Periscope
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/periscope?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Category Archives: NEWS
Rachel Maddow Rips Rick Santorum In Must-See Interview Showdown
Rachel Maddow Rips Rick Santorum In Must-See Interview Showdown
Hey, guys, did you see The Rachel Maddow Show last night? If not, you missed a seriously, seriously epic showdown between the MSNBC host and GOP presidential hopeful/antigay activist Rick Santorum.
Not to worry. We are here with the recap: Lagging in the polls, Santorum agreed to sit down with Maddow. Everything started out just fine… until he suggested that Congress should pass a law overturning the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, saying that the Court “is not the superior branch of government,” thus giving Maddow a chance to lecture him on civics. Because, really Rick, the Supreme Court is the superior branch of the government, hence the word supreme. As Maddow pointed out, it “adjudicates” the law of the land, emphasis on “judicate.”
Santorum, a lawyer, apparently missed the lesson on Marbury v. Madison back when he was studying law at Penn State.
And that’s when things got wild. Fast.
“Do you believe people choose to be gay?” Maddow asked.
“I’ve never answered that question because I don’t really know the answer to it,” Santorum replied. “But I suspect that there’s all sorts of reasons that people end up the way they are.”
Then he said something positive about ex-gays to the lesbian host before launching into a bizarre hypothetical about why abortion must be made illegal to protect potentially gay fetuses.
Later, Maddow asked Santorum about the time he compared homosexuality to “the man-on-dog thing.”
“What I said was, ‘if people have the right to consensual activity, then they have the right to and I listed all these different things,’” Santorum explained, “and I’m just saying, that the court opened up a Pandora’s box.”
“You’re thinking bestiality?” Maddow asked.
By this point, it was clear the senator was getting uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Maddow appeared to be having the time of her life. And it only got better from there.
Watch the entire interview below. You’ll be so glad you did.
Graham Gremore
Thailand Isn’t Always the LGBT Paradise it Appears To Be. Just Ask These Gay Dads
Thailand Isn’t Always the LGBT Paradise it Appears To Be. Just Ask These Gay Dads
Gay fathers Bud Lake and Manuel Santos with their child conceived by a surrogate mom in Thailand. They claim she sabotaged their custody process after realizing they’re a gay couple. (@twogaypapas on Twitter Screengrab)
By Patrick Winn
BANGKOK — When it comes to gay visitors, Thailand doesn’t flinch. Two men sharing a hotel room on a tropical isle? No problem. Foreign women strolling hand in hand? Fine.
For tourists, Thailand can feel like an oasis of gay acceptance in a world that’s often hostile to same-sex romance. This vibe is nurtured at the highest levels: the government actually runs a campaign called “Go Thai, Be Free” to attract spendy gay travelers.
But a dramatic case involving two gay dads — one American, one Spanish — highlights a less alluring reality: Thailand is not the LGBT paradise it often appears to be.
The two married fathers — Bud Lake and Manuel Santos — used a surrogacy agency to hire a Thai woman who agreed to carry their child. The baby is the product of Lake’s sperm and an anonymous donor’s eggs. (Prior to this arrangement, the couple and the Thai surrogate were strangers.)
In January, the couple traveled to Bangkok to await the child’s birth. It went smoothly and the surrogate mother, according to the men, signed much of the paperwork releasing the child into their care. The men named their baby Carmen.
t.co/t9UvbidqoV #HowWeFamily #bringcarmenhome @BringCarmenHome #lgbt @family_equality #gayparents pic.twitter.com/ycGcawi92z
— Twopapas (@twogaypapas) June 23, 2015
But the couple’s self-described nightmare kicked off when the woman explained to their lawyer “that we were not an ordinary family,” Lake told GlobalPost. “She doesn’t think two men can bring up a child.”
The surrogate mom has since refused to sign documents that would allow the child to leave Thailand and to fully relinquish her rights as the birth mother. “Emotionally, we’re just shocked,” Lake says.
The woman, who does not share the baby’s DNA, has appeared in disguise on Thai TV insisting that “I had no idea this was a gay couple” when she first signed on and saying that “the child was in my belly … so we have the same heart.” The custody dispute is unsettled and in a legal grey zone. So the couple is currently hiding in Bangkok with the infant as they battle for full legal custody.
The case may be surprising to those who see Thailand as a bastion of gay tolerance. In many ways, it is. But discrimination against gays in Southeast Asia’s Buddhist-centric mainland has a decidedly different flavor than US-style anti-gay prejudice.
Thailand’s attitude toward homosexuality is far less puritanical than those held by America’s religious fundamentalists, who believe gay life is a corrupting force on society.
In Thailand, gay is generally seen as OK. When the government floated a proposal in recent years to legitimize same-sex couplings, there was no great backlash. The nation simply shrugged. According to one poll, nearly 90 percent of Thais report having gay friends.
But as Lake and Santos have learned, the prejudice often doesn’t kick in until homosexuality enters the perceived sanctity of family life.
The notion of gay parents remains highly taboo in Southeast Asia. Society has yet to shake a deep-seated notion that homosexuality, while no grave sin, is still an imperfection. The superstitious may even regard it as a minor curse warranted by a past life’s misdeeds.
Even youth, often assumed to be enlightened on LGBT rights, report a surprisingly high level of anti-gay sentiment. In a recent poll of Thais aged 15- to 24-year-olds, more than one-quarter said they perceive homosexuality as “really wrong.” Another 29 percent considers it “not so terrible” but still wrong. (The rest, 44 percent, called homosexuality “not wrong at all.”)
Gay men are tolerated in Thai society, especially if they adhere to foppish stereotypes. Transgender women — so prominent in the world’s image of Thailand — are welcome too so long as they are garish entertainers or sexual playthings, not objects of serious romantic love.
But when it comes to family, many in Thailand do indeed flinch at homosexuality. The most recent polling suggests 60 percent of Thais have “no objection” to gay marriage while 35 percent oppose it.
Foreign tourists can take the government’s suggestion and “go free” with little fear of judgment. But gay men (foreign or otherwise) who try to become fathers will find that much of Thai society, deep down, believes they are unfit to raise a child.
Much of society, perhaps, but not all. “I still think Thai people are very loving and accepting,” Lake says. By the thousands, Thais have flooded the couple’s Facebook page to wish them well. “We’re hoping the media attention will help show more Thai people that two men can be wonderful parents.”
This article first appeared on GlobalPost.
The post Thailand Isn’t Always the LGBT Paradise it Appears To Be. Just Ask These Gay Dads appeared first on Towleroad.
GlobalPost
Thailand Isn’t Always the LGBT Paradise it Appears To Be. Just Ask These Gay Dads
Matt Bomer Won't Speak for Gay Community
Matt Bomer Won't Speak for Gay Community
Actor Matt Bomer schooled Hola Hollywood reporter Dulce Osuna after she asked him an insulting, steroetypical question about gay men.
Bil Browning
www.advocate.com/media/2015/07/23/matt-bomer-wont-speak-gay-community
The Pedestal Problem
The Pedestal Problem
We celebrate megastars with a collective fandom that verges on idol worship. You could post a photo of Beyoncé, for example, showing up at an awards show (or eating a cupcake or taxidermy-ing a frog) with simply the word “Flawless” and instantly get favorites and likes. “Yaaas queen!” your followers might respond. “She’s SO brilliant!”
There’s this magical unity in that sense of community. In an Internet that is filled with trolls and sites that have subsections dedicated to hate, it’s a wonderful feeling to gather ’round and celebrate the beloved stuff. It’s almost the exact opposite of the Outrage Machine. We occasionally trade in the angry catharsis for a massive feel-good slumber party, where we all virtually braid each other’s hair and strangers tell us they think we’re really, really pretty.
And yet, as positive as that feeling can be, there is something going on with the stars we hoist up to the mantle.
Consider Amy Schumer, our most recent “queen” and “imaginary best friend,” near-simultaneously put on the pedestal and violently shoved off of it. As soon as the crowd started cheering loud enough, there was criticism that she was racist and not feminist enough (and, apparently, not respectful-of-Lucasfilm). There’s already a cycle of celebrating her then dragging her, as if she’s in some sort of sick eternal washer-dryer of public opinion.
There is a nuanced discussion to be had about the recent Schumer backlash. And, to be clear, this is not a covert defense of Taylor Swift — that Nicki Minaj tweet on Tuesday was some white feminist bull s**t. Still, something strange is going on when we automatically expect all of our (mostly female) idols to be not just awesome at whatever they are famous for, but to also be progressive icons and thought leaders. When did we start treating our stars as ideas? (Note that, duh, obviously, everything is terrible and of course male stars are not held up to the same standards.)
This is certainly a mode of modern fandom. With the limited access, pre-tabloid culture, it was impossible to enact or even discuss these expectations with as much intensity and regularity. But social media has risen up as a sort of panopticon, watching (and generating think pieces about) every element of celebrities’ existence.
It’s at least strange that we now ask pop stars (or comedians or actresses or whatever) to fill a set of roles that it used to take a politician, religious leader, author, activist, expert, scientist, Nobel-prize winner and vegan chef to satisfy. This is a phenomenon that is clear not just in the realm of (often-valid) social justice shaming. It extends to everything we expect stars to represent.
Jennifer Lawrence was accused of body-shaming because she talked about food too much. Mindy Kaling has been repeatedly accused of race blindness, despite being a prominent woman of color. Even the arguably flawless Beyoncé is criticized outside the realm of what we should expect from her as an artist. Her public endorsement of feminism is not enough, she has become a centerpiece for discussing sex positivity and intersectionality, a figurehead for the dialogue around the modern state of womanhood.
Across all levels of celebrity, it’s very much OK for people to ask public figures to NOT say and do awful things. It’s a different thing when a certain stratosphere of fame comes with the requirement of actively being amazing at articulating social justice issues. When we ask stars to weigh in on feminism or the confederate flag, we force them to take a stance. If they say they’d rather talk about their work, they are seen as weak or even bigoted. We demand them to be absolute champions and threaten to eviscerate them the moment they fail to be Nelson Mandela-level heroes.
Stars shouldn’t be beyond reproach, but we expect way too much of them and maybe need to consider outsourcing our role models beyond the red carpet. Art is not an automatic extension of activism. If someone is good at singing or dancing or dressing up and pretending to be another human being for 90 minutes, that’s really great. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to save us from the white supremacist patriarchy.
Middlebrow is a recap of the week in entertainment, celebrity and television news that provides a comprehensive look at the state of pop culture. From the rock bottom to highfalutin, Middlebrow is your accessible guidebook to the world of entertainment. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here
Follow Lauren Duca on Twitter: @laurenduca.
— 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.
48 hours in Berlin: from dusk till dawn x 2
48 hours in Berlin: from dusk till dawn x 2
Trust us: it’s the perfect time of year to take a mini-break to Berlin. This dynamic, one-of-a-kind and incredibly cheap city has a somewhat over-egged reputation for drizzly weather – and yes, of all months, June is the usually the wettest. But that’s only part of the story.
This European metropolis typically enjoys beautiful summers, with temperatures averaging 24°C; what’s more, last year was Germany’s hottest ever – and on 5 July this year, the country beat its own historic record, hitting 40.3 degrees.
Berlin truly comes alive during summer: parks, such as the sprawling, abandoned Tempelhof Airport, become populated with half naked sunbathers; dining and nightlife spill out onto the street, and sun-hungry locals hotfoot it to one of the many nearby lakes for a spot of wild swimming, such as Lake Tegel. Here, we ramble around Germany’s biggest city (population 3.42 million) on the hunt for cheap eats, stunning sights and unforgettable nights.
Don’t let Berghain’s foreboding appearance deter you…
Where should I party?
Dancing the night away at iconic super-club Berghain is a Berlin rite of passage – as is the experience of queuing up for hours to get in, while obsessively debating the infamously tricky door policy in a state of thinly-veiled panic.
During our visit, we also had a brilliantly fun night starting with beers at the cruisey-but-friendly gay saloons Hafen and TOM’s Bar, before heading to SchwuZ, a sprawling, cavernous dance party with a joyously mixed, non-judgmental crowd, where you’ll find pumping house playing in one room and Stevie Nicks’ Edge Of Seventeen in another.
We finished up in the hip after-hours bar Roses Bar, where Madonna was played on a loop and the walls are covered in pink fluff, making you feel cushioned inside a lady garden. Welcome to Berlin!
The abandoned Bierpinsel tower is typical of Berlin’s weird and wonderful architecture
What should I see?
If you’re on a budget, jump on a bike and survey some of Berlin’s bizarre, brutalist architecture (the Czech Embassy, The Bierpinsel, above); book yourself on a walking tour for a manageable introduction to its dense history (original walking tours also has a ‘queer walk’). The extensive art collection of the Boros Collection, housed in a converted bunker also comes highly recommended, but booking is essential. For an essential photo op, visit the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate, built in 1791, is another of Berlin’s most recognizable sights
Where should I eat?
Der Goldene Hahn is an excellent Italian boasting fine ingredients but a relaxed, informal vibe typical of Berlin eateries. Eating at the Asian fusion-focused Long March Canteen feels like more of an event. It boasts gold star service, Oriental ambiance, reasonably-priced dim sum, exceptionally fresh fish and wasabi so hot it it send a pregnant member of our party into labor (we’re serious).
For a cheaper eat, grab a burger to go at Burgermeister, where the epic concoctions are succulent and satisfying while being shockingly cheap.
A photo posted by Voo Store Berlin (@voostore) on Jun 9, 2015 at 5:38am PDT
Where should I shop?
Our favorite store in Berlin is easily Voo. As chain stores of its hipster ilk around the world become increasingly over-packed, pedestrian and unbearable, Voo is an oasis of calm, carefully-hand-picked style. There are few enough items on sale that you can rifle through just about everything before losing the will to live. Jumpers adorned with the glamorous face of Ursula from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, anyone?
Mary’s Lounge at the Axel Hotel Berlin
Where should I stay?
For ‘hetero-friendly’ boutique chic, head to Axel Hotel Berlin in Schöneberg; for upscale luxury and a central location, try the Hilton Berlin.
Gay Star News flew to Berlin from London with Ryanair. Fares from 24.99 for travel in September and October. Bookings available into July 2016. Ryanair offers three daily flights from Stansted to Berlin.
The post 48 hours in Berlin: from dusk till dawn x 2 appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jamie Tabberer
www.gaystarnews.com/article/48-hours-in-berlin-from-dusk-till-dawn-x-2/
Major Corporations Announce Support for Landmark Federal LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation
Major Corporations Announce Support for Landmark Federal LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation
In advance of this afternoon’s introduction of the historic Equality Act in Congress, today 3 major American companies announced their support for comprehensive federal non-discrimination legislation that would establish full, federal equality for all LGBT Americans.
HRC.org
Julianne Moore and Ellen Page Are Fighting for Love in Tearjerker First Trailer for ‘Freeheld’ – WATCH
Julianne Moore and Ellen Page Are Fighting for Love in Tearjerker First Trailer for ‘Freeheld’ – WATCH
The first trailer for the upcoming gay rights drama Freeheld has been released, chronicling the true story of a lesbian police officer with terminal cancer (Julianne Moore) who fights to ensure her partner (Ellen Page) has access to her pension benefits.
The Guardian adds:
It’s based on a short documentary film, also called Freeheld, and comes from director Peter Sollett, best known for Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. The screenplay is written by Ron Nyswaner, who wrote the Oscar-nominated script for Philadelphia.
The film co-stars Steve Carell, Luke Grimes, and Michael Shannon and will be released October 2.
The post Julianne Moore and Ellen Page Are Fighting for Love in Tearjerker First Trailer for ‘Freeheld’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Kyler Geoffroy
Op-ed: The Equality Act Is the LGBT Rights Bill We Want and Need
Op-ed: The Equality Act Is the LGBT Rights Bill We Want and Need
The executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality breaks down the history-making LGBT Equality Act that’s being introduced in Congress.
Mara Keisling
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/07/23/op-ed-equality-act-lgbt-rights-bill-we-want-and-need
Here's The Next Major Fight For The LGBT Community
Here's The Next Major Fight For The LGBT Community
WASHINGTON — Same-sex couples can finally get married everywhere in the country, thanks to the Supreme Court’s long-awaited ruling last month. A couple can exchange rings, dance the night away and then post pictures of the event on Facebook. Just like any other couple.
But then their boss could find the photos on Monday, realize they’re gay and fire them — based solely on their sexual orientation. And there’s no federal law stopping their boss from doing so.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who is openly gay, said many Americans have no idea that this sort of discrimination is still legal.
“But the truth is, in a majority of the states, there are no protections against discrimination based on your sexual orientation or your gender identity,” he told The Huffington Post.
On Thursday, Cicilline and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are introducing sweeping legislation to give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals the same civil rights protections as other Americans.
Their bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of already protected classes (race, color, sex, religion and national origin).
In other words, it would protect LGBT people from discrimination in credit, education, employment, housing, federal financial assistance, jury service and public accommodations. (Some states already have their own laws on the books.)
“We are way past the time that someone should be kicked out of a restaurant because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Merkley. “Way past the time that someone should not be able to serve on a jury. We need to set the gold standard and simply say, ‘Discrimination is wrong. Equality and opportunity are right.’ And this bill is going to establish that.”
The Equality Act, as it’s titled, is a much broader follow-up to the 2013 Employment Non-Discrimination Act. That bill, which Merkley also introduced, would have outlawed workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It passed the Senate, where Democrats were then in the majority, but Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) never brought it up for a vote in the House.
In a briefing with a small group of reporters Wednesday, Cicilline and Merkley, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), said they had no illusions about the difficulty of passing the Equality Act in the current GOP-controlled Congress. They said that although there are already several dozen Senate co-sponsors and nearly 100 House ones, no Republicans have signed on so far.
“Part of the vision here is to lay out the goal and start a public dialogue,” said Merkley, noting they were already talking to GOP lawmakers who want to first see the final bill before deciding whether they want to be a leader on this issue. “So just as it took a long time to get those Republican partners on ENDA, it may take some dialogue, some exploration to have folks become comfortable, step up.”
According to a survey in March from the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign, 63 percent of LGBT Americans say they have experienced some kind of discrimination. Seventy-four percent also said that securing these comprehensive nondiscrimination protections should be a “top priority” for the community.
But the Equality Act is already causing some disagreement among civil rights allies who ultimately want these LGBT protections. Froups like GetEQUAL and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights are concerned that amending the Civil Rights Act would open it up to toxic amendments that could weaken the landmark law.
Merkley explained Wednesday that this discussion about how best to move forward went on for months. But ultimately, they settled on amending the Civil Rights Act, for both legal and moral reasons.
“One is simply that you have all the court precedents that are related to the Civil Rights Act and then provide guidance and understanding for what this language means. … And the second powerful reason is that it just feels wrong to have a separate section, in which you say that gender and race and ethnicity are here, and sexual identity and sexual orientation are here,” he said.
Another reason that many groups support amending the Civil Rights Act is it allows them to fix some other gaps in the law as well.
Title II of the law, for example, bars discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin. So, for instance, restaurants and movie theaters can’t turn someone away because she happens to be black.
But the law doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex — even though sex discrimination is barred in many other sections of the law. The Equality Act would add sex, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity, to all the areas of the law.
It would also widen the definition of a public accommodation. Right now, the list reflects what was popular in 1964, specifying that places like a “lunch counter” or a “soda fountain” can’t discriminate. This new bill would broaden the categories to reflect modern times and cover nearly every entity that provides goods, services or programs.
Booker said Wednesday he has been reaching out to African-American leaders who are concerned about their strategy.
“At a time in our country when African Americans are seeing a rollback of critical rights — we’re losing ground on voting rights, for example — there is an understandable concern, a legitimate fear, that we can’t afford to lose any more ground,” he acknowledged. “So the first principle for my colleagues, as well as African American leaders is to do no harm. We need to make sure that we do no harm to the hard-fought and hard-won equality and rights that currently exist for people of all races, colors and different faiths.”
But Booker added that many civil rights leaders who did fight for the civil rights legislation, including Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), support the Equality Act and will be at the press conference Thursday in the Capitol to introduce the measure.
“I know that the LGBT community and others who are very supportive of this approach, including the women’s community, are going to stand shoulder to shoulder to fight off any amendments,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the Human Rights Campaign. “We know that our champions on the Hill are committed and dedicated to ensuring that nobody’s civil rights are harmed in any way, shape or form.”
The issue of LGBT protections, especially in the area of public accommodations, has grown increasingly heated in recent months. This week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) released a video applauding an Iowa couple, who is Mennonite, for standing up for their religious beliefs and refusing to allow a same-sex couple to use their wedding venue.
In Congress, conservatives are pushing the First Amendment Defense Act, which would bar the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person — which includes for-profit corporations — acting in accordance with a religious belief that opposes same-sex marriage.
And Indiana faced significant backlash recently when it passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act that critics said would have allowed businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples.
The Equality Act would settle some of the RFRA debates by adding LGBT protections in public accommodations. It would also clarify that the federal RFRA cannot be used as a defense for discrimination.
Want more updates from Amanda? Sign up for her newsletter, Piping Hot Truth.
— 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.
