Bruce Jenner in Diane Sawyer Interview Promo: 'My Whole Life Has Been Getting Me Ready for This' — VIDEO
ABC News continues to tease its upcoming April 24 Diane Sawyer interview with Bruce Jenner. In this second promo, Jenner speaks.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
Busy day at the Statehouse: Everything you need to know about what passed, what didn’t
INDIANAPOLIS (April 14, 2015) – As a Tuesday night deadline loomed to make any changes to legislation on the House or Senate floor, lawmakers spent a whirlwind day passing bills on second readings, even adding new policy to certain provisions. Here’s a look at some of Tuesday’s action: Education: On a 55-41 vote, the House […]
Pridepages-Gay Friendly Neighborhood
Pridepages is a state-by-state LGBT Travel, Wedding, Business and Relocation Guide. We publish print and online versions of our guide as a resource, not 0nly for the LGBT community but those…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wYGKib97E&feature=youtube_gdata
WATCH: The Triumphant, Sassy Return of 'Gay of Thrones'
Funny or Die’s parody recap series is back and funnier than ever.
Raffy Ermac
www.advocate.com/comedy/2015/04/14/watch-triumphant-sassy-return-gay-thrones
Why Gossip About Bruce Jenner Is Damaging to the Transgender Community
Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in celebrity gossip and tabloid fodder. I, myself, am guilty of following E! on Twitter and occasionally clicking on an outrageous title. But sometimes celebrity gossip is representative of larger cultural issues, and the tabloid fodder can actually be quite damaging and regressive.
The most recent example of this is Bruce Jenner. For months now, there has been speculation that Bruce is in the process of transitioning to a woman. A number of magazines have pointed out his longer hair and painted nails, even though such subtleties should hardly be representative of one’s gender identity in this day and age. One tabloid went as far as to photoshop an image of Bruce looking extremely feminine, to the point of ridiculousness. I sincerely hope no one thought there was any truth to that photo.
The real problem with all of this is that it’s affecting the transgender community, and not in a positive way. The things written about Bruce Jenner are turning the idea of transgender identity into spectacle. Something to be gawked at and shocked by. Hasn’t the transgender movement come further than this?
We don’t know if Bruce Jenner identifies as transgender, or if he enjoys cross-dressing. We don’t know anything about the situation. I expect we will find out a lot more when he sits down with Diane Sawyer for a two-hour interview on April 24th, but until then, we shouldn’t assume we know anything at all. Not to mention the fact that this is a huge violation of the man’s privacy.
That being said, the way the media is portraying the story suggests that Bruce is definitely transitioning to female, and that we should all have our jaws on the floor. But this suggestion is quite damaging to the transgender community. The fact remains that most people in America do not personally know someone who is transgender. The only reference they have is what they see in the media. Labeling Bruce Jenner’s gender transformation as one of the “biggest celebrity scandals of 2014” is not going to frame the story of transgender identity in a positive light.
This seems to be an ongoing trend within the celebrity gossip community. Recently, Jaden Smith was photographed in public wearing a dress. The eccentric son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has always been fashion-forward, but the fact that celebrity gossip is covering the femininity of his clothing choice is a problem. We’re no longer at a point where it would be appropriate for a headline to read “Black Actor in Relationship with White Woman.” It’s 2015. It doesn’t matter. It’s not newsworthy.
I think it would be fine to point out that Jaden Smith wearing a dress could be helping to break down gender stereotypes and conformities, but that doesn’t seem to be the way the story is formulated in most publications. They are pointing towards these individuals and saying: “Look how ridiculous and scandalous this is!” which, unfortunately, is not going to help progress transgender acceptance in our society.
I’m curious to see what Bruce Jenner will say in his interview with Diane Sawyer. I hope his message is one that can help spread awareness about transgender identity and the constant uphill battle faced by the community.
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LGBT Human Rights Envoy Randy Berry’s First Day
Today marked the first day on the job for the State Department’s first ever LGBT Human Rights Envoy Randy Berry.
