No Retreat, No Surrender For Kim Davis

The legal team behind Kim Davis at this point might as well quote patriot John Paul Jones, who famously said, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

The Kentucky clerk and her lawyers told the Associated Press they’re not quitting their effort to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County after again asking a judge to postpone his mandate that she license all couples, and again losing. 

Federal Judge David Bunning on Wednesday dismissed Davis’ arguments that she is likely to suffer irreparable harm by having to issue the licenses.

“This argument is unpersuasive because Davis has created her own risk of harm by violating a valid order issued by this court,” Bunning wrote in his ruling. ”As for the public interest, the court simply notes that the public has an interest in the enforcement of valid court orders.”

Attorneys with Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based firm that specializes in defending conservative Christians in LGBT rights cases, has repeatedly asked the appeals court to toss Bunning’s order that the Rowan County clerk’s office issue marriage licenses to all couples.

Attorney Mat Staver is arguing that because the couples who sued her received a license, she should not have to issue any more while that case is pending.

As The Advocate reported last week, the appeals court denied her request, citing the legal technicality that her lawyers did not first ask the district judge for a delay, as federal court rules require. That’s why Davis’ legal team redirected the appeal to Bunning.

“It would essentially allow her to reinstate her ‘no marriage licenses’ policy during the pendency of the appeal and likely violate the constitutional right of eligible couples,” the judge wrote.

Staver told the Associated Press the request with the district judge was just “a formality” and announced he will soon file that same motion with the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile the ACLU has now asked Judge Bunning to order Davis to reissue the licenses, which The Advocate reported she altered to remove Davis’s name, job title and county. The ACLU, which represents gay and straight couples who were denied a license by the clerk, wants Davis threatened with penalties such as fines if she continues to refuse to issue valid licenses.

Another penalty would be to strip Davis of her authority by placing her office under a receivership, which would allow another person to oversee the marriage licensing process.

No word yet from Bunning on that request.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/9/24/no-retreat-no-surrender-kim-davis

Pope Francis' Speech To Congress Didn't Mention Abortion, Gay Marriage By Name

During his historic speech at a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis hit upon a variety of issues that have defined the Catholic church: protecting the environment, helping the poor, addressing the plight of immigrants, abolishing the death penalty and taking a stand against the proliferation of the weapons trade, to name a few.

Yet, while the pope had strong words on many of these causes, he glossed over two other topics that American bishops have strongly lobbied against in recent years: abortion and same-sex marriage. In fact, he did not even mention them by name.

In his wide-ranging 3,404-word address praising the democratic mission of Congress and the spirit of the American people — touching upon Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton — the pope called for action to protect refugees, eliminate capital punishment and stop war, yet used a mere 21 words to allude to abortion and only 54 to touch vaguely upon the fact that same-sex marriage is now legal across the United States.

On abortion, the pope’s comments were tucked into a larger discussion on the the Golden Rule, which “reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.” But he did not say the word “abortion.”

On marriage, the pope had a few more words. “I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.”

Yet, Francis, who was notably the first pope to use the word “gay” — as he did during his famed “Who I am to judge?” interview — and who has been praised and criticized by LGBT activists for his words on the spirituality of gay people, did not explicitly mention same-sex marriage.

U.S. Catholic bishops, by comparison, have lobbied intensely in recent years against abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage, encouraging homilies and teach-ins on the issues on the parish level and hosting extensive policy pages about those topics on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website. Bishops have also lobbied against the death penalty, which the pope mentioned in his speech, and on behalf of immigrants and the poor.

By no means does Francis support abortion or gay marriage — but his decision to largely skip over the topics during his speech to Congress is notable, and likely won’t gain him fans among conservative Catholics, who have already criticized the pope for his off-the-cuff remarks on social issues and for his views on climate change.

“Yesterday, Pope Francis said that promoting life and family were the major reason he came to America this week. Yet, disappointingly, the pope did not mention abortion by name in his address to Congress,” said John-Henry Westen, the editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews, a conservative Catholic website.

Francis has already indicated that his focus as pope is not on sexuality or culture war-related issues. In a landmark interview just six months after he became pope in 2013, he said the church was “obsessed” with abortion, contraception and gay marriage.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time. The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently,” he said in the interview with Rev. Antonio Spadaro, who edits La Civiltà Cattolica, an Italian Jesuit publication.

