Illinois Becomes Fifth Jurisdiction to Protect LGBTQ Kids from Conversion Therapy
Today, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 217 into law, making Illinois the fifth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Oregon—to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy.
HRC.org
Straight Guys Reveal How Much Gay Sex They’d Have For A Lightsaber
A recent thread titled “Straight men of Reddit, would you have gay sex for a lightsaber?” has received a staggering 500 comments as of this post.
We’d say the rules of the game are simple, but actually they aren’t, proving yet again that straight guys think about gay sex a whole lot:
The way it works is you tell a guy to imagine that he’d get a real life lightsaber if he had gay sex. It could be with any man, dead or alive, celebrity, etc:
* If you top a guy, you get a purple lightsaber
* If you bottom, you get a lightsaber in any color of your choice
* If you try both, you get either a double ended lightsaber or two lightsabers in the color of your choice
* To make it more complicated:
* If you give a guy a handjob, you get a stun baton
* If you experiment with gay BDSM, you get a lightsaber whip
* If you suck a guy’s dick, you get a blaster
* If you get your dick sucked, you just get a really good blowjob
* If you get fisted, you get a thermal detonator (Don’t waste it!)
* If you fist a guy, you get an adhesive grenade, because stickiness…
* Every time you use a condom, you get a deflector shield, because stay safe, guys!
* Intercrural sex (between the thighs) gets you a vibrosword
OK, even we didn’t know the term “intercrural sex.”
Here are some of our favorite responses:
No way! I’m not falling for that again. It has become very clear that light sabers do not really exist.
I have no shame, I’d proudly flaunt that double-ended lightsaber as I limped down the street the next day.
I’d probably slam a guy in the ass for a purple light saber. And that guy would be Leonardo DiCaprio.
Absolutely yes. I’m sure my wife would understand.
That’s a stupid question…Of course I would.
Nope. What would I do with it? Besides, I live in California. They’d find a way to ban my having it real quick.
Fuck yeah I’m gonna get on that gay bdsm. A fucking lightsaber whip? That’s awesome!
Dude, I’m not gay since I’m pretty sure I still like the ladies, but I would fuck a guy for free. Nothing wrong with a bit of schlong on the side. Gimme the kenobi sauce, baby.
So by my calculations I’ll be owed two lightsabers and two deflector shields when this is all over. I’m okay with this deal.
I’m straight and already done BDSM with a Gay male. Sorry I don’t like lightsabers, I don’t swing that way.
Dan Tracer
Illinois Gov. Signs Bill Banning Gay Conversation Therapy for Minors
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has signed a bill into law protecting LGBTQ youth from dangerous, discredited conversion therapy.
The AP reports:
The measure keeps therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person younger than 18. Providers who don’t comply could face disciplinary action
“We are thrilled that Illinois has joined the rapidly growing number of states leading the way to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy,” said the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator and Staff Attorney Samantha Ames. “Illinois families can now have confidence that the mental health professional they turn to in times of uncertainty may not use their state license to profit from their children’s pain. Most importantly, Illinois kids can now rest easy in the knowledge that they cannot be forced or coerced to undergo dangerous and discredited treatments to fix who they are. Today brings us one step closer to the day when all LGBTQ youth know they were born perfect.”
“With this tremendous step, LGBT youth in Illinois are now protected from a dangerous and appalling practice based on junk pseudoscience that amounts to nothing less than child abuse,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin. “Discredited by every major mental health, medical, and child welfare organization, conversion ‘therapy’ uses fear and shame to tell young people the only way to find love and acceptance is to change the very nature of who they are. We thank Governor Rauner, as well as members of the state legislature on both sides of the aisle, for putting politics aside and the well-being of children first. We will continue to work with our allies to secure these crucial protections in every state across the nation.”
The post Illinois Gov. Signs Bill Banning Gay Conversation Therapy for Minors appeared first on Towleroad.
Kyler Geoffroy
Illinois Gov. Signs Bill Banning Gay Conversion Therapy for Minors
Where Do the Lies About LGBTIs in Africa Come From?
