Rogério Sottili: SP será mais acolhedora para estrangeiros e LGBT
O secretário municipal de Direitos Humanos e Cidadania, Rogério Sottili, faz um balanço das políticas públicas para 2015, com destaque para estrangeiros e LGBT.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Savage: Parents of Trans Teen Who Ended Life Should Be Prosecuted
Savage: Parents of Trans Teen Who Ended Life Should Be Prosecuted
Columnist Dan Savage has harsh words for the parents of Leelah Alcorn.
Neal Broverman
St. Louis Musician Files Lawsuit Claiming He Was Discriminated Against Because His Partner is a Black Man
St. Louis Musician Files Lawsuit Claiming He Was Discriminated Against Because His Partner is a Black Man
Musician and teacher James Mounsey has sued the St. Louis Irish Arts Center (SLIA), citing discrimination. Specifically, the suit says “defendants began to discriminate against [Mounsey]…because his partner is a black man.”
The SLIA is an official member of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, the international organization that promotes traditional Irish arts and culture. Mounsey’s lawsuit points to the rules of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, which he claims were violated by other SLIA employees, who undermined and discriminated against him on the basis of his same-sex relationship.
Specifically implicated in the lawsuit is SLIA director Helen Gannon. Mounsey says Gannon once told him: “you [Mounsey] have made some grave decisions very, very quickly which will affect every aspect of your life flaunting them and forcing us to accept them which will have consequences out of your control.”
Gannon denies having made these statements, saying “teachers were discouraged from bringing dates to work,“ but that otherwise, Mounsey’s claims are false.
With his lawsuit, Mounsey has provided a letter he sent to Gannon, resigning due to a “discriminatory atmosphere” in the workplace. In December 2013, while on a trip to his native Ireland, Mounsey was told via letter that he was “no longer affiliated with SLIA.”
Jake Folsom
www.towleroad.com/2015/01/st-louis-musician-sues-for-discrimination-1.html
Landmark ruling for same-sex couples in FL / LGBT, Florida
Landmark ruling for same-sex couples in FL / LGBT, Florida
Landmark ruling for same-sex couples in FL A federal judge broke down one of the final barriers for same-sex couples seeking a marriage license in Florida. Joy Reid talks with Stratton Pollitzer,…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT9tKx2MvQs&feature=youtube_gdata
Of Rose Parades, Racism and Marriage Equality
Of Rose Parades, Racism and Marriage Equality
I grew up quite literally around the corner from the Rose Parade. It was so much a part of my growing up that I don’t even remember the first time I went. And so it’s entirely possible I was part of crowd gathered along Colorado Boulevard in 1958 – the year Joan Williams did not ride in the Rose Parade.
The story was widely reported over the last few weeks. Ms. Williams was “Miss Crown City 1958” – chosen by judges to represent Pasadena city employees at a variety of ceremonial occasions, including the Rose Parade. But that didn’t happen. “Once they learned I was African American, I wasn’t the person they wanted representing the city,” Williams said. And in 1958, Pasadena’s solution to the “problem” of Joan Williams was to not have a float in the Rose Parade at all that year.
Seriously. That’s how far one city would go in 1958 to keep from including an African American in the Rose Parade: just opt out all together.
That arc of history we’re told is long but bends toward justice bent just a little further yesterday when Joan Williams road on the banner float leading the 2015 Rose Parade down Colorado Boulevard – a float entitled “Inspiring Stories.” Having received what she described as a “heartfelt” letter of apology from Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, Williams accepted the invitation from Tournament of Roses officials to ride this year.
“I want to honor the community and especially the African-American community who were so vocal about feeling the city needed to make an apology,” she said in a Pasadena Star News article. She said it was an especially poignant moment amid all of the protests around the country and the slogan “black lives matter.” She said she believed it was a sign that the city wants to move forward.
Ironically, I read Joan Williams’ story in the same newsfeed as I read this one from Florida. Three Florida courthouses will no longer perform weddings after gay marriages ruled constitutional. “The decision by Duval, Clay and Baker counties comes after Judge Robert Hinkle announced Wednesday that any court refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses would be in violation of the U.S. Constitution. In an effort to avoid the situation altogether, the officials for the counties say they will no longer hold wedding ceremonies for anyone.”
