Renata Rodrigues Apoia a causa LGBT
Category Archives: MISC
WATCH: Why We Are Listening to the Rescues
WATCH: Why We Are Listening to the Rescues
Indie supergroup the Rescues said goodbye to Los Angeles’s Room 5 on Monday night with a rousing, heartfelt night of music.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2014/09/26/watch-why-we-are-listening-rescues
The Gay Blood Ban That Keeps on Chugging. And Discriminating. And Killing.
The Gay Blood Ban That Keeps on Chugging. And Discriminating. And Killing.
A few days ago, that monthly e-mail announcing the upcoming campus blood drive popped up on my screen.
“Help saves lives,” it declared.
“Unless you’re gay,” it derided.
I then went to the Student Union to pick up some lunch and was immediately confronted by the poster announcing that same blood drive.
“Be proud,” it shouted.
“Unless you’re gay,” it snickered.
“Be a hero,” it proclaimed.
“Unless you’re gay,” it scoffed.
“Free Chipotle for donors,” it promised.
“Unless you’re gay, in which case, no beans and rice for you!” it laughed.
To be clear, I really and truly do see and hear these things when confronted with a blood drive announcement. Each and every month. And each and every month, it never fails to be humiliating, dehumanizing, embarrassing and a whole host of other alienating words. All due to the fact that I can’t make it past the screening questions to donate my universal donor, O-negative blood because I have had sex since 1977, the disqualifying year in the FDA’s ban commemorating the year of my birth (yes, at this point, I’ve personalized this ban more than a bit…).
Oh, and also, I become enraged. White hot angry. Partly at the ban, but also at the LGBT community’s almost complete inability and nigh total ineptitude to mobilize an effective fight against the ban. We coalesce beautifully around marriage equality. We gather passionately to fight school bullying. Heck, we even seem to be coming together around ENDA.
But around a blood ban that discriminates against gay men on a cellular level? Around an archaic, medically-unsound policy that both metaphorically and (no joke!) biologically argues that we are less than our heterosexual brothers and sisters? It’s almost like we have no clue what to do.
After 15 years of educating, organizing and ranting about blood drives, here’s the small amount of knowledge I have gained.
Petitions don’t work. Like, at all.
There’s a new petition out. Which is different than this petition. That failed. Which is different than this petition. That failed. Which is different from a ton more. Which all failed.
But, fine, let’s live in a universe where the requisite number of signatures is achieved (that assumption being huge given that even a post from social media megastar George Takei couldn’t push one of those petitions over the edge), then what? The White House comments? To say what? That this isn’t a priority for them? Seriously, these online petitions just have no capacity to create meaningful change.
Banning a Blood Drive Feels Horrible.
I’ve been heavily involved in the successful efforts to ban blood drives on two different college campuses. It is a dreadful experience. Make no mistake: I wholeheartedly stand by my actions. When you work for an organization that sports a non-discrimination statement protecting community members on the basis of sexual orientation, you simply cannot endorse the invitation of a group on campus that discriminates against community members on the basis of sexual orientation.
That said, it’s not like it is heartwarming to advocate for a ban. Even as the ultimate goal of a ban is to draw attention to discriminatory practices which, if ended, would open the blood supply up to as many donors as possible, no one working on banning blood drives raises a triumphant fist in the air as the blood-mobile sits outside the campus gates.
So Many People Don’t Know About the Ban. They Just Don’t.
My guarantee to you: I will share this piece on Facebook and someone will write, “Wait, what?!? I had no idea.” It will then take a tremendous amount of effort to set aside my frustration and just respond, “Yes, it’s real.” But that’s what we all have to keep doing: speaking, education, posting, ranting and advocating for change. Somewhere in all of that lies the hope that a critical mass of folks will be reached who will demand change.
True story: another professor walked into my office while I was typing this and asked about the topic of this piece. I told her the ban on gay men giving blood. She replied, “Oh, I had no idea!” Indeed.
Ultimately, this issue is about discrimination. This issue about saving lives (1.8 million lives, apparently!). This issue is about doing the right thing. And yet, we can’t seem to figure out how to arrive at that place where we discard this hateful, deadly ban.
If you have ideas on how to get there, post them below. In the meantime, at least tell someone else about the ban. Chances are, they don’t know.
Little Rock Catholic Bishop Plays Incest Card in Marriage Case
One Direction’s “Family Values” Man Shoots Guns With The Duck Dynasty Clan
One Direction’s “Family Values” Man Shoots Guns With The Duck Dynasty Clan
Liam Payne has enraged One Direction fans on Twitter again this week by holding a massive camouflage rifle while posing for a photo with members of the notoriously homophobic Duck Dynasty clan at their home in Louisiana.
