples from tying the knot.
In Autauga County, a woman named Anne Susan Diprizio was actually arrested after offering to perform a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple who’d just received a license. Anne, who identified herself as a minister, now faces a charge of disorderly conduct following a dispute with Probate Judge Alfred Booth. Booth isn’t allowing same-sex marriages in his office despite the federal ruling.
Gov. Bentley, a Republican and a Southern Baptist, said “I don’t want Alabama to be seen as it was 50 years ago when a federal law was defied. I’m not going to do that. I’m trying to move this state forward.”
A federal judge has set a hearing that could determine if all counties must issue licenses.
Hopefully none of this will even matter soon. President Obama, speaking to Buzzfeed, predicted that:
“My sense is that the Supreme Court is about to make a shift, one that I welcome, which is to recognize that — having hit a critical mass of states that have recognized same-sex marriage — it doesn’t make sense for us to now have this patchwork system.”
h/t HuffPost
Dan Tracer
Testosterone Prescriptions On The Rise As Clinics Market 'T' As Youth Supplements
Testosterone Prescriptions On The Rise As Clinics Market 'T' As Youth Supplements
A growing number of “age management” clinics across the country are beginning to seriously market testosterone therapy treatments as a means of combatting the natural side effects of growing older. More often than naught, we associate the transformative aspects of supplemental testosterone injections with transmen in the process of transitioning. But as Dr. Paul Campion explains in a lengthy profile in Fusion, the community of proponents for testosterone as a rejuvenating agent is growing larger.
“Testosterone is ridiculously powerful,” Campion says. “I can tell you from experience, the feeling of well-being, of focus, and of masculine energy are massively increased. It’s like you’re back to being 35.” Campion goes on:
“The emerging popularity of testosterone has opened up whole new business models for entrepreneurial doctors. Chains of shops that provide the hormone have exploded all over the United States, especially across the South. How many millions more men might be willing to try testosterone if it was easy to acquire, and a clinic happened to implant itself in an adjacent office building or a local strip mall, next to an abandoned video store and the Starbucks?”
Between 2001 and 2011 the number of men over the age of 40 taking testosterone supplements increased by nearly threefold. Today nearly four percent of men over the age of 60 report using products like AndroGel, a popular testosterone product. While lower testosterone levels are a recognized health risk for many, the recent spike in use and purchase of “t-products” is thought to be directly connected to increased marketing efforts billing the drugs as fountains of youth.
According to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, one in four men are prescribed testosterone supplements without having consulted their physicians about whether or not the drugs are safe for them. As Fusion points out however, the market seems willing to pay the financial price and take the physical risks associated with a testosterone-fueled shot at a second adolescence.
“[I]n the coming years, the battles over T’s use are going to be repeated for future drugs that give people—anyone with money, at least—the power to transform the body beyond its innate abilities and configurations.”
Read the full piece here.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
EEUU NOMBRA HOMOSEXUAL QUE DEFIENDE LA COMUNIDAD LGBT INTERNACIONALMENTE
EEUU NOMBRA HOMOSEXUAL QUE DEFIENDE LA COMUNIDAD LGBT INTERNACIONALMENTE
La historia de la homosexualidad en Estados Unidos es, hasta el siglo XX, la de personas que tenían que vivir su homosexualidad a escondidas, por temor a la persecución legal y al desprecio…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyAmcBA9Jhg&feature=youtube_gdata