WATCH: CIA Contractor Details Antigay Harassment by Colleagues in War Zone

Brett Jones, a former Navy SEAL, says he was the target of homophobic, racist, and sexist harassment while serving in Afghanistan.

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Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/military/2015/07/28/watch-cia-contractor-details-antigay-harassment-colleagues-war-zone

‘Gay marriage inevitable in Northern Ireland’ – Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said this week that he believes that it is only a matter of when, not if, same-sex marriage is legalized in Northern Ireland despite a bill towards that goal being defeated in Northern Ireland’s legislative assembly as recently as April.

Adams made the comments at a Pride Talks Back event in Belfast on Monday, though he was reluctant to completely rule out a referendum on the issue while lawmakers failed to pass the reform.

‘I’m not so sure about a referendum, and certainly very few people tonight favored a referendum,’ Adams said, according to UTV.

‘But we need to use all the tools, and what won the referendum in the [Republic of Ireland] was ordinary people, mammies and daddies and grannies, uncles and aunts and brothers and sisters, saying “I have a family member who is gay.”’

‘We all know people who are gay in our own families and our own political parties and our own communities and work … I was heavily involved in that campaign. It was the most cheerful, hopeful, inoffensive campaign you could have ever have been involved in and the outcome was joyous.’

Northern Ireland was left as the only part of the British Isles where same-sex couples cannot legally marry after the Republic of Ireland legalized same-sex marriage in May.

Long considered the political arm of the IRA, in recent years Sinn Fein have championed LGBTI rights in Northern Ireland.

The party’s policy on sexual minorities recognizes that ‘lesbian, gay and bisexual people suffer from discrimination and harassment in every aspect of their daily lives.’

‘Whether in the social, political, economic or cultural spheres, they are denied equality of rights and opportunities. There is no logical or rational defense for such exclusion. Only ignorance and indifference enable such a denial of basic fundamental rights to continue.’

The post ‘Gay marriage inevitable in Northern Ireland’ – Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appeared first on Gay Star News.

Andrew Potts

www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-marriage-inevitable-in-northern-ireland-sinn-fein-leader-gerry-adams/

STUDY: Discrimination to Blame for High HIV Rates, Poor Health Care for Trans People

A report by the World Health Organization says widespread discrimination against trans people is why the population has a high HIV rate and many don’t receive adequate health care.

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/28/study-discrimination-blame-high-hiv-rates-poor-health-care-trans-people

Out speed skater Blake Skjellerup gets married in Hawaii

Speed skater Blake Skjellerup is a married man.

Skjellerup, who represented New Zealand in the 2010 Olympics, shared on social media Tuesday (28 July) that he and stylist Saul Carrasco tied the knot earlier this month in Hawaii.

Skjellerup, 30, came out four months after he competed in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver where he finished 16th.

Four years later, he was willing to risk arrest and deportation at the Sochi Winter Olympics by wearing a rainbow pin to show his support for the maligned LGBT community in Russia. But he failed in his attempt to qualify for the 500-meter race by just one spot.

He would have been the only gay athlete at those Olympics.

While working as an official ambassador for the Gay Games in Cleveland, Ohio, last year, Skjellerup told Cleveland Scene that he used to think his romantic dreams would never come true.

‘I think when I was 16, I was starting to figure out who I was, and my biggest fear was that I couldn’t lead the life that I wanted, which was to get married and have children.

‘And as I’ve matured, I came to learn that none of that was true: I could get married if I wanted to and I could have children if I wanted to. Four years after coming out, life couldn’t be any better, and I know that I can have all that.’

The post Out speed skater Blake Skjellerup gets married in Hawaii appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/out-speedskater-blake-skjellerup-gets-married-in-hawaii/

Listen up, gentlemen. It’s time to start pleasing your ladies. A recent study from Indiana University found that 85 of men said that their partner had an orgasm when they had sex while only 64 porcent of women said that they themselves had one. Oof. Bottom line while you think you might be pleasing her, more often than not, you’re missing the mark. Women know that most guys want them to reach O-land, and they don’t want to disappoint, says Dorian Solot, a sex educator and co-author of I Love Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide. So all too often, women fake orgasms, or just let their partner assume they had one. If you want to guarantee the real deal, stick to these nine positions that will work every time See more women tipssex positions thatllget her off everytimesthash.RPOrzehA.dpufSexual pleasure has many dimensions, but the most important sexual organ we have is our brain. When one sense is hindered, our other senses via the brain clamor to compensate. For example, a deaf person has increased sensory awareness sight, smell, touch,

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Newspaper Editor Fired for Antigay Blog Post Settles Discrimination Complaint

The former editor of an Iowa newspaper who called on people to fight the ‘Gaystapo’ has made a deal with his ex-employer.

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/07/28/newspaper-editor-fired-antigay-blog-post-settles-discrimination-complaint

Anne Hathaway felt ‘magnetic pull’ to her character of Lureen in Brokeback Mountain

Anne Hathaway was best known for Disney’s The Princess Diaries when casting was taking place for the tragic gay love story Brokeback Mountain.

The actress says in the current issue of Out Magazine that she was contacted for the role of Alma, the character married to Heath Ledger’s closeted character. But upon reading the script, Hathaway only had eyes for the role of rodeo queen Lureen who marries Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, also a closeted gay man.

‘I read the script, and was, of course, blown away by it, but I remember thinking, “Alma’s not my part – I’m Lureen,”‘ Hathaway says in an article marking the film’s 10th anniversary.

‘It’s not dissimilar to the feeling of meeting someone that will become very important to you on some soul level. It had that same magnetic pull that I feel for certain very important people. And like all of those wonderful feelings, it made me hot, it made me flush, it made my blood pound.’

The role of Alma eventually went to Michelle Williams who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance. Ledger and Gyllenhaal also earned Oscar nods and although Hathaway did not, the film helped her break free from any Disney typecasting.

From princess to rodeo queen

She was filming Princess Diaries 2 on the Universal Lot where she met with director Ang Lee during her lunch break.

‘We were shooting the coronation part of the movie, so I was dressed a ball gown, wearing this big hairpiece that was way over the top, but also worked for a rodeo queen, so it was fine. I just put on my jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, and drove across the lot in a golf cart with my big princess hair. I remember being very, very calm, which is unusual for me under any circumstances, especially at 21. I just felt so centered and focused, and in way like a predator: I knew what I wanted.

‘People were struggling to see me as anything other than a Disney princess at the time, so to get the endorsement from Ang made me realize that maybe I could take this a bit further. It made me think for the first time that I could be a legit artist.’

Had to learn to ride a horse

But the actress told a fib when Lee asked her during the audition if she could ride a horse.

‘My parents have given me a lot of gifts in my life, and one of them is: If you’re ever asked if you can do anything, say yes. You can learn anything in two weeks if you’re motivated enough. So I’d never been on a horse, and I replied, “Oh yeah, I’m a really good rider.” So I knew I had to learn to ride, and I got really, really, really good.’

Hathaway would leave her Disney past behind and earn a best actress Oscar nomination for Rachel Getting Married then win the Academy Award for supporting actress three years later for her performance in the musical  Les Miserables.

Now 32, she ranks Brokeback Mountain as a milestone event in her career and in the culture.

‘The four of us were taken out to this restaurant in Calgary by the producers, and I remember sitting there and looking at beautiful Heath, and Jake, and Michelle, and it hit me that we were all under 25. It’s funny how recent it was, but at the time we were very far away from this burgeoning humanist moment that we’re having now with gay rights.

‘And it felt like a very big and important step—a statement about love, about the need for love, about the consequences of limiting people. And I was just so blown away that these four 25-year-old kids could bring this to life, especially the three of them.’

The post Anne Hathaway felt ‘magnetic pull’ to her character of Lureen in Brokeback Mountain appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/anne-hathaway-felt-magnetic-pull-to-her-character-of-lureen-in-brokeback-mountain/