Daily Archives: July 6, 2015
Rep. Steve King Wants Congress to Denounce Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling
Rep. Steve King Wants Congress to Denounce Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling
The right-wing Iowa Rep. wants Congress to vote on the matter, even though such a resolution would have no practical effect.
Trudy Ring
Amber Heard encourages other celebrities to come out
Amber Heard encourages other celebrities to come out
It was nearly five years ago that actress Amber Heard came out publicly as bisexual.
Since then, she’s gotten married her The Rum Diary leading man Johnny Depp and continued to work in films including Machete Kills, The Adderall Diaries and the current release Magic Mike XXL.
Heard, 29, doesn’t regret her earlier candor while attending a GLAAD event in Los Angeles in 2010 because she was being true to herself.
‘I don’t want to have to deny my sexuality in order to be me,’ Heard tells The Times of London. ‘But I don’t want to have to be defined by it. I’m fundamentally opposed to trying to edit myself to be palatable or popular. I don’t give a f**k. I fight, but I shouldn’t have to.’
Heard believes other celebrities should come out as well whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Here’s why: ‘I personally think that if you deny something or if you hide something you’re inadvertently admitting it’s wrong.’
Heard worked with Magic Mike XXL writers to write her character in the film about male strippers as bisexual even though ‘my character’s function has nothing to do with her sexuality.’
‘It’s a film about men seeking sexual attention,’ she says. ‘It gives the power position to women.’
The post Amber Heard encourages other celebrities to come out appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
www.gaystarnews.com/article/amber-heard-encourages-other-celebrities-to-come-out/
Raymond Braun and Matthew Dempsey on Shirtless Selfies and Navigating the Friend Zone: VIDEO
Raymond Braun and Matthew Dempsey on Shirtless Selfies and Navigating the Friend Zone: VIDEO
In two new videos vlogger Raymond Braun and psychologist Matthew Dempsey discuss the danger of the shirtless selfie and how to navigate ‘friend-zoning.’
In the first video, Dempsey warns that allowing your social media feeds to become filled with sexy shirtless selfies may have deleterious consequences:
“If I’m constantly seeing that in my news feed what am I constantly, consistently reinforcing to myself? That this is what matters and this is what makes people valuable.”
Braun added that while, “we do appreciate a shirtless selfie we’re just saying that shouldn’t be every photo.” Or as Dempsey put it, “We appreciate a pint of ice cream but we don’t need to eat it every night.”
Dig into the dangers of the shirtless selfie below:
In a second video the duo talked about friendships between gay men, in particular how to ‘friend-zone’ someone you met romantically. Dempsey’s advice is to the point:
Guess what, you’re probably not going to have the perfect way of saying it because that doesn’t exist. All that we can ever do is just make sure that we’re coming from a very kind place and a very loving place and have that intention set within us. Beyond that we have to surrender any expectation or need to control how they’re going to feel about it.
If you however find yourself on the other end and are being friend-zoned, Dempsey suggests honesty is the best way to go. If you wouldn’t be comfortable being friends with someone you have feelings for, say so.
Listen in on the discussion below:
The post Raymond Braun and Matthew Dempsey on Shirtless Selfies and Navigating the Friend Zone: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
Towleroad
Raymond Braun and Matthew Dempsey on Shirtless Selfies and Navigating the Friend Zone: VIDEO
President Obama Calls for LGBT National Holiday
President Obama Calls for LGBT National Holiday
If the president gets his way, LGBT Americans would be formally recognized with a federal holiday for the first time, with June 26 as National Equality Day.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/pride/2015/07/06/president-obama-calls-lgbt-national-holiday
What Evan Wolfson and Marriage Equality Have Done for the People Who Despise Them
What Evan Wolfson and Marriage Equality Have Done for the People Who Despise Them
At a moment when Marriage Equality has become national law, albeit by the slimmest of margins, (and, thank you Justice Kennedy), LGBTQI folk and our allies would be moronic not to realize how harrowing is this decision for millions who don’t share our belief in what is now deemed to be a Constitutionally guaranteed right. Revolted by their visualizations of what same-sex unions mean, and haunted by unreal notions, including that we will soon agitate for the freedom to marry dogs, they spin their wheels in an effort to comprehend what has happened to a country they thought they understood as one explicitly defined by the Bible.
In fact, what “the father of marriage equality” Evan Wolfson and his colleague, Mark Solomon, (among others who worked at Freedom to Marry) have done is to make the nation stronger. Though our adversaries don’t yet realize it, this transformation of consciousness will be perceived much in the same light as the 1919 law granting women the right to vote. Or the momentous Civil Rights — and Voting Rights — legislation which LBJ passed, thereby enfranchising African Americans. Both advances were epochal; both had been met with stout resistance; in both cases, the losing side bewailed the future of the United States, as previously received.
As previously received….
Therein lies their fallacy and the same blunder which opponents of Marriage Equality make today. For in these movements towards “a more perfect union” postulated by the Constitution, the Republic and its people make actual progress. In the process, of course, old givens are recycled; that which was known — a received wisdom, oftentimes never questioned — are subjected to new inquiry. It is the never-ending quality of regeneration at the heart of the American Experiment: our willingness to start over, to cast aside the unworthy or the unworkable and put our shoulders to the wheel in the service of a finer and more compassionate Whole. And this is the very essence of healthy democracy.
