GAY PRIDE & FEELING EXCLUDED...

Who is pride for, anyway? It’s supposed to be a celebration of the entire LGBTQ+ community, a time to feel a sense of, well, pride in who they are.

But have you ever felt unwelcome?

What are your reasons for feeling excluded from pride events? 

Being bisexual?

Don't feel like the “L” LGBTQ+ is really included?

Racism within the community?

Being trans-gendered?

The overwhelming amount of muscle men?

Ageism? 

Our obsession with porn promotions?

It is just one big circuit party and not an event to celebrate diversity?

Have you ever felt excluded from pride events?

THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY FINALLY STARTS HOLDING CORPORATE 'ALLY' FEE TO THE FIRE

LGBTQ rights advocates have long pointed to the problematic nature of tying the fight for equality with corporations, who provide needed funds but can come with political and social baggage that increasingly cannot be ignored.

The nation’s politics has taken a hard right, and at the same time advocacy groups are recognizing that comp

romise may not be worth the cost.

The Human Rights Campaign recently announced it was returning $325,000 in corporate sponsorship from Bank of America for helping to negotiate the so-called “repeal” of anti-LGBTQ law House Bill 2 (HB2), House Bill 142. That law still prevents cities from enacting protections for LGBTQ people for the next three years.

HRC also downgraded its Corporate Equality Index scores for Bank of America, as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, for their roles in negotiating the “compromise” that left LGBTQ people wanting yet again.

In an article published “Wells Fargo has not been a direct sponsor of Creating Change in years and as of July 1, 2017 they will no longer be a national corporate sponsor of the National LGBTQ Task Force,” Roybal said.

“They remain the presenting sponsor of the Task Force Gala-Miami as they have for the last several years,” Roybal added.

“Banks like Wells Fargo boost their billion dollar bottom-line on the backs of the most marginalized in our community. It is important that LGBTQ movement leaders stand up against these practices and not allow Wells and other corporations to hide under a rainbow blanket of ‘allyship’ bought with prison and pipeline cash,” said Peoples in a statement.

“I applaud Russell and the rest of the Task Force team for making this small but important move. I hope they will join us and countless other groups to encourage broad divestment from corporations and institutions that are toxic to our communities, especially during this upcoming Pride season, with the #NoJusticeNoPride campaign.”

It seems we are entering a new era in the LGBTQ rights struggle, where corporations won’t get such an easy pass. Good PR cannot simply be bought, and actions are going to have to speak as loudly as words and oversized checks.

The Washington Blade notes that “HRC has said Wells Fargo Bank has consistently received the HRC Foundation’s highest rating for a corporation on internal personnel policies for LGBT employees.”

LGBTQ Nation has reached out to the Task Force, as well as Wells Fargo, and HRC for comment. We will update if more information becomes available.

UPDATE (6/1/2017):

Wells Fargo got back to us with the following statement:

We are proud of our collaboration with the LGBTQ Task Force and appreciate the great work they do for the community. Wells Fargo’s philanthropic support for the organization dates back to 1999, and continues today at the local level. Wells Fargo Foundation continues to support efforts of many organizations that provide direct services to the community, including The Trevor Project and GLSEN and we’ve recently expanded our scope to include SAGE and the True Colors Fund. Over the past 30 years, Wells Fargo has stood together with the LGBTQ community, providing over $50 million to LGBTQ-focused organizations as part of our corporate commitment, and we remain committed to delivering thoughtful and strategic support to the community in the future.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATIONS

SILENT AGREEMENTS: ¿WHY ONE(S) ARE DAMAGING THE GAY COMMUNITY?

If you have engaged in relationships of any kind, you have experienced and likely battled against “silent agreements.” While most have never used or even heard of this term, silent agreements are present in our everyday lives where they lurk in the shadows of our relationships, at home, in social circles and in the workplace. They are those unspoken “rules” of our relationships that grow from the topics we don’t talk about—the needs, wishes and expectations that we don’t share but hold others accountable to anyway. Most often the other party is doing the same thing, which adds layers that make silent agreements even more complicated and challenging to uncover and rectify. 

Whether in alignment with others or not, in many cases the silent agreements we have with one another, or towards another, are not acknowledged or openly discussed. This is largely due to the fact that we, ourselves, may not be consciously aware of the expectations we harbor. Other times, we feel that we have too much to lose if we talk openly, or, we regard silence as less frightening than what would happen if we tell the ‘real’ story about what we are thinking and wanting from another person. So, we avoid discussing the real issues because we are afraid to upset the status quo. The more a relationship lacks awareness of these silent agreements, the more pervasive the silent agreements are, and the more likely we risk losing authentic communication with our communities. 

Which silent agreements you feel hurt the gay community as a whole?

PUBLIC ERECTIONS @ DALLAS PRIDE WILL BE CHARGED AS FELONIES

Wearing cotton underwear at Dallas gay pride parade this weekend may result in fines, police have said.

Dallas police announced again this week they will enforce the state and pride rules banning 'indecent exposure'.

According to the pride parade rules: 'In accordance with the city of Dallas public nudity ordinance, parade participants must not expose genitalia, buttocks, or female breasts.'

Also, 'In accordance with state of Texas obscenity law, sexual paraphernalia, real or simulated sex acts and genital or phallic representations are prohibited from the parade.'

Michael Doughman, executive director of the Dallas Tavern Guild that organises the parade, told The Dallas Voice  state laws and parade rules against public nudity are nothing new. He said the first warning was issued by police in a meeting in August where representatives from all the parade entries were present.

At the meeting, Doughman used an example of how potentially-inappropriate attire could lead to an unacceptable scenario: last year on a float, a dancer's erection was completely visible under his wet underwear. As such, Doughman says this year dancers on floats have been told to wear bathing suits.

Doughman said: 'It was a reminder at the meeting by the police department, that they’ve looked the other way for years and years and years, but public lewdness and nudity in public is not going to continue to be tolerated.

'It’s just a matter of discretion,' he added.

'You certainly can still express yourself, but unfortunately if your way of expressing yourself is to be naked or to be aroused in public, then it’s inappropriate, and I think most of the community agrees with that.'

Dallas police notified pride-goers any violations of the dress code will be stopped prior to entry and could be charged with a class-B misdemeanor of indecent exposure.

Detective Jeremy Liebbe, a gay police officer who's overseeing security for the parade, told The Dallas Voice: 'If there’s an erection and a child is present that could see it, it is a felony, and we don’t want to see that happen.'

'We’ve had some issues in the past that have been brought to our attention, and our goal is to take a preventative measure.

'These are rules and laws that have already been in place. This is just the first year we have done an overt preventative reminder on this particular issue.

'My goal at all of these events is to have zero enforcement action taken,' Liebbe added, 'but there are some people over the years who’ve tried to push that line to see just how far we could go.'

Enforcement of the pride dress code has drawn criticism from some LGBT activists in Dallas.

Daniel Cates, an activist formerly associated with GetEQUAL TX, told Gay Star News: 'This isn't about nudity. It is about queerness being erased from pride.'

He wrote on his Facebook page in response to the police reminder the parade is being made more 'family friendly' in order to 'accommodate comfort for the increasing number of attending heterosexuals and corporate sponsorship participants'.

Cates also said: 'The "queer" is effectively being erased from our pride celebration in favor of the most polished, heteronormative representation of our community.'

'It should be noted that the rioters at the Stonewall Inn fought to break OUT of the damn closet! Our movement was built of sex positivity and our desire to BE WHO WE ARE!,' Cates added on the social network.

He told Gay Star News: 'Pride started as our community telling the world we were no longer going to be ashamed of our sexuality.. Sex positivity is a strong part of LGBT pride!'

Cates, other activists and 'people who feel excluded from the whitewashed hetero-normative, internalized homophobia-fest that Dallas Pride has become' plan to launch their own pride June 2014.

He said Dallas Tavern Guild moved the pride to September years ago to avoid competition with other state prides.

Now in it's 30th year, the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, renamed in 1991 after the main organiser of the parade, will take place 15 September 2013.

Detective Jeremy Liebbe was unavailable to comment, and the Dallas Tavern Guild offices are closed until after pride this weekend.

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

A BOY 2, CALLED FAGGOT & ASSAULTED FOR WEARING PINK HAIRBAND

A two-year-old boy was called a ‘faggot’ and assaulted for wearing a pink hairband.

Dexter Vyktoriah was with his 31-year-old mom Katie and five-month-old sibling out shopping in Wallmart in Polk County, Florida.

Mother Vyktoriah was shocked when an unknown man, who she describes as being ‘overly large with a bushy beard and camouflage shirt’ approached the family.

‘He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.’

The man walked up to little Dexter, tore the headband off his head, and slapped the child on the back of the head.

‘You’ll thank me later, little man!’ he shouted.

Vyktoriah, furious, told him to not touch her child. ‘Your son is a fucking faggot,’ he told her, before walking away and adding: ‘He’ll get shot for it one day.’

The US mom said she encourages her son to dress and act the way he chooses, saying he loves pink, Dora the Explorer and occasionally plays dress up with her skirts.

‘He rocked that headband,’ she said.

Vyktoriah now says men like him makes her terrified for the future of her children regardless of their sexuality.

Writing on Huffington Post, she said: ‘While we may accept and support whoever our kids turn out to be, I am scared beyond words at what it would mean for them if they ARE gay.

‘Why should anyone have to live in fear because they fall in love with someone that you or someone else doesn’t agree with? Why should mothers and fathers of gay kids have to have an extra layer of terror at night because they know that the world at large is against their child?’

‘If one or both of my kids grow up to realize they are any of these things, it will not change a thing about how I feel toward them,’ she added.

Vyktoriah has said she is being advised to not discuss the situation after filing a report with the police.

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

LGBT PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO BE ATHEIST

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are more likely to be atheist than anyone else in the general population, a new survey has found.

Nearly half of all LGBT adults surveyed said they were atheist, compared to 20% of the general population.

According to the Pew Research Center, those who said they were religious also attended services less often and attach less importance to their faith than other people.

A 34-year-old lesbian is quoted in the report as saying she attends a church that allows gays and lesbians to be ordained.

‘However, it would be an issue for some people in the church and I’m not ready to open that can of worms,’ she said.

The online survey of 1,200 self-identified LGBT adults in California is one of the largest and most detailed of the community, Pew has said.

George Broadhead, secretary and trustee of UK-based gay humanist charity The Pink Triangle Trust, alleged atheists in the US are more discriminated against than LGBT people.

Speaking to Gay Star News, he said gay people in the UK, in his experience, was a far larger majority of the atheist population than the Pew research suggests.

‘I would say without a shadow of a doubt, in this country that religion, the hostility of religion to LGBT relationships and rights, puts them off.

‘I can’t understand why anybody in their right minds if they’re gay or lesbian would want to embrace any religion like Catholicism which is so hostile. It’s masochistic.’

Sharon Ferguson, from the UK-based Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said it was the media who often puts faith and sexuality at opposing ends.

‘The message for a long time now is one of LGBT people are not welcome within church, and so naturally that message gets through, and people feel there isn’t a place for them within organized religion,’ she said.

‘But if you talk about spirituality, that would be a very different kettle of fish. Gay people probably have a greater spirituality and greater desire to connect with the divine than the rest of the population.’

She added: ‘The Christian voice saying it is an abomination is actually a minority, and they’re not speaking the truth. You don’t have to pick one or the other, you can have both, it’s not either or, you can have both.

‘You don’t have to be in the closet when you go to the church about your sexuality, or be in the closet in the gay bar about your faith.’

SOURCE: THE GAY STAR

PARIS PROTEST AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE TURNS VIOLENT

More then a million homophobes marched through the streets of Paris, France last Sunday 26th May in a specially organised demonstration against the recently passed French law that legalised same-sex marriage and adoption.

At least that’s the number the organisers, Manif Pour Tous, would have you believe that attended their march and demonstration of intolerance. The authorities paint a slightly different picture of the event that rapidly turned to violence at the end, with nearly 300 people being arrested, for they announced the estimated number of attendees amassed a little over 150,000.

Regardless of the actual number of people present, there is little doubt that not everyone in France is happy about the same-sex marriage and adoption bill that was signed into law earlier this month by President François Hollande.

Manif Pour Tous, have organised several demonstrations against the bill over the recent months, that have seen hundreds of thousands of people marching on the streets of the capital. However, much like many of the previous demonstrations, tensions rose until violent clashes erupted between the police and demonstrators during the evening. According to official reports, b by the end of the night the police had arrested 293 people had been arrested and thousands of dollars worth of damaged caused.

The demonstrators hurled glass bottles, smoke bombs and even sound grenades at police whilst chanting various things including “Hollande resign!” Some protesters carried signs that read “Made in Mama + Papa,” while others waved pink and blue flags.

Manif Pour Tous are already planning other events, regardless of the fact that there is little chance of the new legislation being repealed “[The] message is that we’re not letting go of anything, that we’re going to continue to resist. The idea is to show that although the law has been passed, we are still mobilised,” Marie-Camille Richard, deputy communications director of Manif Pour Tous said. “We are a movement that must now be considered a part of the French political landscape. Not political in the sense that we will engage in politics, but political in the sense that politicians today must recognise our presence.”

Whilst many of the anti-gay marriage campaigners and commentators have blamed the violent behaviour of some of the demonstrators on ultra far right groups, they have done little to distance themselves or their campaign against equality from such groups, even utilising their social network pages and profiles to help organise events and mobilise supporters.

While the same-sex marriage and adoption bill may already have been passed, there are still many questions yet to be addressed of assisted reproduction and surrogacy for gay and lesbian couples which will come up for debate shortly. Both issues are vigorously opposed by France’s social conservative and religious groups and Manif Pour Tous have promised they‘ll be there every step of the way.

SOURCE: GAY AGENDA

IN THE LIFE MEDIA: FOSTER CARE'S INVISIBLE YOUTH

There are approximately 400,000 youth in foster care in the United States. A disproportionate number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) children end up in the system, though an exact count is unknown.

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This month on IN THE LIFE, seven LGBTQ youth from the foster care system share their stories. Failed by their families, these young people go on to face rejection from foster families, invisibility within the system and incredible obstacles to healthy development.

IN THE LIFE MEDIA PRESENTS: BEYOND THE RHETORIC

This month, the award-winning lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newsmagazine, IN THE LIFE, examines the evolution of anti-gay rhetoric, and the reality beyond the spin. 

Then, IN THE LIFE heads to Minnesota for a look at a multi-front attack on equality in a state known as one of the country’s most LGBT friendly places.

The culture wars of the 1980’s and 90’s informed a language of fear
and hostility toward LGBT people, especially among those on the right. But
cultural acceptance of LGBT people is growing across the country, and in the
Republican party. In its lead segment, “Rhetoric and Reality,” IN THE LIFE
looks at how homophobic rhetoric is changing with the times, and meets a new
wave of Republicans who are challenging anti-gay bigotry from within the party.

Next, IN THE LIFE heads to

Minnesota for the most recent installment of its ongoing series covering
battles for LGBT equality at the State level, In The States. In
2011, The Advocate named Minneapolis-St. Paul the “gayest city
in America.” But for all the acceptance some LGBT Minnesotans experience,
opposition to equality is strong here. IN THE LIFE exposes public school
policies that silence the LGBT experience, rampant harassment of LGBT students
and looks at the State’s proposed initiative to limit marriage to heterosexual
couples.

