9 reasons Trump might put Peter Thiel on the Supreme Court but probably won’t
Peter Thiel would be the ideal nominee for Trump but not necessarily for us–an unorthodox loyalist who would make history.
Category Archives: MISC
Grindr For Equality, Varta Trust & SAATHII Launch One-Of-A-Kind Database for Queer-Friendly Services in India
Grindr For Equality, Varta Trust & SAATHII Launch One-Of-A-Kind Database for Queer-Friendly Services in India
As a leading platform for queer people around the world, one of the things we do at Grindr is find ways to use our technology, platform, and resources to better serve the queer community. Today, Grindr for Equality, in partnership with Indian gender and sexuality organization Varta Trust and Chennai-based not-for-profit Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), launched an innovative and one-of-a-kind LGBTQ+ friendly resource database and online HIV test center location guide for India.
The spark to implement the online resource database came when Pawan Dhall, a founder of Kolkata-based Varta Trust met Jack Harrison-Quintana, VP of social impact and executive director of Grindr for Equality, at the 2016 International Aids Conference in South Africa. As a respected leader in the LGBTQ+ community and longtime activist focused on HIV in West Bengal and also nationally in India, Pawan wanted to use the local resources of Varta Trust to locate testing centers throughout the country and build a comprehensive database available in a wide variety of Indian languages, in order to be accessible to the most people. All of this fit so well into Grindr for Equality’s global mission to promote justice, health, and safety for Grindr’s 3.6 million global daily users and the worldwide LGBTQ+ community that we jumped to support it.
“It may come as a surprise to some, but India has never had a searchable online directory of HIV test centers. Before this site, if you wanted an HIV test in India, you’d have to ask a doctor, someone in the know, or know what to search for online. Nothing like this has ever been done in India on this scale,” said Dhall. “The test center locator will have an immediate impact on the sexual health of anyone in India seeking an HIV testing location.”
The resource database is accessible to LGBTQ+ identifying individuals via the Grindr app, but also anyone regardless of sexual or gender identity seeking legal aid or health service providers across India via both the Varta Trust and Grindr websites. By identifying and featuring testing sites that are supportive of different sexual and gender expressions, Grindr for Equality aims to remove much of the stigma or fear around getting an HIV test.
“This is a historic partnership that will greatly enable and empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in India to identify queer-friendly providers and receive the care and support they deserve,” said Harrison-Quintana.
The queer-friendly online resource database and HIV test center locator is an effort to address the numerous queries on health concerns and complaints of rights violations which the “Varta” webzine has been receiving from its readers since its start in 2013. Service providers included in the database have been validated as “queer-friendly” through a process of information referees, direct interfaces and detailed self-administered questionnaires where it has been determined the service provider has an understanding about gender, sexuality and diversity; is sensitive to concerns of the LGBTQ+ community around stigma, discrimination, violence, health and broader well-being; and possesses the skills to address the concerns of queer individuals.
Grindr users in India will see localized ads and special notifications to drive awareness of the database’s existence. Database can be accessed via the Grindr app and website in the sexual health resource center and at the Varta Trust website www.vartagensex.org/hsearch.php.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 Finale | Reaction
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 Finale | Reaction
Congratulations to Cheryll and Ron from Lakeland, Florida!
Congratulations to Cheryll and Ron from Lakeland, Florida!
When it comes to matters of the heart, listen to your best friends because they know you best! Cheryll is sure glad she listened to hers. She writes: “One day, a good friend of mine was looking through profiles with me on Zoosk. She spotted Ron and said he looks like a really nice man. So, I
The post Congratulations to Cheryll and Ron from Lakeland, Florida! appeared first on Zoosk.
about.zoosk.com/en/blog/success-stories/congratulations-cheryll-ron-lakeland-florida/
What it means when your OkCupid match has the ACLU #RightToLove badge
What it means when your OkCupid match has the ACLU #RightToLove badge
Your date’s support of the ACLU reveals a lot more about them than you may think
You’ve heard about various dating red flags: A bad tipper is a bad sign; a person’s who’s kind to their mom is a catch. And you can assume that, if your date supports the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they’re someone who believes in civil rights for everyone.
On OkCupid, it’s easy to see if your date supports the ACLU; last month we announced the ACLU #RightToLove badge, which every OkCupid user who publicly responds “yes” to the question “Do you support the ACLU?” gets on their profile. And having the badge is a good thing; people on OkCupid who support the ACLU get 15% more likes, and have 10% more conversations, than those who don’t. (So if you want the badge for your own profile, you can answer the question here.) Plus, your date’s support of the ACLU sheds light on everything from how they feel about climate change to how important humor is in a relationship. Even more telling? What it means if your date doesn’t support the ACLU.
