Wednesday, May 26. 2010
We may watch "Glee" for the songs, but last night's episode proved that "Glee" can be just as powerful in conveying messages about self discovery and homophobia. Below is a scene from last night's episode when Finn criticizes Kurt's goodwill decorating gesture. Finn calls it "faggy" and Kurt's dad overhears and gives one of the most moving performances on the show. Today, I'm sure every person who has faced discrimination wishes they had a show like this. Please check it out over at Joe.My.God.
Tuesday, March 23. 2010
Today, US District Judge Glen H. Davidson, ruled against the injunction filed by Constance McMillen, an openly lesbian senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, in favor of her school district's superintendent, as well as her school's principal and assistant principal. Davidson said he would not order the school district to hold the prom it had cancel, saying McMillen failed to show that doing so would serve the public interest. Despite this disappointment, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, presented her with a $30,000 scholarship. Wanda Sykes invited the teen to attend the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles. Also, Zac Posen will release a line of prom dresses in Target inspired by the Mississipi teen. Even without the ruling she hoped for, McMillen still has some things to smile about. [ CNN]
Thursday, March 4. 2010
Today same-sex couples can legally marry and adopt children in Mexico City. Despite opposition to the law by the Mexican Federal Government, Mexico City is able to pass its own laws.
The largely leftist Mexico City Assembly passed the gay-marriage act in December, and Mayor Marcelo Ebrard signed it into law. Making it the first in Latin America.
This does not mean that same-sex marriage will last in the city. The conservative, federal government is arguing that same-sex marriage violates the country's constitution, and will begin hearing appeals in May. [ DallasNews]
Tuesday, March 2. 2010
The Diversity Workshop, an association working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer persons, recently sent a letter to Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, calling him to remove Elzbieta Radziszewska from the office of Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status. In the letter, they claim Mrs. Radziszewska fails to take action on LGBTQ issues, especially those concerning equal treatment. They then spend the next nine pages listing evidence of Radziszewska's shortcomings. The Diversity Workshop unforgivingly concludes that, "Mrs. Radziszewska is not fulfilling her legal duties, she is not interested co-operation with non-governmental organizations fighting the discrimination of LGBTQ persons, she is not qualified to deal with these issues, and not interested in acquiring competence... She affirms the current state and is homophobic herself... we call to remove Mrs. Elzbieta Radziszewska from her position." Ten other Polish non-governmental LGBTQ organizations, including the Lambda Bydgoszcz, Fundacja Trans-Fuzja, Stowarzyszenie Otwarte Forum, Foundation Culture for Tolerance, Lambda Warsaw, Anka Zet Studio Foundation, Feminoteka Foundation, Stowarzyszenie, "Same o Sobie S.O.S.,” Fundacja Autonomia, Equality Foundation, and the Campaign Against Homophobia Association, also demand Radziszewska's removal. The Prime Minister has yet to reply.
Tuesday, February 23. 2010
It is time to start planning for a national call to action for the week of May 17. Inspired and initiated by the National Equality March on Washington, the LGBT community will come together to forge a stronger grassroots movement. Equality Across America encourages people to take to the streets the week of Harvey Milk's birthday and plan local actions like talks, debates, and rallies. The Harvey Milk Day Action will be complemented by a series of regional conferences where activists from Seattle to Gainesville will debate political questions, discuss strategy and tactics of the LGBT movement, and begin the process of developing broad new leadership.
Tuesday, February 16. 2010
Join us in contacting the Human Rights Campaign today and asking for further action to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We are asking that the HRC publicly demand that President Obama take the lead in getting DADT repealed this year.
The President needs to state publicly that he wants Congress to repeal DADT this year; and take the lead in working with Congress to make sure the repeal happens.
HRC Tel: 202-628-4160 or 800-777-4723
You can also leave your message in the HRC comment page or send an e-mail to membership@hrc.org.
Find out more about today's call to action.
Tuesday, February 9. 2010
The Virginia State Senate passed a measure that would protect gay and lesbian state workers from discrimination, yesterday.
