Jesus Has Been Reimagined As A Trans Woman

The Bible doesn’t say Jesus was transgender, but this playwright has decided to tell it that way anyway. 

Jo Clifford stars in a one-woman show called “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven” that depicts Jesus as a transgender woman. The show toys with many other biblical parables, and a screening of a past performance will be shown on November 15 at the Outburst Queer Arts Festival in Ireland.

“There’s a little sermon that reminds the audience that Jesus never had a single word of condemnation for transpeople,” Clifford told The Huffington Post. “The show is a reminder that we have existed throughout this world and many cultures have accepted and celebrated our existence.”

But not everyone agrees with her. The show received some serious backlash when it debuted at the Glasgay! arts festival in 2009. Droves of angry Christian protesters picketed the theater, holding signs that read “God: My Son Is Not A Pervert.” Box office staffers received death threats, and a plain-clothed police officer was in attendance at the live performance to make sure Clifford didn’t get attacked. 

“I was very upset and very traumatized,” she told HuffPost. “It brought back distress from early emotional abuse that I suffered.”

Clifford identifies as a trans woman, but the 65-year-old spent years suppressing her authentic self. Writing and performing theater pieces allowed her to explore her feelings and realize she was happier identifying and presenting as a woman.

“Being an artist helped me enormously because I would always make female characters the central characters of the play and I could live out in my imagination the female identity in my life,” she said. 

Clifford is also a practicing Christian, but was estranged from her faith for many years.

“It was very clear to me that the only way I could belong to the church was through being in the closet and living a lie,” she said. Now, she credits her renewed Christian devotion to a particularly LGBTI-friendly church she attends in Edinburgh. 

“Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven” has received far less negative responses since that first show. In fact, Clifford has performed in churches and theaters across the country, and has even garnered interest from international theaters. 

“It’s been moving and exciting to see how many Christian people are supporting me now, as well as non-believers,” she said. “It seems to speak to them in a way that I find really beautiful.”

For more information about the play, head here.

Also on HuffPost:

— 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.

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Trans boy in Texas to critics: ‘You’re not the person to tell me who I am’

No one can tell 12 year old Evan Singleton that he is too young to be living his life as a male.

It was three years ago that the transgender boy from Texas began living as a boy and he is very articulate in his response to anyone who thinks he’s too young to transition and to be taking puberty blockers.

‘I’d say, “Well, you’re not the person to tell me who I am,”‘ Henderson tells Al-Jazeera America in a segment that re-aired after the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was defeated last week.

Henderson is quite clear on who he even believes has the right to share their opinion about his gender identity with him.

‘Unless I’m bugging them, unless I’m going, “Haha, I’m trans,” they have no right to come into my life and tell me what I need to do,’ he says. ‘That’s what my parents are for, and my parents are doing a great job raising me. I do my chores, I clean my room, and I help out. Not to gloat, but I’m a great kid, I’m getting A’s and B’s in school, and they have no right to come telling us, our family, what to do.’

Singleton is enrolled in a program for trans youth in Dallas at Children’s Medical Center called Genecis (GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support).  According to the program’s website, puberty blockers is standard of care that grants time to gender dysphoric adolescents as they contemplate their long-term gender identity.

His mother had gone to more than 100 doctors and could not find anyone to treat her child until the family went to Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

‘If I went through puberty, I probably would have been one of those kids who just slice off their breasts,’ Singleton says. ‘And then, my mom would come in and be like, “Oh my gosh!” and then I’d probably go to a mental institution. It [would] probably be really awful.’

He is home schooled now after being subjected to bullying at school for being trans.

‘I’d sit alone. I’d eat alone,’ Singleton says. ‘I had no one to talk to. It hurt very much … [My classmates] hurt my feelings … they tried so hard to make me break down and do something and to make me lose control.’

The post Trans boy in Texas to critics: ‘You’re not the person to tell me who I am’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-boy-in-texas-to-critics-youre-not-the-person-to-tell-me-who-i-am/

Uh-Oh, Turns Out This Celebrity Hairstylist’s Products Cause Baldness

Some might argue that bald is a good look right now — hey, it definitely works for Taye Diggs.

But if you’re one of the 200 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit agains “hairstylist to the stars” Chaz Dean and marketer Guthy-Renke, chances are it wasn’t the look you were going for.

The suit alleges that Dean’s WEN line of products, contrary to their claims of keeping your locks fresh and hydrated, actually cause severe scalp irritation and baldness.

Related: Man Claims Propecia Made His Weenie Shrink Then Drove Him To Insanity

“I had started to get a bald spot, and then I found another one in the back, and that’s when I kind of started to get worried,” Tanya Norman, one of those represented, said. “I started bawling. I couldn’t stop crying.”

We’d be crying, too!

Celebrities like Brooke Shields, Angie Harmon and Alyssa Milano have all endorsed the WEN line.

Related: PHOTOS: Guys With Receding Hairlines Are Sexy As Hell

Dean operates a bougie hair boutique out of Hollywood, CA, where he may suddenly find his client roster thinning as rapidly as his customers’ hairlines.

“What we understand about the product and how it causes hair loss is it contains virtually no cleanser,” attorney Amy Davis said. “It’s like using lotion to wash your hair, so instead of removing the product, when you rinse it off, it just becomes impacted in your hair follicle.”

The federal judge has issued a stay in the case, and the parties are proceeding to mediation.

via CBS Local

Dan Tracer

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Australian Senate Says No to Plebiscite on Marriage Equality – VIDEO

The Australian Senate on Wednesday voted against holding a national vote, or plebiscite, on same-sex marriage and called on newly elected Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to allow a free vote in the parliament on the issue.

Turnbull has previously said a plebiscite should be held to resolve the debate over marriage equality in Australia.

9News reports:

The upper house on Wednesday backed a Greens motion to urge Mr Turnbull to give Liberal politicians a free vote by the end of the year, noting a national plebiscite could encourage hate speech.

Legislators in the senate suggested that the parliament should vote on marriage equality rather than waste time and money on a national plebiscite. Out gay senator Robert Simms (above), spokesman for the Green Party on LGBTI issues and marriage equality remarked, “Australians don’t want another opinion poll on this issue. They want the Parliament to legislate.” Via Gay News Network:

“Momentum continues to build for marriage equality in this country,” Simms said.

“Today the Australian Senate rejected a divisive and costly plebiscite and instead called on the Prime Minister to grant a free vote on marriage equality.” […]

The motion passed “on the voices” with no precise count taken of who was for or against but a clear majority was in favour of the motion.

Meanwhile, Australia was publicly criticized at the United Nations for its failure to afford same-sex couples equal marriage rights. Via Marilyn Stowe: 

Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Iceland all singled out Australia for not allowing same sex couples to marry. The Swedish delegation asked what steps Australia would take to correct this issue. They also asked if the country would “provide full recognition of same-sex marriages from overseas”.

The delegates from Holland asked what action Australia was going to take to ensure that “same-sex couples and people with diverse sex and genders will be granted access to the civil institution of marriage”. Irish delegates called on Australia to “to take steps towards equal recognition of same-sex marriage”.

Only 2 weeks ago, Australia’s new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reiterated his support for a plebiscite before the House of Representatives.

Many opponents of a plebiscite fear that a national vote would only give homophobes a platform to spew their bigotry, harming the nation’s LGBT community.

Check out this great examination of the perils of a plebiscite down under via Same Same, below.

The post Australian Senate Says No to Plebiscite on Marriage Equality – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Australian Senate Says No to Plebiscite on Marriage Equality – VIDEO

WATCH: Fired for Rejecting Trans Boy, Houston Daycare Workers Vow to Sue

Two women fired by a Houston-area daycare say their rights were violated when they were terminated for refusing to accept the transgender child of a gay couple, and ProjectQ reports they’re threatening to file a federal lawsuit.

Madeline Kirksey (pictured above, center) and Akesha Bogany Wyatt are represented by notoriously antigay attorneys Briscoe Cain and Andy Taylor, the latter of whom led the legal fight to overturn Houston’s nondiscrimination ordinance, notes ProjectQ. 

