Stonewall Fitness: By, For, and About Denver’s Gay Community!

David Smith, the owner of Stonewall Fitness, holds a degree in exercise science from Metropolitan State University of Denver, several fitness certifications including ACSM Personal Trainer and Group Fitness.

Smith specializes in exercise, nutrition and wellness programs for the GLBT community and leads a variety of different programs, including group fitness classes, personal training, athletic conditioning programs, educational seminars and workshops.

His passion lies in promoting the physical, mental and social benefits of exercise and healthy diet to the community by breaking down the barriers often associated with a healthy lifestyle to make it accessible for everybody.

Are You Gay With Something To Say? Bloggers Wanted For Denver's Best Gay Blog!

Are you a new or experienced writer or blogger? Do you want to be? Or maybe you're just some gay guy with something to say? Well, what better forum for you than MileHighGayGuy?

MileHighGayGuy is looking for regular and guest bloggers to write about local news and events, do music and movie reviews, or write opinion or feature pieces from a gay perspective.

These are unpaid positions but offer the opportunity to be published in Colorado's Best Gay Blog (2010, 2011, 2012 OUTstanding Awards, Denver 2012 #WebAwards), expand your audience and gain valuable experience. There's also swag available in the form of free movie and concert tickets, music, books and other cool stuff.

If interested, shoot an email over to Drew Wilson at drew@milehighgayguy.com. And if you've got column or story ideas to pitch, this is the place to do it.

Pet Portraits By Maurice Becnel

Immortalize your furry friends with a pet portrait by Maurice Becnel. Clients admire Becnel's ability to capture the essence of a pet's personality in his work.

Says Becnel, "Painting animal portraits, for me, is more fun than it is work. I began painting them several years ago. The first one I did was for a friend on her birthday. Because it was a gift it never dawned on me that other people would commission me to do more. Word got out and before I knew it more and more of the emails I was receiving from my website were going to the dogs! And cats!"

Reach Denver's Gay Community, Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog - MileHighGayGuy

Do you want to advertise to Denver’s gay community? Of course you do, it’s the 7th largest in the United States! And the best way to reach them is with MileHighGayGuy – Colorado’s Best Gay Blog.

"Bearracuda has placed ads on MileHighGayGuy.com for all of our Denver events and they've provided a huge exposure to our party! Between that and the shout-outs we get from MileHighGayGuy, we've seen our numbers grow and grow. Highly recommended!!" - Matt Mikesell, founder of Bearracuda.

Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.

Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert on Great Performances Friday, April 3

"Great Performances - Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert." Credit: Robert Sebree

Throughout her four-decade career, music superstar Annie Lennox has defied categorization, diving into blues, soul, folk and pop to create songs that captivate and transcend boundaries. 

In her latest album Nostalgia, Lennox has revealed yet another dimension to her formidable talent.  Although jazz is not the genre for which she is best known, she could no longer resist the magnetic pull of some of the most memorable melodies and lyrics from the American Songbook. Nostalgia, the singer's seventh solo album, has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

And with the Great Performances special, Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert, the singer's unique interpretations bring a new intimacy to these timeless classics. The special airs Friday, April 3 at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

In the 60-minute concert - which was taped at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles in January - Lennox performs songs from the Nostalgia album like "Summertime," "Strange Fruit," "I Cover the Waterfront" and "God Bless the Child."

HRC Condemns Governor Mike Pence for Signing Dangerous Anti-LGBT Legislation

In spite of overwhelming opposition by corporations and civil rights advocates, the Governor of the “Crossroads of America”, Mike Pence (pictured), today signed in to law a sweeping bill allowing individuals to use religion as an excuse to discriminate against LGBT people and other minorities. The CEO of one major local employer, Salesforce, has already noted they are now forced to dramatically reduce investment in the state because of outrage from employees and customers over the new law.

“The Indiana General Assembly and Governor have sent a dangerous and discriminatory message with this new law,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “They’ve basically said, as long as your religion tells you to, it’s ok to discriminate against people despite what the law says. This new law hurts the reputation of Indiana and will have unacceptable implications for LGBT people and other minorities throughout the state. Astoundingly, Indiana representatives ignored the warnings of businesses and fair-minded Hoosiers, and now business owners and corporations are forced to consider other options when looking at states to invest in.”

