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3 gay Republicans trying to make election history
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Dan Innis' husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House.
It didn't matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history — no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.
"He said, 'You've got to do this,'" recalls Innis, running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers most of eastern New Hampshire. "He said, 'You need to take this opportunity and see if you can make a difference.'"
Innis plays down his sexuality as a campaign issue, but acknowledges the historic undertones. He is among three openly gay Republicans nationwide expected to run in this year's midterm elections. None has an easy path to Washington.
Each ultimately must unseat a Democratic incumbent, overcome brushes with hate and confront passionate divisions within the GOP about the way they live their lives. The Republican Party is trying to soften its tone on divisive social issues, but many religious conservatives see homosexuality as immoral.
Innis is married to a man, as is former state Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Mass., who is expected to run again for the northeastern Massachusetts congressional seat he narrowly lost in 2012 to Democratic Rep. John Tierney.
In San Diego, former Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio is challenging first-term Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.
"You can't focus on any of the nasty comments or attacks — not just from far right, also from far left," DeMaio says.
During his unsuccessful 2012 Republican mayoral campaign, DeMaio and his male partner of six years were booed as they walked hand in hand in San Diego's gay pride parade.
"Every once in a while we'll get some hate that is truly over the top — a truly venomous voice mail message. Every time we need a lift-me-up, we play it and chuckle," DeMaio says. "It's just a reminder that what we're fighting for matters."
He also is fighting his own party.
The GOP's formal platform, as set in its 2012 national convention, declares that "marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be upheld as the national standard."
Republican opposition to gay marriage has become less visible recently as the GOP works to improve its image and polling suggests that most Americans support same-sex marriage.
Prominent social conservatives such as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Ralph Reed, former leader of the Christian Coalition, declined to be interviewed for this story.
As a senator in 2003, Santorum, a leading candidate in the 2012 presidential primary, compared homosexual acts to child molestation and bestiality.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., drew national attention for pressuring the House Republican campaign arm not to support openly gay candidates. That led House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to pledge public support for gay Republicans.
Boehner traveled to Massachusetts in 2012 to help raise money for Tisei, who notes that more than 70 members of Congress supported his last campaign.
Still, Tisei says the GOP must do more to change the perception that "we're the party that wants to deny people their rights and interfere with their personal lives."
In particular, he says Republicans need gay members in their ranks to help shift their mindset on key policies. "It would be a lot harder to take positions that discriminate against people when you have (gay) people in the room you work with on a daily basis that you like and know," Tisei says.
Democrats currently have eight openly gay members serving in Congress, including Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who last year became the nation's first openly gay senator.
There have been no openly gay Republicans in Congress since Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona retired in 2006. First elected in 1984, Kolbe didn't disclose his sexual orientation until 1996.
Rep. Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin served more than a decade before a Republican colleague publicly disclosed Gunderson's sexual orientation on the House floor in 1994. Gunderson did not seek re-election in 1996.
In the 2014 election, the number of openly gay House candidates overwhelmingly favors Democrats, according to a list compiled by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect gay candidates at all levels. Of 14 openly gay candidates expected to run, 11 are Democrats, including six incumbents and high-profile challenger Sean Eldridge of New York, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.
Considered top-tier challengers, Tisei and DeMaio recently teamed up to raise money in joint appearances across the country for a newly formed political action committee known as the Equality Leadership Fund. Last month, they traveled to Washington, New York and Florida and expect another tour in the spring.
In New Hampshire, Innis is trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter. But he must first survive a Republican primary contest against Frank Guinta, a former congressman unseated in the last election. With long ties to the business community, Innis is expected to have strong financial backing in an election he says will be decided on fiscal issues.
"The best history we could make would be moving the budget toward balance and getting ourselves to a position where we could invest in our future again," he says.
New Hampshire GOP strategist Jamie Burnett says he doesn't know whether candidates' sexual orientation helps or hurts their electoral prospects.
"Some social conservatives might object, but many Republicans might not care at all and perhaps see it as softening the party's image," he says. "This is unchartered territory in recent New Hampshire Republican politics."
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140119/NEWS11/140119692/-1/NEWS
On Thursday, Utah announced that it hired attorney Gene Schaerr to lead its effort to defend marriage discrimination in a case that is likely to wind up before the Supreme Court. Utah’s announcement was mildly surprising because Schaerr is not Paul Clement, the de facto Solicitor General of the Republican Party who defended the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act before the justices.
Schaerr and Clement do share another thing in common, however, beyond their representation of high-profile anti-gay clients. Both men left their jobs at large law firms shortly after taking on an anti-gay case.
Clement left behind a partnership at the firm of King and Spalding after gay rights groups and Coca Cola, one of King and Spalding’s top clients, pressured the firm to drop its defense of the anti-gay DOMA law. He went on to argue the DOMA cases at a small law firm founded by a former Bush Administration official.
Although the circumstances of Schaerr’s decision to leave his law firm are a bid more opaque — the firm, Winston & Strawn, released a vague statement saying that “Gene Schaerr, our former partner and formerly one of the co-leaders of our appellate and critical motions practice, has decided to resign from the firm in order to take a position as Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Utah” — it’s hard to miss the similarities between this resignation and Clement’s. Simply put, lawyers do not typically resign from law firms because they take on a new client — taking on new paying clients is exactly what makes a law firm’s partners valuable to the firm.
Beyond the risk that a major client may balk at the firm’s activities, there’s another obvious reason why large law firms may not want to take on major anti-gay cases. Firms compete for top graduates and recent law clerks in their hiring process, and most new lawyers come from an age group that overwhelmingly supports marriage equality. Eighty-one percent of people aged 18-29 support marriage equality, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll. Given that the kind of work (and the kind of jobs) offered by one major law firm can typically be done just as well by dozens of of other large law firms, the fact that a firm is also engaged in anti-gay defense work can easily be enough to push clients and potential hires into another firm’s arms.
Indeed, both Winston & Strawn and King and Spalding profess to value diversity as, in King and Spalding’s words, “an integral part of our culture.” The firm Schaerr is leaving to become Utah’s top anti-gay counsel offers a generous domestic partner benefit to same-sex couples that effectively cancels out the negative federal tax treatment afforded to gay couples that are unable to marry.
Utah plans to pay Schaerr up to $200,000 just for the “10th Circuit phase of the proceedings,” meaning that he will receive even more money in the likely event that this case reaches the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the state of Utah has an entire attorney general’s office filled with lawyers who are perfectly capable of writing an appellate brief and competently arguing their case before a court.
A common defense offered by lawyers who take on unpopular clients is that every party to litigation deserves competent counsel — and this is normally a very good argument. In this case, however, Utah already has plenty of lawyers, and the $200,000 it plans to pay Schaerr just for one stage of the litigation is money that will not be spent to provide representation to people truly in need of legal services. If Utah wanted to show its dedication to ensuring that all parties have excellent legal representation, they could take the money they plan to pay Schaerr to defend their anti-gay law and use it to fund public defenders and legal services for the poor instead.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/18/3180321/anti-gay-clients-toxic-big-firms/
PHOENIX — A veteran state lawmaker is pushing legislation that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays — and maybe even women and Jews — as long as they were acting on sincerely held religious beliefs.
SB 1062 would allow those sued in civil cases to claim that they have a legal right to decide not to provide their services to any individual or group because it would “substantially burden” their freedom of religion. And that specifically means doing something that the person feels is contrary to their religious teachings.
Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said the measure is aimed specifically at preventing what happened in New Mexico where courts there said a gay couple could sue a wedding photographer who turned away their request to take pictures at their nuptials. He said that should not be allowed to happen here.
But Yarbrough said his legislation could also be interpreted broader than that, allowing motel operators with vacant rooms to refuse to rent to gays.
Potentially more significant, Yarbrough acknowledged there may be individuals whose have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs.
The senator said, though, he believes it would be harder for someone accused of such discrimination to hide behind his law.
That’s because already existing laws allow the state to forbid discrimination if there is a “compelling governmental interest” in such regulation and if the regulation is the “least restrictive means” of furthering that governmental interest. And Yarbrough said he believes there are enough legal precedents against bias based on gender and religion to keep a business owner from using his or her own beliefs as an excuse to discriminate.
But Dan Pochoda, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said he’s not so sure, which is why his group generally opposes any kinds of laws which protect what he called “indirect burdens” on an individual’s religion.
“They generally result from persons claiming that their religious beliefs entitle them to disregard civil rights laws that protect against various discriminations including on the basis of religion, gender, marital status, national origin and sexual orientation,” Pochoda said. And he said it permits those who claim such protections to “act in a manner that threatens the health, safety, well-being and liberties of others.”
The chances of the measure gaining approval are quite good.
In fact, a virtually identical proposal actually was approved last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer. But she did that not because of the text of the legislation but because she was ticked at lawmakers for refusing to consider the state budget and her Medicaid expansion plan.
Yarbrough also said there is precedent for what he wants.
He said state law already makes it illegal for the government to impose requirements on people that violate their religious beliefs. What’s missing, he said, is a defense in civil lawsuits when the fight has nothing to do with the government.
Central to the issue is the general prohibition against discrimination in public accommodations.
But Yarbrough, who is an attorney, said can extend beyond restaurants and hotels to any other business that offers its services to the public. And that, he said, is how it ended up being used in New Mexico against the photographer there — and could be used against all types of businesses here.
That, however, raises the question of the reach of the legislation.
He said that wedding photographer deserved the right to turn away the business because there were other photographers available for the same job. He said that shows there was no “compelling governmental interest” in forcing the reluctant photographer to take on unwanted business.
And what of hotels?
Yarbrough said it’s possible that, under the terms of his legislation a hotel owner could turn away a gay couple without fear of suit simply because there are other nearby facilities.
“It’s a fact-intensive question in those instances when you’ve got the preference that we’ve got for public accommodation and the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion,” he said. “How does the friction play out?”
Conversely, Yarbrough said the answer might be different if that were the only hotel in town.
This isn’t the first time Arizona lawmakers have considered measures to allow freedom of religion trumps customer rights.
Most notably is a law which permits pharmacists, who are licensed by the state, to refuse on religious or moral grounds to dispense the “morning after” pill designed to block pregnancy following unprotected sex. Yarbrough said a pharmacist who is a devout Catholic should not be forced to be a part of what he or she believes is someone’s immoral act.
A challenge to the 2009 law as approved failed. But Yarbrough said that he could foresee situations in which the case might be a closer call, as in examples as the photographer and the hotel.
“If he’s the only pharmacy in Bisbee, you may have a problem,” he said. But Yarbrough said the outcome would be different “if there are two more down the road and Target does this and there’s no issue, and he knows that you can go there.”
“And, of course, if he’s at all smart, is probably going to say, ‘And by the way, two blocks down the road is a Target and they have a pharmacy,’” Yarbrough said.
http://www.svherald.com/content/howard-fischer-capitol-media-services/2014/01/14/365889
Schools with gay-straight alliances and initiatives to reduce homophobia have fewer students — both gay and straight — who attempt suicide, according to a new study by the University of British Columbia.
Not only were the odds of homophobic discrimination and suicidal thoughts reduced by more than half among LGB students in schools with GSAs, but heterosexual boys at the same schools were also half as likely to attempt suicide, compared to their peers at schools without a GSA.
In addition, at schools where antidiscrimination policies have been in place for more than three years, gay and bisexual boys were more than 70 percent less likely to attempt suicide. The same attempts for lesbian and bisexual girls were two-thirds less likely than their peers at schools without such campaigns.
“We know that LGBTQ students are at higher risk for suicide, in part because they are more often targeted for bullying and discrimination,” says Elizabeth Saewyc, lead author of the study and professor at the UBC School of Nursing. “But heterosexual students can also be the target of homophobic bullying. When policies and supportive programs like GSAs are in place long enough to change the environment of the school, it’s better for students’ mental health, no matter what their orientation.”
The study was conducted among nearly 22,000 students across British Columbia in grades 8-12.
http://www.shewired.com/need-know/2014/01/22/study-proves-lgbt-affirming-schools-yield-lower-suicide-rates
Two surprises here. First, there is only 1 POC on this list?
The second, David Cicilline, who as the former Mayor of Providence took a thriving city to the brink of bankruptcy and went on to share his voodoo economics as US Representative is gay?
21 most influential openly gay and lesbian Washingtonians (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-21-most-influential-openly-gay-and-lesbian-washingtonians/2014/01/24/79e4533c-850c-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_gallery.html#photo=1)
http://cdn.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/lorraine_hansberry/images/LorraineHansberry_Headshot_5048929u_428W.jpg
November 22, 2013–March 16, 2014
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Herstory Gallery, 4th Floor, Brooklyn
In the late 1950s, the fight for gay rights was developing alongside the growing Civil Rights and feminist movements. An important voice in the Civil Rights struggle was author, essayist, and activist Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965), the award-winning playwright of A Raisin in the Sun. This exhibition explores a largely unknown but significant aspect of Hansberry’s biography connecting her to the gay rights movement: the letters she wrote in 1957 to The Ladder, the first subscription-based lesbian publication in the United States. In these provocative letters, Hansberry drew on her own identity and life experiences to articulate the interconnected struggles of women, lesbians, and African Americans during the period. She pointed to her identification with the burgeoning feminist movement in a 1959 interview with Studs Terkel, saying that "the most oppressed group of any oppressed group will be its women," adding that those who are "twice oppressed" often become "twice militant."
The exhibition includes approximately twenty-seven issues of The Ladder, beginning with the publication’s launch in 1956 and documenting its early underground years, under the waning force of the Comstock Act. (Under these laws, enacted in 1873, it was illegal to send "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials in the U.S. mail. Free press rights around homosexuality were granted in 1958.) Also included are Hansberry's handwritten lists to herself on her birthdays, typewritten essays on "the homosexual question," a poem titled "Le Masque," and a notebook with a drawn self-portrait. There is also a listening station with Hansberry’s interview with Studs Terkel.
Twice Militant: Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters to "The Ladder" is the latest exhibition in the Herstory Gallery of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which is devoted to subjects that explore the significant contributions of the women named in The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago.
Twice Militant: Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters to "The Ladder" is organized by Catherine Morris, Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.
ARIZONA GOV. TO VETO ANTI-GAY MEASURE
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is likely to veto the state’s controversial measure that could allow businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbians due to religious beliefs, according to three people close to the governor and familiar with her thinking.
Story continues from NBC News:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/arizona-bill-controversy/brewer-likely-veto-anti-gay-measure-n38186
Mopsie
02-25-2014, 04:58 PM
ARIZONA GOV. TO VETO ANTI-GAY MEASURE
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is likely to veto the state’s controversial measure that could allow businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbians due to religious beliefs, according to three people close to the governor and familiar with her thinking.
Story continues from NBC News:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/arizona-bill-controversy/brewer-likely-veto-anti-gay-measure-n38186
Well thank God SOMEONE in Arizona politics doesn't have their head up their ass!
cricket26
02-25-2014, 07:36 PM
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1908231_10151938512331190_1064205067_n.jpg
http://bit.ly/1hf1u0t
CONT'D: ARIZONA GOV. BREWER URGED TO VETO ANTI-GAY LAW
Nasty battle stoked by protests in Arizona. This is a more in-depth story and video from CBS News which aired last night:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/arizona-governor-urged-to-veto-bill-labeled-anti-gay/
~baby~doll~
02-26-2014, 01:55 PM
http://lesbiannews.com/2014/02/24/arizona-businesses-open-to-everyone/
http://lesbiannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140224-121432.jpg
Arizona Businesses “Open To Everyone”
by Lesbian News • February 24, 2014
With the passage of SB 1062, the “License to Discriminate” bill in Arizona, opposition to the bill has been growing. Many businesses and organizations in Arizona understand that this bill does more that it says it would. It would allow any individual, corporation, institution, or business organization may be permitted to refuse services to LGBT people on the basis of religious freedom.
Businesses across Arizona are contacting Governor Brewer and letting Arizonans know that they are “Open for Business to Everyone!” using signs like this:
If you’re a business owner in Arizona and believe that no one should fear being turned away at a government office, a restaurant, or any other business that serves the public just because of who they are, print out this sign and post in your business.
SB1062 aims to legally sanction discrimination against the LGBT community, but your voice can make a difference in stopping this license to hate from becoming law. Join HRC and others at a rally Monday at 5:30 p.m., at the State House to call on Governor Brewer to veto SB 1062. For more information contact HRC Regional Field Organizer Adrian Matanza, who is on-the-ground in Phoenix.
Or contact Governor Brewer here, or text AZ to 30644 to be directly connected to the Governor’s office.
(Courtesy of HRC.org)
It is nice to see business fighting back. Three cheers for the business people who have brains.
BREAKING NEWS: FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN TEXAS GAY MARRIAGE BAN
My comment: Interesting in the wake of pending Arizona legislation. Here's the link to NBC News.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-strikes-down-texas-gay-marriage-ban-n39466
~baby~doll~
02-26-2014, 02:15 PM
Fabulous news about Texas.
Pink Money is big business.
Vicious idiots in this world using a bill to discriminate in Arizona based on religion. Vicious and stupid. It just so happens they neglected to consider the mighty Pink Dollar. The LGBT community accounted for $790 billion in spending power in 2012 alone. If you're not familiar with Pink Money power, here is the article. I think Gov. Brewer will do the right thing.
Pink Dollar
Pink money describes the purchasing power of the gay community, often especially with respect to political donations. With the rise of the gay rights movement, pink money has gone from being a fringe or marginalized market to a thriving industry in many parts of the Western world such as the United States and United Kingdom.[1] Many businesses now specifically cater to gay customers, including nightclubs, shops, restaurants, and even taxicabs; the demand for these services stems from commonly perceived discrimination by traditional businesses. Worldwide in 1998, pink money was valued at £350 billion ($560 billion) across a variety of sectors — especially entertainment and consumer goods.[2] Purchasing power in 2012 in the United States is expected to increase to $790 billion[3]...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_money
The Girl Who Fought Her School's Antigay Actions (And Won)
This in the news today:
When Skye Wyatt, 21, was a high school student in Kilgore, Texas, she had a secret: She was a lesbian, and she had a girlfriend. Only 16, she hadn’t come out to her mom. So it was all the more painful when her softball coaches, who found out about the relationship (and were disdainful of it), took care of that for her. But in a surprise twist, their breach of trust led Wyatt’s mother, Barbara Wyatt, to sue the school for violating the girl’s right to privacy — and on Monday, six years later, the school settled for $77,000. National experts in LGBT rights are calling it a rare and encouraging outcome, with lawyer Jennifer Doan deeming it a “positive story” at the end of what was, for her client, “a horrific experience.”
The story continues:
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/the-girl-who-fought-her-school-s-anti-gay-actions--and-won--202756408.html
JUST ANNOUNCED: ARIZONA GOV. JAN BREWER HAS VETOED ANTIGAY BILL SB 1062
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed a hot-button measure that would have permitted businesses in the state to deny service to gay and lesbians for religious beliefs.
At a news conference at the state capitol just after 7:45 p.m. ET, Brewer said the bill "could result in unintended and negative consequences."
"I sincerely believe that Senate Bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve," Brewer said.
More from NBC News:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/arizona-bill-controversy/arizona-governor-jan-brewer-vetoes-anti-gay-bill-n39666 (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/arizona-bill-controversy/arizona-governor-jan-brewer-vetoes-anti-gay-bill-n39666)
CherylNYC
02-26-2014, 07:12 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/jan-brewer-vetoes_n_4854003.html
WASHINGTON -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced her decision to veto legislation on Wednesday that would have allowed businesses to legally refuse service to anyone on "religious freedom" grounds, effectively allowing them to discriminate against same-sex couples….
~baby~doll~
02-27-2014, 12:53 AM
Three cheers
Transcript: Ariz. governor Jan Brewer’s statement on vetoed bill
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/02/live-feed-ariz-governor-jan-brewer-speaks-on-religious-freedom-bill/
BREAKING: Ariz. governor Jan Brewer vetoes anti-gay religious freedom bill
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/02/brewer-sb1062/
Hillary Clinton lauds veto of Ariz. anti-gay religious freedom bill
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/02/hillary-clinton-lauds-veto-of-ariz-anti-gay-religious-freedom-bill/
~baby~doll~
02-27-2014, 12:55 AM
Mississippi lawmakers confused whether their own religious freedom bill is anti-gay
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/02/miss-lawmakers-confused-whether-their-own-religious-freedom-bill-is-anti-gay/
The LGBT fight is moving south and into red states. Anti-gay laws are in jeopardy everywhere in the US. Discrimination against LGBT is coming to an end.
You can make the laws to have us become acceptable but you can't change the heart of a bigot or make a person stop hating.
~baby~doll~
02-27-2014, 12:59 AM
US Eyes Push Against Anti-Gay Laws Worldwide
WASHINGTON February 27, 2014 (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-eyes-push-anti-gay-laws-worldwide-22688954
Troubled by an anti-gay movement in Uganda and across much of the world, the U.S. is launching a new effort to combat what Secretary of State John Kerry described Wednesday as a threat to human rights.
Comparing a harsh Uganda law to oppressive government crackdowns on German Jews in the 1930s and black South Africans during apartheid, Kerry said he was going to direct American ambassadors to look at "how we deal with this human rights challenge on a global basis." He said 80 nations worldwide have anti-gay laws on some levels, and he called the one in Uganda — which punishes gay sex with up to life in prison — "atrocious" and "flat out morally wrong."
"You could change the focus of this legislation to black or Jewish, and you could be in 1930s Germany, or you could be in 1950s or '60s apartheid South Africa," Kerry told reporters during a 55-minute question-and-answer session at the State Department. "It was wrong there, egregiously, in both places, and it is wrong here."
~baby~doll~
02-27-2014, 01:13 AM
Ohio lawmaker withdraws ‘religious freedom’ bill
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/02/ohio-lawmaker-withdraws-religious-freedom-bill/
Rep. Bill Patmon, a Cleveland Democrat who in December called his bill a “no-brainer” told Outlook yesterday that he was putting the bill on hold until it could be rewritten to erase concerns it might open the door to discrimination against LGBT people and others.
~baby~doll~
03-02-2014, 01:47 AM
Arizona
Tempe, Ariz., approves LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/03/tempe-ariz-approves-lgbt-inclusive-non-discrimination-ordinance/
TEMPE, Ariz. — The Tempe City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a city-wide ordinance prohibiting discrimination against gay and transgender individuals in employment, housing and public accommodations.
The 7-0 vote comes just one day after Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a “religious freedom” bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse service to gays and others, citing their religious beliefs.
“We are open for business,” said Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell. “We don’t discriminate. We’re a fabulous community and I think you see that over and over.”...
ProfPacker
03-02-2014, 07:11 AM
Secretary Kerry: hmmmm.... you forget to include the good old USA in your fight against human rghts. Because it is not replicate like Uganda, Germany, south Africa but implicit like k e Arizona, Kentucky, the New Jim Crow and THE ABSENCE OF FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY...take off your rose colored glasses
ProfPacker
03-08-2014, 02:39 PM
thought I try Blue is the Warmest Color and Netflix...really a man's picture and while I was watching this came on my fb feed and I thought it apt to post:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2575270/Why-I-loathe-lesbian-chic-Suddenly-rage-women-celebrities-kissing-public-How-cynically-phoney-says-JULIE-BINDEL-Its-titillating-men-make-money.html
LeftWriteFemme
03-15-2014, 08:30 AM
US reports rare case of woman-to-woman HIV transmission
http://news.yahoo.com/us-reports-rare-case-woman-woman-hiv-transmission-172613702.html
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/a0/ef/dc/a0efdc5372948d12abbc69d8fdbc475e.jpg
DapperButch
03-16-2014, 08:39 AM
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/a0/ef/dc/a0efdc5372948d12abbc69d8fdbc475e.jpg
Kobi, is there a story that goes along with this? Quickly perused that site and didn't see anything.
