Newly Erected Billboard Trolls Kim Davis in Her Hometown

A new billboard meant to teach same-sex marriage foe Kim Davis a lesson has been erected in her hometown of Morehead, Kentucky.

Planting Peace, the folks behind the Equality House, the rainbow-colored house which taunts the Westboro Baptist Church from across the street in Topeka, Kansas, is behind the billboard.

The group writes, on its website:

Following the June 26th Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in her home state, citing that doing so compromised her religious beliefs. That day, she became the poster child for the anti-gay movement.

As has been painstakingly observed time and time again, the anti-LGBTQ movement is comprised of a substantial number of zealots who unfailingly refer to their rigid interpretation of religious text to narrowly define “traditional” institutions and values. They pick and choose what they wish to convey as immoral and unacceptable, while seemingly sweeping lines of scripture just a few letters away completely under the rug.

In response, Planting Peace has constructed a message for Kim Davis and the anti-LGBTQ movement. The intent of the billboard is to expose this narrow interpretation by Davis and others that they use to defend their discrimination against the LGBTQ community. It is important and relevant to call this out, because these messages and actions are not simply about a political or religious debate. There are LGBTQ youth across the world who are taking their lives at an alarming rate because of these messages from society that make them feel broken or less than. We have to meet hate with love…intolerance with compassion.

Enjoy the view, Kim. Enjoy the view.

The post Newly Erected Billboard Trolls Kim Davis in Her Hometown appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Newly Erected Billboard Trolls Kim Davis in Her Hometown

We must not let the state control trans identity

For years trans people have been suppressed by an unthinking system that assumes there are only two genders and it should be very hard for someone to change from one to ‘the other’.

The current medical way to change genders grew from the 1950s, when surgeons wanted assurance the trans people who were asking them for surgery were sane.

Only ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ trans people were put forward for treatment.

I’ve heard it said quite a few times that courts grant trans people rights, and governments take them away.

For example, the UK government was forced to find a way to allow some trans people to be registered as our true gender by two judgements in the European Court of Human Rights.

The result was the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which was ground-breaking in its day for not insisting the individual had undergone surgery. But the wording in that law was watered down by the Equality Act 2010, which made it legal once again to discriminate against trans people in certain circumstances.

A few weeks ago a petition was launched challenging the UK government to allow trans people to self-determine their gender, and recognize the gender of non-binary people – those who either reject or don’t fit into society’s general understanding that we are either male or female.

It raised over 30,000 signatures in only a few days. In the early hours of this morning, Britain’s Ministry of Justice replied. I find myself wondering why a response was sent out at 1am on a Saturday morning, and can only come up with cynical reasons.

In some ways it’s a standard government response – rather than replying to the point made, it simply restates the current position. But it’s inflammatory for a number of reasons.

On Tuesday the new Commons Women and Equalities Committee in the UK Parliament heard about the parlous state that National Health Service gender services have been in for some considerable time.

With average waiting lists of over a year in some clinics just to get a first appointment with a gender specialist, Members of Parliament questioned why doctors run it as they do – in particular why they insist people live in their gender before surgery.

Those working in the NHS conceded an arbitrary time limit before gender surgery made no sense.

MPs heard standards vary across clinics, that provision has been developed in a haphazard manner, and that levels of trans awareness (and training to address the gaps) across all NHS staff were very low.

MPs were open-mouthed as Jess Bradley explained to them the lack of ‘cultural competency’ within the NHS and the consequences it has. The chief exec of West London Mental Health Trust, which runs the important Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic, said ‘it is a lottery how you move through the system’.

The government claims all gender identity clinics provide an appropriate service to trans people. But parliament has now heard from senior people in the NHS that this is not true.

The government also claims they put in laws to allow trans people to legally change their gender in 2004 because they were committed to allowing trans people their rights. Trans people with slightly longer memories, however, point out the UK was forced into this by the European Court system.

And the law they passed in 2004 required trans people to end their marriages to gain gender recognition – something now accepted as just plain wrong.

Recent government statistics reveal that just 10 married trans people applied for gender recognition in the first three months of 2015. Given that I personally know over 25 trans people who are married, this rather indicates that the current law is failing.

The UK’s insistence you have to prove your identity to a faceless panel is now looking dated – particularly in the face of new Danish and Irish laws permitting self-determination.

It took one Irish friend of mine just 24 hours to have his gender recognition certificate to be issued this week. Compare that to the weeks of uncertainty UK applicants face, not to mention the financial and emotional cost incurred.

That was the focus of this new petition.

The UK claims the ‘state has a legitimate interest in ensuring that people who take on a new legal status can establish that they meet certain criteria’. So what makes the UK so different to Ireland, Denmark and the handful of other countries where self-determination now exists?

What does this statement mean other than ‘you have to prove you’re acceptable’?

The government is claiming ownership of a core part of your identity, and doesn’t want to give that up without a fight.

We seem to be coming to an end of the period where trans people have had to prove themselves. But the paternalism displayed by medics and government is still very much on display.

The response to this latest petition shows the fight to get the establishment to listen and change appropriately is very far from over.

Trans people are finding stronger and stronger voices, and are no longer prepared to accept lies and paternalistic whitewash. All this response will do is unite the voices for change even more.

The post We must not let the state control trans identity appeared first on Gay Star News.

Helen Belcher

www.gaystarnews.com/article/we-must-not-let-the-state-control-trans-identity/

How To Get Kim Davis’ Signature Look

Like it or not, Kim Davis is now a household name. The antigay Rowan County clerk is the new face of the Christian right in America. But while everyone’s been busy talking about the 49-year-old Born Again homophobe’s refusal to follow the rule of law, we thought we’d turn our attention to a previously neglected topic: Her personal style.

Related: Kim Davis’ Marriage History Explained In One Handy Flowchart

Davis is nothing if not unwavering. Whether it’s defying court orders, praising Jesus, taking on another in a line of husbands, or denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples, who are, by definition, marrying for the first (not fourth) time, she commits herself 400 percent. This also includes her Apostolic sense of fashion. In case you haven’t noticed, she pretty much wears the same outfit every day, with only slight variations in color and pattern. Clearly she’s found a look that works for her and so she’s stickin’ to it!

Here are some easy breezy tips on how you can get Kim Davis’ signature look…

The graphic T

A graphic T with a low cut (but not too low cut) neckline is a great way to feel comfortable and express your ideology and personalty all in one fell swoop. Fashionista’s frown upon wearing labels, but the “Jesus” brand never really goes out of style. (At least until, we assume, he returns for the rapture.)

The thermal

Temperature control can be a real issue in government office buildings, especially in the Deep South, even for the most cold-blooded of county clerks. A neutral-colored, cotton/spandex blend long-sleeved undershirt worn beneath the graphic T keeps you cozy (not to mention completely covered!) when the air conditioning is on full blast.

The maxi skirt

A conservative, ankle-length maxi skirt is a must. Preferred fabrics are jersey knit, floral print, or stretch denim. We’re not able to see her labels, so we don’t know if she is violating the Old Testament prohibition on mixed fabrics, but it’s pretty obvious she’s not a devotee of great natural fabrics. Davis prefers the cheap, synthetic, made-by-children-in-China look. And nothing too form-fitting or hip-hugging either. Remember, the goal is a genuinely prim & pious appearance. Attractive but not sexy in that sinful “fuck me I’m sexy” sort of way.

The shoesA tasteful pair of basic athletic shoes with good arch support makes digging in your heels when it comes to refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples much more effective, not to mention comfortable.

The glasses

Three words: Leopard print eyeglasses. Anything other than that is an abomination.

The hair

Of course, no Kim Davis look would be complete without a single braid down the center of the back, a timeless metaphor for the thrice-divorced mother of two’s multi-layered marital history, which includes one affair and two marriages to the same man.

The scrunchie

Complete your look with a scrunchie. It’s a fun way to add a pop of color to any outfit, and it tells the world: “My personal style, like my political beliefs, is stuck in 1991″ or, perhaps going back before manufacturing, Biblical times.