One side doesn’t necessarily have to degrade or shame the other for being tardy. As Lao Tze wrote 2500 years ago, “If one leads, another must follow.” It is the law of Nature; it’s also human nature — to grow and stretch, expand and put aside the archaic in favor of what meets the reality of the Present.
This is where we are as a People: in the Present.
The gift which Evan Wolfson, Mark Solomon and their colleagues at Freedom to Marry bestowed upon the nation is to help harness a huge and still-expanding recognition of humanness. And human diversity. In its way, it is as stunning an achievement as the Emancipation Proclamation or the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education. As a civil people, we have the right to expect leaders to lead; legislators to legislate; and courts to rule. This is the usually difficult, oftentimes infuriating, way in which our system plays out. That some will bridle is to be expected. But, in due course, they certainly will come to appreciate that what makes us truly strong isn’t our weaponry. Our power — true power — lies in our character. Some may call it virtue. I do. But in leading us to this wider embrace of our own citizens, irrespective of superficial differences, the patriots who ushered this issue forward brought us into the moment, reminded us of whom, and what, we are and renewed our collective sense of Self.
They are heroes.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Obama declaring National Equality Day? It’s not happening
Obama declaring National Equality Day? It’s not happening
It seems like a lovely idea but no, President Barack Obama has not declared 26 June to be National Equality Day.
The report quickly spread Monday (6 July) after USA Today and several LGBTI sites picked up a week old story from the satirical site National Report which also currently has a story posted claiming Donald Trump has been named goodwill ambassador to Mexico.
The false story quoted Obama as saying: ‘I will be urging congress to honor the LGBT community with a federal holiday, until then I will issue by executive order declaring June 26th, 2016 National Equality Day.’
The bogus story was quickly revealed as false by the site Joe. My. God.
June 26 is the day last month when the US Supreme Court made same-sex legal in all 50 US states. It was also on that day two years earlier when the high court gutted the Defense of Marriage Act and allowed the overturning of California’s Proposition 8.
There is a Change.org petition touting a National Equality Day but it has so far failed to catch fire with less than 150 signatures as of Monday.
The post Obama declaring National Equality Day? It’s not happening appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
www.gaystarnews.com/article/obama-declaring-national-equality-day-its-not-happening/
Oregon Creates First of Its Kind LGBT Veterans Liaison Position
Oregon Creates First of Its Kind LGBT Veterans Liaison Position
There are an estimated 15,000 LGBT veterans in Oregon. The coordinator will be available to serve each of them, regardless of their discharge status.
HRC.org
Three NFL Players Got Naked For ESPN Mag’s ‘Body Issue’ And Here Is The Video
Three NFL Players Got Naked For ESPN Mag’s ‘Body Issue’ And Here Is The Video
ESPN Magazine’s annual “Body Issue” is certainly delivering the goods for 2015. Earlier the magazine leaked photos of Stan Wawrinka flashing his baseline, and now they’ve released video of the photo shoot with three offensive linemen from the Indianapolis Colts — Jack Mewhort, Todd Herremans, and Anthony Castonzo — showing some serious thigh meat.
Posing in the Body Issue is a major accomplishment for athletes, as it features some of the biggest big-name professional sportsters showing off the muscles they earned after years of training. All the nakedness is certainly a thrill to see, but really the photos are a celebration of the physicality it takes to be at the top of your game; and because each athlete’s game is different, their bodies have achieved unique shapes for what they need. The results are refreshingly imperfect, unique, and dare we say it, sexy. Yeah we said it. Big, hairy menfolk getting nekkid with each other is sexy.
After watching the video below of The Three Bears flexing au naturel, revisit one of our favorites, the 2012 issue with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Goodness, how those “tight end” jokes linger in a situation like this.
Dan Renzi
News: Texas, Confederate Flag, Frank Ocean, Superman
News: Texas, Confederate Flag, Frank Ocean, Superman
> Texans reportedly fear an Obama-led invasion (insert Michelle Obama SMH + eyeroll here).
> While gay marriage continues to win, is abortion losing?
> Princess Charlotte of Cambridge was baptized Sunday.
> Hugh Jackman’s wife won’t let him work with Angelina Jolie.
> South Carolina Senate votes again to remove the Confederate flag. Two votes down, one to go.
> Male Model Monday: Sacha M’Baye.
> James Bond the musical?
> Work-unfriendly photos of queer couples in the bedroom.
> A record 25.4 million viewers watched the Women’s World Cup Final.
> And this may have been the best fan in the audience of said game.
> President Obama aims to step up the fights against ISIS but won’t commit more American troops.
> Miguel has some fighting words for Frank Ocean.
> Unearthed footage shows beefy Nicholas Cage trying on a sample Superman suit for a Tim Burton reboot that was never to be.
> Were these quotes said about desegregation or same-sex marriage?
> Is this real life secret society the key to unraveling True Detective season 2.
> Live updates on what’s happening with Greece’s debt crisis after 60% of the country voted to reject a bailout.
> Heath Ledger’s homophobic gay uncle inspired his Brokeback Mountain character.
> Meet Spencer Boldman and his abs.
The post News: Texas, Confederate Flag, Frank Ocean, Superman appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
