Friday, July 3, 2015
Gay Guys and The Friend Zone
YouTube's Raymond Braun recently sat down with gay psychotherapist, Matthew Dempsey, to discuss friendships between gay men and how to navigate “the friend zone”. Raymond and Matthew cover the relationships that exist between gay men and how to distinguish between these levels of friendship and intimacy.
Op-Ed: July 4: Jesse Helms Freedom Day
On the day GOP Senator Jesse Helms died, July 4, 2008, America celebrated with fireworks. As a longtime target of the senator’s hate tactics, I bought drinks for friends in San Francisco’s Castro.
My hate mail from Helms’s followers has diminished some over the years. After more than 20 years, the anonymous letters and “No Caller ID” calls still annoy me on my July 19 anniversary with Jesse Helms.
It was on that date in 1994 the North Carolina senator tried to fire me for “promoting the gay agenda” as a diplomat in the federal government. It was an action, recorded in the Congressional Record and on CSPAN, that depressed me, caused me to become suicidal, and sent me to the Dirksen Building with a long metal letter opener intending to stab Helms in the throat.
Fortunately, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t attack Helms. I feared prison. I was imprisoned anyway with depression and the painful memories of the workplace tensions over being targeted by Helms.
“Forget you ever knew me,” one colleague told me. I forgot the chap alright. When he called to apologize a few years later, I could not recall his name and refused the favor he wanted of me.
In addition to fireworks, there was a torrent of terrible tributes to Jesse Helms upon his death of dementia. Here are a few of them:
Then-President George W. Bush said he and wife Laura were “deeply saddened by the passing of our good friend and a great American: Senator Jesse Helms.”
The Wall Street Journal called Helms “a hero of the Cold War.” The paper also said Helms “was no racist.” With so much YouTube and print evidence of racial insensitivity, this statement is laughable. The paper credited Jesse’s rise to power as “a reaction to the collapse of liberal governance.”
John Fund, writing in the Wall Street Journal, said Jesse Helms’s “career provides a blueprint for anyone who represents an embattled minority viewpoint.” Consciously or subconsciously, the LGBT community, especially those with Pink Mob mentality, may be emulating the divisive and offensive tactics Helms so proudly used to force his “old time backwoods values” on the nation.
The Washington Post published an editorial of a different tone, “Jesse Helms, White Racist.”
WRAL, the Raleigh TV station, on July 5, 2008, said, “Throughout his long public career, Senator Jesse Helms was a tireless advocate for the people of North Carolina, a stalwart defender of limited government and free enterprise, a fearless defender of a culture of life, and an unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty.”
WRAL continued, “Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called ‘the Miracle of America’. So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July.”
Helms, who I first met in 1976 in Kansas City at the GOP National Convention, was not “kind, decent, humble, or compassionate.” He was a bigot.
Raleigh resident Patsy Clarke wrote Helms a letter in June 1995 after he implied people who died of AIDS deserved what they got. She asked him not to pass judgment on people as her gay son died of AIDS in 1994 at 31.
In his response, Helms told Clarke he didn’t judge homosexuality, “the Bible did.” He callously told Clarke her son “played Russian roulette with his sexuality.”
Helms enjoyed his nickname “Senator No” because he never saw a federal program he liked – except the deadly tobacco program he wholeheartedly supported to enrich for his state’s tobacco farmers at a huge toll to human suffering in the U.S. and around the world.
Smoking is a huge problem in the LGBT community as I have witnessed from attending smoking cessation programs at LGBT community centers and churches around the country. Consider this: Jesse Helms would want you to smoke so you could develop a smoking related illness and shorten your life.
On July 4, 2015, Jesse Helms Freedom Day, the LGBT community is free from the heavy burden of bigotry Helms so proudly threw at us for decades. Free yourself this year from the burden of smoking and help end the rich tobacco economy in North Carolina that Jesse supported while he denied funds to fight AIDS and legislatively delayed marriage equality and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.
By doing this the LGBT community of 2015 can hasten the end of the Helms legacy and the one federal program he strongly valued, the tobacco program, and for which he was always “Senator Yes.”
Human Rights Advocate Jim Patterson is a writer, speaker, and lifelong diplomat for dignity for all people. In a remarkable life spanning the civil rights movement to today’s human rights struggles, he stands as a voice for the voiceless. A prolific writer, he documents history’s wrongs and the struggle for dignity to provide a roadmap to a more humane future. Learn more at www.HumanRightsIssues.com.
Colorado Court of Appeals to Hear Arguments in Case of Gay Couple Discriminated Against By Bakery
David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2012, with Craig’s mother, to order a wedding cake. Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts and then celebrate with family and friends back home in Colorado. Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips informed the couple that, because of his religious beliefs, it was his standard business practice to refuse to provide cakes to customers for same-sex weddings. Mr. Phillips has turned away several other couples for the same reason.
Colorado state law prohibits businesses from refusing service based on factors such as race, sex, age or sexual orientation. In 2013, an administrative law judge ruled that the bakery had illegally discriminated against the couple. In 2014, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission affirmed that ruling.
Reach Denver's Gay Community. Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog - MileHighGayGuy
Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
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.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
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.
U.S. "marriage penalty" affects low-income, disabled LGBT people
"Even before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of nationwide marriage equality, I kept getting stuck on one fact: Even if Jessica and I can legally marry, we really don't have the option to. That is, we don't have the option unless we want to risk losing the disability benefits that sustain our survival," Davis writes.
"I wish Larry had lived to see Friday"
"Larry lived a kind of amplified erasure: black and non-heteronormative. And, he lived it as boldly as he could at a time when it was dangerous to do so and in a place where there was little support or protection," Blow writes.
Groundbreaking television coverage of LGBT milestones now online
The videos — and a wealth of other resources —are now publicly accessible online as part of a new lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving-image research area featuring episodes of the Emmy-nominated LGBT public television series “In the Life.”
In addition to episodes from the TV program, the portal also features other contextualizing material, including a commissioned essay, “The Time of Our Lives: In the Life – America’s LGBT News Magazine,” by Stephen Tropiano, Ithaca College; an oral history with seminal indie filmmaker Pat Rocco; a lecture by LGBT scholar Lillian Faderman; and a list of LGBT media, history and advocacy resources.
The portal’s launch, which is part of the Film and Television Archive’s 50th anniversary celebration, builds on its previous efforts with the nonprofit Outfest through the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. The Legacy Project, founded in 2005, works to preserve both the history and the future of LGBT moving-image materials by convening symposia, educating filmmakers about proper stewardship of their work, restoring materials that are at risk and encouraging the use of collection materials — which now number more than 35,000 titles.
“Preserving and providing public access to LGBT media materials is important not only for scholars, researchers, filmmakers and historians worldwide but also for the broader society,” said Jan-Christopher Horak, director of UCLA Film and Television Archive. “This new initiative with ‘In the Life’ builds on the archive's longstanding commitment to underrepresented communities, including the LGBT community.”
Created by John Scagliotti in 1992, “In the Life” began as a variety-type show, but quickly evolved into a newsmagazine format, becoming an award-winning and respected source for LGBT journalism at a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were often invisible in media. Produced by In The Life Media, the series was the first — and remains the only — LGBT newsmagazine broadcast on public TV. “In the Life” ran in more than 200 markets around the country; its final episode aired in December 2012.
The archive has 15 seasons of the show available online now. All 21 seasons — along with outtakes, interviews and other significant video content —will be available this fall.
The “In the Life” online initiative was funded by the Estate of Ric Weiland (managed by the Pride Foundation), the Arcus Foundation and Henry van Ameringen. Weiland was a noted computer software pioneer and dedicated philanthropist. He was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corporation and left the significant majority of his estate to support LGBT organizations across the nation and globe. The Arcus Foundation, founded in 2000 by Jon Stryker, is a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues.
“I am immeasurably proud of the critical role ‘In the Life’ played in the LGBT movement,” said van Ameringen, a board member of In The Life Media and a philanthropist whose main interests lie in the LGBT community and in mental illness and mental health. “We're committed to preserving this invaluable resource and maximizing access to it with an online presence that will continue to advance equality in new and innovative ways.”
Outfest executive director Kirsten Schaffer said, “‘In the Life’ provided an invaluable voice for the LGBT community for over two decades, and we are thrilled that its legacy lives on.”
Jayne Baron Sherman, a board member of In the Life Media, said, “This living legacy of ‘In the Life’ provides generations with documentation and history that exists nowhere else and helps chronicle and explain the LGBT movement over the past 20-plus years.”
4th of July: Mile High City Welcomes Zac Brown Band, the Musical “Wicked,” Cherry Creek Arts Festival and Independence Eve Celebrations Among Others
And
of course, no Fourth of July is complete without fireworks. In Denver,
that means not one, but two evenings of color-filled skies, as the
traditional Independence Eve Celebration continues
on July 3 at Civic Center Park with a free concert, light show and
fireworks display.
See more after the jump.
Federal Court Confirms That All Alabama Counties Must Stop Enforcing Unconstitutional Marriage Ban
U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade today issued an order confirming
that her injunction directing all Alabama probate judges to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples is now in effect and requires
immediate compliance. A violation of Judge Granade’s order could result
in a county probate judge being held liable for contempt of court,
attorneys’ fees, financial penalties, and any other remedies the court
deems proper.
In today’s order, Judge Granade stated: “by the language set forth in the order, the preliminary injunction is now in effect and binding on all members of the Defendant Class.” In that May 21 preliminary-injunction order, Judge Granade directed all Alabama probate judges to stop enforcing the state’s marriage ban – effective immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling affirming marriage equality. The Supreme Court issued its decision last Friday, so the injunction prohibiting enforcement of the ban went into effect that day.
Although most of Alabama’s county probate judges are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a minority are not. So the civil rights groups representing the plaintiffs in the federal class-action lawsuit asked Judge Granade to confirm that her order is now in effect. She immediately granted the request, issuing today’s order that all probate judges must issue licenses to same-sex couples under the same terms and conditions that they are issued to opposite-sex couples.
The four organizations representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit are the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The lawsuit—Strawser v. Strange—was brought by five same-sex couples. It initially resulted in an order from Judge Granade requiring the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Mobile County. The order was expanded in Granade’s May 21 order to cover all Alabama counties.
Read the order.
In today’s order, Judge Granade stated: “by the language set forth in the order, the preliminary injunction is now in effect and binding on all members of the Defendant Class.” In that May 21 preliminary-injunction order, Judge Granade directed all Alabama probate judges to stop enforcing the state’s marriage ban – effective immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling affirming marriage equality. The Supreme Court issued its decision last Friday, so the injunction prohibiting enforcement of the ban went into effect that day.
Although most of Alabama’s county probate judges are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a minority are not. So the civil rights groups representing the plaintiffs in the federal class-action lawsuit asked Judge Granade to confirm that her order is now in effect. She immediately granted the request, issuing today’s order that all probate judges must issue licenses to same-sex couples under the same terms and conditions that they are issued to opposite-sex couples.
The four organizations representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit are the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The lawsuit—Strawser v. Strange—was brought by five same-sex couples. It initially resulted in an order from Judge Granade requiring the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Mobile County. The order was expanded in Granade’s May 21 order to cover all Alabama counties.
Read the order.
HIV & PrEP: Denver Brings It Up
Since talking about HIV in the heat of the moment can be a buzz kill, why not bring it up before you get it up? By bringing it up, everyone wins.
Reach Denver's Gay Community. Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog - MileHighGayGuy
Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Fate of domestic partner benefits unclear after marriage equality judgment
ICE: Transgender women to be housed in facilities for women
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)