2016.06.28 Kaiser Permanente Transgender Health Meet and Greet 0337
tedeytan posted a photo:
Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States Transgender Member Health Services is hosting a
Transgender Health Meet and Greet
June 28, 2016, 5:30- 8:00 pm Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health 700 2nd Street NE, Washington, DC
Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States is working to partner with surgical specialists in the care of our members who are transgender and is interested in your input.
Finally! A Dating Site That Pairs Gay Men With Lesbians Seeking “Traditional” Jewish Marriages
During the climax of the fight over gay marriage in the United States, former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann famously said, “[Gay people] can get married … They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.”
Now, one Jewish dating site is making that brilliant idea easier than ever.
Related: What Will It Take to Get Orthodox Jews to Embrace Their Gays?
The site caters specifically to gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews. It’s aim is to provide a safe place for homosexual men and women to connect, get married, make babies and then raise them in a “traditional” Orthodox household.
What could possibly go wrong?
The site was launched by a gay Orthodox Jew named Eran, who posted a personal ad on Facebook last year seeking a lesbian Orthodox Jew for a wife. The post was shared over 3,000 times and, in the process, Eran was introduced to other men and women seeking similar arrangements.
Related: The Jewish Gays Getting Married To The Opposite Sex Aren’t In It For The Sex
“At first, I tried to help,” he tells YNetNews. “I made a list and even set some people up. But as the requests multiplied, I decided that it was in everybody’s interest to make a framework for it and give people a place where they could find the kind of relationship that they’re looking for.”
He continues: “The site is completely discreet. Opening a profile, a user doesn’t give his real name, and his contact information remains hidden … There’s no verification of information. I don’t know who’s behind the profile, or if the details that they submit are correct or not.”
Again: What could possibly go wrong?
So far, the site has about 50 registered users who identify as ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox or conservative. Most users are in their twenties and thirties. No word yet on if any successful matches have been made.
Related: Gay Activist Accuses Orthodox Jewish Cousin Of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Photo credit: Jason Corey/Flickr Creative Commons
Hotels Slip Into Bed With Gay Men, Advertising Results
Hilton Hotel and PNC Bank have slipped into bed with gay men, promoting their brands on back covers of gay magazines this month with ads showing male couples in bed together.
Hilton has two scruffy, 20-something guys romantically cuddling up while sharing headphones, while PNC has middle-aged dads spending time with their toddler, one reading a bedtime story to the child while the other falls off to sleep. The Hilton headline says to “Stop clicking around” while PNC’s says, “Know you’re ready for this chapter and the next.”
Both travel and financial services have been highly competitive business categories in the LGBTQ market for decades, and advertisers are compelled to stand out.
Hilton says it isn’t afraid of showing a male couple in bed. “We’re proud to depict and reflect our guest diversity in our advertising,” said Kasey O’Leary, senior director, Hilton HHonors & Loyalty Marketing, Hilton Worldwide. The campaign features a real couple, who will also appear in Travel + Leisure in June and The New York Times this summer, along with a commercial that includes them. It will air on network and cable.
However, Hilton’s new campaign imagery is bold for a company that has advertised to LGBT consumers for over a decade but showed few actual people until recently. In 2007, one ad depicted “his and his” towels, and a male pair began appearing 2014-15 — eventually with the headline, “Be the couple whose honeymoon never ends.” In 2015 a Facebook post with a rainbow-striped shirt celebrated the Supreme Court marriage ruling that said, “To paraphrase a wise woman, if you love it, then you should put a ring on it. Today’s court ruling in the U.S. paves the way for this to happen. Now, let’s talk honeymoons.”
Of the gay dads ad from PNC Bank, Liz Bobak, Segment Manager of Multicultural Marketing, said, “Our goal for this creative was to reflect the lives of our customers, who include gay couples that live together and (may) have children.” She added that most of the target audience reside “in larger cities, where the cost of living is higher and where there are many brands competing for their attention.” The ad first began appearing in summer 2015.
PNC ramped up its efforts for LGBT customers in recent years. The Pittsburgh-based company participates in Pride events in 22 spots nationwide where the bank operates, and ignored boycott efforts by extremist group American Family Association in 2013. In February, the bank agreed to stop contributions for U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett just a day after New Jersey LGBT advocacy group Garden State Equality and State Assemblyman Tim Eustace drew attention to Garrett’s anti-gay comments.
Few advertisers have ventured into the bedroom before, but there are a few earlier examples from over a decade ago. Back in 2003, W Hotels showed two men laying in bed next to each other, and one says, “I’m hungry.” The other replies, “Me too, do you have the energy to roll over and call for brunch?”
In 2005, Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol PM showed two men, side-by-side in bed together – but without heads. Underneath one man it says, “His back is keeping him up. Underneath the other man it says, “His boyfriend’s backache is keeping him up.” The company later followed suit for their K-Y Brand and pictured the winners of a contest as America’s Top Couple, two men, Geoffrey and Rusty, on their bed for a non-sexual ad in Entertainment Weekly.
