#TBT: The Best Kept Boy in the World
Arthur Vanderbilt’s book is a scandalous slice of upper-crust gay history. Here is a visual reference guide.
Christopher Harrity
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2015/05/07/tbt-best-kept-boy-world
Monthly Archives: May 2015
How The Global LGBT Movement Can Keep Up Its Stunning Momentum
How The Global LGBT Movement Can Keep Up Its Stunning Momentum
In cooperation with our longstanding partner Crowdrise, The Huffington Post is celebrating its 10 year anniversary by focusing on the promise of the next 10 years. We’re highlighting causes that are near and dear to our ethos — causes where we believe meaningful progress can be made in the coming decade — and empowering readers to act and take part. Join us!
It’s still early days for the LGBT rights movement.
Over the course of the past decade, public opinion has changed in ways that might have seemed unimaginable a generation ago. New, more tolerant laws are on the books in many countries. But advocates who focus on the global picture of LGBT rights say the movement is still in its infancy.
Charles Radcliffe, a human rights adviser on sexual orientation and gender identity at the United Nations, notes that the women’s rights movement has been pushing for change for more than 120 years. Most of the advances for LGBT people have come in the past decade.
“That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to take another 100 years. But it does mean the battle isn’t over, and in some countries it’s barely begun,” Radcliffe told The Huffington Post this week. “A lot of work lies ahead to challenge oppressive laws, demand proper legal protections and to change people’s hearts and minds.”
A glance at a world map put together by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association shows how much work remains to be done around the world. As of May 2014, more countries criminalize LGBT people than protect them from discrimination. Seventy-eight countries still put people in jail for being LGBT, and five countries, plus parts of Nigeria and Somalia, have laws that put LGBT people to death. Only 70 countries have introduced or codified anti-discrimination laws.
Jessica Stern, the executive director for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, says her organization’s strategy is to invest equally in LGBT trouble spots like Iraq (where the Islamic State is reportedly executing men for sodomy) and in nations where equality is gaining traction, like the Philippines (whose government is debating the specifics of an anti-discrimination bill).
“You have to work in the places that are most unsafe,” she said. “But you also have to push the bar higher, because pushing the bar higher benefits all of us.”
Looking ahead to the next few years, Stern said she hopes for the worldwide decriminalization of sodomy, and for more laws that ban discrimination and promote marriage equality. She also hopes to see an increase in support for transgender and intersex people, who have often been overlooked in the global LGBT rights movement.
“I think we have to take very seriously the inequalities within our movement,” she said. “People’s lived realities play out quite differently [depending on] whether you live in an urban or a rural area, whether you have a high level of education or you’re illiterate, whether you’re a member of the dominant religion or a minority. We won’t progress as far as we dream of as a movement unless we take equally seriously the safety, equality and liberation of everyone.”
Radcliffe and Stern both see many reasons to feel hopeful. Not only are LGBT people more visible than ever, Radcliffe said, but global momentum is behind them.
“When you see more than 80 countries coming together at the U.N., as we have, to denounce attacks on LGBT people, and when you see the U.N. secretary-general leading calls for change, then you’ve reached critical mass,” he said, referring to a 2011 joint statement by 85 countries that denounced violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “There’s no turning back from here.”
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Tired Of Dieting And Working Out? Here’s Another Way To Take Off Those Unwanted Pounds
Tired Of Dieting And Working Out? Here’s Another Way To Take Off Those Unwanted Pounds
[Editor’s note: We’ve asked John Carroll, noted Broadway performer, writer, activist and publicist to throuple Ted Cruz, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass to give back to the community in a way that wouldn’t cause our readers to need a prescription for penicillin. Since that wasn’t an option, he came up with this advice column. We’ll let him take it from here.]
Have a problem? Need some good advice? Well, you could bend the ear of a trusted confidant to give you some sage words of wisdom…or you could go against your better judgement and just ask me. You can contact me at [email protected] or follow me on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Enjoy episode two in which I help “Susan” who is struggling with a weight problem below.
Jeremy Kinser
College Running Back Arrested for Assaulting Gay Couple He Saw Kiss on the Street: VIDEO
College Running Back Arrested for Assaulting Gay Couple He Saw Kiss on the Street: VIDEO
Steward Butler, a running back for the Marshall University football team in Huntington, West Virginia, has been arrested and charged with battery after beating a gay couple he saw kiss on the street, WSAZ reports:
Investigators said the couple involved, Zackery Johnson and his partner, Casey Williams, were walking down the street, when Butler spotted them embracing and kissing and began yelling slurs and punched them.
Huntington Police said Butler was, at first, in a car with two other Marshall football players.
“He was traveling in the vehicle, he saw this, saw these two individuals walking, saw them give each other a kiss. He had the driver stop the car, he gets out, confronts him and said some choice, some bad choice words,” HPD Detective Chris Sperry said. The couple tells us they were in town visiting friends, and were headed to their hotel after dinner and a few bars.
