Kara Kratcha talks "Asexuality" in latest edition of PBS Digital Studios series "First Person"

In "Asexu ality," the latest edition of PBS Digital Studios series First Person, host Kristin Russo speaks to Kate Kratcha, a student of English literature and writer who identifies as grey ace (asexual) and genderqueer.

After Australian Prime Minister Abbott Denies Parliament Conscience Vote, HRC Asks: What Are You Afraid Of?

Yesterday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, joins with Australian Marriage Equality in expressing disappointment and anger at Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s latest political stunt: overriding the nearly three-quarters of Australians who believe in marriage equality by denying Members of Parliament the right to vote according to their own conscience on national marriage equality legislation. Prime Minister Abbott met with members of the governing coalition who determined that party members will be forced to vote according to party lines, even if they wish to support marriage equality legislation. Though Prime Minister Tony Abbott remains a staunch opponent of marriage equality, members of his own party support the proposal and were expected to cross party lines if a conscience vote had been allowed.

“Political machinations and loopholes will not prevent the arc of justice from bending towards equality,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global. “While today the global marriage movement faced a setback, the momentum for marriage equality continues to build across Australia and we are confident that ultimately, love will win. HRC will continue to stand alongside Australian Marriage Equality to ensure that loving, committed LGBT couples and their families across Australia have the same rights and protections as everyone else.”

HRC has worked closely with Australian Marriage Equality and other advocates on the ground as they fight to make Australia the next country to open its doors to same-sex marriage. In July, senior-level HRC staff traveled to Australia to meet with activists and advocates, sharing their own experiences and lending their support and advice.

"Clearly, opponents of marriage equality in the Coalition know they don't have the numbers on the floor of the House, or they wouldn't be so scared of a free vote," said Australian Marriage Equality National Director Rodney Croome. "You can't stop love, and if this Parliament fails to achieve marriage equality, we will make sure the next one will."

On Sunday, Australian Marriage Equality launched a robust and innovative campaign to win the fight for marriage equality, using social media, television ads, and other elements to share a message of love and support for same-sex couples. As legislators returned to Canberra, the capital of Australia, they were welcomed with a clear message at the airport: a terminal lit up in rainbow colors and a huge sign broadcasting “#WeCanDoThis.”

The situation for LGBT people around the world varies widely. As some countries embrace equality, in others, LGBT people continue to suffer from discrimination, persecution, and violence.
19 countries now have marriage equality.
In 10 countries worldwide, same-sex activity is punishable by death, and 75 countries criminalize same-sex relationships. And, hundreds of transgender individuals have been brutally murdered in the last year.
In a growing number of countries, governments have sought to silence equality advocates and organizations with so-called “anti-propaganda” laws and legislation.

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.

Denver Limo – The Hottest Limousines in Denver!

Denver Limousine offers the hottest stretch limousines in Denver Colorado! Whatever the occasion, Denver Limousine’s team of professional drivers and top-of-the-line fleet of vehicles is waiting to serve you.

Hank & Cupcakes - Shut Up

Hank & Cupcakes reveal their new video for “Shut Up." The video was shot in the shower of their hotel room in Tulsa OK while on tour. This is yet another video in the string of videos shot & directed by Hank & Cupcakes themselves (see others here: Cocaina, Relax, Bat Your Eyelids). The video showcases the band's creativity and ingenuity using just one camera and...themselves.

NCLR Launches Campaign to Reform State Parenting Laws

Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) launched its #Equality4Families campaign to raise awareness about the need to reform state laws so that they fully protect LGBT parents’ rights to care for their children.

The campaign launch comes on the heels of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court freedom to marry victory, which brings tremendous progress to the LGBT movement, but does not fully protect all LGBT families, specially parents and their children.

In nearly every state across the country, LGBT parents will continue to face obstacles in caring for their children because state laws have not caught up to the needs of the LGBT community’s diverse families. Many families are left vulnerable: parents can lose parental rights as they travel across state lines, may be unable to seek custody of their own children, or may not be afforded the same parental recognition as non-LGBT parents.

“No child should ever lose a parent just because the law refuses to recognize them as a family,” said NCLR Family Law Director Cathy Sakimura. “For as long as it takes we will be here, working to bring dignity and full recognition to LGBT parents and their children in every state.”

#Equality4Families is being launched to help couples like Julianne and Amy Le Baron, a married couple from Utah, had their children through assisted reproductive technology. They spent thousands of dollars establishing a trust and other documents to protect their children, and on the adoption process for all their kids. Although they are married, without an adoption, their parental relationships may not be respected in every state.

“All we want is for our family to be protected in case something were to happen to one of us. The legal hoops that Amy and I have gone through are not only anxiety-causing, they are extremely expensive,” said Julianne Le Baron. “Even though there is marriage equality across the country, we still had to adopt our own children to make sure we are recognized as a family everywhere. The fact that the laws don’t fully respect our family makes us feel like our family isn’t as worthy as others.”

#Equality4Families will educate families about the steps they may still need to take to protect their families and continue our work bringing cases and passing legislation to protect all LGBT families, no matter how they are formed.

NCLR has been at the forefront of family laws since its start in 1977 and has worked to protect our families and relationships one state at a time. NCLR has made key civil rights advances for many families, and we remain committed to advocating for families until every family is fully protected.

Parenting Law Facts:

Didn’t the U.S. Supreme Court marriage decision automatically protect all families?
Unfortunately not. The Supreme Court decision does a lot to protect LGBT families, but there are still many state laws that need to be updated before all LGBT parents—whether they are married or not – will be recognized by the law.

Why doesn’t gaining the freedom to marry protect LGBT parents?
Getting married doesn’t necessarily make you a parent to your children under the law. For example, in most states, you have to be married when your children are born to get any parenting protections. Parents who married after their children were born usually have to adopt to protect their rights. Even parents who were married when their children were born may not be fully protected in every state if they are not biological parents. And unmarried non-biological parents remain unprotected in many states unless they adopt.

Why does every state have different laws about families and parenting?
Every state is allowed to make its own family laws. This means that LGBT parents may be legally-recognized in one state, but not in another.

Read more facts and learn more about the campaign.

HIV & PrEP: Denver Brings It Up

Let's talk. No, let's really talk. About HIV. While we have come far, gay and bisexual men continue to bear the greatest burden of this disease in Colorado. Nearly four of out of every five individuals newly diagnosed with HIV identifies as a gay or bisexual man. We still have more work to do to get that number to zero. Let's work together to change the future of HIV/AIDS by talking about testing, PrEP and staying in care.

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.

Denver Drag Documentary Desires Donations

The Heels Have Eyes - Kickstarter Campaign from XSEED Design and Production on Vimeo.

At the Denver County Fair I was reminded by one of my fellow judges of the Miss Denver County Fair Pageant that his documentary 'The Heels Have Eyes: A Denver Dragumentary' only had until August 26 to be fully funded on Kickstarter.

Here's what Keith Garcia has to say about the project on his Kickstarter page, "What else would you name an exciting, colorful and intimate new documentary about the fantastic drag performance community here in Denver, Colorado? Seven years ago, on a cold November night, I wandered into a local gay bar and experienced something that would change my life forever. I saw a performance by an exciting drag artist named Nina Flowers who changed my perception of what it meant to be a drag performer. Her looks, her talent and her charisma lit up the stage and opened my eyes. Nina wasn’t alone that night, a very talented cast worked beside her, matching her passion and creativity and I fell in love with all of them and the concept of drag as an art form. Shortly after this chance encounter Nina appeared on the first season of a little television show called RuPaul’s Drag Race and the drag world as we knew it in Denver changed forever. Feeling some vibrations I picked up a camera then and did my best to start documenting the scene. Now this town is an epicenter of talent with a huge population of performers rooted in a storied history, a fresh set of heels in the present, or shooting their double eyelashed sights on the future of drag performance in this town."

Sam Smith Red Rocks Photobomb

Cute story about Sam Smith's cute little prank the other day when he was in town for his Red Rocks concert. He's got the voice of an angel but frankly, I wouldn't recognize him out on the street either.

Whatever Happened To ... Rev. Michael Abromovich

Remember Rev. Michael Abromovich, the Colorado Springs pastor who was accused last year of soliciting gay men on Craigslist and then robbing them? He just popped into my head for no good reason and now I can't seem to find any updates on the case. Weird.

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.

IBM, Oracle, Orbitz, and Symantec Join Other Corporate Giants in Announcing Support for Comprehensive Federal LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation

Four new major American companies have become the latest to endorse the Equality Act, federal legislation that would establish full, federal equality for all LGBT Americans. In doing so, these leading companies - IBM, Oracle, Orbitz, and Symantec - made clear that they believe all LGBT Americans should have the protections from discrimination in federal law that they deserve.

They join American Airlines, Apple, The Dow Chemical Company, Facebook, General Mills, Google, Levi Strauss & Co., Microsoft, and Nike as part of a national business coalition supporting comprehensive, federal LGBT non-discrimination protections.

Additionally, Hewlett-Packard in Fortune recently announced its support for the Equality Act.

STATEMENT BY IBM: “IBM’s workplace culture is built on the principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all. We established a corporate policy on equal opportunity more than a decade before the Civil Rights Act. We championed an industry-leading policy of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation over 30 years ago, and expanded it in 2002 to cover gender identity and expression. IBM is proud to support the Equality Act and maintains our steadfast support for all employees to experience equality in the workplace."

