Equalitopia

A Valentine’s For Homophobes: FCKH8’s new...

danlev — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:09:00 -0500

A Valentine’s For Homophobes: FCKH8’s new video

(Warning: Explicit language)

FCKH8 released a new Valentine’s Day-themed video calling out the “hypocrisy of homophobes’ claims to preserve the ‘sanctity of marriage.’”

FCKH8.com will give 5¢ for every Facebook “Share” & Twitter tweet of this video - up to $5,000 - to H8Sux.com, a project that will give thousands of free “OK4U2BGAY” t-shirts to school kids to fight bullies, suicide and H8 in schools! FCKH8.com has raised over $250,000 for the fight for equal rights through T-shirt sales! Tees start at $9.99. Get yours at FCKH8.com!

The press release states that FCKH8’s videos have generated over 6 million views and sold over 70,000 t-shirts with $250,000 raised for gay rights causes.

Join the movement:

“Same-sex couple Frank Capley-Alfano, left, and Joe...

danlev — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:58:21 -0500

“Same-sex couple Frank Capley-Alfano, left, and Joe Capley-Alfano kiss as they celebrate outside San Francisco City Hall Feb. 7, 2012, in San Francisco.”

Proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional on Tuesday by a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

(Photo: Getty Images via CBS News via Peter Galazka)

BREAKING: Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional Proposition 8 was...

danlev — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:48:00 -0500

BREAKING: Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional

Proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional on Tuesday by a San Francisco appeals court, according to Reuters.

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that Proposition 8 was a violation of the rights of gays and lesbians. According to the report, a stay has been in place and gay marriages will not resume until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal.

Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill reintroduced...

danlev — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:08:00 -0500

Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill reintroduced without death penalty

Uganda’s highly controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been reintroduced by its author, David Bahati, according to the BBC.

The original bill was introduced in 2009 and resulted in international media cry before being shelved in 2011.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill aims to increase the penalty to life in prison.

Originally, the legislation proposed the death penalty for those who engage in gay sex where one participant is under the age of 18, disabled, or HIV-positive. The death penalty has been removed from the revised version of this bill.

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill is not only a threat to gays, but to anyone who is aware of individuals participating in homosexual acts and doesn’t report them to authorities.

Ever since the bill was introduced, gay people in Uganda are increasingly facing harassment and threats.

(Photo: AP)

Slap Upside The Head: An illustrated LGBT news blog There are...

danlev — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:42:00 -0500

Moscow Fined For Banning Pride

Nigeria: Jail Time For Gay Marriage

Senator on Gay Marriage in Washington

MP Blasts Court For Equal Rights Ruling

Slap Upside The Head: An illustrated LGBT news blog

There are quite a few blogs that just grab any image they can find to image to illustrate an article, but Slap Upside The Head doesn’t settle for that. Slap Upside The Head is an LGBT news blog that illustrates its articles with humorous, satirical, or clever comics.

Run by a 31 year old Canadian man named “Mark,” the blog covers LGBT-related topics such as politics, homophobia, same-sex marriage, and LGBT culture.

Slap Upside The Head has been voted the Best GLBT Blog in Canada for four years in a row at the Canadian Blog Awards.

Visit Slap Upside The Head

(Illustration credits: 1, 2, 3, 4)

14-year-old asks Maryland lawmakers to vote against gay marriage...

danlev — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:07:00 -0500

14-year-old asks Maryland lawmakers to vote against gay marriage [audio]

In this audio clip, a girl visits the Maryland’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on her 14th birthday and asks lawmakers to vote against same-sex marriage.

“…I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender. They have no idea what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on…”

(via ThinkProgress, Peter Frank)

“Homosexuality leads to love and families. Homophobia...

danlev — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:33:00 -0500

“Homosexuality leads to love and families. Homophobia leads to discrimination and violence. Which is the real danger to society?” —M. Matthew Phelps

“A Coming Out Story” “A teenage boy comes out...

danlev — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:24:00 -0500

“A Coming Out Story”

“A teenage boy comes out to his family about his sexual orientation, which proves disastrous.”

Gay California teen Eric James Borges commits suicide, weeks...

danlev — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:29:00 -0500

Gay California teen Eric James Borges commits suicide, weeks after posting an It Gets Better video

This is Eric James Borges. He posted this It Gets Better video last month. Yesterday, he committed suicide. Eric, 19, was an intern with the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBT youth.

Jim Reeves, Vice President of Queer Landia, had met Eric personally. He reports about his suicide:

Word began spreading late Wednesday among shocked and saddened friends and acquaintances. Not accepted by his birth family, EricJames was striking out on his own, trying to deal with his personal situation, but also wanting to help others. Sadly, even involvement with the Trevor Project was not enough to help him navigate the turbulent waters of young adulthood.

Update: Stephnie Davison, a classmate and good friend of Eric’s responded to this blog post by sharing a bit about Eric:

He was an amazing person who was bullied throughout his entire life. He was beaten at home for being gay and kicked out multiple times. His mother never approved of him being himself. When he tried to be Eric, he couldn’t. He was an artist, a friend, a boyfriend, and a truly amazing individual. EricJames Borges will always be remembered and he was my friend.

[…]

His mother disowned him, and refuses to talk to him. I’m not sure that she knows he even committed suicide tbh.

Iraq’s Unwanted People: A documentary about being LGBT in...

danlev — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:49:00 -0500

Iraq’s Unwanted People: A documentary about being LGBT in Iraq

Bradley Secker, a U.K based photojournalist, spent two months living in Damascus, Syria in autumn 2010. He spent his time locating LGBT individuals that had fled Iraq in fear of being persecuted because of their sexuality. Gaining the trust of these individuals meant Bradley could see inside the closed diaspora of Iraqi LGBT refugees first hand. His primary aim was to create a photo essay with written, first hand testimonies.

On return to the U.K, Bradley started work on ‘Iraq’s unwanted people’, a short documentary highlighting the problems faced by Iraqi LGBT individuals. The film shows two personal accounts of men living in fear as refugees in Syria. Through photos, interviews and moving image, the film hopes to pose the question as to how, and why, such acts of violence and brutality can be overlooked in a new ‘free’ Iraq.

Contact GRN for more information.

(via Peter Galazka on Google+)

8 year old tells Michele Bachmann: “My mommy’s gay...

danlev — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:57:00 -0500

8 year old tells Michele Bachmann: “My mommy’s gay but she doesn’t need any fixing.”

“Video of Michele Bachmann trying to get her photo op in with my 8 year old son. It’s hard to hear but he leans in and tells her that his mom is gay and she doesn’t need fixing. GO ELIJAH! Love that look of shock she gets.”

What tips would you give to someone planning on coming out to their grandparents or other older relatives?

danlev — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:17:59 -0500

It Gets Better by Allie Osterloh An illustration created by...

danlev — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:30:00 -0400

It Gets Better by Allie Osterloh

An illustration created by Allie Osterloh for Spirit Day 2011.

MyAcceptance.org tells stories of LGBT people, two photos at a...

danlev — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:34:00 -0400

MyAcceptance.org tells stories of LGBT people, two photos at a time

MyAcceptance.org, a new photo essay project, is documenting members of the LGBT community — two photos at a time. The one on the left representing how they’ve felt in the past and the one on the right representing how they feel now.

Much like the It Gets Better campaign, the goal of the project is “to give hope to those out there that are struggling in their lives, those who feel like they’re alone and that there’s no one to turn to.”

The project also invites people to participate by submitting their own photos.

Learn more about the project and view the photos at MyAcceptance.org.

(Photo: Parker Austin)

Gay / Straight Identical Twins = Identical Rights (via gwsvws)

danlev — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:45:00 -0400

Gay / Straight Identical Twins = Identical Rights

(via gwsvws)

thedailywhat: Here Comes The Bigotry of the Day: A Highland...

danlev — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:49:00 -0400

thedailywhat:

Here Comes The Bigotry of the Day: A Highland Park woman was denied the purchase of her “dream bridal gown” from a New Jersey wedding dress store because she is marrying another woman.

Alix Genter, who is set to marry her longtime partner next July, had her dress all picked out when Here Comes the Bride store manager Donna phoned her up and told her she couldn’t buy it because she was a lesbian.

According to Genter, Donna decried the marriage as “illegal” and said the store “do[es] not participate in any illegal actions.” (Genter and her partner are planning to get married in New York, which legalized same-sex marriages in June.)

“I was devastated,” Genter told Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky. “I was crying. I called her a bigot; I told her, ‘I am a happy person and you are a miserable person.’ Then she hung up on me.”

When Polaneczky followed up with Donna, she was told that Genter’s replacement of the word “groom” with “partner” on the customer-information sheet was a deliberate provocation in an effort “to show that she’s different.” The manager then went on to define lesbians as women who are experimenting with other women because “men can be difficult.”

Apparently Donna has been “persuaded” by a bad Yelp review from Genter to meet with her parents “to try to smooth things over.”

[philly / image: advocate.]

US 2012 Election: Stances on LGBTQ Rights Here’s visual...

danlev — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:23:00 -0400

US 2012 Election: Stances on LGBTQ Rights

Here’s visual confirmation of each 2012 presidential candidate’s plans on 12 issues that affect America’s estimated 31 million LGBT voters.

(via tyleroakley, marriageequality.org)

Michele Bachmann: ‘I don’t judge...

danlev — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:04:00 -0400

Michele Bachmann: ‘I don’t judge gays’

Michele Bachmann, fresh from a victory in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, and was again dogged with questions about her anti-gay platform, this time declaring, “I don’t judge gays.”

Read the full story at LGBTQ Nation.

Discussion time! At what age should homosexuality be explained to a child?

danlev — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:52:31 -0400

Obama Supports Repeal of Gay-Marriage Ban

danlev — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:11:40 -0400

Obama Supports Repeal of Gay-Marriage Ban :

civillyunioned:

President Obama is throwing his support behind the Respect For Marriage Act - the bill to repeal the 1996 Defense Of Marriage Act, which banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage even for couples married under state law.

The president has “long called for a legislative appeal for the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which continues to have a real impact on families,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing. He said the president “is proud” to support the Respect For Marriage Act, “which would take the Defense of Marriage Act off the books for once and for all.”

The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

In February, the Obama administration announced that the Department of Justice will no longer defend DOMA in court.

On Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the new bill, which would repeal all three sections of DOMA — which federally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman — including section 1, which is the name; section 2, which instructs states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states; and section 3, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing legally performed same-sex marriages.

Representatives from both pro- and anti-gay marriage groups will testify before the panel.