Op-ed: How Queer Fashion Is Changing the World
As she preps for a queer fashion show at the Brooklyn Museum, the editor in chief of a style site for masc women and trans individuals says clothes can change society.
Anita Dolce Vita
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/09/02/op-ed-how-queer-fashion-changing-world
Gay man in Ghana saved from mob beating by passing soldier
A young Ghanaian man has been rescued by an unlikely savior after he was lured into a park and beaten for being gay.
According to a report by Pulse.com.gh, Abdul Kadiri Mutawakil was invited to watch a football game by a friend in Kawukudi park near the town of Nima in the capital Accra on Sunday.
However when he got to the park he was ambushed by a mob of youths who began to beat him up, demanding that he confirm whether the rumors about his sexuality were true.
Mutawaki reportedly admitted his same-sex attraction and told his attackers that it was not something he chose or could have any control over. However this only angered the mob further and they began to beat him more severely.
At this point a passing soldier noticed the crowd beating Mutawaki and decided see what was happening.
He reportedly decided to get involved after he discovered that Mutawaki was being attacked solely for being gay and not for anything he had done to or with another person.
The soldier, who’s name has been withheld in the Ghanaian press, stepped in and stopped the mob and prevented the situation for escalating further.
The attack on Mutawaki comes only a few months after another attack on a gay man in Nima district.
That victim was beaten up and whipped before being forced to admit his sexual orientation on video camera.
Consensual homosexual acts are punishable with up to three years in prison under Ghanaian law – thought the offense is only considered a misdemeanour.
The post Gay man in Ghana saved from mob beating by passing soldier appeared first on Gay Star News.
Andrew Potts
www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-man-in-ghana-saved-from-mob-beating-by-passing-soldier/
Transit Employee Refuses To Drive Rainbow Bus That Supports A “Radical Sexual Movement”
A bus driver in Calgary is having an absolute meltdown over the city’s new rainbow colored buses promoting this year’s Pride celebration.
Jesse Rau has been a driver for Calgary Transit for about a year now. He says his Christian beliefs forbid him for supporting homosexuality. Therefore, driving the rainbow bus would be a direct violation of his deeply held religious beliefs.
Related: Bus Driver Refuses To Board Bus With Sign Reading “Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!”
“I’m a Christian so, as a Christian, there are things like homosexuality that I just can’t condone,” Rau said during a press conference. “Unfortunately, we live in a culture where if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, the accusation is that you hate the person.”
Rau insists he’s not the only bus driver who feels this way.
“People are afraid to speak out against this radical sexual movement that’s happening for fear of leaving their job,” he claimed.
Related: Gay Couple Ejected From Chicago Bus For Kissing, Holding Hands
As a result of his stance, Rau says people are already out to get him. He claims a complaint was filed against him alleging that he had been texting while driving on the job, an allegation he refutes.
“I am very careful not to text while driving,” Rau said. “I am aware that public transit is a blessing to many and I always want to keep the people on my bus safe and secure.”
“I am being targeted for speaking out for my faith,” he added.
Related: “No Gays Allowed” Business Owner Learns There Are Consequences To Being A Hateful Bigot
But city manager Jeff Fielding has a different story to tell. He said he hasn’t received any formal complaints about Rau, nor has Rau approached anyone from management about not wanting to drive the rainbow bus.
“Anybody, at any point in time, can write me an email or make an appointment to see me,” Fielding said. “If these were issues of concern to them personally in terms of their own beliefs and practices, I would have dealt with it appropriately.”
Rau refuses to be intimidated by anyone. And he absolutely, positively will not drive the rainbow bus, even if it means getting fired.
“I have a family to support and I am very concerned about losing the job,” he said, “but when it goes against the most important things I stand for, or if I’m asked to compromise in such a big way for what I believe to be right, then I have to lose my job.”
Related: Creepy School Bus Driver Corners Kids, Lectures Them About The Evils Of Homosexuality
Graham Gremore
Meet Four of The Advocate's Vanguard
The LGBTs at the cutting edge of business, science and technology, and activism.
Advocate Contributors
www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2015/09/02/meet-four-advocates-vanguard
Dear American Christians, Kim Davis and your ‘martyrs’ are failing you
Kim Davis is on her way to martyrdom. Today the clerk from Kentucky defied every legal entity extending up through the Supreme Court and again denied marriage licenses to the same-sex couple wanting one.
She did so ‘under God’s authority’.
Her crusade could eventually land her with a year in jail for official misconduct.
The couple she has violated are forgiving. They have asked she only be penalized by fees. That won’t really work well for her agenda.
Kim is one of two clerks in Kentucky, both named Davis, that are the latest in a string of botched martyrs.
Casey Davis, the other clerk, has vowed to fight to the death – even though there is not a single person trying to kill him, who has hinted they’ll kill him, or even thought about killing him.
He is on a bike ride across the state in support of Kim Davis.
‘I cannot let my sister go to jail without my doing something to let others know about her plight,’ he states. (They are not blood related.)
Kim Davis’s quest for her ‘faith’ is at least a little more subtle. She has carried her cross up the stations of the US legal system and now seems eager to dive into her own crucifixion. I sent her a letter trying to persuade to be wary of the Liberty Counsel which is supposedly ‘supporting’ her and really profiting as they push her further down this path.
Even though the Bible does not address same sex marriage at all, and Jesus only comments on the issue of divorce, Kim Davis makes this claim: ‘I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of scripture and of Jesus himself regarding marriage.’
I have decided it is time to address, not them – been there, done that – but their followers.
