Number Of Countries Criminalizing Homosexuality Has Fallen From 92 to 76 Since 2006: REPORT

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/05/ilga-report-number-of-countries-banning-gay-sex-falls-to-76.html

The Gay Conspiracy to Destroy Christianity — Really!
The ancient, bland doyen of the religious Right, Phyllis Schlafly — a conspiracist, fanatical Catholic, anti-feminist, anti-gay mother of a gay son — has been wheeled out yet again to pontificate about “Cakegate,” that sad attempt by daft conservatives to turn cakes into the last battle of the culture war. The war to “Christianize” America sputters to an end with the Bittereinders circling the wagons in a last ditch effort to stop gays from eating wedding cake.

Ms. Schlafly said:

They [gays] want to wipe out the Christian religion. And most of these other religions do not recognize same-sex marriage. I assume there are some Muslim bakers and photographers and other people who have been harassed, but they’re not being attacked and they’re not being criticized.

Why haven’t Muslim-owned bakeries had problems? Well, first, how many bakeries are there in the country? There are 6,000 retail bakeries in the United States. How many of them have been involved in the “Cakegate” controversies? I find two: Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado and Sweet Cakes in Oregon.

The way the far Right has “wailed” and “rented their garments”, you’d think thousands of bakers have been carted off to FEMA concentration camps in black helicopters for disobeying the unknown commandment: “Thou shalt not make cakes for gays, saith the Lord.” Schlafly finds a gay conspiracy to destroy Christianity because two bakers, who say they are Christians, violated anti-discrimination laws in their state.

That’s two out of 6,000 commercial bakers — hardly a representative sample. Why wasn’t one of them been Muslim?

Muslims makes up less than one percent of the population of the United States. If Muslims owned bakeries in direct proportion to their population the number of Muslim-owned bakeries for the entire country would total 54.

Beyond just the low number of Muslims in the country, there is another problem. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, which did a study of how various religious groups perceive gay marriage, 42 percent of American Muslims support same-sex marriage.

If this matched the bakery situation then there are around 31 Muslim-owned bakeries, which are also anti-gay. The chance of randomly walking into one of them would be one in 194, the odds of walking into one and ordering a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage is vastly smaller. If the entire test run — that is the number of cases filed under discrimination laws — is just two, then the chances of one of those two being owned by Muslims is almost non-existent.

In other words, the likelihood an anti-gay bakery would be owned by a Muslim is itself remotely low. That they are also anti-gay is even lower. Many anti-equality business-owners are still happy to make a profit, so the final number of Muslim, anti-gay, anti-profit bakers, has to be rather miniscule.

You don’t need a gay conspiracy — and old Phyllis is a conspiracist from decades ago — to explain why the two bakery cases involved Christian-owned businesses.

Given that 70 percent of the population consider themselves Christian, if you were to pick two bakers at random, chances are pretty good both would be Christians.

Who are the opponents of gay marriage? The largest group of anti-gay haters are white evangelicals, 66 percent of whom oppose marriage equality. Baptists are the worst, with 72 percent in opposition.

Evangelicals, the most hidebound anti-gay bigots in the country, make up about 25 percent of the population. If they owned bakeries in proportion to their numbers that would be 1500 bakeries run by fundamentalists. Over two-thirds of them would be anti-gay. The chance of randomly walking into one of them is one in six. In other words, the lack of Muslims in the country — making up less than one percent of the population — explains why they haven’t been involved.

More importantly, American Muslims are more supportive of same-sex marriage than American evangelicals.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/james-peron/the-gay-conspiracy-to-destroy-christianity-really_b_7280564.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

More Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Americans Identify as Christians

A newly released Pew Research Center report shows that more lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) Americans identify as Christian than ever before.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/more-lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-americans-identify-as-christians?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

World's First Magnetic 4-D Roller Coaster 'BATMAN: The Ride' Debuts at Six Flags Fiesta Texas: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/05/worlds-first-magnetic-4-d-roller-coaster-batman-the-ride-debuts-at-six-flags-fiesta-texas-video.html

Sadistic Yet Hilarious Video Shows Men Experiencing Simulated Labor Pains
In a sadistically funny video from Buzzfeed, The Try Guys continue their exploration of motherhood by enduring labor pain simulation.

