A Tent Too Large: the Republican Party and Anti-LGBT Bigotry
RNC Chair Reince Priebus yesterday said something predictable and something startling in response to the Supreme Court’s refusal to overturn court decisions clearing the way for same-sex marriage.

The predictable was his continued defense of the Republican Party’s position that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman.

The startling was his invoking of the names of Tony Perkins and David Lane to support the party’s position.

“People like David Lane and people like Tony Perkins are right to be concerned about what’s happened here in this country over the past couple of years,” Priebus said on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown.

Now, we wouldn’t condemn those who cling to the traditional view of marriage. We’d say they’re on the wrong side of history, that they’re giving in to old prejudices, but we wouldn’t condemn them. After all, it wasn’t until 2013 that the president evolved to what we’d consider the more enlightened point of view.

But we would condemn anyone who vilifies the LGBT community with demonizing rhetoric and falsehoods. And that’s exactly what Perkins and Lane routinely do. It’s bizarre that Priebus, who has said that LGBT people “deserve dignity and respect,” would invoke their authority.

Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council, has repeatedly portrayed LGBT people as perverted. He’s called the “It Gets Better” campaign — designed to give LGBT students hope for a better tomorrow — “disgusting” and a “concerted effort” to “recruit” children into the gay “lifestyle.”

Lane is head of the American Renewal Project, funded by the virulently anti-LGBT American Family Association (AFA). The AFA’s chief spokesman, Bryan Fischer, has said that “[h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”

In a commentary last year for World Net Daily, Lane called on Christians to wage “war” against the “pagan onslaught imposing homosexual marriage.”

In 1999, Priebus’ predecessor, Jim Nicholson, called for party members to shun the Council of Conservative Citizens because of the group’s “racist views.” Then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and other party officials quickly distanced themselves from the white supremacist group.

But rather than follow in Nicholson’s footsteps and exercise leadership, Priebus yesterday embraced extremists of another type — those who incite hate and violence against the LGBT community.

We know that political parties like to have big tents. But some tents are simply too large. It’s time for the GOP to take a stand — not on same-sex marriage but on anti-LGBT bigotry.

www.huffingtonpost.com/j-richard-cohen/a-tent-too-large-the-repu_b_5954100.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

OPM’s Open Enrollment Begins as Exclusions Lifted on Transgender-Related Care

Yesterday, OPM announced that the open enrollment season for these benefits will begin on November 8, marking the first time that participating insurance providers have the option to offer federal employees coverage for transition-related care.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/opm-announces-open-enrollment-season-for-transgender-inclusive-healthcare?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Ricky Martin’s Controversial Erection Tweet, Michael Strahan Will Strip In Magic Mike XXL And A Mean Girl Star Can’t Get Rid Of His Trick

Michael Strahan, Kelly Ripa’s cohost and a former pro-athlete, is the latest looker to join the cast of Magic Mike XXL. He’s certainly got the stripper moves down.

Daniel Franzese, noted for stealing scenes in Mean Girls and new cast member of season two of Looking, does not have time to hang out with his tricks in this Sam Smith parody “Please Go Home.”

Ricky Martin knows how to be people talking about education. He tweeted the following note, which translates as ““An education is like an erection, if you have one, people can tell.”

“La educación es como una erección; si la tienes, se nota.”

— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) October 1, 2014

If your desire to watch Queen Latifah perform a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” with out entertainer Melissa Etheridge has been keeping you awake at night, you can sleep well this evening.

If you blinked and missed seeing Ben Affleck‘s penis in Gone Girl, you’re in good company. Victor Garber, a close pal of Ben and wife Jen’s, says he failed to see it so it’s a good reason for everyone to watch the movie a second time.

Morgan Reynolds has never met power anthem he didn’t love, especially when it’s from a Broadway musical.

Trans actress Erika Ervin‘s role in American Horror Story: Freak Show was written as a male character so Ervin read for the part in man drag. “I auditioned for the part as a guy, slicked back my hair, no make-up…flannel shirt, bound my breasts, dropped my voice and walked in, and nailed it,” she says of how she nailed the audition.

Find Your Way incorporates raw footage, insightful interviews and a compelling soundtrack to weave a compelling look at the world of buskers. The doc will screen at New York’s CBGB festival Oct. 9 before a national VOD release next month. Watch the trailer below.

