White House: 'We Share Your Concern' About Conversion Therapy
The Obama administration came out today in support of efforts to ban the dangerous, discredited practice known as conversion therapy.
Sunnivie Brydum
Category Archives: NEWS
How the Fight for Same-Sex Marriage Affects Children
How the Fight for Same-Sex Marriage Affects Children
“Mom, what’s Proposition 47 about?” My 10-year-old son asked this as we drove past a house bedecked with election signs.
“I’m not sure yet. I need to look into it,” I answered.
“What about Prop 46? Are you voting yes or no?” he pressed.
“I haven’t decided yet. First I need to read the propositions, then I need to read the debates about them, then I’ll decide how to vote,” I explained.
“Can I vote?” he asked.
He already knew he couldn’t vote, so I offered, “You can fill out my sample ballot, if you’d like.”
“Cool,” he said. “When?”
I chuckled.
“What? Why are you laughing?” he asked.
“I just love that you’re interested in politics,” I said.
But really I was laughing because in my head I was hearing a ghoulish voiceover: Mwahahaha! From the compost heap of rotting Proposition 8 signs grows a dangerous menace: my sons.
Like many kids who have same-sex parents, my 8- and 10-year-old sons were born into the marriage equality movement, into court battles and legislation, into triumphant wins and heartbreaking losses, into the rise and fall of California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8 and beyond. They’re seasoned activists, in second and fourth grade.
For children like mine, politics have never been anything but deeply personal and compelling, something you throw yourself into, body and soul.
They have learned some tough lessons along the way:
• People fear what they don’t understand.
• People write unfair laws.
• People vote for unfair laws.
• People lie during campaigns and win that way.
They have also learned some empowering truths:
• Stand up for your beliefs.
• Your voice matters.
• Even when you lose, celebrate what you have gained.
• Don’t give up.
• Love is stronger than hate.
• Justice prevails.
These lessons, and my kids’ passion for politics, have outlived Proposition 8, and they will outlive our country’s few remaining same-sex marriage bans. While it hasn’t been easy raising kids (or growing up) in the crosshairs of a civil rights struggle, I am grateful for the outcome: the marriage equality movement has spawned a new generation of engaged, informed, empowered, determined, politically active citizens who will continue to demand justice for all.
This post originally appeared on VillageQ.
Photo Credit: Cheryl Dumesnil
— 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.
Obama Calls for End to Dangerous Practice of Conversion Therapy
Obama Calls for End to Dangerous Practice of Conversion Therapy
Tonight the Obama Administration threw its weight behind the movement to halt the harmful, widely debunked practice of conversion therapy.
HRC.org
President Obama Supports Efforts to Ban Harmful LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' for Minors
President Obama Supports Efforts to Ban Harmful LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' for Minors
The White House tonight responded to a “We the People” petition urging the government to”Enact Leelah’s Law to Ban All LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy” after it reached more than 120,000 signatures.
A quote from President Obama was included with the White House response:
“Tonight, somewhere in America, a young person, let’s say a young man, will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he’s held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it’s time to let that secret out. What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us — on the kind of society we engender, the kind of future we build.”
Said White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett:
We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth…As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors…This Administration believes that young people should be valued for who they are, no matter what they look like, where they’re from, the gender with which they identify, or who they love.
The White House statement adds:
“As part of their duty to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens, several states have taken their own steps to protect minors from the potentially dangerous effects of conversion therapy. California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia have all banned licensed professionals from using conversion therapy on minors. Since last year, lawmakers in 18 other states have introduced similar legislation.
In a 2013 signing statement for his state’s legislative ban, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expressed that “exposing children to these health risks without clear evidence of the benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not appropriate.”[3] In February 2015, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that advertising a service that could change a person’s sexuality is fraudulent and violates the state’s consumer protection laws.
While a national ban would require congressional action, we are hopeful that the clarity of the evidence combined with the actions taken by these states will lead to broader action that this Administration would support.
BREAKING: President Obama supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors → t.co/TAZqqDxwd9 #LeelahsLaw
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 9, 2015
The petition was named for Leelah Alcorn, who took her own life in December by walking in front of a semi truck near her home outside Cincinnati. After Alcorn’s parents refused to allow her to begin transitioning when she turned 16, she decided to come out as gay.
Officials also announced the creation of an “all-gender restroom” in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where many of the White House staff members work, to provide an additional option for transgender individuals who are not comfortable using either the men’s or women’s restrooms.
