WATCH: Kevin Hart Explains Why He Won’t Play Gay
The hot comic actor blames his own ‘insecurities.’
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/2015/01/18/kevin-hart-explains-why-he-won-t-play-gay-0
Category Archives: NEWS
This V-Day, Let's Work Together to Prevent Violence Against <em>All</em> Women and Girls
This V-Day, Let's Work Together to Prevent Violence Against <em>All</em> Women and Girls
We are representatives of the first all-transgender benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues.
In 2004, Eve Ensler supplemented The Vagina Monologues, writing a transgender piece after having intimate conversations with a diverse group of women in our community. It debuted in 2004 as part of the first all-transgender performance, which was cast without regard to transgender surgical status.
That trans-inclusive piece has been performed by trans and non-trans participants around the world as part of V-Day’s global fundraising efforts to end violence against women and girls. We feel it is one of many important steps which made the feminist movement more trans-inclusive.
The money our benefit performance raised went to Peace Over Violence, a trans-inclusive anti-violence nonprofit, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and V-Day’s annual focus of 2004, violence against women and girls in Juarez, Mexico. The interviews and performance became the 2005 film Beautiful Daughters.
V-Day’s and Eve’s amazing response to concerns presented to them by trans people has been inspirational. They made extraordinary efforts to make the play and the movement trans-inclusive, changing many hearts and minds in the process.
The goal of V-Day is to create a community which raises money and raises our voices together until violence against women and girls stops. Throughout the project’s history, Eve has added new monologues to include voices that were not heard in the original play.
Hurtful labels and divisiveness are antithetical to the social justice movement, which encourages building bridges and finding common ground around shared goals. We encourage all trans and genderqueer people interested in sharing their own unique voices to work with V-Day as we have. Our successful efforts with V-Day emerged from sharing our constructive criticism through direct outreach.
The V-Day movement and Eve’s play continue to evolve and respond to issues of the day, and our work with the movement was meant to be the start of a conversation about including sex and gender minorities. We encourage you to join us in working together to eliminate violence against all women and girls.
In love and solidarity,
Calpernia Addams, producer
Andrea James, producer
Lynn Conway, participant
Valerie Spencer, participant
www.huffingtonpost.com/calpernia-addams/post_8905_b_6497356.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices
CNN: HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools Program Fights Bias and Stereotyping in Schools
CNN: HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools Program Fights Bias and Stereotyping in Schools
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, CNN profiled HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program as a leader in fighting homophobia, bias and bullying in schools.
HRC.org
High School Wrestler Forced Into Conversion Therapy By Parents Pulls Coming Out Post on Outsports
High School Wrestler Forced Into Conversion Therapy By Parents Pulls Coming Out Post on Outsports
Last week Outsports carried a story about a high school wrestler who came out as gay to his parents and was subsequently forced into conversion therapy and forbidden from coming out to anyone else. Suffering under the yoke of his parents’ oppressive reign but still yearning to live authentically, the young man, known only as “Hunter,” decided to came out anonymously online in a post published on OutSports.
Reading about other young LGBT athletes who had come out and interacting with them over social media inspired Hunter to open up. However, after his story started to gain media traction, Hunter asked that his story be pulled for fear that his parents might discover it, figure out it was about him and make reprisals against him. OutSports’ Cyd Zeigler has the story:
We’re sorry to say that we’ve decided to remove this story from the site.
Hunter contacted us this morning with fear that his parents might see it. The story got shared and read far more widely – and with more mainstream media – than we had imagined it could be. When mainstream sites started picking it up, Hunter got concerned and this morning asked us to remove the full story, at least temporarily, from Outsports. Just as the publication of the story is something we don’t usually do, its removal is the same […]
While there’s so much more to his story that Hunter wants to share, that will have to wait […]
The message of the story is not lost: There are lots of LGBT teen athletes who very much need help and support.
Hunter has set up an anonymous email where other young LGBT athletes can connect with him.
Sean Mandell
Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out
Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out
The man who may be Ireland’s next prime minister came out as gay.
Michelle Garcia
www.advocate.com/world/2015/01/18/irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out
The Weird Racial Politics Of Online Dating
The Weird Racial Politics Of Online Dating
We’re in the midst of a cultural sea change to one of the most central institutions in the life of the nation.
American attitudes on interracial relationships have taken an enormous step forward in the last two decades. As recently as 1995, fewer than half of all Gallup survey respondents favored interracial marriage—and only 4 percent did in 1985. Now such sentiments are relegated to shadowy Internet message boards and corners of right-wing talk radio.
Bill Maher, MSNBC's Josh Barro and Actor Josh Gad Whether We've Reached the 'Final Frontier' in Gay Rights: VIDEO
Bill Maher, MSNBC's Josh Barro and Actor Josh Gad Whether We've Reached the 'Final Frontier' in Gay Rights: VIDEO
On Friday’s Real Time, host Bill Maher’s opening monologue addressed the Supreme Court’s decision to set aside two and a half hours of oral arguments for the four gay marriage cases (you probably get where that joke is going to go) while on the “Overtime” segment, Maher and the panel were asked whether they think the gay rights movement is entering into some sort of “final frontier” phase.
MSNBC contributor Josh Barro said the “final frontier” in gay rights will take place “inside peoples’ homes and communities.” He also pointed out that there is still a great deal of “state discrimination” against the LGBT community and that many individuals continue to face discrimination from their families, churches, and workplaces.
Actor Josh Gad, meanwhile, drew comparisons between gay rights and the fight over abortion and how the Supreme Court might overturn the progress made in the movement.
Of course, to easily answer the question one only needs to look at Uganda’s “Anti-Homosexuality Law” or trans teen Leelah Alcorn to realize we still have a long, long way to go before we can say we’ve entered some sort of “final” stage in the movement for LGBT equality.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
Kentucky Lawmaker: Fine Schools $2,500 Every Time a Trans Student Uses 'Wrong' Bathroom
Justin Bieber’s “Big Wiener” And Calvin Klein Ads Ridiculed By SNL
Justin Bieber’s “Big Wiener” And Calvin Klein Ads Ridiculed By SNL
Justin Bieber’s laughter-inducing ads for Calvin Klein undies, which are really really real and definitely not photoshopped, inspired Saturday Night Live‘s resident out funny lady Kate McKinnon to reprise her acclaimed imitation of the all-grown-up singer. McKinnon’s Bieber showed off his tattoo that made him say “Owee,” demonstrated that he’s old enough to drink (a juice box) and pointed to his “pee-pee” a lot.
Watch the ridiculing below.
Jeremy Kinser
Does Meditation Really Work? – VIDEO
Does Meditation Really Work? – VIDEO
We’ve all heard of the calming and transformational powers of meditation, but how exactly does it affect your body from a biological perspective? Does it really do anything?
ASAPScience investigates, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2015/01/does-meditation-really-work-video.html