IN THE LIFE MEDIA PRESENTS: MARRIED BUT NOT EQUAL

IN THE LIFE examines the real-life impact of the Defense of Marriage Act

August 1, 2011 — This August, public television stations across the country will begin airing Married But Not Equal, an episode from the award-winning news-magazine IN THE LIFE examining the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Social security benefits, child tax credits and immigration rights are just three of the 1,138 benefits, rights and protections that married heterosexual couples receive from the Federal Government. But because of DOMA, gays and lesbians are denied every single one of them — even if they are legally married in the state they live in.

IN THE LIFE sits down with five married, same-sex couples for a look at the real-life impact of DOMA, and examines the battle to repeal the law in Congress and in the courts.

IN THE LIFE PRESENTS: ORGULLO LATINO

New York, June 1, 2012 – This month, the award-winning news magazine IN THE LIFE celebrates Latin pride with Orgullo Latino, a look at the complexity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Latinos in the United States.

Latinos are the fastest growing minority in the country. With growing political strength, buying power and cultural influence, Latinos are changing the landscape of the nation and forging a new American reality. LGBT Latinos are no exception.

IN THE LIFE meets gay and lesbian Latinos who are stepping up to create change, shatter stereotypes and become leaders within their communities. Featuring a look at the trailblazers who bring visibility to the LGBT Latino experience such as Daniel Hernandez, who President Obama declared a hero for his bravery during the 2011 Tucson shooting that wounded former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; Spanish soap opera star turned Extreme Makeover designer Eduardo Xol; CNN Headline News (HLN) Anchor Jane Velez-Mitchell and, of course, Ricky Martin.

Though they’ve faced their share of obstacles and homophobia, these gay and lesbian Latino leaders embrace the Spanish saying Pa’lante, which means, the only way is forward.

IN THE LIFE: REMAINING VIGILANT

IN THE LIFE DEBUTS REMAINING VIGILANT: A LOOK AT LOCAL BATTLES FOR LGBT EQUALITY AT THE STATE LEVEL

New York, May 1, 2012 –Tonight, public television stations nationwide will begin broadcasting Remaining Vigilant, an episode from the award-winning newsmagazine IN THE LIFE. The episode features two installments of In The States, an ongoing series covering local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists campaigning for equal rights and protections at the state level.

In The States: Iowa brings IN THE LIFE to the American heartland where, in an attempt to repeal marriage equality, social conservatives have used unprecedented tactics in a campaign with national implications. Iowa poses an important question to the rest of the country: Should voters decide whether gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry?

Also in this episode, IN THE LIFE heads to Ohio, a state with few legal protections for LGBT people. Ohio legislators not only banned same-sex marriage, but barred unmarried state employees from receiving benefits for domestic partners; it is legal to fire LGBT people in Ohio because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; and transgender Ohioans lack the most basic civil rights. In this look at the LGBT experience in a state where progress is slow, we meet locals with deep ties to their community committed to a long battle in the state that they love.

On May 1st, Remaining Vigilant begins airing on public television stations across the country and will be available for free video streaming from the In The Life Media website. To find out when it will air in your local area, or to stream it, go to ITLMedia.org.

IN THE LIFE: BECOMING ME

Is it a boy or a girl? Many parents learn the answer before their baby
is born, and most expect their children to develop a gender identity that
mirrors biological sex within their first few years. But for transgender and
gender nonconforming children, gender identity unfolds throughout childhood,
adolescence and into early adulthood.

Eight families
with transgender and gender non-conforming children ranging in ages from 5 to
25 share their stories. With the healthy development of their children at
stake, parents must confront binary perceptions of gender, widespread
transphobia and controversial parenting decisions.

SOURCE: IN THE LIFE

IN THE LIFE: REVISITING HIDDEN HISTORIES

Revisiting Hidden
Histories, an
episode from the award-winning newsmagazine IN THE LIFE uncovering diverse
expressions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) sexuality and
gender difference in American art, and the forces that have censored them.