Dear American Christian nation,
I am not addressing all Americans or even all Christian Americans. I am addressing those of you for which there is no separation of church and state in your mind. Those who ostracize all who you believe do not fit into your vision of a Christian nation.
We have an election going on, temporarily eclipsing even the Presidential. The bid to be seen as the biggest ‘Christian’ martyr, ready to ruin one’s life for God. It is time to scrutinize the candidates.
Every one is failing to uphold the very foundations this Christian nation is founded on.
The only requirement to be a candidate: Be extremely homophobic and seek to expel LGBTI people from anything resembling a decent, responsible life.
First we had the baker, the florist and the pizza maker.
The pizza maker’s martyrdom did not last long. They had insulted invisible people for a non-existent event. And they became instant millionaires – which disqualified them as martyrs.
The baker fell into a similar conundrum. They thought they had martyr’s pain over a $135,000 (€120,000) judgment against them, but then they got four times that amount in fundraising.
As riches filled their homophobic coffers, they cried ‘let them eat cake,’ and sent out free confections to all the people whose weddings for which they would have refused to bake.
If you can’t figure out when to bake or when not to bake, and you earned a big payoff, you’re not a martyr.
The florist’s quest for martyrdom wilted for lack of damage. She claimed loss of a vocation, home and all she held dear. The truth was a $2,000 (€1,770) fine and a finger wagging.
Those who don’t really get punished aren’t martyrs. They are drama queens.
There was also the Idaho wedding chapel guy who told everyone he was going to prison. He barely makes it on this list since nobody wanted to patronize him, no authorities questioned his action, no ordinances were violated, and no issues raised on how he was doing business.
If you have to beg to be harassed, you are not a martyr.
Then we have Kim and Casey Davis…
American Christian Nation, it is time to take a hard look at your players. They are not serving you well.
No one is being inspired to Christ due to their actions. No one is relating to some grand principle. All they see is cruelty to innocent people who want nothing more than to love who they love, and to be able to start their families with dignity.
Your martyrs are becoming objects of financial opportunism of a giant Hate Industry. This is not about following God, it is about following the money. Every year billions are used to attack other families so you can feel self-righteous.
Here is the really sad part. That money is only feeding your need to get at people you don’t know and don’t understand.
You are bankrolling this campaign of oppression that your grandchildren will come to mock and deride. They will, in years to come, wonder how anyone could have been so stupid.
It is mind-boggling to think what you could do if you focused on things Christ does care about. Like helping the sick, the unfortunate, the homeless and hurt.
It would change this from the age of the Wanna-be Martyr, to the age of Christian Miracles.
These are the choices God leaves up to you.
The post Dear American Christians, Kim Davis and your ‘martyrs’ are failing you appeared first on Gay Star News.
Rob Watson
www.gaystarnews.com/article/dear-american-christians-kim-davis-and-your-martyrs-are-failing-you/
First gay film to show in China theaters
Seek McCartney will become the first gay film to show in Chinese theaters later this year.
The Chinese/French co-production, starring popular singer Han Geng and award-winning actor Jérémie Elkaïm, passed censored in its entirety after a year of deliberation.
Director Wang Chao hailed the decision as ‘a small step for the regulator and a big step for filmmakers.’
‘It was not easy, but was delightful,’ he wrote on Weibo.
Another 2015 film, The Dead End, features a passionate kiss between two male actors and passed censors earlier this year.
But Film critic Cheng Qiusong said Seek McCartney was ‘China’s first film about a gay relationship in the true sense.’
Other LGBTI films such as Brokeback Mountain, although banned from cinemas, are available on video-streaming sites.
China’s media watchdog removed homosexuality from its list of pornographic and vulgar content in 2010.
The post First gay film to show in China theaters appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/first-gay-film-to-show-in-china-theaters/
'Old Redneck Hillbilly' Husband of Kim Davis Has a Warning for Nosey People
He may be her fourth husband but Joe Davis is the first in line to defend the antigay Kentucky Clerk. And for Davis, the number top of mind these days, is the number 2, as in the Second Amendment.
Dawn Ennis
Singapore lifts ban on HIV positive visitors
Singapore has lifted its 20-year ban on HIV positive visitors but will limit their stay to three months.
The ban was lifted on 1 April but only made public on Monday (31 August).
‘Given the current context with more than 5,000 Singapore residents living with HIV and the availability of effective treatment for the disease,’ a health ministry spokesperson said.
‘The policy on the repatriation and permanent blacklisting of HIV positive foreigners was recommended in the late 1980s when the disease was new, fatal and no effective treatment was available.’
The three-month restriction is meant to prevent foreigners with HIV from taking up residence in the Lion city.
The spokesperson said a short-term visit ‘poses very low additional risk of HIV transmission to the local population.
‘However, the public health risk posed by long-stayers is not insignificant, hence the restriction on long-term visits has been retained.’
He added that Australia and New Zealand have similar restrictions on long-term visitors with HIV.
According to Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe, 30 countries still force HIV positive foreigners to leave.
The post Singapore lifts ban on HIV positive visitors appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/singapore-lifts-ban-on-hiv-positive-visitors/
We’re Living For Christina Applegate’s Terrible Meryl Streep Impressions
Below, Funny or Die brings you the trailer for a Lifetime version of the one-and-only Meryl Streep’s illustrious career, from Kramer vs. Kramer all the way to Mamma Mia!
We’d definitely sit through a full-length version of this if the right drinking game were there to accompany it. A shot for every Oscar nomination? Maybe that’s too extreme.
Critics agree: Christina Applegate was the wrong choice to play Meryl Streep.
Watch below:
Dan Tracer
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