Indiana Clerk, Fired for Refusing Same-Sex Marriage License, Claims Biblical Defense

Linda Summers, who was terminated last December for refusing to do her job, is now suing in federal court claiming ‘religious discrimination.’

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Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/07/24/indiana-clerk-fired-refusing-same-sex-marriage-license-claims-biblical-

Americans Become More Accepting Of Gays Every Day, Study Suggests

Academic studies can be fascinating… and totally confusing. So we decided to strip away all of the scientific jargon and break them down for you.

The Background

The rainbow-filled celebrations across the country following the Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage last month were a long time coming. Americans have have been slowly but surely shifting their attitudes about gays and lesbians, moving in the direction of tolerance. To boot, the media has been shining a light on the struggles of the gay community, from bullying to violence to suicide, while the entertainment industry has been (again slowly) veering away from strictly heteronormative characters and storylines. But what spurred all of this positive change? And can it be harnessed as we continue to fight for gay rights?  

 The Setup

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Virginia and Guilford College surveyed 683,976 people between 2006 and 2013 to see how both explicit and implicit attitudes about gays and lesbians have changed over time. To measure explicit bias, participants rated opinions on a 5- or 7-point scale, with the lowest number meaning “I strongly prefer straight people to gay people” and the highest number meaning “I strongly prefer gay people to straight people.” Choosing the middle number meant the participant liked both gay and straight people equally.

To measure implicit bias — attitudes or beliefs that someone endorses on an unconscious level — the researchers had the same people take a computer test to measure the strength of associations between two pairs of concepts: “gay people” or “straight people,” as well as “good” or “bad.” An object would flash on the computer screen, and participants would deem them for “gay people” or “straight people” and then “good” or “bad.” (If someone paired “gay people” and “bad” a lot, for example, that would reflect an unconscious bias against gays.)

The Findings

The bad news? People in the study implicitly and explicitly preferred straight people to gay people. But there was also good news: The sample seemed to be becoming more tolerant as time went on, with implicit preferences for straight people declining by about 13 percent and explicit preferences declining by 26 percent over that 7-year period. 

The greatest changes in implicit preferences were seen among Hispanic, white, female, liberal and young adults, while the smallest change was seen among black, Asian, male, conservative and older adult participants. But when it came to explicit preferences, (aka the ones we’re aware of and talk about) the greatest shift toward tolerance was seen in straight, male, conservative, black and less-educated participants.

The Takeaway

As for why explicit preferences shifted twice as much as implicit preferences, the researchers hypothesized that “change is more rapid in evaluations that people report willingly than those that may operate outside of conscious awareness or conscious control.” Simply put: People’s actual feelings about gays and lesbians may be slower to catch up to the supportive sentiments they’re able to express.

This pattern could help explain the increasing political and cultural acceptance of gays and lesbians. As each individual chips away at his or her own internal biases, progress can slowly be made at the societal level. And despite last month’s major victory for marriage equality, there’s still plenty of need for progress — not to mention, more allies. 

— 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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TV rant: Miley Cyrus and other bisexual stars are only doing it for PR

A Dutch singer has described female celebrities’ bisexuality as PR stunts on German national television.

Singer Loona, whose last single Caliente was out on 5 June, was referring to Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus and Cara Delevingne during a broadcast on female bisexual celebrities for boulevard magazine Punkt 12 on German freeview channel RTL.

She described Stewart, who was in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson for at least two years, as being ‘more of a masculine type’, saying: ‘I could accept it [bisexuality] from her.’

In 2013, Loona admitted to faking being in a same-sex relationship with a German model for PR purposes; she now said she never expected the attention the relationship got, but couldn’t really believe Cyrus’ relationship was honest.

‘Miley Cyrus is a girl only looking for publicity,’ she said in the interview.

‘So I don’t believe her; and it’s definitely a PR stunt.’

British model Delevingne, who recently made her relationship to singer Annie Clark, alias St. Vincent, was the only one the Dutch singer believed to be honest about her sexuality.

‘She’s got a bit of this manly… she’s a tough girl,’ Loona went to explain.

‘But at some point, in ten, fifteen years, she’ll have a nice man and some lovely children.’

The post TV rant: Miley Cyrus and other bisexual stars are only doing it for PR appeared first on Gay Star News.

Stefanie Gerdes

www.gaystarnews.com/article/tv-rant-miley-cyrus-and-other-bisexual-stars-are-only-doing-it-for-pr/

Illinois Governor Signs Hate Crimes Law

Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed HB 3930, an enhanced hate crime protections law that explicitly includes crimes against transgender people. 
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/illinois-governor-signs-hate-crimes-law?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

PHOTOS: Why Were These Half-Naked Spartans Forcibly Subdued By Police?

This. Is. Sparta China!

And in Beijing, unlike ancient Greece or the bedroom walls of sexually confused frat boys, a giant crowd of scantily clad beefcakes is going to cause something of a commotion.

That’s what salad delivery company (just salads?!) Sweetie’s Salads was hoping for, anyway. They hired a big group of Western (read: white) models to descend upon a busy downtown area to promote the company’s one-year anniversary.

And things were going great. Photos were being snapped by the hundreds as the crowd of spectators grew larger.

So large, in fact, that Beijing police took notice and decided to shut the whole thing down. Imagine seeing a bunch of salad-slinging half-naked Spartans being forcibly subdued — it’s like a real-life SNL skit.

Actually you don’t need to imagine it, because some good samaritans documented the marketing fail (or success, however you want to look at it): 

The group was cited for disturbing the public order and blocking traffic, the latter offense being the only one that seems to be of any use to the public good.

But the company, which was planning to repeat the stunt for two more days, respectfully bowed out, issuing this statement:

“We have learned how inexperienced we are as a start-up company when it comes to organizing offline activities.

We’ll strictly comply with the police orders, keeping our brand perception while maintaining public order and good social influence.”

We don’t blame them for wanting to stay on the good side of the Beijing Police, but it was fun while it lasted.

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/_uA1hAAUcns/photos-why-were-these-half-naked-spartans-forcibly-subdued-by-police-20150724

Eminem Riffs on Caitlyn Jenner’s Transition in Freestyle Rap: LISTEN

In an eight-minute long freestyle on Sway Calloway’s Shade 45 radio show Thursday, Eminem set his sights on Caitlyn Jenner and a number of other public figures.

The 42-year-old rapper, who is no stranger to courting controversy for his use of anti-LGBT slurs in his lyrics, also took shots at  Donald Trump and Bill Cosby.

“I invented prick, and that’s a true statement, I see the b-tch in you, Caitlyn / Keep the pistol tucked like Bruce Jenner’s d–k / No disrespect though, not at all, no pun intended, that took a lot of balls.”

Eminem added at the end of his freestyle: “I just say s–t to say it. It’s very rarely personal. If it was personal, somebody would know. It’s all in fun.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQeZDzO_AgQ

The post Eminem Riffs on Caitlyn Jenner’s Transition in Freestyle Rap: LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.

Kyler Geoffroy

Eminem Riffs on Caitlyn Jenner’s Transition in Freestyle Rap: LISTEN

A Failure to Listen
This past week I was at the Netroots Nation 2015 conference. In the past, this has been one of my favorite progressive events, full of both energy and positivity. This year the theme was intersectionality within the LGBT movement.

I am forced to report that we are failing at it. Horribly.

This realization started with the second panel I attended, titled “We Are One: Overcoming the Shared Opposition of the LGBT and Reproductive Rights Movement.” The basics of where both movements stand are easy to see: LGBT rights are moving steadily forward, and reproductive rights are in rapid decline. The group of reproductive rights advocates on stage wasn’t so much a panel, as a plea for help.

“We marched for marriage. Where are you for us now?”

“Why are you declaring victory and going home? We’re getting hammered by the same people you just fought.”

“There were thousands of people at the marriage rally. We can only get a couple dozen for our rights.”

“Reproductive rights aren’t just a women’s issue. Queer women and trans men get, pregnant or raped too.”

While I know many transgender women, such as Cristan Williams, who recognize and fight for the intersection of all our rights to health care and bodily autonomy, the LGBT movement as a whole is not standing with many of the people who stood with us in the fight for marriage equality.

This is not a new phenomenon. Prominent transgender women such as Autumn Sandeen, Paula Neira and Allyson Robinson fought DADT and its aftermath relentlessly. Yet when DADT and DOMA were done, the number of staunch non-transgender (cisgender) allies who dedicated themselves to ending the medical ban on transgender service members was a very short list. The indefatigable Sue Fulton and the ever-passionate Fiona Dawson are among them.

More startling at NetRoots was how badly we’re doing on race as a progressive movement as a whole, and the LGBT community is no exception.

Publicly, it was shocking to me that Senator Bernie Sanders wasn’t prepared to talk about the issues seen as most urgent to the black community. I was beyond appalled that Governor O’Malley possessed so little cultural awareness that he actually used the phrase “All Lives Matter.” This is a catch phrase for conservatives who want to side step the deadly and disturbing intersection of race and police forces. I would expect snarky, entitled 20-something white bloggers who blog over at sites like The Federalist or The Blaze to use language like this, not a Democratic candidate for President at a conference full of progressives.

Further inside the conference, there were deep divisions as well. I was blown away that some white LGBT people objected to the fact that there was a Queer People of Color caucus, because the caucus only allowed queer people of color to attend.

Yes, you read that right.

The lowest point for me was at the equality caucus, where white, male, cisgender people were telling queer people of color that their experiences weren’t relevant to the discussion, then refusing to recognize their own privilege. I have rarely felt more uncomfortable, and it was certainly the most uncomfortable I have ever felt in a supposedly progressive, queer space.

That’s why when the people of color walked out, I followed. If this wasn’t a safe space for them, it wasn’t one I wanted to be in either.

It is the conceit of activists that if we just could get people in power to listen, and really hear, we could change hearts and minds and make progress happen. It is therefore ironic when we, as leading activists, are unable to open our own minds enough to listen to others when they try to tell us about injustices different from the ones we have experienced.

We somehow expect others to empathize with us enough to be called to action on our behalf, yet all too often lack the empathy and drive to answer other people’s calls to action. The magnificent few who do, who dedicate themselves to a cause not their own, are treated well by history.

Lingering social injustices in the United States make the entire fight for marriage equality seem pale in comparison. Women are losing the right to their own bodies, unarmed black people are murdered annually by an unaccountable militarized police force and transgender immigrants are raped with impunity in ICE custody. It feels like we’re too busy taking a victory lap to notice we’re failing at the intersectionality we’re paying lip service to.

It’s time to do unto others, as they did for us.

— 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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South Korea takes down gay venue map website over ‘moral values’

The LGBTI community in South Korea are furious after the government has taken down a website outlining the gay-friendly venues across the country.

Korea Pink Map has been recently taken down by the Communication Standards Commission and they have yet to explain why.

When you go onto the page, whether you live in Korea or Kentucky, US, it sends you to a warning page that says it has been taken down due to ‘illegal’ activity.

Describing itself as the largest information-sharing website for regional gay businesses, it expressly banned anyone under the age of 19 from using the resource.

Jenny, a 39-year-old lesbian living in Seoul, spotted that it was down after seeing people talk about it on a LGBTI Korean Facebook page.

‘There are no laws against homosexuality in South Korea, so there is no reason to block a site that simply lists venues,’ she told Gay Star News.

‘It is utterly insane and clear discrimination. It is hard enough for gay people in Korea, so to have a resource like this removed by the Korean government is…well, it pisses me off.’

While Jenny said blocking sites is common, it most often happens with porn as that is illegal in South Korea.

But the Korea Pink Map wasn’t. The Youth Protection Act of 1997 states minors should not be exposed to the topic of homosexuality censoring LGBTI websites. This was challenged in court in 2004, removing sexual orientation as a category of harm.

In the sex education guidelines introduced in March of this year, the government removed any mention of LGBTI people or relationships. While the draft of the guidelines in 2014 mentioned same-sex partnerships, religious groups pressured the Department of Education to change this.

Earlier this month, it was revealed Samsung and Google Play had taken down gay networking apps like Grindr and Jack’d due to ‘local moral values’.

Homosexuality is legal in South Korea. However all male citizens are drafted in to military service where being gay could lead you to being dishonorably discharged or spending a year in jail. This has been appealed to the constitutional court.

Gay Star News has contacted the Korea Communication Standards Commission and is awaiting a response.

The post South Korea takes down gay venue map website over ‘moral values’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

Joe Morgan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/south-korea-takes-down-gay-venue-map-website-over-moral-values/