Jeremy Kinser

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Same-Sex Marriage Once Again On Hold In Nevada, 9th Circuit Rescinds Mandate In Idaho

Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2014/10/same-sex-marriage-once-again-on-hold-in-nevada-9th-circuit-rescinds-mandate-in-idaho.html

Mayhemic Molester – Executing LGBT Tumblr teens of Louisville
FUCK LOUISVILLE 2014/2015. DEATH TO THE PIGS, AND DEATH TO THE SCENE KIDS. I AM THE WAR, YOU ARE THE WHORE. 88.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4DPNMVjys0&feature=youtube_gdata

Judge Accepts S.C.'s First Marriage Application From Same-Sex Couple

Colleen Condon and Nichols Bleckley may become the first same-sex couple to legally wed in South Carolina.

read more

Daniel Reynolds

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/10/08/judge-accepts-scs-first-marriage-application-same-sex-couple

Domestic Violence in the LGBT Community: It's Time for a Change!
Co-Author: Susan Holt, PsyD, LMFT

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the United States and, as the Ray Rice situation so well portrays, intimate partner violence (more commonly known as domestic violence) remains a very significant problem. In Rice’s apologies to his wife he said, “Violence of any kind, especially man-on-woman, is just not right…shouldn’t be tolerated.” For the majority of us, this statement rings true — or should ring true. In reality violence against women is an epidemic and one that has recently received a glimmer of attention in the wake of the Rice scandal and the continuing growing list of implicated abusers in professional sports. However, this national conversation, while long overdue, is almost always framed as one in which men are the abusers and women are the victims, which leaves many survivors of domestic violence unrepresented. Unfortunately, intimate partner violence will continue long after the Rice story fades from the media. And this is, perhaps, particularly true of intimate partner violence among LGBT couples.

In 2013 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that lesbians, gay and bisexual men and women reported intimate partner violence and sexual violence over their lifetimes at levels equal to or higher than those of heterosexuals. Eight months later, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs documented 21 LGBT intimate partner violence homicides across the country in its annual report. This number is just the tip of the iceberg, representing only the reported homicides, with many homicides remaining classified as “roommate” or “non-intimate” disputes. Despite the fact that intimate partner violence in the LGBT community happens at rates comparable to or greater than in the non-LGBT heterosexual community — nearly 1 in 3 members of the LGBT community experience intimate partner violence at some point in his or her life — there still remain only a handful of services specifically targeted towards LGBT survivors. In fact, according to a recently published study, only 1 in 5 LGBT survivors receives victim services.

A review published earlier this month in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy stressed that multiple factors related to minority stress, including the fear of being “outed,” may explain high prevalence rates in the LGBT community. Increased risk may also result from same-sex partners unconsciously responding to internalized homophobia they developed while being raised in a heterosexual society. So, as our nation takes these moments to examine the problem of intimate partner violence in all communities and across sexual orientations, let us make sure that we are not only inclusive in that examination, but we also take into account the role that institutionalized and systemic homophobia play in the perpetration of violence within and from outside the LGBT community.

Simply put: Whether you are a colleague from work, a family member or a friend, chances are you will know an LGBT person who, at some point in his or her life, has been or is in an abusive relationship. When this happens, ensuring that you can provide support in a non-judgmental way can literally mean the difference to that survivor receiving the assistance they need to find safety.

As a country, we need to educate ourselves, learn the signs and develop effective community-based resources. After all, addressing this epidemic is going to take more than a public moment. It will take — and deserves — a national commitment from all of us.

To find out more information about the domestic violence services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, visit lalgbtcenter.org/domestic_violence_services.

www.huffingtonpost.com/terra-slavin/post_8431_b_5953664.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

God’s Children Include our LGBT Sisters and Brothers

Mississippi faith Organizer Denise Donnell talks about the importance of joining hands with the LGBT community.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/gods-children-include-our-lgbt-sisters-and-brothers?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Lock It Up: The Surprising Reality Of Gay Virgins Who Wait For Marriage

So let’s get this straight — in the following clip wherein gay virgins who choose to be chaste until marriage answer questions about their beliefs, the following exchange occurs:

A self-identifying Christian gay man is asked, “What if it doesn’t work out and you wind up ‘saving yourself’ for the complete wrong person?”

And he responds, “That’s why people like me save sex for marriage and not for ‘I kinda like you.’ The process of marriage goes a long way towards making sure we enter into a sexual commitment with a sound mind. OK, but what if it still doesn’t work out? Sure, that happens. Well then we’re really getting into the moral question of divorce…suffice it to say, there are some situations where I would probably seek remarriage.”

Like, oh, say building up sex as this weird virtuous rose petal only to have absolutely no sexual chemistry with your new husband?

The two interviewees seem like perfectly nice people, but whoa.

Watch the clip here:

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/QRXisy2W_UA/lock-it-up-the-surprising-reality-of-gay-virgins-who-wait-for-marriage-20141008