Shocking legislative developments have focused Western media attention on the gay rights situation across Africa like never before. Many of the column inches dedicated to Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Act have demonstrated an awareness of the complexity of the social and political landscape for African LGBTIs. The colonial provenance of the penal code provisions which outlaw same-sex intercourse has been explored. The claims that “homosexuality is unAfrican” have been shown to be false, thanks to a wealth of anthropological evidence to the contrary. The incoherence of using a religion imposed on Africa by proselytising European missionaries to decry same-sex attraction as unAfrican has not gone unnoticed. In short: on the issue of LGBTI rights in Africa, analysis has (largely) been surprisingly nuanced.
What is generally lacking from Western media, however, is an understanding of some of the most pernicious lies about LGBTIs in Africa — and relatively few people have asked the question, ‘where do the lies come from?’
One such lie is the idea that declaring you’re gay, or even pro-gay, opens up the floodgates to foreign money. African LGBTIs are therefore not really gay; they’re just in it for the money. And in a country like Uganda, where the GDP per capita in 2013 stood at just $572 USD, the (fictitious) idea that decadent, wealthy Westerners are using poverty to coerce Ugandans incites a nationalistic defensiveness, galvanising public opinion against LGBTIs and their supporters. “The team of homosexuals is very rich,” Ugandan former Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi was reported to have said. “They have money and they will do whatever it takes to make sure this vice penetrates Africa…[they want to] lure people into their club.” Indeed, the idea that LGBTI is synonymous with money is so embedded that Ugandan legal scholar, Professor Sylvia Tamale, recently told an audience at the London School of Economics that after she spoke out against the treatment of LGBTIs in her country, she received a text message from a friend, congratulating her on becoming a millionaire.
The trope of the wealthy gay man using his financial clout for nefarious purposes did not originate in Africa, however. In the early 1990s, voters in the US state of Colorado narrowly approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting the recognition of LGBTIs as a protected class — effectively making discrimination against LGBTIs legal. Opponents of LGBTIs, such as the Colorado Coalition for Family Values, propagated the notion that “homosexuals” were not a persecuted minority, but were in fact politically powerful, incredibly wealthy and enjoyed enormous influence on American cultural life. As scholar Mariana Valverde points out, “[t]he similarity between these beliefs and…anti-Semitic propaganda about Jews…is striking.”
The migration of the trope from North America to Africa can be explained through the influence of US neoconservative organisations, such as the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD). According to a report by the think-tank Political Research Associates, the IRD is “one of the main organizations promoting homophobia in both Africa and the United States over the last decade.” The report claims that while mainstream Episcopal church funding in Africa is directed towards visible projects — and therefore requires accountability on how money is spent — “conservative funding pays the salaries of archbishops and their staffs,” concluding that “archbishops’ offices have become mouthpieces of U.S. conservatives.”
The threatening spectre of the ‘gay agenda’ is further sustained in the African context as it allows governing authorities to exploit frustration at socio-economic conditions by redirecting public anger at a common enemy — the mythical, wealthy, privileged, powerful ‘homosexual’. Western donors unwittingly played into this trope when they threatened to pull development aid in response to poor treatment of African LGBTIs. The former Minister of Ethics and Integrity in Uganda, James Nsaba Buturo, commented: “I have been pressured by some donors to allow homosexuality, but I have told them they can keep their money and the homosexuality because it is not about charity at the expense of our moral destruction.”
While the situation for LGBTIs across Africa is far from uniformly pessimistic, any judicial victories will be diluted by the extreme social hostility fomented by these toxic beliefs and by the American religious fundamentalists who sustain them. What is needed is a brighter spotlight shone on the role that foreigners have had in stoking anti-LGBTI hatred in Africa by co-opting postcolonial politics for their own ends. The notion that money flows from abroad to fund a ‘homosexual agenda’ needs to be countered forcefully with the indisputable truth that foreign money is flooding from the US to fund an insidious neoconservative agenda. The lies told about LGBTIs in Africa need to be exposed as such.
The most effective way to counter lies is to tell the truth again and again: African LGBTIs are not awash with money. Declaring yourself pro-gay does not incite a tidal wave of Western cash to come your way. LGBTIs are not a foreign contagion.
US neoconservatives are behind these lies. Right-wing American religious fundamentalists do not care about Africa, no matter how much they may attempt to co-opt the postcolonial political debate. Only once these truths begin to uproot the lies that are so deeply embedded will the American neoconservative grip around the necks of African LGBTIs finally begin to loosen.
— 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.
Tom Goss talks to GSN about stunning new video for his song Breath and Sound
Openly gay singer-songwriter Tom Goss unveiled a stunning new video this week for his song Breath and Sound.
But don’t expect to see the blond-haired, blue-eyed stunner in it.
Instead, the video features three couples – one straight, one gay, one lesbian – dancing the same beautiful and very complex dance.
‘I want people to be moved,’ Goss tells Gay Star News. ‘I want them to see their own story in the dancers. If they can see their own story in one of the couples, they can relate to the other stories as well. At the end of the day, we are all moving through the same emotions.’
With videos portraying the LGBTI experience not a priority of major labels, Goss raised $19,500 earlier this year – more than double his original goal – through a Kickstarter campaign to make videos that tell these stories.
‘We shot the video in a day at YouTube Space LA,’ Goss says. ‘It was an extremely busy day, but artistically invigorating and inspiring. We actually shot a whole setup of me, singing and playing, but ultimately cut it. I had hours and hours of footage, so much beauty to play with.’
The video was directed by Michael Serrato who brought choreographer Andrew Pirozzi to the project who would also be one of the dancers.
‘It was a pleasure to work with Andrew because he really understood the idea, and the possible impact, from the get go,’ says Goss. ‘His dance partner was easy to cast, it’s his real life wife! They have two kids together. The other two couples were cast through a dance agency. We really wanted to cast a wide variety of people. We wanted the cast to be diverse, to reflect the reality in which we live.’
‘I want people to be moved,’ he adds. ‘I want them to see their own story in the dancers. If they can see their own story in one of the couples, they can relate to the other stories as well. At the end of the day, we are all moving through the same emotions.’
Goss tours internationally and has released five albums: Naked Without,, Back to Love, Turn It Around, Lost Songs and Underdogs and last year’s Wait.
Many of his songs and music videos speak to LGBTI issues and culture such as marriage equality, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
The post Tom Goss talks to GSN about stunning new video for his song Breath and Sound appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
HRC Joins HuffPost Live to Discuss White House’s First Openly Transgender Appointee
Earlier today, HRC Senior Legislative Counsel Alison Gill spoke on HuffPost Live about Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, the White House’s first openly transgender official.
HRC.org
They’re Back! Warwick Rowers Return To Make 2016 A Very Naked Year
The Warwick Rowers have returned to give us a summer sweat and make us look forward to all that 2016 has to offer.
Related: Warwick Rowers Finally Go Full Frontal
The famously nude Brits released some advance shots and a promo video for their upcoming calendar tease, and its filled with more hot pale cakes than we know what to do with.
Related: These Soaked Studs Make Bath Time So Much Fun
Grab a paddle and start rowing:
Watch the video below (NSFW):
Warwick Rowers 2016 Crowdfunder from Low Fat Media on Vimeo.
Dan Tracer
Ugandan Lawmaker Wants to Ban Adoption for Countries with Gay Marriage
Ugandan Minister for State for East African Affairs Shem Bageine has boldly announced a homophobic plan to ban foreign countries with same-sex marriage from adopting Ugandan children.
Bageine’s proposed plan would prevent countries with same-sex marriage from adopting children from the East African Community that includes the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Even though anti-gay leaders like Bageine are lashing out toward other countries with LGBT rights on fears of their global influence, LGBT Ugandans are fighting back as the country recently celebrated pride in the capital of Kampala.
[h/t PinkNews]
The post Ugandan Lawmaker Wants to Ban Adoption for Countries with Gay Marriage appeared first on Towleroad.
Anthony Costello
Ugandan Lawmaker Wants to Ban Adoption for Countries with Gay Marriage
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