The 21-year-old One Direction singer was apparently at Duck Dynasty headquarters earlier this week to “shoot clay pigeons” with the family while discussing god knows what.
His friend Andy Samuels posted (and quickly deleted) the photo below with the caption: “Today I shot a gun at a clay disc thing and I loved it.”
Payne enraged fans in January for expressing his fetish for “family values” and deep respect for the Robertson family, most of whom have defended their record of being unabashedly anti-gay. Many questioned whether Payne was a fan of the Robertson family values, which include believing that “AIDS is god’s penalty for immorality.”
This week, fans are criticizing him for posing with guns more than posing with this family, an offense we think is exponentially more disgusting.
Earlier this month, Payne responded on Twitter to accusations that he was gay after photos allegedly showing him having gay sex appeared online (you didn’t miss anything – they’re horribly photoshopped).
I’m 100% not homophobic. But I’m also 100% not gay so when somebody says I am I’m gunna say I’m not which does not make me a homophobe
— liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) September 21, 2014
Oh, ok Liam.
Queerty Editor
Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1624
Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1624
BLACKHAT: Trailer for the upcoming heist-thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis.
CHRIS PRATT: Gets prank called by his wife Anna Faris and Ellen.
UNNECESSARY CENSORSHIP: Jimmy Kimmel’s weekly tribute to the FCC.
THE CARTERS: An inside look at Beyonce and Jay-Z’s private moments.
For more recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2014/09/towleroad-guide-to-the-tube-1624.html
Teacher Suspended Twice for Slapping 'I'm gay' Sticker on Student – LGBT Community is Stunned!
Teacher Suspended Twice for Slapping 'I'm gay' Sticker on Student – LGBT Community is Stunned!
A teacher, who was suspended for writing "I’m gay" on a piece of masking tape and sticking it on the back of a student’s jacket last year received a second suspension this month. Daniel Mark…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=foO6J8DFG0c&feature=youtube_gdata
Bracelet
Aspiring Catholic Priest Quits Church in Protest of LGBT Firings
Aspiring Catholic Priest Quits Church in Protest of LGBT Firings
Benjamin Brenkert has written an open letter to Pope Francis urging him to stop the firings and speak out against discrimination.
Trudy Ring
Conservatives Don't Want You To Vote For Pro-Marriage Equality GOP Candidates
Conservatives Don't Want You To Vote For Pro-Marriage Equality GOP Candidates
Three leading conservative organizations said Thursday that they will “mount a concerted effort” urging voters to refuse to cast ballots for three Republican candidates who support legalizing same-sex marriage.
As BuzzFeed first reported, the presidents of Family Research Council Action, the National Organization for Marriage and CitizenLink sent a letter to Republican leaders in both the House and Senate voicing their opposition to Senate candidate Dr. Monica Wehby and openly gay congressional candidates Carl DeMaio and Richard Tisei.
Tisei is running against former Marine Seth Moulton (D) in Massachusetts, DeMaio is challenging Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Wehby is working to unseat Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
“We cannot in good conscience urge our members and fellow citizens to support candidates like DeMaio, Tisei or Wehby,” the letter reads. “They are wrong on critical, foundational issues of importance to the American people. Worse, as occupants of high office they will secure a platform in the media to advance their flawed ideology and serve as terrible role models for young people who will inevitably be encouraged to emulate them.”
The letter calls the three candidates “antithetical” to the Republican Party’s platform.
“While we acknowledge that a national party must accommodate varying points of view on matters of prudence, we also believe a party must stand for certain core principles that it expects its candidates to defend,” the groups explained.
DeMaio and Tisei could both make history this cycle as the first openly gay Republicans elected to Congress. Wehby announced her support for marriage equality earlier this month.
Charlie Szold, a spokesman for Tisei, suggested to The Huffington Post in an email that he thought factions within the GOP should focus on economic issues rather than inter-party fights over issues like marriage equality.
“Richard has never been afraid to take on members of his own party,” Szold said of Tisei. “When Mitt Romney was governor, Richard looked him in the eye and told the governor he was wrong about marriage equality. The Republican Party is best when it promotes freedom, and focuses on fixing the economy and lowering the cost of living for hard working middle class families.”
DeMaio spokesman Dave McCulloch called the group’s letter “destructive” in an email to HuffPost.
“While unfortunate, the destructive actions of these intolerant groups come as no surprise,” McCulloch said. “They know Carl DeMaio is a leader working to make his own party more inclusive and positive, rather than focused on divisive social issues that are none of government’s business in the first place.”
Wehby’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Just under one-third of conservatives support marriage equality, according to a May Gallup poll, though a March Pew poll found that 61 percent of Republicans under 30 favor it.
