Philadelphia Updates Hate Crime Law to Protect LGBT Community
Today, Philadelphia’s city council passed a bill to update the city’s hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
HRC.org
Tom Ford Says Half Of His College Friends Died Of AIDS Before 1990
Tom Ford Says Half Of His College Friends Died Of AIDS Before 1990
I moved to New York in 1979 just before my18th birthday. Of my close friends at NYU, more than half of them had died from AIDS by 1990. I remember the fear of the early 1980s. I remember the feeling of having dinner with a friend and running into someone I hadn’t seen and the light would rack across their face and my heart just sank—you knew. They looked fine but there was something. There was something in their eyes. There was something about the look on their faces that told you that the next time you saw them they wouldn’t look as well. … Today’s generation of young adults have never known the ravages of AIDS as some of us have and for that reason, in some cases, they have let down their guard. We cannot let down our guard.”
— Designer Tom Ford, while accepting the Award of Inspiration at amfAR Inspiration Gala last night in Los Angeles
H/t E! Online
Jeremy Kinser
Nashville's Gay Rugby Team Gets Wet, Muddy, and Shirtless for New Calendar: PHOTOS
Nashville's Gay Rugby Team Gets Wet, Muddy, and Shirtless for New Calendar: PHOTOS
2015 is ‘bearing’ down on us in a big way now that the Nashville Grizzlies gay rugby calendar has arrived!
One of the team’s members, Thomas H., writes us:
“The Nashville Grizzlies RFC is a USA Rugby Division III club. We are a socially and ethnically diverse group of guys ages 19-53 learning a great sport, getting some good exercise and giving back to our community. Established in 2006, the Grizzlies have had the opportunity to play teams all over the nation and abroad. Every two years we travel to the Bingham Cup, named in honor of Mark Bingham who died on United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11, 2001 attacks. We played in the 2014 Bingham Cup in Sydney, Australia, where we won the Hoagland Vase, named in honor of Mark’s mother. We are currently in the process of bidding for the 2016 Bingham Cup and are excited about the chance to bring an international gay rugby tournament to the South.
This year, we are raising to money to ensure that gay rugby is as affordable as possible to all of our players, regardless of their means. Part of our efforts include our annual calendar fundraiser. This year, local photographer Chris Malone lent his talents for us to have a very artistic and creative calendar.
The calendars are available at the team’s shop, but you can see a few more sexy preview shots, as well as a photo of the team in Sydney, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
Community Protests Attempt To Remove LGBT Information From Health Classes
Community Protests Attempt To Remove LGBT Information From Health Classes
Community Protests Attempt To Remove LGBT Information From Health Classes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA_Cn9NG5Yk&feature=youtube_gdata
lgbt_doctor_mirza
Murdered Indianapolis Trans Woman's Family Seeks Answers
Murdered Indianapolis Trans Woman's Family Seeks Answers
Tajshon ‘Ashley’ Sherman was found shot to death outside a housing complex, but police cannot yet determine how she got there and are searching for leads.
Mitch Kellaway
www.advocate.com/crime/2014/10/30/murdered-indianapolis-trans-womans-family-seeks-answers
Starbucks Is 'Ground Zero For Ebola' Because Of Its LGBT Appeal, Anti-Gay Pastor Claims
Starbucks Is 'Ground Zero For Ebola' Because Of Its LGBT Appeal, Anti-Gay Pastor Claims
The pastor of a New York church which sparked controversy after posting a billboard which claimed that “Jesus would stone homos” is back in the headlines.
Pastor James David Manning of the ATLAH Worldwide Missionary is now taking aim at Starbucks, claiming that the coffee giant is “ground zero for Ebola” because franchises, particularly in urban areas, are meeting places for “generally upscale sodomites” interested in “clandestine sexual activities,” Towleroad is reporting.
“I am now on the Ebola watch, warning people to stay away from Starbucks,” he says in a new “Manning Report” clip. Starbucks locations, he adds, attracts “a large number of sodomites and the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] crowd that usually, and continue to, approach the idea of sex, intercourse and dating on a lower, less visible, less social scale because of the nature of what they want to do.”
Manning’s argument also takes shots at President Barack Obama, too: “Remember, I told you back in 2007 that Obama was a homo.”
The pastor’s remarks come on the heels of a release of the first Starbucks commercial geared toward the LGBT community, starring “RuPaul’s Drag Race” veterans Adore Delano and Bianca Del Rio.
Starbucks, of course, has a history of being an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. In 2012, the Seattle-based coffee chain joined a then-growing list of major corporations in publicly endorsing same-sex marriage legislation in Washington state.
Earlier this year, officials raised raised a Pride flag over the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle.
Coming Out for Equality in Mississippi
Coming Out for Equality in Mississippi
HRC Mississippi State Director Rob Hill works to change hearts and minds in the South, and, in return, creates new advocates for equality.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/coming-out-for-equality-in-mississippi?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Norman Reedus Did Not Beg Producers To Keep His “Walking Dead” Straight
Norman Reedus Did Not Beg Producers To Keep His “Walking Dead” Straight
The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus has called foul on reports that he objected to playing gay on TV.
While there has been much speculation about the sexual orientation of Reedus’s character, Daryl Dixon, nothing has been revealed on the show. But, says Reedus, that’s certainly not because he begged the producers not to go there with his character out of fear of tarnishing his hetero sex symbol status.
A request Inquisitr article quoted The Globe as saying that Celeb Dirty Laundry had reported that the actor feared “the same-sex shocker would hurt ratings by disappointing his legions of female fans.”
The actor took to Facebook and Twitter to deny the claim, linking to the piece and writing “This is total bs by the way.”
Of course it is. Reedus has already gone on record to say that he’s down with his character getting down with a dude, telling GQ that when executive producer Frank Darabont suggested making Daryl “prison gay,” Reedus answered “That’ll blow minds — let’s do that.”
For the record though, Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple says the subject of Daryl’s sexuality will not be addressed this season — which hopefully won’t cause too much disappointment for Reedus’s legion of gay male fans.
Winston Gieseke
News: Jane Lynch, Barbie, North Carolina, Ted Olson, Taiwan
News: Jane Lynch, Barbie, North Carolina, Ted Olson, Taiwan
Miley Cyrus showed up at Wednesday’s amfAR gala wearing little more than duct tape.
Former Boston mayor and longtime LGBT ally Thomas Menino has died at the age of 71.
The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus shoots down tabloid rumors he’s begging producers not to make his character Daryl Dixon gay.
Jane Lynch’s expensive divorce from Lara Embry was finalized this week.
SCOTUSblog looks at how the Puerto Rico gay marriage case will be a test of Baker v. Nelson – the 1972 gay marriage case dismissed by the Supreme Court for lack of a “substantial federal question.”
E! News looks back on some of the biggest, groundbreaking LGBT moments in television history.
The British colonial origins of Africa’s anti-gay laws.
New poll shows 58 percent of North Carolina voters oppose the federal court decision this month bringing marriage equality to the state.
Michael C. Hall shows off his short shorts for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
10th Circuit Court of Appeals rules Tulsa County must pay the legal fees for Mary and Sharon Bishop-Baldwin, the gay couple at the center of Oklahoma’s marriage equality battle.
A fun look at how Barbie’s dreamhouse has changed over the decades.
John Spinello, the creator of what would one day become the classic board game Operation, has reached his crowdfunding campaign goal to raise money for a medical operation of his own. Spinello famously sold the rights to his prototype to Milton Bradley for $500 back in 1964.
30 scary-good celebrity halloween costumes.
At The Atlantic‘s Washington Ideas Forum yesterday, Ted Olson shared his disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to not hear the gay marriage cases earlier this month. “I agonize over the court not making a decision,” said Olson, an attorney on one of the cases. “We give them lifetime appointments, and you’re supposed to make hard decisions. It brings tears to my eyes, actually physically, when I see people suffering … It seems inhuman to make people wait just for the Court to decide.”
Need to sort out all the controversy and drama surrounding Carl DeMaio’s campaign for Congress? Check out this in-depth report by San Diego’s KPBS station here.
A Jackson, Michigan ordinance protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been tabled indefinitely after a city attorney warned the city would be in violation of state law if the ordinance passed.
An Indian man has been charged under the country’s anti-homosexuality law after his wife caught him with another man via spycam.
Aaron Schock: farmer extraordinaire.
Check out this interview with Paige Braddock, a lesbian cartoonist who serves as the creative director for Peanuts.
First looks: Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer’s wedding kiss on an upcoming episode of Two and a Half Men and Matt Bomer’s upcoming appearance on American Horror Story:Freakshow.
The New York Times examines Taiwan’s role as a beacon of hope for Asia’s LGBT community. “When it comes to gay rights in Asia, Taiwan is a world apart. Openly gay and lesbian soldiers can serve in the military, and the Ministry of Education requires textbooks to promote tolerance for gays and lesbians. In recent years, legislators here have passed protections for gays, including a law against workplace discrimination”
Sen. Lindsey Graham jokes that white men will “do great” under his presidency.
Kyler Geoffroy
