LDS Church Shuns Kids of Same-sex Parents
Yesterday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints drew a line in the sand for children of same-sex couples denying them membership and inclusion in their church. They went on to specify that in order for these children to become members, they would have to disavow their family and get permission from the LDS Church’s leadership after they are 18 years old.

Of course the LDS Church, as any religious institution, has the protected right to choose whom to include and exclude.

This isn’t about that.

It’s not even about the children themselves, who are probably safer, actually, for being excluded from an institution that so vehemently disregards their humanity and value.

For me, this is about the pain and grief of the LDS families caught in a seismic moral tug-of-war between a world that’s moving swiftly in one direction while their church moves stalwartly in the opposite. Many LGBTQ people have lived this very experience, and it’s agonizing and frightening.

To those suffering, let us all offer our undying and unconditional love and support.

As Equality Utah Executive Director, Troy Williams said in a statement last night, “In America all churches have the religious liberty to welcome or exclude whomever they desire. But we know that children of same-sex parents are treasures of infinite worth. In our universe, all God’s children have a place in the choir.”

As do their parents. And those who love them.

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Open Question: Atheists, did you know that I come in peace?
Ok I was totally trolling you with my last question. It was my way of lightening the mood.

Yes, I’m a deist and you don’t share my beliefs. But thats ok. I actually don’t see anything wrong with being an atheist. If you don’t believe you don’t believe. Its no biggie.

You see people, we disagree on one issue. Just one. Put it aside, move on; its not worth having a seizure over.

There are so many other issues atheists and deists can agree on. Such as secularism, LGBT rights, abortion, human rights, evolution, possibly stem cell research, and possibly humanism.

I don’t impose anything or use my beliefs to infringe your rights. In fact as a humanist I’ll in speak out against you being discriminated by members of organised faiths.

So in true neo hippy spirit; I’d like to wish you all freedom peace and love. Or as a great man once said; live long and prosper!

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151106141534AA7izKl

Supreme Court to Hear Case Regarding Obamacare and Religious Refusals

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) granted cert to seven cases regarding contraception and religious refusals under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/supreme-court-to-hear-case-regarding-obamacare-and-religious-refusals?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Justin Bieber Tried To Throw Shade At Bette Midler. Silly Boy.

Bette Midler got her start as a bawdy entertainer in a gay bathhouse, where she no doubt got a firsthand lesson in sass. She then went on to build a huge name for herself as a singer, actress and all-around badass.

Related: Rare Footage Captures Bette Midler’s 1971 Farewell Performance At NYC Gay Bathhouse

So it’s no surprise that Justin Bieber experienced the backlash of the Divine Miss M when he feebly attempted to burn her in the media.

The whole things started when Justin’s Bieber was photographed on the beach in Bora Bora. But of course you remember that.

After the photos leaked, the Bieb’s dad took to Twitter to offer some very odd commentary on the situation, writing:

That’s when Bette said what everyone else was just thinking:

Justin simultaneously defended Dad and lashed out at Bette (or, as he calls her, “Britt”) in a Billboard interview:

“This Britt Meddler,” Bieber mused to Billboard. “I don’t even know who that is, honestly. I wanted to immediately say ‘Who is this lady?’, but then I’m just fueling this negativity. I do feel the photo was an invasion of my privacy. I felt super violated. My dad made light of it, but I don’t think that’s sick and twisted. It was funny. Dads are going to be dads.”

Well Bette just couldn’t resist having a good laugh at Justin’s transparent (and hilarious) attempt at marginalizing her: 

And just like that, @BrittMidler was born:

@BrittMeddler I peeeeeed!!!!

— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 6, 2015

When I first heard @justinbieber dropped my name pic.twitter.com/smVkusq5VR

— Britt Meddler (@BrittMeddler) November 5, 2015

Related: PHOTOS: Justin Bieber Caught Letting It ALL Hang Out During Naked Swim In Bora Bora

h/t: Attitude

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/J9x6TRpQqiM/justin-bieber-tried-to-throw-shade-at-bette-midler-silly-boy-20151106

One Million Moms Attacks Gay Dads Featured in ‘American Girl Magazine’ – WATCH

Anti-gay conservative group One Million Moms has attacked two gay dads that were featured alongside their adopted daughter in a recent issue of American Girl Magazine. The magazine, owned and operated by Mattel, is popular among young girls and is tied to the American Girl doll franchise.

The article in question focused on young Amaya Scheer, adopted daughter of Rob and Reece Scheer, and the charitable work she and her family do for foster children. Amaya along with her three adopted brothers were all once foster children themselves, as was their father Rob.

The Washington Post reports:

The article, by an adult writer for the magazine, is written through Amaya’s perspective. In it, Amaya promotes the charity one of her dads — Rob — started several years ago, called  Comfort Cases, which provides backpacks filled with pajamas, toothbrushes, blankets, stuffed animals and other items for foster kids. The group has gone from providing about 300 kits in 2013 to donating 7,000 to kids in the District, Maryland and Virginia foster care systems last year.

The article also goes on to detail how when Amaya arrived at the Scheers’ home in 2009, all her belongings were in a trash bag. Amaya recalls that when she was in foster care, the blankets she took with her from one foster home to the next “were all torn up” because “there wasn’t enough money to buy new ones.” The items provided by her family’s charity are meant to help foster children in need of basic toiletries and supplies.

However, in their online attack, One Million Moms made no mention of the charitable work done by the Scheer family and instead focused solely on attacking the Scheers and also Mattel, who it criticized for not remaining “neutral in the culture war”:

On their Web site, the group criticized the article, saying it should have focused “on the child and not about the parents since it is a magazine for children.” It went on: “The magazine also could have chosen another child to write about and remained neutral in the culture war.” The post goes on to say the magazine is trying to “desensitize our youth by featuring a family with two dads” and it calls homosexuality wrong. It also encourages subscribers to cancel the magazine.

Rob was dumbfounded by the response from One Million Moms:

“I don’t live in a plastic bubble,” Scheer said. “I am a gay man and I have four African American kids. I understand people out there are ugly. But I didn’t expect a group of moms to say we are sinners.” He said the family also received several unflattering calls to their home.

“How could somebody hate us so much in their heart by looking at our kids?” he asked of the response from the One Million Moms groups. “That’s what shocked me.”

Rob added that One Million Moms completely missed the point of the story. It’s “not about two gay men” he says; “It’s about kids in foster care that are carrying trash bags with their belongings. That’s not acceptable.”

American Girl was also “disappointed” by One Million Moms’ reaction according to company spokesperson Julie Parks. She said the piece on Amaya was meant to “shine a spotlight on a girl who is making a difference.” She added, “We have no agenda with the article other than to shine a spotlight on Amaya.”

Watch a news report from NBC Washington, below:

The post One Million Moms Attacks Gay Dads Featured in ‘American Girl Magazine’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

One Million Moms Attacks Gay Dads Featured in ‘American Girl Magazine’ – WATCH

Nebraska Agrees to Change Birth Certificates to Include Same-Sex Parents

A quiet change is in the works behind the scenes at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, that will soon list the names of both same-sex spouses on their children’s birth certificates, reported the Associated Press.

State attorneys who are contesting a lawsuit by several same-sex couples who challenged Nebraska’s marriage ban revealed the change in court documents filed Tuesday. The U.S. Supreme Court decided to make marriage equality the law of the land on June 26, but the American Civil Liberties Union is supporting the couples in their fight to force a Nebraska judge to officially strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

HHS spokeswoman Leah Bucco-White told the AP the state agency has begun the process to list both a child’s biological parent and the parent’s same-sex spouse on the child’s birth certificate. However, for now she said HHS is sticking with the state’s current birth certificate form, which does not include a place for same-sex spouses.

There is reason for concern, said ACLU Nebraska legal director Amy Miller. She said her office has received calls from family attorneys in the last two weeks who were told birth certificates issued to same-sex parents will list the non-biological parent as “friend.”

Bucco-White denied that the term “friend” would be listed on the form, but she declined to say how it might be worded.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/families/2015/11/06/nebraska-agrees-change-birth-certificates-include-same-sex-parents

We Don't Need A #WhiteGirlsAreMagic Hashtag

Black Twitter has been in uproar ever since the hashtag #WhiteGirlsAreMagic began trending on Thursday, which was seemingly created in opposition to the popular #BlackGirlsAreMagic movement. 

While the outrage is understandable, it’s also unfortunately familiar. This keeps happening, and it has to stop. In the past, hashtag movements created to celebrate people of color have been co-opted with the same racist ideology, most notably #WhiteGirlsRock, which was started in 2013 in opposition of BET’s “Black Girls Rock” celebration of black womanhood and beauty. 

The #BlackGirlsAreMagic hashtag is not designed to exclude anyone, but to celebrate a group who often feels ignored and unappreciated. It’s an expression of sisterhood and solidarity. There is something incredibly empowering about putting an idea out there that you have been socialized to believe isn’t true. By tweeting it into existence as it were, black women are asserting their personhood and their self-love, not denying anyone else’s. 

Let’s make something clear: All women rock. White women, black women, Latina women, Asian women, all women are beautiful and unique. And all women must grapple with unrealistic beauty standards and expectations. But the fact of the matter is that society doesn’t teach us that we’re all beautiful. In the hierarchical structure of beauty, white beauty has been privileged above all others. It’s evident in the messaging we get on television and in movies, in magazines, and on fashion runways (where 87 percent of models are white). 

This is the reason so many women of color struggle with beauty issues that are tied specifically to their race — the messaging is that they aren’t beautiful or special or worthy because they aren’t white. White women, while they do receive harmful messages, are not made to believe they are inferior because of their race. As one white Twitter user eloquently put it:

There are many women of color online who are actively trying to combat negative racial beauty messaging by openly embracing and loving what makes them special. They’ve created blogs like Reclaiming The Latina Tag and hashtags like #AsianFaceAppreciationDay and #carefreeblackgirl. In 2014, blogger CaShawn Thompson coined the phrase “Black girls are magic!” on Twitter, which turned into a popular hashtag across the web. 

“I say ‘magic’ because it’s something that people don’t always understand,” Thompson said in an interview with The LA Times. “Sometimes our accomplishments might seem to come out of thin air, because a lot of times, the only people supporting us are other black women.” 

It’s hard to understand what is so threatening about women of color exerting self-confidence. In a perfect world, all women would be celebrated equally. But we’re not there yet. Hashtags like #WhiteGirlsAreMagic may continue to spring up, and their most ardent supporters, unapologetic white supremacists, will never care about the damage that they do. But we need to question why these hashtags gain steam to begin with, and why they appear only when people of color try to empower themselves. Expressions of self-love should never be met with hate.

Also on HuffPost: 

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Open Question: Is it true that Christians In Texas Win Vote To Ban LGBT People From Public Toilets?
that what this guy say

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151106121437AA5cvFS

Congratulations, Janet Mock and Aaron Tredwell!

Last night, Janet Mock, transgender advocate, TV host and author, married Aaron Tredwell.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/congratulations-janet-mock-and-aaron-tredwell?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

This Guy Is On PrEP And Admits He “Likes To Party”

This guy on PrEP likes to party and he’s not gonna let you slut-shame him. Public Health Solutions has released a pro-PrEP ad and, well, see for yourself.

We’re all about getting the word out, but we can’t believe nobody caught the link between a young, hot gay guy saying he “likes to party” and the link to PnP (i.e. crystal meth) that’s so closely aligned with “partying.”

It’s an interesting concept, but we’re a bit…meh on the execution.

Rob Smith

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/gPI_19DF77Q/this-guy-is-on-prep-and-admits-he-likes-to-party-20151106