“We have to find a new balance,” the pope said at the time. “Otherwise, even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

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Portland bar owner ordered to pay $400,000 to transgender group he asked to stay away from his venue

A Portland bar owner has been told that he must pay $400,000 in damages to a group of transgender customers that he asked to stay away from his venue.

The Oregon Court of Appeals yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that the owner of the Twilight Room Annex, formerly known as the Portsmouth Club, must pay the money.

He had earlier been offered the opportunity to apologize but had decided to appeal and fight the decision instead.

The dispute dates back to 2012, when the venue’s owner, Chris Jenner, told a group known as the Rose City T-Girls not to return to his bar.

The group, according to court papers, is, ‘An informal social group that includes straight people, married couples, nonmarried couples, males who identify as females, cross-dressers, males who have physically transitioned to females, lesbians, and gay males.’

He left voicemail messages for Cassandra Lynn, the group’s founder, saying: ‘Hello, my name is Chris. I’m the owner of the P-Club Bar and Grill. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I’m going to have to ask for you, Cass and your group, not to come back on Friday nights.

‘People think that A.) we’re a tranny bar, or B.) that we’re a gay bar. We are neither. People are not coming in because they just don’t want to be here on a Friday night now.’

The group complained to Oregon’s Labor commission, and in 2013, the venue was investigated – and subsequently fined – by the Bureau of Labor and Industries for violating the state’s non-discrimination law.

The Rose City T Girls – which includes 11 complainants – then asked for a mediated settlement, saying that their dispute wasn’t about money and that all they wanted was an apology from Jenner.

However, he refused and instead decided to appeal the decision. He did not, however, appeal the monetary penalty.

In early 2014, the state began to seize Jenner’s bank accounts and assets in an effort to recover the money. The Annex subsequently closed its doors to business in April 2014 but its owner continued to fight the decision through the Appeals Court.

According to Associated Press, Jenner’s attorney argued that – in contrast to bakeries that have declined to make cakes for same-sex weddings – his client did not bar the women but had merely expressed a desire that they did not return to his venue.

‘Originally, the Rose City T-Girls approached his business and asked if this is going to be a problem and they said, “No.”

‘In essence, he was going back to them and saying, “This is a problem for my business.” We think he’s got a constitutional right to make that inquiry.’

However, the Appeals Court disagreed. It’s ruling can be read here.

Within it, it says, Penner’s request that the T-Girls ‘not to come back’ could be rightly interpreted as meaning that they were unwelcome at the club, and that they were not allowed to meet at the club any longer because of their sexual orientation.

‘When Penner left the voicemails for Lynn, he was verbally barring her and the T-Girls from the P Club on Friday nights.’
Main image: Michael Silberstein, licensed via Creative Commons 2.0

The post Portland bar owner ordered to pay $400,000 to transgender group he asked to stay away from his venue appeared first on Gay Star News.

David Hudson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/portland-bar-owner-ordered-to-pay-400000-to-transgender-group-he-asked-to-stay-away-from-his-venue/

Director of Social Ministry Heartbroken After Being Fired for Sexual Orientation

Colleen was heartbroken after she was let go from her job as a Director of Social Ministry at a church in Kansas City.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/director-of-social-ministry-heartbroken-after-fired-for-sexual-orientation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

School Won’t Let Student Bring Another Boy To Homecoming Dance, Warns Him About Murderous Gays

All Lance Sanderson (pictured) wants is to bring another boy to his school’s homecoming dance, but administrators won’t let him.

Sanderson is a senior at Christian Brothers High School, an all-boys Catholic prep school in Memphis. Last year, he says he spoke with an administrator about bringing a boy from another school to the dance. That administrator gave him permission, but has since left his position at the school.

Now, school officials have changed their tune.

Related: After Denying FTM Student Homecoming King Title, MI High School Does Away With Prom King + Queen

“I was sitting down talking to one of the current administrators over the summer, and at the end of our conversation, I mentioned it, expecting him to say the same thing. And he had a very different response,” Sanderson tells the Memphis Flyer. “He mentioned a [gay] couple in Texas and said I was a lot like this one person and said that the guy’s boyfriend murdered him. It was a little rough.”