STATEMENT BY ORBITZ: “At Orbitz we’ve been advocates of equality and inclusion since our founding in 2001. Our support for the Equality Act is consistent with our other actions, such as signing the amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to find gay marriage bans unconstitutional.”

STATEMENT BY SYMANTEC: “At Symantec, we are proud to support full and equal rights for the LGBT community. We believe having a diversity of perspectives ensures we make better business decisions and the products and services we offer meet the needs of the broad spectrum of people we serve worldwide, which is why we couldn’t be more proud to support the expansion of legal protections. We unequivocally support the Equality Act – for the future of our business and society.”

All of these major companies scored a perfect 100 on HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a nationally-recognized benchmark of LGBT inclusion in the workplace, and were recognized on HRC’s list of Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality in 2015.

“Momentum for the Equality Act continues to grow as the American business community stands up for diversity, inclusion and equality -- principles critical to the success of any company,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “We are tremendously grateful to these corporate leaders for their support of the Equality Act and the basic principle that all Americans should be able to live their lives free of discrimination. A growing number of companies agree — equality is good for business and the time for full federal equality is now.”

Earlier this year, more than 120 prominent leaders in the tech industry called on legislatures across the nation to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws, and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone.

Last week, Ted Olson and David Boies, the bipartisan legal team that represented the plaintiffs in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case that challenged California’s Proposition 8 and was ultimately heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, came out in support of a comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination law.

The results of a new Democracy Corps survey from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research released last week indicates that support for non-discrimination legislation unites the country. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of likely Republican voters support protecting LGBT people from workplace discrimination, as do 90 percent of Democrats. Similarly, this legislation draws impressive majorities of support among college (84 percent) and non-college voters (73 percent), younger (85 percent) and older voters (75 percent), as well as observant Christians (70 percent).

In March, polling conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) revealed that nearly two-thirds of LGBT Americans (63 percent) have faced discrimination in their lives, with LGBT people reporting workplace discrimination as the most frequently experienced form of discrimination.

Nice To See StevieB: The Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord

By StevieB

Last weekend the Roommate and I went to the Denver County Fair. Because it is August and that is what you do. Attend a County Fair. Although, it being an urbancentric fair it was different than the fairs I have attended in my past.

When I was a kid (I have no idea my age, maybe eightish) I entered the county fair in the only competition I possibly could have been qualified for. Although, in my defense if they had a shag carpet vacuuming contest or bathtowel-folding competition back in 1983, I would have smoked the other competitors. I would have received, no doubt, several blue ribbons. Because even at eight, I was a marksman when it came to resetting our 300 pound Kirby vacuum cleaner from low pile to high pile. I could swap out the brush bar for the crevice hose in 27 seconds flat. This personal talent, however, was lost on my Father. He also didn't seem impressed with how I could keep two bath towels, two hand towels, and two fingertip towels perfectly folded and constantly hanging on the bathroom towel rod used by seven children. My two major talents went unappreciated by my Mormon rancher Father.

Instead of having the first eight year old boy to have a grand sweep of all the "Good Housewife" ribbons he pushed me into "Rabbit Care." Think of the bragging rights my Father missed. "Well, my boy placed first in the Swag & Jabot sewing contest at last year's fair," he would brag over the General Tire service counter as he rung up a local city councilman. Instead, he had to settle on explaining how his son was the one kid that didn't get a ribbon, due to letting his rabbit loose in the middle of the 4-H judging contest. Bunnies were cute and all, but nothing compared to my innate talent of cutting down corduroy pants to make kicky summer shorts. A self-taught prodigy. I bet to this day, I could pull and replace the dust bag out of a Kirby Sentria without letting a single dust-bunny loose.

I thought of this as I wandered around the Denver County Fair. Hoping against all odds there would be a just one Good Housekeeping competition. Just a side stage somewhere that was one contestant short. I guess it is for the best. Attempting to re-live your past just is not healthy. Instead, I went to taunt the Rainbow Vacuums salesperson.

This post originally appeared on Steven Bennet's website Nice to See StevieB. Republished with permission.

Green Party of Colorado Announces Annual Meeting for End of Month

The Annual Meeting of the Green Party of Colorado is coming at the end of this month. On August 29, representatives from across the state will convene on the Corky Gonzales Library in Denver.

The Feline Fix, Colorado's Leading Spay/Neuter Source for Community Cats

Divine Feline is Colorado’s leading spay/neuter source for free roaming (“community”) cats and a significant provider of spay/neuter services for pet cats, all through their in-house clinic, The Feline Fix. 

To date The Feline Fix has performed more than 27,000 spay/neuter surgeries, preventing the births of hundreds of thousands of unwanted cats in Denver and surrounding communities. 

For more information about the clinic, or to request a reservation for your tame, stray or feral cats, please click here. 

Divine Feline is a Colorado nonprofit corporation and a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All contributions are tax deductible. To make a donation please click here.