Have You Ever Had to Convince Someone You're a Woman? (VIDEO)
Just a few days ago news broke that Russia had enacted new rules banning people with “mental disorders” from driving. In Russia transsexualism and transgenderism are listed as “mental disorders,” making it criminal for transgender people to drive there.

It is hard to disagree when people say that some areas of the world are going in the wrong direction when it comes to human rights. People are discriminating against, harassing, and murdering trans people every day, not just in Russia but in all countries, though I think these issues have started to get more attention with big stars like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock telling their heartbreaking stories to the world. The world is essentially evolving, but at the same time it’s very clear that countries like Russia are going in the wrong direction.

In some places more and more hostility toward the trans community is being created. Even though I think it’s absurd that we in 2015 are calling trans people mentally ill, I can understand that the lack of accurate media coverage of this topic has had a negative effect. With almost no stories coming out showing trans people as human beings, there’s a huge disconnect between the trans community and the general public. Adding to the problem, few people have ever met a trans person.

Because of this, I think the fifth episode of The Pearl of Africa has special value. Not only does it give a glimpse into the trans community, but it does so within the context of a hostile society in Uganda. I hope that this Web series will help change the perception of transgender people as mentally ill, and that Cleo’s story will create the feeling of having met a trans person for anybody who hasn’t had that chance.

This week’s episode covers discrimination against LGBTI people in Uganda. Cleo is invited to a secret meeting with the Ugandan government to prove that she’s real. In the episode I search for an answer to the question of why it’s so hard for people to accept anything that doesn’t fit into society’s norms.

If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes, you can find them here.

www.huffingtonpost.com/jonny-von-wallstrom/have-you-ever-had-to-conv_b_6471582.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Anti-Gay Cardinal Raymond Burke Blames Catholic Church's Woes On Womankind: VIDEO

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/anti-gay-cardinal-raymond-burke-blames-catholic-churchs-woes-on-womankind-video.html

Pro-LGBT Mormon Podcaster Faces Excommunication

Charged with apostasy, Mormon Stories podcaster John Dehlin faces a threat of excommunication for supporting same-sex marriage and the ordination of women. 

read more

Stevie St. John

www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2015/01/15/pro-lgbt-mormon-podcaster-faces-excommunication

Mississippi School Board Fights To Block Gay-Straight Alliance From Forming
A Mississippi school board has rewritten the district’s rules on school clubs after a student expressed interest in forming what the superintendent called “gay clubs.”

According to the Clarion-Ledger, a student at Brandon High School in Rankin County approached a teacher about starting a Gay-Straight Alliance chapter, which is aimed at creating safe spaces for students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. According to the teacher, the student sent the proposal for the new club to school administrators.

On Wednesday, the Rankin County School Board voted to require students to get permission from parents before joining clubs. Officials deny that they knew about the club before making their decision, although superintendent Lynn Weathersby met recently with county administrators and the school board attorney to discuss how to legally “limit organizations like that on campus that we don’t want to endorse and don’t want.”

Brandon High School did not return The Huffington Post’s request for comment.

The school board’s decision was quickly condemned by advocacy groups and civil rights organizations.

“This policy sends a harmful message to LGBT students in Rankin County that they are not welcomed within their classrooms, at school functions or on the bus,” said Mississippi’s Human Rights Campaign director Rob Hill in a statement. “The board’s actions tell LGBT students that they should be ashamed of who they are and that their lives are valued less than their peers.”

“I was greatly disturbed when I heard what was said by the superintendent and his board attorney, because he should know better,” American Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Charles Irvin told WAPT. “What I want to see changed is that you not try to hide behind abstinence only to say that is the rationale for keeping students from being able to assemble.”

Though school board officials stated that the new restrictions apply to all clubs and are not unlawful, Rankin County School Board attorney Freddie Harrell also claimed that a GSA club might violate the state’s abstinence-only education policies. Courts have rebuked school districts that have made similar arguments in attempting to block GSAs from forming, finding that clubs are dedicated to promoting tolerance and raising awareness of prejudice in schools.

According to the ACLU, 15 federal courts have upheld students’ rights to form GSAs under the Equal Access Act, which prevents schools from discriminating against clubs based on the content of the meetings.

Mississippi is one of nine states with restrictive laws that maintain strict goals for teaching students about sexuality and essentially bar teachers from educating students about LGBT issues.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/15/mississippi-school-board-gay-clubs_n_6482132.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Thank You for Everything You are and Do

Confronted with the unimaginable death of Leelah Alcorn, the Greater Cincinnati HRC Steering Committee responded immediately to help the grieving community.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/thank-you-for-everything-you-are-and-do?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Retired NFLer Troy Aikman Suggests He Has “Chosen” Not To Be Gay

Retired NFL quarterback Troy Aikman has been running from gay rumors since the mid-’90s when American sports columnist Skip Bayless wrote a book Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the “Win or Else” Dallas Cowboys in which he alleged the former 6’4, 220-lb. Dallas Cowboys quarterback is attracted to men.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Aikman finally addressed the rumors that have followed him nearly 20 years head on. And, like a true quarterback, he did so by going on the attack:

I’m upset about it because it was made up and there was nothing accurate about anything that was insinuated. And he did it, as he does everything, just for attention. I am probably more upset because I probably should have responded to it at the time it was going on. The advice to me was “Hey, just don’t address it. It’s not worth it. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s ridiculous. All it’s going to do is have people continue to talk about his book.” So I didn’t. But I probably could have responded differently and maybe that would have changed things. Maybe it wouldn’t have. But it is ridiculous, and, yeah, it bothers me. If that is a lifestyle people choose, so be it. It doesn’t affect me one way or another. But it is not my lifestyle.

A “lifestyle” people “choose”?

It sounds like Aikman’s attitudes about gay people are stuck in 1989, the same year he was drafted to play for the NFL. Seriously, who talks like that anymore?

In an opinion piece published by OutSports, Cyd Zeigler writes: “Aikman says that is simply a lifestyle choice, like what neighborhood to live in or what car to drive or where to take your vacation.”

He continues: “I don’t know who or what Aikman is attracted to, but since he’s told us that the gender of the people you date is simply a choice, we have to take him at his word: He’s made a conscious decision to not date men. He might be inclined to, but instead, he’s chosen to date women.”

So is Aikman gay or not? The question remains unanswered.

Related stories:

College Athletes Are Leading The Way For The First Pro Star To Come Out

Jason Collins Is Standing On The Shoulders Of 8 Out Pro Team Sports Athletes

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/PhYrDZwVb5c/retired-nfler-troy-aikman-suggests-he-has-chosen-not-to-be-gay-20150115

Mormon Church Moves to Excommunicate Critic for Supporting Marriage Equality and the Ordination of Women

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/01/mormon-church-moves-to-excommunicate-critic-for-supporting-marriage-equality-and-the-ordination-of-w.html