64 Congressional Democrats Ask Dept. of Education to Protect LGBT Students
Members of Congress want the U.S. Department of Education’s Secretary Arne Duncan to help stop LGBT bullying and discrimination in schools.
Raffy Ermac
Daily Archives: July 14, 2015
Nick Jonas was just eight when he was taught by his father to accept gays
Nick Jonas was just eight when he was taught by his father to accept gays
Nick Jonas has become a staunch LGBTI ally in recent years but his acceptance of gay people goes back much further.
During an appearance at the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles this week, Jonas credited his Protestant minister father and a lesson he taught him when the singer-actor was just eight.
He was performing as a member of the Jonas Brothers and realized one of the performers in their show was gay.
‘One of my friends who was one of the guys in the show – his name was Mark – was leaving the theater one day and I saw him leave with his partner. I looked at my dad and said, “Oh, that’s different,” and he was like, “It’s all love, it’s all the same.”
‘It just connected with me immediately,’ he told the crowd at the Harmony Gold Theatre. ‘I came from a religious background and my dad is actually a pastor. But he is an incredible man with an amazing open mind and heart.’
The post Nick Jonas was just eight when he was taught by his father to accept gays appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Salvadoran Trans Man Says He Was Brutalized by Police After Pride Parade
Salvadoran Trans Man Says He Was Brutalized by Police After Pride Parade
Aldo Alexander Peña leaked pictures to social media of his disfigured face after police, he says, broke his eye socket while arresting him on false charges.
Mitch Kellaway
What It Would Be Like If Key And Peele (And 2 Chainz) Formed A Wedding Band
What It Would Be Like If Key And Peele (And 2 Chainz) Formed A Wedding Band
The key to a great wedding reception is great music. And the key to great wedding music is Key and Peele.
In a new YouTube sketch, the comedy duo play members of a fictional Scottsdale, Arizona-based wedding band called Absorption.
“What we do is take popular songs and we tailor-make them to your wedding so they can only be performed for your wedding,” Key says.
In other words, wedding dance floor mainstays are rewritten for the marrying couple. “A little ditty about Jack and Diane” becomes “A little ditty about Rooja and Padmalaya, two American kids growing up eating tikka masala.”
Another tune in Absorption’s repertoire is Macklemore’s same-sex wedding anthem “Same Love,” which they flawlessly revamped and personalized for two of their clients.
“They can’t change even if they try, even if we wanted them to. Chris keeps Chris warm, Chris keeps Chris warm.”
And if couples want to take things up a notch, they can always upgrade to the deluxe package, which features performer Master Collaborator — a.k.a. 2 Chainz with a saxophone.
Our advice: definitely splurge for the deluxe package.
H/T Mashable
Also on HuffPost:
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Thanks to Ellen, Rosie and Melissa Etheridge, Jane Lynch never had to have a big coming out moment
Thanks to Ellen, Rosie and Melissa Etheridge, Jane Lynch never had to have a big coming out moment
By the time Glee came around in 2009 and made her a big star, Jane Lynch had scores of television and film roles to her credit and had never claimed to be straight.
But her being a lesbian did not create all kinds of headlines the way Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out did in 1997.
‘I didn’t have a coming out moment,’ she said in interview on SiriusXM Progress this week. ‘I’m an actor and when people started taking an interest in me, where they wanted to write about me, I didn’t say I wasn’t gay, so,’ I never had that.
‘And I have to give kudos to people like Melissa Etheridge and k.d lang and Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell, all of those people who came before and at the height of their career, when they had a lot to lose, stood up and said this is who I am. And the world kind of went [gasps]…and then, nothing happened. That was really great and they kind of cleared a path for me to just stroll down.’
Lynch, who turned 55 on Tuesday (15 July), had a high-profile marriage and divorce from Lara Embry during the run of Glee but she is not critical of others who choose to remain more private about their sexual orientation.
‘Everybody has their own way to deal with it,’ she says. ‘I don’t concern myself with other people’s — whether or not they want to come out, it’s not something for me think about.