The final vote was divided along party lines, but Suffolk Republican Frederick Quayle broke Republican ranks and joined the 22 Democrats in supporting the bill. "I just thought it was the right thing to do," he said.
If passed into law, the measure would define a state non discrimination employment policy that includes the category of "sexual orientation" along with race, religion, gender, and disabilities, among other classifications. Several past governors have signed executive orders establishing that as a state policy; former Govs. Timothy M. Kaine and Mark Warner included the sexual orientation clause in their orders.
Current Gov. Bob McDonnell clashed with former Governor Timothy M. Kaine four years ago over the inclusion of gay workers in a governmental non discrimination policy.
To contact Governor Bob McDonnell and let him know how important the passage of this legislation is to you, then click here.
To thank Republican Frederick Quayle for doing what is right, then click here. [ HR]
Monday, February 8. 2010
Last week, the Albanian Government issued new anti-discriminations laws that defend gays and minorities. Since Albania is under revue as a potential candidate to join the European Union, the passage of a human rights bill is an important step in gaining EU confidence in Albania's preparedness.
 This law provides strong protections for all people against discrimination based on: gender, race, colour, ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, political, religious or philosophical beliefs, economic, education or social status, pregnancy, parentage, parental responsibility, age, family or marital condition, civil status, residence, health status, genetic predispositions, disability, affiliation with a particular group, or for any other reason.
The sponsors of the bill warned that despite its passage, homophobia is rampant in the country. It will give activists a strong, legal platform to combat discrimination. The law was also intended to include same-sex marriage, but with such powerful Orthodox and Catholic communities, the prime minister left it out. [ Straits]
Friday, January 22. 2010
"When it comes to the business of simply being honest about who they are, some of them (sports stars) become little shrinking violets because they're afraid, probably, of being booed from the terraces, and that must be a horrible experience and shame on people who do it... But it ain't (sic) going to stop someone being a fantastic footballer because they're honest about their private lives, is it? I don't believe so and the world is changing and sport, I'm afraid, is very slow to catch up," he told the BBC.
Friday, January 15. 2010
This week, GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) announced their nominees for the 2010 Media Awards. This 21st annual event, in addition to a special honor for Cynthia Nixon in New York, will honor outstanding representations of the LGBT community in media and the efforts to bring LGBT images and stories to light.
Among the nominees: Tom Ford's Golden Globe-nominated film A Single Man, Lee Daniel's Golden Globe-nominated film Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Ang Lee's latest film Taking Woodstock, Little Ashes—starring Robert Pattinson, AMC's acclaimed drama Mad Men, Fox's hit show Glee, ABC’s comedy Modern Family, Be Like Others—a documentary about transgender people in Iran, Logo's reality show RuPaul's Drag Race, the daytime drama One Life to Live, HLN's new talk show The Joy Behar Show, The Early Show's interview with Chaz Bono, bisexual singer Lady Gaga, gay singer Adam Lambert, and Spanish-language nominees Sábado Gigante, Primer Impacto, Al Rojo Vivo, and People en Español.
"Words and images matter," said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. "With these awards, we seek to recognize news coverage and entertainment programming that go beyond stock stereotypes with LGBT storylines that more fully reflect the challenges gay and transgender people face and the aspirations we hold for ourselves and our families. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media professionals who are doing an exceptional job at bringing our stories into the living rooms of America – and set a 'fairness benchmark' for the news and entertainment industries. The awards also complement and fund GLAAD's other programmatic work to share the stories of allies, religious leaders, gay and transgender people of color, local couples and families with Americans."
GLAAD also announced that the Broadway cast of Hair would receive Special Recognition for their commitment to raising visibility for marriage equality. Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming will host the ceremony in New York, and the San Francisco event will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer Bruce Vilanch.
The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 13; in Los Angeles on April 17; and in San Francisco on June 5 (so you can attend all three).
A complete list of 152 nominees is available at:
www.glaad.org/mediaawards/21/nominees.
|
