Op-ed: When Pride Shines at Work and on the Street

One man charts his journey from discovering his pride as a newly out young guy to participating in L.A. Pride with the support of his friends, family, community, and coworkers.

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Rick Scot

www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/06/12/op-ed-when-pride-shines-work-and-street

Meet the world’s first trans footballer to play in the World Cup

Jaiyah Saelua, from American Samoa, has spoken out about the importance of fighting against homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination before the first big match

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joem

www.gaystarnews.com/article/meet-worlds-first-trans-footballer-play-world-cup120614

Op-ed: The LGBT Movement After Marriage

Reaching full marriage equality in the United States will indeed be pivotal, but it’s not the end-all, when it comes to LGBT rights.

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Rebecca Isaacs

www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/06/12/op-ed-lgbt-movement-after-marriage

British Consulate in Hong Kong may yet marry same-sex couples after all

Diplomatic staff at the British Consulate for Hong Kong are reviewing a decision to not allow same-sex couples to marry there after it was revealed that the Spanish Consulate in Hong Kong is already marrying same-sex couples

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andrewp

www.gaystarnews.com/article/british-consulate-hong-kong-may-yet-marry-same-sex-couples-after-all120614

Tea Party Candidate Says It's OK To Stone Gays To Death
Scott Esk, a Republican Tea Party candidate in Oklahoma, got into a debate on Facebook last summer in which he advocated killing homosexuals.

“I think we would be totally in the right to do it,” Esk wrote in comments uncovered by Oklahoma journalist Rob Morris. “That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

When pressed, Esk added: “I never said I would author legislation to put homosexuals to death, but I didn’t have a problem with it.”

Esk is running for the state’s House of Representatives. The primary is scheduled for June 24.

When contacted by Morris, who runs the news outlet Moore Daily, Esk didn’t deny making the comments or back down from the rhetoric.

“That was done in the Old Testament under a law that came directly from God and in that time there it was totally just. It came directly from God,” Esk said, adding: “I have no plans to reinstitute that in Oklahoma law. I do have some very huge moral misgivings about those kinds of sins.”

The Raw Story notes that in other Facebook posts, Esk has said that laws punishing gays should be instituted locally so people “can decide for themselves whether they want to live in a particular community based in part on how things like this are dealt with.”

The comments have quickly gone viral, drawing attention to other parts of his platform… and those views aren’t any less extreme.

Esk wants to “punish abortionists severely for their committing of murder” and punish federal bureaucrats who try to enact the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In addition, he’s against all forms of gun licenses, wants to cut education funding “which I don’t consider a proper function of government” and believes “the EPA, FDA, OSHA, etc.” “have no legitimate reason for existing, since they’re unConstitutional.”

Esk wants to make divorce more difficult as well. He’s calling for jury trials for divorce cases and an end to no-fault proceedings.

“I also don’t buy into the notion that it’s unfair to make somebody stay in a marriage he’s unhappy with,” Esk wrote.

Esk was married for 15 years until “frivolous divorce raised its ugly head in the Esk home,” he notes on his campaign website. (You can see him speak more about divorce in the video below.)

Esk’s Facebook page contains other stunners, including a December 2013 post written shortly after Nelson Mandela’s death in which he called the former South African president a “communist thug” and a “low-life.”

And in November 2013, he wrote of calling 911 to report “a large group of Mexicans” gathered at an Oklahoma City mall geared toward Latino shoppers because he “suspected that many of them were guilty of being here illegally.”

His long rant notes that police didn’t respond to his emergency call.

Esk was a computer programmer in the state’s Department of Public Safety, but has “since gravitated toward courier work.” He also owns a window-washing business.

“I look forward to applying Biblical principles to Oklahoma law,” Esk writes on his website.

(h/t The Week)

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/scott-esk-stoning-gays_n_5486678.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices