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Old 02-06-2018, 04:42 PM   #121
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Elderly lesbian told she would ‘burn in hell’ by fellow care home resident Jimmy McCloskey

Tuesday 6 Feb 2018 2:09 pm




Marsha Wetzel said she has been slapped and taunted since moving to the Glen St. Andrews Living Community in Niles, Il, with staff ignoring her pleas for help.

The widow, who moved there when her partner Judy Kahn died of colon cancer three years ago, has now launched a ground-breaking lawsuit against the home for failing to protect her.

In a YouTube video, Martha spoke of her fear after coming out when she showed a fellow resident a photo of the son she adopted with Judy. She said: ‘It got out and I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again’ Gay hate.

Marsha Wetzel says she has been abused by fellow residents at her care home – and that staff have ignored her pleas for help ‘There were a handful of residents, I could tell were really going to give me trouble. ‘I tried to avoid them but they would seek me out to taunt me. ‘I’ve heard every negative homosexual term, I’ve been hit more than once. ‘You can get so scared, you can’t sleep, you can’t eat. ‘You don’t want to take a shower, you don’t want to get dressed. You don’t want to go in the hall.’

Marsha has now launched a groundbreaking federal lawsuit against the home for failing to protect her from abuse. Marsha, who was evicted from the home she shared with Judy by her partner’s homphobic relatives, expects to be abused until her death.

She said: ‘I’d look out the window, I’ve got a cemetery out there. ‘That’s when I’ll stop being made fun of because I’m gay. ‘(The) staff don't protect me, I don't feel any safety of going to them. ‘I want to stick with this and get justice, and I want people to know, stop pushing us around.’

The 7th U.S. Court of Appeals will begin hearing oral arguments in Marsha’s case Wednesday. If she wins, it could help establish that Fair Housing Act protections extend to LGBTQ tenants.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/06/elderl...8/?ito=cbshare
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Old 02-06-2018, 06:00 PM   #122
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That's apalling! How on earth could any commercial organisation think that it is OK to allow someone in their care to be assaulted, no matter what the excuse for doing so was? That's a failure of care in anyone's book. And as for it needing a court case to get protection 'extended' to LGBTQ folk - doesn't the US constuitition guarantee equality in law for everyone?
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Old 02-06-2018, 07:59 PM   #123
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That's apalling! How on earth could any commercial organisation think that it is OK to allow someone in their care to be assaulted, no matter what the excuse for doing so was? That's a failure of care in anyone's book. And as for it needing a court case to get protection 'extended' to LGBTQ folk - doesn't the US constuitition guarantee equality in law for everyone?
Equality under the Constution is selective and then the person would have to pursue it legally.

I don't know if Ms.Wetzel is living in a licensed facility or non-licensed. If licensed, there should have been a remedy but since it is now going to a court of appeals, whatever suit she brought at a lower level, failed.

I don't know why elder abuse laws in Illinois did not protect her but I did not do further digging to find out the timeline of everything involved.

According to HUD.gov:

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status (i.e., presence of children under the age of 18 in the household or pregnancy).

The Fair Housing Act does not specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited bases. However, discrimination against a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) person may be covered by the Fair Housing Act if it is based on non-conformity with gender stereotypes.

For example, if a housing provider refuses to rent to an LGBT person because he believes the person acts in a manner that does not conform to his notion of how a person of a particular sex should act, the person may pursue the matter as a violation of the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition of sex.
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"...I'm deeply concerned by recently adopted policies which punish children for their parents’ actions ... The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable."

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Old 02-06-2018, 10:01 PM   #124
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Breaks my heart that this has happened to her, and the oh so many others that have not, or will not speak up, and suffered in silence. I am very happy that she is taking a stand for herself, and others. Proof that there is still so much to be done, and I am profoundly thankful to all the women before me for what they have endured and stood up against and fought for, so that we humans have a chance at a better life. I will be following this story. Thank you Anya for sharing!
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Old 02-07-2018, 02:25 AM   #125
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Default more on Marsha Wetzel

This story just breaks my heart. That poor woman, and I am sure there are plenty more LGBTQ people who have suffered just like her.

