Open Question: What are your opinions on WBC?
They sound real fucked up. They went to picket Mr Rogers’s funeral. And act like trolls in the LGBT section (just with more yelling).
Daily Archives: November 8, 2015
WATCH: Gay Cruise Passenger Falls off Ship After Fight with Homophobic Crew
WATCH: Gay Cruise Passenger Falls off Ship After Fight with Homophobic Crew
A Brazilian gay man is still missing at sea after plunging into the ocean from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship early Friday morning following an alleged altercation with crew members who taunted him with antigay remarks, reports NBC Miami.
Reportedly, 35-year old Bernardo Albaz and his husband Eric were vacationing on the ship together and were repeatedly harassed by security crew members who taunted the couple with antigay remarks, such as saying, “Hi, Lipstick.” Albaz allegedly became increasingly furious with the couple’s treatment and ended up in an altercation with cruise security outside his cabin, which resulted in Albez falling overboard.
Royal Caribbean denied there was a physical altercation and claimed Albaz intentionally jumped over the side of the ship. “Our onboard security team responded to the guest’s stateroom after a neighboring guest complained about a domestic dispute on the guest’s balcony,” the company said in a statement. “Our staff did not have a physical altercation with the guest and were unable to prevent his jumping from the stateroom balcony.”
However, Mike Winkleman, attorney for the Albaz family, says what happened was “not a suicide” and “Bernardo did not jump.”
“Bernardo ended up getting in a huge altercation and ended up in his cabin where he is furious and ultimately Royal Caribbean security came to the scene,” Winkleman told NBC Miami. “As a result of the altercation in his cabin Bernardo falls off his balcony onto the life boat area.”
Video footage of the incident from this point shows Albaz hanging on for his life from the side of the lifeboat area before he falls into the ocean.
The U.S. Coast Guard says a body matching Albaz’s description was spotted by an airplane, but it was not able to be recovered. “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and all that have been affected by this tragedy,” said Captain Todd Coggeshall, the chief of response management for the Coast Guard 7th District.
The U.S. Coast Guard has currently suspended the search for Albaz.
Watch video footage of the incident via Daily Mail below.
Jase Peeples
www.advocate.com/crime/2015/11/08/watch-gay-cruise-passenger-falls-ship-after-fight-homophobic-crew
Resolved Question: What do Christians think of this Christian glad that lgbt lost, fight to allow men to use women's room?
Six-Year-Old Transgender Child Sparks Controversy at Texas Daycare
Six-Year-Old Transgender Child Sparks Controversy at Texas Daycare
The private owners of Children’s Lighthouse daycare in Katy, Texas have found themselves in the public eye after firing two employees who voiced concern that the school was allowing a 6-year-old transgender student to express their gender identity, reports Fox 26.
The controversy began when the parents of the transgender student asked that their child, who had been assigned female gender at birth, now be treated as a male and referred to with a new name.
The school immediately moved to accommodate the request of the parents – who happen to be a same-sex couple – and removed two employees who disagreed. However, the daycare’s actions are now being questioned by some who struggle to understand how a 6-year-old can identify as trans, and fear the gay couple somehow influenced their child’s gender identity.
“I understand the fears that they have, but I want to tell you in my clinical experience working with same-sex partners, because I do a lot of work with foster-hood and adoption, I think these families are very well adjusted,” child psychologist Dr. Andrew Brams told Fox 26. “I think they are even sometimes more psychologically mindful, or even more aware of, making sure their child is brought up in a healthy environment, with good self-esteem and a good feeling about themselves.”
He adds, “I think there’s a strong indication that a lot of this is biological.”
Transgender National Alliance founder Nikki Araguz Lloyd also addressed the controversy, hoping to use the discussion around the daycare’s actions to educate others about the experiences of transgender people. “At the time I was six, I began to exhibit all female personality traits,” Lloyd told Fox 26.“It’s very sad that what has become a personal private matter in relation to a transgender person, is now again a very public discussion.”
Watch the full segment in the video below.
Jase Peeples
New Mormon Policy on LGBT: The Next Proposition 8
New Mormon Policy on LGBT: The Next Proposition 8
One of the things I find most fascinating about my Savior is how He teaches me lessons with such patience. If, in any given situation, I fail to learn the lesson He’s intended for me, He quickly provides another situation in which I’m given another opportunity to learn. And these chances usually come with a few bruises, scrapes, and the occasional black eye.
So it is with my Mormon Church. Last week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints altered the handbook of policy instruction for local leaders, making two major changes: First, the definition of apostasy was expanded to include anyone in a same-sex marriage, making Church discipline mandatory and no longer left to the discretion of local leaders. Second (and for many, far worse), children of LGBT couples are barred from blessings at birth and baptismal rights until they are of legal age (most Mormon children are baptized at age 8), and even then not without permission of the First Presidency.
