HRC Arkansas Works to Create Inclusive Spaces for LGBTQ Youth
HRC Arkansas was proud to participate in Teach for America’s Arkansas Student Leadership Initiative Kick-Off Summit on Saturday, November 7.
HRC.org
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New Video May Corroborate Story That Antigay Cruise Ship Staff Taunted Passenger Moments Before His Death
New Video May Corroborate Story That Antigay Cruise Ship Staff Taunted Passenger Moments Before His Death
New details have emerged surrounding the death of Bernardo Elbaz, the 35-year-old man who fell from the Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas cruise ship last Friday.
Lawyer Michael Winkleman, who represents Elbaz’s family, released a short clip from a video that may corroborate previous claims that his client was harassed by crew members for being gay.
Related: Lawyer Suggests Man Who Fell From Cruise Ship Was Taunted By Antigay Crew Members
In the video, Elbaz can be seen shouting at a two security guards who are blocking the door of in his cabin aboard the luxury liner.
“I have a husband,” Elbaz can be heard arguing. “I am not a pedophile!”
The video was shot just minutes before Elbaz plunged overboard to his death.
According to Winkleman, Elbaz and his husband, Erik, were repeatedly harassed by crew members on the ship, who referred to the men as “lipstick” and pedophiles.
“At the bar there were comments like, ‘Hey, Lipstick,’” Winkleman said. “Bernardo was sensitive about those issues.”
Did this ultimately drove the man to jump overboard? Winkleman claims it was not a suicide, calling it an “act of protest” fueled by anger and being over-served alcohol at the ship’s bar.
Related: EXCLUSIVE: Gay Couple Arrested On Atlantis Events Cruise Tell Their Side Of The Story
“What’s most important is this was not a domestic dispute, this was not a suicide,” Winkleman said. “This was an act of protest based on the way that this legally gay, legally married couple was mistreated.”
Winkleman says he plans to release more footage corroborating his clients’ story later today.
Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean says that staff members “did not have a physical altercation” with Elbaz and that they were “unable to prevent his jumping from the stateroom balcony.”
In a prepared statement, the company said: “Our ship’s security officers responded to reports of domestic dispute loud enough to be heard from several staterooms away. The officers were not in the room when the guest chose to jump off his balcony.”
The company has not responded to the allegations that crew members used antigay rhetoric towards Elbaz and his husband.
Related: A Straight Couple Accidentally Boarded a Gay Cruise. Should They Sue?
h/t: Daily Mail
Graham Gremore
Trans Texas Boy Brilliantly Smacks Down Haters: ‘You’re Not The Person To Tell Me Who I Am’ – WATCH
Trans Texas Boy Brilliantly Smacks Down Haters: ‘You’re Not The Person To Tell Me Who I Am’ – WATCH
Twelve-year-old Evan Singleton has a message for anyone who questions his transgender status.
Evan, who began living as a boy at 9, spoke with Al-Jazeera America recently for a segment about what it’s like being a bullied trans youth in Texas. Al-Jazeera recently reposted a version of the segment, which originally aired in September, in response to Houston voters’ decision to repeal an Equal Rights Ordinance based on the debunked transgender bathroom myth.
Al-Jazeera asked Evan (above), who’s currently taking hormone blockers, what he would say to anyone who believes he’s too young to decide he’s trans:
“I’d say, ‘Well, you’re not the person to tell me who I am,’” Evan responded. “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. 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.”
Evan’s mom, Mela, said she realized he was trans after they got into an argument about a bicycle his parents got for him, which he said was “too girly” because it had pink flames on it.
“It was like, ‘Poof! I get it,’” Mela Singleton told Al-Jazeera, sobbing. “He’d been saying it for five years. … I kept trying to make him not be a boy.”
Evan says he was bullied mercilessly in school for being trans, prompting his parents to begin home-schooling him.
“I’d sit alone. I’d eat alone,” he said. “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.”
Evan is now in a program for trans youth, the only one of its kind in the Southwest, at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
“If I went through puberty, I probably would have been one of those kids who just slice off their breasts. 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.”
Al-Jazeera also spoke with Roxy Castro (right), a 12-year-old trans girl in the program at Children’s Medical Center. Roxy said she avoids drinking water at school because she has to use a separate bathroom on the other side of the building, which leads to questions from other students about why she can’t use the girl’s room.
Mela Singleton, Evan’s mom, addressed the bathroom panic that defeated HERO.
“How do you combat rhetoric?” she said. “How do you combat emotional panic? When my kid walks into a bathroom, I’m not worried they’re going to hurt your kid. I’m worried for his safety, period, because that’s more likely where the violence will show up.”
Watch Al-Jazeera’s report below.
The post Trans Texas Boy Brilliantly Smacks Down Haters: ‘You’re Not The Person To Tell Me Who I Am’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
John Wright
Trans Texas Boy Brilliantly Smacks Down Haters: ‘You’re Not The Person To Tell Me Who I Am’ – WATCH
Veterans Call for Benefits for 'Other than Honorable' Discharges
Veterans Call for Benefits for 'Other than Honorable' Discharges
Three veterans groups are calling on the Obama administration this Veterans Day to extend benefits to all who serve their country and treat them fairly.
