Anti-gay preacher Franklin Graham furious White House was lit in rainbow pride colors

It’s been more than a week since The White House was lit with rainbow colors to celebrate nationwide marriage equality.

But Franklin Graham is still fuming.

The president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was founded by his father in 1950, is blasting President Barack Obama for the 26 June gesture shortly after the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in all 50 US states.

‘He had the gall to disgrace the White House by lighting it up with the gay pride rainbow colors to celebrate,’ Graham wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday (7 July).

‘This is arrogantly flaunting sinful behavior in the face of Almighty God. My advice? He might want to have some extra lightning rods installed on the roof of the White House.’

Graham takes Obama to task for his relatively recent evolution on same-sex marriage.

‘A lot has changed in three short years!’ he writes. ‘Just three years ago, the President was on record as holding to the biblical definition of marriage. Now he can’t say enough about his support for the LGBT agenda.

Graham has made a series of anti-gay statements in recent years including his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime’s banning so-called ‘homosexual propaganda.’

He has also urged Christians to boycott LGBTI-friendly businesses, said gay marriage is sending the US ‘off a moral cliff,’ spoke out against gays being allowed in Boy Scouts and accused Marvel Comics of trying to brainwash young people into accepting a homosexual ‘lifestyle’ after a character in the popular comic book series X-Men was revealed to be gay.

The post Anti-gay preacher Franklin Graham furious White House was lit in rainbow pride colors appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/anti-gay-preacher-franklin-graham-furious-white-house-was-lit-in-rainbow-pride-colors/

PHOTOS: Truvada Takers Given #PrEPHeroes Treatment In Edgy, Sex-Positive Campaign

It’s been three years since Truvada as PrEP was approved in the United States, and since then there have been countless success stories shared by doctors, patients and health advocates praising the effectiveness of the once-daily pill to prevent HIV infection by as much as 92-99 percent.

There’s also been backlash — “it’s too expensive,” “people can’t be trusted to take a pill every day,” “it isn’t safe,” “it promotes sexual promiscuity,”  etc.

Related: Can Our Generation Stop HIV With A ‘Truvada Revolution?’ Vice Investigates.

But numerous major metro health departments from New York to SF to LA, as well as many AIDS organizations, see continued gains in educating those at risk of contracting the virus about Truvada and helping them gain access to the drug while linking them with testing, prevention education, and care.

In a recent campaign called #PrEPHeroes by Housing Works Community Healthcare, nine models currently taking Truvada were chosen and made over into edgy superheroes to draw focus to the benefit they’re providing their communities and themselves by ensuring they won’t spread HIV.

Notes art director Jack Mackenroth:

“The goal of the campaign is to portray these men as role models and as powerful individuals who are taking charge of their own defense against HIV. I love that they are depicted as bold, visionary ‘heroes.’ They are seizing control of their own sexual health and protecting others by stopping further HIV transmission. I hope that the stylish and provocative nature of the campaign will inspire others to share it on social media, participate with their own #PrEPHeroes photo, and instigate conversations about HIV prevention.”

Check out more of the photos, taken by Mike Ruiz, below:

Dan Tracer

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Arkansas County Clerk Calls On Clerks State-Wide To Refuse Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples 

A county clerk in Van Buren County, Arkansas is calling on all county clerks in the state to stand with her in defying the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage and refuse marriage licenses to any same-sex couples seeking them.

Arkansas Times reports:

Pam Bradford, the Van Buren County clerk, circulated this memo to all county clerks today announcing her intention to defy the U.S. Supreme Court and have her office refuse to issue marriage licenses.

She was out of the office when I called, but an employee confirmed the memo and said, as yet, no same-sex couples had presented themselves in the county to obtain a marriage license.

Bradford’s resistance is contrary to the position taken by both Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Even the anti-gay Family Council, which is promoting ways in which people opposed to marriage can avoid participation in the process, distributed the advice from another religious legal organization that the best means to avoid compliance is to have someone else who is willing to do the work do it in place of someone with objections. Bradford has taken this a step farther.

