Nigel Owens delivers withering putdown to Scottish rugby star Stuart Hogg

Legendary Welsh referee Nigel Owens put British Lions player Stuart Hogg in his place after a dive during a World Cup game, Scotland vs. South Africa.

‘Dive like that again and you can come back here in two weeks and play’, he said, referencing football which is more often played in St James’ Park stadium where the game took place.

In the video, a contrite Hogg backs away from the camera.

Owens, who came out in 2007 to positive reception, is famous for his withering quips – but is never afraid to poke fun at himself.

The post Nigel Owens delivers withering putdown to Scottish rugby star Stuart Hogg appeared first on Gay Star News.

Jack Flanagan

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Bro-Jobs, Beards, And Obama: 11 Great Fall Reading Recommendations For Book Nerds

Fall is officially upon us: Time to break out the flannel, order a pumpkin spiced latte, and curl up with a good book.

Whether you’re in the mood for another behind-the-scenes bio of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, a thoughtful analysis of beards, a in-depth study of “straight” men who have sex with other men, or a poignant memoir of an activist’s struggles and successes, there’s something for everyone.

 

Check out these eleven great reading recommendations to scratch your literary itch this fall.

Happy reading!

Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal by Jay Parini

It seems a new biography of Gore Vidal is released every couple of months, but Jay Parini’s draws on 30 years of friendship with the literary giant, offering a unique peek behind the glittering curtain of Vidal’s lavish life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truths he kept buried under the surface.

 

Then Comes Marriage: United States V. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA by Roberta Kaplan, Lisa Dickey and Edie Windsor

Get an insider’s glimpse of the fight for marriage equality in the United States from Roberta Kaplan herself, the litigator who argued against the Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. This book is heralded as the “definitive account of one of our nation’s most significant civil rights victories.”

Beards: An Unshaved Story by Kevin Clarke

Bestselling author Kevin Clarke looks at beards from the queer perspective. Need we say more?

What Color Is Your Hoodie? Essays on Black Gay Identity by Jarrett Neal

Jarrett Neal delves into what it means to be a black gay men in the new millennium, examining classism, racism, representations of the black male body within gay pornography, and patriarchal threats to the survival of both black and gay men.

The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

Read the novel before you see the movie. Loosely based on a true story, The Danish Girl tells the tale of Lili Elbe, a pioneer in transgender history, and the woman torn between staying loyal to her marriage or to her own dreams and desires. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, this one is an absolute must-read.

And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality by Mark Segal

Mark Segal made national news on December 11, 1973 when he interrupted a live broadcast of the CBS Evening News by yelling “Gays protest CBS prejudice!” at none other than Walter Cronkite. He was wrestled to the floor on live national television, an incident often credited as the beginning of the end of LGBTQ invisibility. In his new memoir, Segal looks back on that defining moment in history, as well as the many battles that followed.

Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men by Jane Ward

From “bro-j0b” author Jane Ward comes Not Gay, a study that thrusts deep into a world where straight guy-on-guy action is not a myth but a reality. From fraternity and military hazing rituals, where new recruits are made to grab each other’s penises and stick fingers up their fellow members’ anuses, to online personal ads, where straight men seek other straight men to masturbate with, Ward examines the long and clandestine history of straight men having sexual encounters with other men.

Read our exclusive interview with Ward here.

Until My Heart Stops by Jameson Currier

Assembled from more than fifty works of narrative nonfiction written over a 30 year period, including many published during the height of the AIDS epidemic, this memoir ultimately depicts the story of an artist finding his voice during very difficult times and coming to terms with being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition of excessive thickening of the heart muscle for which there is no apparent cause or cure.

Binge by Tyler Oakley

Pop-culture phenomenon, social rights advocate, and popular YouTuber, Tyler Oakley brings you his first collection of witty, personal, and hilarious essays that will have you LOLing.

Don’t Tell Me to Wait: How the Fight for Gay Rights Changed America and Transformed Obama’s Presidency Hardcover by Kerry Eleveld

Gay rights has been a defining issue of Barack Obama’s presidency. Former Advocate reporter Kerry Eleveld examines in fascinating detail Obama’s evolution on the matter, and explains how it took intense pressure from LGBTQ activists to evolve from cautious gradualist to the equality champion he is today.

Graham Gremore

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Seven Reasons Kim Davis Is No Mahatma Gandhi

Now that she has been officially sanctified by Pope Francis (even if the Vatican is now futilely distancing itself from Davis) as religious liberty incarnate, Kim Davis will be hailed far and wide as the conscience of a godless nation. In fact, she is already being compared to Mahatma Gandhi, who made civil disobedience a global philosophy in his fight for Indian independence.

