Breck Closes out Ski Season this Weekend with Free Food, Concerts and Spring Fever Fun!

The biggest spring party in the Rocky Mountains will close out the season at Breckenridge Ski Resort this weekend with the finale of the Bud Light Concert Series, featuring American Authors on Saturday and Colorado’s own Infamous Stringdusters on Sunday, closing day.

With snow in the forecast and more than 2500 acres of skiable terrain still open across all five peaks, this will be a closing weekend to remember! Learn more about closing weekend, including details on Friday’s Park Jam and FREE Luau at BreckSpringFever.com

The Bud Light Concert Series features FREE concerts on a specially-constructed stage at the base of Peak 8. DJ DC will start at 1 p.m. with bands following at 3 p.m. on each concert date. No dogs other than accredited service dogs will be allowed at the base of Peak 8 during the concerts.

Breck Spring Fever’s closing weekend line up is as follows:

Friday, April 17
Ski Hill Grill Closing Weekend Luau, 11 a.m. until food is gone! Celebrate the end of an amazing season with Breck’s closing weekend Luau on Friday, April 17 at the Ski Hill Grill. The guest of honor, a roasted pig, should be ready by 11:00 a.m. and is FREE to all guests until gone! The Luau will be located on the Ski Hill Grill near the BBQ area.

Spring Fever Park Jam in Freeway and Park Lane, Noon to 3p.m. Breck Parks will host its last rail jam of the season in Freeway and Park Lane terrain parks. Come check out the competition and listen to some great tunes courtesy of DJ DC. The grill will be going with free hot dogs. No sign-up is required, so anyone can compete! Prizes for winners include a $100 American Express gift card and a 2015-16 Epic Local Pass.

Saturday, April 18
American Authors in Concert - Self-described "laid-back dudes," American Authors is comprised of Zac Barnett (vocals), James Adam Shelley (guitar/banjo), Dave Rublin (bass), and Matt Sanchez (drums). Together they hail from the four corners of the country, each bringing their own influences and experiences to the writing table to create pop-flavored alt rock sprinkled with four-part harmonies, spirited lyrics, and contagious optimism. DJ DC will start the entertainment at 1 p.m. with band following at 3 p.m.

Sunday, April 19
The Infamous Stringdusters - The Infamous Stringdusters have proven they can both mine the past and look forward to the unknown, and their new album is a touchstone for a group of tightly bonded musicians completely comfortable with each other and their collective identity. Perhaps the sentiment is best summarized through five joined voices in the mountaintop gospel-hued title track: “If its worry you’ve been feeling over things you can’t control, it’s time to let it go.” DJ DC will start the entertainment at 1 p.m. with band following at 3 p.m.

Me and My Two Dads

By Tevin Johnson-Campion for ACLU Action
 
Many don’t realize that marriage bans affect kids and families – not just same-sex couples.

My two dads taught me everything I know about love and family. And now we’re ready to show the rest of America what it means.

Next week, my family will drive from Kentucky to Washington D.C. to go before the Supreme Court. Together we’re fighting to get them to recognize my parents as a married couple.

This monumental trip is not just for our family, but so that couples in all 50 states can get married and have their existing marriages acknowledged and respected too.

For over 20 years, my parents have built their lives together and raised me, my two brothers, and my sister.

Back in 2008, they got married in Palm Springs. Although their marriage is recognized in California, it is not recognized in Kentucky, where we live.

The first time I realized we were being treated differently was when I was six years old. We tried to sign up for a family membership at the YMCA and were turned away. So we took action.

I remember handing out flyers about getting turned away at the YMCA and getting rude comments. As a child, it really confused me. I had never seen that kind of intolerance.

Our love is what makes us a family. Don’t we deserve the same treatment and rights?

The fact that my parents are forced to pay for different health insurance, dental insurance, car insurance, and other things costs us thousands more than other families. But it’s not just about the money.

Whenever I got sick as a kid, only one of my dads could come with me to the doctor because they can’t both be my legal guardians. Things got really stressful whenever he couldn’t take off work to take care of me.

When I was nine years old, we went to our state capitol in Frankfurt, Kentucky, to rally for marriage for all. I was shocked to see so many people rallying against me and my family.

I’m nervous about what will happen next week. This could be life-changing for us, or heartbreaking. Either way, our journey to D.C. will be eye opening for us – different from anything we’ve done together.

I’m mostly just hoping for the best.

Please support my family by signing this pledge. Let America know that we are just as important as any other family, that we deserve to be treated like everyone else, and that we matter.

HRC Sends New Case Study to 12 State Legislatures: “Don’t Repeat the Mistakes of Indiana”

Today, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, sent a new case study to state lawmakers across the country urging them to reject anti-LGBT bills like the religious refusal bill in Indiana that would put LGBT people at risk for discrimination. The case study comes after the Indianapolis Star reported this week that the state “plans to spend millions to repair [its] image after RFRA.”

The document will be sent to state leaders in 12 states: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. It will also be sent to early 2016 states: Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

“The lesson from Indiana is clear. Voters are rejecting lawmakers who are willing to put their state economy at risk in an attempt to further discrimination,” said Fred Sainz, HRC’s Vice President of Communications. “Elected officials, and governors specifically, who continue to experiment with these anti-LGBT bills that allow businesses to discriminate are going to find out that a $2 million PR campaign only scratches the surface when it comes to the cost taxpayers will have to bear for bills that enable discrimination.”

View the full case study HERE. The document showcases a new poll of Hoosiers by the Human Rights Campaign. That poll showed that a stunning 75 percent of Hoosiers report that Gov. Mike Pence’s push for the “religious refusal” bill has damaged Indiana’s business climate. It also showed that, when asked, “Do you think businesses should or should not be allowed to refuse service to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” voters said businesses should not discriminate by an overwhelming margin of 70 to 24. A majority of Republican voters (58 to 36) said that businesses should not be allowed to discriminate.

The case study shows how the political environment has deteriorated significantly for Gov. Pence. More Hoosiers now think the state is on the “wrong track” than “right track,” – his personal approval ratings have plummeted – and he’s now tied with a potential democratic challenger, in a state that President Obama lost by 10 points in 2012. 53 percent of likely voters said the debate left them with a less favorable opinion of Pence.

The Gay Vegans: Letting the Ugliness Go

By Dan Hanley
  
A few weeks ago some of my friends went to hear Janet Mock speak in southern California. I had never heard of her but instantly became interested as my friends wrote about being changed by meeting her. Janet is a trans woman and I am reading her book "Redefining Realness".

A quote on the cover says "You will be changed by the book".

Indeed.

I am only in the first few pages. As she discusses seeing trans women out and about (before she came out as trans) she writes "They were dismissed and dehumanized, which made an overwhelming majority of them vulnerable to the harshest treatment, exclusion, discrimination, and violence."

She is writing about trans women but those lines hit me hard.

The man I am today is not the man I have always been. While reading this I was jolted back to the days when my life was what Janet was writing about. Not as a trans woman but as a closeted gay man struggling to come out.

Experiencing unkindness and serious hatred from those in my inner circle and even family members. Not knowing how someone would react, especially when thinking that all would be OK because this person or that person loves me so much.

At 21 being in the middle of the ocean on a US Navy ship and being called faggot, with nowhere to go. The idea that people would be violent towards me was one that took me a long time to get used to. I just could not understand it. At first.

Of course the self-imposed hate and shame are the worst. Yet as I struggled through coming out, I kept being in awe about how hateful human beings could be. And at this point of my story it wasn't the hate and unkindness from strangers, but from people who knew me.

As I kept reading the words that Janet so perfectly wrote, my eyes filled with tears remembering the unkindness. Wanting so badly for my family members to just love me, regardless of what they felt about gayness. Wanting friends in the Navy who knew me so well, knew me as a good person and a good sailor, to take back the hateful words.

It took a long time to let the ugliness go.

As a gay, vegan blogger I get to experience the ugliness of hate and unkindness a lot. These days it doesn't bother me. Those who perpetuate hate and violence and unkindness towards anyone are small people, cowards actually. They are most likely dealing with their own demons. And their pathetic use of anti-gay slurs or threatened violence are sad attempts to break out of whatever crap is going on in their own lives. Don't get me wrong, I call anyone on their bullshit bigotry, but them being a bigot has much less affect on me than it did those many years ago as I was struggling.

(Except when they try to legalize their bigotry. That's a different story!)

Still reading "Redefining Realness". And today I say thank you, with a heart filled with love, gratitude, compassion and passion, to all of those who stood by me in those darkest of days and to all of those who have stood by me and loved me and been a part of my incredible journey ever since.

This post originally appeared on Dan Hanley's website The Gay Vegans. Republished with permission.

OUT on DVD/VOD: All Yours (Je Suis a Toi)

Breaking Glass Pictures will release the French LGBT comedy All Yours (Je Suis a Toi) on DVD and VOD May 26, 2015. From the director of Beyond the Walls, David Lambert, All Yours stars Nahuel Perez Biscayart (Grand Central), Jean-Michel Balthazar (L'enfant, Le gamin au velo), and Monia Chokri (Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways).

Lucas is a penniless young Argentine male escort who is struggling to survive in Buenos Aires. After meeting a lonely Belgian baker online, Lucas agrees to become his apprentice. He soon finds himself caught in a love triangle with the baker and his female employee.

"My second feature is a continuation of explorations of intimacy, love and
all its torments. This isn't so much a film about sexual prostitution - as it is about all kinds of prostitution. It charts the encounter between economic misery on one side and emotional misery on another (...) Beyond the specific world in which the events take place, our story is a universal one, touching us all - and I trust that it will, in its own way, touch you too..." says director David Lambert.

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.

Gay Help Wanted: Sales Reps for MileHighGayGuy

Award-winning MileHighGayGuy.com is seeking advertising sales reps. The position requires someone who is self-motivated, detail-oriented and who, preferably, is familiar with the GLBT community. This is a contract position and pay will be commission-based.

To apply, email resume to Drew Wilson at Drew@milehighgayguy.com.

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.

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!"

Resolution on anti-LGBT discrimination introduced by House Democrats

Rep. Jared Polis was one of the Democrats in the House of Representatives who, on Monday, introduced a resolution urging protections against LGBT discrimination. 

"When intolerance occurs anywhere, everyone has an obligation to take a stand, and Congress doesn't get a waiver on that," said Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. The lawmakers are expected to introduce a comprehensive civil rights bill this spring.

Same-sex couple featured in Clinton announcement video

ABC Breaking US News | US News Videos Same-sex couple Nathan Johnson and Jared Milrad were featured in Hillary Clinton's video announcing her 2016 presidential run on Sunday, becoming the first gay couple to appear in a major candidate's presidential campaign announcement video. The video shows Johnson and Milrad discussing their decision to marry.

"It was particularly moving to see Secretary Clinton feature a gay couple engaged to be legally married, the first of any major presidential candidate," Milrad said. "To us, this decision demonstrates Secretary Clinton's commitment to LGBT equality and the type of inclusive leader she would be as president."

Poll finds most Americans opposed to "religious freedom" legislation

A poll released Thursday found the majority of Americans believe businesses should not be allowed to refuse services based on their religious beliefs. The poll, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos in the aftermath of controversies around "religious freedom" legislation in Indiana and Arkansas, found that more than 50% disapprove of policies allowing businesses to deny services or refuse to hire people based on the employer's religious beliefs

Tax Day A Stark Reminder of Inequality for Many Legally Married Same-Sex Couples

Tomorrow’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deadline for filing taxes can be a stark reminder for thousands of legally married same-sex couples of the inequality they face if they happen to live in a state that doesn’t recognize their marriage. While they are able to file jointly at the federal level, tax day can be even more of a headache for these families because of the discrimination they face from their state.

“For many legally married, same-sex couples, tax day is an annual, official reminder that your home state believes your family just isn’t as good as your neighbors’,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Complying with the nonsensical regime of tax requirements caused by the lack of recognition of legal marriages by some states can be a frustrating, time consuming, and expensive undertaking.”

In 2014, 19 states began recognizing marriage equality for the first time. Couples living in these states, which include some of the reddest in the nation, will have the opportunity to create only one state tax return as a married couple. While this may sound mundane, for many married same-sex couples living in these states checking the “married” box is one thing – a relief.

Although the IRS issued a formal revenue ruling following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Windsor case recognizing all legally married same-sex couples for federal tax purposes, states without marriage equality can still discriminate against these couples on tax day. For married same-sex couples living in states that don’t recognize their marriages, this means filing one federal return as “married” and two individual state returns as “single.”

Some of these states rely on the federal return as a starting point for the state return, requiring same-sex couples to create individual “mock” federal returns as “single” before even starting their state returns. That means a married same-sex couple living in one of these non-recognition states will be forced to create five returns each year – one federal, two “mock” federals, and two state returns.

The Supreme Court has the opportunity to end this discrimination and grant same-sex couples and their families the security that only marriage can provide. Later this month the Court will hear oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, a combined set of cases challenging the rights of states to refuse to recognize legal same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

Play Mile High's LGBT Kickball & Flip Cup Fridays!

Get active and meet new people this spring with LGBT Kickball (and Flip Cup) with Play Mile High. Join them for their Friday night Kickball and Flip Cup league!

Click here to find out more or sign up as a team, small group or free agent. Use the code 'MHGG' to save $10 when you register.