Bradford is a Republican and attends Shirley First Baptist Church according to her Facebook page. The clerk’s office is in Clinton.

Check out an image of the memo below:

[h/t Joe.My.God]

The post Arkansas County Clerk Calls On Clerks State-Wide To Refuse Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples  appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Arkansas County Clerk Calls On Clerks State-Wide To Refuse Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples 

Marriage Equality Victory in Puerto Rico

With today’s pro-equality ruling from the First Circuit Court of Appeals, same-sex marriages can begin in Puerto Rico on July 15, according to reports.

read more

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/07/08/marriage-equality-victory-puerto-rico

What Men Ages 5 To 50 Think 'Be A Man' Means
A powerful new video features 50 men between the ages of 5 and 50 opening up about what they think of when they hear the phrase “be a man.”

The many varied responses, put together by Cut Video, open up an important dialogue about changing cultural perceptions of masculinity. Many of the men featured either had negative associations with the phrase “be a man,” or thoughtfully explained why they think commanding someone to “be a man” is problematic or limiting.

“Misleading,” one 21-year-old said. “I’ve learned that being a man doesn’t mean to shut out your feelings — it’s to embrace them.”

“Who defines what a man is?” another 39-year-old respondent asked. “I mean, we all have to walk our own paths. What I consider to make me a man may not be what makes you a man.”

Taken as a whole, the responses provide some valuable insight about how idioms like “be a man” can reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate systems of violence, by shaping cultural expectations of behavior. When we raise boys who are constantly told to “man up” and “be a man,” it shapes and informs the way they handle their relationships — both with themselves and those around them.

Watch the full video above. Want to see more from Cut Video? Check out another word association project about the word “gay” here.

— 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.

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REVIEW: Seashore

Set on the wintry coast of southern Brazil, this is a slow-moving and poignant story about two school friends.

Martin (Mateus Almada) has been sent by his father to the beach-side town where Martin’s grandfather has recently passed away. Tomaz (Mauricio Barcellos) goes with him for company.

Alone together, secrets are shared and boundaries are tested.

Written and directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, this is a subtle approach to story-telling – allowing the characters to gradually reveal themselves and their narrative.

Heavy use of hand-held camera-work gives the scenes an immediacy and intimacy, lingering across the features of a face or the imperfections on skin.

Adolescence is confusing time, and Seashore embraces that with a very contemporary sensibility.

An intriguing glimpse into the not-so-sunny side of life in Brazil.

Seashore is distributed by Wolfe entertainment.

Seashore – Trailer from FilmBuff on Vimeo.

The post REVIEW: Seashore appeared first on Gay Star News.

Gareth Johnson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/review-seashore/

VIDEO: Gay Couple Denied Marriage License in Kentucky

This week, a humiliating video emerged of Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis denying a marriage license to David Moore and his partner of 17 years.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/video-gay-couple-denied-marriage-license-in-kentucky?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Texas Couple Finally Gets Marriage License From Homophobic Clerk Who Initially Denied Them

When Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton went to their local courthouse in Granbury, Texas, to get married last week, Hood County Clerk Katie Lang (not to be confused with lesbian singer-songwriter K.D. Lang) turned them away, citing religious objections.

Then she called the police to try and have the men removed from the building. What followed was a showdown between antigay activists and supporters of marriage equality the law of the land.

On Thursday, dozens of “religious freedom” activists held a protest outside of the courthouse where they waves signs that read “Impeach Supreme Court” and “Protect Religious Freedom” and demanding “the biblical understanding of marriage.”

“Government should not be able to punish people because of their religious faith,” Jonathan Saenz, president of Austin-based Texas Values, which opposes same-sex marriage, preached to the crowd. “We will not be silent! We will continue to stand for God and country! We are here to support Katie Lang!”

Related: Another Uppity Texas County Clerk Is Denying A Gay Couple Their Marriage License

On the other side of the courthouse lawn, supporters of Cado and Stapleton held their own protest.