It’s pretty rich to hear someone like Pat Buchanan evoke Gandhi in relation to Davis, when Buchanan had nothing but unkind words for Gandhi when the movie of the same name was released in the 1980s.

Of course, philosophical consistency is not what you expect from the right-wing. They’ll use whatever they can lay their hands on to make the argument. But in this case, the comparison is spectacularly off-base. By any standard, Kim Davis is no Gandhi.

Here are seven (of many) reasons how Gandhi had it all over the Kentucky clerk.

1 Gandhi wanted to win hearts and minds.

Gandhi had a fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity. He believed that by his example he would convince his oppressors of the worthiness of his cause. Davis isn’t interested in winning people over. She’s interested in making a statement, which is an entirely different proposition. She doesn’t want to engage those who disagree with her. She wants to show them that she’s righteous and they’re not. Her only audience is the religious right, whereas Gandhi wanted to convince an entire empire.

2 Gandhi respected everyone’s rights.

One of Gandhi’s greatest achievements was creating a movement that was meant to unify a nation of disparate peoples. In his world, the humanity of Muslims and Hindus were equal. He was far ahead of his time in respecting the rights of women. Moreover, he extended his belief to the lowest members of society, the untouchables, flying in the face of some religious leaders. It’s hard to construct a sentence that includes the words “respect,” “rights” and “Kim Davis,” who is limiting the freedom of others rather than liberating them.

3 Gandhi was an outsider.

Gandhi was deeply involved in politics, but he was not a representative of the state that he was pressuring for change. This is a key difference with Davis, whose actions require her to representative of the state. In essence, she is the law. That’s hardly a position of purity. Refusing to carry out the law when you are a government official isn’t civil disobedience. Refusing to bow to it as a citizen is.

4 Gandhi accepted his imprisonments.

Gandhi saw the punishments he received at the hands of the ruling British as an important tool in forcing change. In fact, he readily admitted he broke the law. In 1922, he actually told a sentencing judge, “The only course open to you, Mr. Judge, is…either to resign from your post or inflict on me the severest penalty.” Contrast that with Davis who wants to be honored for breaking the law but not be held accountable for it. (Davis also immediately went back on her word once she was released from prison.) You’ll also note that Gandhi believed that if you can’t carry out the law, you should resign your post. Say no more on that count.

5 Gandhi took a vow of poverty.

Gandhi’s philosophy was one of non-possession. Davis, meanwhile, has a death grip on her $80,000 a year job, to say nothing of the nepotism she’s exercised in her office by hiring her son. Of course, she learned that at her mother’s knee, since it was her mother who hired her and paid her more than the chief deputy sheriff of Rowan County.

6 Gandhi exercised decades of self-discipline.

Gandhi famously renounced sexual relations in more than forty years before his death as part of his commitment to self-restraint. (He was also a vegetarian). Davis’s self-restraint is comparatively short lived, based on her conversion just four years ago. Before that, self-restraint would hardly be the phrase to apply to her, having had three previous marriages, as well as becoming pregnant by her future third husband while still married to her first.

7 Gandhi had better hair.

That is, he had none.

 

 

JohnGallagher

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Alabama judges use segregation-era law to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses

Some judges in the southern American state of Alabama are reportedly using a long-forgotten amendment written in 1961 to prevent mixed-race marriages to get out of the marriage business altogether rather than risk issuing even one wedding license to gays or lesbians.

The 54-year-old provision says ‘Marriage licenses may be issued by the judges of probate of the several counties.’

Judges who oppose same-sex marriage say the word ‘may‘ as opposed to ‘shall’ gives them an option whether to issue a license or not, the Associated Press explains.

Judges in at least nine of Alabama’s 67 counties have quit issuing any marriage licenses to anyone straight or gay since the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex unions in June.

Nick Williams, a probate judge in Washington County and Baptist minister, is one of those who has quit the marriage license business.

He says issuing a license for a same-sex union would violate his Christian beliefs and would go to jail before he would approve a marriage license for a same-sex couple.

Judges in three adjoining counties in southwestern Alabama have stopped issuing licenses effectively creating a region in where marriage licenses aren’t available for 78,000 people.

An earlier Al Jazeera report published in July this year says at least 17 probate judges have refused to issue same sex marriage licenses despite an order by US District Judge Callie V.S. Granade to do so.

The AP notes that no legal action has been initiated against the probate judges.

The post Alabama judges use segregation-era law to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses appeared first on Gay Star News.

Sylvia Tan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/alabama-judges-use-segregation-era-law-to-refuse-issuing-gay-marriage-licenses/