“How painful can this be?” they ask as specialists place electrodes on their backs, abdomens and even in one case, taint. The electric simulation forces their muscles to contract, creating the sensation of a labor contraction.

Cue the screaming and profanity.

“It’s like a million ants and needles just crawling through my skin,” one Try Guy observes. Another says it feels “like somebody just digging their nails through your stomach.”

And, as technician increases the pain level, “What a terrible alarm that it’s baby time!”

Pretty much.

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— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/14/guys-experience-labor-pains_n_7276086.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

5 under-the-radar city breaks that showcase the best of England

Because there’s more to Blighty than London, Manchester and Brighton!

read more

jamiet

www.gaystarnews.com/article/5-under-radar-city-breaks-showcase-best-england130515

Alabama’s Fork in the Road Moment: Enshrine Discrimination or Embrace LGBT Equality

Today, the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee advanced HB 56, a dangerous anti-LGBT bill that would allow probate judges and public officials to refuse to solemnize marriages on religious grounds.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/alabamas-fork-in-the-road-moment-enshrine-discrimination-or-embrace-lgbt-eq?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

How Many Actors Got Their TV Break As Trans Characters Going Full-Frontal? Jonny Beauchamp, That’s How Many.

You may not know who Jonny Beauchamp is, but you will soon. He’ll appear as Ray Castro in Roland Emmerich’s film Stonewall alongside Jeremy Irvine, Ron Perlman and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The film, about the NYC Stonewall riots, should be released sometime later this year.

But you can also catch the Puerto Rican actor from the Bronx in the newest episode of Penny Dreadful. He plays transgender prostitute Angelique, and fans of the show will be treated to a whole lot of Beauchamp’s front side — all of it, really.

Beauchamp spoke recently to TV Insider about getting the part, what makes Angelique tick and how he managed to get through filming the full-frontal scenes.

On the nudity:

“It was part of the contract I had to sign for the screen test. I didn’t know exactly what would be shown or how. I wanted to be cool and professional but, inside, I was dying. Nudity was my one big fear as an actor, the one thing I never really thought I would be able to do. In the theater, it’s a little different. But to go full frontal for my first big TV project was daunting. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t lose sleep over it.”

On how he got through it:

“[Show creator] John Logan was very comforting. He took me into his office and said, ‘You have to remember that this is not you. It’s the character who is naked. This show is all about shock factor and pushing the boundaries, and this is a really awesome opportunity for you to do that.’ That made me feel a lot better and much safer. And thank God I had to drop trou in front of Reeve Carney. He was my rock. He held my hand through the hold process. Well, not literally, but we were like mates in the same crazy situation. [Laughs] We’d look at each other and be, like, ‘What the hell are we doing?’”

On playing transgender before there was ‘transgender’:

“Today, we’re finally on the transgender frontier and everyone is starting to talk about it, but it wasn’t spoken of a hundred years ago. If you were transgender back then you were considered crazy or a sexual deviant. So the fact that Angelique holds herself with such pride and poise is amazing.”

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/mFV2PsziFaA/how-many-actors-got-their-tv-break-as-trans-characters-going-full-frontal-jonny-beauchamp-thats-how-many-20150514

Laramie, Wyoming Passes Comprehensive LGBT Non-Discrimination Ordinance: VIDEO

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/05/laramie-wyoming-passes-non-discrimination-ordinance-video.html

Kenyan Paper Shamed for Its 'Top Gays' List

Online commenters are rejecting the newspaper’s homophobic list, and coming out on the side of the LGBT activists outed.

read more

Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/politics/media/2015/05/14/kenyan-paper-shamed-its-top-gays-list