Kobi, is there a story that goes along with this? Quickly perused that site and didn't see anything.
Not really a story but here it is. (https://www.facebook.com/UniteWomen/photos/pb.302448176483395.-2207520000.1394989682./657266467668229/?type=3&theater)
Smiling
03-16-2014, 05:46 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/dad-killed-daughter-lesbian-lover-gay-mom-article-1.1722103
EnderD_503
03-17-2014, 05:13 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/dad-killed-daughter-lesbian-lover-gay-mom-article-1.1722103
Totally heartbreaking :( Looked like a really cute couple, too.
It sucks that people in the comments are fighting bigotry with more bigotry and turning the couple's murder into islamophobia, though.
HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Catholic schools office, which supervises three dozen Roman Catholic private schools in the state, has just approved a new contract that says teachers can be fired if they engage in homosexual activity or marry someone of the same sex. The contract goes on to list a wide array of actions and behaviors that would justify termination.
Among the other acts that could justify firing, according to the contract, are abortion, in vitro fertilization or "unmarried cohabitation."
“The school expressly reserves the right to terminate the employment of any Teacher, who by word or example, denies the teachings or authority of the Church, or whose personal life or conduct is, based on Catholic teaching, immoral,” says a portion of the contract that was obtained by Honolulu Civil Beat.
The contract, which is called the "Standard Teacher Employment Agreement," is for full- and part-time teachers who must sign it every year they work.
The contract explicitly says that "homosexual activity" and “same sex unions” are not permitted.
The contract is slated to go into effect for the 2014-15 school year.
Schools have not yet distributed the contracts to teachers, but the documents will apply to all teachers working in parochial schools operated by the Diocese of Honolulu, which covers the entire state. A few private Catholic schools are not parochial schools.
Michael Rockers, the superintendent of all Hawaii Roman Catholic schools, said the written provision is new but that the expectations outlined in it are not.
Rockers said Catholic schools are "ministries" where administrators have “the right and responsibility to ... support our teachers in their ministerial responsibilities as defined by Catholic doctrine.”
The superintendent explained that teachers “don’t have a final say in what the contract’s exact wording is.”
He said the ultimate goal is to provide positive role models for students and that if a teacher's homosexuality were made public it would negatively affect the children.
“We want to be authentic about what our moral teaching is,” he said. “We’re trying to be pastoral about this and centered on what’s best for the students.”
Rockers said the written provision was not a response to last year’s legalization of same-sex marriage in Hawaii.
The Legislature legalized same-sex marriage in Hawaii in a special session last November following weeks of heated testimony and passionate debates that exposed how divided the state was on the issue.
Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva has been vocal in his opposition to homosexuality, disseminating a three-page letter to Catholics last year that condoned discrimination against homosexuals who wanted to marry. One of his arguments against gay marriage is that it leads to youth suicides.
Civil Beat looked into that claim in a Fact Check and found it to be false.
Patrick Downes, spokesman for the Diocese of Honolulu, declined to comment on Thursday afternoon. He explained that he wasn’t even aware of the contract’s provision.
Catholic schools that aren’t subject to the contract include St. Louis and Sacred Hearts in Honolulu.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/28/hawaii-contract-gay-teachers_n_5046895.html
ust days after announcing that it was revising its handbook to allow the hiring of Christians who are in same-sex marriages, World Vision leaders said Wednesday that the organization had "failed to be consistent" with the Bible and had reversed its decision after a board meeting.
"The board acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman," said a statement signed World Vision President Richard Stearns and Jim Beré, Chairman of the World Vision U.S. Board.
World Vision, one of the largest international relief organizations, was both cheered by LGBT advocates and heavily criticized by conservative Christians when it announced its first change to allow married LGBT employees.
Reaction to its reversal played along similar lines.
"This whole situation has left me feeling frustrated, heartbroken, and lost. I don't think I've ever been more angry at the Church, particularly the evangelical culture in which I was raised and with which I for so long identified," wrote Rachel Held Evans, a popular blogger who had rallied her readers to donate to World Vision during the short period when it allowed married LGBT employees. "I confess I had not realized the true extent of the disdain evangelicals have for our LGBT people, nor had I expected World Vision to yield to that disdain by reversing its decision under pressure. Honestly, it feels like a betrayal from every side."
Meanwhile, Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who had loudly criticized the initially change in World Vision's policy, applauded the reversal.
"World Vision's right decision, as articulated in their board letter, conveys a spirit of Christlikeness and humility in tone and content," he tweeted. "World Vision has done the right thing. Now, let's all work for a holistic gospel presence, addressing both temporal and eternal needs."
World Vision's full statement is below.
Dear Friends,
Today, the World Vision U.S. board publicly reversed its recent decision to change our employment conduct policy. The board acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.
We are writing to you our trusted partners and Christian leaders who have come to us in the spirit of Matthew 18 to express your concern in love and conviction. You share our desire to come together in the Body of Christ around our mission to serve the poorest of the poor. We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness.
In our board's effort to unite around the church's shared mission to serve the poor in the name of Christ, we failed to be consistent with World Vision U.S.'s commitment to the traditional understanding of Biblical marriage and our own Statement of Faith, which says, "We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God." And we also failed to seek enough counsel from our own Christian partners. As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage.
We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority. We ask that you understand that this was never the board's intent. We are asking for your continued support. We commit to you that we will continue to listen to the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters, and we will reach out to key partners in the weeks ahead.
While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect.
Please know that World Vision continues to serve all people in our ministry around the world. We pray that you will continue to join with us in our mission to be "an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God."
Sincerely in Christ,
Richard Stearns, President
Jim Beré, Chairman of the World Vision U.S. Board
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/26/world-vision-reverses-gay-christian_n_5037689.html
Who has it? How do they wield it? Whom does it affect? Our ranking of the most influential LGBT voices in American culture.
http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/power-50/2014/04/15/8th-annual-power-50
dykeumentary
04-15-2014, 04:04 PM
Who has it? How do they wield it? Whom does it affect? Our ranking of the most influential LGBT voices in American culture.
http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/power-50/2014/04/15/8th-annual-power-50
Wow that's completely depressing.
Apparently the establishment has nothing to fear from "The A Gays".
Candelion
04-16-2014, 12:15 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/15/world/asia/india-gender-rights-ruling/
New Delhi (CNN) -- In a ruling that human rights groups are calling historic, India's Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the country's transsexual and transgender individuals the right to self-identify their gender.
The ruling means transsexual and transgender people and those who identify as belonging to the "third gender" will not be required to submit medical evidence of their sexuality to be recognized by the government as a member of that gender, said Tripti Tandon, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs.
A plea was filed before the Supreme Court by India's National Legal Services Authority in 2012 on behalf of the transsexual and "hijra," or third-gender, communities.
"The Supreme Court ruled that everyone has the fundamental right to have their gender identified and recognized in the law without any discrimination," Tandon said. "And it's self-identification of the gender as opposed to medically or surgically assigned one."
The high court also issued a series of guidelines to India's federal government and state administrations for enforcement of its orders, she added.
The ruling states that "gender identity is integral to the dignity of an individual and is at the core of 'personal autonomy' and 'self-determination.'"
Hijras, the ruling said, must be considered a third gender "over and above binary genders under our Constitution and the laws."
The ruling allows females to identify as males and males to identify as females, and no sex reassignment surgery is required for recognition of one's self-defined gender.
Human rights groups praised the ruling, but used the opportunity to push for changes in another law that criminalizes consensual homosexual relationships.
Tuesday's ruling has the potential to alter the lives of people who have suffered oppression, Amnesty International's program director in India, Shashikumar Velath, said in a statement.
But, he noted, the same Supreme Court has overturned a lower court's decision to decriminalize homosexual relationships. The law bans people from engaging in "carnal acts against the order of nature" and dates back to British colonial times.
The court's ruling on transgender, transsexual and third-gender people recognizes that their plight cannot be ignored, said Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
"It begins the process of re-establishing the important social role that third-gender people played in traditional Indian society," he said.
The mother of a gay 13-year-old Tehachapi student who hung himself in 2010 after being bullied at school has accepted a settlement with the Tehachapi Unified School District for $750,000.
Walsh's attorney, Daniel Rodriguez, called the decision to settle an attempt to provide "closure."
The settlement was reached in March before a scheduled pretrial hearing on April 7.
About two years after Seth's death, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 9, also known as Seth's Law, which requires, among other things, that school districts adopt policies prohibiting discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying based on actual or perceived characteristics.
In response to a civil rights complaint Walsh filed in 2010 that attracted national attention, U.S. Department of Education investigators found the district "did not adequately investigate or otherwise respond" to the bullying.
Walsh followed with a suit against Tehachapi Unified on July 5, 2011 for compensation for wrongful-death and punitive damages as well as medical expenses.
"The amount at which the case was settled reflects a concession by Mrs. Walsh," said Michael Kellar, the school district's lead attorney.
Kellar said the district offered the settlement because of its response to the bullying.
Rodriguez wrote in an email Tuesday that the Tehachapi district had planned to use "a technical defense" that a school district could never legally be held responsible for the death of a student by means of suicide.
Kellar, however, refuted that.
"There was a risk that the judge could have very well accepted that technical argument and given the school district a free pass in this case," Rodriguez wrote.
"In order to avoid that risk and to bring closure to the most painful thing a parent could ever endure, the death of a child, Wendy Walsh decided to settle and forego reliving the trauma in the courtroom."
Walsh agreed to the settlement that the K-12 district proposed through its insurance company -- the Self-insured Schools of California (SISC) -- and a federal notice of settlement was filed March 21.
Walsh said Tuesday through her attorney her child's death "was not in vain."
Seth's Law, went into effect July 1, 2012.
The Tehachapi Unified school board approved anti-harassment curriculum for its kindergarten through fifth-grade students by the end of July 2012, and the district later added a sixth- through 12th- grade curriculum.
Lisa Gilbert, the Tehachapi Unified superintendent, said the district now follows a strict protocol regarding bullying that requires staff members to report any incidents of bullying to an administrator within 24 hours. Administrators have a "stringent timeline" to investigate and respond.
Gilbert said depending on the incident, the school may conduct student meetings, witness interviews, mediation with parents and schedule changes to separate students.
Mary Graham, who has served as president of the Tehachapi Unified school board since before the 2010 suicide, said after Seth's death the school board wanted to enact preventative curriculum targeting the entire student body, and it did.
"Bullying is bullying, and it's wrong," she said. "Adults do it. Children do it. But it's still wrong."
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/local/grade/x489445370/Seth-Walsh-case-settled-for-750-000
http://lesbiannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/colorguard_0.jpg
After over four decades of pride parades, 150,000 spectators at the Capital Pride parade witnessed something never before seen – a US Armed Forces color guard marching alongside rainbow flags and following Dykes on Bikes.
It’s a first for the 39th annual Capital Pride parade on Saturday or any other pride parade in the US with a new contingent – a US Armed Forces color guard that presents the red, white and blue as well as flags of each branch of the military.
The eight-member color guard team from the US Army Military District of Washington led the parade through Dupont Circle and 17th Street and ending at 14th Street and S Street.
‘The Department of Defense has authorized what military gay rights groups and organizers of the Capital Pride parade say is a first nationwide,’ reports The Washington Post.
