Dominican Rep. Allows U.K. Embassy to Wed Gay Couple, but won't Recognize Vows

Two men, one British and one Dominican, are the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in this religiously conservative Caribbean nation.

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Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/world/2015/01/04/dominican-rep-allows-uk-embassy-wed-gay-couple-wont-recognize-vows

Salt Lake County Prosecutors Pursuing Hate Crime, Assault Charges In Attack On Two Gay Men

Anthony Costello

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/-salt-lake-county-prosecutors-pursuing-hate-crime-assault-charges-in-attack-on-2-gay-men.html

India Elects First Transgender Mayor

For the first time in history, India has elected a transgender Mayor.

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Jase Peeples

www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2015/01/04/india-elects-first-transgender-mayor

15 LGBT Must-Dos in 2015
The ball has dropped, the champagne has popped and the partygoers have kissed. It’s a new year. Now, it’s time to think about your travel calendar. Before you know it Phil will be prognosticating, resolutions will be neglected, the planet will tilt and then you’ll be roasting turkey and you don’t want to think, “I never got to wear that harness.” That would be tragic.

So here are my picks, arranged by date, for the 15 events and things to do in 2015:

1. Challenge your fetish tolerance. Be ready to push, pull and stretch your boundaries for an entire weekend in Washington, D.C. at Mid-Atlantic Leather, January 16 to 19.

Mid-Atlantic Leather photo by Denis Largeron

2. Run West Hollywood. Pack your sneakers and go for a run with LA Frontrunners, Los Angeles‘s LGBT running and walking club. Running will not only help rid that holiday weight it can help you shed the frustrations that come along with Grindr drama.

3. Shake off those winter blues at Miami‘s Winter Party. You’ll barely have use for a shirt, let alone a coat at this South Beach festival, March 4 to 9. Pack several swimsuits and leave the cold at home.

Winter Party Festival photo by Denis Largeron

4. Ogle the art at The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. It’s sensory overload of the non-disco-lights kind. This New York City museum is the first in the world dedicated to LGBTQ art. Housing over 22,000 objects, you’re sure to see your favorite queer artist. Added bonus: admission is free.

5. Break out the white before Memorial Day at Jeffrey Sanker’s White Party. This Palm Springs circuit party, April 24 to 27, electrifies the desert with a spicy array of men, music, DJs and superstar talent.

White Party photo by Phil Lobel / Lobeline Communications

6. Practice your overhand on one of ubiquitous Rehoboth Beach volleyball courts. As summer nears, request off a couple Fridays and Mondays, splurge on that new bathing suit and get beaching.

7. Mess with Texas. Head to Austin‘s first ever International Drag Festival, May 1 to 3 and wig out with some of the most fantastic, fierce and funny ladies, such as Lady Bunny, Sherry Vine and Pandora Boxx as they do their best to “Keep Austin Weird.”

Lady Bunny by Aaron Cobbett

8. Wave your flag high at Rhode Island Pride in Providence, RI, June 20. The country’s smallest state proves that size isn’t everything. Sometimes it’s the smaller cities that have the bigger Prides.

9. Celebrate the LGBT civil rights movement in Philadelphia. This Fourth of July mark a half-century since gay and lesbian activists protested in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. See where it all started and say “Thank You,” because without them we may not have marriage equality or “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall photo by J. Fusco for Visit Philadelphia™

10. Let it grow out for Bear Week® in Provincetown. Meet up with furry friends July 11 to 19. PTown is serving up beers and bears in equal proportion this week. Be sure to pack a comb; you’re sure to get plenty of sand stuck in your mane.

11. Live la vida taco. Yes, I just paraphrased Ricky Martin. And yes, I’m serious. Grab some good friends and enjoy some great food at Tacos El Gordo on the Vegas Strip. By the way, it’s pretty inexpensive — something you’ll be craving after ordering a few Vegas-priced cocktails.

12. Take an uninhibited romp through The Big Easy. Southern Decadence, September 2 to 7, is all the craziness you’d expect from New Orleans but taken to its gayest extreme. This party challenges even the most accomplished partiers with events running around the clock.

13. Get cuddly in the countryside. When autumn nears take your lover outside the city to a Technicolor countryside town to see one of Mother Nature’s best shows. New Hope or Milford, both in eastern Pennsylvania, will offer you plenty of inspiration for handholding or more. Wink. Wink.

The Mansion Inn in New Hope, PA photo by B. Krist for Visit Philadelphia™

14. Extend summer. Hold onto that summertime feeling just a little longer with a trip to San Francisco. In October, when most of the country starts to chill, San Francisco actually heats up.