Graham Gremore

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PHOTOS: Tide Is High But We’re Holding On To High-Cut Swimwear

Model Christian Camacho sunbathes poolside in five pairs of high-cut swim trunks in The Underwear Expert’s exclusive photoshoot below. And the pool he’s at isn’t some run-of-the-mill water hole. With scenic views and lounge chairs that aren’t made from strips of white plastic, it’s a high end kind of swimming pool, and an even more appropriate setting for fashionable high-cut swim trunks. They’re the well-dressed man’s idea of the perfect swimwear, and they just so happen to look perfect on Christian.

Photo Credit: Jerrad Matthew Exclusively for The Underwear Expert

Underwear Expert

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/cc-nnTxUkB8/photos-tide-is-high-but-were-holding-on-to-high-cut-swimwear-20150912

Tom Daley Would Rather Be Too Tight Than Too Loose: WATCH

British diver Tom Daley sat down with BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills and Chris Stark for a game of “Innuendo Bingo”, in which players fill their mouths with water and see who can listen to an innuendo-filled clip and resist spraying all over their opponent.

Though we’ve all seen Daley completely  wet before, it’s never because of British runner Michael Rimmer having “three top men inside him,” or because Daley himself would “rather be too tight than too loose.”

Predictably, both players got a bit soaked.

Said Daley: “I need more explosive power in my mouth.”

Tom Daley plays Innuendo Bingo:

Unfortunately, the audience was the loser because both Daley and his opponent performed the task with shirts on, so here’s an Instagram post from earlier today to satisfy that thirst.

The post Tom Daley Would Rather Be Too Tight Than Too Loose: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Towleroad

Tom Daley Would Rather Be Too Tight Than Too Loose: WATCH

Kim Davis Still Trying to Avoid Serving Gay Couples

After multiple losses in court and nearly a week in jail, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis is still trying to get out of issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Rowan County clerk’s legal team, from the right-wing organization Liberty Counsel, filed an emergency appeal Friday seeking to delay the requirement that her office issue the licenses, the Associated Press reports. The filing, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, argues that since the same-sex couples who sued Davis over her decision to cease issuing marriage licenses to any couples, gay or straight, received their licenses from Davis’s deputies in her absence, her office should not be required to grant any more once she returns to work — which she is expected to do Monday.

Davis (pictured above with Mike Huckabee), who says her Christian beliefs prevent her from granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, had stopped issuing licenses to any couples after the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality in June. Four couples, two same-sex and two opposite-sex, sued her. U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled that Davis was in violation of the law, and he issued an order that she serve all couples without discrimination.

After she failed to comply with the order, she was found in contempt of court and sent to jail September 3, then released five days later. In ordering her release, Bunning said that since her deputies were issuing licenses to all eligible couples, the intent of his order had been satisfied. He also ordered her not to interfere with the licensing process.

Liberty Counsel’s filing says Bunning’s order to serve all eligible couples was improperly issued and therefore invalid. “Judge Bunning’s initial order (Injunction) covered only the four named plaintiffs that sued Kim Davis,” says a press release from the group. “In the Expanded Injunction, Judge Bunning impermissibly broadened it to cover anyone in the world who seeks a license for same-sex marriage.”

Davis wants the injunction to stay on hold as long as it takes to appeal the underlying ruling. Before she was jailed, she had asked the Sixth Circuit and the Supreme Court to place a hold on it, without success, and she is unlikely to succeed in her latest effort, some legal experts say.

“I hate to use a religious metaphor, given the circumstances,” University of Louisville constitutional law professor Sam Marcosson told the AP, “but this strikes me as a Hail Mary pass.”

Also Friday, the Oath Keepers paramilitary group said Liberty Counsel had declined its offer to act as a security detail for Davis to prevent her from being arrested again. “We will, of course, respect her wishes, and are hereby issuing a stand-down for our security volunteers who were planning on deploying to Morehead, Kentucky on Monday,” reads a statement on the group’s website.

The group, known for armed vigilante-style actions in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere, had offered this week to provide security for Davis. Oath Keepers leaders said the offer had nothing to do with Davis’s stance on marriage equality but reflected their belief that Bunning had overstepped his authority.

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/9/11/kim-davis-still-trying-avoid-serving-gay-couples

Jared Polis Stirs Controversy With Remarks on Sexual Assault

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is getting some blowback on remarks he made at a hearing yesterday to the effect that college students accused of sexual assault may merit expulsion even if they’re not proved guilty.

The gay congressman from Colorado said that how a college deals with such accusations is different from the process in a criminal court, where a defendant may be convicted only if proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. “It certainly seems reasonable that a school for its own purposes might want to use a preponderance of evidence standard, or even a lower standard,” he said at a hearing on campus sexual assault prevention before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. “Perhaps a likelihood standard. … If I was running a [college] I might say, well, even if there is only a 20 or 30 percent chance that it happened, I would want to remove this individual.”

After a witness at the hearing, Foundation for Individual Rights lawyer Joseph Cohn, said applying this standard would deprive students of constitutional due process rights, Polis responded, “It seems like we ought to provide more of a legal framework, then, that allows a reasonable likelihood standard or a preponderance of evidence standard. If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people. We’re not talking about depriving them of life or liberty, we’re talking about them being transferred to another university, for crying out loud.”

Polis received applause at the hearing, but his remarks were later critiqued by libertarian-leaning scholars and journalists. “There are certain positions where indeed a whiff of suspicion might be enough to get someone removed,” wrote University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Eugene Volokh in The Washington Post. “I just hadn’t thought that being a college student would or should be one of them.

“And that’s especially so when the policy is defended on the grounds that the students will just go to another university,” Volokh continued. “The innocent expelled students would have their education badly disrupted and delayed. But the guilty students would, by hypothesis, just be at another university, where they’ll be able to attack their classmates (just a different set of classmates).”

Reason magazine asked Polis, the first openly gay father in Congress, if he would accept his son being expelled using such a low burden of proof. “If my son had a baseless accusation made against him at a university and it was making his life there miserable, I would suggest he transfer or take courses online,” Polis replied. “It can be a living hell to go through endless campus investigations. I’ve seen this go down, and there really is no winning once the accusation is made even if the process provides formal vindication. Someone who is wrongfully accused needs to do their best to put it behind them and move on. Trying to re-enroll in the same institution would be a constant reminder of the traumatic experience of being the subject of a baseless accusation.”

“If a university were to implement a ‘reasonable likelihood’ standard, it is important that they give the student the ability to withdraw so that their record isn’t tainted, nor should a mere reasonable likelihood standard hurt their prospects elsewhere.”

Polis aide Kristin Lynch defended the congressman to Colorado newspapers, saying he was trying to make the point that safety should be college campuses’ top priority. “We’re happy to debate that with anyone and, to be frank, it’s disappointing that some are casually dismissing the basic premise that universities have the responsibility to go beyond criminal law in protecting students from sexual assault,” she told The Denver Post.

“There’s no stronger supporter for criminal due process than Jared — he’s spent six years in Congress advocating for fixing our broken drug laws and eliminating warrantless government searches and seizures,” Lynch added. “But this debate doesn’t occur in the arena of our criminal justice system. We’re talking about educational institutions and the safety of their campuses.”

Polis also responded to critics via Twitter, saying, “The standard for jail is and should remain beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Video of the hearing is below. It is more than two hours long, and Polis’s comments begin about an hour and 56 minutes in.

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politicians/2015/9/11/jared-polis-stirs-controversy-remarks-sexual-assault

On 9/11 anniversary, Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin recalls choice that saved his life

The anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US always reminds Armistead Maupin of how precious life is.

The author of the popular Tales of the City series of novels and many other books had traveled from his home base in San Francisco to New York City 14 years ago to attend a memorial for Robert Jones who had edited Maupin’s novel The Night Listener.

‘(Publisher) HarperCollins offered me two possible return flights to San Francisco the following day — September 11 — and I chose the later one, since I didn’t want to get up early. The flight I declined was United 93, the one that crashed in Pennsylvania,’ Maupin wrote in a Facebook post on Friday (11 September).

On September 11, 2001, four passenger airliners bound for California from East Coast cities were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex.

Writes Maupin: ‘Rising late at the Soho Grand Hotel I had an unobstructed view of the other two planes as they hit the twin towers.’

A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the the headquarters of the US Department of Defense while United Airlines Flight 93 – the flight Maupin would have been on – crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.

The post On 9/11 anniversary, Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin recalls choice that saved his life appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/on-911-anniversary-tales-of-the-city-author-armistead-maupin-recalls-choice-that-saved-his-life/

WATCH: This Muslim Flight Attendant Says She's No Kim Davis

A Muslim flight attendant suspended from her job for refusing to serve alcohol says her religious freedom has been violated — but that she should not be compared to Kim Davis.

Charee Stanley, a recent convert to Islam, told the hosts of The View this week that Atlanta-based ExpressJet suspended her for numerous reasons relating to her religion, including abstaining from serving cocktails to passengers. While ExpressJet won’t comment on personnel matters, Stanley argues Islamaphobia is behind her suspension.

Stanley said she always made sure other flight attendants could attend to fliers who wanted drinks; in other words, her religious accomodation didn’t inconvenience paying customers.

Stanley’s attorney, Lena Masri, was asked whether her client’s situation was similar to that of Kim Davis, the recently jailed Kentucky clerk who disobeyed numerous court orders when asked to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Masri says the two situations couldn’t be more different.

Watch her explanation in a clip from the show below:

Neal Broverman

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/9/11/watch-muslim-flight-attendant-says-shes-no-kim-davis

Transgender Inmates To Be Integrated According To Identity In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — By the end of the year, transgender women in San Francisco’s jail system will be housed with other female inmates.

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi announced the new policy in a press release Thursday. A striking component of the approach is that it covers inmates who have not had gender confirmation surgery.

But despite the sheriff’s announcement being touted as an unprecedented move, the union representing sheriff’s deputies and one transgender rights advocate found flaws with the plan.

Within weeks, transgender women will begin participating in programs like high school classes and substance abuse groups with other women behind bars. Transgender inmates will then be moved into women’s facilities by the end of the year, after jail staff receive new training.

“Transgender people are marginalized on the streets of America, so it’s not hard to deduce how that’s magnified in prisons and jails,” Mirkarimi told The Huffington Post. “It’s inherently dehumanizing.”

There are currently six transgender women segregated on a floor of the city’s Hall of Justice, which also holds medium- and maximum-security male inmates.

The policy could create as many safety and privacy problems for inmates and guards as it’s trying to solve, according to the president of the union representing sheriff’s deputies.  

“I will not support a safety issue where you’re going to have men who still have their genitalia tell me that ‘Oh I’m female’ just so they can get in the female unit,” said San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association President Eugene Cerbone. He wondered how to assign guards to conduct strip-searches of inmates who haven’t undergone gender confirmation surgery, or how to ensure the safety of a female inmate who might be housed with a transgender inmate with male anatomy.

“The issue is safety for the transgender [people], but he is making it like an experiment,” Cerbone said of Mirkarimi.

Mirkarimi waved off the worries, saying that federal guidelines clearly spell out how to conduct searches and complete other routine tasks. 

“It’s easy to critique from the bleachers. This is something that we’ve been designing for several years. It wasn’t done on a whim,” Mirkarimi said. “Where there are practical concerns where safety is our utmost priority, we can’t allow any breaches.”

Staff training could be one of the most important issues when it comes to protecting inmates’ safety. A federal study of sexual abuse of transgender inmates showed that victims reported being abused by staff as frequently as by other inmates.  

Mirkarimi, a Democrat, is in a contest for reelection, and Cerbone said the sheriff timed the announcement to boost his standing with the city’s liberal voter base. The change in policy comes after two years of negotiations.

Because of the timing, an official from the Transgender Law Center that the policy might not be fully implemented if Mirkarimi loses his campaign.

“It’s been an arduous process, and we’ve only had a verbal reassurance that this is going to happen,” said Flor Bermudez, the law center’s detention program director. 

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