Equality Talks with Colorado Senator Bennet
This week in Denver, Colorado, Hope Errico Wisneski, Regional Field Director, attended an informal gathering of LGBT community leaders with US Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO).
HRC.org
Don Lemon Would Like To Know: Is Being Gay A Choice?
Don Lemon invited a group of political commentators onto his show to weigh in on newly revived debate over whether or not being gay is a choice sparked by 2016 Republican presidential hopeless hopeful Ben Carson earlier this week.
Just in case you need a refresher: Carson told CNN he had hard evidence to support the claim that being gay is a choice. Said the retired neurosurgeon: “A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight, and when they come out they’re gay.” He later apologized for the remarks.
Lemon’s panel consisted of reporters Ben Ferguson, Sally Kohn and Marc Lamont Hill. When asked whether being gay was, indeed, a matter of free will, both Kohn and Hill said the scientifically-supported answer: No. Obviously.
But Ferguson begged to differ. He insisted that a person’s sexual orientation is, indeed, a choice: “I think people choose to do different things every day, including if they choose to be gay or bisexual or transgendered [sic] or whatever it may be.”
“There are a lot of people that choose different things,” he continued. “I don’t think that’s some shocking new revelation.”
When pressed by Lemon to explain himself further, Ferguson said: “I’m not gay, that’s pretty obvious. I’m heterosexual.” To which Hill shot back: “It’s not obvious.”
That’s when Kohn jumped in to shoot Ferguson and any of his fellow naysayers down.
“What Dr. Carson is referring to is an argument that comes out of a right wing anti-gay mentality,” she said, “that if you choose to be gay you can therefore, and should therefore, choose not to be gay. And the fact that sexual identity is a fungible choice is an argument for denying equal rights and fair treatment.”
“So the choice thing isn’t the issue here,” she continued. “The issue is why don’t we treat people equally regardless of their identity, however they come to it.”
Word.
Watch the discussion below.
Graham Gremore
Dirk Shafer, Former Playgirl 'Man of the Year' and Filmmaker, Has Died: REPORT
Dirk Shafer, a Playgirl ‘Man of the Year’ in 1992 who later came out of the closet and wrote, directed, and produced the mockumentary Man of the Year which looked back at his experience, has died, according to Richard Ayoub at Rumorfix:
The actor/model, who gained famed as 1992′s Playgirl’s Man of the Year, was found dead in a vehicle a few blocks from his home Thursday. An autopsy is pending, but it’s believed he may have had a heart attack.
Shafer has been working as a fitness and pilates trainer since 2008. He returned to Playgirl for a 20th anniversary photo spread in 2012.
Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.
Andy Towle
www.towleroad.com/2015/03/dirk-shafer-former-model-and-playgirl-man-of-the-year-has-died-report.html
Eric And Mike's Story From The Let Love Define Family Series
Today’s story in the Huffington Post Gay Voices RaiseAChild.US “Let Love Define Family™” series explores the challenges one career-oriented LGBT couple faced when deciding to pursue their dream of raising a child.
When two driven and career-focused individuals consider building a family together, there are likely many discussions and decisions to be negotiated. Such was the case for Mike Ashburn and his husband Eric Lanyard.
“About 16 years ago, I moved to Los Angeles with the hope of working in the entertainment industry, but not really knowing how to go about that or if it was really even possible,” Eric recalled. “I took a job with a big firm right out of law school, which is kind of the easy route; they sort of funnel you into those firm jobs. But as soon I was there, I knew I didn’t want to do that and I wanted to get into an entertainment company. So then I just started applying to every entertainment job I could find. This was back when you would literally look in the classifieds in the back of Variety. I kept applying and after interviewing at nine places, I finally go a call from HBO. And I hit it off with the guy that would become my boss for seven years in the legal department. It was definitely an aligning of the stars moment to get that job.”
“Out of high school I joined the Army in a two-year enlistment and served in the first Gulf War,” said Mike. “Later, I finished college with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. But once I moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles to be with Eric, I ended up launching a career in entertainment post-production.”
As Mike and Eric moved through their 30s together the number 40 loomed on their horizon — they are now both 43 — the pair found that their biological clocks kicked into high gear. They began exploring all their family building options and ultimately decided on adoption.
“We had talked about it for years, but weren’t putting any action into it,” said Eric. “By the time we were in our late thirties and living in Manhattan, nothing about our lives indicated we were on the cusp of fatherhood. But then we started going to listen to guest speakers at the Gay and Lesbian Center and things got real quickly. There was the surrogate person, and the adoption person… The decision was not a huge debate for us. Adopting a child who needed a home was clearly the right thing for us. We were surprisingly casual about the impending change that was looming, but we did not make major adjustments to our life during the months we waited for the baby to arrive. We were the first of our close circle of friends to take the plunge and we just sort of operated on a leap of faith that everything would fall into place when we needed it to.”
After waiting 18 months for their child’s arrival, the men received a sudden call on a Monday night to pick up their baby boy the next morning.
“Let me be honest: neither one of us had changed a diaper before,” admitted Eric. “We really didn’t know what we were doing. We had started reading some baby books, but we were living in a small apartment and didn’t have any baby supplies. So our crash course in parenting started the night we got that phone call, which by the way isn’t such a bad way to do it! We ran to a store with our list of what we would need, bought everything in a one-hour shopping spree, and showed up at the hospital the next day to bring our son Austin home.”
This summer Eric and Mike will celebrate their 15th anniversary together. Eric works as the Vice President of Business Affairs at HBO and has served as a RaiseAChild.US board member for the past three years. More importantly, these men are great fathers to a beautiful son.
“When we made the decision that I would be the stay-at-home dad, I had no idea if it was going to be my greatest joy or my greatest mistake,” said Mike. “The whole work environment is how many people define themselves. So you do worry about it. Few people have made jokes that I’m the mom of the family, and that ‘s simply not true. I’m the stay-at home-dad and Eric’s the go-to-work Papa. No one’s been more surprised than us at how well the whole operation is running! I jumped into it and gave it everything I had. I feel very satisfied doing this but I can also see a return to a career in my future as our son grows.”
Meanwhile, Mike keeps in touch with adult friends through playing in a West Hollywood gay basketball league twice a week.
“Usually about the time that Eric comes home from work, I am ready for him to give me a bit of a break from Austin,” Mike admitted. “I’ll either go grab us some dinner or occasionally cook something. My cooking is a work in progress, but I’ve made some gains. Neither Eric or Austin is the easiest to cook for.”
As for Eric, he treasures his evening time with his young son.
“When I get home sometime between 7:00 and 7:30, from that moment on in the house I’m with Austin all the way through to his bedtime,” said Eric. “And I can’t emphasize enough that it doesn’t feel like a chore to me. I love my evenings with him. I look forward to them. With my job, I definitely have things that take me away maybe more than I would like, but I insist on keeping a balance. Whether it’s a work event or a social obligation — with my career it’s sometimes both — I try my hardest and have mostly succeeded at not being out more than two nights a week. I grew up in a family where there was no question that my brother and I were the center of our parents’ universe. I know how it benefitted me. So Austin has always been and will remain, of course, our first priority.”
Rich Valenza is the Founder and CEO of RaiseAChild.US, a national organization headquartered in Hollywood, California that encourages the LGBT community to build families through fostering and adopting to serve the needs of the 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system. Since 2011, RaiseAChild.US has run media campaigns and events to educate prospective parents and the public, and has engaged more than 2,500 prospective parents. For information about how you can become a foster or fost/adopt parent, visit www.RaiseAChild.US.
Meet the gay Catholic who refused to have sex or even masturbate his entire life
He decided at 12 ‘acting’ on homosexuality was evil and has remained celibate ever since
trisrs
www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-catholic-who-has-refused-have-sex-his-whole-life140313
MUSIC VIDEO PREMIERE: Jimmy Somerville Will Have You On Your Feet With 'Some Wonder'
Towleroad is happy to present the U.S. premiere of “Some Wonder”, the new video from pop icon Jimmy Somerville’s forthcoming album Homage, set for release on March 10.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Said Somerville of the album: “I’ve finally made the disco album I always wanted to and never thought could. If I was 15 again I’d buy it, sit on my bed, slowly open the gate-fold, slide out the vinyl, place it on the turntable then jump off the bed and imagine someone just passed me a tambourine…I’d be in heaven! The horns, the strings, the bass, the guitars, the drums, the backing vocals and the melody….the escape. So open your ears embrace the groove and pay homage to an all too easily derided sound … I LOVE Disco!”
Andy Towle
www.towleroad.com/2015/03/music-video-premiere-jimmy-somerville-some-wonder.html
PHOTOS: These LGBT Catholics Went to Rome, Landed VIP Seats for Pope
Some 50 LGBT Catholic pilgrims traveled to Florence, Assisi, and Rome, where they were given VIP seats for a papal audience. Take a look at photos from their journey.
Stevie St. John
Adam Carolla Says He's 'Done Apologizing' For Jokes About Race And Sexuality
Adam Carolla is not sorry about his jokes that others find offensive.
