Speak Out for the Millions of Americans Affected by the FDA’s Discriminatory Blood Donation Policy
Send a letter to the FDA on why its blood donation policy falls short and how it can be revised to meet the goal all of us share – keeping America’s blood supply safe.
HRC.org
These Transgender Working Girls Are Out For Vengence In Hollywood
It’s Christmas eve in Hollywood. Do you know where your pimp is? In director Sean Baker’s sizzling, manic new film Tangerine (shot on an iPhone and opening in select theaters this Friday), trans working girl Sin-Dee (newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back in Hollywood after her unfortunate incarceration and upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend (James Ransone, The Wire) hasn’t been faithful while she was in the slammer, Sin and her best gal pal, Alexandra (newcomer Mya Taylor), hit the mean streets of Tinseltown to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor.
Check back later in the week for our interview with Baker and watch an exclusive clip (some NSFW language) below.
Jeremy Kinser
Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO
A transgender widow in Texas is still fighting to have her marriage (above) to her late husband recognized, even after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down same-sex marriage bans in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Nikki Araguz Loyd’s husband, Thomas Araguz III, was a volunteer firefighter who was killed in the line of duty in 2010. Shortly after his death, Thomas Araguz’s mother and former wife — Simona Longoria and Heather Delgado — sued Araguz Loyd, seeking to block her from collecting death benefits because she’s transgender. They argued that because Araguz Loyd was born male, the marriage was void under the state’s same-sex marriage ban. This was despite the fact that Araguz Loyd had been living as a woman since she was a teenager, and that both her California birth certificate and her Texas driver’s license were updated to reflect her gender identity.
The case has dragged on for more than five years. In 2011, a district judge granted summary judgment to Longoria and Delgado, before an appeals court overturned that decision and remanded the case for trial. Longoria and Delgado appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, where the case is pending.
Araguz Loyd said she believes now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of nationwide marriage equality, she’ll prevail and collect approximately $700,000 in death benefits. The only argument put forth by Longoria and Delgado has been that Araguz Loyd isn’t entitled to death benefits because it was a same-sex marriage.
From The Texas Observer:
“I’ll celebrate when I have finality, when I know that my fight is truly over, because while we do have marriage equality, there is still pending litigation disputing the validity of the marriage of a trans person based on it being a same-sex marriage, so we don’t completely have marriage equality in Texas yet, but we will,” said Araguz Loyd, who has since remarried. …
Kevin Parker, an attorney for Longoria and Delgado, confirmed he plans to keep fighting and still hopes the Texas Supreme Court will hear the case.
“There’s the issue regarding whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision can affect a marriage, if it existed at all, that ended years before the decision came out,” Parker said. “There’s definitely a potential effect to the U.S. Supreme Court decision, and it does mean we have a higher hill to climb, but it’s still going to go on until the Texas Supreme Court says otherwise.”
Araguz Loyd was the stepmother of Thomas Araguz’s two children, but she’s been unable to see them since his death. However, she told me she is preparing to adopt the two children of her new husband, contemporary artist William Loyd (above right). Araguz Loyd also runs the National Transgender Alliance.
Watch a report on the case, including an interview with Araguz, below.
The post Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
John Wright
Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO
The Potato Eater: A Gripping New Read by Best-Selling Author Alison Leslie Gold
Alison Leslie Gold, the international best selling author of Remembering Anne Frank, has made a name for herself by not shying away from controversial, raw material.
In her new novella, The Potato Eater, she does not disappoint.
From an audio tape made in 1977 in New York City: “I was 16 when I was arrested for corrupting the morals of soldiers and sailors, blocking a public doorway, and disturbing the peace. In prison I began to grow up and learn. I learned how to pick pockets, how to open five kinds of safes, how to forge checks, how to work second story, how to boost. We’d practice there. I learned all the necessary things to spend 20 more years in different prisons. Riker’s Island was my Junior High School. Sing Sing and Dannemora State were my High Schools. The chain gang and Leavenworth were my colleges.
Immediately I had ‘Homosexual, Degenerate, Cock Sucker’ stamped on my records so I was rarely in population with the rest of the men. I was kept in segregation with junkie queens, wino queens, booster queens, prick peddlers, drag queens and some men who just preferred to be in the homo block where they were adored and given sexual comfort. Life in segregation with those mad sissies was like being caged with a mass of mad, screaming peacocks.”
Padric McGarry was the surviving twin born in 1925 to the unwed 15-year-old daughter of Irish immigrants. Raped at the age of 7 by an older boy, he learned early during his Bronx childhood to use his wits and good looks to hustle and steal at every opportunity. He eventually did time in twenty prisons across the US, where McGarry improved his criminal skills and snatched moments of comfort with Miss Scarlet and other queens in the “Homo Blocks.”
The Potato Eater is an unsentimental biography that offers a stark, unembroidered view of the intersection of gay and prison cultures. For this unapologetic and often darkly comical account of a rootless life at the bottom of the heap, award-winning author Alison Leslie Gold drew on interviews she made with McGarry in the 1970s, as well as his letters and his own notes. McGarry died, with two years of sobriety, in a halfway house in San Diego in 1982.