A statement on Capital Pride’s website reads: ‘We are very proud that for the first time ever in our country, the Department of Defense will participate in a Pride Parade. We will have an Armed Forces Color Guard present and retire the colors at the 2014 Capital Pride Parade. This is significant step forward for the community as a whole and particularly for those LGBT members of the armed forces.’
According to the Post, although all military installations throughout the US have their own color guards, they have reportedly rejected all previous requests to appear in LGBT pride parades citing scheduling conflicts. The report also noted that there isn’t any official policy against their participation in pride events since the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in 2011.
- See more at: http://lesbiannews.com/2014/06/09/prestigious-us-military-color-guard-makes-history-at-washington-dc-pride/#sthash.Ir9kUxhw.dpuf
dykeumentary
06-09-2014, 09:53 PM
http://lesbiannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/colorguard_0.jpg
After over four decades of pride parades, 150,000 spectators at the Capital Pride parade witnessed something never before seen – a US Armed Forces color guard marching alongside rainbow flags and following Dykes on Bikes.
It’s a first for the 39th annual Capital Pride parade on Saturday or any other pride parade in the US with a new contingent – a US Armed Forces color guard that presents the red, white and blue as well as flags of each branch of the military.
The eight-member color guard team from the US Army Military District of Washington led the parade through Dupont Circle and 17th Street and ending at 14th Street and S Street.
‘The Department of Defense has authorized what military gay rights groups and organizers of the Capital Pride parade say is a first nationwide,’ reports The Washington Post.
A statement on Capital Pride’s website reads: ‘We are very proud that for the first time ever in our country, the Department of Defense will participate in a Pride Parade. We will have an Armed Forces Color Guard present and retire the colors at the 2014 Capital Pride Parade. This is significant step forward for the community as a whole and particularly for those LGBT members of the armed forces.’
According to the Post, although all military installations throughout the US have their own color guards, they have reportedly rejected all previous requests to appear in LGBT pride parades citing scheduling conflicts. The report also noted that there isn’t any official policy against their participation in pride events since the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in 2011.
- See more at: http://lesbiannews.com/2014/06/09/prestigious-us-military-color-guard-makes-history-at-washington-dc-pride/#sthash.Ir9kUxhw.dpuf
*shudder*
I wish there were no national borders. I wish there was no military. I wish that events involving marginalized people didn't begin with a display of stsate sanctioned violence and weaponry and flags. (ok, the second thing in the parade)
Those are not the things that make me feel pride.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate for the first time confirmed an openly gay black man to become a top-level federal judge. By a 98-0 vote Tuesday, senators approved President Barack Obama's choice of Darrin Gayles to join a district court in Florida.
By 52-44, senators also endorsed Obama's pick of Staci Yandle, an openly gay black woman, to serve on a federal district court in Illinois. While that is not a first, the White House said that vote was a milestone because it brought to 112 the number of female federal judges appointed by Obama, more than any previous president.
In a third roll call, the Senate voted 92-4 to make Salvador Mendoza a federal district judge in Washington state. The White House said Obama has appointed the most Hispanics — 31 — to the federal bench of any president.
In a blog post, presidential counsel Neil Eggleston called it "a historic day for our judiciary."
"These milestones are important not because these judges will consider cases differently, but because a judiciary that better resembles our nation instills even greater confidence in our justice system" and serve as future role models, Eggleston said.
Appointments to top-tier federal judgeships — the Supreme Court, circuit courts of appeals and district courts — are lifetime.
http://news.yahoo.com/senate-oks-first-openly-gay-black-federal-judge-204906241--politics.html
With a vote on Thursday, the Presbyterian Church USA became the biggest Christian denomination in the country to allow its ministers to marry same-sex couples in states where those marriages are legal. Previously, ministers were allowed to bless same-sex unions, but not unions that were equivalent to a marriage.
The vote was 371-238 for the resolution, a huge change from the denomination's narrow defeat of a similar measure in 2012. The Presbyterian Church USA has just under 2 million members and more than 10,000 congregations. The church also voted to change its constitution's definition of a marriage to gender-neutral terms, although that has to be ratified by regional Presbyterian bodies, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explained.
The Presbyterian Church USA has lost about 10 percent of its membership over the past several years. Decades ago, many of the church's more conservative congregations left the larger organization for the Presbyterian Church in America. That organization condemns homosexuality as a sin, and prohibits ordination of women and openly gay members of the church. The Presbyterian Church USA voted in 2011 to allow openly-gay Presbyterians to become ordained ministers. That vote helped to grow the membership of its more conservative rival as more conservative PCUSA members defected.
The denomination is one of several mainline Christian organizations rethinking their stances on same-sex relationships. The United Methodist Church has been fiercely debating the denomination's prohibitions on same-sex marriage over the past several months, with a group of 80 pastors saying that the denomination could very well split over the issue. Although some Methodist members and clergy have pushed for years to reform the church's policy, the debate escalated when Frank Schaefer was found guilty of violating the church's laws when he officiated the same-sex marriage of his son. Schaefer will appeal that decision in a church hearing on Friday. The church has since shied away from trying new pastors who have officiated similar unions.
Pew Research had a good chart earlier this week detailing where many major denominations stand on same-sex marriage. It will now need a slight update:
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2014/06/Screen_Shot_2014_06_19_at_5.39.52_PM/5dff72a1c.png
http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/06/presbyterian-ministers-may-now-marry-same-sex-couples/373107/
DapperButch
06-20-2014, 06:03 AM
Growing up in the Presbyterian Church of America (the other Presbyterian denomination), this is of special interest to me. I wonder if they changed their doctrine? I am not sure how else they could have sanctioned this.
WASHINGTON — The federal government on Friday will extend a wide range of marriage benefits to same-sex couples, making good on a promise by President Obama after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act last year.
On Friday, the Department of Labor will clarify that federal employees will be able to take leave from their jobs to care for a same-sex spouse, something that has long been limited to heterosexual married couples.
After decades of blocking gay married couples from receiving the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts, most federal agencies are now treating married couples alike, regardless of gender.
The action is important, officials said, because of differences in how states treat same-sex marriage. Without the regulatory changes, gay couples could be blocked from receiving federal benefits in states that do not recognize their marriages. Same-sex marriage is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
“In almost all instances, federal benefits and obligations for same-sex married couples will be provided, regardless of where the couple lives,” a White House official said late Thursday before the agencies’ formal announcements.
The actions by the Labor Department extend the changes that have been made at other agencies.
Under the changes, same-sex spouses of Defense Department employees receive all the benefits of heterosexual husbands and wives. Federal immigration laws apply equally to gay and straight married couples. The Internal Revenue Service recognize the marriages of all gay couples. The spouses of gay federal employees get health insurance, life insurance and flexible spending accounts.
The action announced Friday is the latest example of Mr. Obama’s embrace of equality for same-sex couples following what he called his evolution on the issue. A politician who once opposed same-sex marriage, Mr. Obama said two years ago that his position had changed.
“At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama told Robin Roberts of ABC News in May 2012.
Since then, Mr. Obama has aggressively sided with advocates of same-sex marriage and other gay rights. His administration argued in the Supreme Court for the Defense of Marriage Act to be overturned, and his administration argued that the court should strike down Proposition 8, the California ban on same-sex marriage. He also eliminated the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members.
At a New York gala for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people on Tuesday, Mr. Obama hailed the rights that were extended to gays and lesbians in the last year, saying, “If we’re truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”
“This is a country where no matter who you are, or what you look like, or how you came up, or what your last name is, or who you love — if you work hard and you take responsibility, you should be able to make it,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s the story of America. That’s the story of this movement.”
While he was at the event, Mr. Obama announced that he had directed his staff to develop an executive order that would ban federal contractors from discriminating in hiring decisions on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And he vowed to keep pressuring Congress to pass a law that would extend those protections to all workers.
Officials said that a small number of provisions in federal law explicitly prohibit the government from providing benefits to same-sex couples. The officials said the president would call on Congress to pass legislation to change those provisions.
At the gala, Mr. Obama criticized Congress for failing to act on a broader anti-discrimination law to protect workers in all industries.
“This seems to be a pattern these days,” he said. “Everybody has just given up so much on Congress that we end up doing something through executive order. And that’s helpful, but it doesn’t reach everybody that needs to be reached. Congress needs to start working again, so let’s make sure that we keep the pressure up there.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/us/politics/obama-to-extend-array-of-marriage-benefits-to-gay-couples.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=PO_OTE_20140618&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2
LGBTQ rights, particularly marriage equality, have made incredible advances over the past year. But, like other great human rights struggles, organized opponents are working hard to contain and undermine movement gains.
Many in the LGBTQ community may be unaware of the Religious Right’s strategy to undermine civil rights gains by establishing ever-larger exemptions from state and federal laws. But in a landmark decision focused on employers’ responsibility for contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court has given the Right’s efforts a big boost—with potentially far-reaching implications.
While they’ll seldom admit it in public, leaders of the Religious Right understand there has been a cultural sea change regarding homosexuality. Marriage equality and workplace non-discrimination are on course to become the law of the land.
Faced with this reality, Religious Right legal groups like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly known as Alliance Defense Fund) have been working hard on a back-door strategy to limit the reach of court and legislative wins for the LGBTQ community.
Despite existing protections and exemptions for religious institutions, the Religious Right is now seeking to expand the range of institutions and individuals that can claim religious exemptions to laws that protect our constitutional rights.
As a result of this week’s Hobby Lobby ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, a for-profit corporation has, for the first time in U.S. history, been endowed with the right to discriminate on the basis of religious convictions, throwing open the door for an expanded wave of attacks on LGBTQ people, including on marriage equality.
But the Right’s attacks are not just coming via the courts. We are also seeing conservative state legislatures advancing legislation that would carve out exemptions for “sincerely held religious beliefs.” These exemptions could be used to legalize, and institutionalize, discrimination against both LGBTQ employees and consumers.
Both the Hobby Lobby decision and legislation proposed in a number of states (passed in Mississippi) argue that “sincerely held religious belief” should trump state and federal laws—including long-established civil rights laws.
Earlier this year, the national LGBTQ community erupted in protest (rightly so) when conservative legislators in Arizona passed SB 1062, the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which would have allowed private business owners to refuse services to LGBTQ customers on the basis of the owners’ religious beliefs.
Thanks in no small part to the enormous response of the LGBTQ community, the Act was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer. Just one month later, however, the Mississippi legislature passed a nearly identical bill, which was quickly signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant.
But mainstream LGBTQ organizations made no similar showings in the course of the Hobby Lobby v. Burwell decision.
In Hobby Lobby, the owners of a private, for-profit, national craft store chain successfully won an exemption from a preventive health care provision within the Affordable Care Act, which requires that employee’s health insurance include coverage for birth control methods such as morning-after pills and intrauterine devices, claiming that doing so violated their company’s religious liberty.
Religious liberty is a foundational principle in our democracy, yet it is being eroded, manipulated, and redefined by the Right. Allowing businesses the right to discriminate against employees and customers according to their owners’ religious beliefs effectively transforms the Framers’ shield against religious tyranny into a sword institutions can wield to impose religious dictates on individuals in the marketplace.
The Hobby Lobby decision focused on contraceptive issues, and there’s a lesson in that for the LGBTQ community. Religious “conscience clauses” in many states entitle doctors and pharmacists to refuse to offer reproductive health services they object to.
For decades, the Religious Right has been whittling away at the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which decriminalized abortion. As a result, while Roe still stands, women do not have anything close to the access to abortion care that is needed. This is due, in large part, to the Right’s long-term strategy to erode access in the name of “abortion reduction”—in case it was unable to overturn Roe. This strategy has worked shockingly well.
Exemptions can beget exemptions. It takes no stretch of the imagination to envision dozens of lawsuits seeking to build upon the Hobby Lobby ruling and to foresee legislation pushing the boundaries of what classifies as permissible bigotry. A generation of litigation, testing the breadth and depth of the corporate exemption, has just begun.
