Bisexual Former CBS Employee Sues Network Alleging Harassment
The employee says he feared being raped.
Eliel Cruz
Category Archives: NEWS
Apple's New Emoji Are The Gayest Ones Yet
Apple's New Emoji Are The Gayest Ones Yet
A new iOS software update includes over 300 new Emojis, the likes of which include many LGBT and racially-diverse characters.
Raffy Ermac
www.advocate.com/business/technology/2015/04/09/apples-new-emoji-are-gayest-ones-yet
This Photo Of Two Women Embracing Shows Something Truly Dangerous
This Photo Of Two Women Embracing Shows Something Truly Dangerous
There are some lines you just don’t cross in Brazil.
This picture of two women embracing on a train platform has gone crazy viral — but it’s not for the reason you might think.
Não sou preconceituoso, acho que cada um faz o que quer da sua vida. Mas acho um absurdo eu ser obrigado a presenciar…
Posted by Nelson Felippe on Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Facebook user Nelson Felippe posted the picture April 7. Underneath, he wrote: “What one does is in private is their problem, but what one does in public concerns me. And I refuse to see a scene like this and consider it something normal.”
Felippe then asks his readers to think of the children: “What will happen to the mind of a child who sees this every day?”
“Children are going to think that it’s normal to wait for the subway on the yellow line,” he adds. “So, don’t be like that guy over there. Follow the example of the girls. Wait for the subway BEHIND the yellow line.”
The post has received thousands of likes and shares. Here’s the text translated in full:
I’m not prejudiced, I think everyone should do what they want with their life. But I think it’s absurd that I’m forced to witness a scene like this.
What one does is in private is their problem, but what one does in public concerns me. And I refuse to see a scene like this and consider it something normal.
I don’t wish bad on anyone, but these people should be careful. They’re defying social conventions and that can be dangerous. And if a tragedy occurs? Or worse, someone dies. Who is to blame? Me ?
Or worst of all is the example it sets children.
What will happen to the mind of a child who sees this every day? Children are going to think that it’s normal to wait for the subway on the yellow line. So, don’t be like that guy over there. Follow the example of the girls. Wait for the subway BEHIND the yellow line, and only cross it after the subway has made a complete stop and opened its doors.
Rio de Janeiro saw what was billed as the largest communal gay wedding in 2013 and one of the largest gay pride parades last year, but the country has also seen its share of anti-gay incidents: In 2013, two women were beaten and jailed for kissing at a gospel concert, and in November, a politician blamed the gay pride parade for the drought.
Hopefully, Felippe’s photo has reminded some Brazilians of what’s truly dangerous.
H/T BuzzFeed
— 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.
HRC Commends President Obama for Meeting with Caribbean LGBT Advocates
A Transgender Teen’s Tragic Suicide Leads The White House To Call For A Ban On Conversion Therapy
A Transgender Teen’s Tragic Suicide Leads The White House To Call For A Ban On Conversion Therapy
There aren’t many LGBT issues that President Obama hasn’t touched on during his tenure. Now he’s tackling one of the few that remain. Now his Administration is going on record against conversion therapy, the pernicious practice of trying make LGBT teens straight.
In a statement posted on the White House website, senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett came out in favor of laws that would make it illegal to force LGBT youth to undergo the scientifically discredited treatment.
“We share your concern about [conversion therapy’s] potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer youth,” the statement reads. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”
The statement was prompted specifically by the suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year old transgender teen who threw herself in front of a truck during the Christmas holidays last year. Alcorn left a heartbreaking note on Facebook, in which she recounted how her parents turned against her and forced her to go to Christian therapists in an attempt to “cure” her.
Leelah wrote that when she was 14, she told her mom she was transgender. “She reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong,” Leelah said. “If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.”
The administration’s statement came in direct response to an online petition on the White House website that honored Leelah. Jarrett told The New York Times that Leelah’s case wasn’t an isolated one.
“It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately, she has a lot of company,” Jarrett said. “It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.”
Indeed, it’s all too easy to find example after example of LGBT youth subjected to harmful and destructive treatment, some of which have fatal consequences.
So far two states–California and New Jersey–and the District of Columbia have laws that ban conversion therapy for minors. Eighteen states have seen legislation introduced this year.
JohnGallagher
LEGO Considering Producing 'Golden Girls' Themed Playset
LEGO Considering Producing 'Golden Girls' Themed Playset
Soon you may be able to buy a special edition set of Golden Girls-themed LEGO minifigs. Last month LEGO Ideas community member Lostsleep submitted a concept to the website that would be reviewed by LEGO’s official creative team if it received enough community votes. Though there had been other attempts at turning the Golden Girls into LEGOs, none surged in popularity the way Lostsleep’s did.
“If we can get to 5000 votes, I will add the Lanai behind the Foyer,” Lostsleep wrote yesterday before his idea had hit its support goal. “The girls need a place to relax in the sun and play cards.”
As Lostsleep pitched it, his playset included Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, Sophia, and Stanley along with the iconic Foyer, Kitchen (with cheesecake) and Living Room where most of the show took place. In under a month the proposal racked up the necessary 10,000 upvotes, automatically qualifying the project for an official LEGO review and almost immediately LEGO released an official statement.
“Thank you for being a friend… and a LEGO Ideas member! Now you just need to endure the Miami heat (and Sophia’s wisecracks from the sofa) as you wait for the LEGO Review,” the message explained. “While we don’t know yet if we can produce this as a LEGO product, we’re happy to advance your project to the Review phase.
As large an an outpouring of support as there’s been for the playset there are still all sorts of licensing issues that would need to be worked out before production went forward. Perhaps its time for people to tell Disney-ABC, who own the rights to Golden Girls, just why this toy needs to exist.