HRC.org
High School Wrestler Comes Out To Homophobic Coach, Who Also Happens To Be His Dad
Don Bosco Catholic High School is serious about their wrestling. Over the last two decades they’ve won eight state dual championships and were the runners-up four more times. But it was one senior’s moves off the mat that have caused a stir recently.
There had been rumors quietly circulating for years about Cole Fox being gay, and he would always confirm them when asked directly. But there remained one hurdle of coming out that posed especially challenging — his father Ray, who also happens to be the assistant wrestling coach at Don Bosco.
Cole had ample reason to be anxious. He’d heard his dad throw around homophobic language, at school and at home. “He had always made homophobic comments,” Cole told OutSports, “and I could tell that the comments even made my mom uncomfortable at times.”
In a letter secretly secured in Ray’s jacket pocket before he left on a three-day trip, Cole shared his truth with his dad.
It read in part:
“Any anger, humiliation, sadness, happiness or whatever you’re feeling is completely valid. As far as I know, you have no ties to anyone LGBTQ. I just want you to know that it took me nearly 17 years to accept me. I’m going to give you time and space. You don’t have to talk about it. You can bring it up as much as you wish. You can talk to mom or April. You can completely disregard this letter. I will still love you regardless of what you think or what you do.”
Later at school, Cole’s phone buzzed with a text from Ray. He had to leave class to open it, terrified of what it might say.
He read the words, “You are still a great son and I am proud of you,” and knew everything was going to be alright.
For his part, Ray was reportedly disappointed in himself that he created an atmosphere for his son that made him think he’d be loved any less if he were gay, and has been actively trying to show support for Cole.
Cole has since received the Matthew Shepard Scholarship, and the award offers his Catholic high school the chance to make a statement to LGBT students that there is nothing wrong with who they are.
“A student from my school received the scholarship 10 years ago,” Cole said, “and the feedback from the community 10 years ago was unacceptable. The school did not present the award and did not acknowledge the student’s accomplishment. This is a chance for Don Bosco to show its progress over the last 10 years. The way my family and community have reacted so far is a great sign.”
Dan Tracer
Marco Rubio Talks 'Religious Freedom' and Gay Marriage with NPR
GOP presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sat down with NPR’s Steve Inskeep yesterday and the topic of “religious freedom” bills and gay marriage came up.
From the transcript:
NPR’s INSKEEP: Let me ask about a domestic issue. In recent weeks, the state of Indiana passed a Religious Freedom law, which was interpreted by many as discrimination, by others, as protection for people who don’t want to take part in gay marriage. You defended the law and spoke about the hypothetical example of a florist who was asked to participate in a gay marriage and wanted to refuse. You said that person should have the right to follow their religious beliefs. Indiana, though, has since changed the law. Do you still support that concept?
SEN. RUBIO: Well, to be fair, I haven’t read the change in detail to give you an opinion on it specifically, but I’ll tell you where I stand. I don’t believe you can discriminate against people. So I don’t believe it’s right for a florist to say, I’m not going to provide you flowers because you’re gay. I think there’s a difference between not providing services to a person because of their identity, who they are or who they love, and saying, I’m not going to participate in an event, a same-sex wedding, because that violates my religious beliefs. There’s a distinction between those two things. So, certainly, you can’t not — it’s immoral and wrong to say, I’m not going to allow someone who’s gay or lesbian to use my restaurant, stay in my hotel, or provide photography service to them because they’re gay. The difference here is, we’re not talking about discriminating against a person because of who they are, we’re talking about someone who’s saying — what I’m talking about, anyway, is someone who’s saying, I just don’t want to participate as a vendor for an event, a specific event that violates the tenets of my faith.
CONTINUED, AFTER THE JUMP…
INSKEEP: What if two gay people get married and then they go that night to a hotel. Can the hotelkeeper refuse service to them?
RUBIO: That’s not part of an event. Again, I mean, that’s, there’s a difference between saying, we’re not going to allow you to stay in our hotel, common lodging establishment where people have a right to shelter, food, medical care, and saying we’re not going to, what we’re not going to do is provide services to an event, to an actual event, which is the wedding itself. And I think that’s the distinction point that people have been pointing to, and, because mainstream Christianity teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman. People feel very strongly about that. And to ask someone to individually provide services to something of that nature, I think violates their religious liberty.
INSKEEP: There’s a big question lurking here, which is that most Americans, according to surveys, now support gay marriage. A large minority of Americans still oppose gay marriage. The question is, that people seem to be wrestling with, is, what ground do opponents of gay marriage have left to stand on? What ground should they have to stand on?
RUBIO: First of all, if the majority of Americans support gay marriage, then you’ll see it reflected in changes in state law, which has always regulated marriage. And so at the end of the day, if a majority of people in any given state in this country petition their legislature to change the definition of marriage to include the marriage of two people of the same sex, that’ll be the law of the land. And that is what it is. Separate from that, there’s a constitutional protection of religious liberty that allows people to live by the tenets of their faith both in their public and in private life. That doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to go in and disrupt a gay wedding. But by the same token, it doesn’t mean that someone’s allowed to come to you and force you to be a participant in a ceremony that violates the tenets of your faith. And to be honest, in the real world, 99.9% of the time, a same-sex couple doesn’t want a florist or a photographer at their wedding that doesn’t agree with the choice that they’ve made. So we’re really talking about an issue that in large part is really not going to manifest itself in daily life, but in the instances that it does, there are individuals that don’t want to be compelled by force of law to participate in an event that puts them in the position of violating their religious faith. There’s a difference between that and discriminating against an individual because of who they are.
INSKEEP: Are there are other specific situations on your mind where you feel that people who are opposed to gay marriage would need some kind of protection from, from it?
RUBIO: Well, I mean, that’s the one that’s in the news today. Again, I don’t, we can always sit here and engage in hypotheticals, this, that, and the other, but at the end of the day, I mean, that’s the one that’s emerged because there’s real cases behind people being fined for not providing services to a, to a ceremony as opposed to individuals.
Good As You’s Jeremy Hooper let Rubio have it:
This is far-right fantasy. This idea that individuals cease to become individuals when their consumer request is of the wedding-centered variety is not a serious idea for serious people. The idea that vendors who are rarely at the actual ceremony or reception somehow become participants in either or both is an even more ludicrous notion.
And nice try with the distinction about public accommodations having to provide rooms to honeymooning same-sex couples, Senator, but the very same people who are championing these so-called “religious freedom” laws—the very same groups, individuals, and political allies who are forcing you to have this conversation on NPR—have all made the case for innkeepers and other shelter-providers having the supposed “right” to turn away gay couples. In fact, Mary and Jim O’Reilly, the Vermont innkeepers who attempted to turn away a lesbian couple (and who lost, obviously), were the anti-LGBT movement’s big champions just a few years back. In 2012, anti-gay organizations used them in campaign ads! Those of us who have been in this conversation for more than a month remember that all of the anti-LGBT organizations and media outlets rallied around this couple, just like they rallied around similar couples in similar situations.
But if the junior senator from Florida is going to align himself with this movement and keep defending discrimination like this, he’s going to keep finding himself in rhetorical traps. Why? Because the other side has created a flimsy defense of an easily perceptible problem, with their nuance coming in the form of rhetoric rather than reality.
Read Jeremy’s full post here.
Andy Towle
POLL: Hoosiers Reject Business Discrimination, As Indiana Spends Millions on Damage Control
The state hires a prominent PR firm to help rebuild its image, while a poll finds most residents don’t approve of faith-based antigay discrimination. read more
LGBT community and rights
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor for a school project. (www.youtube.com/editor)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVRG0J3qxS4&feature=youtube_gdata
