Fox Soars from 'Failing' to 'Excellent' in GLAAD Report
ABC Family and Fox earn top scores for LGBT representation in GLAAD’s 2015 Network Responsibility Index.
Adam Sandel
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/09/03/fox-soars-failing-excellent-glaad-report
Kim Davis Heads To Court After Defying Supreme Court On Same-Sex Marriage
ASHLAND, Ky., Sept 3 (Reuters) – A county clerk in Kentucky who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs heads to court on Thursday where a federal judge could hold her in contempt for defying his order to do so.
Lawyers for Kim Davis, the elected Rowan County clerk who is an Apostolic Christian, on Wednesday asked U.S. District Judge David Bunning to temporarily block his order requiring her to issue marriage licenses while she appeals the issue.
Davis has refused to issue licenses to any couples, gay or straight, since the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry under the U.S. Constitution.
Four couples filed a federal lawsuit in July challenging her office policy not to issue licenses and Bunning in August ruled for the couples, finding that Davis had to live up to her official duties as a county clerk despite her religious beliefs.
Davis has appealed his order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which turned down her request for a stay pending appeal last week. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday also turned down her request for an emergency stay.
Davis has refused since the Supreme Court order this week to issue marriage licenses and same-sex couples on Tuesday filed a motion asking Bunning to hold her in contempt of court, seeking fines but no jail time.
“To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue,” Davis said in a statement this week. “It is about marriage and God’s word. It is a matter of religious liberty.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which represents the couples seeking the contempt order, said on Tuesday the law is clear. “The duty of public officials is to enforce the law, not place themselves above it,” it said.
Davis is represented by Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian religious advocacy organization, which said in court papers on Wednesday an injunction would halt the “irreversible implications on Davis’ conscience” while she appeals the case.
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, ordered all county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but has no authority over Davis’ office. (Reporting by Steve Bittenbender in Ashland, Kentucky; Writing by David Bailey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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Gay tourism in Ireland estimated at €843m, according to new mind-blowing statistics
Ireland is set to win an extra €843m ($947m, £619m) in tourism revenue per year following the
gay marriage referendum, according to an industry insider.
LGBTI tourism is likely to make up 17% of the total visitors to the region according to Paul Thompson, of asset management firm LGBT Capital, reports the Irish Independent.
Overall, the country’s tourism industry is worth €6 billion a year.
Meanwhile a spokesperson for Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority of Ireland, added: ‘The recent referendum was profiled extensively in media at home and overseas and would certainly have brought Ireland to the attention of the global LGBT sector.’
They added: ‘So coupled with the ongoing growth in overseas visitors reported by the CSO, it would be no surprise if we did see an increase in visitors from the LGBT sector.’
The post Gay tourism in Ireland estimated at €843m, according to new mind-blowing statistics appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jamie Tabberer
Candis Cayne Chose Integrity Over A Role In HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm; Recalls Early Days of Transition
Before her appearances on Caitlyn Jenner’s reality series I Am Cait, Candis Cayne was making the rounds and auditioning for acting roles in Hollywood. The trans actress recently shared a story with The Hollywood Reporter about an awkward audition for HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm where she had to walk out on the show’s creator Larry David.
“The part was for a trans woman who had to go to the bathroom really bad and decided she was going to go in the men’s line because it was quicker. I said, ‘Thank you for writing a trans part, but I can’t audition because a trans woman wouldn’t do this. I have to honor my community,’ and I walked out of the audition,” recounted Cayne.
It was a difficult decision considering how few and far between trans roles in film and television are; however, being a class act, Cayne stated, “But I love the show!” as she left the room.
Candis was not alone in her sentiment about the role. She revealed that fellow trans actress Alexandra Billings was going to audition for the part and had the same reaction to the bathroom storyline. The scene was eventually scrapped and never made it on the air.
Declining the audition hasn’t hurt her career. Candis Cayne has gone on to appear in Nip/Tuck, Drop Dead Diva, Elementary, and most notably, was a recurring cast member in ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money.
