First LGBT Advocacy Group Named as “Foreign Agent” Under Discriminatory Russian Law
This week, an LGBT organization, Rakurs, was named as a “foreign agent” under Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” law. Rakurs is the first organization to be listed under the discriminatory law.
HRC.org
Gay New Yorkers Talk About Safe Sex, Barebacking, PrEP, and Protection: VIDEO
Earlier this month we brought you the first in Impulse Group NYC’s series intended to encourage dialogue about safer sex. That video, which you can watch at this link, explored sex, protection, health, stigma, and status.
The second in the series goes deeper into the subject of protection, asking the subjects how they protect themselves while having sex, what their thoughts are on bareback sex, how they ensure their safety when hooking up with a stranger, what the term “safer-sex” means to them, and if they’ve heard of PrEP. An HIV-positive participant is also asked if he would have taken PrEP had it been available when he was negative.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Impulse is an organization formed to mobilize gay men for social advocacy, HIV/AIDS health-centered education and community engagement, utilizing volunteer efforts of local community members to create campaigns, events and online content to gay men impacted by HIV.
Andy Towle
Texas Gets 1st Openly Gay Federal Judge Thanks to Anti-Gay GOP Senators John Cornyn, Ted Cruz
Thanks to the support of two rabidly anti-LGBT senators, Texas is getting its first openly gay federal judge.
The Senate on Tuesday night confirmed Robert Pitman to fill a San Antonio seat that’s been vacant for more than six years.
President Barack Obama in June nominated Pitman, who was backed by Cornyn and Cruz, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cruz also inadvertently aided Pitman’s confirmation when he forced the Senate into session last weekend.
Pitman will become one of about 10 openly LGBT federal judges in the US. When Obama took office, there was only one.
Eric Lesh, fair courts project manager at Lambda Legal, said in a statement responding to Pitman’s confirmation:
“For the judicial system in the United States to be truly fair, it must reflect the tremendous diversity of the country. President Obama has made great strides in promoting and ensuring that diversity with his nominations of people of color and of openly gay and lesbian individuals to the federal bench. We celebrate the confirmation of Judge Pitman, which brings welcome diversity to the federal bench in Texas while simultaneously filling a seat that had been vacant for more than six years.
“While great progress has been made to bring diversity to the courts, we still have a long way to go. There are nearly 900 federal judges in the U.S., and most are straight white men. Federal courts are charged with providing everyone with equal access to justice, and yet justice has not always been a reality for some. A judiciary diverse in race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation and lived and professional experience serves not only to improve the quality of justice, but to boost public confidence in the courts.”
Pitman is a Fort Worth native who attended Abilene Christian University and earned his law degree from the University of Texas. He currently serves as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas.
When Pitman was first recommended for U.S. attorney by Cornyn and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2009, the pick riled some fellow Republicans, but Cornyn stood behind it.
“A person’s sexuality has no bearing on his qualifications for a job. … It’s just not even remotely considered,” Cornyn spokesman Keven McLaughlin said at the time.
Based on that statement, one might think Cornyn would be a supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but he voted against it last year and received a zero on the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent Congressional Scorecard.
John Wright
www.towleroad.com/2014/12/senate-confirms-robert-pitman-texas-first-openly-gay-federal-judge.html
This Year's Coolest Straight People in Entertainment
These people raised the bar on what it means to be an LGBT ally in entertainment.
Jase Peeples
www.advocate.com/year-review/2014/12/17/years-coolest-straight-people-entertainment
Michael Shea’s Steamy Affair With 2(X)IST
Admit it. You’ve considered cheating on your most reliable — albeit old, run down — pair of briefs with 2(X)IST. Bold, sexy, and a little bit dangerous, there’s something undeniably tempting about the New York-based brand. In this Underwear Expert exclusive, model Michael Shea and Marco Ovando are here to let you know how normal the feeling is.