15. Don’t be shy during Bone Island Bare It All weekend in Key West. From December 3 to 6, sun seekers let it all hang out (ha!). Please remember to apply sunscreen everywhere. Yes, everywhere.

To discover more about these gay-friendly cities and events and to plan your 2015 trip, visit fagabond.com.

www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-werner/15-lgbt-mustdos-in-2015_b_6410378.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

McDonald's Is Rebranding to Take Advantage of All the Lovin' That's Going Around

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/mcdonalds-is-rebranding-to-take-advantage-of-all-the-lovin-thats-going-around.html

When Being Trans Is Not Trans Enough
The terms transgender and trans are increasingly being used in community circles to denote those who are who are transitioning from their birth-assigned gender to more closely align their bodies with their authentic sense of self. Let us not forget that transgender is an umbrella that encompasses all persons whose authentic identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female genders and assigned gender at birth. The current narratives that are coming from the trans community seemingly refer solely to those who transition, and the language that is increasingly being used by the community is becoming more and more exclusionary. Even the labels MTF and FTM are still being thrown around as descriptors both for and by a large portion of those who transition, which reenforces both gender assigned at birth and also the idea that there are only two boxes to choose from. Male and female are increasingly being presented as two distinct states, with nothing between.

The two gender binary system is neat and tidy for a society that has constructed roles and expectations around each term, with there being no common ground between the two. It was not always this way. In antiquity there is ample evidence that there were many genders exhibited, as referenced in classical writing. The advent of Abrahmaic religion resulted in a series of stories that were written to encourage people who had been persecuted in their own land by imperialist invaders to engage in and promote behaviors — such as reproduction for the sake of self-preservation, and therefore set the binary. These texts later became fodder for those who would persecute both them and us. In this world, one was either male or female. Genders outside of the binary were ignored. Sexual orientation and activity of those other than would potentially produce offspring, became demonized by a society based on biblical concepts.

In a world of only two choices, I became very self-aware that I had been placed in the wrong box and that everything about me — my sense of self, my behaviors, my likes and dislikes, were mostly assigned a female gender by those around me. Physically and genetically I was always between the two, but in a world where there were only to options, at first it made sense for me to try harder to behave as masculine as I could; particularly under the influence of a parent for whom my mannerisms had become embarrassing to the point where they felt the need for physical correction. Yet despite overcompensation in many areas, boys just didn’t wear pink lip-gloss and blue eyeshadow while they were walking around town on weekends when not playing with their bands. I did. When I became aware of what it means to be transgender, my new-found awareness gave me a solution. I could transition to further align my body with my gender. As time progressed I felt the need to suppress any behaviors or thoughts that were socially gendered male lest I be further rejected by both external society and the transgender community, so once more attempted to fit the expectation of the gender binary, though now female rather than male.

Trans originated as a shortened form of transgender, which includes myself and all other non-binary identities. However In the activist community, trans has largely become a more politically correct form of the word transsexual; touted as more inclusive, but yet still as exclusionary. Because of this, in saying that I am a trans woman, the listener usually forms the assumption that I am both transitioning and binary-identifying. If we accept the true meaning of trans as being all of us under the umbrella term, then saying that I am a trans woman does not exclude my being a feminine-of-center transgender person transitioning towards a physiology that more closely matches but does not thoroughly encompassmy identity. I am non-binary in a world where Male and female are just two terms that sit on opposite ends of a line. I exist upon that line, at the high end of the female spectrum. My presentation generally reflects this. However, while some non-binary people identify more towards either male or female, others exist more towards the center, at various points along the line, or don’t identify as a gender at all. The increasing use of trans and transgender when writing solely about those who are in transition or who have transitioned is inadvertently damaging the umbrella and erasing identities.

According to the only study done of it’s kind, “A Gender Not Listed Here”, the differences between those who identify with a trans binary identity and those identifying as a non-binary trans identity shows that it’s time that those of us under the umbrella that have a binary trans identity to take a difficult look at themselves and examine their privilege. Yes, I said privilege.

There is a de-facto hierarchy under the umbrella, whereby those who identify with a binary gender have become the primary focus of our outreach and advocacy and therefore fare better than those who not. I am not going to dissect the past 20 years or so of activism or discuss the reasons why. It does not matter why this has happened, the numbers gathered by NCTE shows that this just simply cannot continue to be left unchecked. While the data on trans binary individuals shows unacceptable incidence of harassment, assault, attempted suicide, joblessness, homelessness and murder, the data for non-binary transgender respondents in the NCTE study shows HIGHER rates when compared to those with a binary trans identity. Often staggeringly so.