Cayne also discussed the early days of her transition with the publication, “There was no way of finding out any information, and all you saw on trans women were Jerry Springer.” As a performer in New York City’s gay club scene during the ‘90s, Candis decided to be upfront about her transition with audiences and received support from the drag community.
“It was the first time in my life that I felt comfortable in my own skin.”
Jeremy Kinser
39 Sci-Fi Divas Gays Adore
Jase Peeples
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/09/03/39-sci-fi-divas-gays-adore
Tennessee judge refuses to divorce straight couple, cites gay marriage ruling
A judge in Tennessee has refused to grant a divorce to a straight couple, citing the gay marriage ruling as a reason.
Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton denied the divorce last week after hearing from seven witnesses over four days and going through 77 exhibits, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Atherton said the Supreme Court needed to clarify ‘when a marriage is no longer a marriage.’
‘The conclusion reached by this court is that Tennesseans have been deemed by the US Supreme Court to be incompetent to define and address such keystone/central institutions such as marriage, and, thereby, at minimum, contested divorces,’ he wrote in his judgment.
Atherton is the latest in a string of public officials who have refused to obey the ruling. Most notorious is Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who continues to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses despite a Supreme Court ruling against her. She could now face charges of contempt and jail time.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that Atherton’s decision had ruffled the local legal community. Some lawyers questioned the legality of his ruling, while others believe he was expressing his personal opposition to gay marriage.
Asked by the newspaper what the couple could do next, Atherton replied: ‘Hopefully, they can reconcile.’
The post Tennessee judge refuses to divorce straight couple, cites gay marriage ruling appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
Dan Savage: Kim Davis is a hypocrite just ‘waiting to cash in’
Dan Savage has said the Kentucky clerk refusing to issue gay marriage licenses is a hypocrite just ‘waiting to cash in.’
During an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday (2 September) night, the openly gay sex columnist compared Rowan County clerk Kim Davis to the Indiana pizzeria that raised more than $1 million after refusing to cater gay weddings.
‘I think Kim Davis is waiting to cash in,’ he said.
‘I predicted from the beginning that she would defy all the court orders, defy the Supreme Court.
‘She would be ultimately be held in contempt of court, lose her job, perhaps go to prison for a short amount of time and then she will have written for her ghost-written books, she will go on the right-wing lecture circuit and she’ll never have to do an honest day’s work ever again in her life.’
Savage also pointed out that Davis had divorced three times and married four times.
‘She is a hypocrite,’ he said.
‘She’s now onto her fourth husband. Jesus Christ himself in scripture condemns divorce, calls it adultery and forbids it.
‘Jesus Christ himself in scripture says not one word about same-sex marriage.’
Watch the full interview below:
The post Dan Savage: Kim Davis is a hypocrite just ‘waiting to cash in’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/dan-savage-kim-davis-is-a-hypocrite-just-waiting-to-cash-in/
Nine gay men arrested in Burma for ‘acting inappropriately’
Nine gay men have been arrested in Mandalay for ‘acting inappropriately’ even though they had not committed any crimes.
The region’s minister of border and security affairs, Myint Kyu, vowed to crack down on LGBTI people and increase police presence at the city’s moat, an oasis for the LGBTI community.
‘The existence of gay men who assume they are women is unacceptable and therefore we are constantly taking action to have the gays detained at police stations, educate them, then hand them back to their parents,’ he told a regional parliamentary session in August.
Kyu also indicated that authorities had recently ‘checked on’ a group of gay men after being informed they were ‘acting inappropriately’ and arrested nine of them.
He said the men were ‘educated’ and then released on bond when it was found they had not committed any crimes.
‘Burma’s government has a responsibility to ensure noxious statements about gay people don’t go unchallenged,’ said Graeme Reid, Human Right Watch’s LGBT rights director.
‘Unless the government speaks out against such hateful words, it could open the door to more abuse of the sort described by this minister.’
Gay sex is illegal in Burma under a British colonial-era law and punishable by up to life imprisonment.
In July 2013, plainclothes police officers arrested 10 gay men and transgender women and abused them in detention.
The post Nine gay men arrested in Burma for ‘acting inappropriately’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/nine-gay-men-arrested-in-burma-for-acting-inappropriately/
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