Investigators said after Butler punched the two men, in an apparent hate crime, the other two Marshall players told him to stop and leave.
Huntington Police said Butler claimed the attack was out of self-defense and that none of the men in the confrontation knew each other.
Watch WSAZ’s report, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
"BURNT"
Meet the Gay Teen Who Could Be the U.K's Youngest Elected Official
Meet the Gay Teen Who Could Be the U.K's Youngest Elected Official
As if being just 18 weren’t enough of a challenge, Luke Holland of Birmingham decided to come out in the middle of his election campaign.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/world/2015/05/07/meet-gay-teen-who-could-be-uks-youngest-elected-official
greens always supporting
Dallas BBQ Restaurant Says it is 'Deeply Saddened' by Attack on Gay Couple in NYC
Dallas BBQ Restaurant Says it is 'Deeply Saddened' by Attack on Gay Couple in NYC
The ‘Dallas BBQ’ restaurant has released a statement about the horrific attack on a gay couple at its Chelsea location:
Dallas BBQ is deeply saddened by the altercation between several of our patrons at our Chelsea location on Tuesday night. We have been proudly serving Chelsea for over a decade and will not tolerate violent or hateful behavior within our restaurant.
We are fully cooperating with the investigation by the NYPD to apprehend the attacker and actively seeking justice for the victims of the attack. As a staple of New York, Dallas BBQ celebrates a diverse clientele at all of our locations and will continue to make everyone feel welcome and safe.
If you or anyone you know has any information that can assist the NYPD in this investigation, please contact the Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS or at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
If you missed the video and earlier reports on this violent attack, you can read about it HERE. (warning: graphic)
Andy Towle
WATCH: Janet Mock Gives Oprah 'Ah-Ha' Moments About Gender
WATCH: Janet Mock Gives Oprah 'Ah-Ha' Moments About Gender
Two powerful women. One must-see conversation.
Mitch Kellaway
POLL: Most Texas Voters Back LGBT Protections, Oppose Discriminatory 'Religious Freedom' Laws
POLL: Most Texas Voters Back LGBT Protections, Oppose Discriminatory 'Religious Freedom' Laws
With more than 20 anti-LGBT bills pending in the Texas Legislature, a new poll confirms that Republican state lawmakers’ views on gay rights are way out of step with the voting public in the Lone Star State.
The poll found that 63 percent of Texas voters — including 52 percent of Republicans — support statewide LGBT protections. Meanwhile, 52 percent oppose anti-LGBT religious exemption laws.
From Texas Wins, which commissioned the poll:
“Texas lawmakers have filed a flurry of bills to enshrine discrimination against gay and transgender people under the guise of religious liberty. But it’s clear that Texans don’t support allowing people to use religion as a weapon to harm others,” said Christina Gorczynski, campaign director for Texas Wins. “No matter what questions we asked, a strong majority of Texans favored equality, regardless of political party.” …
“Our poll shows that while Texas voters value religious freedom, a majority oppose ‘religious exemption’ laws,” said Greg Strimple of G Squared Public Strategies, the pollster who conducted the statewide survey on behalf of Texas Wins. “Nearly 80 percent of voters believe that religious freedom does not give individuals license to hurt others.”
The poll’s release comes at a critical time, as the Texas legislative session has entered its final 30 days. Only a few of the record number of anti-LGBT bills have cleared committee, and the deadline for them to be heard by the full House is next week.
One of the bills that poses a threat is HB 3864, which would establish a license to discriminate for state-funded adoption and child welfare agencies. On Wednesday, the Human Rights Campaign issued a press release in which several major child advocacy groups slammed HB 3864:
In a letter to Texas lawmakers, the Donaldson Adoption Institute (DAI), Voice for Adoption (VFA), and North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) blasted the legislation that would empower adoption agencies to discriminate against eligible parents and guardians. If passed, the discriminatory bill would deny countless children access to caring homes. It could also prevent eligible interfaith couples, same-sex couples, and couples where one individual was previously divorced, the opportunity to care for a child in need.
“We urge you to examine the research that demonstrates if we truly wish to act in good conscience towards children waiting for permanent families, we must not exclude qualified and eager prospective foster and adoptive parents,” the letter states. “Foster and adoptive parent applicants should be judged based on their qualifications, not their sexual orientation or gender identity. Enshrining discrimination into law, on the other hand, will undermine the safety and well-being of Texas’ children.”
“This is tantamount to taxpayer-funded discrimination, as many of the state’s private adoption agencies have large public contracts,” said Ellen Kahn, director of HRC’s Children, Youth and Families Program. “We call on Texas legislators to choose the best interests of the child over discrimination, and abandon this bill aimed at hurting Texans who wish to provide caring homes for children.”
On the bright side, a bill that would allow same-sex parents to have both names on the birth certificates of adopted children cleared committee Monday, thanks to support from two GOP lawmakers.
Baby steps.
View the full results of the Texas Wins poll, AFTER THE JUMP …
John Wright