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce and local employers including Alcoa, Cummins, Eli Lilly & Co., and Salesforce spoke out against the new law, warning that it is bad for business. The first bill of its kind passed into law this year, the Indiana law is a part of an onslaught of anti-LGBT bills being introduced around the country targeting LGBT people. Similar legislation has been opposed in other states by major companies including Wal-Mart and Apple out of concern that they undermine existing civil rights law and deeply harm the business climate of states in which they are passed.

Many of these bills could critically undermine the enforcement of state non-discrimination protections, and passing them will do serious harm to the business climate of these states—exposing the state to a wave of lawsuits, putting jobs at risk, and making major corporations think twice about investing in states that previously had pro-business reputations.

Americans overwhelmingly believe that businesses should not be able to deny services to someone because they’re gay or lesbian. According to a 2013 poll by Third Way and the Human Rights Campaign, 69 percent of Americans don’t think a business owner should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to an individual because that person is gay or lesbian, compared to an incredibly small 15% that do. And when asked about small business owners in particular, a full 68% of Americans don’t think they should be able to refuse service to gays or lesbians, regardless of their religious beliefs. This supermajority included 55% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, 67% of people without college degrees, and 68% of Christians.

HRC is a founding member of the Freedom Indiana coalition—a campaign of state and national organizations who worked to try to stop this bill from becoming law.

North Carolina's First Openly Transgender Prom King Takes His Own Life

Blake Brockington, North Carolina's first openly transgender prom king, died this week. (Photo: YouTube)

By Jamilah King

 For more than two decades, Time Out Youth has been a central, celebratory hub for Charlotte’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens. On Wednesday afternoon, however, the mood at Time Out Youth was less than celebratory. Just two days earlier, Blake Brockington, a popular 18-year-old who was one of the group’s transgender members, apparently took his own life. “He was a leader, not just at our center, but in our community,” Rodney Tucker, Time Out Youth’s executive director, told TakePart.

Brockington’s death comes just weeks after the Charlotte community mourned the passing of Ash Haffner, a 16-year-old transgender teen who committed suicide. In recent months, several transgender teens across the country have committed suicide, driving a broader debate about our society’s understanding, and treatment, of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

Just a year ago, Brockington drew national headlines for becoming North Carolina’s first openly transgender prom king. Photos from that night show the short-haired senior at East Mecklenberg High School, in Charlotte, grinning ear-to-ear—with all the trappings of prom royalty: a light-blue button-up shirt, a black tie, a red-velvet coat, a yellow-studded tie.

“Throughout my life, I haven’t always been treated equally as a male, so I’ve always wanted this, and everybody has told me I couldn’t do it,” Brockington told local reporters at the time. Brockington hoped his story would inspire other transgender youth, and said: "Even though you go through some things, and have some negative encounters in your life, anything is possible. You can do anything you set your heart to."

Brockington’s journey toward manhood began early. He was born into a deeply religious home in Charleston, South Carolina. Apparently, he was forced to wear dresses to church and family gatherings. “It didn’t make sense,” he told the Charlotte Observer earlier this year. “I felt like a boy.”

By the time he’d turned 12, Brockington had moved to Charlotte with his father and stepmother. The move complicated the already tricky puberty experience. “When I got my period my aunt told me, ‘Welcome to womanhood.’ I was like “Noooo!” he recounted to the Observer.

Brockington was a sophomore at East Mecklenberg High School when he began his gender transition. Eventually, he chose the name “Blake,” apparently because it came to him in a dream. He told the Observer that he liked how masculine the name sounded. It was at Time Out Youth’s annual prom that he finally got to bask in being a transgender man, a friend of Brockington, Joanne Spataro, wrote on a local blog. “It was the first time that anybody had referred to me as my preferred name, my pronouns,” he said. “It was the only place where I felt kind of accepted.”