When your date supports the ACLU
The ACLU is a bipartisan organization, but supporters generally lean more liberal politically. OkCupid data shows that singles who support the ACLU are:
2x more likely to say “hell no” to Trump.
30% more likely to believe in climate change.
2x more likely to say that a wall between the U.S. and Mexico should not be built.
Data also reveals some interesting correlations between ACLU supporters and how they feel about various non-political issues, as well as how they identify as a person and their thoughts on relationships. If your date supports the ACLU, they are:
70% more likely to say that traditional dating gender roles are outdated.
15% more likely to say that humor is very important in a relationship.
4x more likely to consider themselves a feminist.
25% more likely to have gone to graduate school.
2x more likely to say they could not date someone who didn’t support the #MeToo movement.
When your date does not support the ACLU
If your date does not support the ACLU, here are some additional things you should know:
They are 7x more likely to think guns should always be allowed in schools.
They are 2x more likely to say they don’t enjoy traveling.
They are 25% more likely to say they get short-tempered when stressed.
They are 5x more likely to respond “What wage gap?” to “Should we be fighting to close the gender wage gap?”
They are 4x more likely to have no LGBTQ friends.
They are 30% more likely to be a compulsive neat-freak.
Hey, the more you know ? On OkCupid, you do know more about potential matches because you see a profile — with hobbies, interests, and beliefs — that goes beyond just a photo. So whether you’re looking to connect over support of the ACLU or support of summer Fridays, you can find them on OkCupid today.
Find someone who digs the same non-profits you do on OkCupid right now.
What it means when your OkCupid match has the ACLU #RightToLove badge was originally published in The OkCupid Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
The Essential Date-Ready Handbag
The Essential Date-Ready Handbag
Whether you’re jumping back into the dating scene for the first time or have been dating for a while, you want to make sure that you’re totally prepared for a night on the town. Once you’ve perfected your date-night look, you’ll need an easy-to-carry handbag to go with it. Find Your Style An overstuffed […]
The post The Essential Date-Ready Handbag appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.
The Moment ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Winner Aquaria Realized She Won, and Her Debut Single ‘Burn Rubber’ – WATCH
The Moment ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Winner Aquaria Realized She Won, and Her Debut Single ‘Burn Rubber’ – WATCH
Aquaria, the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, released her debut single on Friday.
Writes Billboard: ‘Inspired by Lady Gaga, Madonna and Daft Punk, Aquaria sings about latex, corsets, and sports cars in a full-throttle race to the top. The track was co-written by Jesse Saint John, who has helped penned tracks for Britney Spears, Camila Cabello and Charli XCX. “I just wanted it to be very high intensity, high octane, very exciting, very sexy, very dark, very energetic.”‘
READ THIS: The ‘Drag Race’ Finale Crowns a Deserving Queen (And Kills Scores of Butterflies) – RECAP
VH1 also released a reaction video of the four finalists watching the finale:
The post The Moment ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Winner Aquaria Realized She Won, and Her Debut Single ‘Burn Rubber’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
5 reasons why Anthony Kennedy’s retirement is a major blow for LGBTQ rights
5 reasons why Anthony Kennedy’s retirement is a major blow for LGBTQ rights
Justice Kennedy Retires. That Means One Thing.
Justice Kennedy Retires. That Means One Thing.
I have a lot of feelings about Justice Kennedy’s retirement.
I’m angry. Angry at Republicans who stole a seat away from President Obama. Angry at those who said there was no difference between Hillary and Donald Trump. Angry at those Democrats who sat out the 2010, 2014, and 2016 elections. Angry at those caught up in a false media narrative about emails. Angry that we could have stopped this had we been smarter.
I’m worried. Worried for our country. Worried that I’m not doing enough to solve the problem. Worried that real people–mostly persons of color, sexual minorities, and women–are getting hurt while the junta running our country props up the white patriarchy and lines the pockets of wealthy corporations.
I’m in despair. Justice Kennedy’s replacement could create a solid conservative majority for generations, undermining a woman’s right to choose, anti-discrimination laws, and every protection the queer community has fought for and won over the last three decades. Kennedy was no liberal; his entire career, not just his last few opinions siding with the Court’s other conservatives on unions, abortion clinics, and the Muslim ban, prove he is a conservative through and through. That he was considered a “swing justice” says far more about the conservative center of gravity on the Court than it does Kennedy. But he did author the so-called “gay rights” decisions of Romer, Lawrence, Windsor, and Obergefell. If his replacement looks anything like Justice Gorsuch, all of those decisions are in jeopardy.
Kennedy’s career, his opinions affecting queer communities, his decision to retire, and the politics surrounding it deserve separate columns, and they are all coming soon. But his retirement means one thing right now:
It’s time for progressives to make the federal courts a galvanizing campaign issue!
This had been difficult in the past for a few reasons.
First, law is sometimes inaccessible to your average voter, and the progressive movement utterly lacks a counterweight to the powerful Federalist Society, a conservative organization that both cultivates young conservative legal scholars and works to engage conservative voters on behalf of right-wing legal interpretation. The American Constitution Society does none of that.
Second, progressives have long lived in a legal environment that seems to tilt in their favor. After all, abortion is legal, gays can marry, and we have free speech. It requires progressive to read after the headline to realize that the world is not so rosy. Conservative federal judges have put burdens on a woman’s right to choose; there are several states that are about to be without any abortion providers because of the restrictions states are now allowed to put on those providers. Gays can marry, sure, but they, and their transgender comrades, can be discriminated against left and right. Free speech is awesome, but a libertarian approach to the First Amendment allows those with the biggest megaphone (the richest) to silence the rest of us.
Third, Democratic politicians have shied away from “politicizing” the judiciary. That’s why we’ve gotten solid moderates from Presidents Clinton and Obama. Republicans have long ago abandoned that mantra, which is why they’ve given us radicals and shifted the judiciary far to the right.
All of this has to change, and it has to change now. We need new progressive institutions that make a progressive judiciary the goal. We need political candidates who don’t shrink from making the courts the issue. We need to scare our voters just like conservatives have been doing for years: “Obama is going to take away your guns and overturn the Second Amendment,” “Vote for me and I’ll vote for judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade and end the murder of babies.” Those have been campaign planks for years. There is nothing like that on the left.
So, what can we do? Take the day to despair, and to hug your friends and loved ones. And tomorrow, get to work.
The Democrats have previous little leverage to beat back an arch-conservative nominee. There is no filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Huge protests like we saw at the beginning of the Trump presidency may persuade Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, but don’t bet on it. Both of those senators like to leverage moderate rhetoric for a while before folding to the conservative leadership in the end. The Democrats could take back the House in November, but Senate Republicans seem far more secure and, in any event, the House plays no role in court nominations.
Therefore, we have to make the Court a campaign issue. It will take generations. It will take engagement by civil society over and above what progressives have been doing to date.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of people telling me progressives don’t understand the courts. If they don’t, then help them. I’ve had enough of people telling me we don’t want to politicize the judiciary any more than it is. If the last dozen 5-4 decisions from this Supreme Court told us anything, it is that the Court is already highly political. Give up the “we go high” nonsense and get in the game.
It’s almost already too late.
The post Justice Kennedy Retires. That Means One Thing. appeared first on Towleroad.
Massachusetts House Passes Bill to Protect LGBTQ Youth from the Practice of “Conversion Therapy”
Massachusetts House Passes Bill to Protect LGBTQ Youth from the Practice of “Conversion Therapy”
Today, HRC hailed a vote of 137 to 14 by the Massachusetts House of Representatives passing bipartisan legislation to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of “conversion therapy.” The measure now heads to the Massachusetts Senate for consideration.
“No child should be subjected to this abusive practice that has been condemned by every major medical and mental health organization,” said HRC National Field Director Marty Rouse. “Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree on these critically important protections for Massachusetts’ LGBTQ youth. We urge the Massachusetts Senate to swiftly pass this bipartisan legislation and send it to the governor.”
There is no credible evidence that conversion therapy can change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. To the contrary, research has clearly shown that these practices pose devastating health risks for LGBTQ young people such as depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, homelessness, and even suicidal behavior. The harmful practice is condemned by every major medical and mental health organization, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and American Medical Association.
Connecticut, California, Nevada, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Washington, Maryland, Hawaii, and New Hampshire all now have laws or regulations protecting youth from this abusive practice. Similar legislation is currently awaiting gubernatorial action in the states of Delaware and Maine. A growing number of municipalities have also enacted similar protections, including cities and counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Florida, New York, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
According to a recent report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, an estimated 20,000 LGBTQ minors in states without protections will be subjected to conversion therapy by a licensed healthcare professional if state lawmakers fail to act.
HRC has partnered with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and state equality groups across the nation to pass state legislation ending conversion therapy. In Massachusetts, HRC is working with MassEquality, local advocates, and the Trevor Project to ensure that this bill becomes law. More information on the lies and dangers of efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity can be found here.