The school cited a policy against boys from other schools attending social functions as its reason for denying Sanderson’s request.

Related: All-Girls School Won’t Let Hannah Williams Bring Girlfriend To Dance, Because It’s A Chance to Meet Boys

The official policy reads: “CBHS students may attend the dance by themselves, with other CBHS students, or with a girl from another school. For logistical reasons, boys from other schools may not attend.”

According to Sanderson, that policy has been read over the school’s loudspeaker daily for the past week.

“The way they worded it is ‘for logistical reasons, boys from other schools may not attend.’ I asked about it in a meeting [Tuesday] morning, and they said they didn’t want guys from our school getting into disagreements with guys from other schools,” Sanderson says.

The school’s marketing and communications director, John Morris, said it would not be releasing any comment over the matter… Perhaps for “logistical reasons”?

Related: High School Jock Comes Out By Slow Dancing With The Homecoming King

h/t: Raw Story

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/czVcKVeAacQ/school-wont-let-student-bring-another-boy-to-homecoming-dance-warns-him-about-murderous-gays-20150924

Ellen Unveils the All-Trump 2016 GOP Debate Line Up: VIDEO

And you thought one billionaire blowhard was a headache. Try 11 of em.

Hoping to boost her ratings, Ellen DeGeneres created this hilarious (and more than a little terrifying) video that replaces the other 10 GOP candidates at last week’s debate with Donald Trump.

Get ready for a lot of insults and interruptions in the video below:

Want more Ellen? Click HERE and LIKE our page on Facebook. Select “get notifications” in pulldown menu to receive our headlines in your feed.

The post Ellen Unveils the All-Trump 2016 GOP Debate Line Up: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Kyler Geoffroy

Ellen Unveils the All-Trump 2016 GOP Debate Line Up: VIDEO

New Kim Davis Lesbian Erotica Takes Her to the Promised Land

Embattled Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis may be best known for her homophobic stance against marriage equality and leaving gay and lesbian couples wanting more. But now she’s the subject of a new lesbian jailhouse erotic novella that is all about satisfaction.

Author Lilith St. Augustine has written a fantasy novel starring the renegade clerk that is “bitingly satirical, unexpectedly funny and unabashedly sexy,” according to the book’s online description. Kim Goes To Jail: An Erotic Story is available now as a Kindle download on Amazon.

Loosely based on Davis’ stint in the slammer on contempt of court charges, the novella has our antihero incarcerated with a “beautiful cellmate” who is “only too eager to acclimate” Davis to her new life behind bars.

“One day I’m standin’ on the side of the Lord against sexual perversion, and the next I’m in prison orange watchin’ a buck nekkid mulatto vixen ‘bout to do impure things to herself and to my soul in one single, terrifyin’ act,” reads one passage. “She was strokin’ my thigh and makin’ her way for the promised land…”

The author told the Huffington Post that she used the story to “poke fun” at religious right zealots who loudly proclaim their homophobia. Studies have shown that the most homophobic people are usually struggling with their own sexuality and act out as a way of reaffirming their heterosexuality.

St. Augustine says she is “giving readers satisfaction not only in the typical erotica sense but also of seeing a character do some things that, in the real world, would obviously be anathema to the kinds of people we’re talking about.”

“There can be pleasure in irony sometimes,” she said. “And hopefully readers will get a chuckle or two while we’re at it.”

The Advocate reached out to Davis’s attorneys for comment but did not receieve a reply by press time.

Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/9/24/new-kim-davis-lesbian-erotica-takes-her-promised-land

Friends</em> Series 1 – Six Things I Never Knew I Knew
Sorry… 26. Ross is TWENTY SIX in series one? But I am 26. That is my age. He is a grown up man who is my age.

That was largely my reaction to watching the entire series one of Friends again. I’ve of course watched Friends a lot since it finished, I mean I’m not an animal, but never in any order. I tended to follow it in whatever order the TV channel that was carrying it wanted to throw at me. One minute she gets off the plane, the next skinny Chandler is all up in Janice’s grill clutching on to that hideous/fabulous leopard print boot. The series turns 21 this week, and to honour that milestone I decided to go back to the start, old fashioned DVD boxset-style. A re-watch, a rebirth, a rediscovery (NOTE FROM EDITOR: calm down).