Check out more concept images of the The Golden Girls Living Room and Kitchen Modular Set AFTER THE JUMP…
‘
Charles Pulliam-Moore
www.towleroad.com/2015/04/lego-considering-producing-golden-girls-themed-playset.html
WATCH: Iowa Catholic School Students Protest Denial of Job to Gay Teacher
WATCH: Iowa Catholic School Students Protest Denial of Job to Gay Teacher
The teacher, who had substituted at the school, didn’t get a full-time job offer because he’s engaged to another man.
Trudy Ring
Taking the Ball From the GOP
Taking the Ball From the GOP
The right’s overreach exposes its losing game.
Republicans had a bad week last week. When not failing in their effort to sabotage nuclear nonproliferation negotiations, they were denouncing the Indiana and Arkansas legislatures for undermining their so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts by adding clarifying language. Retail giant Walmart was instrumental in pressuring Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to demand a fix to that state’s RFRA.
The only homophobes who had a good week were the owners of Memories Pizza, who received over $800,000 in donations what may have been a right-wing media scam that hailed them as Christian martyrs for refusing to fill the previously unknown demand for pizza at gay weddings.
Demonstrating the leadership of the private sector, openly gay Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in The Washington Post on March 29 that discrimination is bad for business. He added, “As a child, I was baptized in a Baptist church, and faith has always been an important part of my life. I was never taught, nor do I believe, that religion should be used as an excuse to discriminate.”
The right turned its wrath on Cook. Presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina, the fired Hewlett Packard executive who it seems mistook her golden parachute for a testimonial letter, called Cook a hypocrite for doing business in oppressive countries. Bob Witeck, a consultant who worked with Walmart to improve its LGBT-inclusive practices, crisply replied, “As Americans, it is past time we put our own house in order before we try to fix other societies.”
Mike Huckabee, another presidential hopeful, accused American companies of caving in to “the militant gay community” and added, “There’s been more pressure this week to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran.” Doesn’t that sound awfully militant? He pretends that straight people have a monopoly on faith, and that LGBT equality would lead to apocalyptic ruin; which is strange, considering that apocalyptic ruin is what he and his friends appear to seek in the Middle East.
There was not enough popcorn to fully enjoy neo-isolationist Pat Buchanan’s takedown of Fox News host Sean Hannity for opposing the preliminary Iran deal. Hannity, like Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, talks as if President Obama wants to give the Iranians nukes, not keep nukes from them. Netanyahu insists that he is only against a bad deal. The trouble is that his attacks on the deal began before a deal existed. Buchanan called Hannity “hysterical.” Fox host Bill O’Reilly, in a welcome surprise, cautioned that the alternative to a deal is world war.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) said gays should be grateful that we are not put to death here as in Iran. Sorry, but we’ve set our sights a bit higher. His comment recalls the argument that gays do not face marriage discrimination because we can marry someone of the opposite sex, similar to an argument made 50 years ago in defense of anti-miscegenation laws.
Never before has Republican flailing been on such vivid display, nor has the right’s disconnect from mainstream American opinion been more glaring. We should seize the moment and make the GOP pay a heavy price.
Most states still lack comprehensive laws prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination. Anti-transgender “potty panic” bills have been introduced in Florida, Texas, Arizona and Nevada; one recently failed in Kentucky. Attacks on reproductive choice are relentless, yet have not stirred corporate protest. If one wedge fails, the right tries another. We must build and rebuild coalitions that teach respect and stigmatize know-nothingism.
It is exhausting dealing with the far right’s fountain of dangerous nonsense. They flirt with treason to thwart our president’s peace efforts; they itch to start another war, learning nothing from their past adventures and neglecting the soldiers maimed in them; they stir hatred and fear to distract us from their assault on the middle class; and they cry victim the moment anyone stands up to their bullying of everyone who doesn’t look and think like them. We should say this, but also convey a vision of America based on equal rights and cooperation, not paranoia.
I am a liberal. Too often, our side fights on conservatives’ turf, tacitly accepting their false framing of the issues and playing defense. It is time for us to take the ball.
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Blade and Bay Windows.
— 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.
Florida House Votes for Discrimination Against Best Interest of Children
Florida House Votes for Discrimination Against Best Interest of Children
Equality Florida and HRC Urge Gov. Rick Scott to take stand against anti-LGBT adoption measure that endorses taxpayer-funded discrimination.
HRC.org
Photo of Toronto Cop Who Dyed His Hair Pink to Oppose LGBTQ Bullying Goes Viral
Photo of Toronto Cop Who Dyed His Hair Pink to Oppose LGBTQ Bullying Goes Viral
Toronto police officer Luke Watson’s desire to see an end to anti-LGBTQ bullying burns with a hot pink intensity. To mark yesterday’s Day of Pink, an international day against “bullying, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and transmisogyny across the world,” Watson dyed his hair pink and pledged to keep it that way for an entire week if the Twitter photo of his new ‘do was retweeted 1,000 times.
The photo has since been retweeted over 3000 times.
Hey #Twitter if This gets a 1000 RT’s @pc8430 will keep the hair 4 a week #DayofPink #stopbullyingnow @TorontoPolice pic.twitter.com/2TGhGykfXe
— Ryan Willmer (@RyanCP23) April 8, 2015
Global News reports that Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also took part in the Day of Pink, albeit without any body modifications.
More on the day via the official website:
The International Day of Pink was started in Nova Scotia when 2 straight high school students saw a gay student wearing a pink shirt being bullied. The 2 students intervened, but wanted to do more to prevent homophobic & transphobic bullying. They decided to purchase pink shirts, and a few days later got everyone at school to arrive wearing pink, standing in solidarity. The result was that an entire school took a stand and began working together to prevent homophobic & transphobic bullying.
Kyler Geoffroy
