Outpouring of Support for Equality Act Continues
Now is not the time to let up on the gas as we speed down the road to full LGBT equality. Take action today.
HRC.org
Outpouring of Support for Equality Act Continues
Now is not the time to let up on the gas as we speed down the road to full LGBT equality. Take action today.
HRC.org
Republican Lawmaker Fakes His Own Gay Sex Scandal To Hide Real Sex Scandal, Fails
The Tea Party is famous for having terrible ideas, but faking a gay sex scandal has to be a new low.
Secret audio recordings obtained by the Detroit News reveal that Rep. Todd Courser (R), a tea party lawmaker in Michigan, asked an aide to to send an anonymous email to GOP influencers alleging the Courser was seen having sex with a male prostitute behind a Lansing nightclub.
But why would a family values Republican want such a nasty rumor spread about him? Why, to cover up the less-scandalous fact that he’s been having a heterosexual affair with Rep. Cindy Gamrat (R), a married tea party state lawmaker.
It would have worked perfectly (or would it have?) had Ben Graham, Courser’s aide at the time, not recorded the whole thing. Graham refused to send the email, and was promptly fired. (Side note: Gamrat also fired her aide who was unwilling to assist in the coverup.)
In the recordings, Courser was heard asking Graham to send the email and get “nasty about it” by saying the lawmaker was addicted to porn and was a “sexual deviant.”
After getting past those false allegations, anything else would be mild by comparison. Right? Right?! This needs to work. Oh God please let this work.
The two lawmakers are married with children, and have worked in tandem to actively block same-sex marriage even after the Supreme Court’s June decision. Because Jesus. And freedom.
We look forward to this becoming a sub-plot on the next season of Veep.
Dan Tracer
WATCH: Video of Pool Attendant Telling Gay Couple They Can’t Kiss Leads To Threats, Police Investigation
Fort Worth police are investigating threats against a woman who posted video of a pool attendant who told her gay son and his fiance they couldn’t kiss at the swimming hole in her subdivision.
Brandon Roper and his fiancé, Giuseppe Cellura (above), whose Facebook pages say they live in Oklahoma, apparently were visiting Roper’s mother at the Tehama Ridge development in Fort Worth recently. They were at the community pool when Roper and Cellura shared a peck on the lips. That’s when the pool attendant (right) came over and said they couldn’t do that and that she was calling management.
As it turns out, the manager was the pool attendant’s older brother (right, below). When he arrived, Roper began shooting video of the interaction.
From CBS 11:
He later sent the video to his mother, who posted it on Facebook, prompting threats.
“I think being hush, hush about it and letting it slide and sweeping it under the rug or just letting it go, I don’t think that solves anything,” said Roper.
Roper left town on a trip and sent the video of the interaction to his Mother, Belinda Roper. She posted it to her community Facebook page and that is when Belinda said the situation turned dangerous.
“I’m afraid for my life. I’m very afraid for my life,” said Belinda Roper.
The pool attendant reportedly was fired by Bearfoot Management in the wake of the incident. The company also issued an apology:
“Bearfoot Management and its employees are truly sorry for any actions that have occurred making the family involved in this incident feel they have been treated with any type of disrespect. We have reached out to the family and expressed our sincere regret for the incident that occurred.
Our company’s policies are to ensure a family friendly environment at each pool we manage. Our expectation is to enforce this practice without discrimination of any sort. We train our employees to treat each person with love and respect. While we are in the business of pool management, our company takes it upon itself to try to mold the young adults and teens working for us to be responsible and caring adults to help improve the world around us.”
In the video, the pool attendant and manager tell Roper that PDAs are prohibited at the pool. However, the sign listing rules for the pool contains no such prohibition. Roper points out that straight couples are sharing PDAs while he’s filming. At that point, the manager walks over and tells a straight couple to stop.
Roper demands that the pool attendant apologize, but she refuses. Roper also threatens to sue the pool attendant and manager, but that’s unlikely. Neither state nor federal law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations. Fort Worth has an ordinance prohibiting anti-gay discrimination in public accommodations, but violations are punishable only by a small fine.
Watch CBS 11’s report, as well as the video recorded by Roper, below.
