Tag: gay usa
When the Movement Does Not Save Your Life
We enter social justice work as survivors. We seek to find community among our own. As black gay men particularly, but by no means exclusively, we learn to endure and inevitably resist racism and homophobia. What’s less clear is how we survive each other. Movement work can be beautiful. It can be transformative. The most… Read more »
LGBT Immigrants In The United States Amount To Almost 900,000
During a moment when gay rights are being rethought throughout the Hispanic community in the United States and in Latin America, a new study shows a large group of undocumented and documented Latinos are also part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) community. Findings in a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA… Read more »
US State Department launches new online LGBT travel guide
The US State Department has launched a new website designed to help LGBT travellers. With homosexuality a criminal offence in more than 76 countries around the world, the website is designed to make LGBT Americans more informed. Under a quote from former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton of how “gay rights are human rights”, the… Read more »
Documentary On Being Gay, Black, Young
Amir Dixon’s recently released documentary, Friend of Essex, explores the lives of young black gay men and the struggles they face. Dixon, 23, packed the film with one-on-one and group interviews, and jarring narratives that probe the difficult questions surrounding masculinity, identity, sexuality, and race. Viewers get a closer look at the black LGBT church,… Read more »
US: Obama administration files brief urging Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8
The Obama administration filed a brief to the Supreme Court on Thursday evening, urging it to strike down the state of California’s ban on equal marriage, a move which has been hailed by equal marriage advocates. Lawyers for the Obama administration’s filed the briefing on the Proposition 8 case, the controversial legislation which bans equal… Read more »
Obama Inauguration Speech Makes History With Mention Of Gay Rights Struggle, Stonewall Uprising
President Obama made history today when he mentioned both the Stonewall uprising and gay and lesbian people being treated “like anyone else under the law” during his second inauguration speech. “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides… Read more »
Survey: Big drop in Americans who say being gay is a sin
Americans who believe being gay is a sin are now a minority, according to research released yesterday, which links the trend to President Obama’s 2012 decision to support equal marriage. A survey conducted just after November’s US election by Nashville-based LifeWay Research, a Southern Baptist-affiliated group, showed that 45% of those questioned did not think… Read more »
USA – Touching Encounters: Sex, Work, and Male-for-Male Internet Escorting
Call boys and online matches Victor Minichiello hails a study of secret desires that challenges heteronormative notions of masculinity Two people mutually agreeing to get together to share an intimate moment is generally seen as normal human behaviour – nothing out of the ordinary. But two men, with one of them a male escort, mutually… Read more »
Richard Blanco: First Latino, Gay Man Selected as Inaugural Poet
There has not been another inaugural poet like Richard Blanco. Out of the five people selected to read an original poem at a presidential inauguration, the 44-year-old Blanco will be the first Latino, first gay man, and youngest person to serve the role. The presidential inaugural committee officially announced the choice of Blanco, the son… Read more »
Generation LGBTQIA
Stephen Ira, a junior at Sarah Lawrence College, uploaded a video last March on We Happy Trans, a site that shares “positive perspectives” on being transgender. In the breakneck six-and-a-half-minute monologue — hair tousled, sitting in a wood-paneled dorm room — Stephen exuberantly declared himself “a queer, a nerd fighter, a writer, an artist and… Read more »
Washington National Cathedral To Perform Gay Weddings
The Washington National Cathedral is preparing to start performing weddings of gay and lesbian couples. According to the AP, the church will be among the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite of marriage for LGBT members. The 106-year-old cathedral has a storied history steeped in presidential traditions. The cathedral’s foundation stone was laid… Read more »
Seven Openly LGBT Members In 113th Congress
The 113th Congress opened on Thursday with the swearing in of new members, which include 6 LGBT House members and a senator. Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, became the Senate’s first openly gay member. “Now we can officially call her Senator Tammy Baldwin,” Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian… Read more »
American Psychiatric Association drops Gender Identity Disorder from manual
GLAAD says announcement is a ‘historic change’ but trans advocates are concerned about the definitions that remain in the manual of mental disorders The American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced on Saturday that its manual would no longer list ‘Gender Identity Disorder’. But the new, fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM… Read more »
USA: Young, Gay, Black—and at Risk for HIV
Government neglect and historic patterns of segregated living and socializing have helped fuel the epidemic among very young gay black men. Joshua Alexander was 19 when he found out he was HIV positive in 2006. He had gone to a health fair at the university he attended in Mississippi to get tested, completely unaware he… Read more »
Gay GOP candidate loses House bid
Democratic Rep. John Tierney won re-election in Massachusetts and thwarted Richard Tisei’s historic bid for Congress. Richard Tisei, a former state senator, is an openly gay Republican. Tierney was considered vulnerable for defeat because he was tied up in a gambling scandal. Although there have been other gay Republicans serving in the U.S. House of… Read more »
Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin is first openly gay person elected to Senate
(CNN) – Tammy Baldwin made history Tuesday night — twice. She became the first openly gay politician, and first Wisconsin woman, elected to the U.S. Senate. She told CNN on Wednesday morning that she hopes the Senate will be “more reflective of America” and that it will reflect the “life experience of more women.” The… Read more »
Regarding Obama’s 2012 Victory
As much as the USA is divided politically it is also, ‘ultimately for now’, dominated by the smart people who do have more money, influence and positive attitudes toward diversity. Obama garnered 306 electoral votes with a slight majority of the popular vote, and Romney got 206 votes and almost half the voters. Obama was… Read more »
The GayGlobe
In the last two years, three internet surveys in Europe, the USA and Asia asked over 200,000 gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) about sex, safety and stigma. Gus Cairns looks at some of the data, and finds a mix of the expected and unexpected and some challenging findings for… Read more »
New survey: 3.4% of U.S. adults are LGBT
A Gallup survey finds LGBT Americans at lower education and income levels. What’s being touted as the largest study ever aimed at counting the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population finds that 3.4% of adults across the USA identify as being part of the LGBT community. Based on interviews with more than 121,000 individuals,… Read more »
Gallup survey: 3.4 percent of US adults are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender
New York — A new Gallup survey, touted as the largest of its kind, estimates that 3.4 percent of American adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The findings, released Thursday, were based on interviews with more than 121,000 people. Gallup said it is the largest study ever aimed at calculating the nation’s LGBT… Read more »
Not There Yet: Inclusion, Acceptance and Support for LGBTQ Muslims
Discussions on LGBTQ inclusion in Muslim communities are one of those things that make my blood boil because in my community, as in some others, Muslims who support same-sex unions and condemn homophobia tend to be disregarded. For many Muslims, the recognition of Muslims who may identify as queer or trans poses a challenge to… Read more »
Moraga: Gay teen denied Eagle Scout submits petition asking Boy Scouts to change policy
Pleasant Hill – A gay teenager denied his Eagle Scout award because of his sexuality turned in an online petition with more than 400,000 signatures Wednesday urging the National Boy Scouts of America to change its policies against allowing gay members. Ryan Andresen of Moraga marched into the front office of the Mt. Diablo Silverado… Read more »
Minority stress could be the missing link with problems facing the LGBTQ
Oct. 11 is National Coming-Out Day which is a great day of celebration for all those individuals that made the tough choice to come-out. This day can also be an empowering symbol for those wanting to come-out but don’t quite have the courage to make it through the door. One of the obvious reasons some… Read more »
Gay Scout Denied Eagle Award Says He Believes in God
Boy Scouts Say He Violated Scout Oath and Law The Boy Scouts of America say that Ryan Andresen was denied his Eagle Award because of a violation of the organization’s religious principles, but the 17-year-old refutes that, saying he believes in a “higher power.” “…The only reason he’s being denied the rank of Eagle is… Read more »
We’re Here, We’re Queer, Y’all
Gays in Rural America Reality television often acquaints us with people we never knew existed. During last week’s season finale of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” TLC’s smash hit about the small-town Georgia family of Alana Thompson, a 7-year-old pageant contestant, viewers were introduced to Alana’s Uncle Lee — affectionately known as “Uncle Poodle.” In… Read more »
Same-Sex Couples Granted Protection in Deportations
The Department of Homeland Security has stated in writing that foreigners who are same-sex partners of American citizens can be included under an Obama administration policy suspending deportations of some immigrants who pose no security risk. In letters sent late Wednesday to several Democratic lawmakers, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was clarifying guidelines… Read more »
Los Angeles Gay Happiness, the New Frontier
Are mental and physical health problems really a reaction to bigotry? Sixteen years ago, at 19, James Brandon drove cross-country from St. Louis to study at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena. A year earlier, his alcoholic father, whom he had nursed nearly daily, had died of cancer. Handsome, talented and affable,… Read more »
Report: Latino and African-American media are pro-LGBT
A new report that the Opportunity Agenda released suggests that support for LGBTs among African-Americans and Latinos is on the rise, especially in media serving both communities. According to the report, “Public Opinion and Discourse on the Intersection of LGBT Issues and Race”, a study of attitudes toward LGBTs and studies of Latino and African-American… Read more »
Sexual Prejudice
Source – Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8686; email: AR2013@herek.net. Abstract Despite shifts toward greater acceptance in U.S. public opinion and policy, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people remain widely stigmatized. This article reviews empirical research on sexual prejudice, that is, heterosexuals’ internalization of cultural stigma, manifested in the form of negative attitudes toward… Read more »
No homophobia? Hip-hop’s anti-gay tone shifts
New York — Snoop Dogg has rapped in songs where the f-word — the other f-word — has been tossed about. He’s even said it, part of a long list of rappers who have freely used the gay slur in rhyme. For years, anti-gay epithets and sentiments in rap have largely been accepted, along with… Read more »
Top U.S. Marine: Openly gay servicemembers not an issue
The head of the U.S. Marine Corps on Tuesday stressed that the integration of openly gay and lesbians into the military has gone smoothly. “I don’t think there is a problem,” said Commandant Gen. James Amos during a National Press Club luncheon in downtown Washington. “I don’t see it. I don’t hear about it.” Amos’… Read more »
Fired gay Boy Scout camp worker petitions for reinstatement
Sacramento (Reuters) – A gay Eagle Scout who says he was fired from his job at a California Boy Scout camp over his sexual orientation delivered a petition on Wednesday with 70,000 signatures asking to be reinstated despite the organization’s ban on gay scouts and scout leaders. Tim Griffin worked at Camp Winton, roughly 80… Read more »
Poll: Gay men take twice as many holidays
A new poll suggested gay men take double the national average number of holidays each year. Ipsos Mori polled 2,174 gay men for Gaydar and has released both the pattern for gay holidays and the most popular destinations. San Francisco was the most popular city, followed by Amsterdam. The resort of Gran Canaria came third… Read more »
Transgender People No Longer Considered Mental Illness
“Gender Identity Disorder” is now a term of the past as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, will be replacing the term with “Gender Dysphoria,” according to the Associated Press. This change is a result of years of lobbying the American Psychiatric Association to change or remove the “mentally ill” characterization… Read more »
U.S. allows uniformed active duty military to march in gay pride parade
(Reuters) – The Department of Defense, in a first-of-its-kind move, will allow active duty members of all branches of the U.S. military to don their service uniforms while marching in an upcoming San Diego gay pride parade, event organizers said on Thursday. The move, confirmed in an internal defense memo, marks the first time the… Read more »
Barney Frank weds Jim Ready to become first congressman in same-sex marriage (Updated)
Updated Sunday: More wedding details below. It was by choice that Rep. Barney Frank came out of the closet 25 years ago — not the first gay congressman, but the first to announce voluntarily that he was gay. On Saturday, he took another deliberate first step: By exchanging vows in Massachusetts with his longtime boyfriend… Read more »
Major Medical Advance Against HIV-AIDS
“After decades of controversy, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new H.I.V. test on Tuesday that for the first time makes it possible to learn in the privacy of their homes whether they are infected. The availability of an H.I.V. test as easy to use as a home-pregnancy kit is yet another step in… Read more »
Dr. Richard Isay, Who Opposed Classifying Homosexuality As Disease, Dies
Dr. Richard Isay, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who argued that being gay was normal, not an illness, has died at the age of 77. Isay, the father of two sons who came out gay at the age of 40, died of cancer, The New York Times reported. “He changed the way the psychoanalytic world viewed… Read more »
Gay Couple Holds First Civil Union Ceremony On Military Base
A gay service member in the Air Force and his partner entered a civil union on Saturday at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Wrightstown, New Jersey. The civil union of Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali and Will Behrens is considered the first same-sex ceremony held on a military base since repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” According… Read more »
In a first, Pentagon ceremony marks gay pride month
Less than a year after the repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military, gay service members celebrate another cultural milestone with a formal event at the Pentagon. Washington — A year ago, Marine Capt. M. Matthew Phelps might have been relieved of his command in San Diego if the military found… Read more »
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