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Op-ed: Dear Gay Ambassadors, Be Straight About Trade Deal
Activists Cleve Jones and Jerame Davis ask: Why are America’s out ambassadors arguing in favor of giving special ‘favored nation’ status to virulently anti-LGBT countries, including one that stones gays to death?
Jerame Davis and Cleve Jones
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/06/11/op-ed-dear-gay-ambassadors-be-straight-about-trade-deal
Australian Couple Says They'll Get Divorced If Same-Sex Marriage Is Legalized
A Christian couple in Australia has vowed to get divorced if marriage equality becomes legal.
In an op-ed for the Canberra CityNews, Nick Jensen wrote that he and his wife, Sarah, would, “as a matter of conscience, refuse to recognize the government’s regulation of marriage if its definition includes the solemnization of same sex couples.”
“Marriage is the union of a man and a woman before a community in the sight of God. And the marriage of any couple is important to God regardless of whether that couple recognizes God’s involvement or authority in it,” Jensen wrote.
‘Marriage is simply too important:’ Christian couple vows to divorce if gays allowed to wed t.co/chhTRsJzur pic.twitter.com/gJkEbQeIPh
— Raw Story (@RawStory) June 10, 2015
Jensen and his wife have been married for 10 years and have children together. But according to him, the Australian government would essentially be nullifying their marriage contract if it chooses to legalize same-sex marriage.
“For us, fundamentally, when we got married we signed a contract with the state and that contract was around the current definition of marriage and all the things that comes with it. Man and woman for life, for the sake of children,” Jensen told Buzzfeed News. “If it came to be that the definition of the contract was changed, the contract is now null and void.”
The op-ed has triggered a wave of backlash on social media, as people accused both the writer and CityNews of homophobia.
But Jensen, who works for the Australian Christian Lobby’s Lachlan Macquarie Internship, insists that his position does not stem from bigotry.
“This has been a big decision for my wife and I. Some will accuse of us being bigoted or too hateful to share. But this couldn’t be further from our intentions,” he wrote in his op-ed. “The truth is, ‘marriage’ is simply too important. It is a sacred institution, ordained by God … Any attempt to change the definition of marriage by law is not something in which we are able to partake.”
The magazine has defended its decision to print the op-ed piece. Editor Ian Meikle told News.com.au that “the article does not reflect the opinion of the paper,” but does offer “an interesting angle” to the debate about same-sex marriage legalization.
The Australian parliament is set to vote on marriage equality legislation by year’s end. According to a recent Guardian Australia survey, politicians remain divided on the issue.
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WATCH: YouTube Star Ingrid Nilsen Comes Out
The beauty vlogger made the announcement to her nearly 3.4 million subscribers.
James McDonald
www.advocate.com/politics/media/2015/06/10/watch-youtube-star-ingrid-nilsen-comes-out
Report Attacks African Nations' Justifications For Anti-Gay Laws
In response to the increasing criminalization of homosexuality throughout Africa in recent years, an international team of researchers released a scientific report countering every government justification for enacting anti-gay laws.
A group of scientists shredded every argument used by African governments to justify the recent glut of anti-gay laws across the continent in a new, scathing report.
The report published Wednesday by the Academy of Science of South Africa excoriated leaders for unscientific claims that homosexuality is contagious, unnatural, learned or a medical condition.
“As variation in sexual identities and orientations has always been part of a normal society, there can be no justification for attempts to ‘eliminate’ LGBTI from society,” the report authored by 11 South Africans, one Ugandan and one American said. “Efforts should rather be focused on countering the belief systems that create hostile and even violent environments for those who are ‘othered’ within ‘heteronormative’ societies.”
Anti-gay laws are on the books in 38 of 53 African countries, the report said, including four of seven countries worldwide where same-sex activity is punishable by death.
Homophobic sentiments intensified in Africa in recent years, the journal Nature reported, with Uganda, Gambia and Nigeria introducing anti-gay legislation last year.
The reports findings are already accepted globally in the scientific community as fact. But the authors’ argued the reports must come from Africa to root out illegitimate ideas like sexual orientation being a choice or that homosexuality is a contagious disease while extolling public health benefits of tolerance.
“It had to be Africa-led,” Glenda Gray, co-chair of the report panel, told Nature. “If it were American-led, African governments would say that it was Western propaganda.”
— 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.
Miley Talks to Paper About Coming Out to Her Mom
Candid as ever, the pop superstar discussed her own sexual orientation and gender fluidity.
Neal Broverman
www.advocate.com/bisexuality/2015/06/10/miley-talks-paper-about-coming-out-her-mom
22 Stunning Same-Sex Wedding Photos That Are So Full Of Love
June may officially be LGBT Pride Month, but here at The Huffington Post, we prefer to celebrate all year round.
In that spirit, we present 22 gorgeous gay wedding photos that are brimming with life, laughter and love.
Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Sign up for our newsletter here.
— 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.
News: McKinney, Michelle Kwan, Surfers' Butts, Mars
An economics professor breaks down how the Empire built the Death Star.