‘Everybody has their own psychology, their own issues, their own subconscious material. For me to make a broad statement – it’s like outing people. I think that was a horrible thing. You might be dealing with a very fragile part of someone’s psyche. So I think everybody has to go their own path.’
Lynch, a two-time Emmy winner, has just begun her third season of NBC’s Hollywood Game Night and stars in the upcoming NBC sitcom Angel From Hell.
The post Thanks to Ellen, Rosie and Melissa Etheridge, Jane Lynch never had to have a big coming out moment appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
HIV Experts Decry Sentencing of Michael Johnson in Controversial Case as ‘Barbaric’
HIV Experts Decry Sentencing of Michael Johnson in Controversial Case as ‘Barbaric’
Following Monday’s sentencing of college wrestler Michael Johnson to 30 1/2 years in prison for “recklessly infecting” a sexual partner with HIV, various experts have spoken out against the judge’s decision.
Johnson, 23, was arrested in 2013 after a one-time sex partner reported to the police that Johnson had infected him with HIV. Ultimately, more men joined in bringing charges against him.
On Monday, calling Johnson’s crimes “very severe,” St. Charles, Missouri County Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham sentenced the defendant to 30 1/2 years behind bars — allowing Johnson’s lesser charges to run concurrent with his 30-year sentence for felony conviction of recklessly transmitting HIV without disclosure.
Many are calling for reform of Missouri’s HIV laws that make it a felony for people diagnosed with HIV to have sexual relations without “documenting their disclosed HIV status.” The dissenting voices are not just coming from those who personally knew Johnson, but also medical professionals who say such laws do not help prevent the spread of HIV.
Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, is an expert on HIV among adolescents, and founder/director of the Health and Education Alternatives for Teens (HEAT). Birnbaum said:
HIV criminal laws have no positive impact on the spread of HIV. Sentencing people living with HIV to prison for having sex will, based on decades of HIV clinical experience, only drive people away from health centers where they can learn their HIV status and get the medical care they need.
LaTrischa Miles, a member of the Missouri AIDS Task Force, founder of GRACE of Greater Kansas City, and co-founder of Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN-USA), hits on the same point in a statement. Miles said:
The state of Missouri spends significant resources encouraging its citizens to be tested for HIV. The state then prosecutes people who test positive for HIV and are unable to prove that they disclosed this to their sexual partners. That just doesn’t make sense.
Mayo Schreiber is the Deputy Director of The Center for HIV Law and Policy and a long-time criminal defense attorney Said Shreiber:
The criminal statute that Michael Johnson was convicted of violating was originally passed in 1988, at a time when HIV was considered a ‘death sentence.’ Today, with proper treatment, HIV is a chronic, manageable disease and those with HIV can expect to live a full, healthy life. Yet violation of the Missouri law is a class A felony, with a sentencing range of 10-30 years or life imprisonment. Other class A felonies include murder or child abandonment resulting in death. Punishing Michael Johnson as if he is a murderer because state officials have failed to address a severely outdated, irrational criminal law is not only fundamentally unfair, it is barbaric.
The post HIV Experts Decry Sentencing of Michael Johnson in Controversial Case as ‘Barbaric’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Jake Folsom
HIV Experts Decry Sentencing of Michael Johnson in Controversial Case as ‘Barbaric’
Bill Nye's Take On Whether Being Gay Makes Evolutionary Sense
Bill Nye's Take On Whether Being Gay Makes Evolutionary Sense
When you were a kid, did it seem like Bill Nye had all the answers?
Turns out “The Science Guy” is a still a great dude to go to with questions. On last week’s episode of Big Think’s web series “Tuesdays with Bill,” the bowtie-clad scientist responded to a reader’s question about whether being gay makes evolutionary sense.
Watch the episode and read the full transcript here.
The viewer wrote:
If the purpose of a species is to reproduce and survive, how would it make sense evolutionarily for humans to have same-sex preferences? Are humans the only ones who practice homosexuality? And if so does this mean that homosexuality is a product of human’s personal whim as opposed to instinct?
Nye notes that he’s “not an authority” on the subject, but points out that homosexuality has been documented among chimps and Bonobos.
He doesn’t get into the nitty-gritty on whether homosexuality makes “sense” evolutionary, but instead seems to come to the conclusion that the question isn’t that important — at least when it comes to how we treat other people.
“Let’s celebrate being alive, everybody,” he says. “Apparently it’s something that happens in nature and look, we’re all here.”
There is scientific support for the idea that homosexuality has an evolutionary basis. Italian researchers found that the mothers and maternal aunts of gay men tend to have more children than other women. They theorize that the same gene that that might promote homosexuality in men may also promote fertility in women and make them more attractive to men.
— 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.
Positive reactions and experiences have Caitlyn Jenner believing ‘the future looks bright’
Positive reactions and experiences have Caitlyn Jenner believing ‘the future looks bright’
Since Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself to the world on the cover of Vanity Fair six weeks ago, she has racked up millions of Twitter followers, quickly become a fashion icon, and on Wednesday (15 July) she will be presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage at the ESPY Awards.
‘I knew that my transition would get some response, but I certainly never expected all of this,’ Jenner writes in a new blog entry for WhoSay. ‘It’s honestly been incredibly positive. I’ve met so many accepting people.’
‘It’s been both eye-opening and difficult to see firsthand what so many members of the trans community have had to go through just to be themselves,’ she writes. ‘I hope to help raise awareness of these hardships so that it becomes a less painful process going forward. That said, the future looks bright.’
Through her new weekly WhoSay column, Jenner takes questions from readers and was asked what has been her favorite part so far of becoming Caitlyn.
‘Just being able to be myself,’ Jenner writes. ‘Recently I went on a trip with some of my new friends and I had such a wonderful time. I packed for the first time as just Caitlyn – nobody else – which is the first time I’ve ever done that.
‘I was gone for five days and had such a fantastic experience with all of these girls who have all been through the same thing. We had so many stories to tell. We had so many things that we were all dealing with. It was just truly a liberating experience. I knew then that I could never go back.’
The 1976 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon was also asked what the ‘tipping point’ was to make her leave behind her male identity as Bruce Jenner whose fame was renewed as part of the reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
‘I had all of the issues, but I was growing up in a very different time, and I had no information,’ Jenner writes. ‘Meanwhile, I had all of my diversions – sports … this … that … married … family – but after 65 years, here I was right back with the same problems that I had when I was 10 years old, and I had to finally do something about that.’
The post Positive reactions and experiences have Caitlyn Jenner believing ‘the future looks bright’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Senate Fails to Pass Critical Protections for LGBT Youth
Senate Fails to Pass Critical Protections for LGBT Youth
Majority of Republican Senators shamefully vote down the Student Non-Discrimination Act
HRC.org
Three Same-Sex Couples Sue Arkansas Over Children’s Birth Certificates
Three Same-Sex Couples Sue Arkansas Over Children’s Birth Certificates
Three female same-sex couples have sued the state of Arkansas over the state’s refusal to list two same-sex parents on their children’s birth certificates.
The lawsuit, filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, resulted after the state would only list the biological parents on the birth certificates of the children in question. The three couples who filed the lawsuit (and other parents in their situation) were told they would need a court order to amend the birth certificates — to add the other parent.
The suit says the state’s actions “(deprives) these children of the dignity, legitimacy, security, support and protections provided to children of heterosexual couples, regardless of marital status.”
Kerry Krell, Spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Health, has said the state had elected to use court orders while the state evaluated what changes would be made to the law in the wake of Obergefell.
Cheryl Maples, the attorney for the three couples, has said she hopes the case will come before a judge. She says that prior to this case, she had seen more couples in the same situation. Said Maples: “Some [couples] have gone ahead and gone through adoption procedures because of the problems they had. They shouldn’t have to…They should be treated like heterosexual couples.”
[Via SF Gate]
The post Three Same-Sex Couples Sue Arkansas Over Children’s Birth Certificates appeared first on Towleroad.
Jake Folsom
Three Same-Sex Couples Sue Arkansas Over Children’s Birth Certificates