Seriously. That’s how far three counties will go in 2015 to keep from treating gay and lesbian couples with the same respect and dignity offered to their straight neighbors. Yet another illustration of how far we have yet to go until “liberty and justice for all” really means “all.”
And let me just add – as a priest and pastor – that the time worn “it violates my beliefs” argument being advanced by Florida county clerks is plumb worn out.
Because here’s the deal: The First Amendment protects your right to believe absolutely anything you choose to about what God blesses or doesn’t bless; intends or doesn’t intend; is present or is absent in … up to and including whether there is a God at all. What it does NOT protect is your right to confuse what you believe with what the Constitution protects. And again and again and again the highest courts in the land have agreed that the equal protection guaranteed all Americans is not equal protection unless it equally protects all Americans equally.
Yes, we are still on a journey toward making that dream of liberty and justice for all not just a pledge we make to our flag but a reality we live in our nation. And next week — when same-sex couples start getting married in Florida — we will be a little closer to that goal.
And in a decade or two – or five or six – when those who shamefully decided that the solution to the “problem” of same-sex couples who want to love, honor and cherish each other until death do they part is to not hold wedding ceremonies for anybody come to their senses and issue an apology I hope it’s as “heartfelt” as the one the Mayor of Pasadena offered to Joan Williams. And I hope it doesn’t take 58 years.
Happy New Year.
Disturbing Video Catches Antigay Hate Crime In Atlanta
Disturbing Video Catches Antigay Hate Crime In Atlanta
“As we were walking up, a car started following slowly behind us. It was a BMW honking its horn. It was just making us uncomfortable really,” the boyfriend of the victim of an anti-gay hate crime in Atlanta recounts to the GA Voice.
The couple had just had dinner at popular gay-owned restaurant Campagnolo and were on their way to get desert at Cafe Intermezzo when the incident began.
They ignored the car’s honks, but the suspects inside started calling them faggots, and one hopped out and assaulted the victim, pushing him into oncoming traffic.
“I didn’t know what happened at that time, all I know is [the victim] is in the street,” the boyfriend says. “It all happened so fast. He was yelling ‘I’m a Mexican! I’m a Mexican!’ which makes no sense. He was pumping his chest.”
The attack was caught on nearby security cameras, and thanks to the boyfriend’s cell phone video, police have identified the car the suspects were driving in.
Unfortunately, police haven’t made solid headway on identifying the suspect, a development that frustrates the couple.
“We were told they talked to the guy and they said he doesn’t know the passenger, and that he picked the guy up on one block and dropped him off on another,” the boyfriend says. “It’s crazy to me saying, ‘I don’t know the passenger in my car who beat up that guy.’ It’s just crazy, I don’t believe it.”
The Atlanta Police Department’s official statement is:
“The suspect has not been identified at this time,” said APD spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy. “We do not know with certainty that the parties knew each other or had just met. We ask that anyone with information to please call CRIME STOPPERS Atlanta. 404-577-TIPS.”
Below are the two videos taken during the attack:
h/t GA Voice
Dan Tracer
News: Tom Hardy, North Korea, Bono, Chick-fil-A, Sarah Palin
News: Tom Hardy, North Korea, Bono, Chick-fil-A, Sarah Palin
The AP looks at California’s new law requiring large utility companies to report how much they spend with LGBT contractors.
Tom Hardy covers EMPIRE magazine as Mad Max.
The U.S. has tightened sanctions on North Korea in retaliation for the Sony cyberattack.
Neurosurgeon and longtime homophobe Dr. Ben Carson says he’ll make a decision on a 2016 White House bid “in a few months”.
Zoe Saldana rang in the new year with the arrival of twin baby boys.
The Atlanta Police Department has appointed a new LGBT liaison officer – C. J. Murphy. With any luck Officer Murphy will help ensure the police department is using every available resource to properly investigate the recent anti-gay hate crime that has gone unsolved.
The 5 biggest political questions of 2015.
This week, an Illinois man who wrecked his Ford Thunderbird back in 1963 removed a seven-inch turn signal that had been unknowingly embedded in his arm for over five decades.