“I read ‘The Potato Eater’ in shocked bursts, yet could not stay away from the next word, next paragraph. Padric is so far from anyone that I have known, he, or I, might as well be from a different planet. Alison Leslie Gold has made me realize how protected, and fortunate, I have been. Padric was awesome to have survived, and thrived, in his raw street-wise world. And it takes an awesome writer to present Padric in all his unvarnished grit as a likable and very human individual.” — Gail Vanderhoof
Buy the book here on Amazon.com | Read Alison Leslie Gold’s blog | More about The Potato Eater
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Observatory Gardens, Kensington, London
At the heart of London’s most prestigious postcode, this studio apartment offers high-end living with an air of sophistication.
Located on the lower ground floor of a beautifully kept Georgian house, the flat’s layout makes clever use of all available space.
The kitchen area, although separate from the main room, creates the impression of an open plan arrangement; white fronts and effectively used lights make the kitchen feel more spacious.
The kitchen’s white fronts offer copious storage space.
A period fireplace takes up center stage in the lounge area, making the flat feel homey and invites residents to curl up on the sofa and relax.
Wooden flooring contributes to the flat’s warmth while also serving as a reminder of the property’s past.
A small alcove partly separates the bed from the main room, offering extra privacy.
Sitting in a small alcove off the side, the bedroom area is not visible upon entering the flat; without being fully separated from the main room, it benefits from an added element of privacy.
In the bathroom, cream furnishings and dark tiles are keep in line with the apartment’s simple elegance and low-key color scheme, but it still offers the same level of high quality interiors.
The bathroom’s dark tiles stand in an elegant contrast against the cream furnishings.
A porter service and allocated safe parking spaces offer security.
Located close to Notting Hill Gate and High Street Kensington Underground Stations, Observatory Gardens benefits from transport links into the suburbs as well as deeper into Central London.
Kensington Palace, its gardens and Hyde Park are a short walk away, as are all other amenities this fashionable district has to offer.
Priced at £650,000 (€919,455, $1,010,842) the property is sold through Knight Frank.
The post Observatory Gardens, Kensington, London appeared first on Gay Star News.
Stefanie Gerdes
www.gaystarnews.com/article/observatory-gardens-kensington-london/
Hot Republican Clerk Happily Issues Same-Sex Marriage Licenses In Antigay Texas County
Meet Russ Towers. He’s the only openly gay county clerk in the entire state of Texas and the first out official in Lamar County. He’s also, wait for it, a Republican.
Gasp!
“I’m pretty sure there have been whispers behind my back,” he recently told the Texas Observer, “but one thing life has given me is very thick skin, and I’m not offended or my feelings don’t get hurt very easily.”
While some stubborn Texas clerks are still refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, 39-year-old Towers began happily marrying same-sex couples the instant same-sex marriage was made legal on June 26.
“For me, it was very surreal, because it was something that I never thought I would see in my lifetime,” he said, “but to be on the other side of the counter, to be the one issuing, made it especially special for me. It was probably one of the proudest moments and days that I’ve ever had professionally.”
When asked about his colleagues who continue to deny marriage licenses to gay couples, Towers replied, “It makes me sad. We’re all clerks, and we all take the same oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, the laws of the United States and of the state, and that doesn’t apply to do just some people or the lifestyles with which you agree.”
Word!
Towers is up for re-election next year, but he’s not too concerned about a Republican primary challenger using his sexual orientation against him.
“I’m not going to put too much worry into it,” he said, “because I’m not about to go changing who I am or altering who I am or try to hide who I am in order to just win an election.”
“I am out, and nothing will ever change that. I suppose that could make some people uncomfortable, but I think most people who are active voters can recognize the changes that I made as an elections administrator to improve their voting experience, and maybe that will be enough to sway them to trust me in the job that I do as county clerk.”
Graham Gremore
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/1ijUBaxaG0k/county-hero-20150706
Gay YouTubers React To Crazy Christian Lady’s Anti-Gay Marriage Rant: WATCH
In a new video posted late last week, Gay YouTubers react to the now-infamous video of a crazy Christian lady losing it over SCOTUS’ gay marriage ruling. Their reactions perfectly pinpoint what is both hilarious and heartbreaking about the original video.
Arielle Scarcella asks, “Why is she in tears like it’s directly effecting her. Is it?” As for Becky Wegner Rommel’s quick pivot to a diatribe about Mohammed, PK Creedon says what we all were thinking: “That was out of nowhere.”
As for Becky’s supposedly representing the Christian community, Creedon and his fiancé Mike are in fact both Christian and have some choice words for Rommel calling out supporters of equality as being somehow less Christian. Mike said, “It’s frustrating because you’re treating me like less of a human being just because you don’t live the same life I live.”
While Becky’s rant highlights the crazy beliefs of fundamentalist wing-nuts it’s also unintentionally hilarious. Becky’s video is “the type of video that makes you feel fabulous, just for doing you,” as Mike Rizzi points out.
Watch these gay YouTubers share their priceless reactions to Becky’s insanity, below:
The post Gay YouTubers React To Crazy Christian Lady’s Anti-Gay Marriage Rant: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
Gay YouTubers React To Crazy Christian Lady’s Anti-Gay Marriage Rant: WATCH
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