Ted Cruz Hires Anti-gay Marriage Billboard Bigots to Help Lead Presidential Campaign

Earlier this week, we told you about Dick and Betty Odgaard and their plan to place 1,000 anti-gay billboards across the country after they shut down their wedding business to avoid serving same-sex couples.

The Iowa couple had hoped to place “1,000 points of light” across the nation in the form of signs reading “Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman,” but that lofty goal looks unlikely as they’ve managed to raise only $500 for their anti-gay crusade.

The Odgaard’s paltry fundraising efforts don’t seem to have fazed their buddy Ted Cruz however, as they’ve recently been added to the Cruz campaign’s Iowa leadership team along with eight other “courageous conservatives.”

“Iowa is an extraordinarily important state to our campaign, and I am incredibly excited to have these 10 courageous conservatives join our already exceptional Iowa Leadership Team,” said Sen. Cruz in a statement. “I am tremendously encouraged to see how much our grassroots support in Iowa has grown since the launch of our campaign in March, particularly with the addition of several pastors and our Religious Liberty Ambassadors Dick & Betty Odgaard. It is profoundly important that we have a strong leadership team to win the Iowa caucuses, and today, the campaign took another step in that direction.”

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Kyler Geoffroy

Ted Cruz Hires Anti-gay Marriage Billboard Bigots to Help Lead Presidential Campaign

Brighton rock(s): Britain’s LGBTI community likes to be beside the seaside

Down in the South of England, between the sea and the South Downs National Park, a diverse community draws in people from all walks of life to the UK’s unofficial LGBTI capital.

Whether it’s smelling the slightly salty air, watching the sea gulls soar through the sky and bob on the waves, listening to the waves break on Brighton’s shingle beach or the welcoming atmosphere, falling in love with this quirky seaside beauty is remarkably easy.

The War Memorial at Old Steine serves a serious purpose, but in summer, people flock to the small park surrounding it.

A treasure trove of things to do, no matter if iconic or lesser known, it’s unlikely that Brighton will ever get boring (if it does, London can be reached in an hour, but never tell a Brightonian you prefer the UK capital over their hometown. They don’t take well to that.).

No matter if seen from the skies or the ground, Brighton Pier never fully loses its appeal.

Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, often just called Brighton Pier or the Pier, is popular with tourists and the locals and always good for a laugh; if the amusement part leaves you unfazed, maybe snagging one of the free deckchairs to soak up some sun is more your thing.

From there, explore the seafront – it never sleeps: by day, people flock to bars, restaurants and the numerous attractions, but when darkness falls students and young professionals take over the clubs and paint the town red.

An air of India: the Royal Pavilion, often compared to the Taj Mahal gives Brighton an exotic note.

Pulsing beats aside, there’s plenty of calmer (but not less exciting) things to do in Brighton: the slightly misplaced-looking Royal Pavilion with its lavish interiors is a must-see and, what the guides won’t tell you, hosted one of the very first same-sex marriages in the UK on 29 March 2014.

Some truly unique things can be found in The Lanes and North Laine, full of unconventional shops bringing out Brighton’s individualistic side; for the bigger chains, Churchill Square Shopping Center is just up the hill.

The narrow, winding Lanes hide many gems, from small cafés to antique shops.

Head to Northern Lights just off the seafront – a Scandinavian-themed bar serving authentic food and drink in a cozy, welcoming atmosphere, with staff always good for a cheeky joke – or an evening out away from the typical gastro pubs.

Silo, a zero-waste restaurant hailed as one of Brighton’s most promising new haunts, and much-loved vegetarian restaurant Food with Friends are also worth a visit for a taste of local produce and innovative recipes.

To dive headfirst into the LGBTI community, head to Kemptown; most gay bars and clubs line St James’s street and, much like the seafront, there’s always something going on, not just on Pride weekend.

Hardly anyone in the city can resist the draw of Brighton’s annual Pride.

Once a year, Brighton Pride attracts nearly 200,000 visitors – aside from the parade, a festival and Preston Park and the Gay Village Party und Kemptown keep the masses entertained throughout the day.

Renters will face average prices of £940 (€1,335.34, $1,458.26) per month for a one bedroom flat or £1,308 (€1,858.12, $2,029.16) for two bedrooms, while properties to sell clock in at an overall average of £337,240 (€479,078, $523,177).

Regular train services link Brighton to London Victoria Station as well as St. Pancras International via London Blackfriars, City Thameslink and Faringdon and a limited service to London Bridge, making the city popular with commuters into London.

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Stefanie Gerdes

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HRC.org

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Man Gang Raped At Gunpoint By Half A Dozen Men In Washington, D.C.

A Washington, D.C., man was gang raped at gunpoint by nearly half a dozen men, the Washington Blade reports.

The horrifying episode happened in the Columbia Heights neighborhood last week. The victim, whose name and age has not been released, was apparently walking by himself when a white van pulled up beside him. A gunman jumped out and forced him into the back.

Related: Philadelphia Tourist Raped At Gunpoint During Grindr Hookup

According to police, as many as seven other men were waiting inside the van. They “drove [the victim] around” for a while before “Suspect 1 through Suspect 5 anally sexually assaulted him against his will and without his consent.”

According to police, the suspects ranged in age, from 17 to 27 years old. The victim could only describe the gunman who initially approached him: Hispanic, around 6’1, between 22 and 27 years old, with a slim build and short black curly hair.

This is the second time in less than a year that an adult male has been gang raped by a group of men in the area. Last December, a 52-year-old man was walking alone when a gang of armed men kidnapped him and raped him at another location.

Related: London Man Shares Harrowing Account Of Being Raped And How It Changed His Life

Graham Gremore

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This Job Interview Experiment is a Painful Reminder that Anti-gay Discrimination Still Exists: WATCH

Even the most progressive regions in the world still harbor pockets of anti-LGBT resentment, as this social experiment in Scandinavia illustrates.

After being contacted by a guy who said he was fired for being gay, YouTube duo Konrad and Olle decided to find out if there was any truth to the man’s claim. The two discovered a job opening for an unnamed transport company and decided to don secret identities and apply for the position.

Konrad applied for the job as a do-nothing gamer without any experience in the industry or even a truck license. Olle, meanwhile, played the part of an applicant with relevant skills and an interest with the industry (who just so happened to have a boyfriend). Can you guess who was contacted after the interview with a job offer?

Be sure to stick around till the end to see Konrad’s fantastic response after hearing about his job offer.

[English subtitles are available]

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Kyler Geoffroy

This Job Interview Experiment is a Painful Reminder that Anti-gay Discrimination Still Exists: WATCH

WATCH: Iowa Man Tries to Marry His Lawnmower

An Iowa man decided to test Rep. Steve King’s outrageous claim that marriage equality will lead to people marrying lawnmowers.

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Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/08/06/watch-iowa-man-tries-marry-his-lawnmower

Candace Cameron Bure: Allowing business to discriminate is part of what makes America ‘wonderful’

Writer, The View co-host and Full House actor Candace Cameron Bure has reiterated her convinction that business owners with deeply held religious views should be allowed to turn away customers if they believe that providing service to them conflicts with their faith.

Cameron Bure – the sister of homophobic, evangelical Christian Kirk Cameron – made the comments in an interview with HuffPost Live.

Last month, Cameron Bure clashed with The View co-host Raven Symoné over the issue of bakeries that refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. Raven Symoné was critical of a bakery in Oregon that had refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, but Cameron Bure leapt to its defense.

‘I don’t think this is discrimination at all. This is about freedom of association. It’s about constitutional rights. It’s about First Amendment rights. It’s about having the right to still choose who we associate with,’ she said at the time.

‘[They] didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of [the couple’s] sexual orientation. In fact, they baked cakes for them previously. They had a problem with the actual ceremony because that – the ceremony – is what conflicted with their religious beliefs.’

Asked in this week’s interview about the on-air spat with Symoné, Cameron Bure – who described herself as ‘outspoken’ about her faith – said that she was ‘pleased’ with the way she had handled herself and hoped that she would be invited back to co-host The View more often.

Although she said that ‘as a Christian’ she wouldn’t necessarily do the same, she reiterated that she supported the bakery’s decision to not make the requested wedding cake.

‘I’ll always fight for religious freedoms, but I think people misunderstand that when you do fight for religious freedom, in that particular case, it doesn’t mean that I personally would always respond the way the people in the case are responding.’