I did some research, and see that Marsha Wetzel is receiving legal representation from LAMBDA LEGAL. I also found a GoFundMe page for her, which began in 2016, largely I believe, to defray the cost of her legal counsel/case(s). https://www.gofundme.com/2i0q5tg


I found many links to newspaper articles as well, just by putting her name, Marsha Wetzel, in to the search engine I use.

I am hoping I may somehow be able to help her without giving money to GoFundMe, as they make money by keeping a (small) percentage of the monies donated, and then the remainder she likely will not see as it will go toward her legal fight.

Perhaps an idea would be to write an uplifting card to her at the address provided for her on the GoFundMe page, or to send her a card care of LAMBDA LEGAL. Just a thought.
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Old 02-15-2018, 07:41 PM   #126
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Originally Posted by afemmenatalie View Post
This story just breaks my heart. That poor woman, and I am sure there are plenty more LGBTQ people who have suffered just like her.

I did some research, and see that Marsha Wetzel is receiving legal representation from LAMBDA LEGAL. I also found a GoFundMe page for her, which began in 2016, largely I believe, to defray the cost of her legal counsel/case(s). https://www.gofundme.com/2i0q5tg


I found many links to newspaper articles as well, just by putting her name, Marsha Wetzel, in to the search engine I use.

I am hoping I may somehow be able to help her without giving money to GoFundMe, as they make money by keeping a (small) percentage of the monies donated, and then the remainder she likely will not see as it will go toward her legal fight.

Perhaps an idea would be to write an uplifting card to her at the address provided for her on the GoFundMe page, or to send her a card care of LAMBDA LEGAL. Just a thought.
That’s a good idea! I can’t really afford to help her out financially right now, but I’d like to send her a letter/card to et her know I’m praying for her.
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Old 02-15-2018, 09:32 PM   #127
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Default 1) His mom and dad contributed money to his lesbian opponent and 2) he is thrilled that he has Steve Brannon's support.

Republican Senate candidate’s parents donate as much as they can – to his lesbian Democratic opponent

Josh Jackman 14th February 2018, 6:57 PM

The frontrunner for a Republican US Senate nomination has seen his parents donate the maximum amount allowed – to his potential Democratic opponent.

Kevin Nicholson is running for the Wisconsin Senate seat currently occupied by Tammy Baldwin, who became the first openly gay US Senator in 2013.

But months after he announced his candidacy in the Republican primary, his parents donated as much as they could to Baldwin.

In December, Donna and Michael Nicholson each contributed $2,700 to Baldwin for her re-election campaign, according to CNN.

In response, their 40-year-old son distanced himself from them. “My parents have a different worldview than I do, and it is not surprising that they would support a candidate like Tammy Baldwin who shares their perspective,” he said.

Nicholson was at pains to emphasize that his political outlook should not be in any way associated with his upbringing. “I’m a conservative today not because I was born one, but because of the experience I earned as a Marine in combat, my experience as a husband and father, my choice to be a Christian, the schools I chose to attend and the decision to pursue the career that I have,” he said.

“Regardless of who may disagree with my life decisions, I would not trade these experiences for anything, and they will always guide my views as Wisconsin’s next US Senator.”

Nicholson has previously tweeted his joy over gaining support from Steve Bannon, who left his position as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist in August.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/02/14...atic-opponent/
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"...I'm deeply concerned by recently adopted policies which punish children for their parents’ actions ... The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable."

UN Human Rights commissioner
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:45 AM   #128
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Originally Posted by afemmenatalie View Post
This story just breaks my heart. That poor woman, and I am sure there are plenty more LGBTQ people who have suffered just like her.

I did some research, and see that Marsha Wetzel is receiving legal representation from LAMBDA LEGAL. I also found a GoFundMe page for her, which began in 2016, largely I believe, to defray the cost of her legal counsel/case(s). https://www.gofundme.com/2i0q5tg


I found many links to newspaper articles as well, just by putting her name, Marsha Wetzel, in to the search engine I use.

I am hoping I may somehow be able to help her without giving money to GoFundMe, as they make money by keeping a (small) percentage of the monies donated, and then the remainder she likely will not see as it will go toward her legal fight.

Perhaps an idea would be to write an uplifting card to her at the address provided for her on the GoFundMe page, or to send her a card care of LAMBDA LEGAL. Just a thought.
I'm not sure I can help financially, but I will most definitely send her an uplifting card!
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Old 03-07-2018, 04:31 PM   #129
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Alison Van Uytvanck comes out: 'Being lesbian or gay is not a disease'

Tennis - The world no. 50 is dating the player Greet Minnen

Another tennis player has announced that she is a lesbian. In September 2017, Johanna Larsson had made it public, then in December 2017, Conny Perrin and Tara Moore announced that they were going to get married.

Now, it has been world no. 50 Alison Van Uytvanck's turn. The 2016 Roland Garros quarter-finalist is involved in a romantic relationship with her colleague and player Greet Minnen, who is outside the top-1000 of the WTA ranking. 'I don’t find it a taboo, [the relationship] makes me happy,' Van Uytvanck said, as quoted by OutSports.

'Soon we are going to live together. We do feel super happy together and that’s what we will show to the world. Nobody has to justify why they are lesbian or gay, it is not a disease. We are very open about our relationship and my parents are proud about it.

That’s important because the support made us feel good.' Van Uytvanck also commented on the other people's prejudices and bullying: 'Now I go to the kids and say "no bullying" and I confront those who made my life so difficult with my success so they can understand the pain I had to go through.

http://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis...ot-a-disease-/
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"...I'm deeply concerned by recently adopted policies which punish children for their parents’ actions ... The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable."

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Old 03-13-2018, 08:50 PM   #130
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I'm not sure I can help financially, but I will most definitely send her an uplifting card!

Today the card I had mailed out came back! "Not A Resident" was hand written on the envelope. Hopefully some agency has gotten her out of that horrible situation and into someplace much safer.
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Old 03-20-2018, 11:55 AM   #131
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Default Lesbians don't have a sense of humor? Hey, that's not funny! Just kidding! :)

Introducing a Major New Voice in Comedy (Who Also Attacks Comedy)

By JASON ZINOMAN MARCH 19, 2018

It was only a matter of time before a stand-up comedian channeled the righteous rage of the current feminist moment.

Dave Chappelle released a special about #MeToo, but he didn’t respond to events so much as shoehorn them into his usual preoccupations. Other comics weighed in, but none have produced a show with as much unsettling urgency as Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette,” a riveting New York debut at SoHo Playhouse that announces a major new voice.

Ms. Gadsby calls out Louis C.K., Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton, not to mention Pablo Picasso, in an ingenious indictment of the sexism and sentimentality of our narratives about genius, but her real target is the culture that enables and excuses abuse. That doesn’t sound funny, I realize, but she is that, too. Still, the laughs of her show are a means to an end, which is, at its core, a ferocious attack on comedy itself.

Ms. Gadsby, a 40-year-old Australian comic, is an unknown here, but the way she weaves intellectual arguments into taut jokes makes it clear she’s no novice. After more than a decade of stand-up, she developed a following in Europe and Australia with self-deprecating comedy about her family, her weight and coming out as a lesbian in a homophobic community. “Nanette” — which won awards last year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and has since been picked up by Netflix for a future release — begins in that quirky vein.

Walking onstage, she is all stammers and fidgets and overly articulate neurosis, adjusting the microphone stand and repeatedly pushing her glasses up her nose, evoking no one so much as Woody Allen. She makes fun of Tasmania, where she grew up and where gay sex was not decriminalized until 1997, and even jokes about how lesbians don’t have a sense of humor. The title “Nanette,” she explains, refers to a barista who was going to be the subject of the show, but she couldn’t make it work. Failure is the theme of her early material.

Her self-mocking nebbish is a familiar persona, but there comes a moment when she drops and deconstructs it, and that turning point makes you re-evaluate everything you saw before. “Do you know what self-deprecation means coming from somebody who exists on the margins?” she asks. “It is not humility; it is humiliation.”

Then she goes on the attack, cheerfully smashing pieties like the one about comedy being the best medicine. “I reckon penicillin might give it a nudge,” she says. “Your baby is sick? Just give it a tickle.”

Breaking down comedy with mathematical precision, she explains that good stories have three parts (beginning, middle and end) while jokes require two (setup and punch line), which means that to end on a laugh, comics often need to cut off the most important and constructive element, where hindsight, perspective and catharsis exist.

“A joke is a question, artificially inseminated with tension,” she says, before explaining the mechanics of her job. “I make you all tense and then I cure it with a laugh. And you say: ‘Thanks for that, I was feeling a bit tense.’” Then in one of many tonal shifts, she raises her voice, irritated at the audience’s hypothetic gratitude: “But I made you tense."

Then she points to the audience and back at her and quips, darkly: “This is an abusive relationship.”

Skepticism about comedy, which dates at least to Plato, is older than the romanticized view that prevails today, undergirding both the comics who champion it as well as critics who suggests the best jokes punch upward and are rooted in truth. Ms. Gadsby is at her most radical pushing back on this idea, explaining that funny comedy isn’t always honest, and in fact rewards deception.

She said that in her homophobic town, she lived with shame that she turned into comedy, but that she paid a price. She never entirely grew out of her own self-hatred. When she retells her story without the jokes, it’s bracing. By stopping at the punch line, she says, she froze “an incredibly formative experience at its trauma point and sealed it off with jokes.”

In explaining how she turned her story of coming out of the closet into a bit, she upends the cliché of the comic who finds salvation by turning pain into laughter.

This is a show where, more than once, the performer makes the crowd laugh and laugh and, suddenly, turn deadly silent. She also nimbly leaps from personal stories to big-picture analysis, including a damning digression about Picasso, whom she calls a misogynist, citing both his own statements and an affair with a 17-year-old.

After drawing attention to the silliness of discussing art history in a stand-up show, she gets serious again, saying comics have been more likely to make dismissive jokes about Monica Lewinsky or “throwaway gags” about Mr. Weinstein. It’s on this subject that her jokes stop and her tone becomes grave, saying we care more about the reputations of artists like Louis C.K. and Bill Cosby than their accusers.

Does that mean that “Nanette” is no longer comedy? I don’t think so.

Comedy is much broader than Ms. Gadsby suggests. It can double down on prejudices or challenge them. Rape jokes have shamed victims and one bit by Hannibal Buress helped kick off the backlash against Mr. Cosby. Despite Ms. Gadsby’s formulaic definitions of comedy, a whole tradition, which includes Andy Kaufman and Tig Notaro and various proponents of cringe comedy, experiments with the tension-release dynamic of the setup and punch line.

“People really only feel safe when men do the angry comedy,” Ms. Gadsby says. “I do it and I’m just an angry lesbian ruining all the fun and banter.”

She’s right that angry stand-up has long been the province of men, and that there’s a double standard at work, but comedy isn’t frozen in time. We’re at a moment when I suspect audiences are not as interested in hearing from angry male comics, and yet the work of Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks laid the groundwork that allows us to see Ms. Gadsby’s roaring polemic wrapped in jokes as firmly part of a stand-up tradition.

The best defense against Ms. Gadsby’s assault on comedy is her own show — an irony she is clearly aware of, and even perhaps nods to in a tangent about the ridiculousness of gendered parenting. Instead of dressing babies in pink or blue, she proposes they all wear blue, pointing out that the color evokes a cool temperature while also being the shade of the hottest part of a flame. “Blue has the flexibility to accommodate contradiction,” she says.

So does great art, which is why the paradox at the heart of this remarkable show — it’s a comedy arguing against comedy — actually elevates it. How funny is that?

“Nanette” runs through April 15 at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street. See sohoplayhouse.com for more information.

A version of this article appears in print on March 20, 2018, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Taking On A Culture Of Sexism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/a...y-nanette.html
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Old 03-30-2018, 06:14 PM   #132
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Why black lesbians marry — Cal State Fullerton researcher finds new answers

By WENDY FAWTHROP | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: March 28, 2018 at 1:53 am | UPDATED: March 28, 2018 at 5:04 pm

When gay couples marry, many see it as striking a blow for equality and civil rights.

That’s largely a white, middle-class way of looking at it, says a Cal State Fullerton faculty member.

When black gay couples, especially women, marry, they see something different, said Siobhan Brooks, associate professor and co-chair of African American studies at Cal State Fullerton. She recently published a paper on how black lesbians view marriage.

“Unlike the white mainstream gay and lesbian marriage movement, which in addition to state benefits focuses on political visibility, black lesbian and bisexual women primarily view marriage as giving them community recognition as group members,” said Brooks. “Many black lesbians are fighting for racial community recognition, not state-sanctioned rights.”

Brooks’ study “Black on Black Love: Black Lesbian and Bisexual Women, Marriage, and Symbolic Meaning” was published in the winter issue of The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research.

Brooks became interested in the topic because she wasn’t hearing the voices of lesbians who married after the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all the states. She thought it was important to explore the topic of marriage from a demographic that had historically been excluded from it, both as gay and as black.

“Prior to gay marriage many of us felt like our presence was tolerated in mainstream black spaces (i.e. churches, family settings, work), as long as it was not discussed,” Brooks said in an email. “Now we have language to talk about our relationships; when people talk about their spouses at work, we can also say that — it’s a cultural shift.”

What she found in her research and among black, gay people she knew was that marriage for them turned out not to be as much about gaining benefits on par with straight people — stressed by white activists — as about “being seen” within larger black social spaces: their family, their church and the greater black community.

In her previous research, Brooks has explored the intersections of sexuality, race, gender, class and mental health among LGBT, urban-identified black women. She received her doctorate in sociology from New School University and is the author of “Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry.”

For her most recent study, Brooks interviewed 10 black women — nine lesbian and one bisexual — in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, most raised by married parents.

She noticed three common themes:

By choosing a black woman as a partner, the women were reclaiming a black female identity they had been taught to devalue. Many acknowledged growing up with negative stereotypes of black women, especially those raised in predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods.

As one woman told Brooks: “I was raised by strong black women. My grandmother was a nurse, at a time when not many women were. My mother was a teen when she had me, but I saw her working to support us. I see dating black women as an extension of strong black women.”

Being able to marry also brought the women more legitimacy within their religious communities, though they stressed that lingering homophobia in black churches still limited their sense of acceptance.

Said one woman who is engaged: “We are looking for LGBT churches to have our wedding; it would be great if they are black, but so far we have not found one. I want our union to be recognized in the eyes of my family, the way many of my relatives who are straight had their unions in a church. For us, our marriage means community acceptance.”

Finally, the women saw marriage as helping form stable relationships within their family and workplace.

One woman who had been married for a year said her marriage has granted her more respect from her coworkers: “When I say I am married, my coworkers take me more seriously, especially around discussions of gay and lesbian issues.”

The women viewed marriage as family and societal recognition of their relationships. Said one woman: As black people, we can no longer deny that LGBT people exist in our families, so gay marriage brings it out in the open. They are forced to acknowledge us, and our partners, even if they don’t agree with our marriage choices. This does not happen when LGBT people are only on television, because people still don’t think they are real.”

Brooks concludes that black lesbians’ choice of black women as marriage partners refutes stereotypes of black women as undesirable and supports notions of black racial pride. It also communicates that as lesbians they are still members of the larger black community. Connecting issues of race, class, gender and sexuality between the white mainstream LGBT movement and the race-based social movements of African Americans will make both movements stronger, Brooks writes.

“Black on Black Love: Black Lesbian and Bisexual Women, Marriage, and Symbolic Meaning” was published in the winter issue of The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research. “My hope is that the research opens up a dialogue to discuss the needs queer black women have as social issues (i.e. education, housing, decent employment),” Brooks said.

Brooks’ current research examines the family impact of hate crimes against LGBT black and Latino communities.


Siobhan Brooks, associate professor and co-chair of African American studies at Cal State Fullerton, recently published a paper on how black lesbians view marriage. (Photo courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/2...s-new-answers/
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Former Miss Alabama 2004, Miss America, 2005, marries her girl-friend

April 18, 2018

BIRMINGHAM — When Deidre Downs was crowned Miss America more than a decade ago, the idea of legalized gay marriage and Miss America later marrying her same-sex partner in Alabama would have been an unimaginable future.

Times have changed.

Former Miss Alabama 2004 and Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs Gunn married her girlfriend, attorney Abbott Jones, in a ceremony Saturday at the Birmingham Museum of Art. They flew out Sunday night from Atlanta for a honeymoon in Ireland.

By Monday morning, their wedding was the talk of Alabama. About 200 people who attended were sworn to secrecy until after the event, with People magazine having an exclusive agreement to share the news.

Gunn, a UAB obstetrician-gynecologist specializing in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and Jones shared their joy from their honeymoon in a statement to AL.com on Monday.

“When we turned to recess down the aisle after the ceremony and really took notice of all of the family and friends who had gathered to celebrate our marriage, we felt so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support,” they wrote in a joint statement.

Their union may have left Alabama surprised and a little stunned, but perhaps also wowed by the boldness and beauty of the ceremony.

“It was beautiful; it was gorgeous,” said Nan Teninbaum, president of the Miss Alabama Pageant, who attended the ceremony. “I love and I support Deidre. I wish her the very best of everything.”

The ceremony was officiated by an openly lesbian minister, the Rev. Jennifer Sanders, pastor of Beloved Community Church in Birmingham.

“It was a beautiful wedding,” Sanders said. “They are a wonderful, happy couple. It was a joy to perform the ceremony.”

Some observers saw it as a breakthrough, a potentially game-changing moment in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in America and in one of the most conservative states in the nation. Gunn is a 2002 graduate of Samford University, a Baptist-affiliated school where she earned her bachelor’s degree in history. Samford was founded by the Alabama Baptist Convention, and Southern Baptists in the state and nationally remain on the record as staunchly opposed to gay marriage.

“I think it has a huge impact because Samford is so proud of her,” said Brit Blalock, founder of SAFE Samford, a gay and lesbian alumni group which has lobbied for fair treatment and representation at the school. “That’s one of their prize graduates. She’s done so much for the community. For the LBGTQ community at Samford, it’s nice to see her being so authentic.”

Gunn, in a statement to AL.com while on her honeymoon, responded.

“One of my favorite quotes is by Coco Chanel,” she said. ”‘Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.’ It can take courage to be who you are and to realize your worth as a person, but once you do it is such a beautiful and freeing thing. And once you do, that allows you to live with authenticity and compassion — for yourself and for others.”

Blalock noted that Seasons, the alumni magazine at Samford that prints alumni wedding announcements, declined to print a wedding announcement submitted last year for two men who were married. She wonders if the same would hold true if Gunn submitted her same-sex wedding announcement.

A spokesman for Samford University, contacted Monday, said the university did not immediately plan to make a statement about Gunn and her marriage.

Will Gunn’s coming-out affect her perception at Samford?

“I’m sure there are some people who are shocked and may reevaluate how they feel about her,” Blalock said. “That would be a shame, because she has established herself as an outstanding individual. This new information doesn’t change anything about her character, in my opinion.”

Blalock, a 2008 Samford graduate, remembers attending the Miss Alabama ceremony on the Samford campus when Gunn was crowned Miss Alabama in 2004.

“She was very well-beloved on campus, talented, beautiful,” Blalock said. “Samford was very proud to lift her name up. I hope they are still proud because she is a phenomenal person. During her time as Miss America, she was campaigning for cancer research.”

Now, Gunn can be a role model for lesbians unashamed of their sexuality. “It makes me very proud,” Blalock said.

As a teenager and young adult, Gunn was a member of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham. “She’s a wonderful person and a fabulous doctor,” said the Rev. Sarah Shelton, pastor of Baptist Church of the Covenant the past 16 years. “I want nothing but her happiness. I am very proud of her.”

For the newly married couple, their wedding was not a political statement, but an expression of love.

“Abbott and Deidre’s wedding was a classic Southern fairy tale — a photographer’s dream,” said Kelli Hewett Taylor, owner of Kelli & Daniel Taylor Photography. “We loved being part of it. Every detail was soft, beautiful and elegant. Those two are so in love. There’s an undeniable electricity when they are together. I think you can really see that, in person or in camera.”

Jones said in a statement to AL.com: “Deidre is the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, both inside and out. I have no doubt she will continue to be a role model to so many, especially to young women who can look to her and see that regardless of who they love, they can be beautiful, intelligent, and confident in their own skin.”


http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/2...ies-girlfriend
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Default Happy Lesbian visibility day to the lesbians of BFP!

Lesbian Visibility Day, now embedded in the international LGBTQ+ calendar, is a celebration of the world’s diverse Sapphic community.

Held on April 26 every year, Lesbian Visibility Day showcases women-loving-women, providing a platform for lesbian role models to speak out on the issues facing female sexual minorities.

The origins of the day remain mysterious, but is has been running since 2008. Having initially started in the US, Lesbian Visibility Day – thanks to the wonders of the worldwide web – is now celebrated internationally.
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