“We live in Granbury,” Cato told press. “We pay our taxes in Granbury. We do not feel like we have to travel somewhere else for our marriage license. We will stick it out here until we get our license in Granbury.”

And stick it out they did. On Monday, Cato and Stapleton filed a federal lawsuit against Lang for denying them their legal right to a marriage license. Knowing she had no legal ground to stand on, the clerk’s office caved, citing “software issues” for Lang’s initial refusal to perform her job.

“Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton are delighted that they finally have been issued a marriage license and can get married in their home county,” their attorneys, Jan Soifer and Austin Kaplan, said in a statement this week. “It’s a shame that they needed to hire lawyers and file a lawsuit to make that happen.”

Lang has since vowed that she will “personally refrain” from issuing licenses, but said that others in the office could do so once “the appropriate forms have been printed and supplied to my office.”

Perhaps she’d be better off looking for a new line of work. Just sayin’.

Related: Christian Government Clerk Hijacks The Law, And It’s All Caught On Tape

h/t: The Huffington Post

Graham Gremore

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One Man’s Fight To Legalize Gay Marriage in the Navajo Nation: VIDEO

In the Great Navajo Nation, gay people — or nádleehí — were traditionally associated with wealth, and families they were born into were considered fortunate, according to Fusion.net.

In fact, the Navajo nation — the largest American Indian reservation in the US with 300,000 people in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico — recognized same-sex unions until 2005.

However, due to assimilation into U.S. culture, Navajo leaders gradually adopted the rest of the country’s views about LGBT people. Ten years ago, on the heels of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and a wave of state-level same-sex marriage bans, the Navajo nation passed the anti-gay Diné Marriage Act.

And today, while the rest of the nation has marriage equality, gay Navajos still do not. But one man, Alray Nelson, is leading a new push to change that.

From Fusion.net:

“There were same-sex couples from our creation story all the way to today. Those relationships were there, they were recognized, and they had every right to be productive members of our community,” Nelson said.

“If they repeal the [Diné Marriage Act] it brings it back to what our traditional values used to be. They’re using the whites man’s language, a foreign way of speaking, to redefine something that was already sacred and defined, we didn’t need to redefine it at all,” he said. …

“When we talk about discrimination in regards to taking away someone’s rights, Navajo people get that,” he said. “They get it because they’ve dealt with decades of assimilation policy and continue to deal with those issues. So when a certain segment of the community feels left out and aren’t treated with respect and fairness, Navajos understand that and they get that fight.”

The New York Times profiled Nelson in a story about same-sex marriage and the Navajo nation back in February:

Other gay tribal citizens say they support same-sex marriage but do not consider marriage rights a priority, pointing out that many gay Navajos suffer from drug abuse and debilitating depression.

Fixing these ills, said Jeremy Yazzie, 33, who counsels gay and transgender Navajos, is far more important. “Everyone is worried about repealing the gay marriage act,” Mr. Yazzie said. “That’s far from my work. How can we love somebody else if we can’t even love ourselves?” …

Gay Navajos tend to maintain a quiet existence here, connecting with potential partners on the Internet and coming out to their families, but keeping their sexuality largely private. In interviews, several said they would not hold hands in public. Others said they had endured taunts or even physical abuse in school or in their neighborhoods, leading to depression and attempts to harm themselves. Some had moved off the reservation to places where they felt more comfortable.

Now, Nelson and Dr. Denetdale both note, young LGBT Navajos can face bullies and teasing on their own reservation. But they say the discussion about lifting the ban on same-sex marriage is creating a dialogue and awareness of the issues LGBT people face on the reservation.

If the activists are successful and push the Navajo Nation to lift the ban on gay marriage, could have a sweeping effect. The Navajo nation is the largest of the 566 federally recognized tribes and smaller tribes look to see how they handle their policies.

Watch a New York Times video featuring Nelson below.

The post One Man’s Fight To Legalize Gay Marriage in the Navajo Nation: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

John Wright

One Man’s Fight To Legalize Gay Marriage in the Navajo Nation: VIDEO