Mormons have a deep history of persecuting LGBT individuals. Think back to 2008, when our involvement in California’s Proposition 8 caused such grief and heartache for our LGBT brothers and sisters. Not so visible was the strife it caused inside our very own Mormon community. We lost many Mormons as the fierce campaign supporting Prop 8 pitted mother against daughter, and father against son — eroding families, the cornerstone of the church
Just seven years later, it’s “déjà vu all over again,” as Yogi Berra might observe.
This time it feels self-mutilating. Instead of campaigning to impose unconstitutional public policies on the rest of the world — a battle that we lost when the U.S. Supreme court upheld appellate court rulings supporting same sex marriage — we seem to be cutting off our proverbial nose to spite our face. In short, we have told LGBT members that if they avail themselves of this right, they will be excommunicated from the church and, worse, that their children (adopted or natural) will be penalized for their parent’s transgressions — never mind the church’s own Second Article of Faith which boldly asserts that people are accountable only for their own actions, not their parents’.
Until this most recent announcement, the church seemed to soften its rhetoric. Apostle Dallin Oaks’ talk in Sacramento called for balance and accommodation. Apostle Jeffrey Holland’s remarks in the Church’s semi-annual General Conference in October were built around a young gay man. And even Apostle Russell Ballard’s measured remarks to the odious World Congress of Families in Salt Lake offered a hand of fellowship to those who view things differently.
But there is little balance, accommodation, or hand of fellowship to be found in the new policies laid out last week. It should come as no surprise that many Latter-day Saints see little evidence of Christ’s hand in it.
Perhaps good things will emerge from this latest setback. In the embarrassing wake of Proposition 8, engaged Mormons began participating in LGBT Pride celebrations around the country, extending a hand of friendship and welcome that many in both communities wanted and needed. Entire congregations in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Boston began outreach to LGBT members, inviting them to back just as they are — single, married to someone of their own gender or anywhere in between. These Mormons were — and still are — amazing examples of our Savior’s unconditional love.
But just like Prop 8, last week’s announcement changed the landscape once again. An email I received from an engaged Latter-day Saint seemed to capture the anger of many like her: “I’ve been a firm opponent of LGBT marriage. But this…this, especially with the exclusion of children, is too much for me to bear.” We have, in essence, pushed the fringe to the outside, and the middle to the fringe. Instead of squashing a desire for reconciliation between these two communities, we have likely fueled it.
Like the woman who emailed me, what is particularly damaging to LGBT families and our faith — is withholding the saving baptismal covenant to children, whom we believe are without sin. It seems to fly directly in the face of counsel from the Savior who taught, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
Yet we have tossed aside that directive, and are holding hostage an entire generation of children. We’re transforming them from innocents into a group of untouchables, to whom we seem to be delivering the message, “You are ‘extra parts;’ outside the scope of your Savior’s love, His atonement, and His grace.”
But that’s the funny thing about the world; our Savior didn’t make any “extra parts.” Everyone matters, and everyone has a place in His plan. Just because we as humans don’t know how LGBT individuals and their children fit into our Savior’s kingdom doesn’t mean He hasn’t known all along.
The price some families and children will pay for this policy will be high. Research from The Family Acceptance Project tells us that rejection puts children at significant risk for depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and even suicide. But ultimately, I believe, it will be the institution of the Church itself that suffers most–and as with Prop 8, it will be at our own hand.
Whenever I write an article like this, I strive diligently to find the optimism contained in the challenge. I am a firm believer that life never presents us a problem — however ugly — that doesn’t have a gift in its hands for us. And while it’s difficult right now to see any potential gift, I still have faith that my Savior can take this stone and polish it into something good. For while these changes may have come as a surprise to many, they did not come as a surprise to Him; He already has a plan to make this right.
Will we finally learn the lesson our Savior intends? I don’t know. But I do know that if we fail again to understand what He’s trying to teach us, we will be presented with another (and likely equally painful) opportunity to learn it.
— 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.
Man Who Fell From Cruise Ship Did So After Anti-Gay Taunts from Crew, Lawyer Says
Man Who Fell From Cruise Ship Did So After Anti-Gay Taunts from Crew, Lawyer Says
The attorney for the family of a gay New York City man who was swept to sea after falling from the balcony of a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship off the Turks and Caicos late Friday night says the man fell after an anti-gay altercation with the ship’s crew, and his disturbing fall to the lifeboat was not the result of a domestic argument and suicide.