Andy Towle
Obama calls for end to conversion therapies for LGBT youth
WATCH: 6 Things We Learned from the New Memories Pizza Interview
WATCH: 6 Things We Learned from the New Memories Pizza Interview
Kevin and Crystal O’Connor aren’t sorry for saying they would not cater a same-sex wedding. And the nearly $1 million raised on their behalf ‘is fantastic’ too.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/indiana/2015/04/08/watch-6-things-we-learned-new-memories-pizza-interview
Obama To Call For End To LGBT Conversion Therapy
Obama To Call For End To LGBT Conversion Therapy
A 17-year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet audience in December when she threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note that religious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy.
— 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.
Here’s Everything You Could Possibly Want To Know About Rim Job Safety
Here’s Everything You Could Possibly Want To Know About Rim Job Safety
The folks over at Buzzfeed spoke with three sexperts about the nitty gritty of a favorite bedroom pastime for many gay men: Rim jobs.
New York City sex therapist Dr. Stephen Snyder, proctologist Dr. David Rosenfeld, and Dr. Dennis Fortenberry, professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, who specializes in the research of health risk behaviors and STDs, sat down with Buzzfeed writer Casey Gueren to talk all thing anilingus.
Here’s what they had to say:
STIs
According to Fortenberry, STIs can be transmitted via rim jobs, “not necessarily because the anus or rectum is infected, but because it’s part of the skin that connects the entire genital area, and some of those organisms may simply be moving around.”
That’s right, fellas, Hep A and B, chlamydia, gonorrhea, HPV, herpes, syphilis, and even HIV can all be contracted from ass-to-mouth and vice versa.
“I’m not sure that the exposure that you would get from direct contact with the anus would be that much different than with oral sex or sex,” Fortenberry says.
Bacteria
Germaphobes can relax because, according to Rosenfeld, bacteria festering in your partner’s backside isn’t something you need to be too worried about since there’s bacteria all over the place–in your anus, in your genitals, on your skin, in your bedsheets — and getting a little in your mouth typically won’t do any harm.
Of course, this is assuming neither you or your partner are hosting any strains of harmful illness-causing bacteria or parasites in your bodies, which leads the experts to the next point…
E. Coli, C. difficile, salmonella, etc.
If your partner is suffering any parasites from, say, a trip abroad or eating bad Chinese food, or if his stomach has been acting up, don’t perform a rim job on him without some sort of barrier (i.e. a dental dam). Although, chances are, if he’s battling a bout of salmonella poisoning he’s probably not going to be in the mood for hanky panky anyway.
Poo
According to Rosenfeld, if your partner has been having irregular bowel movements or loose stools, you may also want to reconsider tossing his salad, or, if you do, at least use a barrier.
How come? Because irregular bowel movements = excessive bacteria, festering germs, etc.
The goal, Rosenfeld says, is for “smooth, solid stool that doesn’t leave anything behind when you wipe.”
Unfortunately, this may mean asking your man about his BMs, but, as Buzzfeed so eloquently puts it, “a conversation about his poops… [is] better than going in there blind, right?”
Cleanliness
This one should really go without saying. Before going down on him, tell your man to wash, wash, wash. And then wash some more.
Rosenfeld recommends washing with a detachable shower head and using a mild soap since body washes can sometimes irritate the anus.
How clean is clean enough? Snyder says it’s a “judgement call.”
“If it passes a visual test and a sniff test,” he says, “you should be in the clear.”
Related stories:
Drake Loves Getting Rim Jobs, Plus Six Other Celebrity Fetishes “Exposed”
Report: Derek Jeter Is A Bossy Rimjob Recipient
Straight Guy Opens Up About All The Stuff He Likes Done To His Butt
Graham Gremore
American Idol's Top 8 Talk About Their Gay Fans: VIDEO
American Idol's Top 8 Talk About Their Gay Fans: VIDEO
The Gaily Grind’s Steven James Boyle stopped by American Idol last week and sat down with the Top 8 contestants to talk about their gay fans. This is probably a much different discussion than could ever have happened 13 years ago when the show started.
Find out how each of them feels, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
www.towleroad.com/2015/04/american-idols-top-8-talk-about-their-gay-fans-video.html
B.C. elementary school teacher clicks on wrong YouTube video, shows class ‘racy’ photo of woman on a beach
B.C. elementary school teacher clicks on wrong YouTube video, shows class ‘racy’ photo of woman on a beach
The teacher, who was suspended in 2012 for showing his class a video of men in drag singing on the beach, has gotten himself in hot water again after clicking on the wrong YouTube clip during a French lesson
news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/vancouver-island-teacher-inappropriate-video-in-class-736781
