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Michigan Lawmaker: Hold Pro-LGBT Schools Liable for Student STDs
Antigay State Rep. Gary Glenn wants schools who tell students it is okay to be gay held financially and criminally liable if the student contracts an STD.
Bil Browning
www.advocate.com/lgbt-youth/2015/06/19/michigan-lawmaker-hold-pro-lgbt-schools-liable-student-stds
Chad And Jeff's Story From The Let Love Define Family Series
In this week’s Huffington Post Gay Voices RaiseAChild.US “Let Love Define Family™” series installment, contributing writer Eric Criswell celebrates Father’s Day by sharing this story.
We plan. We hope. We make choices that will lead our lives to fulfill the image of the future we have seen a thousand times in our mind’s eye. Yet life rarely turns out the way we expect it to, giving us greater gifts and fulfillment in ways we ourselves would never dare dream.
This is the story of Chad Argotsinger, a 38-year-old college administrator, and Jeff Shorey, a 44-year-old registered nurse, who met 6 years ago, fell in love and began their journey towards building a family. As they began to look at options with surrogacy, a clear picture began to form of the two parents with their new child living the American dream in their New England world.
Both had been in relationships before meeting each other and it just never seemed like they were with the “right” partner to begin a family. But quickly after Chad and Jeff began dating, they started to feel that each other were someone they could raise a child with.
The more they researched and examined the cost of surrogacy, the more they began to look at the foster care and adoption world. Chad’s mother had been a social worker and, growing up, he was aware of others in need, especially kids that needed a home and some hope. This led them to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. All of their social workers had been great to work with and they questioned whether there was a stigmatism in the system toward LGBT parents. Chad explained, “The social worker was very honest with us that there were some old-school foster families that have a hard time with it, but they don’t make the decisions and there are no issues within the DCF about gay couples.”
There was quick agreement that they wanted two children. “I’m one of four children and Jeff is one of two, and we both enjoyed growing up with our siblings,” according to Chad. “We started to plan for two children, and never really entertained the thought of having any more.”
The two took an adoption class, started the process to buy a bigger home and waited for their social worker to find the right match for their family. “We met kids that were wonderful and perfect but, for whatever reason, just didn’t work out,” Chad said. “Then we heard from a social worker about two brothers who had been separated and were living in different homes. Something about their story resonated with us and we both wanted to explore it further.” The brothers had lived a short time together but were put in separate homes when they entered the foster care system. It was heartbreaking to know they had started to grow up together, only to have to spend their childhood apart.
As they continued to learn more about the family, they discovered that not only were there two brothers but also a two-month-old baby sister. The social worker was looking for parents that would be willing to take all three children. Although Jeff and Chad weren’t initially looking to have three kids, the more they learned about the children the more they realized that without them, these siblings may not grow up together or ever even know about each other. Something in their story connected with Jeff and Chad. Their expectations of two children faded as they faced the reality of bringing brothers and sisters together under one roof.
Luckily, the couple had discussed wanting a boy and girl and this situation allowed them that. It all just fell into place for them as they closed on their new house, and within a month they met both of the boys and the brothers: Jonathan, three years old, and Ray, nineteen months, moved in. They had to wait a while until Brynn, 9 months old, became part of the family, and this was the first time that the brothers realized that they had a baby sister.
Daddy Chad and Daddy Jeff have settled into family life, and still deal with a society adapting to LGBT families. On a recent trip to register Ray for preschool, all the paperwork still reads “Mom” and “Dad,” so Chad simply scratched out “Mom” and put “Dad” and Jeff’s name. But, overall, they both feel that their community has been very accepting and that it will take time for things to fully change. Their main focus now is raising three kids.
Jonathan has an amazing vocabulary and is extremely polite. “The things that he says just blow us away — he knows about things that we never really talked about. Not sure where he picked it up, but he is so smart,” beamed Daddy Chad.