The post WATCH: Video of Pool Attendant Telling Gay Couple They Can’t Kiss Leads To Threats, Police Investigation appeared first on Towleroad.
John Wright
WATCH: Hidden Camera Shows Man Rejected at Job Interview for Being Gay
Two men – one straight and one gay – secretly recorded video of their job interviews at an unnamed company with the same person.
Bil Browning
www.advocate.com/business/2015/08/07/watch-hidden-camera-shows-man-rejected-job-interview-being-gay
How UConn's Speech Clinic Is Helping Transgender Clients
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Sylvia Wojcik was making reservations for a beach getaway in Maine when the receptionist on the other end of the line called her “ma’am.” Nothing could have delighted her more.
Wojcik, 66, is transitioning from male to female. For her, that proof that she sounded like a woman was an important moment.
“It felt like I had just been validated,” she said. “It just gave me a great sense of being at ease with myself.”
Wojcik has undergone several years of voice therapy, the past 18 months at the University of Connecticut’s Speech and Hearing Clinic, one of a growing number of clinics with programs to teach transgender people how to sound more like the sex they identify with.
“You can be well kept, present well, but if your voice is masculine, you get pegged right away,” said Wojcik, of Enfield, north of Hartford. “I really didn’t start getting success with my voice until I came to UConn. And I’m sure glad I did, because it’s made all the difference.”
The program at UConn is in its fourth year, with about a dozen people participating at any one time. The typical participant will spend an hour a week in a group session, and another 1 1/2 hours working one on one with a speech pathologist.
They learn not only how to change the pitch of their voice, but also its resonance (males speak more from chest, women from the head) and delivery (men tend to be more staccato, women more fluid).
It involves a lot of voice exercises – humming to find an ideal pitch, naming five words that start with the letter “T.”
The idea is to condition and change the voice without harming the vocal chords, said Wendy Chase, the clinic’s director.
“Pitch up, shoulders back … whatever you’re doing wrong, she tends to help you correct it,” said 61-year-old Brianne Roberts, also of Enfield. “It really works.”
The majority of the transgender clients at the clinic are transitioning to female. Hormone therapy will naturally cause a lowering in the voice of someone transitioning to male, Chase said. Many “F to Ms,” as they are sometimes called, need to learn the other subtleties.
But clients transitioning either way need to work on articulation and patterns associated with male and female speech, even how to use their hands differently to gesture and touch during communication.
“There is tremendous irony in the fact that we use information based on stereotype to make people feel better about themselves,” said Chase. “But that’s what we do.”
The clinic also has served some people who are not transgender, such as men who wish to sound less effeminate – a topic explored in the new documentary “Do I Sound Gay?” And some clients, including people who are only considering a change in gender, want a voice that is more neutral, Chase said.
Literature in the field dates back 50 years, but until the past 20 years only a handful of people were doing voice work with transgender people, and the work is still in its infancy, Chase said.
Richard Adler, who retired this month from Minnesota State University Moorhead, was one of those pioneers. The field has been growing exponentially and internationally, he said, as the world has become more accepting of transgender people and people like Caitlyn Jenner have shared their stories.
“There are still people opposed to the work we do,” he said. “We still get hate mail, but it’s less and less.”
UConn charges clients $192 for a voice evaluation to determine what needs to be changed. It’s then $10 per session for individual treatment and $25 per semester for the group sessions.
Some insurance companies may pick up some or all the cost if a doctor gives a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. But Chase said that it is still rare.
A typical patient will spend about 18 months in therapy, Chase said, but the number of sessions varies widely.
Roberts, a freelance copywriter, has been attending sessions since February. She expects to participate for at least another semester.
As a man, Roberts was a radio personality, voiceover artist and actor. She is now returning to the stage as an actress and doesn’t want her voice to impede her winning roles.
“For me, passing is important,” she said. “But, in some cases it’s a matter of survival. There are some places where you do not want to be read as being anything other than female. It’s dangerous.”
The sessions also help in other ways, Roberts said. She’s able to talk to other people going through the same experience about progress and problems. And the environment is supportive and respectful, something Roberts said affirms her decision to transition.
As for Wojcik, she is just happy to be able to order sliced bologna at the deli without getting a strange look.
“I want to just be one of the girls,” she said. “I just want to blend in with the woodwork and people not notice that I’m trans.”