The man lost at sea has been identified as Bernardo Elbaz, who was vacationing with his husband of one year, Eric, WPLG Miami reports.
The Sun Sentinel reports:
In a statement issued Friday, Royal Caribbean said that crew members spotted Elbaz “intentionally going over the side of the ship.”
In an updated statement cruise line officials later added, “Our onboard security team responded to the guest’s stateroom after a neighboring guest complained about a domestic dispute on the guest’s balcony. “Our staff did not have a physical altercation with the guest and were unable to prevent his jumping from the stateroom balcony.”
Attorney Michael Winkleman says that while Elbaz was intoxicated, the fall was not the result of a domestic argument, and wasn’t a suicide as the cruise ship has claimed.
Said Winkleman in a press conference today:
“Royal Caribbean is saying this was a domestic dispute and a suicide. It was anything but that. There was a big altercation at the Solarium Bar. As a result of that, Bernardo went back to his room and was furious…Royal Caribbean security comes on the scene and as a result of an altercation in his cabin, ends up somehow falling off the balcony onto the lifeboat area…I could see how from a media perspective Royal Caribbean would rather be in this scenario where somebody jumped overboard than something directly implicating their security staff. There clearly appears to be a negligent rescue that was undertaken. In my eyes, more importantly than that is the anti-gay remarks that were made against these two gentlemen.”
Watch the WPLG report:
In a (warning: disturbing) video of the Royal Caribbean incident posted to YouTube, a distressed man is heard accusing another of being a “murderer” and saying, “because of you this happened,” and pleading with Albaz to “hold on” until he releases his grip and plunges into the ocean.
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for Elbaz.
The post Man Who Fell From Cruise Ship Did So After Anti-Gay Taunts from Crew, Lawyer Says appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
Man Who Fell From Cruise Ship Did So After Anti-Gay Taunts from Crew, Lawyer Says
WATCH: Mormon Elder Explains Why Children with Gay Parents Aren't Welcome
WATCH: Mormon Elder Explains Why Children with Gay Parents Aren't Welcome
In a new video interview with Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted to the site Mormon Newsroom on Friday, the LDS Church further clarified its recent handbook changes in church policy affecting same-sex couples and their children.
The interview comes on the heels of the church’s announcement on Thursday that it would deny baptism to children of same-sex couples, and for the first time listed same-sex marriage under the definition of apostasy — the rejection of church teachings.
“We regard same-sex marriage as a particularly grievous or significant, serious kind of sin that requires Church discipline,” Christofferson said in the interview. “We recognize that same-sex marriages are now legal in the United States and some other countries and that people have the right, if they choose, to enter into those, and we understand that. But that is not a right that exists in the Church. That’s the clarification.”
Christofferson says the changes in church policy barring children with same-sex parents from baptism “originates from a desire to protect children in their innocence and in their minority years” and a “need for a distinction to be made between what may be legal and what may be law of the Church and the law of the Lord” in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in favor of same-sex marriage in the United States.
The updated policy follows some conciliatory moves by the church, such as supporting an LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination law in Utah and setting up an outreach website called MormonsAndGays.org. The site, however, repeats the official church teaching that while “same-sex attraction” is not a sin, acting on it is. As for transgender people, the church frowns on gender transition. Christofferson further clarified these recent actions, explaining, “On the one hand, we have worked with others and will continue to do so to protect rights and employment and housing and that sort of thing for all. And on the other hand, there needs to be respect and acknowledgment of the rights of the religious community to set its standards and to live according to them and to teach and abide by its own doctrines, such as regards marriage in this case.”
Several people have spoken out about the church’s updated policy targeting same-sex couples and their children, including Randall Thacker, president of Affirmation, a group for LGBT Mormons and their allies. Thacker believes these actions will be “incredibly emotionally damaging” to LGBT Mormons, especially young people just coming to terms with their sexuality, and to parents seeking to support LGBT children.
“It is an unfortunate move by the church today,” he told The Advocate, explaining neither policy had been codified previously. “It does feel like they’re cutting us further off from the community.”
Neon Trees lead singer Tyler Glenn, who has worked to mend relationships between the LDS Church and LGBT people since coming out as a proud gay Mormon, took to Twitter to voice his disappointment as well, writing “it’s a tough weekend to be a gay Mormon.”
it’s a tough weekend to be a gay mormon.
— Tyler Glenn (@tylerinacoma) November 7, 2015
“Obviously it’s not exactly what we need, but it’s changing and that’s a positive thing,” Glenn said of the LDS Church’s stance on LGBT rights in an interview with The Advocate in June. “For me, I feel like I’ve been able to mend more relationships and cause a lot more change by doing things like speaking to the state senate and working with groups like Equality Utah. And I’ve noticed over the last year there’s been a lot more statements from people in the church, as well as small things within the state government, that are steps in the right direction.”