Perhaps the most suggestive ads are those mainstream brands are beginning to design for Grindr and other sex and dating apps. HotelTonight has launched a campaign on Grindr with provocative headlines such as: “Sup. Lookin 4 Hotel?, a good natured mimicking the casual messaging voice of Grindr members. Another, for Hotels.com, suggests that “the perfect hotel room” is the right choice when you find the “perfect guy.”
Shirtless Acrobat Gets Wet and Wild on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ – WATCH
Britain’s Got Talent got wet and wild recently with a performance by a shirtless acrobatic contestant.
Charlie Placais treated guests to a peep show of what he looks like taking a bath before ascending from that bath into the sky above the stage to perform several acrobatic feats.
While Placais got 4 yeses from the judges on the show, the broadcast has been panned by some LGBT viewers in the UK. At the heart of the discontent is a bit done by judge David Walliams (but instigated by fellow judge Simon Cowell) in which Walliams plays at being gay even though he is not.
Cowell cut off Walliams from commenting on Placais’ performance during the judges’ critique, with the implied understanding being that Walliams of course enjoyed the performance. Not content with being silenced however, Walliams ran after the wet and shirtless acrobat to give him a hug backstage before being pulled off of him by the show’s hosts, Ant and Dec. They shouted at Placais, “Run, Charlie, run!”
The judge, who was married to model Lara Stone for five years, jokingly ran after a seriously sexy half-naked acrobat on tonight’s show.
While he was hoping to make viewers laugh with the gag, he received a backlash on Twitter for allegedly offending the gay community. […]
When the contestant walked off stage after dazzling the audience with his tanned chiseled torso, the judge jokingly ran after him.
One of the comments on social media read: “The lecherous predatory sleazebag act David Walliams does is unfunny, repugnant, insulting. It’s defamatory & a bad impression for gay youth.”
Watch the performance and the ‘skit’ that ensued, below.
The post Shirtless Acrobat Gets Wet and Wild on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Vietnam, Crying Jordan, Adele Deal, Beauty and the Beast, Gay Priests, Mark Cuban: NEWS
VIETNAM. Obama lifts 50-year embargo on arms sales: “At this stage, both sides have established a level of trust and cooperation, including between our militaries, that is reflective of common interests and mutual respect,” Obama said, adding that every U.S. arms sale would be reviewed case by case. “This change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself and removes a lingering vestige of the Cold War.”
BREAKING: U.S. fully lifts decades-long ban on sale of lethal arms to Vietnam t.co/r2BpM1JbKj t.co/tqtKTLMahY
— CNN (@CNN) May 23, 2016
BOTH SIDES. Mark Cuban open to being Trump’s or Hillary’s VP: “If [Trump] asked me, I’d be like, ‘Okay, Donald. That’s great. Let’s talk about it. But we’re both going to have to dig in and really look and understand the issues so we can come up with solutions.’”
AUSTRALIA. Victoria to apologize on Tuesday for laws that criminalized homosexuality: “Before 1980, when homosexuality was decriminalised, men could be handed up to 15 years’ jail for consensual sex with other men. Premier Daniel Andrews will give the apology in parliament on Tuesday.”
SCOTLAND. Church of Scotland to allow ministers to continue serving if they are in gay marriages: “The historic vote on the first day of this year’s gathering in Edinburgh draws a line under a row which has split the Kirk for nine years. Commissioners voted by 339 votes to 215 in favour of the move. The decision means that same sex civil marriage will be permitted for ministers. However, they will not themselves be allowed to conduct gay weddings within the church.”
REFUSAL. B&B Owner would rather go to jail than allow gay couples to stay: “We’ve been bombarded by emails and reports to the police and goodness knows what else. They’re hammering our online pages. I reported it to the police because I find these emails offensive. Yet again, we’re being attacked by these people because we state we’re heterosexual friendly.”
TEASER OF THE DAY. Beauty and The Beast.
RECORD-BREAKER. Adele is set to sign biggest deal in history for a British musician: “Adele is reportedly due to sign a deal with Sony Music for £90m, the biggest in history for a British musician. If true, it will double the singer’s current fortune,which is estimated to be at £85m. According to reports in the Sun, a Sony Music source said: “We’ve secured Adele, who’s without doubt the biggest music star in a generation. This is massive.” The deal would be bigger than the £80m EMI paid to secure Robbie Williams in 2002. And by beating Whitney Houston’s £70m deal with Arista in 2001, it would make this the biggest deal for a female artist in history.”
Last night the singer released the video for her new single “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”.
NORTHERN IRELAND. Polls show that the people want equality: “The 68% of people in Northern Ireland who have told opinion polls they back marriage equality here dwarfs even the 62% of people who voted Yes in last year’s referendum in the Republic. People are impatient for change. They have just returned a majority of pro-equal marriage politicians to the Assembly and now expect them to deliver without further delay or the misuse of petitions of concern to veto the will of the people.”
CRYING JORDAN. The popular meme’s creator thinks it’s awesome.
ELLEN. Honoring an incredible friendship.
MONDAY MUSCLE. Buff New Yorker Bernard.