Age aside (TWENTY SIX?), I discovered six key things I didn’t know I knew during my more crazy mixed up viewing habits. So here we go, Friends series 1… a re-reaction.

1 ‘The Rachel’ hairstyle is a blink and you’ll miss it situation. Full disclosure, I hate that hairstyle. I understand that thousands, if not millions, of 90’s ladies wanted it on their heads, but it is awful. Thankfully, it actually wasn’t in it for very long. To my eyes, about half the first series includes ‘The Rachel’ and then that’s all folks. That’s the power of the Aniston though right, I mean I’m not saying she’s Jesus but let’s be real, she was sent here to save us all.

2 – Poor Phoebe. She just doesn’t get a look in. Minor stories like the thumb in the soda thing, and a token love story with lovely David, but that’s really all we see of her. Could she be more supporting cast? If you want evidence of how little is about her, I give you this: David reappears later in the show’s run to represent Phoebe’s great love, yet he’s only in it for ONE episode of S1. That is how much screen time they gave the Buffay’s great love story. Well done everyone, it’s not like Kudrow is a national treasure or anything.

3 – In contrast, series one really is the one about Ross and Rachel. Seriously, between Ross’ divorce, his baby, Rachel’s wedding walk out, her journey from spoilt to, well, less spoilt, her relationship with Paolo (who, I might add, gets three episodes in series 1. That’s two more than David… case rested) — it’s just non-stop with those two. Plus, of course, the ‘will they won’t they’ starts. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as into the whole Ross / Rachel thing as the next 90s kid, but I had no idea these two were so all encompassing.

4 – Joey is not stupid, nor is he creepy with women. I get it, character development etc. But really, he’s actually kind of witty and charming in S1. He’s sarcastic and slightly deep (that whole thing with his dad, too cute). I quite like some dumb Joey moments, but in the end I thought they got a bit annoying. Our Italian Stallion could have been so much more. Alas. (EDITOR: seriously, calm down)

5 – What’s with the beam? Monica’s apartment has this weird beam in it that is def removed at some point. I don’t like it and I’m glad she changed it. I don’t think Monica’s decorating is always on point (purple, really?), but she werked it out with that decision — it would have been the first thing to go if I lived in that palatial apartment.

6 – I’m about to come out. This is a big moment for me so be kind. Monica is my favorite character.

Phew, it feels so good to say it out loud, when’s the parade (etc). Basically, Monica is sarcastic, tough when she needs to be, deals with her crazy mother, is not that bothered that she’s supremely uncool and has a deep rooted pride in the apartment she keeps spotless. I’m not saying I relate to her, but when the shoe fits… (NB Mum I’m totally kidding, LOVE YOU).

That’s it, done. I am E.X.HAUSTED. On to series two…

— 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.

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Ditch Grindr, there is finally a dating app for people who love bacon

Grindr? Scruff? Tinder? Who needs them when there is a dating app out there for bacon lovers?

Oscar Mayer has launched the new app, called Sizzl, for bacon lovers looking to find love. It gives you an option to look for men, women or both.

Like Tinder, it links up your Facebook so you are looking at people’s actual pictures. It then asks you a series of questions to better find out what kind of bacon lover you are.

‘What kind of bacon do you love the most?’ they ask. ‘Pork, Turkey or Both?’

And also, ‘If you’re on a date and there’s one strip of bacon left, you…take it obviously, generously give it away, or split it?’

Once you have filled out the short questionnaire, you then start looking for potential dates and rate them by how much ‘sizzl’ you feel for them.

Does this bacon dating app make you sizzle?

According to the Oscar Mayer website, Sizzl is ‘a real dating app for bacon lovers’ and offers users the chance to connect with thousands of ‘like-minded lovers who share your selective taste in bacon’.

The app is currently only available for Apple phones and products.

The post Ditch Grindr, there is finally a dating app for people who love bacon appeared first on Gay Star News.

Joe Morgan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/ditch-grindr-there-is-finally-a-dating-app-for-people-who-love-bacon/

Music Director Loses Job at Two Churches After Coming Out as Transgender

After coming out as transgender, Lindsey found herself unemployed after her positions at two churches were terminated.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/music-director-loses-job-at-two-churches-after-coming-out-as-transgender?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed