STUDY: Discrimination to Blame for High HIV Rates, Poor Health Care for Trans People

A report by the World Health Organization says widespread discrimination against trans people is why the population has a high HIV rate and many don’t receive adequate health care.

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/28/study-discrimination-blame-high-hiv-rates-poor-health-care-trans-people

Out speed skater Blake Skjellerup gets married in Hawaii

Speed skater Blake Skjellerup is a married man.

Skjellerup, who represented New Zealand in the 2010 Olympics, shared on social media Tuesday (28 July) that he and stylist Saul Carrasco tied the knot earlier this month in Hawaii.

Skjellerup, 30, came out four months after he competed in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver where he finished 16th.

Four years later, he was willing to risk arrest and deportation at the Sochi Winter Olympics by wearing a rainbow pin to show his support for the maligned LGBT community in Russia. But he failed in his attempt to qualify for the 500-meter race by just one spot.

He would have been the only gay athlete at those Olympics.

While working as an official ambassador for the Gay Games in Cleveland, Ohio, last year, Skjellerup told Cleveland Scene that he used to think his romantic dreams would never come true.

‘I think when I was 16, I was starting to figure out who I was, and my biggest fear was that I couldn’t lead the life that I wanted, which was to get married and have children.

‘And as I’ve matured, I came to learn that none of that was true: I could get married if I wanted to and I could have children if I wanted to. Four years after coming out, life couldn’t be any better, and I know that I can have all that.’

The post Out speed skater Blake Skjellerup gets married in Hawaii appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/out-speedskater-blake-skjellerup-gets-married-in-hawaii/

Listen up, gentlemen. It’s time to start pleasing your ladies. A recent study from Indiana University found that 85 of men said that their partner had an orgasm when they had sex while only 64 porcent of women said that they themselves had one. Oof. Bottom line while you think you might be pleasing her, more often than not, you’re missing the mark. Women know that most guys want them to reach O-land, and they don’t want to disappoint, says Dorian Solot, a sex educator and co-author of I Love Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide. So all too often, women fake orgasms, or just let their partner assume they had one. If you want to guarantee the real deal, stick to these nine positions that will work every time See more women tipssex positions thatllget her off everytimesthash.RPOrzehA.dpufSexual pleasure has many dimensions, but the most important sexual organ we have is our brain. When one sense is hindered, our other senses via the brain clamor to compensate. For example, a deaf person has increased sensory awareness sight, smell, touch,

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Newspaper Editor Fired for Antigay Blog Post Settles Discrimination Complaint

The former editor of an Iowa newspaper who called on people to fight the ‘Gaystapo’ has made a deal with his ex-employer.

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/07/28/newspaper-editor-fired-antigay-blog-post-settles-discrimination-complaint

Anne Hathaway felt ‘magnetic pull’ to her character of Lureen in Brokeback Mountain

Anne Hathaway was best known for Disney’s The Princess Diaries when casting was taking place for the tragic gay love story Brokeback Mountain.

The actress says in the current issue of Out Magazine that she was contacted for the role of Alma, the character married to Heath Ledger’s closeted character. But upon reading the script, Hathaway only had eyes for the role of rodeo queen Lureen who marries Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, also a closeted gay man.

‘I read the script, and was, of course, blown away by it, but I remember thinking, “Alma’s not my part – I’m Lureen,”‘ Hathaway says in an article marking the film’s 10th anniversary.

‘It’s not dissimilar to the feeling of meeting someone that will become very important to you on some soul level. It had that same magnetic pull that I feel for certain very important people. And like all of those wonderful feelings, it made me hot, it made me flush, it made my blood pound.’

The role of Alma eventually went to Michelle Williams who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance. Ledger and Gyllenhaal also earned Oscar nods and although Hathaway did not, the film helped her break free from any Disney typecasting.

From princess to rodeo queen

She was filming Princess Diaries 2 on the Universal Lot where she met with director Ang Lee during her lunch break.

