WATCH: A Field Guide to Spotting and Stopping the Homophobic Laws Coming to Your Home State
Don’t look now, but while marriage equality has been spreading across the country, homophobic lawmakers have found a sneaky new way to chip away at civil rights. And not just gay and lesbian civil rights — EVERYONE’S civil rights.

In some cases, they’re passing laws that actually make nondiscrimination against the law. It sounds nuts, but it’s happening right now, and almost nobody’s paying attention.

This is happening because the opponents of marriage equality have finally realized that they’re going to lose. Their backup plan? Pass laws that quietly revoke civil rights across the board, hitting gays and lesbians and everyone else along the way.

In Alabama, for example, Republican State Rep. Mike Ball just proposed HB56, a new law that would allow religious groups to disregard the marriage of any couple they don’t approve of.

He says it’s “not a major change in the law.” But the truth is that it creates a special new license to discriminate. It could be used by hospitals to stop couples from making medical decisions for each other. Or it could force married couples apart at homeless shelters. Mike Ball’s target is probably gay couples, but his law could also be used against interracial couples, or interfaith couples, or anyone with a previous marriage.

Different states are considering over two dozen laws like these around the country. And they’re hard to spot, since they’re usually cloaked in feel-good terms like “religious liberty” or mundane language like “commerce improvement.”

But like the telltale droppings of a rodent infestation, once you know what to look for, you can spot them with ease.

I made this video to explain exactly what these laws do, and how to identify them:

But if you’re in a hurry, here’s what you need to be on the lookout for:

• Government-Required Discrimination: Laws that require government employees to turn away gay and lesbian couples. Any county clerk who does the right thing and helps an LGBT couple wed will lose their salary and pension.
• Random Public Discrimination: Imagine if any time you needed a public service, you could be randomly turned away — whether it was riding the bus, asking police for help, or getting a tax refund. These laws let any public employee decide whether or not to help you.
• Religious Lawbreaking: Some politicians have latched onto a few bakers and florists and photographers who don’t approve of gay and lesbian weddings, and created laws that give those businesses permission to discriminate against LGBTs. But the new exemptions actually go much further, letting any person or business break all kinds of laws, as long as they can claim they’re doing it for religious purposes.
• Banning Nondiscrimination: This is the most jaw-dropping of all. When these laws pass at the state level, they prohibit towns from providing any new nondiscrimination protection. Once again, LGBTs are the target, but other groups — such as the elderly or veterans — are affected too.

So, obviously, this is a huge looming catastrophe that could do a ton of damage — it’s like the global warming of civil rights.

The good news is that because these laws rely on secrecy, they can be defeated, in part, by exposing their true purpose. I made a second video explaining five simple steps you can take to stop the homophobic backlash:

To sum it up:

1. Be out. If it’s safe for you to be openly LGBT, do it. And if you’re a straight ally, be out about that too.
2. Listen to Opponents. When people who oppose nondiscrimination laws talk about things that are important to them (like their job, their home, their marriage, their education, or their family), listen and ask questions.
3. Tell Your Story. Once you’ve listened to someone talk about the things that matter to them, tell them how you could lose all of those things if these anti-civil-rights laws pass.
4. Be Vigilant. Watch out for these dangerous laws popping up in your home state. In fact, they may already have been proposed — check the first video above to see if yours is on the map.
5. Make a Fuss. If a dastardly lawmaker in your state proposes a law like these, don’t let them get away with it. Sound the alarm on social media, make a video about the freedoms you stand to lose, or start a petition.

These tactics were proven to be super-effective with marriage equality, which is why national public opinion has flipped in the span of about a decade.

Homophobic lawmakers know that the tide is turning against them, and these laws are disguised for precisely that reason: their authors know that if people found out what they REALLY do, they’d be a lot less popular.

And that means that discriminatory laws can be defeated, in the same way that marriage bans were defeated. The first step is simply shining a light on them.

www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-baume/watch-a-field-guide-to-sp_b_6814564.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Bryan Fischer Can’t Stop Talking About Guys Humping Other Guys

2016 Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson made quite an ass of himself this week when he went on CNN and claimed he had hard evidence to support the claim that being gay is a choice.

“A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight,” Carson said, “and when they come out they’re gay.”

Naturally, the “lame-stream media” had a field day over the comments, with many claiming the retired neurosurgeon had successfully killed his campaign for the presidency before it had even really begun. We’re pretty sure it was dead on arrival anyway.

Today, even Carson apologized: “I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended.”

But there is one person in America taking the side Carson is not even on anymore.

Right Wing Watch obtained video of none other than Bryan Fischer praising Carson his demonstrably false views. But not only that, Fischer takes it one step further by demanding that all other potential GOP candidates answer the same question as a litmus test for their antigay extremism.

“I hope they ask Jeb Bush this question!” Fischer opined. “I hope they ask Rick Perry this question! I hope they ask Rand Paul this question! I hope they ask Mike Huckabee this question!”

Okay, Bryan, we get it. Is being an asshole your choice or were you born that way?

“I hope they ask, ah, um, Scott Walker this question!” he continues. “I hope they ask Ted Cruz this question! I want every single Republican candidate on record: Do. You. Think. Homosexual. Conduct. Is. A. Choice?!”

Watch Fischer go crazy in the video below.

Related stories:

Presidential Hopeful Ben Carson Believes Prison Turns People Gay

The Craziest Damn Shiz Conservatives Have Said About Gay People

WATCH: Bryan Fischer Forced To Consider Sex With A Man

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/Minn48n4YNA/bryan-fischer-cant-stop-talking-about-guys-humping-other-guys-20150306

Blame It On The Queers

Doomsayers and the things that definitely happened because of LGBTs

read more

Advocate.com Editors

www.advocate.com/politics/2015/03/06/blame-it-queers

Policlips Now: Ben Carson, Bibi's Speech And An Email Controversy
In this week’s edition of “Policlips Now,” we’re highlighting the best political clips you may have missed while you were busy at work or stuck at home because of snow.

We saw GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson making an outrageous statement about gay people, President Barack Obama dismissing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress and Secretary of State John Kerry basically saying he doesn’t care about the Hillary Clinton email controversy.

Watch our video above.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/policlips-now-ben-carson_n_6811622.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Gender Fluid Generation: Evolving Gender Norms At School

Originally published on Youthradio.org, the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe.

By: Nanette Thompson

The first time I learned that gender could be fluid was in sex ed in the 9th grade. I remember the teacher mumbling under her breath that some people don’t identify their gender with the biological sex they were born with. At the time it didn’t phase me because I’d never known anyone who’d talked about it or felt that way. But now, three years later, I have a 16-year-old classmate who’s trans. His name is Jace McDonald.

“That is the name I have chosen,” said Jace. “It’s what my parents would have named me if I was born biologically male.”

Jace McDonald was born female. But says he always knew there was something different about him. He didn’t like so called girl things, and more than that, he felt like a boy. At 13, he started identifying as transgender, and has become something of an activist.

“Never ask someone who’s trans what their real name is,” he said. “That is so offensive. My real name is Jace. And my birth name is none of your business.”

Jace McDonald laughs with classmates in his high school drama class. He says it’s one of the places he feels most at ease. “People in general need to have a place where they feel safe and where they can be themselves,” he says. Photo Credit: Teresa Chin/Youth Radio>

Jace has thick glasses and short brown hair, and he’s outspoken at school. One time in English class when a teacher stumbled over gender terminology, Jace stepped in to clarify and ended up teaching a whole lesson himself. He sometimes finds himself fed up. “High school is hard enough as it is,” he said.” High school as someone who is non-gender conforming just makes it harder. How many times today am I going to be called a girl?”

In many ways, it seems like gender non-conformity awareness is at all-time high. Last week Congressman Mike Honda announced via Twitter that he was the “proud grandpa of a transgender grandchild.” And according to new polling out last month, young people increasingly see gender as not just limited to male and female. But the torchbearers of gender fluidity aren’t just celebrities or politicians, but kids. But schools are still catching up with the needs of gender nonconforming students. Last year, California’s first law protecting gender nonconforming students went into effect. It gives Jace the right to use the bathroom of his choice.

Last month, Jace and I walked down the hall of the high school that we both attend. He stopped and pointed to set of doors that are our main bathrooms on campus. He says when he uses the bathroom between classes that kids occasionally give him strange looks.

“So if I walk in there are there are people already in there, I’m more likely to hold it and just go to my next class,” he said.

It seems rough, but Jace says this is way better than he used to have it. He’s a junior now, and this is his first year at my school. He’s gone to two other high schools and left because he was taunted and called names like tranny. He says, the schools didn’t let him use the boy’s bathroom, and insisted on keeping his birth name on the roster. At my school, he says he finally feels safe.

Third grader Tomás Rocha, 8, in the hallway of his elementary school. Tomás is often asked if he is a boy or a girl. “Sometimes I say, does it really matter?” he says. Photo Credit: Brett Myers/Youth Radio>

Just a few towns away at Malcolm X Elementary School, teachers start addressing gender identity at a young age, with the goal of making school more safe and inclusive. One of the students there, third Grader Tomás Rocha has shoulder length hair and long bangs. He’s wearing a turquoise My Little Pony t-shirt  with black flats. A lot of days he wears dresses, and last year he started using the girls bathroom. Tomás says people regularly ask him if he’s a boy or a girl.

“I just really think i’m really both,” said Tomás. “I really don’t care what people call me . Sometimes I say I’m a girl. Sometimes I say I’m a boy. Sometimes I say does it really matter?”

However, it mattered to his mom Amy. She struggled with Tomás’s gender bending. And at first hoped it was a phase. “His first grade teacher told me that, ‘Yeah I don’t know if this is a phase,'” she said. “And so that scared me because I wanted it to be a phase, because I didn’t want to have to have my child hurt. I wanted him to be what society wants a baby boy to be like when they’re born. You know, tough and want to play sports.“

Her concerns came from her fear of Tomás  might get bullied.It’s something Tomás’s teacher Julia Beers also thinks about. Beers was Tomás’ second grade teacher last year — the first year he started wearing dresses to school. When students question Tomás, Beers tries to assume the best — that her students are curious and not trying to be mean. Like when she overhears a student say to Tomás, “Did you know you were wearing a dress to school today?”

“If a student is laughing for example, I might say,  ‘Hmm what are you thinking when you laugh like that?'” she said. “And by opening up that question, it can often help that student kinda dig deeper and realize ‘It just seems weird’ or ‘I feel uncomfortable’ or ‘I’ve just never seen someone do that before.'”

According to the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, 82 percent of transgender young people say they don’t feel safe at school.  Struggles, like the ones my high school classmate Jace has been through, are the norm.

For Tomás though, his elementary school’s efforts seem to be working. His mom says his grades and behavior improved after he was given more freedom to be himself.

Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI) is youth-driven converged media production company that delivers the best youth news, culture and undiscovered talent to a cross section of audiences. To read more youth news from around the globe and explore high quality audio and video features, visit Youthradio.org

www.huffingtonpost.com/youth-radio-youth-media-international/gender-fluid-generation-e_b_6813064.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

The New York Times: “States Weigh Religious Exemption Bills”

An article today in The New York Times featured the growing number of anti-LGBT bills in state legislatures across the country.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/the-new-york-times-post-marriage-equality-battle-states-weigh-religious-exe?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Eighth Circuit Stays Federal Ruling Striking Down Nebraska's Gay Marriage Ban

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/03/eighth-circuit-stays-federal-ruling-striking-down-nebraskas-gay-marriage-ban.html

#LeanInTogether And Getty Images Team Up To Show What Fatherhood Actually Looks Like
Stock photos used to illustrate online articles are meant to reflect everyday life. Ironically, they rarely do. Getty Images and LeanIn.Org have a plan to change that.

With the launch of #LeanInTogether — a campaign that encourages men to help women in the fight for gender equality — Getty Images and LeanIn.Org have partnered to bring realistic stock photos of men to online editors, and therefore readers.

The Huffington Post spoke with Sheryl Sandberg about the impact diverse photos could have, and what she hopes the series will achieve. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said. “So having men see active pictures of themselves and other men as fathers, as people supporting people at work — I think it’s inspiring.”

Instead of endless photos of white guys in suits — or any other ridiculous and cliche portrayals we so often see in stock photos — the #LeanInTogether shows a different side of fatherhood and masculinity.

“I think people want to do the right thing, they want to portray women the right way, they want to portray men the right way but we often don’t know how,” Sandberg said. “Getty is saying here is a portrayal of women and men that Lean In supports and that we support. And similarly, men are saying here’s a portrayal of what I believe as a man and that this is good for men.”

Here are a few of our favorite stock images from the “Lean In Together” collection:

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/lean-in-together-getty-photos-of-dads_n_6801724.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Jimmy Fallon is Excited for Joe Biden to Speak to HRC Tomorrow. Are You?

Last night on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Fallon joked about Vice President Joe Biden’s keynote speech to HRC staff and volunteers tomorrow.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/jimmy-fallon-is-excited-for-joe-biden-to-speak-to-hrc-tomorrow.-are-you?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

'Empire' Actor Malik Yoba Backtracks After Potentially Outing Co-Star Jussie Smollett

Charles Pulliam-Moore

www.towleroad.com/2015/03/empire-actor-malik-yoba-backtracks-after-potentially-outing-co-star-jussie-smollett.html