Daily Archives: June 28, 2015
Elizabeth Berkley Celebrates Marriage Equality At ‘Showgirls’ Screening, Cements Status As Gay Icon
Elizabeth Berkley Celebrates Marriage Equality At ‘Showgirls’ Screening, Cements Status As Gay Icon
Fans of Showgirls who were in attendance at its Cinespia screening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery this weekend got a surprise treat from none other than Elizabeth Berkley herself. The Saturday night event kicked off with the actress providing an introduction to the film that is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.
The woman who brought Nomi Malone to life on the big screen sent the audience into a frenzy as she discussed the movie that was once ridiculed, but has since become one of MGM’s top selling video/dvd releases. Berkley who described the evening as “a full circle moment” expressed her gratitude to the die-hard fans who “made this the cult film that it is.”
Berkley also made reference to SCOTUS’s historic marriage equality ruling stating, “I truly can’t think of a better night to have come to the first screening of Showgirls in twenty years, a night after a day that we got to witness in this lifetime.” She is obviously keenly aware of the movie’s huge appeal to the LGBT audience.
Elizabeth ended the introduction with some signature Nomi Malone hand-ography. Take that, Cristal Connors!
Showgirls opened in 1995 to reviews calling it “impossibly vulgar, tawdry and coarse,” and declaring, “the absence of both drama and eroticism turns Showgirls into a bare-butted bore.” However, it was Berkley who unjustly bore the brunt of the criticism. It’s nice to see that she has developed an appreciation for the film’s now-cult classic status and is embracing Showgirls rather than disassociating herself from it.
Related: Hollywood Shocker! Faye Dunaway Reportedly Writing Book About Mommie Dearest
The actress and New York Times best-selling author of Ask Elizabeth posted the following on her Instagram account after Saturday’s event:
With her display of gratitude and love, Elizabeth Berkley can now add icon to her list of accomplishments.
Jeremy Kinser
Houston Mayor Annise Parker: Marriage Equality Too Late For Many LGBT Seniors
Houston Mayor Annise Parker: Marriage Equality Too Late For Many LGBT Seniors
In a powerful column published Friday, out lesbian Houston Mayor Annise Parker wrote that for many LGBT seniors, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage comes too late.
Parker, writing with Ann J. Robison (right), executive director of Houston’s Montrose Center, notes that many LGBT people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s — the “Invisible Generation”— are still suffering under the weight of a lifetime of discrimination. LGBT seniors are two times more likely to age alone and four times less likely to have assistance from their families, according to Parker and Robison.
From the column in The Houston Chronicle:
For many LGBT Texans who cared for and nurtured their life partner in the final years of their life, marriage equality will be too late. They never had the benefit of access to their partner’s Social Security benefits or employer-sponsored pension. They faced the stunning realization that not only did they lose the love of their life; they will eventually lose the home they shared that life in, too, because of financial inequality and equal access. Many LGBT seniors have already been displaced from their homes, unable to maintain their previous standard of living on one income alone or with advanced care needs that no longer allow them to live independently.
Parker and Robison add that those who enter senior housing or assisted living often remain closeted out of fear, and that few such facilities properly train their staff on LGBT issues. As a result, those who do come out often face discrimination and even abuse from staff and residents. According to the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, 43 percent of LGBT seniors in long-term care reported mistreatment and only one in four felt it was safe coming out.
From the Chronicle:
With approximately 10,000 Americans reaching retirement age every single day, it is critical that we take steps to ensure that all seniors – who were among the first generations to defy cultural norms of discrimination and inequality – can enjoy their retirement years in the communities that they helped to define and make better places to live. We owe this especially to our LGBT seniors, those that have already suffered a lifetime of marginalization and discrimination. As we are on the brink of achieving many gains, we recognize the sacrifices made by our LGBT seniors. There remains much more work to be done on their behalf as we continue the work towards full equality.
Houston is currently working to build an $18 million housing facility for low-income LGBT seniors. However, the project is facing resistance from nearby residents — some of which is fueled by homophobia.
