Right-Wing Group Proposes Antitrans Bathroom Law for California Ballot

The group Is gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would require use of the restroom matching one’s ‘biological sex.’

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/04/20/right-wing-group-proposes-antitrans-bathroom-law-california-ballot

Michele Bachmann: The Rapture Is Coming And It's Obama's Fault
Michele Bachmann says the rapture is coming, thanks to President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran’s nuclear program and marriage equality.

In a radio interview last week, Bachmann, the former Minnesota Republican congresswoman, told “End Times” host Jan Markell, “We need to realize how close this clock is getting to the midnight hour.”

“We in our lifetimes potentially could see Jesus Christ returning to earth and the rapture of the church,” Bachmann said. “We see the destruction, but this was a destruction that was foretold.”

Bachmann cited the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran as a cause. The U.S. and five partner nations are discussing a deal with Iran that would prevent the country from developing or obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We are literally watching, month by month, the speed move up to a level we’ve never seen before with these events,” Bachmann said. “Barack Obama is intent. It is his number one goal to ensure that Iran has a nuclear weapon.”

Later in the interview, Bachmann again tied her rapture prediction to Obama’s foreign policy.

“If you look at the president’s rhetoric, and if you look at his actions, everything he has done has been to cut the legs out of Israel and lift up the agenda of radical Islam,” she said.

Obama has said repeatedly that the goal of the nuclear talks with Iran is to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

Bachmann also blamed abortion and gay marriage, arguing that God is punishing the United States for “embracing a pagan view.”

“Any nation that accepts God and his principles is blessed, and those who push away are cursed. That’s what we’re seeing happen to the United States,” she said. “We will suffer the consequences as a result.”

Some Christians believe those who are saved will be transported to heaven just before armageddon, which they call the rapture.

This is not the first time Bachmann has predicted extreme consequences from the Iran deal. Earlier this month, she claimed the deal would lead to “World War III.” And in a Facebook post, she compared Obama to Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who crashed the Germanwings airliner into the French Alps in March.

Listen to the interview below:

H/T Right Wing Watch

— 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/2015/04/20/michele-bachmann-obama-rapture_n_7104136.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Giorgio Armani Doesn’t Like When Men Dress Too Gay: “A Man Has To Be A Man.”

We’ll admit, the news cycle is remarkably short and people’s memories are even shorter, but how is it possible that famed designer (and billionaire) Giorgio Armani could forget the backlash his fellow Italian designers Dolce and Gabbana faced over their divisive comments about gays? It’s only been a month — what kind of Bulgari-shit is this?

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Armani, 80, who himself is openly gay, criticized femininity in gay style (Russell Tovey, anyone?), saying:

“A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual. When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”

We’re not calling for a witch hunt or anything, but what is it with people taking their personal taste and making broad, damaging generalizations lately?

Last month, Dolce and Gabbana came under fire for saying, “We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one. No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.”

Related post: Dolce & Gabbana Invoke Deadly Paris Attack As Celebrities Speak Out Against Them

In the same interview in which Armani said that “a man has to be a man,” he also gave his opinions on some other trends in the gay community.

“I don’t like muscle boy,” he said. “Not too much gym! I like somebody healthy, somebody solid, who looks after his body but doesn’t use his muscles too much.”

We agree with you there, Giorgio. But that’s a long way off from saying “men shouldn’t be too muscly,” which seems to be the tone of the previous quote.

Here’s a photo of Armani in a very manly white scrote tote, just because:

h/t: Independent

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/dymPLef82Ls/giorgio-armani-doesnt-like-when-men-dress-too-gay-a-man-has-to-be-a-man-20150420

What To Watch This Week On TV: Jenner Bares All, 'StarTalk' With Takei

Bobby Hankinson

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/what-to-watch-this-week-on-tv-jenner-bares-all-startalk-with-takei.html

Facing the Business World Out of the Closet

In our partnership with StartOut, the nonprofit nurturing LGBT entrepreneurs, we regularly invite the organization to highlight one of their business leaders. This woman’s story makes the case for starting anew.

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Adam Sandel

www.advocate.com/business/2015/04/20/facing-business-world-out-closet

Poll Shows We Need to Come Out on Climate Change
A new poll released this week by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication reveals that Americans rarely–very rarely–hear people they know talk about climate change and surprisingly few hear about it on a weekly basis in the news media.

Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D., Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, writes:

“Our survey finds, for example, that only 40% of the American public says they hear about global warming in the media at least once a month and only 19% hear about it at least once a week. Further, only 16% say that they hear people they know talk about global warming at least once a month, with only 4% reporting they hear other people talking about it at least once a week.”

Only 4 percent of Americans hear people they know talk about climate change on a weekly basis.

Is it any wonder that Congress is not treating climate action as a priority?

Or, despite positive actions from the White House and many cities and a growing number of businesses, that the United States has yet to definitively rally around what is if not the biggest threat, certainly one of the biggest threats to human health and well-being?

My research, like that of others, has shown that there are many psychological and even cognitive reasons we humans, perhaps Americans in particular, resist thinking about climate change.

• It triggers fear and anxiety.

• It appears overwhelming.

• It makes us feel relatively powerless in comparison.

• It has been made confusing.

• It still appears as a deceptively distant threat (although, here in California, that is changing by the day.)

• And, in many ways, the story of what is happening in our world has yet to be told in a manner that, rather than sounding depressing, inspires a sense of conviction and the will to act.

But if the vast majority of Americans are still not even talking about climate change, we will never break through these obstacles and put irresistible pressure on Congress and every other opponent to stop fighting all reasonable actions to combat climate change and finally take positive action-for the sake of their own children and grandchildren if no one else’s.

So how does this change? How do we change it?

As I have written elsewhere, the model of gay and lesbian Americans “coming out” is a good one. Not perfect but we don’t need perfect. We need action. And what gays and lesbians proved is that one-on-one communication is a deeply powerful tool for creating social change.

The teenager, the mother, the husband, the actress, the Congressman, the Olympian, the football star-all the many people who said simply, “I’m gay,” changed the world. Their world, and our world. By making their issue personal, and taking one small brave step, they moved hearts and minds that may never have opened and changed in any other way.

That is what I believe all of us who are concerned about climate change need to do–in addition to all the other necessary political and practical actions.

Teenagers, parents, celebrities, politicians, teachers, sports stars, everyone needs to find a way to say what they think about climate change to someone else: friends, family members, clergy, neighbors, representatives.

It can be as simple as: I am worried about how climate change will affect my kids.

Some people hesitate about saying even that because they think they will then need to have answers to questions such as: So what can we do about it? But getting more of a public conversation going on climate change doesn’t require having all the answers (although they are there to be had for those who want them.)

It’s enough to know this: Our nation needs to do more to transition off the oil and coal that cause climate change and transition to solar, wind and other forms of clean energy.

That’s it. We don’t all have to be experts. Few of the people who helped change society for gay and lesbian Americans were experts. After all, sometimes keeping it simple works. And they knew, quite simply, what mattered and what was right: Equality.

On climate change, we can also know what matters and what is right-which is again: Fairness. Every generation has a responsibility to preserve a healthy world for every future generation.

And then we need to say it–not as a final step, of course, but as a necessary first step–so many more than 4 percent of Americans will hear people they know talking about the need for climate action, and join in.

An earlier version of this post appeared on Lisa Bennett’s blog.

— 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/lisa-bennett/poll-shows-we-need-to-come-out-on-climate-change_b_7103098.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Town in Arkansas Continues Debate Over Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Eureka Springs, Arkansas, has been to known to some has a safe haven for the LGBT community in the South.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/town-in-arkansas-continues-debate-over-non-discrimination-ordinance?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

America’s Got Talent Contestant Reveals He’s HIV-Positive And In A Happy Relationship

James Clark, Branden James

From age twenty forward, I’d certainly exercised my right to be an individual. I was rather grounded at home as a serial monogamist, jumping from one long term relationship to another. Out of the house, however, I lived a sordid life experimenting with drugs and exploring various sexual avenues.  These acts of self-sabotage seem to be a rite of passage for many in the gay culture especially. But then again, I’m a product of Generation X, and I think most of us have been there, regardless of sexuality. About halfway through my twenties, I was in a free STD testing clinic called, The Spot in West Hollywood. I was no stranger to getting a routine panel of examinations to make sure I was rid of anything sexually transmitted.  I’d had relationships with HIV-positive guys in the past. Sometimes we slipped up. It happens. It was the mid 2000’s and this was at the time in HIV care when doctors thought it was better to wait to take medications until you had to. There was nothing like PreP available at the time, so the risk of transmission was likely.

A week passed. It was nearly time to go back and get my test results. The next day I went in and waited nervously in the holding room. A large African American woman stepped out of one of the examination rooms and called my name. I sunk in my chair as if trying to hide myself and shamefully walked in. I guess I expected the inevitable given my recent behavior. And my expectation was right. The woman told me I was HIV+. I remember her being so kind and giving me a hug and some reassurance like my mom might. She said, “You’re gonna be fine Hun. You’re gonna be just fine.”

The most daunting thing about becoming positive was not the supposed death sentence (which even ten years ago really only existed in the realm of fear), It was the guilt and shame that I carried with me which was daunting. After all, I lived in L.A., the land of judgmental people; according to many. I felt like I had done something wrong, when in actuality, I was just wanting to be loved like all of us- and having sex is simply a part of human nature. I formed a major complex about what people would think of me. It had become so bad I was concerned that people could actually ‘see’ I was HIV positive. I kept it a deep dark secret to everyone except the trusted few. Fast forward 10 years and here I am now. I’ve decided that I can’t allow myself to feel isolated anymore. I’ve grown up my entire feeling different- feeling like I didn’t belong.  But being unique is interesting. Being different sets you apart from everyone else. I realized that we’re all given circumstances in life, and if we don’t share those stories which make up who we are, we miss out on so many opportunities to inspire people and help people. So I decided to be brave and write about it in this very visible magazine. I recently stood up in front of a crowd of 140 strangers the other day and told them. I had planned to tell America’s Got Talent about it when I was on the show, but my partner at the time was afraid of the backlash it might cause for his own life. The biggest obstacle of all was telling my parents, just a couple of months ago. I had been through nearly ten years of worrying what they would think- how they would react. When I told them, all they could say was, ‘I’m sorry we weren’t there for you. I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell us.’ After telling them, My Dad walked across the living room of my house and gave my boyfriend James a big hug. He said, ‘thank you for being such a good friend to my son.’  I can’t tell you how much that touched me. I was suddenly free from pain I’d been carrying around for more than a decade. I’ve spent so much of my life being someone else in order to spare people’s feelings. I hid behind my fear of embracing and owning who I am. It’s time I changed that. I believe life works out the way it’s supposed to. And mine has certainly come full circle.?”

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/ex51Kc0lK6M/americas-got-talent-contestant-reveals-hes-hiv-positive-and-in-a-happy-relationship-20150420

Michele Bachmann: 'Wonderful' End Times Imminent Thanks to Gay Marriage and Obama – VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/bachmannendtimes.html

Lack of Competent Providers Leaves Many LGBTs Uninsured & Untreated

Many LGBT people are either uninsured or delay seeking medical treatment, and the reason is simple: a lack of LGBT-friendly health care providers.

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Raffy Ermac

www.advocate.com/health/2015/04/20/lack-competent-providers-leaves-many-lgbts-uninsured-untreated