When he stopped by HuffPost Live on Thursday to chat about the new film “Road Hard,” which Carolla co-wrote, co-directed and stars in, the comic responded to a viewer who asked for his take on Calling Out Carolla, a Tumblr blog that documents “anti-LGBT language” Carolla has used.
“Go find a politician or somebody who’s in charge and poke a popsicle stick up their butt,” Carolla answered. “I’m a comedian. I’m done apologizing, I really am. … And by the way, everyone who apologizes is faking it. They’re only doing it because they’re gonna get canned.”
Carolla added that he doesn’t feel responsible for how anyone interprets the things he says.
“You are in charge of your own feelings. I’m not in charge of your feelings. I’m here to make jokes. I’m here to make commentaries. I’m here to share my opinions,” he said. “Tough shit if you don’t like it.”
When host Josh Zepps suggested that activist groups may find Carolla’s jokes about race or sexuality offensive because he’s a straight white man, Carolla rejected the idea that “white privilege” colors his work.
“I worked cleaning up garbage on construction sites. I got welfare and food stamps. I was as poor as it could be,” Carolla said. “And there’s no, ‘Oh, you don’t have to dig because you’re white.’ … There’s no, ‘You don’t have to pick up garbage because you’re white.’ No, you pick up garbage because you’re poor. You guys focus on color. Focus on poverty.”
Carolla’s problem with the outraged response to jokes made by himself or other comedians is that he feels it distracts from truly harmful comments.
“There’s never been a better time in this country’s history to actually be a racist, because I’m a racist, according to you guys. So if I’m a racist — a guy who’s never done anything bad to any race — and you get to go be a racist too, and I’ll be the racist and I’ll take the heat [in the media],” Carolla said. “If you’re an actual racist, these are your salad days, because you’re busy pointing at comedians, calling them racist.”
The comedian closed out the discussion by saying society should turn its focus from entertainers to people who actively seek to damage minority groups.
“If you want to treat it like a problem — and it is a problem — let’s focus on where the problem is. Who are the actual racists? What is the actual homophobia?” he said. “I’m with you. I’ll grab a pitchfork and be with you.”
Watch Adam Carolla’s full HuffPost Live conversation.
Sign up for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!
Meet 'The Check It', America's Only Documented All-Gay Gang: VIDEO
Filmmakers Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor spent the last three years documenting America’s only all-gay or trans gang, a group of approximately 200 African-American teens in Washington D.C. called ‘The Check It’, according to a crowdfunding appeal for their new film.
The film follows three bullied teens and tells the story about how they started the gang, VICE reports:
The group formed to provide members safety in numbers and let people know that if you jumped a gay kid in DC, you’d likely get jumped back in retaliation. … Unlike other gangs, the Check It aren’t tied to a specific geographic location. They hang out at each others’ houses, mostly, as well as a local Denny’s and the Chinatown and Gallery Place Metro stations. And they didn’t have to do much to spread their name. A local go-go band called ReAction wrote a song about the gang and name-checked individual members. That meant people like [Trayvon] Warren (pictured) had a certain amount of notoriety, which allowed him to go to pretty much any neighborhood in DC without people giving him much trouble for being, as he and his friends put it, “faggie.”
Write the filmmakers:
At first glance, The Check It, our documentary subjects, seem to be unlikely gang–bangers. Some of the boys wear lipstick and mascara, some stilettos. They carry Louis Vuitton bags, but they also carry knives, brass knuckles and mace. As vulnerable gay and transgender youth, they’ve been shot, stabbed and raped.
Once victims, they’ve now turned the tables, beating people into comas and stabbing enemies with ice picks. Started in 2005 by a group of bullied 9th graders, today these 14–22 year old gang members all have rap sheets riddled with assault, armed robbery and drug dealing charges.
Led by an ex-convict named “Mo,” The Check It members are NOW creating their own clothing label, putting on fashion shows and working stints as runway models. But breaking the cycle of poverty and violence they’ve grown up in is a daunting task. So when The Check It are not taking small steps forward on the catwalk, they too often take massive steps backwards. CHECK IT captures the struggles and setbacks, but also the progress and triumphs of these kids.
The doc is produced by RadicalMedia and actor Steve Buscemi.
Watch their trailer, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
Tokio Hotel's Bill Kaulitz: 'Love Is Not About Gender'
As Tokio Hotel heads out on its first world tour in five years, the rock band’s front man reveals how he got his groove back and why he believes love has no borders.
Jase Peeples
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2015/03/06/tokio-hotels-bill-kaulitz-love-not-about-gender
You must be 18 years old or older to chat