According to the study, 20 percent of non-binary identified trans people said that they had been involved in drug sales, sex work, or other underground economies, versus 15 percent for binary-identified trans people. Non-binary individuals have a 43 percent suicide attempt rate, versus 40 percent for binary-identified, are more likely to have experienced harassment, and 7 percent more likely to have been assaulted. Job loss for non-binary individuals is 19 percent lower than binary trans individuals, yet they are 20 percent more likely to be unemployed.

Non-binary individuals are oftentimes refused medical transition-related care. The WPATH standard of Informed Consent is still not being followed in the majority of the U.S, where many trans care providers still insist on the exclusionary real life test often resulting in heightened dysphoria for non-binary individuals who do not meet the requirements. Oftentimes a non-binary person in need of care will have to suppress part of their identity in order to receive care, or declare themselves as binary. The language used in of the majority of transgender legal protections that have either passed or are being proposed within the U.S., should offer binary and non-binary trans equal protections; yet identity markers are still largely binary, and trans healthcare is often overlooked.

With the legal protections added in various states, D.C., and the federal government’s acknowledgement that trans people are covered by the Civil Rights Act and Title IX, there exists a clear area of opportunity for language to be added to ensure transgender related healthcare providers are adhering to the current WPATH standards so that at least in basic care services no trans person is excluded based on where they identify under the transgender umbrella.

There is also a need for those non-binary identities who are not almost at one end of the spectrum or the other, to have their identities officially and legally recognized. Facebook added almost 50 different gender options and combinations to their users in 2014, largely due to the work of Brielle Harrison, who is a trans woman working for the company. If a corporation such as Facebook can add gender options, so can the federal government here in the U.S., and other Western countries such as the U.K. The simple inclusion of an “other” option where one can write in one’s own gender with the addition of a preferred pronoun would be simple enough to incorporate on the vast majority of current forms.

The issues are not particularly difficult to address — most of the protections are already in place in a large number of states. We simply need to amend our language to ensure the inclusion of all those under the transgender umbrella when discussing trans issues, and not just the few who take steps to transition towards the opposite binary option from the one coercively assigned at birth.

Please join me in adding your voice using the #NBRightsNow hashtag on twitter.

www.huffingtonpost.com/kelsie-brynn-jones/when-being-trans-is-not-t_b_6340728.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

The Mind/Body Connection: Mentally Preparing Yourself Before Your Workout

Before you start that quest to become a shirtless Brad Pitt in Fight Club, I need you to think about something.  

Your mind is the master of your body.  

I have heard the “lack of willpower” and “girl, I got lazy” excuses… let’s say… more than a few times. However, that’s the condition. What is the cause?  The cause is that we haven’t developed a clear vision, concept and belief in our new body. 

Instead, we mindlessly curl, squat and run into someone’s vision for our body. We develop no personal connection to the end goal. Also, many of us unfortunately run around with warped negative perceptions of our bodies and abilities. Then when times get tough, we fold like a cheap deck of cards.  It’s a new year and we need a new truth.

In my experience, you must connect the mind to the body to achieve significant and long-lasting results. It’s also my experience that all the people I’ve met with truly bangin’ bodies having either knowingly or unknowingly connected their minds to their bodies.

Here are two of many powerful ways to do that: First, grab a paper and pen (no computer or phone) and write out every detail of your ideal body: What does it look like?  What does it feel like? What it is like to move in this body? What do other people think and say about this body? Write specifically about each body part. There are absolutely no limitations here. Set aside any negative beliefs you have about yourself or your abilities. Go for it. Play make-believe.

Next write affirmations and claim your new body.  Such as: “I will be lean and fit” and “I will have a bigger chest” or “I will have an ass of death.” You get the idea. (Bonus: eliminate “will” and just claim the entire thing now. After all, there is no time but the present.)

Now, here is the easiest part. I want you to read the description of your body and speak the affirmations daily. When you do this you are connecting your mind to your body and visualizing the results that you want to achieve.  If you do this consistently over time, your workouts will improve and your mission will become engrained in your mind and body.  You will begin to believe in your abilities and the results will follow.  

Pretty soon your “make-believing” will turn into pure belief in yourself and your resolution will become part of you DNA. It is the ancient art of visualization and manifestation broken down for fitness.  

It worked for me. The most powerful physical transformation I ever created for myself started from my mind. Happy New Years.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/xBmgbB3NA0Y/the-mindbody-connection-mentally-preparing-yourself-before-your-workout-20150104

Mike Huckabee Quits Fox News Because God Might Tell Him to Run for President in 2016: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/huckabee2016.html