On Tuesday, the attorneys held a news conference to announce the filing of a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the Children’s Lighthouse Learning Centers in Katy, Texas had violated the religious rights of their clients. During that conference, Taylor publicly dismissed the wishes of both the child and his parents by repeatedly referring to him as a girl:

“A little 6-year-old is not yet ready to make those types of choices. At that age, they are still trying to decide what kind of ice cream and what kind of breakfast cereal they enjoy. Their opinions on things change not only on a daily basis but an hourly basis. And so to empower and indeed to inflict upon a little 6-year-old girl the heavy decision of their sexual identity is nothing short of child abuse.”

Taylor argued that the firings violated the Constitutional rights of the women, and hinted that the EEOC complaint would allege the firings were illegal based on religious, gender and age discrimination, according to ProjectQ.

“Madeline Kirksey and Akesha Wyatt stood up not only based on their own faith, their religious convictions, but they stood up for this little girl and they said ‘not so fast,'” Taylor said. 

ProjectQ identified Taylor (pictured above, right) as an antigay activist who challenged HERO in court, lost, and then won in a Texas Supreme Court decision that prompted the November 3 referendum that resulted in HERO’s defeat. Cain (pictured above left) is also an attorney as well as a failed politician who was endorsed by antigay activist Steven Hotze, a Houston doctor who funded the repeal effort. Cain told reporters he sees this case as part of the religious right’s larger struggle:

“There is an agenda going on right now in the country and that agenda has no concern with the health or welfare of children or the moral consciences and the religious beliefs of others. It is concerned with one thing and that is to change, fundamentally, the fabric of our culture.”

Kirksey, who said she was a manager at the Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center, told Houston TV station KRIV that the child’s parents gave the school little advance notice of their son’s transition, and cut his hair short. When she lobbied school administrators to inform the parents of all students that the child was transgender, she and Wyatt were fired, she said. 

The women were dismissed the same day HERO was defeated. The ordinance protected 15 classes of citizens — including LGBT people — from discrimination. Taylor helped lead the vastly outspent opposition to victory with one misleading, provably false transphobic scare tactic that ultimately became a memorable and successful slogan: “No men in women’s restrooms.”

Taylor repeated that theme at Tuesday’s news conference: 

“Can you only imagine the reaction of a couple of dozen 6-year-olds when they learn that Sally all of the sudden is Johnny? They may think this is a cruel game of Opposite Day where whatever they feel like they can say they are the opposite gender of who they really are. Are we going to have little girls running into boys’ restrooms and little boys running into girls’ restrooms?”

“This isn’t a problem that is just limited to Katy, Texas. This is a problem that can happen to every parent of a child in a school setting whether it’s public or private in every state of our fine nation. And so it’s time to take a stand and to push back and to say, you know what, we’re not going to allow little girls to be humiliated and attacked in a school setting simply because their gay parents declare, suddenly, that they are a little boy.”

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/families/2015/11/11/watch-fired-rejecting-trans-boy-houston-daycare-workers-vow-sue

Sandra Bullock Wants More Than Just Equal Pay For Women

Sandra Bullock knows that closing the wage gap is just one step towards gender equality. 

In Variety’s cover story this week, Bullock talked about why more than equal pay is necessary to truly level the playing field for women in Hollywood. “It’s a bigger issue than money,” she said. “I know we’re focused on the money part right now. That’s just a byproduct.”

Bullock said there’s a big difference in the way actresses and actors are described in the news, with women constantly being “mocked and judged.” 

“I keep saying, ‘Why is it that no one is standing up and saying you can’t say that about a woman?'” she told Variety. “I always make a joke: ‘Watch, we’re going to walk down the red carpet, I’m going to be asked about my dress and my hair while the man standing next to me will be asked about his performance and political issues.’”