According to a report in Windy City Times, tens of thousands of vets who receive a less than honorable discharge, because of their sexual orientation or for other reasons, are denied benefits they have earned.
Currently, only military veterans with “good” discharges receive full health, disability and educational benefits.
This morning, veterans gathering at Chicago’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial are calling for benefits to be provided regardless of discharge status.
The vets and supporters are honoring those who have died in service of their country by throwing flowers into the Chicago River.
The event is sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace.
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/families/2015/11/11/veterans-call-benefits-other-honorable-discharges-0
Kris And Caitlyn Jenner Cheer On Kendall During Her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Debut
Kris And Caitlyn Jenner Cheer On Kendall During Her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Debut
Kendall Jenner may have banned her sisters from watching her big debut walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, but her parents were welcome to see her dream of finally becoming a VS model come true.
On Tuesday night, Kris Jenner and her ex Caitlyn Jenner put aside their differences to support their daughter Kendall on her big night. The former couple, whose divorce was finalized in 2014, were all smiles as they chatted, embraced one another and posed for the cameras.
And while the exes are getting along better these days (Caitlyn even participated in a musical tribute video to Kris for her 60th birthday), they didn’t actually watch the show together. Kris sat alongside boyfriend Corey Gamble, while Caitlyn, who looked very leggy Tuesday night, sat elsewhere.
But you better believe they were damn proud of Kendall.
Just look at her.
Talk about being genetically blessed, no doubt Kendall’s parents were patting themselves on the back while watching her strut down the runway.
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.
Wednesday Morning News Feed: Gay Veterans’ Honor, Michael Phelps, Hillary
Wednesday Morning News Feed: Gay Veterans’ Honor, Michael Phelps, Hillary
VETERAN’S DAY: Sen. Brian Schatz, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Mark Pocan and Rep. Charles Rangel announce ‘Restore Honor to Service Members Act’ to restore honor to discharged LGB veterans: “Our bill would turn the Defense Department’s temporary policy into permanent law. And while we believe that the bar to prove one’s military service should remain high, it would simplify the paperwork requirement necessary for service members to initiate a review, making it clear that the lack of documentation cannot be used as the basis for denying a review. Finally, it would require the historians of each military service to review cases where service members were discharged for their sexual orientation before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This would improve the historical record that the Defense Department can use to help gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans correct their records.”
DEPARTURES: Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights Kate Kendell leaves Mormon Church: “Even at the height of church involvement in the passage of Proposition 8 in California, I never seriously considered removing my name. It just didn’t matter that much to me. Spiritually and emotionally, I left the church I grew up in decades ago. And despite being a ‘known gay activist’ to the church, I was never excommunicated, so my name remained on the church rolls as a member. Not anymore.”
GOP DEBATE: Hillary Clinton was mentioned 25 times: “The favoured Republican bugbear against Clinton, the attack on the US consular station in Benghazi in 2012, was notable by its comparative absence, though Ben Carson got some early applause for the line, ‘When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that this was a terrorist attack and then everybody else that it was a video, where I come from they call that a lie.’”
Her response:
#GOPdebate pic.twitter.com/vqbB3Tpf5r
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 11, 2015
CATHOLIC CHURCH: Vatican properties operating as brothels for priests, report claims: “Vatican-owned properties are being used by priests as brothels and massage parlours, according to the latest claims to emerge from the Vatileaks scandal. The properties implicated in a report, leaked by a Vatican mole, include premises close to the Italian Parliament and a solarium near Piazza Barberini. A Vatican department, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, owns hundreds of exclusive properties in central Rome, was also singled out in the document.”
SPORTS: A bearded Michael Phelps emerges from rehab: “I was in a really dark place,” Phelps says. “Not wanting to be alive anymore.”
TABLOID: Hollywood womanizer diagnosed with HIV. “It has now become common knowledge that this star is HIV positive, something he has known for a number of years.”
MONEY: Jeff Bezos is now the world’s 4th richest man following Amazon stock rally: “Bezos commands a fortune of $58.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Carlos Slim, who was the world’s richest person as recently as May 2013, is now ranked fifth with $57.2 billion.”
HEARTWARMING VIDEO: An Irish boy finds out he’s getting a big brother:
HUMP DAY HOTTIE: Chanoey69
The post Wednesday Morning News Feed: Gay Veterans’ Honor, Michael Phelps, Hillary appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
Wednesday Morning News Feed: Gay Veterans’ Honor, Michael Phelps, Hillary
Dallas Takes Action To Protect Trans People From Discrimination
Dallas Takes Action To Protect Trans People From Discrimination
Dallas has a message for the rest of the world: We’re not Houston.
Just one week after Houston voters rejected a nondiscrimination law, the Dallas City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to update a city ordinance to explicitly ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
“We’re a very diverse city,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said, according to the New Civil Rights Movement. “We want to make sure everyone’s protected.”