McKinney, Texas police officer who assaulted and threatened black teenagers leaving a pool party resigns. The local Chief of Police calls his actions “indefensible.”
Obama administration to deploy 450 more troops to Iraq to combat ISIS.
Does Joyce Carol Oates think this Jurassic Park photo is real?
Humpday hotness courtesy of German model André Hamman.
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart share a smooch.
After 26 years of marriage, Homer and Marge Simpson are calling it quits. And Lena Dunham is to blame.
Speaking of The Simpsons, The Simpsons game “Tapped Out” celebrates Pride month.
Michelle Kwan joins the Clinton campaign.
Raven Symone joins The View.
Get ready, Pitches: Pitch Perfect 3 is in the works.
Jared Leto looks positively frightening as the Joker in Suicide Squad.
Scientists are going to study surfers’ butts to measure levels of pollution in the world’s oceans.
Violence against gays and lesbians is down while violence against trans women and LGBTQ people of color is on the rise.
Pope Francis creates tribunal to judge cases where bishops are accused of failing to protect children in from predators within the Church.
Franklin Graham: President Obama and the gays are to blame for the end of times.
Nasa Orbiter finds glass on Mars.
Sean Mandell
Arkansas Judge Uses Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches to Explain Pro-Equality Ruling
An Arkansas Judge threw some delicious shade at an antigay state official in yesterday’s ruling affirming the legality of more than 500 same-sex marriages in the state.
Matt Baume
Why Caitlyn Jenner Deserves an ESPY
My 11-year-old son, Christopher, came home last night and told me about a discussion he had at school with his classmates. They talked about Caitlyn Jenner.
I’ve openly discussed this subject with my husband, Chris, and I’ve not filtered my words, in and outside the presence of our son. But I’ll admit, I was a little surprised to learn that this topic has been on our son’s radar as well.
In an attempt to get at what he knows and perceives — to understand the opinion he is forming about transgender people specifically, and about issues of sex and gender generally — I asked Christopher what he thinks about the Caitlyn Jenner news.
He verbalized his thoughts in this way: “It’s when sometimes, you’re a boy and you feel like a man, or you’re a girl and you feel like a woman, but sometimes you’re a boy but inside, you feel like a woman or you’re a girl but you feel like a man, and you want to look like what you feel.”
After hearing this, my husband and I were at once proud and humbled: proud that we are raising a boy who appeared to have no trace of judgment in his voice, and humbled by the fact that despite what we may or may not try to inculcate in him, our son will come to his own conclusions, and these conclusions will inform his opinion.
I feel only slightly negligent that I didn’t bring this subject up with him sooner. I wrongly assumed he wouldn’t understand; that he was too young or immature to get it. Children have a greater capacity for understanding and acceptance than we give them credit for. In his own way, Christopher is attempting to make sense of things I never had to confront when I was that age.
Which is why I am so glad that Caitlyn Jenner has been so brave.
Which is why I’m so glad ESPN is recognizing her bravery with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
I say that if an awards show can continue to promote a dialogue that needs to be had — that has been sadly late in the making — then let’s give Caitlyn lots of other awards. It is 2015, after all, and it’s about time we stop pretending that we are more accepting than we truly are. It is time we keep nurturing the conversation.
Yesterday, Bob Costas, a sportscaster I’ve admired for a long time, was aghast. He said ESPN’s decision was an attempt to raise ESPN’s viewership — never mind that the ESPYs this year will not even be telecast on ESPN, but on ABC. And I hardly doubt that ESPN struggles with gaining an audience as approximately three out of four Americans watch ESPN on TV.
Costas went so far as to say he felt that the award should go to someone more deserving, someone who has been more recently actively involved in sport.
In fact, ESPN has had a history of giving the award to those not actively or even closely associated with sport.
In 2002, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award was given posthumously to Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick — four passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, who lost their lives on September 11. In 2009, Nelson Mandela received the Courage Award, and to my knowledge he never played amateur or pro sports.
Via a statement, ESPN said, “Sometimes courage is demonstrated over the course of a lifetime and sometimes it is demonstrated in a single act that shines a light on an important contemporary issue.”
I would be hard pressed to name a more contemporary culture issue that has inspired so much discourse, which intersects so directly with sports, and is being pervasively discussed and debated in every pocket of America — from our children’s classrooms to our own homes to the pages of our daily newspapers to the screens on our television.
Arthur Ashe, for whom the ESPY Award for Courage was named, once said: “Whereas, I don’t see myself as Jackie Robinson or even as Rosa Parks, neither trailblazer nor pawn of history, I do think I’m just a little bit of progress.”
The greatest human athlete of our time told the world that she is transgender. It took her her entire life to harness enough strength, enough bravery, to stand up and say this. In my opinion, she’s more than just a little bit of progress, and she deserves to be seen and heard. I for one can’t wait to hear her acceptance speech when she gets her ESPY.
— 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 in San Francisco with Jim Obergefell as Love Can’t Wait Tour Continues
Today, HRC is at San Francisco City Hall with Jim Obergefell, named plaintiff in the marriage equality case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
HRC.org
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