Category Archives: NEWS

Congressional Republicans File Supreme Court Brief Backing Bans on Same-sex Marriage

Congressional Republicans File Supreme Court Brief Backing Bans on Same-sex Marriage

Gop

Six U.S. senators and 51 U.S. House members have signed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold state bans on same-sex marriage, the AP reports

The senators: Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Lankford (R-OK), James Inhofe (R-OK) and Tim Scott (R-SC).

Notable House signers include: Virginia Foxx (R-VA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Steve King (R-IA), and Randy Webber (R-TX).

The Washington Blade reports:

At one point, congressional Republicans invoke the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, saying the nationwide ruling on abortion was “widely criticized” for departing from incremental change.

“In this case, it is beyond dispute that a judicially mandated redefinition of marriage would impose sweeping, rather than incremental, change,” the brief says. “It would impliedly invalidate the recent, democratically adopted policies of 31 States. Moreover, several States have opted for a more incremental approach, affording to same-sex couples forms of legal recognition other than marriage. Constitutional prudence dictates that this incremental, democratic process should be allowed to continue.”

Last month over 300 Republicans, including 23 current and former GOP congressional members, signed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of marriage equality.

The Obama Administration and 211 congressional Democrats have also filed separate briefs asking the Supreme Court to overturn bans on same-sex marriage. 

Read the GOP brief, AFTER THE JUMP

 

 


Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/congressional-republicans-file-supreme-court-brief-backing-bans-on-same-sex-marriage.html

It’s the culture war, stupid: Why identity is at the heart of Indiana’s “religious freedom” fight

It’s the culture war, stupid: Why identity is at the heart of Indiana’s “religious freedom” fight
Instead of getting swept up in talking points and legalisms, we should focus on the real reason Indiana matters

salon.com.feedsportal.com/c/35105/f/648624/s/451af31b/sc/7/l/0L0Ssalon0N0C20A150C0A40C0A40Cits0Ithe0Iculture0Iwar0Istupid0Iwhy0Iidentity0Iand0Isymbolism0Iare0Iat0Ithe0Iheart0Iof0Iindianas0Ifight0Iover0Igay0Irights0C/story01.htm

'Masturbation Will Lead To Homosexuality': Sex-Ed In China Leaves LGBT Youth In The Dark

'Masturbation Will Lead To Homosexuality': Sex-Ed In China Leaves LGBT Youth In The Dark
At the International Conference on Sexuality in Kunming, China, HIV/AIDS activist Humphrey Wou attended a panel on sex education, hoping to learn about the textbooks used to teach Chinese students about sex. He remembered one presenter reading aloud from a book that had been widely used in high school classrooms in the city of Hangzhou for years: “Masturbation will lead to mental disorders and homosexuality,” he said.

Wou, who had been in the region for months providing rapid HIV testing to gay men, was not surprised. In a country where sex and sexuality remain taboo topics of discussion, such misinformation remains common. In fact, out of ninety Chinese science, psychology, and sex-education textbooks surveyed by the Gay and Lesbian Campus Association, a Guangzhou-based student advocacy group, 80 percent characterized homosexuality as psychologically aberrant. Although homosexuality was removed from the official list of mental disorders in 2001, LGBT people in China have few legal protections against discrimination and still face widespread social disapproval and harassment.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/04/masturbation-will-lead-to_n_7000138.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Young Sons Of Gay Dad Share Their Powerful Brushes With Antigay Bullying

Young Sons Of Gay Dad Share Their Powerful Brushes With Antigay Bullying

Screen Shot 2015-04-03 at 10.57.15 AMGood parenting is made even better with a soundtrack of inspirational piano music and frog noises.

YouTuber Kamaka Alameda, a gay father of two in Puna, Hawaii recently posted a video in which he openly engages his young sons about the homophobia they face in school.

His older son is in 5th grade, and describes:

“I was bullied because people would ask me about my father — if he was gay. And I would say ‘yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that…’ I tried to walk away from this kid — he jumped on me and he slammed my face against a pole and gave me a black eye…They would call me gay, they would call me stupid, retard.”

The situation wasn’t addressed properly, and Kamaka eventually decided to switch the kids’ school after personally witnessing his son being called a “fag” and hearing that he continued to face bullying “almost every single day.”

“I want to create an awareness that this happens to people in the community,” he says in the video. “If you step out and you’re not afraid to be who you are, sometimes you’re hated on…How I raise my children is that they can love whoever they want to love.”

Watch their touching story below:

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/P88aagLF5KA/young-sons-of-gay-dad-share-their-powerful-brushes-with-antigay-bullying-20150404

Tig Notaro On The Anti-Gay Pizza Restaurant In Indiana: 'It's Sickening'

Tig Notaro On The Anti-Gay Pizza Restaurant In Indiana: 'It's Sickening'
Memories Pizza, the Indiana restaurant that said it would refuse to cater gay weddings under the state’s controversial religious freedom law, has raised more than $800,000 from supporters who have no problem with the discrimination against LGBT customers. Comedian Tig Notaro is definitely not one of those supporters.

“It’s so odd,” Notaro said Friday. “When you’re denying people services based on who they are, it’s like you’re removing their homes, food — it’s sickening.”

The comedian discussed the controversy surrounding Indiana’s law with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and hosts Roy Sekoff and Marc Lamont Hill during the premiere of “The HuffPost Show.”

Notaro’s new comedy special, “Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro,” premieres April 17 on Showtime.

Watch the discussion about Indiana in the video above, and click here for more from “The HuffPost Show.”

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/tig-notaro-indiana-pizza-restaurant_n_7002210.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Law Professor Breaks Down Arkansas' New Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Law Professor Breaks Down Arkansas' New Religious Freedom Restoration Act
FAYETTEVILLE, AR– A week of controversy and debate ended in a compromise over a religious freedom law, but many are still unclear what the law does. After many equal rights groups, as well as businesses including Walmart and Apple spoke out against House Bill 1228, Governor Asa Hutchinson said he wouldn’t sign it into law in it’s original form. The revised form was drafted around the federal …

www.nwahomepage.com/story/d/story/law-professor-breaks-down-arkansas-new-religious-f/92882/l4kRGE0VK0WICDqK9cuYCQ