But Brockington’s family struggled to accept his transition. Eventually, he moved in with a foster family. “My family feels like this is a decision I made,” he told the Observer. “They think, ‘You’re already black, why would you want to draw more attention to yourself?’ But it’s not a decision. It is who I am. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

Brockington was caught in a web that’s familiar to many transgender youth. It’s difficult to accurately gauge the size of the LGBT youth population. But researchers have found that some LGBT youth—particularly those who lack family support--are eight times more likely to attempt suicide, and nearly six times more likely to report high levels of depression. Up to forty percent of the nation’s homeless youth are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to some estimates. In some cities, like New York, a significant share of homeless LGBT youth are of color.

The stakes are particularly high for the black transgender community. According to a National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 34 percent of black transgender people reported a household income of less than $10,000 per year, and 21 percent reported being refused medical care due to bias. More than 40 percent of those surveyed had experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Brockington spoke bravely, and publicly, about his own battles. “I felt like I’ve lived my entire life as a lie,” he says in the trailer for a short documentary about growing up in Charleston. “I’ve always been kind of different, and it was always a bad thing in my family,” he remembers. Even after winning homecoming king, and after raising more than $2,300 to help build a school in South Sudan, he said his classmates didn’t accept his gender identity. “It’s been really hard, Brockington says in the trailer. “High school’s been really hard.”

A representative from East Mecklenberg High School declined to discuss Brockington’s time there.

But Brockington’s challenges seem to have been magnified after his homecoming win. Articles celebrating his accomplishments appeared in local and national news outlets. While there was a great amount of support following Brockington’s victory, online critics were relentless. “That’s unfair to young men who were nominated and to the young woman who was voted queen, smh,” wrote one . “Maybe they voted for HER out of pity,” wrote another. “Its homecoming KING and QUEEN not TWO homecoming QUEENS [sic].” The criticism also found its way directly to Brockington. He later told the Observer: “This was single-handedly the hardest part of my trans journey….Really hateful things were said on the Internet. It was hard. I saw how narrow-minded the world really is.”

Brockington was a politically active member of North Carolina’s LGBT community, and his death is reverberating across the state. “He seemed like a really loving, exuberant person,” recalls Qasima Wideman, a 19-year-old LGBT activist who met Brockington at the first Trans Pride Parade in a nearby city, Greensboro, last year. “I admired how brave it was for him to put himself out there as a black trans man.”

At Time Out Youth, Tucker, the executive director, says there’s been an effort to increase its support transgender youth in recent months. That work includes adding a new weekly transgender support group that’s attracts about 15 participants each week. The recent deaths, Tucker says, “are definitely bringing to the forefront questions of how we can be supportive of people in transition and or who are gender non-conforming.”

And that support is crucial, as Brockington told reporters before his death. “I’m still a person,” Brockington said. “And trans people are still people. Our bodies just don’t match what’s up (in our head). We need support, not people looking down at us or degrading us or overlooking us. We are still human.”

This article originally appeared at TakePart.com

HRC To High-Tech Industry: Dangerous Anti-LGBT Legislation Looming In Arkansas

As Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson pitches Silicon Valley on investment opportunities in his state, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President and Arkansas native Chad Griffin announced that the organization will run a full-page ad in the San Jose Mercury News, the largest paper in Silicon Valley and the high-tech industry’s paper of record. The ad will spotlight pending legislation in Arkansas targeting LGBT people and religious minorities. Running on Sunday, the ad notes if Governor Hutchinson allows the bill to become law, he will be ignoring the opposition of employers like Apple, Wal-Mart and other companies who opposed the legislation. A digital version of the ad will also begin running today on various tech websites and will soon start running on the digital properties of the Wall Street Journal.

In Little Rock today, Griffin will deliver a formal invitation to Governor Hutchinson to travel with him to New York City next Tuesday to attend a gathering of more than 250 C-suite executives of Fortune 500 companies and other major businesses—corporations whose investment potential collectively totals in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Each of these companies has scored a 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI)—demonstrating their core commitment to treating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees fairly and equally under the law.