‘We were shooting the coronation part of the movie, so I was dressed a ball gown, wearing this big hairpiece that was way over the top, but also worked for a rodeo queen, so it was fine. I just put on my jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, and drove across the lot in a golf cart with my big princess hair. I remember being very, very calm, which is unusual for me under any circumstances, especially at 21. I just felt so centered and focused, and in way like a predator: I knew what I wanted.

‘People were struggling to see me as anything other than a Disney princess at the time, so to get the endorsement from Ang made me realize that maybe I could take this a bit further. It made me think for the first time that I could be a legit artist.’

Had to learn to ride a horse

But the actress told a fib when Lee asked her during the audition if she could ride a horse.

‘My parents have given me a lot of gifts in my life, and one of them is: If you’re ever asked if you can do anything, say yes. You can learn anything in two weeks if you’re motivated enough. So I’d never been on a horse, and I replied, “Oh yeah, I’m a really good rider.” So I knew I had to learn to ride, and I got really, really, really good.’

Hathaway would leave her Disney past behind and earn a best actress Oscar nomination for Rachel Getting Married then win the Academy Award for supporting actress three years later for her performance in the musical  Les Miserables.

Now 32, she ranks Brokeback Mountain as a milestone event in her career and in the culture.

‘The four of us were taken out to this restaurant in Calgary by the producers, and I remember sitting there and looking at beautiful Heath, and Jake, and Michelle, and it hit me that we were all under 25. It’s funny how recent it was, but at the time we were very far away from this burgeoning humanist moment that we’re having now with gay rights.

‘And it felt like a very big and important step—a statement about love, about the need for love, about the consequences of limiting people. And I was just so blown away that these four 25-year-old kids could bring this to life, especially the three of them.’

The post Anne Hathaway felt ‘magnetic pull’ to her character of Lureen in Brokeback Mountain appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/anne-hathaway-felt-magnetic-pull-to-her-character-of-lureen-in-brokeback-mountain/

Meet Janae Marie Kroc, the World Record Power Lifter Who Came Out as Transgender

World champion power lifter and world record holder Matt Korczaleski astonished and shocked fans after announcing that he is transgender and now goes by the name Janae Marie Kroc reports outsports.com.

Known for creating the “Kroc row” back workout, Kroc identifies herself as “transgender/genderfluid alpha male/girly girl lesbian in a male body,” on her Instagram page. There she has posted photos of herself post transition, including facial reconstructive surgery she underwent in 2014. Kroc openly spoke about her transition with website Gymflow 100:

“Being a total alpha male and transgender definitely makes me unique even in the transgender community … Gender identity and personality tests that I have taken in an effort to figure myself out always indicate that I am both hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine. Exactly what I need to do to be at peace with myself is something I am still not 100 percent certain of. Transitioning is a very difficult process and even tougher at an older age (42) … And living as a transgender woman that is honest about her situation is very difficult and can be dangerous. I am a very realistic person and I don’t think the transitioning will magically solve all of my issues without creating new challenges. Whatever path I choose there will be sacrifices to be made.”

Although Kroc has discontinued posting from her male Twitter account @MattKroc, Kroc posted her first tweet in a year today on her male Twitter account addressing the rumors and gossip surround her transition.

There has obviously been a great deal of gossip, rumors and questions about me the past few days. To… t.co/7TJkNsxtIh

— Matthew Kroczaleski (@MattKroc) July 28, 2015

Congratulations, Janae!

(Photo via Instagram)

The post Meet Janae Marie Kroc, the World Record Power Lifter Who Came Out as Transgender appeared first on Towleroad.

Anthony Costello

Meet Janae Marie Kroc, the World Record Power Lifter Who Came Out as Transgender

World Record Bodybuilder Comes Out as Trans

Fans who knew the champion bodybuilder as ‘Kroc’ now can call her Janae Marie Kroc, a transgender woman who describes herself as a ‘gender-fluid alpha male/girly girl lesbian in a male body.’

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Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/28/world-record-bodybuilder-comes-out-trans