Bono says he may never play guitar again after his biking accident in November.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt got secretly hitched to longtime girlfriend Tasha McCauley just before Christmas.
After a one year trial run without God, former Seventh-Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell has decided to stay an atheist, saying: “I think before, I wanted a closer relationship to God, and today I just want a closer relationship with reality”.
A 23-year-old mentally ill Florida man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he decapitated his mother with an ax following a disagreement about chores.
The cutest celebrity families to follow in 2015.
Sarah Palin under fire for posting photo of son Trig using their “lazy dog” as a “stepping stone”.
Chick-fil-A is investigating a possible credit card data breach, so if you’ve eaten any of the hate chicken in recent months you might want to keep an eye on your bank account statement.
Kyler Geoffroy
LGBT-owned businesses get diversity boost – Washington Post
LGBT-owned businesses get diversity boost – Washington Post
LGBT-owned businesses get diversity boost – Washington Post.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7eudoAxGE&feature=youtube_gdata
Muscle Man Explains Why “Fat Sex” Is The Best Sex And Chubby Chasing Is “As Good As It Gets”
Muscle Man Explains Why “Fat Sex” Is The Best Sex And Chubby Chasing Is “As Good As It Gets”
Dan and his real-life partner Trevor
“‘Chubby chasing’ is as good as it gets,” muscle man Dan Oliverio explains in a new interview with the Huffington Post. “That contrast of body types in bed can be totally hot.”
At 6 feet and 225 pounds and with the ability to bench press 350, Oliverio is a fitness nut who could have his pick of men.
His preference? Chubby guys. In fact, the chubbier the better.
“I grew up living next door to a gay couple and lived in an arts dorm in college,” Oliverio says. “I’ve always been around gay people. … But I never wanted to hop in bed with one or put my dick up his ass, so I figured I wasn’t gay. I took years to figure out that fat made such a big difference in my sexuality.”
Oliverio believes that many gay men are closet chubby chasers, but they deny their desires for meatier men because of the stigma surrounding fat.
“Many other guys fight against it or think of fucking a fat guy as a guilty pleasure or, worse, a dirty secret,” he says. “Again, the stigma of fat.”
He knows this because he was once one of those men. For Oliverio, accepting that he was attracted to chubby guys took time.
“It took several long-term relationships that didn’t work out to show me just how important that physical aspect was,” he says. “I didn’t dump my ex because he wasn’t fat enough. Actually, he started the break-up process because he said that he didn’t feel like I was attracted to him.”
Surprisingly, because of his devilish good looks and near perfect physique, Oliverio says he can have trouble meeting chubby guys to date.
“Ever try to cruise a guy and have him ignore you and face the wall?” he says. “Lots of hot fat guys won’t even make eye contact with me, which makes it very hard to assess interest.”
But when he does meet a chubby guy and the two of them go out on dates together, it always brings him great satisfaction.
“When I’m out with a huge guy and we’re holding hands, people don’t care that much. If anything, they smile,” he explains. “Sometimes they even say, ‘You guys are such cute couple.’ I think it’s because deep down people want to believe that there really is someone for everyone. Maybe seeing a muscle hunk with a huge fat guy gives people hope.”
h/t: Leon Acord, Huffington Post
Related stories:
PHOTOS: Husky Hunks Prove That Sexy Comes In Every Size
Science Confirms The Bigger The Belly, The Better The Lover
PHOTOS: Forget The Six Pack, These Sexy Men With Bellies Leave Us Hungry For More
Graham Gremore
Marriage Equality Begins in Luxembourg
Marriage Equality Begins in Luxembourg
(photo credit: Claude Piscitelli)
Same-sex couples in Luxembourg were able to finally tie the knot yesterday after the country’s marriage equality law went into effect January 1. The country’s Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly approved of the law back in June – which also opened the door for gay couples to adopt children.
Luxembourg Wort reports Jean Paul Olinger and Henri Lorenzo Huber (pictured above) were the first same-sex couple to marry in the wealthy, landlocked Western European country. Wedding dates are also set in cities across the country such as Walferdange and Luxembourg City.
The country’s Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, is openly gay and announced in August his plans to marry his partner Gauthier Destenay.
More photos here.
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2015/01/marriage-equality-begins-in-luxembourg.html