She said that part of what makes America ‘incredible’ is that ‘we have the freedom to live our life the way we’d like to. Everyone deserves that equality and freedom.

‘And in the same way if something, you know, conflicts with someone’s deeply held religious beliefs, we should have the freedom to not have to deal with that or be associated with it.

‘Just as on the opposite side, they don’t have to either. It’s, again, what makes our country so wonderful.’

The Oregon Bakery discussed on The View is Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Last month it was told that it must pay $135,000 in damages to the lesbian couple it refused to prepare a wedding cake for in 2013.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) that the business’ refusal to bake a wedding cake for Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer constituted unlawful discrimination.

Supporters of Alan and Melissa Klein, the bakery’s owners, have donated over $350,000 through a fundraising website to help them meet the costs of the fine.

You can watch Candace Cameron Bure’s interview below. The discussion concerning The View starts at around the 6 minute mark.

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David Hudson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/candace-cameron-bure-allowing-business-to-discriminate-is-part-of-what-makes-america-wonderful/

Eighties Pop Star-Sex Symbol Samantha Fox Is Devastated After Losing Her Longtime Girlfriend To Cancer

If you came of age in the 1980s, you likely remember blond bombshell Samantha Fox, who transitioned from one of Great Britain’s most celebrated Page 3 pin-up girls into a top of the pop charts queen, with hit songs such as the global number one “Touch Me (I Want Your Body).” Although she was linked to numerous men, including Paul Stanley from the rock band Kiss, rumors about her true sexual orientation began to gain traction after she agreed to judge a lesbian beauty contest in 1999. Fox came out publicly in 2003 after falling in love with Myra Stratton, stating, “I have slept with other women but I’ve not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I’m gay….I don’t know what I am. All I know is that I’m in love with Myra. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Sadly, Stratton passed away last weekend at age 60 following a two-year long battle against cancer. News of the death of the woman Fox, now 49, called her “soul mate” was confirmed via her official Twitter account.

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Myra Stratton. She was Samantha Fox’s partner and manager for the last 16 years. (1/2)

— Samantha Fox (@SamFoxCom) August 4, 2015

She bravely fought cancer for the last 2 years but lost her battle on Sunday. Samantha asks for privacy as she grieves at this time. (2/2) — Samantha Fox (@SamFoxCom) August 4, 2015

Jeremy Kinser

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Houston Becomes Ground Zero For Gay Rights After Council Puts LGBT Protections On Ballot – VIDEO

Houston will be the site of the nation’s first major showdown over LGBT rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of nationwide marriage equality.

The City Council in the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis voted as expected Wednesday to place the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or HERO, on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The council, which first approved the ordinance last May, had little choice but to put HERO up for a public vote after the Texas Supreme Court ruled officials had to accept a petition from anti-LGBT groups seeking to repeal the measure, regardless of the fact that it contained rampant forgery.

Project Q Houston reports:

After the City Council vote, the Greater Houston Partnership – the city’s largest business group – issued a statement supporting HERO.

“As we said before, when the ordinance was first discussed, Houston is a remarkably welcoming place,” Bob Harvey, the group’s president and CEO, says in the press release. “As we work to attract businesses and talented professionals to our region, they have made clear that they are seeking a community that is welcoming, diverse and inclusive. Ensuring such an environment is critically important to the continued success of the region’s economy.”

A coalition of LGBT and progressive groups – HRC, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Equality Texas, Texas Freedom Network and Freedom for All Americans – also reiterated their support for HERO.

“The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance reflects the core Houstonian values – that no one should face discrimination because of their age or race, their status as a military veteran, or their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “The City Council voted on this ordinance last year, and it enjoyed enormous support from elected officials, businesses big and small, civil rights groups, and a diversity of faith leaders. Over the coming months, we intend to send a clear message that voters in Houston will reject any and all attempts to strip these needed protections away from their friends and family members.”

Houston was the last major US city to enact LGBT protections, but the ordinance also prohibits discrimination based on 13 other characteristics, including race, sex and disability.

Out lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, who will leave office at the end of the year due to term limits, said after Wednesday’s vote she’s confident voters will uphold HERO:

“You never take a campaign lightly, and there’s no telling what kind of incident could happen to derail things,” she said. “The fact that all of the top-tier mayoral campaigns are supporting HERO, the fact that there’s a well-organized, well-funded support committee behind HERO, the fact that the Greater Houston Partnership supports HERO, all of those things say it’s going to move in the right direction.”

Parker said the last time a gay issue was on the ballot, voters banned domestic partner benefits by a margin of just 2 percentage points, 51 to 49, in 2003.

“The world has changed tremendously since the early 2000s,” she said. “We’re not going to take it for granted, but I don’t have any concerns that it’s not going to go the way I want, which would be to affirm HERO.”

Watch a report from KPRC-TV below.video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

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John Wright

Houston Becomes Ground Zero For Gay Rights After Council Puts LGBT Protections On Ballot – VIDEO

Incredible mom finds perfect response to anti-gay vandals

Miranda DeLong, aged 17, received a huge shock as she was returning home from work last week. It was 2am in the morning. She, a proud bi teen, was accompanied by her friend, who is transgender. There before them, scrawled in graffiti paint across her family’s garage were the large words: ‘I’m Gay’.

Miranda’s sister Emily is also an out bi teen.

Miranda immediately ran in to wake up mom Erin, and dad Joe. The family gathered outside to see the work of someone determined to shame them. Miranda and Emily were in a state of shock. Their mom and dad were furious.

Erin told me: ‘Our kids are our everything, and to see them hurt is worse than being hurt ourselves.’

No one needed to inform the DeLong family they were an LGBTI household.

‘We found out Miranda was bi when I read her diary when she was in the 8th grade. She was having some issues at school, and wasn’t talking. I confronted her and asked and then told her that she could love whoever she wanted, as long as she’s happy,’ Erin states.

‘Emily came out to us just this year. Her best friend is gay, and had “I’m gay” written on her hand. Emily wrote, “so am I” on her own. I didn’t react much and she thought I didn’t realize what it said until she asked for another girl to spend the night.

‘I asked if they were dating, and she ran out of the room. She thought her sister had “told” on her. I went up to her room and said we already knew from the writing on her hand.

‘She asked why we didn’t react, and I said because I wouldn’t have overreacted if she said she was straight, why overreact for saying she was gay, to which she replied, ‘I like boys, too.’ And I told her the same thing we told her sister: Please love who you want and be happy.’

The same statement Emily used to come out, the statement that allowed her mom to lovingly embrace who she is, was now being used against the family.

But the bullies lost.

‘We decided to paint,’ Erin declares. ‘We decided some announcements deserve more than gray spray paint.’ Paint, they did. Their garage now sports the largest rainbow flag image for miles around.

As the story has spread, some have asked why the broader LGBTI image was used rather than the specific bi image.

Thinking of Miranda’s transgender friend who also experienced the shock of the event, Erin answers: ‘We made it rainbow so we could include all sexualities, we have many LGBTI friends that visit our house and we wanted them to all feel accepted. It was a way to support them all.’

The DeLong family won support around the world through the Stop Homophobia site where the image of their newly painted garage first appeared.

One person to applaud their creativity was artist and designer Aldo Gatt, who had experienced the same thing.

‘What an amazing response. I had the same done to my house back in 2009. Someone broke in and sprayed homophobic threats on the walls. It was devastating to think anyone would have such hatred in them,’ he wrote.

The vandals obviously knew that a gay man had just purchased the dwelling, which had been built in the16th century and scrawled their warning across the home chapel’s wall.

‘The house is 450 years old and has historic marine graffiti on the walls that were vandalized. Thankfully a restorer acquaintance of mine helped me with advice on how to remove the graffiti without damaging the walls,’ Gatt reports.

Like the DeLongs, he realized an artistic retaliation was better than an angry one. The once vandalized wall is now a thing of beauty in the vacation home.

We are living in a time where LGBTI progress is inspiring homophobic anger. The haters are in the mood to harm and humiliate. Our work to change public attitudes is not over.

And, as these homeowners show, our greatest weapon is not anger or revenge, it’s our creativity.

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Rob Watson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/incredible-mom-finds-perfect-response-to-anti-gay-vandals/