If corporations are able to pick and choose which civil rights laws will apply to them, the rights of all Americans are at risk, not just LGBTQ rights or sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The Mississippi law (which will almost certainly be challenged in federal court), is much more direct in applying the standard of “sincerely held religious belief” to legalize overt discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Indeed, it seems likely that the Supreme Court will soon be asked to decide whether “sincerely held religious belief” allows business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ customers and employees.
The implications of this campaign are clear. If corporations enjoy exemptions from federal laws in the name of religious freedom, the rest of us may be forced to choose between our livelihoods and our consciences.
If a business owner happens to believe God demands women always be subservient to men, could the company legally be allowed to deny women managerial positions?
As Justice Ginsberg noted in her dissent of the Hobby Lobby ruling, could businesses owned by Scientologists deny health care coverage for antidepressants? Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in whole-blood products; even if you don’t happen to share that faith, could your boss nevertheless deny you coverage for surgeries?
There are dozens of conservative-dominated state legislatures around the country that might add religious liberty exemptions to state laws—and perhaps even their state constitutions—specifically to ensure that even if the LGBTQ community wins the protections it deserves, many businesses and individuals will be under no obligation to honor those legal protections.
Such proposals are already being floated in Utah, Idaho, Georgia, and beyond.
The Religious Right has cast itself in the role of heroic defender of religious liberty. But we are not fooled.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/hobby-lobby-decision-is-a-threat-to-lgbtq-civil-rights-gains/#.U7QQ-8flKzU.facebook
John Oliver celebrates recent LGBT rights milestones in the United States before covering oppressive anti-gay laws in Uganda. (Also, the US involvement in inspiring and funding those laws.) Ugandan LGBTI rights advocate Pepe Julian Onziema sits down with John to discuss the situation in his home country.
G2W41pvvZs0#t=983
"We have absolutely nothing in common with gay men," says Eda, a young lesbian, "so I have no idea why we are lumped in together."
Not everyone agrees. Since the late 1980s, lesbians and gay men have been treated almost as one generic group. In recent years, other sexual minorities and preferences have joined them.
The term LGBT, representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, has been in widespread use since the early 1990s. Recent additions - queer, "questioning" and intersex - have seen the term expand to LGBTQQI in many places. But do lesbians and gay men, let alone the others on the list, share the same issues, values and goals?
Anthony Lorenzo, a young gay journalist, says the list has become so long, "We've had to start using Sanskrit because we've run out of letters."
Bisexuals have argued that they are disliked and mistrusted by both straight and gay people. Trans people say they should be included because they experience hatred and discrimination, and thereby are campaigning along similar lines as the gay community for equality.
But what about those who wish to add asexual to the pot? Are asexual people facing the same category of discrimination. And "polyamorous"? Would it end at LGBTQQIAP?
There is scepticism from some activists. Paul Burston, long-time gay rights campaigner, suggests that one could even take a longer formulation and add NQBHTHOWTB (Not Queer But Happy To Help Out When They're Busy). Or it could be shortened to GLW (Gay, Lesbian or Whatever).
An event in Canada is currently advertising itself as an "annual festival of LGBTTIQQ2SA culture and human rights", with LGBTTIQQ2SA representing "a broad array of identities such as, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, two-spirited, and allies". Two-spirited is a term used by Native Americans to describe more than one gender identity.
Gay men and lesbians have always faced different challenges.
Until 1967 consenting sex between men, of any age, was criminalised in the UK. Following decriminalisation, prejudice prevailed, with police entrapment operations to seek out men "cottaging" - having sex in public toilets and parks - creating fear and insecurity.
Very interesting continuation of article. Historical perspective is great. (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28130472)
Allison W
07-03-2014, 05:34 PM
that article asking whether gay men and lesbians should be bracketed together
A complicated issue, to be sure, but I honestly believe that Ms. Power is correct that political cooperation between gay men and lesbians on sexual orientation issues is useful.
I halfway disagree that it's an entirely separate issue from sexism, because I honestly believe it (along with transphobia and lots of other shit, hence the LGBT coalition) largely flows from the same patriarchal well, even if lesbians are in a position to see it far more clearly than gay men do. (Sadly, too many gay men seem to think they can join the patriarchy, when hatred of gay men frequently stems from the belief that gay men are womanlike, and the belief that this makes them a failure of masculinity that needs to be punished lest manhood be "degraded.")
NEWBERG, Ore. — The U.S. Department of Education has granted a Christian university a religious exemption from federal anti-discrimination laws after a transgender student filed a discrimination complaint because the school would not allowing him to live in the men’s dormitories.
PQ Monthly reports that George Fox University obtained the exemption in its effort to deny the student, Jayce Marcus, a place in the campus’ single-sex residence halls on the basis that it is a “Christ-centered community.”
Portland attorney Paul Southwick filed a Title IX discrimination complaint with the DOE in early April on behalf of Marcus, a junior at the Christian university in Newberg, Ore., who has medically, socially, and legally transitioned.
Southwick said the DOE closed Marcus’ complaint earlier this week, granting George Fox an unusually speedy “religious exemption.”
Exemptions historically take years to get, according to Southwick, but George Fox received theirs in just a few months. He says the school applied for the exemption “in secret” while still negotiating the housing dispute with Marcus, and “a mere four days before Jayce filed his complaint” with the DOE.
Title IX, passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. In 2010, the DOE issued guidance clarifying that Title IX also protects LGBT students from sex discrimination, which would apply to complaints such as Marcus.’
But the law also includes a broad exemption for educational institutions which are “controlled by a religious organization.”
School officials said their Christian theology makes it necessary for their residential facilities to be single gender.
The exemption comes only weeks following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, which many LGBT rights advocates fear will be used by religious organizations to discriminate against LGBT people.
“This is worse than Hobby Lobby because George Fox is largely funded by taxpayer money,” says Southwick, who added that he believes George Fox “is the first Christian college to ask the federal government for a permission slip to discriminate against transgender students.”
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/christian-university-gets-religious-exemption-to-deny-transgender-student-housing/
Geez, I didn't even know this thread was here. Talk about head in the sand. :blink:
*subscribing and going back to read through*
Thank you Kobi!
Less than 3 percent of U.S. adults identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to the first large-scale government survey measuring Americans’ sexual orientation.
The National Health Interview Survey, released Tuesday by U.S. Centers for Disease Control, found that 1.6 percent of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent consider themselves bisexual.
An additional 1.1 percent declined to answer, responded “I don’t know the answer” or said they were “something else.”
The survey, conducted in 2013, included nearly 35,000 adults and is the federal government’s premier tool for annually assessing Americans’ health and behaviors.
The latest report marks the first time since the survey began in 1957 that it has included a measure of sexual orientation. The survey did not ask about gender identity, due to the much larger sample size needed to gain an accurate assessment of transgender Americans.
But the survey does offers insight through the lens of sexual orientation on measures critical to public health, such as smoking, drinking and health insurance status.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/large-scale-government-health-survey-reports-on-gay-bisexual-americans/
See the actual report here. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf)
-------------------------------------------
Not being a math/statistics person, I'm not sure one can say this was a "large" sample or even a statistically significant one. The sample size was less than 35,000 people to represent the reality of the 318,449,914+ people in the USA. Some math/stats/research person needs to weigh in on this.
It was fun to find the US and World population clock tho. (http://www.census.gov/popclock/)
MINNEAPOLIS — Major League Baseball has appointed former outfielder Billy Bean, who came out as gay after his playing career, to serve as a consultant in guiding the sport toward greater inclusion and equality.
Commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement Tuesday before the All-Star game.
Joining Bean and Selig at a news conference was Lutha Burke, the sister of Glenn Burke, who was the first MLB player to come out as gay after retiring. Burke died in 1995.
Bean will provide guidance and training related to efforts designed to support the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community throughout baseball. He’ll work with players and front office personnel through the major and minor leagues.
Bean played for Detroit, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego over parts of six seasons and hit .226. He dedicated his autobiography to Burke.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/07/major-league-baseball-appoints-billy-bean-consultant-for-inclusion-equality/
---------------------------------------
They mean well. Hopefully he is part of a team of diverse people working on this project. One white gay guy can not possibly know and represent all the complexities involved under the diversity umbrella.
MsTinkerbelly
08-28-2014, 09:10 AM
Yesterday the California Assembly passed bill AB2501 by a 50-10 margin, and it is now headed to Gov. Brown for signature.
California is the first state to say that "gay panic" is not a lawful excuse for killing someone.
I have a super hard time reposting from my ipad, so if you want to read the full story, go to LGBTQNation.com for the details.
The Wyoming State Historical Society will honor a controversial book about Matthew Shepard that claims he was killed in a drug deal gone wrong instead of the conventional belief that he was killed because he was gay – a move that’s raising some eyebrows.
“The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard,” by Stephen Jimenez, an investigative journalist who is openly gay, will receive an honorable mention in the nonfiction book category at a luncheon in Gillette on Saturday, said Linda Fabian, the Wyoming State Historical Society’s executive secretary.
“If the award was for a fictional book, I certainly would have no objection to it,” said Albany County Undersheriff Robert DeBree, who was the lead investigator in the 1998 murder of Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student.
Rick Ewig, president of the state historical society, said the nonprofit organization’s goal is to promote study of Wyoming’s history. Shepard’s murder is part of the state’s history.
The book’s publisher nominated the book, he said.
“It doesn’t mean we accept the interpretation of that book,” he said, noting that the historical society has been open to the more conventional belief that the murder was a hate crime, too.
Tom Rea, editor of Wyohistory.org, a project of the historical society, has published two accounts of Shepard’s murder written by Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which was established by Shepard’s parents.
One account is a description of the events in Shepard’s murder. The other is a more personal take on the murder.
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson both received life sentences for murdering Shepard, who was 21 at the time of his death.
After meeting at a bar and possibly indicating they were gay, the two men drove Shepard outside Laramie, punched and pistol-whipped him, tied him to a cattle fence and left him unconscious. They took Shepard’s wallet, identification and shoes.
In his police confession, McKinney described Shepard in unflattering gay terms.
But “The Book of Matt” claims that McKinney believed Shepard could lead him to a delivery of $10,000 in methamphetamine that he could steal from Shepard. Outside town, McKinney lost control, the book claims.
The book criticizes the media for mythologizing the motives.
Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley, who investigated the murder in 1998, said Jimenez’s book should have been called “The Book of Lies.”
“Those of us who actually lived the situation know what is fact and what is fiction,” he said. “In my opinion, this ‘work’ is fiction with a few factual innuendos thrown in.”
Marsden, the director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, didn’t respond to the news of the state historical society award. But he said the book is an attempt to rewrite history based on untrustworthy sources, factual errors and rumors.
He said the foundation doesn’t react to “innuendo, rumor or conspiracy theories.”
“Instead we remain committed to honoring Matthew’s memory, and refuse to be intimidated by those who seek to tarnish it,” he added.
Jimenez continues to defend his book, which will be released in paperback Sept. 16, the same day as an international edition is published in England, Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan.
Jimenez wrote a new 20-page afterword with new sources who have corroborated the claims made in the book, he said.
The book started with a piece he did for ABC's "20/20" that won two awards. He continued reporting after the piece aired in 2004, and he said he learned more about the drug connection.
On Friday, he said he was traveling to Gillette with his partner to accept the award.
“The fact that this has been labeled as anti-gay is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I have been out since the 1970s.”
Former Albany County Attorney Cal Rerucha, now the Carbon County attorney, said the book is correct. The case Rerucha said he tried was felony murder and the motive was robbery.
He remains adamant that Shepard's death wasn't a hate crime.
"If methamphetamine wouldn’t be in this case, we wouldn’t have had a murder,” he said.
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/dc35c885-31c5-59c1-8345-140f2917a217.html
DapperButch
09-07-2014, 07:47 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/06/martina-navratilova-proposes-girlfriend_n_5778050.html
Awesome!
ProfPacker
09-07-2014, 08:56 PM
I miss Martina in the Tennis arena
DapperButch
09-07-2014, 09:17 PM
I miss Martina in the Tennis arena
Me too. Used to love to watch her and Chrissie.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/78/91/44/78914472bf066b30f51c221ad86c8ff6.jpg
The "How I Met Your Mother" star and his actor-chef groom, David Burtka, were married Saturday in Italy. They'd been dating for 10 years and are parents to 3-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper. The grooms wore custom Tom Ford tuxedos and Elton John performed at the reception.
"Yup, we put the 'n' and 'd' in 'husband,'" Harris tweeted Monday. His publicist later confirmed the news.
Harris, 41, just won a Tony Award for his role in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." He has been in several Broadway productions, including "Assassins," ''Proof" and as the exuberant master of ceremonies in "Cabaret."
Burtka, 39, played Tulsa in the Bernadette Peters-led revival of "Gypsy," was seen off-Broadway in "The Play About the Baby" and is also a chef.
"How I Met Your Mother" producer Pam Fryman officiated at the wedding.
http://news.yahoo.com/neil-patrick-harris-gets-married-italy-174924690.html
Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage
The public is evenly divided over whether businesses that provide wedding services, like catering or flowers, should be required to provide services to same-sex couples despite religious objections to same-sex marriage. Half (49%) say that wedding-related businesses should be required to provide services to same-sex couples just as they would to all other customers, while 47% say that these businesses should be allowed to refuse services to same-sex couples for religious reasons.
More men than women say that businesses should be allowed to refuse services for same-sex weddings for religious reasons (52% vs. 42%), and whites (52%) are more likely than either blacks (36%) or Hispanics (35%) to say the same. There is also a large generation gap on this issue. Most Americans ages 65 and older (60%) say that wedding-related businesses should be able to decline to provide services for same-sex weddings, while most adults under the age of 30 (62%) take the opposite view, saying that businesses should be required to provide services for same-sex weddings. Those between the ages of 30 and 64 are evenly divided on this question.
Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants express the strongest support for allowing businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings (71%). At the other end of the spectrum, majorities of Hispanic Catholics (64%) and the religiously unaffiliated (61%) say businesses should be required to provide wedding services for same-sex couples, as do 59% of black Protestants. White Catholics and white mainline Protestants are more evenly split on this question.
Is Homosexual Behavior Sinful?
The survey also finds a close link between views of whether homosexual behavior is a sin and requiring businesses to provide services for same-sex weddings. Among those who say homosexual behavior is a sin, six-in-ten say that businesses should not be required to provide services for same-sex weddings. But among those who say homosexual behavior is not a sin, two-thirds say businesses should be required to service same-sex weddings.
The number of people who view homosexual behavior as sinful has ticked up in the past year, from 45% in 2013 to 50% in the current poll.
The view that homosexual behavior is sinful is most common among white evangelical Protestants (82%) and black Protestants (77%). By contrast, nearly three-quarters of religious “nones” (72%) say that homosexual behavior is not sinful. White mainline Protestants and Catholics are more evenly divided about whether homosexual behavior is sinful.
Views on Same-Sex Marriage
The current poll finds 49% of the public expressing support for same-sex marriage and 41% expressing opposition. Three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants oppose same-sex marriage. By contrast, three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated support allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. There is also more support than opposition to same-sex marriage among Catholics and white mainline Protestants.
Support for same-sex marriage in the current poll is on par with Pew Research polls conducted in 2013, when 50% expressed support for same-sex marriage and 43% registered opposition, but down slightly from a February 2014 Pew Research poll that found 54% support for same-sex marriage. It is too early to know whether this is an anomaly or the beginning of a reversal or leveling off of the growth in support for same-sex marriage widely observed in polls over the past decade.
http://www.pewforum.org/2014/09/22/section-3-social-political-issues/
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Television has increased and improved its depiction of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters, with the edge going to cable and the Internet over broadcast networks, according to a study released Wednesday.
Networks are promoting understanding of gay lives with some of the most inclusive programs yet, but should "strive to include significant transgender content," Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement.
Transgender characters are featured on cable and Internet fare such as the online series "Orange Is the New Black" from Netflix and "Transparent" from Amazon, the media advocacy group said.
In this year's Emmy Award nominations, "Orange Is the New Black" co-star Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender actress to receive a nod.
The overall on-screen progress comes as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has made social and political strides that include legalization of same-sex marriage in some U.S. states and the end of a military ban on openly gay service members, GLAAD said.
In the 2014-15 season, GLAAD's study found that 3.9 percent of 813 characters regularly seen on prime-time network scripted series will be lesbian, gay or bisexual, a total of 32 characters.
That represents an increase over last year's 3.3 percent, but is down from the 4.4 percent record high for LGBT depictions on network series in 2012.
Among the networks, Fox again emerged with the highest percentage of lesbian, gay or bisexual regular characters, 6.5 percent, with "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Glee" among the programs contributing to the tally. ABC, which had tied with Fox for first last year at 5.4 percent, dropped to 4.5 percent.
NBC is at 3.8 percent, up a point from last year, while CBS' shows had 3.2 percent gay, lesbian or bisexual characters, up 1.9 percent from last season. The CW has no regular LGBT characters, GLAAD said.
Among cable TV shows, there were 64 regular LGBT characters, up from 42 last season. HBO has the most characters, followed by ABC Family and Showtime. One transgender character, on ABC Family's "The Fosters," was found by the study.
GLAAD also studied other aspects of diversity on network TV and found it wanting.
Despite several new high-profile broadcast series starring women, including Alfre Woodward as the U.S. president in NBC's "State of Affairs" and Tea Leoni as secretary of state in CBS' "Madam Secretary," the percentage of female characters has declined to 40 percent, down 3 points from last year.
Ethnic characters on network shows make up 27 percent of the total, compared with 23 percent last season, with 1.4 percent depicted as people with disabilities, a slight increase from 1 percent in 2013, GLAAD found.
http://news.yahoo.com/glaad-study-gay-depictions-increase-tv-110204433.html
MsTinkerbelly
10-01-2014, 09:33 AM
Yesterday the California Assembly passed bill AB2501 by a 50-10 margin, and it is now headed to Gov. Brown for signature.
California is the first state to say that "gay panic" is not a lawful excuse for killing someone.
I have a super hard time reposting from my ipad, so if you want to read the full story, go to LGBTQNation.com for the details.
Governor Brown signed this Bill ino law this week!
A Twitter engineer and transgender activist on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors as part of a plea deal in connection with rape charges involving her wife.
Dana McCallum, who was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of rape and served four days in County Jail, pleaded guilty in San Francisco Superior Court to one count of domestic violence and one count of false imprisonment.
As part of the deal, which included dropping the felony rape charge, McCallum will be on probation for three years and must attend substance abuse counseling for 52 weeks.
McCallum would not comment outside the Hall of Justice after her plea, but her wife read a victim’s statement in court.
“We are a long way from being blushing brides in 2007 and a long way from nine months ago,” began the statement. “Both events seem like yesterday. I still love you as much as I did on our wedding day, truth be told. As I remember that day and the awful hours of that night in January, it’s so painful to reconcile these two experiences. It’s so painful to reconcile these two experiences.”
She went on to say, “I want you to know how difficult this was to report. I didn’t think anyone would believe me, as is often the case with rape victims. …I never anticipated that hitting your bottom would hurt me or my family.”
The statement also said McCallum had betrayed the LGBT community, which itself failed to support a victim who only received public support from hate groups.
A restraining order remains in place and divorce proceedings between the two continue.
McCallum's first lawyer said the victim accused McCallum of rape in an attempt to get more money as part of their divorce settlement. McCallum was set to cash in on substantial Twitter stock and the lawyer implied that the victim was motivated by monetary gains. But under California law, assets like stock are to be split equally.
McCallum, 31, who was born a male, openly identifies as a female and her legal name is Dana Contreras. She was charged Jan. 29 with five felonies, including three counts of spousal rape, one count of false imprisonment and one count of domestic violence, according to the District Attorney's Office. McCallum initially pleaded not guilty to those charges.
McCallum is well-known in the tech world and writes for several online publications. Model View Culture, for which she wrote about transgender people and women in tech in January 2013, contains a profile that reads, "Dana McCallum has been working in software engineering and engineering leadership since 2000. As an advocate for women in technology and the LGBT community, Dana helped create advocacy teams at Twitter and other companies, served as a delegate on women's issues in India, and speaks regularly at events focused on women and LGBT people in tech."
A December story in Business Insider listed McCallum as one of the most important gay people in the tech world.
"Dana McCallum, a senior engineer at Twitter, is one of the geniuses behind Twitter. As a transgender woman, McCallum has previously said that she finds Twitter a great place to work when it comes to being LGBT-friendly," the publication noted.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/transgender-womens-rights-advocate-and-prominent-twitter-engineer-charged-with-rape/Content?oid=2761316
----------------------------------
Any violent act toward women is disturbing. This is more disturbing for the overall facts involved.
1. The perpetrator in this case is being held up as a LGBT activist who frequently speaks to womens issues and rights, and women in technology.
The perpetrator has also spoken to the issue of rape albeit in an odd way i.e.
“If our main goal is to protect women from getting raped, then not only should we be educating young men on what constitutes rape but we also should be educating young women on the type of behaviors that make them blinking lights that scream Victimize Me,” the story reads. Link (http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/transgender-people-most-often-victims-of-sexual-assault-despite-recent-charges-against-sf-woman/Content?oid=2773852)
Rape is about one exercising their power over another. It is about one thinking they have the right or privilege to do as they please to another person. Babies, children, adults, senior citizens, animals and such are raped.
Saying any of these groups make themselves out to be "blinking lights that scream victimize me" is very offensive to women. It also demonstrates a basic lack of knowledge of womens issues.
The victim is never responsible for or the cause of the behavior of the rapist.
2. The victim has received little, if any support from their own community. In the radical community, it appears the general feeling is one cannot easily support the victim without being accused of a "cultural bias against transpersons" or being labeled transphobic.
That is a terrible reason to not support a victim. It also represents a cultural bias against women standing up for other women. And, it seeks to silence women from addressing issues which affect women.
3. There is confusion as to how to label this. Is it lesbian violence? Is it woman-woman violence? Is it male-female violence? I dont the answer to that one. I do know women, statistically, are not known for perpetuating violence. Male violence against women is well known and statistically disturbing. The male mentality of entitlement and solving problems with violence is well known and well documented.
4. The "media" has tried to circumvent the issue by using this case to write about sexual violence against transpersons. Statistics are produced in such a way to give one pause. Except, there is the noticeable omission of the mention of who is perpetrating this sexual violence - men.
5. Most disturbing to me, personally, is the need to keep portraying this perpetrator, who pleaded quilty, as a "spokesperson" for womens issues or one who has done so much for women in tech.
Their behavior is simply misogynistic and it needs to be called what it is. Women do not need spokespeople who exhibit and demonstrate a hatred toward those they are professing to stand up for. And, we certainly, do not need a spokesperson who speaks to womens issues from an androcentric mindset.
*Anya*
10-30-2014, 08:50 AM
Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out: 'I'm proud to be gay'
By Chris Isidore @CNNTech October 30, 2014: 8:08 AM ET
Apple CEO Tim Cook came out Thursday, acknowledging publicly for the first time that he is gay.
"Let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," he wrote in a column in Bloomberg Businessweek.
In his column, the Apple (AAPL, Tech30) chief said that he had tried to maintain "a basic level of privacy." But he said he decided that desire for privacy was stopping him from working for the benefit of others.
"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he said. "So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy."
Cook, who grew up in Alabama, said he has long been open about his sexual orientation, but had just not previously discussed it publicly.
"Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I'm gay, and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the way they treat me," he wrote. "Of course, I've had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people's differences. Not everyone is so lucky."
There have been some rumors and speculation that Cook is gay. Out magazine had previously named him as the most powerful gay person on its Power 50 list.
But there are no other publicly gay CEO's at the 700 largest corporations. John Browne served as CEO of BP (BP) from 1995 to 2007, and acknowledged he was gay after he was forced to leave office. He resigned when an former boyfriend outed him. He has since written a book "The Glass Closet: Why Coming Out is Good Business."
http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/30/technology/tim-cook-gay/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Jesse
01-13-2015, 05:50 PM
Family: Lakewood church refuses funeral service because woman was gay
By Jesse Paul
The Denver Post (jpaul@denverpost.com?subject=The%20Denver%20Post: )
A Lakewood minister refused to hold a memorial service on Saturday for a mother of two at his church because the woman was gay, family and friends said Tuesday."Her casket was open, flowers laid out and hundreds of people sitting in the pews," supporters said in a Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/events/786527678087866/?pnref=story). "He collected money for the funeral and has yet to return it."
Vanessa Collier was 33 when she died on Dec. 29, leaving behind her wife and children.
"You will not find Jesus at New Hope but you will find hypocrisy," said a sign carried at a demonstration outside the church Tuesday by about four dozen family members and friends.
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2015/0113/20150113__funeralprogram%7Ep1_200.jpg (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=6525867 )A copy of the program for Vanessa Collier's funeral. (Jesse Paul, The Denver Post)
"Indignity in death," read another placard.
Security guards were stationed in front of the church.
"Give us an apology!" protesters chanted.
Family members said the church pastor ordered them to remove from the church a photo of Collier kissing her wife.
Friends and family said they had to move the memorial service across the street to a funeral home on Saturday. Pallbearers moved the casket to a Hearse and drove it across the street, while others carried flowers they had brought to the church.
"A church turning away a funeral. Who has ever heard of anything like that happening?" said Jeanette Arguello, a family friend.
A representative for New Hope Ministries, where the pastor, Ray Chavez, is based, declined to comment before hanging up on a Denver Post reporter.
A biography on the church website says Chavez founded the church in 1981 with his wife, Lola. It says the church "is a place where those bound by drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence can find an 'Ounce of Hope.'"
David Campanella, area manager for Newcomer Funeral Home, said they handled all of the funeral services for Collier's family. At the last minute the ceremony for Collier was moved from the New Hope Ministry church to the funeral home.
"Certain events were not going to be allowed to take place according to the church," Campanella said. "In talking with family we decided it would be best to have the services here."
"If the story is true, it truly is appalling that a family would have to go through this," said Rex Fuller, a spokesman for the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Colorado. "It's just a really tragic situation."
Friends said Collier's death was "unexpected," and they said family members did not want to discuss the cause. Thornton police are investigating Collier's death as a possible suicide, said spokesman Matt Barnes.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
Staff writer Jordan Steffen contributed to this report.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27312180/family-lakewood-church-refuses-funeral-service-because-woman
randrum
01-31-2015, 02:49 PM
I came across an interesting article yesterday on the NPR Blog. Thought I would share with everyone.
The article gives some history on gender identity in the 1800s and provides accounts of "female husbands".
http://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/01/29/382230187/-female-husbands-in-the-19th-century
MsTinkerbelly
03-03-2015, 10:30 AM
In disturbing news.....
There is an Attorney here in Orange County California, who has filed for an initiative to criminalize homosexuality, and have all gays killed.
It only takes 365,000 valid signatures to put something up for vote in California, and i imagine he will get the signatures pretty easily.
It really amazes me at times just how much we are hated by people who are supposed to love God and their fellow man.
*Anya*
03-03-2015, 12:10 PM
In disturbing news.....
There is an Attorney here in Orange County California, who has filed for an initiative to criminalize homosexuality, and have all gays killed.
It only takes 365,000 valid signatures to put something up for vote in California, and i imagine he will get the signatures pretty easily.
It really amazes me at times just how much we are hated by people who are supposed to love God and their fellow man.
Hi Ms. T. Do you have the link to that article please?
Thanks much.
:)
MsTinkerbelly
03-03-2015, 12:31 PM
Hi Ms. T. Do you have the link to that article please?
Thanks much.
:)
I can't link, but if you go to the LGBTQnation.com site you can read it there.:bunchflowers:
*Anya*
03-03-2015, 03:26 PM
Hi Ms. T. Do you have the link to that article please?
Thanks much.
:)
I can't link, but if you go to the LGBTQnation.com site you can read it there.:bunchflowers:
Unable to find it there but found another link if anyone else wants to read about it.
Yuck.
:(
http://sdgln.com/news/2015/03/02/oc-lawyer-wants-kill-all-gays-california-according-initaitive-goal#sthash.Qx17s0ku.dpbs
Gemme
03-05-2015, 07:51 AM
In disturbing news.....
There is an Attorney here in Orange County California, who has filed for an initiative to criminalize homosexuality, and have all gays killed.
It only takes 365,000 valid signatures to put something up for vote in California, and i imagine he will get the signatures pretty easily.
It really amazes me at times just how much we are hated by people who are supposed to love God and their fellow man.
Riiiight??? What happened to 'don't judge lest ye be judged'?
Same book, different verse.
MsTinkerbelly
03-12-2015, 02:57 PM
Unable to find it there but found another link if anyone else wants to read about it.
Yuck.
:(
http://sdgln.com/news/2015/03/02/oc-lawyer-wants-kill-all-gays-california-according-initaitive-goal#sthash.Qx17s0ku.dpbs
The Attorney has withdrawn his petition, and the California Bar is looking at disbarrment under the ethics clause.
Allison W
03-12-2015, 06:59 PM
Unable to find it there but found another link if anyone else wants to read about it.
Yuck.
:(
http://sdgln.com/news/2015/03/02/oc-lawyer-wants-kill-all-gays-california-according-initaitive-goal#sthash.Qx17s0ku.dpbs
I see in the comments one Sharon Birzer already doxxed his punk ass. I can only hope that this information is being used for its good and proper purpose of making sure he can't bloody sleep through the night without getting woken up by sass.
A SETTLING DOWN
In the years since 2004, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that same-sex marriages were protected by the state constitution, the number of gay marriages has tapered off and stabilized.
Between 2005 - after the initial crush of gay marriages - and 2013, the number of same-sex marriages has averaged nearly 2,200 each year out of the more than 35,000 weddings between opposite-sex couples that the state averaged each year during the same period. That means about 6 percent of the state's marriages each year are between same-sex couples.
Perhaps the starkest revelation in the statistics in Massachusetts is the dramatic difference between the number of marriages involving two women compared with the number of marriages involving two men.
Between 2004 and 2013, there have been nearly 16,000 weddings of two women in Massachusetts, compared with about 9,900 involving two men.
Marriage (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE_MASSACHUSETTS?SITE=HIHIO)
MsTinkerbelly
06-23-2015, 05:11 PM
A Superior Court Judge in Sacramento, California, offically shot down the "kill the gays" ballot inititive proposed by a California Lawyer.
Had the Judge not ruled the proposed inititive as "unconstitutional and a complete waste of time", Attorney General Kamala Harris would have been forced to allow it to go through the signature gathering process.:blink:
MsTinkerbelly
06-23-2015, 07:40 PM
New york has finally granted Landmark status to the Stonewall Inn.:rainbowAfro:
ProfPacker
06-23-2015, 09:48 PM
New york has finally granted Landmark status to the Stonewall Inn.:rainbowAfro:
Yes, finally...yay Chirlane Mccray, the first lady of NYC
MsTinkerbelly
07-08-2015, 08:36 AM
The Oregon Legislature, is the first to pass a bill to hire a coordinator to assist veterans with "less than honorable" discharges due to sexual orientation, to get them changed to honorable.
The bill now goes to the desk of the Governor for signature.
The full story can be found at LBGTQnation.com
MsTinkerbelly
07-17-2015, 01:07 AM
The EEOC ruled today that gay men and women are protected in the workplace by the 1964 Civil Rights Act!
The government is working on expanding those protections, as individual states are trying to keep discrimination on the books.
The story is on LGBTQnation.com
puddin'
07-24-2015, 04:11 PM
http://www.afterellen.com/people/444075-lesbian-abundance-2015?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lesbian-abundance-2015
puddin'
07-27-2015, 03:14 PM
http://www.wbtv.com/story/29269176/jpd-officer-injured-in-crash-to-be-released-from-hospital?clienttype=generic
:|
Jesse
07-27-2015, 06:31 PM
Boy Scouts vote to allow gay scout leaders. The vote had a 79% approval.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-scouts-america-allow-gay-scout-leaders-n399241?cid=eml_nbn_20150727
Utah judge orders baby taken away from married lesbian foster parents
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/12/utah-judge-orders-baby-taken-away-from-lesbian-foster-parents
Update:
Utah authorities fight judge’s order to remove baby from lesbian foster parents
Utah state officials have announced they will fight a judge’s order that a baby girl be taken away from her married lesbian foster parents and placed with a heterosexual couple.
Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services said on Thursday that it would go to an appeals court if state juvenile Judge Scott Johansen did not rescind his decision.
The state agency said the judge went against its recommendation that the baby should stay with April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, a married couple in Price, Utah.
In his decision Johansen claimed research had shown children did better when raised by heterosexual families.
Utah’s Republican governor, Gary Herbert, said on Thursday that the judge should apply the law rather than his personal beliefs. Herbert said he was puzzled by the ruling , which shocked rights groups and prompted a tweet from the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that being a good parent “has nothing to do with sexual orientation – thousands of families prove that”.
Herbert said: “He may not like the law, but he should follow the law. We don’t want to have activism on the bench in any way, shape or form.”
Herbert added that the judge should not “inject his own personal beliefs and feelings in superseding the law”.
The judge’s order calls for the baby girl the couple has been raising for three months to be taken away within a week.
April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce said the judge claimed that research showed children did better when raised by heterosexual couples. A Utah courts spokeswoman, Nancy Volmer, said judicial rules mean Johansen could not discuss the case.
Hoagland said: “We’ve been told to care for this child like a mother would, and I am her mother, I mean that’s who she knows.
“And she’s just going to be taken away in seven days, to another probably good, loving home, but it’s just, it’s not fair, and it’s not right and it just hurts me really badly.”
The ruling came during a routine hearing for Hoagland and Peirce. They are part of a group of same-sex married couples who were allowed to become foster parents in Utah after the recent US supreme court ruling that made gay marriage legal across the country, said a spokeswoman for the state’s family services agency, Ashley Sumner.
“We are shattered,” Hoagland told the Salt Lake City television station KUTV. “It hurts me really badly because I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Peirce added: “He’s never been in our home, never spent time with the child in our home or our other children so he doesn’t know anything about this.”
A full transcript of the ruling has not been made public, and may not be because court records of cases involving foster children were kept private to protect the children, Sumner said.
Sumner said she could not speak to specifics of the case but confirmed that the couple’s account of the ruling is accurate – the judge’s decision was based on the couple being lesbians. The agency was not aware of any issues with their parenting, she said.
Hoagland and Peirce had passed background checks, interviews and home inspections.
The couple said they had planned to adopt the infant with her birth mother’s blessing. Their family already includes Peirce’s biological children, aged 12 and 14.
Peirce told the Salt Lake City Tribune that the childcare agency and a court-appointed representative for the child also supported the couple, “so the only thing standing in the way is the judge”.
The judge’s ruling prompted a heated response from the Human Rights Campaign, which called it “outrageous, shocking and unjust”.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/utah-authorities-fight-judges-order-to-remove-baby-from-lesbian-foster-parents/
*Anya*
12-07-2015, 07:19 AM
Monday 07 December 2015
Gay refugees placed in separate accommodation after attacks December 4, 2015
Five gay asylum seekers in Amsterdam have been moved to a new location after they were spat on and attacked by other people in their refugee centre, the Parool says on Friday. The five – three from Syria, one from Iran and one from Iraq – have been moved to a house owned by housing corporation Rochdale. Junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff said earlier he did not support separate accommodation for gay refugees because it was ‘stigmatising’.
A spokesman for the Salvation Army, which is in charge of refugee accommodation in the capital, said the men’s safety could not be guaranteed in their former housing. ‘They often don’t dare to leave their rooms,’ Philip Tijsma from gay rights lobby group COC told the Parool. In October, two other asylum seekers were rehoused after problems at a refugee centre in the district of Zuidoost. This weekend, four other gay men will move to a house in Rotterdam.
The Parool said that at the beginning of next year gay refugees will have their own wing in the Groenhof refugee centre in a former care home close to the city centre. ‘LGBTs are extra vulnerable and I consider it crucial that they have a safe environment to recover and receive care,’ city alderman Simone Kukenheim said. Share Share Share Tweet Share
Read more at DutchNews.nl: Gay refugees placed in separate accommodation after attacks http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/12/gay-refugees-placed-in-separate-accommodation-after-attacks/
DapperButch
02-02-2016, 07:33 PM
Huffington Post changed their Gay Voices page to Queer Voices!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-gay-voices-changed-name-huffpost-queer-voices_us_56a78f78e4b0172c659422f9?ip4uc8fr
(Reuters) - The Tennessee House passed a bill on Wednesday allowing mental health counselors to refuse service to patients on religious grounds, the latest in a list of U.S. state measures that gay rights activists have criticized as discriminating against the LGBT community.
A vote by the state House of Representatives protects therapists and counselors from civil lawsuits and criminal action if they deny services to clients whose religious beliefs conflict with their own.
The bill passed by a 68-22 vote and sent to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature. The state Senate passed the bill earlier this year.
Supporters of the bill say it protects the rights of counselors who object on religious grounds to the adopted code of ethics of the American Counseling Association. But opponents say it is an attempt to deny service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, a vulnerable population often in need of counseling services.
The House bill, which was sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Howell, is one of many that are being challenged by human rights organizations claiming the legislation is anti-LGBT.
The Tennessee Equality Project, which supports gay rights, condemned the House passage of the bill even though it does not specifically refer to the LGBT issue. The group called on the governor to veto the legislation.
Haslam told Nashville Public Radio he has not decided whether to sign or veto the counseling legislation, but he was considering the impact it may have on the state and its citizens.
"They (state lawmakers) need to obviously always vote their conscience," he told the radio station. "One of the things, though, that we should be mindful of is, is there a broader impact?"
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tennessee-bill-allow-counselors-deny-based-religion-230311839--finance.html
*Anya*
04-27-2016, 03:34 PM
Cops force lesbian to leave ladies’ toilet after refusing to believe she’s a woman
A lesbian is forcibly removed from a ladies’ toilet by police who don’t believe she’s a woman in jaw-dropping footage.
In the video, an unidentified woman can be seen in a standoff with the cops, as she tries to convince them that she’s female.
Her friends intervene and try to reassure the officers she’s a girl, but they insist on seeing identification if she wants to stay.
And when she declines their demand, they manhandle her out of the toilet, calling her “sir” and ignoring her pals as they shout “she’s a girl”.
Eventually police tell her friends “you can all leave if you want” causing them to reply that they will before the video ends.
Blogger Tamara McDaniel, who shared the footage on Facebook, said the police were punishing the woman’s dress sense.
She also made reference to new legislation targeting the transgender community passed in the American state of North Carolina.
The new rules require transgender people to use only those public toilets that correspond to the gender given on their birth certificates.
Viewers implied the new law was the reason the police were asking the girl for identification and heaped scorn on them for enforcing the rules.
Tamara wrote: “A lesbian was harassed and forced to leave a public restroom because the police insist she's a man. Is this what ‘Make America Great Again’ means?
“This makes me very sad and I want no part of this irrational fear. I mean, can't you think of a 1,000 ways these laws will be used as an excuse to harass, humiliate, and arrest people?”
Since the video was posted online last week it has caused a storm of outrage, being watched more than two million times and generating over four thousand comments.
Claire Wilson wrote: “Absolutely disgraceful. It's bad enough that a woman is ejected from a women's restroom because she's not wearing ‘women's clothes’.
“But isn't it a bit ridiculous that they sent men in there to get her? Doesn't sending two men in just exacerbate the discomfort of the idiot that reported her?”
Liz Wendler added: “This seriously made my heart race with anger. Thank you to the other women there who were vouching for this woman. If only the government would show the same solidarity!”
President Barack Obama last week insisted transgender British tourists would be treated with “extraordinary hospitality” during a press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/511147/Lesbian-forced-to-leave-women-bathroom-police-refuse-to-believe-she-is-woman-female-
Jesse
05-04-2016, 10:23 AM
U.S. Supreme Court Supports Rights of Gay Parent, Overturns Alabama Ruling
By Mark Sherman and Phillip Lucas | Associated Press on March 7, 2016 3:10 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Alabama’s top court went too far when it tried to upend a lesbian mother’s adoption of her partner’s children. equalvoice_logo
The justices threw out a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court in a dispute between two women whose long-term relationship ended bitterly.
“I have been my children’s mother in every way for their whole lives. I thought that adopting them meant that we would be able to be together always,” the noncustodial parent known in court documents by the initials V.L. said in a statement issued by her attorney. “When the Alabama court said my adoption was invalid and I wasn’t their mother, I didn’t think I could go on. The Supreme Court has done what’s right for my family.”
Before their breakup, one partner bore three children; the other formally adopted them in Georgia. The Alabama residents went to Georgia because they had been told Atlanta-area courts would be more receptive than judges in Alabama. The Georgia court granted the adoption in 2007.
Alabama courts got involved when the birth mother tried to prevent her former partner from regular visits with the children. The two women had been together for about 16 years.
The Alabama Supreme Court sided with the birth mother in refusing to recognize the other woman as a parent and declaring the adoption invalid under Georgia law. Alabama justices ruled that the Georgia adoption law didn’t allow a “non-spouse to adopt a child without first terminating the parental rights of the current parents.”
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily set aside the Alabama decision as the justices decided whether to hear the woman’s appeal. The issue was whether the actions of one state’s courts must be respected by another’s.
On Monday, the justices said in an unsigned opinion that “the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit.”
National Center for Lesbian Rights Family Law Director Cathy Sakimura, one of several attorneys who represented V.L., called the court’s decision a victory for thousands of families.
“No adoptive parent or child should have to face the uncertainty and loss of being separated years after their adoption just because another state’s court disagrees with the law that was applied in their adoption,” she said.
Judith Schaeffer, vice president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling reaffirms family’s rights and the Alabama court ignored the Constitution in the case.
“In fact, the Alabama court’s ruling was so contrary to the Constitution that the Supreme Court did not even need briefing and oral argument to reverse it,” Schaeffer said in a statement.
The case illustrated legal challenges facing gay and lesbian parents even after the Supreme Court issued a ruling last June that effectively legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.
“Any attempt to deny legal rights to our families is reprehensible, and this ruling establishes that bias and discrimination cannot be allowed to undermine the bond between LGBT parents and their children,” Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said in a statement, adding that the ruling sets a firm precedent for other courts.
“These children have two parents, and should have the security that comes with legal recognition,” Warbelow said.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
http://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/u-s-supreme-court-supports-rights-of-gay-parent-overturns-alabama-ruling/
Ireland's governing Fine Gael party elected Leo Varadkar as its new leader on Friday, choosing the gay, 38-year-old son of an Indian immigrant to succeed Enda Kenny as prime minister in a striking sign of the country's rapid social change.
Varadkar overcame ministerial colleague Simon Coveney as expected, winning an overwhelming majority among the centre-right party's lawmakers who hope the straight-talking Dubliner can lead them to third successive term for the first time.
Bar an unexpected development, Varadkar will be voted in as prime minister when parliament next sits on June 13 and become the once-staunchly Catholic country's first openly gay premier and the youngest person ever to hold the office.
"If my election today shows anything, it is that prejudice has no hold in this Republic," Varadkar said to huge applause in a speech at Dublin's Mansion House, where Ireland's parliament first sat almost a century ago.
"I know when my father travelled 5,000 miles to build a new home in Ireland, I doubt that he ever dreamed that one day his son would grow up to be its leader and despite his differences, his son would be judged by his actions not his identity.
"Every proud parent in Ireland today can dream big dreams for their children," Varadkar said.
His election marks another chapter in the social change that has swept through the country of 4.6 million people that only decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 but became the first country to adopt gay marriage via a popular vote in 2015.
It also shows another face of modern-day Ireland. Varadkar's father Ashok, who like his son is a doctor, was born in Mumbai in India. He met his wife Miriam, an Irish nurse, in England in the 1970s before moving to Ireland where Varadkar was born.
The generational shift from Kenny, 66, who led the party for 15 years and has been prime minister since 2011, will likely be matched with Varadkar's cabinet choices. Paschal Donohoe, 42, is expected to be promoted to finance minister, replacing the retiring Michael Noonan.
Varadkar's opponents, who hope his blunt style will prove a liability rather than an asset to Fine Gael, were quick to claim that the current social protection minister -- who recently led a campaign against "welfare cheats" -- would move the government to the right.
"Leo Varadkar is a Tory. Fine Gael will be dragged even further to right under his leadership and that can only mean further hardship for ordinary people," Gerry Adams, president of the left-wing Sinn Fein opposition party said in a statement.
"CUT AND RUN?"
Supporters, on the other hand, excitedly compare their new leader to charismatic Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and new French President Emmanuel Macron, anticipating a rebound from last year's disappointing election where they only returned to power as the senior party in a fragile minority government.
Fine Gael has already received a bounce, regaining its standing as the most popular party in most opinion polls and Varadkar has pledged to hit the ground running with promises of increased infrastructure spending and further income tax cuts.
However, despite inheriting the fastest-growing economy in Europe, he will have less room to boost spending and cut taxes in his first budget than Kenny enjoyed in each of his last two as Ireland seeks its first balanced budget in a decade.
He will also face the diplomatic and economic challenge of Brexit, which is set to impact neighbouring Ireland more than any other European Union country due to its close trading links with Britain and land border with British-run Northern Ireland.
The constraints of minority rule, where Fine Gael relies on the backing of rival Fianna Fail on key votes, could also act as a brake on his ambitions, and while Varadkar has ruled out an early election, analysts are alive to the possibility.
"Having Leo Varadkar at the helm in the next election probably sets Fine Gael up better than under Enda Kenny, I think that's a safe bet but everyone watching Irish politics knows this is to all extents and purposes a zombie government," said David Farrell, politics professor at University College Dublin.
"I think the fact that he will be so tightly constrained would suggest that on balance going for an early election may be best for him. Cut and run during a honeymoon, on his terms, might be the way to go."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ireland-politics-idUKKBN18T2HY?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+ Content&utm_content=5931e10f04d30147c5af74f6&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
*Anya*
06-12-2017, 07:48 PM
49 of our people murdered in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
:aslpeacelove:
Kätzchen
12-09-2024, 09:54 AM
We’ve had several bars in the Portland metro area over the years that have closed for good and one of them is “Crush” which has been in business for more than 20 years. It’s down on Morrison, by the Morrison Street Bridge in the Central Eastside business district.
Here’s a link to the news article about the bar closing down for good and the beautiful pictures of a favorite bar to visit and hang out with ‘family’.
LINK: https://pdx.eater.com/2024/12/2/24311544/portland-oregon-bar-closings-barmageddon-crush-bar
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTBxO5J1SUfdz4_uuVP3JphXE8qnSbwP nIP8g&s
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