Presenting styles from the 2(X)IST Pima Stretch Collection, Michael flaunts his body and his underwear in every photo. It turns out you can match your underwear to your eyes, with the Pro Blue Pima Stretch Trunk. The No-Show Bikini Brief in Barbados Red shows off how 2(X)IST underwear slims the waistline, flattering your figure for a fitter, tighter look. The black pairs Michael wears have an attention-grabbing sheen to them, plus a touch of transparency. Bringing his infectious masculinity and the clean-cut designs of the underwear, Michael and Marco Ovando show us how it feels to fall in love with 2(X)IST.
You can see more of this photo shoot at The Underwear Expert.
Photo Credit: Marco Ovando
Underwear Expert
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/9_MpNMLPB74/michael-sheas-steamy-affair-with-2xist-20141217
Op-ed: My Lesbian Moms Saved My Life
This coming-of-age tale wouldn’t be possible without two moms.
Jaz Moore
www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/12/17/op-ed-my-lesbian-moms-saved-my-life
Gay teacher forced to hang crucifix in classroom under fascist Italian law
He was protesting against a cardinal who said he believed gay people didn’t exist
joem
Campaign: Help Chicago LGBT Theater Group Mount 'Angry' Play
Pride Films and Plays has launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund a production whose title local media won’t print.
Trudy Ring
When Life Hands You Anti-Gay Lemons…
Tempe, Arizona’s Faithful Word Baptist Church has a relatively small congregation (less than 200 people), but its pastor, Steven L. Anderson, gets substantial media coverage because of his provocative beliefs. He has, in the past, admitted to praying for the death of President Barack Obama and has said that women should never be allowed to preach the word of God in a church. Most recently, Anderson delivered a sermon to his congregation in which he expressed his virtual apoplexy over the promotion of World AIDS Day. This prompted him to perpetuate the usual, consistently debunked myths that homosexuals choose to be gay and all gay people are pedophiles. Then Pastor Anderson proudly proclaimed that he had discovered the cure for AIDS. He promised that humanity could have an “AIDS-free world by Christmas” if the government would simply adhere to his interpretation of the biblical law of the land by executing all homosexuals.
This is not only outrageous but ignorant. Anderson has apparently never heard of the continent of Africa, where roughly 25 million people, the majority of them heterosexual women and children, are living with HIV. This figure accounts for nearly 70 percent of the global total of cases of HIV/AIDS. Executing all homosexuals would barely scratch the surface of the worldwide AIDS epidemic. World AIDS Day isn’t just about the gay community. It’s about finding a much-needed cure for a devastating disease that affects tens of millions of people. However, facts and reason don’t matter much to people like Pastor Anderson.
This kind of nonsense has little to no effect on me. At my age, I doubt there’s anything anyone can say to, or about, the LGBT community that I haven’t already heard. However, I do often wonder what effect incendiary rhetoric like Pastor Anderson’s has on younger gay people who are struggling with coming out. Coincidentally, in a subsequent interview about his sermon, Pastor Anderson was asked how he would react if he had a gay child himself. After insisting it could never happen, Pastor Anderson likened it to discovering that his daughter is an axe murderer, or that his son had grown up to be the next Adolf Hitler, and simply said he would have nothing to do with the child. Now, that bothers me. First of all, Anderson’s comparison is laughably fallacious. More importantly, such a declaration doesn’t show strength of conviction on Anderson’s part. It only shows a detrimental weakness as a parent and as a human being. I can’t imagine how any responsible and rational adult could do something as cowardly and narcissistic as turning their back on their own child simply because the child is gay. Yet it happens all the time. It’s detestable.
After viewing his sermon and interview, in honor of Pastor Steven L. Anderson, I made donations to a center here in New York City that provides assistance to homeless LGBT youths, and to an organization that delivers meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. Personally, it was my attempt to turn a negative into a positive. It gives me a little peace of mind, and hopefully it will help someone have a happier holiday. I also requested that letters of acknowledgement be sent to Pastor Anderson at his church’s address. Gee, I hope he gets them and comes to the realization that his message of hate and abandonment has, on some level, backfired. Maybe he will even be a little disappointed. And that would be the best Christmas gift ever!
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