Ray wasn’t much of a talker at first, but as he has settled into his new family and new life he has become more vocal and energetic — definitely the hardest to put to bed! He has become the most vocal and is always saying, “I love you, Daddy!”
Both boys love to spend time on their bikes when they’re not watching monster trucks on TV.
Brynn is the dream baby: she rarely cries, always smiles and is so lovable to her brothers and the family dog as they snuggle together on the floor. She is already looking up to her brothers — she follows them around the house and wants to do whatever they are doing.
“The most surprising thing,” according to Chad, “is we had no idea who these kids were. Then we met them and we were a little scared if there would be a real connection, but there was never a moment of hesitation with these kids and they latched onto us and loved us back.”
Jeff summed it up best: “It has been such a wonderful experience, and even though we thought we could only handle two kids, neither of us can imagine our lives without all three of our kids. Life has given us a greater gift than we were asking for, and we’re so grateful.”
On Sunday, June 21, 2015, RaiseAChild.US and The Pop Luck Club celebrate Father’s Day with the 5th Annual Father’s Day Brunch at The Abbey in West Hollywood, CA. Information is available at www.RaiseAChild.US.
RaiseAChild.US is the nationwide leader in the recruitment and support of LGBT and all prospective parents interested in building families through fostering and adopting to meet the needs of the 400,000 children in the foster care system. RaiseAChild.US recruits, educates, and nurtures supportive relationships equally with all prospective foster and adoptive parents while partnering with agencies to improve the process of advancing foster children to safe, loving and permanent homes. For information about how you can become a foster or adoptive parent, please visit www.RaiseAChild.US.
— 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.
Robin Williams Falls In Love With A Male Prostitute In His Final Film, Boulevard
Undoubtedly set for tear-jerker status, Robin Williams’ final dramatic performance sees him playing a closeted gay man trying to find his authentic self, falling in long with a male prostitute along the way.
The film was first shown to positive reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York just weeks before the actor’s death, and will be released in cinemas July 17.
It stars Williams, Bob Odenkirk, Kathy Baker and Giles Matthey.
Watch the trailer below:
Dan Tracer
Looking for Love in a Straight-Girl World, ‘Significant Other’ Opens Off Broadway: REVIEW
Any gay man who’s been to a bachelorette party knows that at certain times, it feels like a straight girls’ world that we’re just living in by special invite. Life feels that way all the time for Jordan, the main character in Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other, a funny and touching if narrow-minded new play that opened Off Broadway last night at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre. Jordan’s experience watching his best girlfriends get married one by one until he’s left alone and devastated should serve as a cautionary tale to young gay men everywhere: You are not a straight girl (surprise!). Find your tribe, get your life, and grow the eff up (if not necessarily in that order).
Jordan (an endearingly jittery Gideon Glick) is an extreme outsider searching for The One (see: the title’s double entendre). The play’s opening finds him and three girlfriends, including Kiki (a delightfully abrasive Sas Goldberg), the obvious bride-to-be, partying at a nightclub. Jordan and his two other pals, coolly unflappable Vanessa (Carra Patterson) and Laura (Lindsay Mendez), the warmest of the bunch and his closest companion, start out in the same boat. Can you believe our friend’s getting married?! But over the course of the play, as they each couple off and prepare to get hitched, Jordan finds himself drifting out to sea without a lifejacket.
Harmon (whose play Bad Jews also premiered at Roundabout) writes frank and disarming humor with a natural hand, and finds novel ways to express his characters’ neuroses (at one particularly Woody Allen-inspired moment, Jordan asks for the sticker on Kiki’s apple because, he explains “I need something that will, like, touch me and cling to me right now”). There’s also a freshness to Harmon’s depiction of universal experiences, like a longing glimpse at a crush or the awkwardness of a first date, that makes it possible to feel them in a new way.
Director Trip Cullman makes dynamic use of Mark Wendland’s brilliantly urban set (all rectangles and transparencies), and draws out excellent performances from the cast. In all their quirks and specifics, the friendships on stage feel very real, and the actors have a palpable chemistry. But, Harmon’s play begs some big questions that aren’t answered here, like: Where are Jordan’s gay friends? Why is he only attracted to straight-acting men? And why does the play’s only flamboyantly gay character essentially serve as a punch line?
Jordan’s need for love is modeled off the dreams of the women who make up his world (including his grandmother); he doesn’t feel his life will be complete until he meets Prince Charming, falls in love, marries, and has 2.5 kids. Clearly, these are perfectly conventional (and heteronormative) desires, but they are not, as we know, the only road to happiness. The dark pall cast over the play’s conclusion seems to suggest otherwise; but if the only way for homos to be happy is to follow the hetero path, then where does that leave us?
Recent theatre features…
Jim Parsons Opens in ‘An Act of God’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Anne Hathaway Stars in Military Drama ‘Grounded’ Off Broadway: REVIEW
‘Fun Home’ and ‘An American in Paris’ Top 2015 Tony Award Nominations: ANALYSIS
Chita Rivera Stars in New Musical ‘The Visit’ on Broadway: REVIEW
New Musical ‘Something Rotten!’ Brings Shakespeare and Sex Puns to Broadway: REVIEW
Alison Bechdel’s Graphic Novel Comes to Broadway in New Musical ‘Fun Home’: REVIEW
Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe Open In Lavish Broadway Revival of ‘The King and I’: REVIEW
Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)
The post Looking for Love in a Straight-Girl World, ‘Significant Other’ Opens Off Broadway: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad.
Naveen Kumar
Looking for Love in a Straight-Girl World, ‘Significant Other’ Opens Off Broadway: REVIEW
Ky Peterson's Mom: My Son's Life Is in Danger
Marlene Peterson talks to The Advocate about her transgender son’s alleged suicide attempt in prison.
Mitch Kellaway
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/06/19/ky-petersons-mom-my-sons-life-danger
Rick Santorum Takes Last Fruitless Jab At Marriage Freedom, Insists “We Must Protect The Children!”
The Southern Baptist Convention officially declared war on gay marriage this week. Now, failed 2012 presidential candidate and eternal 2016 hopeful Rick Santorum is joining the cause, despite the fact that marriage equality is most likely about to become the law of the land. What is this, some kind of rhetorical last stand?
During a conference call, Santorum was asked what he would do as president about the fact that “our children are being forced to accept lifestyles that are totally against our values.” The caller went on to ask why “our government allows people that hurt children by way of child molestation” to impose their beliefs on others.
Related: Rick Santorum Will Fight The Supreme Court Against Marriage Equality
Right Wing Watch has obtained a recording. In it, Santorum wastes no time answering the question: “That’s one of the reasons why I talk about the importance of focusing on the nuclear family.”
He then added that the next president should focus on fighting for the rights of innocent children and ensuring they are raised by two parents of the opposite sex. None of this two dads or two moms or single moms or single dads business.
The not-a-chance-in-hell-contender added that if the Supreme Court strikes down state bans on gay marriage later this month “that doesn’t mean we won’t fight and try to push back both as the Congress should and as the president should as a co-equal branch of the government.”
Because that wouldn’t be a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Related: Rick Santorum’s Wife On Her Husband’s View Of Gays: “He Loves Them”
Graham Gremore
Check Out This Woman’s Brilliant Response to Homophobic Neighbor Who Told Her to Tone Down Her ‘Relentlessly Gay’ Yard
One Baltimore woman’s “relentlessly gay” yard is about to become so much gayer after the owner decided to take to crowdfunding to respond to a homophobic neighbor’s complaint, USA Today reports.
“Put simply, I am a widow and the mother of four children, my youngest in high school and I WILL NOT Relent to Hatred,” wrote Julie Baker on her GoFundMe page. “Instead, I will battle it with whimsy and beauty and laughter and love, wrapped around my home, yard and family!!!”
Read the note left anonymously at her house:
Dear Resident of 4900 Kenwood Avenue,
Your yard is becoming Relentlessly Gay! Myself and Others in the neighborhood ask that you Tone It Down. This is a Christian area and there are Children. Keep it up and I will be Forced to call the Police on You! Your kind need to have Respect for God.
A Concerned Home Owner.
The “relentlessly gay” yard consists of a set of rainbow jar solar lights that spell out “Love” and “Ohana.”
Baker has already blown past her $5,000 goal and raised over $30,000 for “relentlessly gay” renovations. She has said she will attempt to get a “Rainbow Roof” if enough funds are raised.
[top photo via Facebook]
The post Check Out This Woman’s Brilliant Response to Homophobic Neighbor Who Told Her to Tone Down Her ‘Relentlessly Gay’ Yard appeared first on Towleroad.
Kyler Geoffroy
PHOTOS: High-Altitude Pride in Albuquerque
Thousands of people lined Central Avenue for the 39th annual Pride Parade. Starting with 25 people in 1976, it’s now the second-largest parade held in New Mexico.
Advocate.com Editors
www.advocate.com/pride/2015/06/19/photos-high-altitude-pride-albuquerque
Eat Your Heart Out Mark Twain: San Francisco Is Set For Another Glorious Summer
Sorry, Mark Twain, you were wrong. The city is actually blessed with year-round moderate climate that’s perfect for strolling and taking in the rays. Even better: Summer in San Francisco means Pride, festivals, and thousands of eager fellow travelers overflowing our borders.
There is so much to explore in the city’s 7×7 miles, and we’ve got some fun and funky tours to take you through the City By The Bay as a visitor or as a local.
Uncover San Francisco’s gay, gay history
Learn about the history gay culture in San Francisco from the Gold Rush times to the present. One of the more popular tours, Cruisin’ The Castro, takes you through all the ins and outs of America’s gayborhood. Another option for the strong of heart is Foot Tours. This is a “two-hour romp that winds its way through the city’s most famous district—mostly because it can’t go straight.” Wild SF Walking Tours takes you off the beat track for surprising and amazing discoveries.
Tourist your way through the city
See several of San Francisco’s iconic monuments and landmarks. From Wine Country to Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge, Extranomical Tours will take you on foot, bike, or bus to see anything “San Francisco” that your heart desires. It might be touristy, but all of these sites are popular for good reason.
See what’s behind the funky architecture with Rick Evans
Follow architectural historian Rick Evans into the secret gardens and hidden public spaces of the Financial District. You’ll learn about San Francisco’s most important architect, get a bird’s eye view of the city’s next great building boom, and discuss hidden treasures that most people miss. This designer’s dream tour can be found at Detour.
See Castro through the eyes of a Harvey Milk ally and Detour
Cleve Jones leads guests along the gorgeous side streets and up and down the Castro’s main drag, with its underwear shops and neighborhood bars. Along every twist and turn, Cleve will show how his own story as an activist is interwoven with a movement that changed the world. This unique historically Castro tour can be found at Detour.
Detour would like to offer Queerty and GayCities readers a chance to take the Cleve Jones tour for free.
1.) Download the app
2.) Once you create an account, get your Detour for free by using the promo code: SFPRIDE
Get a local take, or 50
Explore San Francisco offers over 50 personalized and unique tours, from culinary excursions to running tours to neighborhood walkabouts. These personalized expeditions are not just for visitors, but are also great for SF-dwellers who want to discover more about their own beloved place.
Blaze your own path
They’re always the old-fashioned methods of exploring, getting lost, or choosing what you want and just doing it. Use the GayCities San Francisco Guide to discover what users like you have to say about popular shops, restaurants, bars, public and notable places throughout the city.
Gabe Cooper
Op-ed: Living the (Gay) Life in North Carolina
Eight years ago, former Advocate editor in chief Bruce C. Steele moved from California to North Carolina. His adopted home still struggles with equality, but he’s adjusted to life among the “mushy middle.”
Bruce C Steele
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/06/19/op-ed-living-gay-life-north-carolina
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