The post Vietnam, Crying Jordan, Adele Deal, Beauty and the Beast, Gay Priests, Mark Cuban: NEWS appeared first on Towleroad.
LOOK: These Gay Students in China Just Risked Expulsion By Kissing Publicly on Campus
Two brave college students in China declared their love for one another, then kissed, in a public demonstration on campus last week.
Photos posted on Sina Weibo, the popular Chinese social media site, show the men standing inside an illuminated heart on the campus of Beijing Renmin University.
“I will be with you, not to play basketball, but to kiss you,” one of the students told the other, according to WhatsOnWeibo.com, which reports that the exchange drew mixed reactions on the site:
[O]ne person wrote: “I cannot help it – won’t mankind perish if everyone’s gay? In my opinion, gay people should go and see a psychiatrist.” Another person says: “They are a disgrace to the university and when their parents see this, they’ll faint.”
But many people also send the new couple their blessings: “Love goes beyond gender, bless you!” Some people also worry what the consequences of this public event might be for the two young men: “I wonder how Renmin University will respond to this. If these students get expelled, I would really lose hope in Chinese universities.”
The United Nations Development Program recently found that only 5 percent of gay people in China have come out to anyone except family members, due to fear of discrimination. Voice of America reported on the UNDP’s survey of 30,000 people:
In China, relatives often pressure LGBTI people to undergo electric shock “conversion therapies,” under the mistaken belief that such “treatment” might make them “straight.” Therapies also include painful and expensive surgeries or a series of injections that leave patients weak and disoriented. …
It said most gender minorities enter into heterosexual relationships, sometimes dubbed “cooperation marriages.” …
But there is hope for LGBTI people. Younger Chinese take a more liberal approach and largely accept the fact of gender diversity, the UNDP survey suggested.
“The younger the respondents, the higher the proportion of those opposed to the pathological view of homosexuality, stereotype-based prejudices, gender binary ideas and even HIV-related stigma,” it said.
The post LOOK: These Gay Students in China Just Risked Expulsion By Kissing Publicly on Campus appeared first on Towleroad.
A Gay Men’s Chorus Was Humiliated At A Baseball Game And It’s Still Unclear Why
Over 40,000 Padres fans there for Pride Night watched as the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus did NOT sing the national anthem.
The post A Gay Men’s Chorus Was Humiliated At A Baseball Game And It’s Still Unclear Why appeared first on ThinkProgress.
thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/05/23/3780844/san-diego-gay-mens-chorus-padres/
Oregon Governor Kate Brown Opens Up About Being Bisexual in Commencement Address
In a commencement address at Willamette University, Oregon Governor Kate Brown gave a powerful speech about the importance of living as your true self. She spoke about being closeted as bisexual, fearing losing her job and eventually being outed in the press.
“Brown said being out is important, and takes strength. She commended Willamette Bearcats football player Conner Mertens for coming out in 2014,” The Oregonian reported. “But since coming out, she said she’s been grateful for the hope it has given others.”
Brown became the nation’s first openly bisexual governor after Governor John Kitzhaber resigned last year. If elected in November, she will be the first openly LGBT person elected Governor in U.S. history.
Coming out – whether it is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or allied – matters. When people know someone who is LGBTQ, they are far more likely to support equality under the law. Beyond that, our stories can be powerful to each other.
Whether it’s for the first time ever or the first time today, the experience of coming out and living openly covers the full spectrum of human emotion — from fear to euphoria. Coming out — whether it is as LGBT or allied — is a deeply personal journey for each individual. Learn more at HRC’s Coming Out Center.
Coming out is different for every person. For bisexual people, coming out can present some unique challenges. Read more via HRC’s Coming Out as Bisexual Guide.
TurnOUT! North Carolina Talks to North Carolinians about Dangerous Implications of HB2
Post Submitted by Alec Thomson, HRC Regional Field Organizer
Since the North Carolina legislature passed the dangerous HB2 in March, TurnOUT! North Carolina (NC) has been hard at work, talking to voters about the dangerous implications of this harmful legislation.
HB2 threatens LGBT North Carolinians and puts the state at risk of losing millions of dollars in education funding. Further, the law has had a severe economic impact on the state – resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs, cancellation of conventions, concerts and more.
TurnOUT! NC, in partnership with HRC and other local and national partners, continues to educate North Carolinians about the dangers of HB2. Last week, TurnOUT! NC held phone banks across the state to talk to voters about the legislation and what’s at risk if it is not repealed.
Volunteers made thousands of calls to North Carolinians in Raleigh, Charlotte, Ashville and other parts of the state with this message: We must stand together to demand repeal of this harmful legislation.
HRC is a member of TurnOUT! NC, a coalition that includes Equality North Carolina, the ACLU and the Campaign for Southern Equality with the simple goal of mobilizing thousands of pro-equality North Carolinians to speak out for full repeal of HB2. If you live in North Carolina and want to join the efforts to repeal HB2, RSVP for upcoming phone banks and volunteer opportunities. For more information about our work in North Carolina, contact HRC Associate Regional Field Director Ryan Rowe at [email protected].
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