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IBM, Google, Twitter, Symantec and others speak out in support of US Equality Act
Four more major corporations have said that they endorse the introduction of the Equality Act in the US; federal legislation that would establish full, federal equality for all LGBT Americans and prohibit discrimination in the workplace, housing and other areas.
Human Rights Campaign has released statements from IBM, Orbitz and Symantec – following the release of previous statements from American Airlines, Apple, Dow Chemical, Facebook, General Motors.
Oracle have expressed their endorsement by joining HRC’s Business Coalition for Equality; ‘a group of leading U.S. employers that support the Equality Act’ according to HRC.
‘IBM’s workplace culture is built on the principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all,’ said IBM in its statement.
‘We established a corporate policy on equal opportunity more than a decade before the Civil Rights Act. We championed an industry-leading policy of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation over 30 years ago, and expanded it in 2002 to cover gender identity and expression.
‘IBM is proud to support the Equality Act and maintains our steadfast support for all employees to experience equality in the workplace.’
Orbitz said, ‘Our support for the Equality Act is consistent with our other actions, such as signing the amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to find gay marriage bans unconstitutional.’
Symantec said, ‘We are proud to support full and equal rights for the LGBT community.
‘We believe having a diversity of perspectives ensures we make better business decisions and the products and services we offer meet the needs of the broad spectrum of people we serve worldwide, which is why we couldn’t be more proud to support the expansion of legal protections.
‘We unequivocally support the Equality Act – for the future of our business and society.’
Commenting on the statements, Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said, ‘Momentum for the Equality Act continues to grow as the American business community stands up for diversity, inclusion and equality – principles critical to the success of any company.’
In addition to those companies mentioned above, Fortune magazine reports that it has received statements of support for the Act from Amazon, Hewlett Packard, Twitter and Google.
‘Diverse perspectives, ideas, and cultures lead to the creation of better products and services and ideas,’ a Google spokesperson said. ‘And it’s the right thing to do. That’s why we support protections for LGBT Americans as outlined in the Equality Act.’
The post IBM, Google, Twitter, Symantec and others speak out in support of US Equality Act appeared first on Gay Star News.
David Hudson
State Legislators Celebrate with HRC at NCSL Conference in Seattle
This past week, HRC Associate Regional Field Director Trevor Chandler attended the annual National Conference of State Legislatures Summit (NCSL) in Seattle, Washington.
HRC.org
Olivia Newton-John And Daughter Chloe Celebrate 35th Anniversary of ‘Xanadu’ With New Collaboration
The movie Xanadu has developed a tremendous cult following among the gays since its initial theatrical run back in 1980. Although the musical was widely-panned upon its release, the film has been “Suspended in Time” so to speak, and has enjoyed a long shelf life thanks in large part to fans who are hopelessly devoted to Olivia Newton-John.
To commemorate the 35th anniversary of Xanadu, Olivia and her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, will be unveiling a music video collaboration on Saturday, August 8 — the actual day the musical fantasy was released in movie theaters in 1980. The video is for their new dance single “You Have to Believe.” The track draws inspiration from Newton-John’s #1 hit “Magic” with new verses written by Chloe while Olivia sings the familiar chorus, “You have to believe we are magic…”
This marks the first video collaboration between mother and daughter, and the project, as well as the timing, could not have been more appropriate. Fun fact: Olivia met Chloe’s father, Matt Lattanzi, on set during the filming of Xanadu when he performed as a dancer in several musical numbers.
The premiere for the music video will be held at Share Nightclub in Las Vegas, which also served as the video’s filming location. The venue will be transformed into a modern-day Xanadu for the event on Saturday, as well as feature the song’s producer Dave Audé as DJ.
While we wait for the release of “You Have to Believe” and get ready to celebrate the anniversary of the movie that combined roller skating, Greek mythology, Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John into one spectacular musical, watch this video montage of Xanadu’s closing number.
Jeremy Kinser
The First GOP Presidential Debate in 60 Seconds: WATCH
Missed last night’s GOP debate or just want a refresher on all the highlights? Here’s a 60 second video showcasing the best moments featuring Donald Trump and the other clowns.
The post The First GOP Presidential Debate in 60 Seconds: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Kyler Geoffroy
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