Daily Archives: July 15, 2015
Who Does Scott Walker Think the Boy Scouts' Gay Ban 'Protected?'
Who Does Scott Walker Think the Boy Scouts' Gay Ban 'Protected?'
The Boy Scouts of America’s long-standing ban on gay members ‘protected children and advanced Scout values,’ Walker said Tuesday. He has so far declined to clarify.
Sunnivie Brydum
"I Was Very, Very Happy That Stonewall Had Happened."
"I Was Very, Very Happy That Stonewall Had Happened."
I’m From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit archive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer stories. New stories are posted on the site every Wednesday.
Perry Brass grew up in Savannah, Georgia, and knew he was gay at 15. After being bullied, he attempted suicide. At 17, he went to the University of Georgia where the bullying only intensified. To escape, he fled to San Francisco which he heard was “crawling with queers.” After not being able to find work, he finally landed in New York City. But even NYC wasn’t as welcoming as Perry had hoped:
[A] month after I arrived in the city, I was barely 19, I was actually involved in a bar raid. And it was in a bar in midtown Manhattan that was a fairly swanky bar. And I was in the back room with a guy I met who I actually knew and we were told basically to freeze because the cops were in the front room where the bar itself was and there was a raid going on. Luckily, I found a back entrance to the bar and I was with this guy that I knew and we ended up in an alley. In Midtown there these alleys between buildings, and it was pouring rain and we were able to get out on the street.
Perry couldn’t seem to escape the abuse from being gay, whether it was from bullies or the cops. But one night in June, Perry was at the bar, Julius’, when he heard that there was a raid down the street at Stonewall and “the girls” were fighting back. He joined the riot the very next day, finally able to push back against the abuse he had endured his whole life for being gay. Perry recalls:
I didn’t have that attitude that a lot of people had which was, “Well, this is the way life is, we just have to accept it, we’re given our tiny bit of what I would call our ‘stylish freedom,'” in other words, if you had the money you could go to Fire Island, you could go to the Hamptons, and I knew some very stylish queens who did that and they thought this little opening of freedom was all they were going to get and they were just so happy to get it, and I didn’t have that attitude. I hated that. I really hated it. So I was very, very happy that Stonewall had happened.
WATCH:
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Irish phone provider slammed over transphobic advert
Irish phone provider slammed over transphobic advert
The Irish branch of an international telecommunications provider has been accused of transphobia over parts of their new advertising campaign.
Three Ireland received hundreds of messages on Twitter and Facebook after a user spotted the new poster in the Dublin neighborhood of Stoneybatter.
‘Sorry Vodafone customers,’ the poster reads.
‘It turned out he was a she after you’d used all your data.’
Hi @ThreeCare. Can someone explain this ad in Stoneybatter? Certainly insensitive, possibly transphobic, not okay. pic.twitter.com/uun3oVDOha
— Luke Field (@LukePField) July 15, 2015
Users accused Three of considering trans people to be ‘a cheap joke’ and described the tweet as ‘insensitive’ and ‘disgusting’, with a user going by the alias demolitionl0ver saying ‘if the “best bit” of something is a trans person as a punchline, it shouldn’t be the best bit.’
Three’s social media staff were quick to react on both Twitter and Facebook, sending out apologies and explanations of the campaign’s intention to users who commented or complained about the ad.
‘The wider campaign gives examples of when you miss the best bits of TV/fulms while you’re streaming, because you’ve run out of data,’ Sheena, one of Three’s twitter team, said to various users.
‘We hope this explains the concept and shows that no offence was intended at all.’
But when users continued complaining about the advert, Three decided to completely remove the offensive poster from the campaign.
‘After reviewing the feedback we’ve decided this ad will be removed,’ the social media team told users from about 6pm local time.
‘It wasn’t our attention to cause any offence.’
At the time this goes live, no official statement had been given.
The post Irish phone provider slammed over transphobic advert appeared first on Gay Star News.
Stefanie Gerdes
www.gaystarnews.com/article/irish-phone-provider-slammed-over-transphobic-advert/
News: Anti-Gay ‘Future Conference’, Portland’s Power Lines, Humpday Hotness, Caitlyn Jenner
News: Anti-Gay ‘Future Conference’, Portland’s Power Lines, Humpday Hotness, Caitlyn Jenner
> Trans teen Jazz Jennings and her mom give advice to parents raising transgender kids.
> Omar Sharif Jr. reflects on the iconic legacy of his grandfather.
> Inside the religious right’s anti-LGBT “Future Conference.”
> Obama scolds reporter at White House briefing on Iran.
> One Direction-er Louis Tomlinson is going to be a daddy.
> Portland has some new very, er, erect decorations on its power lines.
> Humpday Hotness: Tomas Guarracino.
> Nick Jonas thinks heterosexual male artists should “reach out” to their gay fans.
> First look: Homeland Season 5.
> Justin Bieber strips down for Interview magazine.
> Disney is making a live-action prequel to Aladdin.
> Digging into the alleged “scandal” over that Planned Parenthood video.
> Siri has no time to play games with you about Caitlyn Jenner’s name.
> Jenner will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award from Abby Wambach at tonight’s ESPY Awards.
> Donald Trump alleges he has a net worth of over $10 billion.
> Same-sex couples can finally get married in Puerto Rico starting today.
> Cuban LGBT activists harassed at Havana airport.
> California judge calls for UBER to be suspended, fined $7.3 million.
The post News: Anti-Gay ‘Future Conference’, Portland’s Power Lines, Humpday Hotness, Caitlyn Jenner appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
News: Anti-Gay ‘Future Conference’, Portland’s Power Lines, Humpday Hotness, Caitlyn Jenner
Rainbow Parade
Will We See the End of AIDS by 2030?
Will We See the End of AIDS by 2030?
It’s possible, if the world builds on the progress of the past 15 years, says a new United Nations report.
Trudy Ring
www.advocate.com/health/hiv-aids/2015/07/15/will-we-see-end-aids-2030
Bill to help restore honor to gays kicked out of military is re-introduced in US Congress
Bill to help restore honor to gays kicked out of military is re-introduced in US Congress
Legislation was re-introduced in the US Congress on Wednesday (15 July) that seeks to give military personnel kicked out for being gay a chance to clear their record.
The Restore Honor to Service Members Act applies to service members discharged for no other reason than their sexual orientation who want to correct their military record to reflect their honorable service.
An estimated 100,000 service members were discharged for their sexual orientation prior to the 1994 implementation of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell which did not outright ban gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving as long as they hid their sexuality. That policy officially ended in September 2011.
OutServe-SLDN, the legal services and policy organization dedicated to bringing about full LGBTI equality to America’s military, said the act is needed in order to codify the procedures and processes already taking place at the Department of Defense.
‘We are simply strengthening what exists and making it work efficiently and unequivocally for all gay and lesbian service members who were discharged in response to their sexual orientation,’ said Matt Thorn, OutServe-SLDN’s interim executive director.
Thorn said the legislation ‘will lift the anxiety, frustrations and time that service members have unfortunately become accustomed to in attempting to acquire their discharge upgrades.
‘It will breathe energy into the countless service members that we hear from who want upgrades but cannot acquire them because they were discharged prior to 1994.’
The legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Democrats Mark Pocan and Charles Rangel and in the Senate by Democrats Brian Schatz and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The post Bill to help restore honor to gays kicked out of military is re-introduced in US Congress appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Summer Thirst Is Real And Five More Grindr Revelations
Summer Thirst Is Real And Five More Grindr Revelations
Summer heat leaving you with an unquenchable thirst? You aren’t alone.
Everyone’s favorite orange stick-you-in-a-folder-so-nobody-sees-you hookup dating app has recently surveyed 2,500 people across the United States, and here’s what they’re reporting:
1. 47 percent of survey respondents said that they had found long-term friendships on Grindr.
You can count us among the 53 percent who have not.
2. 53 percent said that they were open to having kids.
Here’s an experiment you can try at home. Launch Grindr and scroll through the grid. Now imagine every other guy as a father. Scary stuff.
3. There are seven times as many married users as there are engaged users on the app.
This seems an unnecessary point to include. If you’re engaged to be married and find you can’t stay off Grindr, you may want to seek a good divorce attorney to keep in the wings.
4. 27 percent of respondents said that Grindr is the mobile app that they most frequently use.
These are the guys that every time, without fail, even if you haven’t opened the app in seven months, are still inexplicably 73 feet away from you.
5. 60 percent of respondents find the long, hot summer months to be the period in which they’re most active on the app.
The thirst is real.
6. 70 percent of respondents are most likely to answer a message from someone using a face pic.
Shocking. See: 5 Easy Tips For Creating A Better Online Dating Profile.
Dan Tracer
Towleroad Exclusive: Q&A With ‘Do I Sound Gay?’ Filmmaker David Thorpe – LISTEN
Towleroad Exclusive: Q&A With ‘Do I Sound Gay?’ Filmmaker David Thorpe – LISTEN
Do I Sound Gay?, a crowd-funded documentary that examines the so-called “gay voice”, made its Los Angeles premiere Monday night at OutFest to a sold-out crowd.
In case you aren’t familiar with the film, here’s a description:
After a break-up with his boyfriend, journalist David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious and touching journey of self-discovery, confronting his anxiety about “sounding gay.” Enlisting acting coaches, linguists, friends, family, total strangers, and celebrities, he quickly learns that many people — both gay and straight — often wish for a different voice. Today we also got a new clip from the doc that shows David Sedaris talking about his ‘gay voice’ as well as that of his husband Hugh.
At Monday night’s screening, director and star Thorpe took questions from the audience as well as the moderator about what he learned about his examination of the gay voice.
Of the politics of the gay voice, Thorpe said, “Sometimes a voice is just a voice and sometimes it’s a symbol of something much bigger.”
Listen to Thorpe talk about making the film below:
The post Towleroad Exclusive: Q&A With ‘Do I Sound Gay?’ Filmmaker David Thorpe – LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
Towleroad Exclusive: Q&A With ‘Do I Sound Gay?’ Filmmaker David Thorpe – LISTEN