Members of the transgender community in Dallas celebrated Tuesday’s decision.
“To see somebody stick up for us makes me feel good,” Leslie McMurray, a transgender entrepreneur who works in the city, told WFAA. “It’s about employment and housing and access to health care… things that just allow us to live our lives.”
The move stands in sharp contrast to the defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) last week, which saw opponents using scare tactics such as claiming the measure would allow male sexual predators to use the women’s room.
“In the entire United States, no one has been arrested for being transgender in a bathroom because somebody was threatened by a transgender person,” Patti Fink of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance told Fox4 News. “It’s never happened.”
Opponents of the Dallas measure took to Twitter to claim that it was done secretly and with no public notice. Don Huffines, a state senator who has tried to outlaw nondiscrimination ordinances such as the one in Dallas, called it a “sneak attack” and wrote:
Repeal Dallas’ new LGBT ordinance immediately. It was not reviewed or thoughtfully considered by the public.
— Don Huffines (@DonHuffines) November 10, 2015
However, city officials say it had been under discussion for a year. Councilman Philip Kingston fired off a sharp retort, bluntly telling Huffines to “stop lying.”
Went through a year of public discussion and makes no change to the existing public policy of Dallas. Stop lying t.co/IIhFU0uVgK
— Philip Kingston (@PhilipTKingston) November 10, 2015
In fact, the ordinance was actually passed in 2002 and already offered protections based on “an individual’s real or perceived orientation as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual or an individual’s real or perceived gender identity,” according to the Dallas Morning News.
Tuesday’s move tweaked the language, separating sexual orientation from gender identity.
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said the change in language strengthens protections for members of the city’s transgender community.
“In the wake of a vicious campaign in Houston that attacked transgender people and led to the repeal of common sense protections, Dallas today sent a vital message that they will fight to protect and advance the rights of transgender people,” Griffin said in a news release.
Across the state, business leaders in Houston are worried that fallout from the HERO defeat combined with Dallas strengthening its protections for trans people could have financial ramifications for the city.
“The concern now is that we’re the only major city in Texas that doesn’t have an equal rights ordinance,” Mike Waterman, president of the Greater Houston Conventions and Visitors Bureau, told the Houston Business Journal. “By default, that puts us at a disadvantage, and my counterpart in Dallas has already indicated [in local media] that businesses can come to Dallas because they have an equal rights ordinance. So it’s possible that other cities could exploit the fact that we don’t have an equal rights ordinance.”
Omar Narvaez, a member of the Dallas LGBT Task Force, put it more succinctly.
“We don’t stand for discrimination in the city of Dallas,” he told the local CBS station. “And we haven’t for many, many years.”
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.
A gay guide to Norway
A gay guide to Norway
Whether you are experiencing Oslo in summer or the winter wonderland of the country’s north – Norway offers something for everyone.
Tromsø is known as the capital of the Arctic – surrounded by spectacular fjords and mountains. Throughout the decades this has been the gateway for expeditions into the Arctic regions.
The indigenous people of the Arctic region have clearly found their place within the modern world. Walking with the reindeer of the Sami was one of the highlights of my visit to northern Norway.
The perfect place to begin your northern Norwegian adventure.
The military history of Narvik
My knowledge of the ins and outs of World War II is limited to some of the major milestones, but if you know your history (or if you are from Norway) you will know that Narvik played a key role during the war.
The post A gay guide to Norway appeared first on Gay Star News.
Gareth Johnson
On Veterans Day, We Honor All Those Who Served
On Veterans Day, We Honor All Those Who Served
HRC is incredibly thankful for the service and sacrifice of all our nation’s veterans. We are proud of our nation’s LGBT veterans, many of whom for years were forced to hide something as fundamental as who they are in order to be able to serve.
HRC.org
What Is Amy Sedaris Doing Crawling Through A Puppy Pile Of Gratuitous Gay Sex?
What Is Amy Sedaris Doing Crawling Through A Puppy Pile Of Gratuitous Gay Sex?
Why, she’s navigating “Shondaland,” of course!
In this bizarre installment of Billy on the Street (though that’s not saying much since they’re all wickedly bizarre), Sedaris must complete an obstacle course based on the prolific career of TV producer/writer Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder).
Here’s what that entails, according to Billy Eichner:
“Burst through the glass ceiling at ABC.”
“There’s a woman dying over there, but fuck that nurse!”
“Climb to the top of Wig Mountain and get Kerry Washington’s wig.”
“Put the wig on the Olivia Popemobile. Drive the wig!”
“Hack something.”
“Climb through the gays having gratuitous gay sex.”
“The NAACP Image Awards ball pit.”
“Run through this gauntlet of ten white people patting themselves on the bag for embracing a black lead.”
“Feed Cicely Tyson her lines.”
“The Kerry Washington Water Slide of Tears!”
Watch the full ordeal below:
h/t: Vulture
Dan Tracer