"Many of these companies have spoken out publicly in opposition to legislation like H.B. 1228," Griffin noted in the invitation. "Many of them create the high-tech jobs you argue Arkansas hopes to attract every day. I suspect many of these firms will have questions for you—especially as it relates to H.B. 1228, as well as another piece of anti-LGBT legislation, S.B. 202, which you allowed to become law."

H.B. 1228 would empower individuals to pick and choose which laws they want to follow and allow an individual to sue government actors, including teachers, firefighters and police officers, if that individual believes their religious rights were being violated by a government action. For instance, a teacher who puts an anti-bullying policy into practice could be at risk of being sued, or a police officer could sue their precinct because patrolling a synagogue violated their religious beliefs. The bill has seen significant opposition from the business community, including statements of disapproval from both Apple and Wal-Mart.

HRC has noted that H.B. 1228 purports to protect religious belief, but actually serve to put jobs and economic activity at risk. So-called “religious freedom restoration acts” could leave small businesses subject to lawsuits and make larger corporations more hesitant to invest in states that are otherwise pro-business. In Indiana, where similar legislation has now become law, companies such as Salesforce.com are choosing to cut their in-state investment because of the response from fair-minded employees and customers alike.

The bill will now head to the full Senate, where anti-LGBT members believe they have enough votes to pass the legislation. Governor Asa Hutchinson has not said whether he would sign the bill should it reach his desk.

Anti-LGBT Georgia Bill Moves Forward, Threatening to Undermine State’s Economic Growth

Yesterday, a subcommittee of the Georgia House Judiciary Committee moved an anti-LGBT bill forward that could allow people to use their religion as an excuse to challenge or opt out of various laws - including local laws in Atlanta and other cities - that protect LGBT people and other minorities from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Major local conferences have already threatened to move out of the state if the bill becomes law.

“After following the testimony and actions of the subcommittee on SB 129, it is now crystal clear that the primary intent of this legislation is to create a vehicle to allow for the denial of services and discrimination against gay and transgender Georgians,” said Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham. “If this legislation passes, it will create a permanent stain on Georgia's reputation as a state.”

“This ill-conceived, discriminatory bill threatens not just the LGBT community, but women, racial minorities, members of minority faiths, and the economic climate of the state,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “All Georgians deserve to be treated fairly and equally with dignity and respect. We call on Speaker Ralston and Governor Deal to stop this bill before it becomes law, inflicting harm throughout the state.”

Major local conferences have already threatened to move out of the state if the bill becomes law, including: American Society for Higher Education, American Academy of Religion, American Historical Association, German Studies Association, History of Science Society, Philosophy of Science Association, Society for Biblical Literature, and Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts.

The Georgia bill is a part of an onslaught of anti-LGBT bills being introduced around the country targeting LGBT people. Similar legislation has been opposed in other states by major companies including Wal-Mart and Apple out of concern that they undermine existing civil rights law and deeply harm the business climate of states in which they are passed.

Many of these bills could critically undermine the enforcement of state non-discrimination protections, and passing them will do serious harm to the business climate of these states—exposing the state to a wave of lawsuits, putting jobs at risk, and making major corporations think twice about investing in states that previously had pro-business reputations. A first bill of its kind this year was signed into law today in Indiana at the protest of corporations and businesses throughout the state. The CEO of one major local Indiana employer, Salesforce, has already noted they are now forced to dramatically reduce investment in the state because of outrage from employees and customers over the new law.

If the overly vague bill in Georgia is signed into law, public businesses from pharmacists to funeral homes to clothing stores, and everything in between, could potentially undermine state and local laws that protect people of faith, LGBT people, divorcees, women and interracial couples, among others. No one should be refused service simply because of a professed religious objection to who they are.

Americans overwhelmingly believe that businesses should not be able to deny services to someone because they’re gay or lesbian. According to a 2013 poll by Third Way and the Human Rights Campaign, 69 percent of Americans don’t think a business owner should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to an individual because that person is gay or lesbian, compared to an incredibly small 15% that do. And when asked about small business owners in particular, a full 68% of Americans don’t think they should be able to refuse service to gays or lesbians, regardless of their religious beliefs. This supermajority included 55% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, 67% of people without college degrees, and 68% of Christians.

Georgia Unites Against Discrimination, a joint project of HRC and Georgia Equality, has been actively working to stop this bill since it was filed and continues to have grave concerns about its impact on LGBT Georgians, the Georgia economy, and other minorities groups. The Georgia legislative session ends on April 2.

New Petition Asks HBO Not to Cancel Looking

A Care2 petition is urging HBO to reconsider cancelling Looking, a show about a group of gay friends living in San Francisco. The petition has more than 600 signatures since going live a few hours ago.

"For two seasons Looking has stirred real feelings and started important conversations about what it means to be gay in America today,” says Care2 petition author Ian Grady, who is based in Los Angeles. “Without Looking, there will be a void in the current television world.”

Grady says that for many people like him in the modern LGBTQ+ community, the TV show offers the truest representation of themselves in a TV landscape that features few shows focusing on this community. The show has tackled issues like living with HIV and transgender homelessness.

“These are important stories, if not always easy or perfect ones, and HBO is uniquely situated to keep sharing them,” Grady says. “I hope they'll reconsider the decision to cancel and keep putting these characters, and other LGBT characters, out there for all to see."

Novel - Spark

Novel releases the live video for her debut single “Spark ” The video was shot on location at Fresh /Greystone Manor and TigerHeat/Avalon Hollywood, offering a front row seat to her electrifying club performances and genuine affection for her fans.

Tranifesto: Trans-lations

By Matt Kailey

What follows are some of the most commonly used words on this blog and website, as well as definitions of words that you might find when reading other, related material. Please understand that definitions can vary, and that different people may use different definitions. These are mine. I have tried to cover variations as much as possible.

It is also important to respect a person’s individual identity and not to impose an identity or an adjective onto someone who appears to meet a certain “definition.” This is sometimes difficult, especially when reporting news, but every attempt should be made.

Sex: refers to a person’s physical body, such as genitalia and secondary sex characteristics, and physical makeup, such as chromosomes. Because a person’s body is usually consistent with a person’s gender identity and chromosomal makeup, some people say that a person is “born male” or “born female” (terms that I generally use). Because a person’s body is not always consistent with a person’s gender identity, and because there can be variations in genitalia and chromosomal makeup, some people say that a person is “assigned male at birth” or “assigned female at birth.” This is accurate, because sometimes that assignation is incorrect.

Gender: refers to various aspects of a person and contains both biological and social components. While some people consider gender to be strictly a social construct, I maintain that there is a biological component, because if there were not, all people could be socialized into or “taught” the gender that matches the physical body. Gender involves gender identity, or how a person sees him- or herself; gender expression or presentation, which includes behaviors, mannerisms, appearance, clothing, and outward presentation; and gender expectations, which includes gender roles designated by a person’s culture.

Transgender: Transgender is an adjective, not a noun. Someone can be a transgender person, but no one is “a transgender.” While some people use the term “transgendered,” and I have done so in the past and actually prefer it, I use the term “transgender” now because it is broadly accepted, and many people find the term “transgendered” offensive (I am not one of them). There are many variations on this particular term. Here are several:

1. Refers to a person whose gender identity and physical body (sex) are not in alignment or do not agree, either all or part of the time. This is a narrow definition that I prefer, but many people prefer a broader definition.

2. Refers to a person who transgresses the gender norms of Western culture’s binary gender system (two-gender system), either all or part of the time and either intentionally or unintentionally. While everyone transgresses gender norms at some time or other, this definition generally encompasses those people who are viewed negatively or who are discriminated against because of their gender identity or gender presentation.

3. Encompasses both definitions above and also includes transsexual people, or those who have made changes to their physical body to bring the body into alignment with the gender identity.

Transsexual: Transsexual is generally used as an adjective (transsexual person), although some people, including myself, use it as a noun (a transsexual). It is probably best used as an adjective, although I slip up sometimes, because I identify as a transsexual and sometimes call myself “a transsexual” instead of a transsexual person. Definitions of this term also vary. Here are some:

1. Refers to a person who has made changes to the body through hormones and/or surgery to bring the body into alignment with the gender identity, or a person who lives full-time in the gender that matches his or her gender identity without hormones and/or surgery.

2. Refers to a person who is born with a medical condition that causes incongruity between the gender identity and the physical body. Using this definition, a person is born transsexual.

In either of the two definitions above, there are some people who consider themselves to be transsexual even after bringing the body into alignment with the gender identity through hormones and/or surgery (transition). There are other people who do not consider themselves to be transsexual after transition, but are men or women after the corrections are made.

It should be noted that there are some people who consider themselves to be both transgender and transsexual, and there are some who separate these two concepts completely and do not see them as related.

Trans man or transman: refers to a person who was born female (or assigned female at birth) and identifies as or has transitioned to male. Other terms include FTM (female-to-male), trans masculine or transmasculine person, transsexual man, transgender man, and man.

Trans woman or transwoman: refers to a person who was born male (or assigned male at birth) and identifies as or has transitioned to female. Other terms include MTF (male-to-female), transsexual woman, transgender woman, and woman.

Transition: refers to a process that includes changing or correcting the body or physical sex to match the gender identity through hormones and/or surgery, name change, legal paperwork changes, social adjustment, and other changes and adjustments necessary to live in the gender that matches the identity.

Trans: short for transgender, transsexual, or both. Because of variations in the definitions of transgender and transsexual, it is sometimes easier and more appropriate to use “trans” as a general term.


Non-trans: refers to a person whose gender identity and physical body (sex) are congruent or have matched since birth. Many people prefer the term cisgender or cissexual (“cis” meaning “on the same side as”). I prefer the term non-trans, and at this point, that is the term I use.

These are just a handful of definitions. There are many more. If a person you are talking to uses a word that you don’t understand, it is okay to ask that person to define the word for you. Even if a person uses a word that you are familiar with, he or she might mean something different from what you have seen here or have been told by someone else. It’s okay to say, “I know what that word means to me. What does it mean to you?” That way, you are not making assumptions about someone else’s identity or language.

This post originally appeared on Matt Kailey's award-winning website Tranifesto.com. Republished with permission.  
 

Are You Gay With Something To Say? Bloggers Wanted For Denver's Best Gay Blog!

Are you a new or experienced writer or blogger? Do you want to be? Or maybe you're just some gay guy with something to say? Well, what better forum for you than MileHighGayGuy?

MileHighGayGuy is looking for regular and guest bloggers to write about local news and events, do music and movie reviews, or write opinion or feature pieces from a gay perspective.

These are unpaid positions but offer the opportunity to be published in Colorado's Best Gay Blog (2010, 2011, 2012 OUTstanding Awards, Denver 2012 #WebAwards), expand your audience and gain valuable experience. There's also swag available in the form of free movie and concert tickets, music, books and other cool stuff.

If interested, shoot an email over to Drew Wilson at drew@milehighgayguy.com. And if you've got column or story ideas to pitch, this is the place to do it.

Good Chemistry – Denver’s Gay-Friendly Dispensary

Good Chemistry, Denver’s gay-friendly dispensary, is guided by four core principles:

SCIENCE – Good Chemistry believes that Cannabis has significant therapeutic benefits and work to support and expand its study.

ACCESS - Good Chemistry believes that many barriers exist which fundamentally restrict access to safe reliable medical grade cannabis and search for meaningful ways to remove them.

DIGNITY - Good Chemistry believes in the fundamental and inalienable right of a person to choose their medical treatment. Recognizing that often patients who take cannabis are subjected to unfair treatment under the law, Good Chemistry is committed to defending and protecting the rights of their patients.

COMPASSION - Good Chemistry recognizes that medical cannabis is a potent and effective medicine for many patients who cannot afford it and is dedicated to providing for those in need.

Pope meets with LGBT inmates in Italy

Pope Francis traveled to a prison in Naples, Italy, this past weekend and met with 10 LGBT inmates. 

"This is another example that Pope Francis does not consider sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status as something that should prevent him from engaging them in dialogue and conversation," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry.