American "Family Research Council" Nonprofit
 

"Family Research Council head Tony Perkins sent out this tweet Monday praising Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni for embracing criminalization of homosexuality. Museveni was once a highly regarded resistance fighter turned statesman, but now appears to be another president for life."



http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election...anti-gay-push/

Obama Nominates Hispanic Lesbian for Federal Judgeship
If confirmed by the Senate, Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro would be the first out gay Hispanic woman to serve on the federal bench.

BY Julie Bolcer.November 27 2012 12:17 PM ET


http://www.advocate.com/society/law/...wlZM14.twitter

Another Latina in Leadership
 

I generally don't read Fox News but I found this story when reading about immigration reform from a policy list I subscribe to. The story is not about immigration reform.

I wish it was good news but it is not. I am posting it because I want others to be aware of some of the women in this world, not just in the USA, that are making a difference.

__________________________________________________

Mexican Mayor Maria Santos Gorrostieta Killed by Gunmen was Defiant to the End

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/new...#ixzz2Dj9T62UP

Sun, there has been information from the Southern Poverty Law Center posted in the threads. There was a Femme, and I cannot remember her name because she has not been around in awhile. She use to bring stuff from the SPLC into the discussions here in the threads.

* FYI: Go check out the Hate Map and click on your state. You will see the groups that SPLC consider Hate Groups. California leads the list with 84 groups identified. Unbelievable! :|


http://www.splcenter.org/



http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map

The Media In The 21st Century
 

I am usually not quite sure where to post some of the stuff I post. I do not want to start an entire thread for discussing the media unless people really want to talk about it.

I read a lot of "stuff." I usually do ask the questions, Who wrote this? Who is the audience? What site, did this piece originate from? Until very recently I was unaware of some of the work the United Nations is doing in regards to "equitable Media Representation.

I came upon this site of videos of called "Journeys of Belonging" and was moved and of course got the old analytical wheels turning. This video addresses many of the same concerns we discuss here on the site; gender, class, race, sexuality, religion. I want to share some links with the community. You may be interested in reading.

__________________________________________________ ____




Journeys of Belonging is an original multimedia project that takes an in-depth look at the personal narratives of 17 women and men of diverse age, faith and cultural backgrounds. It has been jointly developed by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the British Council, the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Reynolds Institute.

http://journeysofbelonging.org/



About the British Council

The British Council is the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in over 100 countries in the arts, education, society and English. The Our Shared Future project, based in the US, aims to improve the public conversation about Muslims and intercultural relations in the US and Europe. Our Shared Future is supported in large part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa

http://www.oursharedfuture.org




About the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

The United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions. It also helps to counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism. The UNAOC was established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations.


http://www.unaoc.org

Ivy League or State University?
 

College Approves BDSM Group

By Nathalie R. Miraval, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Published: Thursday, November 29, 2012



http://www.thecrimson.com/article/20...club-approved/

West Point Hosts First Same-Sex Marriages
 

West Point Military Academy has made history by hosting the institution's first same-sex marriages.

The 210-year-old Academy hosted the nuptials of Brenda "Sue" Fulton, a 53-year-old West Point graduate, and Penelope Gnesin, 52, at the Academy's Cadet Chapel on Dec. 1. "It was such a sacred, joyous day," Fulton told CNN.

The chapel was the first place Fulton heard the Cadet Prayer – which includes the line, "make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong" – and it resonated with her.

"As both Penny and I worked to support LGBT military people, those principles were always in front of us," Fulton said. "To be able to celebrate this with so many of our straight and gay military folks, bi and trans, was really overwhelming."

Prior to Fulton and Gnesin's ceremony, Army 1st Lt Ellen Schick and Shannon Simpson wed in West Point's original Old Cadet Chapel on Nov. 24.

"Ellen is very proud to serve her country and wanted a military wedding," Simpson told OutServe Magazine. "We felt that we should be allowed the same opportunity to marry on a military post as any heterosexual military couple."

http://www.people.com/people/article...ntent=My+Yahoo

Certainly the "Wedding Industry" awaits the Supreme Court hearing Prop 8, but more importantly are the tens of thousands of couples who are waiting. The more that I see how the "sanctity of marriage" is turned into such a farce by so many "straight" people who do nothing to honor the institution, the more eager I am to see marriage equality across the nation.


Gay Couples and Wedding Industry Await Supreme Court Ruling on Proposition 8

Bisexual
 

Patterns and Predictors of Disclosure of Sexual Orientation to Healthcare Providers among Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals

By Laura E. Durso & Illan H. Meyer
December 2012

New research shows that bisexual men and women are less likely than gay men and lesbians to disclose their sexual orientation to healthcare providers. The study, which examined nondisclosure of sexual orientation among lesbians, gay men and bisexual men and women, found that concealment of sexual orientation from healthcare providers was related to poor psychological wellbeing.

Public health professionals recommend that lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB) disclose their sexual orientation to healthcare personnel to facilitate optimal care. The study found that LGB individuals with greater internalized homophobia were less likely to disclose their sexual orientation to healthcare providers than individuals with lesser internalized homophobia. LGB individuals who were connected to the LGBT community were more likely to share their orientation with providers than those with lesser connection to the community. Expectations of rejection and discrimination and past experiences with everyday discrimination did not predict disclosure to health care providers.
The study was conducted in New York City among 396 LGB individuals. Nondisclosure was higher among bisexual men of whom 39% did not disclose to any medical provider and bisexual women of whom 33% did not disclose to any medical provider. Disclosure was much more prevalent among gay men and lesbians among whom only 13% and 10%, respectively, did not disclose their sexual orientation to any medical provider. Among lesbians, greater nondisclosure was found among racial/ethnic minorities, women with lower educational level, and women with children. Among both gay and bisexual men, greater nondisclosure was found among younger men and men who were born outside the U.S.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and is published in Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

Click here for the full study.


http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.ed...srsp-dec-2012/

International
The lottery of life
Where to be born in 2013

Nov 21st 2012 | from The World In 2013 print edition

Warren Buffett, probably the world’s most successful investor, has said that anything good that happened to him could be traced back to the fact that he was born in the right country, the United States, at the right time (1930). A quarter of a century ago, when The World in 1988 light-heartedly ranked 50 countries according to where would be the best place to be born in 1988, America indeed came top. But which country will be the best for a baby born in 2013?

Best places to be born (from The Economist):
1. Switzerland
2. Australia
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Denmark
6. Singapore
7. New Zealand
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Hong Kong

*The USA tied with Germany for 16th place.

http://www.economist.com/news/215664...3-lottery-life

The hospital said in a statement: "We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital.

"She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20645838

Arwen, I completely agree with you. In fact I was trying to figure out how and where to start a thread to talk about Media, Reality TV and such. I want to know what other people are thinking. Do any of us take any responsibility for the TV programs we watch, media we read, buy? Does this seemingly cultural obession with celebrity and observing the lives of others, (Reality TV, Radio DJs with morning shows that do the "pranks." Thank you Howard Stern.)

What is the role of the consumer and the media? Have we had enough yet?

Victory for lesbian, years after her longtime partner's death

Here's the story of the Lesbian couple whose love brought one of the most important cases of our lifetime to the Supreme Court.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/18/us/new...html?hpt=hp_t2

We saw this on TV last night. It is very exciting to see this happening. I heard one person say they believe the outcome will be giving the individual states the right to decide. If this is the case I wonder how that can or will effect SS benefits. Seeing that is a federal run program I don't see how any state could keep you from getting this at all.

US Government Plans To Install Sophisticated Audio Surveillance On Public Buses

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-plans-audio-surveillance-on-buses-2012-12

"Documents obtained by The Daily reveal that the technology is in the process of being implemented in Eugene, Ore.; San Francisco; Athens, Ga.; Baltimore; Traverse City, Mich.; Hartford, Conn.; and Columbus, Ohio.

In San Francisco the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided a grant that covers a $5.9 million contract to install the surveillance system on 357 buses and trolley cars over four years, with an option for 613 more vehicles."

just putting the finishing touches on the panopticon - it's for your own good. (insert evil laugh here)

the part that's saddest is that there are people who think those cameras will keep them from being harmed

Do you think this is mad science?
 

There is some research that says masculine females are created in the womb. The fetus gets a big testosterone dose and bingo you have a butch. Can't remember where I read that, but I first heard it in the mid 90's I think.

That little excerpt doesn't tell me enough to make any kind of opinion on it.

the actual article and a press release.....I'm trying to digest it...

download the pdf to get the actual paper:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/668167#abstract

a couple more articles about the paper:

http://io9.com/5967426/scientists-co...?post=55106590

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-sfe120612.php

I also am trying to digest it, and trying to fully understand what an epi-mark is?

I have always believed that I was born gay due to inheriting a gene from my fathers side of the family, and I still believe that. I have a very unique situation, and I think scientists should study my family!

I was born to a gay father and a straight mother. I also was born a twin, me being gay and my sister being straight. If you look at my sister and I, I have all of the characteristics of my fathers side of the family (gay, personality, looks, body type). My twin sister has all of the characteristics of my mothers side (straight, hair, body type, personality) she even looks exactly like my mom's sister to a T. We are fraternal as well, so we share different genes.

And, I'm a high femme lesbian... No masculine traits here which doesn't fit into the epi-marks being erased during fetal development and allowing too much testosterone into the mix.

It just seems too perfect of a situation for it not to be inherited.

I am going to research more about this epi-mark.

Too much testosterone? If exposure to testosterone in the womb actually does create butches, then too much is never enough.

I too am a twin. We are identical twins. My twin is a femme and very feminine in her presentation. I have always been butch and expressed as masculine. We are both Queer. My sister is attracted to butchs and I am attracted to femmes.

I do believe most Queer people are "born this way" and others become gay due to other factors that are not found in our DNA.

I am not a twin but born to a gay Father and straight Mother !

Interesting!!! :)

It was only a matter of time...
 

AFA's Bryan Fischer declares homosexuality a birth defect, forecasts the abortion of gay babies

by Chrislove Dec 12, 2012 5:52pm PST

After reaching many, many new lows throughout his long and sick career as American Family Association spokesbigot, Bryan Fischer seems to be furiously trying to find yet a new low.

This time, his mouth is foaming over a new study which suggests there may be an "epigenetic" explanation for homosexuality. The study links fathers to lesbian daughters and mothers to gay sons. In case you missed the story, here's the gist from US News:

Long thought to have some sort of hereditary link, a group of scientists suggested Tuesday that homosexuality is linked to epi-marks — extra layers of information that control how certain genes are expressed. These epi-marks are usually, but not always, "erased" between generations. In homosexuals, these epi-marks aren't erased — they're passed from father-to-daughter or mother-to-son, explains William Rice, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California Santa Barbara and lead author of the study.
[...]

Rice and his team created a mathematical model that explains why homosexuality is passed through epi-marks, not genetics. Evolutionarily speaking, if homosexuality was solely a genetic trait, scientists would expect the trait to eventually disappear because homosexuals wouldn't be expected to reproduce. But because these epi-marks provide an evolutionary advantage for the parents of homosexuals: They protect fathers of homosexuals from underexposure to testosterone and mothers of homosexuals from overexposure to testosterone while they are in gestation.

"These epi-marks protect fathers and mothers from excess or underexposure to testosterone — when they carry over to opposite-sex offspring, it can cause the masculinization of females or the feminization of males," Rice says, which can lead to a child becoming gay. Rice notes that these markers are "highly variable" and that only strong epi-marks will result in a homosexual offspring.

This study has launched Fischer into rabid-dog mode. For a man who has built an anti-gay career on the notion that homosexuality is a "lifestyle choice," he seems quite eager to accept the new study. Of course, he is also eager to distort it and to assign the label of "birth defect" to homosexuality. See, it's a disease after all! Of course, he's full of shit, and that's not what the researchers are trying to get across at all, but don't tell that to Fischer, who is just positively thrilled about the notion that gay people have some kind of defect.
Writing for the AFA's website, Fischer takes it a step further and explains how this "birth defect" he's so obviously excited about could lead parents to choose abortion to avoid having gay children.

The scientists in Koebler’s article, in my view, are now resorting to genetic subterfuge and are coming dangerously close to saying that homosexuality is the result of a genetic defect, a genetic abnormality. In other words, read from one angle, these same scientists are saying that homosexuality is the result of a birth defect.
[...]

Now these researchers are quite at pains to avoid saying anything like this, but the logic to me seems inescapable: Homosexual children, on this theory, are born evolutionarily and genetically disadvantaged. They have been overexposed or underexposed to testosterone because something has gone wrong in the process of genetic transmission. In other words, they are the product of a genetic abnormality at best, a birth defect at worst.

...I expect many abortion-minded parents will want to know exactly how strong this epi-marker is in their unborn children so they can decide whether or not to exercise reproductive choice.

In fact, I expect that if this theory gains some currency, it will not be long before we have legislation from the homoexual lobby prohibiting “sex-selection” abortions on any child carrying this epi-marker.

He repeated these points on his radio show today. You can just hear the excitement in his voice at the idea that gay people are defective and could possibly be aborted by prospective parents.

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/...-of-gay-babies

Epigenetics is a fascinating field of study in evolution.

As to the phenomemon of queerness, they are postulating that:

~ sex-specific epi-marks passed from father to daughter or mother to son could cause homosexuality

~genes hold the instructions, epi-marks direct how those instructions are carried out – when, where and how much a gene is expressed during development. Epi-marks are usually produced anew each generation, but recent evidence demonstrates that they sometimes carry over between generations

~this usually happens in response to spikes in testosterone — sex-specific epi-marks formed in early fetal development activate to protect the fetus from the testosterone surge. Otherwise, the high testosterone could cause female fetuses to ‘masculinze’ or vice versa for male fetuses.

~different epi-marks protect different sex traits from being masculinized or feminized, some affect the genitals, others affect sexual identity and others affect sexual preference. But when epi-marks are transmitted from fathers to daughters or mothers to sons, they may cause reversed effects, such as the feminization of some traits in sons, such as sexual preference, and similarly a partial masculinization of daughters.

~the transmission of sex-specific epi-marks between generations is the most plausible evolutionary mechanism of the phenomenon of human homosexuality


Theories are only as good as the thoughts behind them, and how those thoughts influence conclusions.

Seems to me, the thought behind this science is deeply rooted in stereotypical assumptions about queers i.e. gay females are masculinized and gay males are feminized.

The science could also be said to be steeped in the patriarchy. It is all testosterone based. Lord knows we have all been taught and socialized to believe ALL revolves around testosterone. Now, they are just looking for the bio-genetic proof.

On the other hand, as a feminist, it was also intriguing to see a defective testosterone process being targeted as the causal factor in this process :cheesy:

However, I am sure it is just a matter of time before it will all link back to Adam, Eve, and that freakin apple.

Not exactly breaking news in the traditional sense, but a butch-femme couple is on the front page of this morning's New York Times!

https://www.nytsyn.com/images/photos/873604.html

The epi-marks might well explain a bit on how and why transsexuals and transgender people come about, as well. I don't know for certain, of course, if the theories of how we happen are accurate. I just have to deal with the results, in my life.

Oh, I love this so much!! Makes me teary!

In other news: how do epi-marks explain femmes??!!

Doesn't really explain us does it?

Yeah and Long Overdue!!!
 

Loud Commercials and the CALM Act

Effective December 13, 2012, the FCC's rules require television commercial advertisements to have the same average volume as the programs that they accompany. The FCC established these rules to comply with the directive of Congress contained in the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act (PDF).

What the New FCC Rules Do

The FCC's new rules require TV stations, cable operators, satellite TV operators and other pay TV providers to limit a commercial's average volume to that of the programming that it accompanies. A commercial may have louder and quieter moments, but, overall, it should be no louder than the surrounding programming. This may mean, however, that some commercials will comply with the new rules, but still sound "too loud" to some viewers.



http://www.fcc.gov/guides/program-ba...ud-commercials

North Carolina woman believes she was denied membership in military spouses’ group because she is a lesbian

Ashley Broadway, who wed after the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ believes her sexuality is why her request to join the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses met with ‘do not qualify.’ But another organization, The American Military Partner Association, has started a petition in her defense.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1218895

Did anyone else notice that they're riding the Q train?

Where do they get these judges???

Hope I am posting the entire, correct link for you. It can be hit/miss sometimes using this cellular.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...ngeles_gallery