Asian pupils, parents and teachers turn schools purple to support LGBTI youth

LGBTI students across Asia are being made to feel safe in the classroom thanks to a new campaign.

Backed by groups including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the campaign, #PurpleMySchool, encourages young people to wear, draw or make something purple in support of LGBTI youth.

‘Many young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are bullied over their sexuality or gender identity, and walking into school every day can fill them with fear and dread,’ the Purple My School Facebook page explains.

‘Show that they can feel safe with you, in your classroom or school.’

Students from Harbin Medical University, China wear purple in support of LGBTI youth

Since its launch, to coincide with International Youth Day on 12 August, the campaign has received submissions from students, teachers and parents across the Asia-Pacific region, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, China and the Philippines.

These include wearing purple ribbons, creating purple flower garlands, making special t-shirts, or even simply turning up to school in a variety of purple outfits.

But spending the day being creative wearing purple is only an outward sign of three inward pledges all the participants are making to support LGBTI youth.

Anyone sharing a photo is urged to ‘never tolerate or excuse bullying’, to ‘be a person that young LGBTI people can turn to’, and to do what they can to ‘create a safe space for young LGBTI students’.

Students from Samar State University, Philippines, celebrate diversity

From now until 10 December, those taking part in the campaign can submit their photos; the best images will be collated and published in a publication about bullying, with materials available in Indonesian, Chinese, English, Vietnamese, Hindi and Thai.

The post Asian pupils, parents and teachers turn schools purple to support LGBTI youth appeared first on Gay Star News.

Mel Spencer

www.gaystarnews.com/article/asian-pupils-parents-and-teachers-turn-schools-purple-to-support-lgbti-youth/

Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’

West Hollywood’s iconic gay bar-restaurant-entertainment complex The Abbey and its staff are the subject of a new reality TV series for which some shooting has already been done, The Wrap reports:

The Abbey founder and president David Cooley greeted 500 of his closest friends at his birthday party at the iconic West Hollywood gay bar on Tuesday night and surprised guests with the announcement he had reacquired 100 percent ownership of the club…The celebration was being filmed and it turns out the cameras capturing his festive occasion were not just for posterity, but the footage being shot was setting the stage for an opening storyline of a reality series centered on the gay bar.

Patrons should be prepared to see cameras at the restaurant “soon”, says The Abbey’s publicist.

The block where The Abbey is located also includes Real Housewife Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant Pump, which is already the subject of a Bravo reality series, Vanderpump Rules. It’s unclear where Cooley’s show will find a home on TV:

Cooley declined to provide specifics about whether a network, or which one, had commissioned the shooting underway, but did say that he is not self-financing the production. Cooley is working with Banijay, the reality production company headed by former Endemol topper David Goldberg, that also counts “I Am Cait”, the Kardashians franchise, and E!’s “Total Divas” amongst its formats.

Cooley told The Wrap the show would focus on the “positive” aspects of his business: “It will not be ‘who is sleeping with who’ and me yelling as the ‘yelling boss.’”

The post Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’ appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Production to Begin on Reality TV Series Based Around Iconic WeHo Gay Bar ‘The Abbey’

Madonna Won't Return to Russia Because of Antigay Laws

‘I don’t want to perform in places where being homosexual is tantamount to a crime,’ the singer says.

read more

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/08/15/madonna-wont-return-russia-because-antigay-laws

Another trans murder in Detroit

Late last week, an activist organization reported the murder of a transgender individual. According to a Michigan Equality statement, on 14 July the body of 25-year-old Ashton O’Hara was discovered in a Detroit field.

‘Ashton did identify as transgender, and was genderfluid,’ the statement said. ‘He was still using male pronouns at the time of his untimely death.’

Michigan Live reports the Detroit Police Department arrested a suspect, Larry B. Gaulding. He faces first-degree murder charges and a trial starts next month.

According to Ashton’s mother, Rebecca O’Hara, the city’s officers deserve praise for the work on her child’s death.

‘They have been so considerate,’ she said in the Michigan Equality release. ‘I was shocked that they actually care about who he was. They were so sincere.’

This is the second transgender murder in Detroit in the past month. On 8 August Amber Monroe’s body was discovered. The Anti-Violence Project reports that Ashton’s murder is, this year,  ‘the fourteenth homicide of a transgender or gender non-conforming person, 12 of whom were transgender women of color.’

“As we remember Ashton O’Hara and all of the transgender and gender non-conforming we have
lost to violence, we demand immediate action on a national level to end this violent epidemic,’ Shelby
Chestnut, co-director of community organizing and public advocacy at the AVP, said in a statement.

The post Another trans murder in Detroit appeared first on Gay Star News.

James Withers

www.gaystarnews.com/article/another-trans-murder-in-detroit/

Group Leading Boycott Against Ted Cruz-Supporting Gay Hoteliers Shuts Down

A Facebook group that led the efforts to boycott establishments owned by gay hoteliers Ian Reisner and Mati Wiederpass in the wake of a controversial “fireside chat” with Sen. Ted Cruz has announced it will be shutting down later this month.

Read the “Boycott Fire Island Pines Establishments & Out NYC Hotel” page’s final statement in part:

Mr. Reisner and Mr. Weiderpass chose to be LGBTQ community business owners. They chose to build a ‘for-profit’ brand within the LGBTQ community. No one forced them into that arena. Being a part of a community comes with a level of responsibility to the community from which you profit. It means embracing the genuine responsibility to stand with us and not against us. A portion of the community will never step foot inside their establishments again. A portion of the community has shown up regardless. However, many of us believe this is one of those great teachable moments in our movement. We did not go from 25% nationwide public support of same-sex marriage to over 60% in just 15 years without hard work, education, and many teachable moments. We know there are many people who want to “grind” their businesses into the ground, as long as they stay involved. That is a complicated approach. There are other investors, employees, bartenders, waiters, DJ’s, drag queens, and non-profit organizations (just to name a few), all of whom have no attachment to this issue but depend on these businesses for income. There are 500+ homeowners and 1,000+ summer shareholders who have a personal interest in the Fire Island Pines community. The list of complexities goes on and on. […]

We feel at this point in time that nothing further needs to be addressed as we have presented all the facts recently insofar as all the developments that have lead us here. The boycott, whether you were in support of it or against it, was a moment in our history to hold two gay men accountable for their actions. The rest now is up to each of you. It always has been. Personal choices are difficult, especially when they are not popular, but each of us must do what we feel is right for ourselves and the beliefs we hold strongly in our hearts.

While Marriage Equality is now a part of all 50 states, the hate and anger by the GOP continues and it is causing a domino effect in our country. Hate crimes are up and daily we see a stronger support for those who want to work against the rights we won. We have quoted in the past, “victory blindness,” and we must not fall prey to it. There is much work to be done.

The group is set to close August 20.

Related, Gay Hotelier Ian Reisner Lied About Cutting Check for Ted Cruz Presidential Campaign

Edge Media adds:

During the life of the boycott page, it gained the support of LGBT activist groups ACT UP and Queer Nation and even received an endorsement from noted gay author Armistead Maupin (who admitted he had never been to Fire Island). The page garnered over 11,000 likes – an inordinate amount considering that the seasonal population of Fire Island Pines is estimated between 2,500 and 3,000.

Early in the game, the group quickly came under fire for its original lack of transparency in leadership which lead to innuendos that the group was somehow a front being run by Jeff McGovern, a manager under one of the properties’ previous owners Eric Von Kuersteiner who is rumored to have offered to buy Reisner’s share in the properties for an undisclosed figure. This was categorically denied online.

The post Group Leading Boycott Against Ted Cruz-Supporting Gay Hoteliers Shuts Down appeared first on Towleroad.

Kyler Geoffroy

Group Leading Boycott Against Ted Cruz-Supporting Gay Hoteliers Shuts Down

Right-Wing Website Blasts GLAAD Guide to Covering Pope Francis

The Daily Caller calls GLAAD’s guide ‘oppressive’ in advising journalists covering the papal visit how to avoid missteps in reporting on the church’s relations with LGBT Catholics.

read more

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/media/2015/08/15/right-wing-website-blasts-glaad-guide-covering-pope-francis

Dolce & Gabbana's Domenico Dolce Apologizes For Anti-IVF, Anti-Gay Adoption Remarks

Italian fashion designer Domenico Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana has apologized for controversial comments he made opposing gay adoption and in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

“I’ve done some soul-searching,” Dolce told Vogue in an interview published Friday. “I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I realized my words were inappropriate, and I apologize.”

The designers, who are both openly gay, came under fire in March when Dolce told Italian magazine Panorama “we oppose gay adoptions” and “the only family is the traditional one.”

He also made disparaging remarks about children born via IVF procedures.

“You are born to a mother and a father, or at least that’s how it should be,” he said. “I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalog.”

The significant public backlash included a call for Dolce & Gabbana boycott from Sir Elton John. Both designers initially defended the comments.

“We talked about our way of seeing reality, but it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices,” Gabbana said in an Instagram post at the time. “We do believe in freedom and love.”

Dolce made similar statements, saying he was only “talking about my personal view” and “the reality in which I grew up.”

Speaking to Vogue this month, however, both designers expressed a more thorough change of heart.

“They are just kids,” Dolce told the magazine. “You don’t need labels, baby labels. I think everybody chooses for themselves. I don’t know everything about IVF, but I love it when people are happy. It’s like medicine. Science has been put on the table to help people.”

Contact the author of this article at [email protected].

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White House asked to investigate spike in murders of trans women

A petition has been placed on the White House website demanding for a federal investigation of the high number of murders of transgender women of color.

‘For transgender women of color, safety is a real and warranted concern,’ the petition says. ‘We are asking the administration to raise awareness and take action to keep this community safe, by conducting a formal investigation of these deaths occurring across the county to the targeted community of transgender women, particularly women of color.’

According to numbers provided by the Anti-Violence Project, since this past January there have been 14 homicides of transgender or gender non-conforming people, ’12 of whom were transgender women of color.’

To get a response from the White House, the petition must have 100,000 signatures by 10 September. As of this writing, 944 people have signed.

To sign, please go here.

The post White House asked to investigate spike in murders of trans women appeared first on Gay Star News.

James Withers

www.gaystarnews.com/article/white-house-asked-to-investigate-spike-in-murders-of-trans-women/