Houston Becomes Ground Zero For Gay Rights After Council Puts LGBT Protections On Ballot – VIDEO

Houston will be the site of the nation’s first major showdown over LGBT rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of nationwide marriage equality.

The City Council in the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis voted as expected Wednesday to place the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or HERO, on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The council, which first approved the ordinance last May, had little choice but to put HERO up for a public vote after the Texas Supreme Court ruled officials had to accept a petition from anti-LGBT groups seeking to repeal the measure, regardless of the fact that it contained rampant forgery.

Project Q Houston reports:

After the City Council vote, the Greater Houston Partnership – the city’s largest business group – issued a statement supporting HERO.

“As we said before, when the ordinance was first discussed, Houston is a remarkably welcoming place,” Bob Harvey, the group’s president and CEO, says in the press release. “As we work to attract businesses and talented professionals to our region, they have made clear that they are seeking a community that is welcoming, diverse and inclusive. Ensuring such an environment is critically important to the continued success of the region’s economy.”

A coalition of LGBT and progressive groups – HRC, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Equality Texas, Texas Freedom Network and Freedom for All Americans – also reiterated their support for HERO.

“The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance reflects the core Houstonian values – that no one should face discrimination because of their age or race, their status as a military veteran, or their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “The City Council voted on this ordinance last year, and it enjoyed enormous support from elected officials, businesses big and small, civil rights groups, and a diversity of faith leaders. Over the coming months, we intend to send a clear message that voters in Houston will reject any and all attempts to strip these needed protections away from their friends and family members.”

Houston was the last major US city to enact LGBT protections, but the ordinance also prohibits discrimination based on 13 other characteristics, including race, sex and disability.

Out lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, who will leave office at the end of the year due to term limits, said after Wednesday’s vote she’s confident voters will uphold HERO:

“You never take a campaign lightly, and there’s no telling what kind of incident could happen to derail things,” she said. “The fact that all of the top-tier mayoral campaigns are supporting HERO, the fact that there’s a well-organized, well-funded support committee behind HERO, the fact that the Greater Houston Partnership supports HERO, all of those things say it’s going to move in the right direction.”

Parker said the last time a gay issue was on the ballot, voters banned domestic partner benefits by a margin of just 2 percentage points, 51 to 49, in 2003.

“The world has changed tremendously since the early 2000s,” she said. “We’re not going to take it for granted, but I don’t have any concerns that it’s not going to go the way I want, which would be to affirm HERO.”

Watch a report from KPRC-TV below.video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

The post Houston Becomes Ground Zero For Gay Rights After Council Puts LGBT Protections On Ballot – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

John Wright

Houston Becomes Ground Zero For Gay Rights After Council Puts LGBT Protections On Ballot – VIDEO

Incredible mom finds perfect response to anti-gay vandals

Miranda DeLong, aged 17, received a huge shock as she was returning home from work last week. It was 2am in the morning. She, a proud bi teen, was accompanied by her friend, who is transgender. There before them, scrawled in graffiti paint across her family’s garage were the large words: ‘I’m Gay’.

Miranda’s sister Emily is also an out bi teen.

Miranda immediately ran in to wake up mom Erin, and dad Joe. The family gathered outside to see the work of someone determined to shame them. Miranda and Emily were in a state of shock. Their mom and dad were furious.

Erin told me: ‘Our kids are our everything, and to see them hurt is worse than being hurt ourselves.’

No one needed to inform the DeLong family they were an LGBTI household.

‘We found out Miranda was bi when I read her diary when she was in the 8th grade. She was having some issues at school, and wasn’t talking. I confronted her and asked and then told her that she could love whoever she wanted, as long as she’s happy,’ Erin states.

‘Emily came out to us just this year. Her best friend is gay, and had “I’m gay” written on her hand. Emily wrote, “so am I” on her own. I didn’t react much and she thought I didn’t realize what it said until she asked for another girl to spend the night.

‘I asked if they were dating, and she ran out of the room. She thought her sister had “told” on her. I went up to her room and said we already knew from the writing on her hand.

‘She asked why we didn’t react, and I said because I wouldn’t have overreacted if she said she was straight, why overreact for saying she was gay, to which she replied, ‘I like boys, too.’ And I told her the same thing we told her sister: Please love who you want and be happy.’

The same statement Emily used to come out, the statement that allowed her mom to lovingly embrace who she is, was now being used against the family.

But the bullies lost.

‘We decided to paint,’ Erin declares. ‘We decided some announcements deserve more than gray spray paint.’ Paint, they did. Their garage now sports the largest rainbow flag image for miles around.

As the story has spread, some have asked why the broader LGBTI image was used rather than the specific bi image.

Thinking of Miranda’s transgender friend who also experienced the shock of the event, Erin answers: ‘We made it rainbow so we could include all sexualities, we have many LGBTI friends that visit our house and we wanted them to all feel accepted. It was a way to support them all.’

The DeLong family won support around the world through the Stop Homophobia site where the image of their newly painted garage first appeared.

One person to applaud their creativity was artist and designer Aldo Gatt, who had experienced the same thing.

‘What an amazing response. I had the same done to my house back in 2009. Someone broke in and sprayed homophobic threats on the walls. It was devastating to think anyone would have such hatred in them,’ he wrote.

The vandals obviously knew that a gay man had just purchased the dwelling, which had been built in the16th century and scrawled their warning across the home chapel’s wall.

‘The house is 450 years old and has historic marine graffiti on the walls that were vandalized. Thankfully a restorer acquaintance of mine helped me with advice on how to remove the graffiti without damaging the walls,’ Gatt reports.

Like the DeLongs, he realized an artistic retaliation was better than an angry one. The once vandalized wall is now a thing of beauty in the vacation home.

We are living in a time where LGBTI progress is inspiring homophobic anger. The haters are in the mood to harm and humiliate. Our work to change public attitudes is not over.

And, as these homeowners show, our greatest weapon is not anger or revenge, it’s our creativity.

The post Incredible mom finds perfect response to anti-gay vandals appeared first on Gay Star News.

Rob Watson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/incredible-mom-finds-perfect-response-to-anti-gay-vandals/

Protect Your Back Door With Condoms From This Gay Company

It’s impossible over emphasize the importance of a healthy back door, if you know what we mean. A few weeks ago Stag Condoms released a playful video to promote its safer-sex product, which according to its mission statement addresses “the unique needs and lifestyles of gay men that traditional, heteronormative condom companies don’t. When it comes to pleasurable, safe, bed-rockin’ sex, we’ve got you covered.” Good to know, folks. Another incentive to go Stag, if you will, is the company offers 50 percent of its proceeds to its AIDS Walk Fund. Aww. But it’s important for condom ads to be sexy and this one gets it just right.

In the clip, two men run through their morning routine but eventually go their separate ways. One guy unwittingly leaves the back entrance open and unguarded, allowing all sorts of mayhem to carry on as a devilish group of horny men enter and have at it in the common area. The take-away is easy to remember: Never leave your back door unprotected.

Watch the cheeky ad below.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/EOxfUPkiBVU/protect-your-back-door-with-condoms-from-this-gay-company-20150806

#TBT: Saving Sex and History

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Christopher Harrity

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/photography/2015/08/06/tbt-saving-sex-and-history

Product of the day: the Voga Lift Bed

As cities keep growing, living spaces become smaller and smaller and inhabitants need more and more creativity to get the most out of it.

Murphy beds were a big hit once, and they’re making a return – but no matter how vamped up they are, they always carry a slightly retro feeling not everyone likes.

Not to mention that you still have to tidy everything away before going to bed at night.

No more tidying needed: furniture can stay in place, even if the bed is in use.

But behold, fans of space-conscious modern design (and people who don’t fancy clearing everything away before going to bed) – Slovenian company Voga’s Lift Bed is like the Murphy’s cooler, young brother.

Disappearing into the ceiling, it’ll only take up space you’re not using anyways – unless you’re taller than 2m (6ft 6in) – allowing you to fully use the room; the furniture underneath can stay at all times, too, as the bed can be used at variable heights.

Unless you’re really tall, the Lift Bed won’t take up any space used in daily life.

Simply press the button and the electric mechanism will raise or lower the bed as much as you want; electromagnetic switches keep the bed stable and safe in extreme (read: higher) positions, so it’s safe to use at all times.

The Lift Bed is available through the company or few retailers in mainland Europe; for a price quote, contact Voga directly.

The post Product of the day: the Voga Lift Bed appeared first on Gay Star News.

Stefanie Gerdes

www.gaystarnews.com/article/product-of-the-day-the-voga-lift-bed/

“The Sexual Duality In All Of Us,” And Five Other Mandatory Gay Viewing Moments From Jon Stewart’s Daily Show

A serious void will soon be left in television. Jon Stewart makes his final appearance as the host of The Daily Show tonight, marking the close of his glorious 16-year run at making us simultaneously laugh and cringe at the sheer absurdity of current events and especially the American antigay right.

You can’t refute the ridiculousness of Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh or George W. Bush (and even sometimes President Obama and Hillary Clinton), because they are impervious to the truth. But you can reduce them to the buffoons they are with a well timed joke or anecdote. It turns out that Stewart’s gift for satire is a far more powerful tool for change than objective news reporting, a technique we here at Queerty have taken to heart.

Yes, we still have John Oliver’s fantastic (but weekly) HBO show Last Week Tonight, and we have high hopes for Trevor Noah, Jon’s Daily Show successor, but Jon’s departure still feels like the end of an era. We hope he will find news ways of applying his rapier wit on our behalf for a long time to come.

Jon has been a funny and articulate advocate for LGBT equality over the years. By no means a comprehensive list, here are six times we were proud of the little “fake news” show that could:

1. When he grilled Obama for lagging on his promise to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Punchline that would be funnier if it weren’t so true: “Maybe the only thing that scares America more than terrorists is confronting the sexual duality that exists within all of us.”

2. When he blasted the media (mostly Faux News) for failing to cover the Equality March in 2009

Punchline that would be funnier if it weren’t so true: “It had everything Fox loves — ordinary people demanding their freedoms, homemade signs, flags, men in uniform.”

3. Calling out the Catholic church for expelling children of Lesbian parents while slapping a priest on the wrist for covering up child sex abuse

Punchline that wasn’t funny at all because it was so terrifyingly true: “At least this scandal didn’t involve priests molesting kids — that scandal broke a few days later.”

4. When he went off on Mike Huckabee over gay marriage

Non-punchline we’ll remember: “It is the height of man’s arrogance to presume what Jesus would vote for as a value…Marriage is about honest, trustworthy people working in a loving household, having nothing to do with what their sexuality is. How can you say that me believing that is registered in the book of fire?”

5. Charting the evolution of same-sex marriage support in 2013

Graphic we’ll remember:

6. When he obliterated antigay Supreme Court arguments as only he could:

Punchline we’ll remember: “They tried everything, starting with the good old classic slippery slope…When women fought for suffrage, nobody was like, ‘Well, what if one day a dog wants to vote? How ’bout that ladies?’”

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/A7XeJvbyp3E/the-sexual-duality-in-all-of-us-and-five-other-mandatory-gay-viewing-moments-from-jon-stewarts-daily-show-20150806

Op-ed: We Still Need the Voting Rights Act

The same people trying to stop same-sex couples from marrying are trying to dilute the 50-year-old Voting Rights Act. Both efforts are equally egregious, says Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

read more

Kate Kendell

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/08/06/op-ed-we-still-need-voting-rights-act

Mother of two bi daughters has perfect response to anti-gay vandals

Miranda DeLong, 17, came home to a shock last week.

Miranda, who identifies as bisexual, returned from work at 2am with a transgender friend to find her garage doors spray painted with the words: ‘I’m Gay.’

She immediately woke up her parents and her younger sister, who is also bisexual, and the family gathered outside to inspect the damage.

‘Our kids are our everything, and to see them hurt is worse than being hurt ourselves,’ their mother Erin told the Evolequals blog.

Miranda and Emily were in state of shock and their parents were furious. But their proud mother responded in the coolest way possible.

Instead of covering the graffiti in the original white, Erin and her daughters repainted the door in rainbow colors.

‘We decided that some announcements deserve more than gray spray paint,’ Erin said.

‘We made it rainbow so we could include all sexualities, we have many LGBT friends that visit our house and we wanted them to all feel accepted. It was a way to support them all.’

According to Evolequals, ‘their garage now sports the largest rainbow flag image for miles around.’

The DeLongs then posted the before and after photos on the Stop Homophobia and Have A Gay Day Facebook pages, where the family have received an outpouring of support.

‘A couple nights ago someone thought it was a good idea to spray paint “I’m gay” on my house at an attempt to insult/humiliate my sister and I, we’re both bi and many of our friends who spend time at our home are lgbt members,’ Emily wrote on the Have A Gay Day page.

‘Today, me and my mother painted it rainbow. Being gay is rad!!!’

The post Mother of two bi daughters has perfect response to anti-gay vandals appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/mother-of-two-bi-daughters-has-perfect-response-to-anti-gay-vandals/