Teenage Boys in Skirts Restored Our Faith in Humanity
Earlier this month hemlines were high at Colégio Pedro II in Brazil. After seeing their transgender classmate Maria Muniz get suspended for wearing a skirt to school, the boys and girls of the school all wore skirts to show their support. As you can see from the photo that quickly went viral, transgender advocacy has never looked better.

Thanks to the efforts of these awesome teenagers and pleated fabric, the suspension was overruled, and, according to Globo, the school district is reconsidering the dress code in place. Outside the Colégio Pedro II community others are showing their support by using the hashtag #VouDeSaia.

#VoudeSaia our generation is made of beautiful and clever people. we are united against discrimination.

— Priscilla Marvel (@PriscillaMarvel) September 18, 2014

Love and support from Australia RT @OUTinPerth: Schoolboys wear skirts in solidarity with trans* girl t.co/6kjf3DsCkH #VoudeSaia

— Tru Sutton (@RafaBasset) September 22, 2014

Faith in humanity, RESTORED. Support for EQUALITY! #VoudeSaia

— Amanda Kirk (@akirk621) September 22, 2014

This is quite a win after the news of a not-so-friendly wardrobe change by students at Commack High School. As a “joke” the students took two photos donning T-shirts spelling out the word “RAPE.” The first photo showed the students standing side-by-side spelling out “RAPE?” The second, even more disturbing photo that was tweeted replaced the question mark with a period, spelling out “RAPE.” That photo featured a person lying on the ground with arms bound.

It seems that these boys could take a lesson from the students of at Colégio Pedro II. The takeaway? Advocacy looks good on everyone.

www.huffingtonpost.com/erin-spencer/teenage-boys-in-skirts_b_5865264.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Organizing for Equality in Jacksonville

The Jacksonville Coalition for Equality hopes to help pass a fully-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance in Jacksonville, Florida.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/organizing-for-equality-in-jacksonville?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Half Of Gay Men With HIV Aren’t Getting Treatment, Study Finds

A new CDC study on gay men living with HIV in the United States found that half of those infected are not getting the treatment they need.

And of those who are taking drugs, many are not taking enough to get the virus under control.

The CDC found that of the estimated 600,000 gay men with HIV in the US, only 42 percentare on a proper course of treatment.

“It’s unacceptable that treatment, one of our most powerful tools for protecting people’s health and preventing new HIV infections, is reaching only a fraction of gay men who need it,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s AIDS branch.

The survey found that young, black men were most least likely to have the virus under control, while older white men were most likely.

Overall, there’s been a 33 percent drop in new infection rates from 2002-2011, but among young gay men, the rate has doubled in the same time period.

via NBC News

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/ejINrRHxbD8/half-of-gay-men-with-hiv-arent-getting-treatment-study-finds-20140929

Court of Appeal of Florence Reverses Lower Ruling on Italy's First Recognized Gay Marriage

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/italy.html

COMUNIDADES LGBT EN QUICHE

I'm Quitting — Being a Stay-at-Home Dad

Gay stay-at-home dad Frank Lowe prepares to rejoin the outside-the-home work force.

read more

Frank Lowe

www.advocate.com/node/443251

3 Men Arrested In Anti-Gay Shooting In Brooklyn
Two men and a teenage boy were arrested Sunday for what authorities say was an anti-gay attack culminating in the shooting of a man in Brooklyn.

The 22-year-old victim was dressed as a woman when he was walking early Saturday morning with two friends on Broadway near Putnam Ave. in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reports. The three suspects started shouting homophobic slurs at them, police said.

An argument ensued before the suspects began chasing the two men down the street. Matthew Smith, 21, allegedly opened fire, striking the victim in the buttocks.

Shortly after the shooting, police officers chased down the suspects on foot, arresting all three. Smith was charged with first-degree assault and was also charged in a separate shooting that occurred Friday night, NBC New York reports.

The other two suspects — Cody Sigue, 22, and a 17-year-old boy– have been charged with menacing in the third degree as a hate crime.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released.

“[It] shows how gay people can’t walk around in the street without someone saying something or doing something towards them,” 24-year-old Daquan Ruddock, a gay resident of Brooklyn, told the Daily News. “It’s sad.”

Back in 2008, Jose Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadoran man, was beaten to death in Bushwick by two assailants who allegedly yelled homophobic and anti-immigrant slurs during the attack. One of the assailants was convicted of murder as a hate crime and was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison.

The number of anti-gay bias crimes in New York spiked last year. According to the New York City Police Department, there were 29 such attacks from January 2013 to May 2013, more than double the attacks during the same period in 2012.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/anti-gay-attack-brooklyn_n_5900668.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

World Congress of Families Launches Petition Against HRC

HRC’s Export of Hate report has the shadowy network of American extremists up in arms.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/world-congress-of-families-launches-petition-against-hrc?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Brazil No-Hope Presidential Candidate Goes On Televised Homophobic Rant

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/brazil-no-hope-presidential-candidates-televised-homophobic-rant.html