Watch a report on the project from KHOU-TV below.
The post Houston Mayor Annise Parker: Marriage Equality Too Late For Many LGBT Seniors appeared first on Towleroad.
John Wright
Houston Mayor Annise Parker: Marriage Equality Too Late For Many LGBT Seniors
A chicken, a cop, a crowd…
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The Past and Future of (Same-Sex) Marriage
The Past and Future of (Same-Sex) Marriage
With its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court took a step that seemed unimaginable two decades ago, when I started researching same-sex marriage. Many politicians, pundits and commentators have rightly hailed the Court’s decision as both just and historic. Legal experts can parse the finer points of the majority opinion and the four separate dissents, but let’s take this momentous occasion as an opportunity to reflect on where we have been on this issue, and what the future may hold.
First, a look backward. Although the dissents in Obergefell claimed that Americans should be given more time to sort out this issue through the democratic process, the history of the struggle over same-sex marriage is actually rather long. The first court ruling on the issue dates back to 1971, when the Minnesota Supreme Court found in Baker v. Nelson that neither the state nor the federal constitution guaranteed a right to same-sex marriage. But the issue really broke into public consciousness in the mid-1990s, when another state supreme court — this time in Hawaii — ruled its state constitution did in fact require the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
That ruling prompted Congress to pass the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, and many state legislatures (including Hawaii’s) passed their own “baby DOMAs” to ensure they would not have to recognize same-sex marriages. Then in 2004 Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and for the next decade opponents and advocates of marriage equality fought ferocious and emotional battles in state after state.
Speaking in the Rose Garden shortly after the Obergefell decision came down, President Obama lauded the ruling and asserted that the result was a consequence of “countless small acts of courage” by people who came out to others and stood up for themselves. Obama framed the marriage victory as “a vindication of the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things,” and those words resonated for me as I thought about the plaintiffs in the earliest marriage cases — in Minnesota, Hawaii and elsewhere — who pursued dignity and equal treatment on their own, without the support of a coordinated, strategic effort by the national LGBT rights movement.
Indeed, it was only after the initial favorable ruling in Hawaii that the national gay rights groups were willing to devote significant attention and resources to the marriage issue, a detail that is easy to forget after years of high-profile, professionalized activism on marriage equality. Even those in the LGBT community who think other issues should have had priority over marriage, or who reject the institution outright, must be heartened by this evidence that major social change that starts at the grassroots is still achievable in our age of deep political cynicism and polarization.
The little-noted irony of the marriage equality victory is that it arrives at a moment when more heterosexual Americans are turning away from marriage. This “retreat from marriage,” as family scholars call it, manifests in lower marriage rates, a higher age at first marriage, more children born to unmarried parents, and a high divorce rate. The causes of the retreat from marriage are complex, but it’s clear the phenomenon is not spread evenly over the American population; it is disproportionately people on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder who are delaying or foregoing marriage, or dissolving their existing marriages.
The economic conditions produced by de-industrialization and globalization are a significant factor: Stagnant wages and employment insecurity place less-educated Americans in a precarious position, and many now view marriage as a kind of middle-class luxury good that is out of reach or irrelevant to their daily struggles to survive.
Recognizing this larger reality of American marriage does not negate the value of expanding marriage rights to include same-sex couples, but as we celebrate marriage equality we must also acknowledge that the broader retreat from marriage is both a cause and a consequence of widening economic inequalities in our country. The optimism and enthusiasm of same-sex couples choosing marriage may be refreshing, but it will probably do little to reverse these broader trends.
Where are we headed? In the short term, the nationalization of same-sex marriage recognition will further increase the cultural visibility of sexual minorities and “alternative” family forms. Legal battles over same-sex marriage will shift to the terrain of religious liberty, where opponents of marriage equality will seek to use religious freedom arguments as grounds for ongoing discrimination against same-sex couples. Even if those legal fights are resolved fairly quickly, it will not be time for the LGBT rights movement to declare victory and close up shop.
The majority of U.S. states still lack anti-discrimination laws covering sexual orientation and gender identity, and efforts to pass a federal employment non-discrimination law have failed repeatedly in Congress. Hate crimes and bullying continue to pose difficult and sometimes life-threatening challenges for sexual minorities and gender variant people. And while Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out has generated mostly positive reactions, transgender rights issues are only starting to get the attention they require.
Finally, I hope that LGBT folk of all political persuasions will view the marriage victory as an invaluable opportunity to dedicate our resources and creativity to more coalition-building with other groups fighting for social justice. In public statements on the steps of the Supreme Court right after the ruling was announced, both lead plaintiff James Obergefell and plaintiffs’ attorney Mary Bonauto made a point to acknowledge the deep pain of the Charleston massacre and the reality that discrimination and hate persist in many forms in contemporary America. I thank them for using their moment in the public spotlight to link LGBT rights struggles to other important issues confronting our nation. Their sentiments represent the most inspiring and expansive elements of the LGBT rights crusade: a recognition of the importance of dignity and equality for all people, of how struggles for social justice are interlinked, and of the power of coalitions to create strength greater than the sum of their parts.
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Sean Hayes And His Husband Scott Celebrate SCOTUS’ Marriage Equality Ruling: VIDEO
Sean Hayes And His Husband Scott Celebrate SCOTUS’ Marriage Equality Ruling: VIDEO
Sean Hayes and his husband Scott Icengole were so elated by the Supreme Court’s decision Friday legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide they decided to make a video celebrating the momentous occasion.
The pair lip sync to “Fit As A Fiddle” sung by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor and don various old-timey ensembles including a Barbershop Quarter look, a get-up made popular with mustachioed body-builders in cut-out photo boards, and a Charlie Chaplin-esque ‘little tramp’ three-piece suit.
Wrote Hayes on Facebook:
What’s better than a supreme taco from Taco Bell? The Supreme Court of the United States. Thank you for making marriage legal for EVERYONE today. Best birthday gift ever. Here’s a celebration video from my legal husband and me. #MarriageEqualityForAll#LoveWins #SCOTUS — with Scott Icenogle.
Whimsy and joy await you below:
The post Sean Hayes And His Husband Scott Celebrate SCOTUS’ Marriage Equality Ruling: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
Sean Hayes And His Husband Scott Celebrate SCOTUS’ Marriage Equality Ruling: VIDEO
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WATCH: Lindsey Graham Wants GOP to Stop Fighting Marriage Equality
WATCH: Lindsey Graham Wants GOP to Stop Fighting Marriage Equality
‘Accept the court’s ruling; fight for the religious liberties of every American,’ says the South Carolina Senator and Republican presidential candidate.
Sunnivie Brydum
Marriage Equality and Science
Marriage Equality and Science
It’s worth noting that the decision to make same-sex marriage a nationwide right in America owes a big debt of gratitude to science.
Scientific research proved pretty conclusively that being gay is not a choice but a matter of genetics. Some of us would argue that even if you could choose to be gay, you should still get the same rights and protections as those who “chose” to be straight. Scientific evidence, however, revealed not just the immorality of prejudice, but the irrationality of it too — and completely changed the way ordinary people looked at the LGBT community.
Without science, this Supreme Court decision might have been delayed another century until mere decency prevailed over the entrenched forces of American fundamentalism. This is the power of science: to quietly change and improve our lives through research and evidence. But sometimes science is too quiet. This is why I and many others — Nobel laureates, science and tech stars, major science organizations, artists, politicians, university presidents and universities — support ScienceDebate.org, an organization calling for televised public debates in which the U.S. presidential and congressional candidates share their views on science and technology policy, health and medicine, and the environment.
The fact that science is complex and hard to talk about is the very reason why it must be talked about. Avoiding the subject allows it to become another form of magic, dangerously open to political manipulation and exploitation. This is brilliantly explained in this short TEDx talk by science writer and ScienceDebate.org board chair, Shawn Otto.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.