She said that we need to treat women like they’re equals in order for issues such as the wage gap to fall in place and ultimately fix itself. “Once we start shifting how we perceive women and stop thinking about them as ‘less than,’ the pay disparity will take care of itself. There’s a much bigger issue at hand. I’m glad Hollywood got caught,” Bullock said, referring to the Sony hack that revealed A-list actresses like Jennifer Lawrence and Charlize Theron were being paid less than their male coworkers. 

Bullock said that she knows it’s going to be hard to explain the issue to her now 5-year-old son, Louis. “How do you explain to your son that the ERA hasn’t passed? I want him to think I’m the boss and women are equal, but I can’t really support that in the outside world,” she said. “I hope in my lifetime, for him, everything is a level-playing field.”

We hope so too, Sandra. 

Head over to Variety to read more from Bullock. 

Also on HuffPost:  

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Several GOP Candidates Join Anti-LGBT Rally; Supports ‘Death to Gays’ Pastor

Over the weekend, several Republican candidates spoke at the National Religious Liberties Conference, a meeting led by anti-LGBT Pastor Kevin Swanson.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/several-gop-candidates-join-anti-lgbt-rally-supports-death-to-gays-pastor?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Straight Man Considers “Becoming Gay” After His Girlfriend Cheats On Him, Fears He’ll Never Trust Again

A 22-year-old Botswana man is seriously considering “re-orienting” his sexual orientation after his girlfriend cheated on him not once, not twice, but multiple times.

In a letter to advice columnist Gasegale Sengwaketse (try saying that three times fast!) at The Voice BW, the troubled young man writes: “I’m a 22-year-old guy who is heartbroken because my girlfriend cheats on me. I forgave her more than once but she keeps on repeating although she had said it was a mistake the first time it happened.”

Related: Straight Man Seeks Advice After Sleeping With His Married Boss

“I feel very sad because of what she’s doing to me and I’m beginning to lose trust in women,” the man continues. “I’m scared that even if I find another woman she would also cheat on me.”

“Should I become gay or what?” he wonders.

Sengwaketse wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter.

“Should you ‘become gay’?” he writes. “What a question!”

Related: Bi Guy Writes For Advice After Doing The Nasty With His Fiancee’s Father

“Being gay is not something that you can just wake up one day and choose to ‘become’; and besides, even gay people have cheaters among them.”

“What if you ‘become’ gay and your partner cheats on you, what would you do?” Sengwaketse asks. “Would you then lose trust in men and go back to dating women?”

The bottom line,Sengwaketse says, is this: “You can’t just switch on and off between being heterosexual and homosexual.”

He concludes by telling the young man he should “seek counseling” for his “constant heartbreak.”

We say forget counseling, dump your girlfriend then give us a [email protected]!

Related: Straight Man Unsure About His Buddy’s Shower Room Butt-Slapping Antics

Graham Gremore

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Rick Scarborough: We’ll Find A Cure For AIDS If the U.S. Rejects Homosexuality and Repents – VIDEO

Anti-gay pastor Rick Scarborough–who back in July promised to set himself on fire if same-sex marriage became legal–has said that AIDS is God’s judgement on sin.

He also claimed that a cure for AIDS would be found by “some sharp probably Christian or Jewish researcher” if the U.S. repented for tolerating homosexuality.

RELATED: Evangelical Blowhard Rick Scarborough: Gay Parents Damning Their Children to ‘An Early Grave Called Hell’ – VIDEO

Right Wing Watch notes that Scarborough–who later back-tracked on his promise of self-immolation–was speaking at a “Prayer For Our Warriors Conference” at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Arizona.

Playing the victim card, he added that gay rights groups have “subverted the truth” by attacking “those of us who stand for God and country without apology.”

Back in 2014, rabid Scarborough said that god should punish the U.S. because Barack Obama appoints gay ambassadors.

Watch a clip of Scarborough’s speech below.

The post Rick Scarborough: We’ll Find A Cure For AIDS If the U.S. Rejects Homosexuality and Repents – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Michael Fitzgerald

Rick Scarborough: We’ll Find A Cure For AIDS If the U.S. Rejects Homosexuality and Repents – VIDEO