For LGBT Mormon activists like Glenn, the church’s new policy is a significant step back from the perceived progress being made, and Christofferson’s statements confirm reconciliation between LGBT people and the LDS Church won’t occur any time soon.
“We’re not going to yield on our efforts to help people find what brings happiness, but we know sin does not,” Christofferson says. “And so we’re going to stand firm there because we don’t want to mislead people. There’s no kindness in misdirecting people and leading them into any misunderstanding about what is true, what is right, what is wrong, what leads to Christ and what leads away from Christ.”
Watch the full interview below.
Jase Peeples
France Lifts Ban on Gay Men as Blood Donors
France Lifts Ban on Gay Men as Blood Donors
submitted by EstroKnight
[link] [13 comments]
Justin Bieber and Alan Carr Have a ’50 Shades of Grey’ Moment: WATCH
Justin Bieber and Alan Carr Have a ’50 Shades of Grey’ Moment: WATCH
Justin Bieber and Alan Carr sat down for Carr’s UK talk show Chatty Man on Friday. Bieber dropped most of the attitude and was game for Carr’s brand of direct questioning, innuendo, and ridiculous stunts.
First Carr asked Bieber about his new album, noting that he announced it by getting a tattoo of the album’s title on his abs.
“You’re looking ripped at the moment,” says Carr. “I want to know how you got the cock trench? The V?”
RELATED: Pentatonix and Chvrches Cover Justin Bieber Hits ‘Where are Ü Now’ and ‘What Do You Mean’
Carr then questioned Bieber about crying at his VMAs performance: “Was it the emotions or the tightness of that harness, because I was in a harness last week…one of my testicles was here, and one was over here.”
Finally, Carr then asked Bieber to blindfold him and throw Maltesers into his mouth, joking that they were having a 50 Shades of Grey moment before challenging Bieber to a race in red high heels.
Watch:
Bieber said the interview was his new favorite:
Mine too
t.co/nTj4mytOf9
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) November 7, 2015
The post Justin Bieber and Alan Carr Have a ’50 Shades of Grey’ Moment: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
Justin Bieber and Alan Carr Have a ’50 Shades of Grey’ Moment: WATCH
Gallery of Geek: James Neish
Gallery of Geek: James Neish
James Neish is a freelance comic book artist and lover of geek culture. An Art School graduate living in Nova Scotia Neish’s artwork has a vitality to it that makes his images burst with energy. As an out artist Neish brings a clever eye to his take on pop culture icons.
The Advocate sat down for a chat with this up-and-coming artist about his inspirations, his love for the X-Men’s Psylocke, and how being queer influences his work.
The Advocate: What inspires you to create?
Neish: I’m not sure what inspires me to create, some kind of desire to make something that wasn’t there before, I guess. I’ve been drawing and making stuff up since before I could talk and I feel like I wouldn’t be a functional person if I didn’t create something soon and always. So to me, creation is just the scratch to the proverbial itch of being human.
Does being queer influence your artwork?
I came out during a performance art piece in university, so yeah, it’s a bit of an influence. Like most young gay art students I drew and painted my way through my coming-out experience, my first relationship, and so on. I think it’s important to stand for ideas that you believe in when you work and as an illustrator, I hope it’s that queer influence I transmit into my work that gives my artwork some positive influence as well.
What was your gateway art drug into the world of geek culture?
I think I started super young with Thundercats. I was pretending to be Cheetara before I even knew what a gay geek was. Also, Jim Lee’s covers for X-Men back in 1991. That was when I fell in love with comics.
What geeky things are you currently obsessed with?
Well, I’m freelancing as a comic book illustrator now so that’s pretty geeky. Besides that, I’ve been binge-watching Death Note, just ate up Sword Art Online, currently reading Saga and Avatar: The Promise.
You must have a favorite superhero character, right? Who might it be?
Psylocke.
Check out a selection of Neish’s art below.
Beach Ash
Captured Bat
Korr Asami from Avatar
Portrait commission of Jeffrey and Mike with their cat Gandalf, as characters from The Lord of the Rings
Gotham City Sirens
Harley Poster
Hero Cover
Korra Elements
Dumbledore Pride
Mike Shileen and Kramer as Green Lanterns
Psylocke VS Wolverine
Cat Woman Returns
Spidey Down
‘Timeless’ is the creation of RJ Lackie and Cycle 66 Inc..
Brian Andersen