American art is rich with LGBT themes and renowned
works by LGBT artists, yet sexuality has largely been edited out of art
history. This episode features a look back at Hide/Seek, the first major museum
exhibition to acknowledge representations of LGBT identity in art. The exhibit
sparked controversy among conservative religious leaders and politicians who
demanded the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s video installation, A Fire in
my Belly, calling his depiction of the anger he faced while dying from AIDS
“religious hate speech.”

SOURCE: IN THE LIFE

"THAT'S SO GAY" - THE DANGER OF COVERT HATE SPEECH

From a very early age I learned that one of the worst things
I could be called was “fag” or “sissy.” Even before I understood what the word
meant, I associated shame and fear with it. As I grew up, “fag” became one in a
long list of anti-gay labels that would fall into this category — words that
would take years for me to overcome and accept; words bursting with hatred that
left numerous scars.

Thankfully,
obvious hate speech is not as freely tolerated as it was in my younger days,
but as the acceptance of homosexuality has grown, hate speech has evolved. In
addition to the common ways hate-born labels are used to belittle gays and
lesbians, hate speech has also become more covert. By adopting the guise of
everyday slang, homophobic speech has managed to find acceptance with
frightening regularity by many people, including some gays and lesbians.

The
expression “that’s so gay” is commonly used to describe anything unpleasant or
disliked. For me, personally, this type of slang falls into the hate speech
category because it takes one of the simplest words a gay person uses to
describe himself and redefines it in a negative way. However, I have found that
many gays and lesbians do not share my opinion on the subject and are quick to
dismiss its use, or worse, utilize it as well.

Some gay men
feel that those who object to the use of “gay” as a negative should “man up”
and “deal with it.” They argue that taking offense at the use of such slang is
a sign of weakness and that it should not only be accepted but also used in
return. While I can appreciate the logic behind the attitude of fighting fire
with fire, this approach seems like it does more harm than good because it
ignores the damage that this type of speech can cause and validates its use as
well.

Then there’s
the alternative opinion, which suggests gays and lesbians should simply ignore
homophobic slang and not “make a fuss,” especially when it is used by young
children. I was recently shocked when Sean, the 8-year-old son of my friend
Eric and his partner, Chris, described a television show he hated as “gay.” I
can understand that an 8-year-old is going to use the same vocabulary and slang
as his peers, but I was unprepared when his father completely ignored the
comment. “Don’t you think it’s inappropriate for him to describe things that
way?” I asked.

“He doesn’t
mean it in a bad way,” Eric replied. “It’s just the way kids talk these days.
Chris and I don’t have a problem with it. Besides, we don’t want to be
oversensitive to this kind of stuff with Sean.”

Was I being
oversensitive? Eric had a point. I couldn’t deny that using “gay” as a negative
had found its way into popular culture, and Sean was just a kid, but he wasn’t
the person I had a problem with. I had a hard time with the ease with which my
friend accepted his son’s choice of words. Rather than being dismissed,
shouldn’t such behavior be met with education? Apparently my friend, a gay
parent, didn't think so. He was content to believe that his son didn’t mean any
harm, but does his assumed meaning excuse the use of language that demeans a
group of people? And furthermore, doesn’t ignoring homophobic slang only serve
to endorse it?

As children,
many of us are taught to believe words cannot harm us, but the reality is words
are powerful and can cause a great deal of damage. Using “gay” as a negative to
describe anything might seem harmless, but what kind of damage can this type of
slang have on a young boy struggling with his sexuality or one still forming
his view of gays and lesbians? In the fight for equality, can the LGBT
community afford a cavalier attitude toward hate speech that attempts to fly
under the radar?


SOURCE: GAY DOT NET

IN THE LIFE: PERPETUATING STIMGA

The United States has more laws criminalizing HIV
exposure and transmission than any other country in the world. Stigma and fear
often motivate criminal prosecutions, and the results can be devastating.

Women, HIV & Criminal Law

IN THE LIFE investigates the injustices that arise when a person’s
HIV status becomes a crime, with a special report on how women have been
stigmatized and prosecuted under these laws.

The Impact of Legalizing Stigma

Our 2011 report, Legalizing
Stigma, was the first to look at the issue of HIV criminalization from the
perspective of people targeted by criminal laws. The segment led public
education efforts, beginning with the first ever Congressional Briefing on this
issue.

Rose v. Cahee: HIV Discrimination in Medical Care

When Melody Rose was
diagnosed with gallbladder disease, her doctor told her she’d have to find
someone else to treat it. The reason: Rose is HIV positive.

A VALENTINE'S FOR HOMOPHOBES

Roses are red, violets are blue. Got a problem with gay
marriage? What the f*ck’s wrong with you!” That how the Snarky Drag Queen
Bride kicks off this awesome video titled “A Valentine’s For Homophobes”
by the FCK H8 campaign.
With the hashtag #OccupyValentines, the video speaks to people who “R Cool
w/ STR8s Divorcing but Say GAYS Will Destroy Marriage!”

So how does this campaign help support gay marriage (aside
from the great messaging)? FCKH8.com will
give 5¢ for every Facebook “Share” & Twitter tweet of this video – up to
$5,000 – to http://H8Sux.com,
a project that will give thousands of free “OK4U2BGAY” T-shirts to school kids
to fight bullies, suicide and H8 in schools! FCKH8.com has raised
over $250,000 for the fight for equal rights through T-shirt sales! Tees start
at $9.99. Get yours at http://FCKH8.com!

Watch the video below, get a t-shirt, and tweet away the
homophobes!

GLAAD TO CNN: ¡FIRE ROLAND MARTIN FOR ANTI-GAY COMMENTS!

CNN commentator Roland Martin made it a not-so-super Sunday
with a tweet and a Facebook posting widely perceived to be homophobic, and the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has called on the network to fire
him.

GLAAD
reports that after retailer H&M’s Super Bowl commercial featuring soccer
player David Beckham, Martin tweeted to his nearly 95,000 Twitter followers,
“If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M
underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl.”

In
response, GLAAD wrote, “@rolandsmartin Advocates of gay bashing have no place
at @CNN #SuperBowl #LGBT.” Martin replied that GLAAD was “way off base” and
suggested that his tweet was a joke about soccer fans, not gays.

Earlier
in the day, he had posted on his Facebook fan page, “Who the hell was that New
England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a
visit from #teamwhipdatass.”

GLAAD
reports that Martin has a history of antigay statements, noting that he
defended comedian Tracy Morgan’s homophobic stand-up performance (for which
Morgan has apologized) and boasts on his website that his wife “has counseled
many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle.”

In
a message on its website, GLAAD concludes, “Martin’s tweets today advocating
violence against gay people weren’t an accident — they are a part of a larger
pattern for Martin. Anti-gay violence in America is a serious problem facing
millions of Americans. It’s no joke. CNN should fire Roland Martin.” The
organization asks supporters to sign a petition to that effect. For more
information click here.

SOURCE: THE ADVOCATE

Do
you think GLAAD is going too far? 

Should Roland Martin be fired?

IN THE LIFE: "FIRST CLASS CITIZENS"

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of equality, IN THE LIFE looks back at how LGBT rights intersect with the broader movement for civil
rights in this country. Revisiting the first gay rights protests, the gay men
of color who joined the Million Man March and the first openly gay federal
judge, we celebrate those who stood up and spoke out for full LGBT equality.

Gay Pioneers IN THE LIFE remembers the pioneering activism
started by two of the earliest gay rights organizers: Frank Kameny and Barbara
Gittings.

A Day In The Life of Honorable Judge Deborah A. Batts

The Honorable
Deborah Batts became the country's first openly gay federal judge in 1994.

A Conversation With... Jonathan Capehart & Julian Bond

Pulitzer
Prize-winning Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart speaks with former NAACP
chairman Julian Bond about the intersection of gay rights and civil rights.