P.E.I. Premier Wade MacLauchlan aims for 'rejuvenation' Island in 2016
After the provincial election in May, MacLauchlan became the first gay man to serve as premier in Canada. It was an issue that made more of a splash outside the province after the election than it ever did during the campaign. MacLauchlan said it shouldn’t …

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FDA lifts ban on gay blood donors
The agency began considering the new regulations last year after years of lobbying from medical and gay-rights groups. It considered lifting the ban entirely but chose the one-year rule primarily after examining data from Australia, which has implemented a …

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Picpal claims world first ‘photo collage chat app’
It’s a new app whose creators say: “If you thought a selfie was just a selfie, then maybe it’s time you opened your mind and checked out Picpal – the world’s first photo collage chat app … free Australian and New Zealand NOVEMBER workshops.

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Le1f: "I Don't Think I'm Any Angrier Than I was Before"
I talked with Le1f about writing love songs, how gay rappers are approaching sexuality, and the “angry black man” trope. Catch our chat below, and stream Riot Boi here (Terrible Records / XL Recordings). Noisey: This is your debut album. Were you …

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Anti-Gay Bakers Finally Pay Their Fine. Conservatives Throw Them A Pity Party.

“This was the price the Kleins had to pay for following the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

The post Anti-Gay Bakers Finally Pay Their Fine. Conservatives Throw Them A Pity Party. appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/12/30/3735330/oregon-anti-gay-bakers-fine/

Going global: 5 GLAAD Global Voices highlights from 2015

2015 saw the expansion of GLAAD’s commitment to global LGBT acceptance grow. Throughout the past year, GLAAD developed relationships with organizations that best understand how to affect change in their area, including advocates in Russia, Ukraine, Philippines, China, Brazil, Nigeria, Uganda, Jamaica, Belize, South Africa, Korea, and beyond. These relationships will continue into 2016 to help advance our work.

Let’s take a look at a few of the places where GLAAD worked in 2015:

IRELAND

GLAAD helped win marriage equality in Ireland. In May, Ireland became the first country to pass marriage equality by a nationwide referendum. GLAAD worked with the YesEquality and #VoteWithUs campaigns by providing the best practices from the marriage equality referenda in the United States, leveraging celebrity voices, and creating original web-based content that was pitched and placed in the media. 

 

CHINA

Seven same-sex couples travelled from China, where the government does not recognize marriage equality, to a destination wedding in West Hollywood, a hub for LA’s LGBT community. The winners were selected through an online video contest hosted by one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, Alibaba, which is based in China. GLAAD worked with the organizers and couples, sharing photos of the couples getting ready, getting married, and doing interviews at the event. 

 

NIGERIA

GLAAD partnered with Nigerian advocates to release groundbreaking public poll results. While considerable opposition remains for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and their relations, the poll found that acceptance has grown over previous years. These findings also suggest that many Nigerians are unwilling to completely reject lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in their families, a step in the right direction for a country sporting the rejection-steeped SSMPA. 

 

THE VATICAN & THE U.S.

GLAAD announced the #TELLTHEPOPE campaign, leads the conversation as Pope Francis visits the United States. GLAAD partnered with LGBT, Catholic and LGBT organizations to write an open letter and a Change.org petition, calling on Pope Francis to meet with LGBT families and published a media resource guide for journalists covering the Pope’s visit. Through direct media contacts, meetings, and people we media trained, our work with the media garnered 672,000 media impressions. 

 

UNITED KINGDOM

GLAAD announced a new U.K. based operation. GLAAD held its first-ever international board meeting in London to announce the organization’s expansion to the U.K., which will help serve our expanded work in Europe and Africa.

 

Let’s see where Global Voices takes us in 2016. 

www.glaad.org/blog/going-global-5-glaad-global-voices-highlights-2015

VeriShow and AllCall Automotive Contact Center Announce a Partnership to Enhance Unique Automotive Dealership Interactive Experience
AllCall’s agents deliver real-time customer engagement with VeriShow’s capabilities for instant messaging, mobile texting, voice -video chat/conference, document sharing and e-contracting. – AllCall integrates naturally within dealerships’ internet sales …

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Gay Byrne 'recovering well' after suffering heart attack
RTÉ broadcaster Gay Byrne has suffered a heart attack. The former Late Late Show presenter was admitted to hospital yesterday. In a statement, RTÉ said the 81-year-old from Dublin was recovering well. “RTÉ can confirm that Gay Byrne suffered a heart …

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Local, global activists meet with UN on cost of LGBT exclusion
It’s especially important, now that we’ve passed marriage here in the United States, to understand what is happening in … LGBT people—and especially gay men—live with the very real fear of being arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned simply for loving …

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#Bestof2015: Cities Take the Lead on Expanding LGBT Equality

This year, HRC’s 2015 Municipal Equality Index (MEI) found that more and more cities across America are establishing fully inclusive local protections for LGBT people.

The MEI, which is a nationwide evaluation on the laws, policies, and services of municipalities and rates them on the basis of their inclusivity of LGBT people who live and work there, rated 47 out of 408 cities across the country with a 100-point score. That’s up from 38 cities in 2014, 25 cities in 2013 and 11 cities in 2012. At least 32 million people live in cities with fully inclusive local protections that are not guaranteed by the states in which they live.

The MEI rates each municipality in five categories: Non-Discrimination Laws, Municipality as Employer, Municipal Services, Law Enforcement and Relationship with the LGBT Community.

While cities must excel in all those categories to achieve a perfect score, cities must also embrace comprehensive transgender-inclusive laws and policies that often go beyond explicit protections offered by their state or the federal government. This year, 66 cities, or 16 percent, of those rated in 2015 are offering transgender-inclusive health care options to city employees.

This year’s MEI also advised cities on how to address the epidemic of anti-transgender violence and expand domestic partnership laws and policies.

Want to check your city’s score? Text ‘MYCITY’ to 30644 to check scores in your area. (SMS & data rates may apply. Text STOP to quit.)

Counting down to 2016, HRC is celebrating our greatest milestones and victories in 2015. It has been another incredible year for LGBT equality and we could not have done it without you — our members, readers and supporters–and we look forward to continuing our work in 2016. Stay tuned for more highlights from 2015.

www.hrc.org/blog/bestof2015-cities-take-the-lead-on-expanding-lgbt-equality?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed