Today the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, has filed a formal complaint and called for a full investigation into now-infamous Utah Judge Scott Johansen, who is reported to have ordered a child removed from the home of her married foster parents because they are a same-sex couple. If Johansen ordered the child be removed because of the couple’s sexual orientation, it would be a clear violation of the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct, which expressly forbids it. The complaint was filed with the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission. Read the full text of the letter here.
News reports emerged today that custody for the foster parents could remain in jeopardy. Judge Johansen has amended his order and allowed the child to remain with the parents until a new hearing on Dec. 4.
“Removing this child from a loving and permanent home based solely on the sexual orientation of its parents is not only discriminatory, but is also counter to the overwhelming evidence that children being raised by same-sex parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as those with different-sex parents,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “It is unconscionable that any judge would let bias interfere with determining the true best interest of a child and we strongly encourage the commission to take appropriate action to hold this Judge accountable and to affirm that personal bias has no place in judicial decisions in Utah.”
Judge Johansen has already been disciplined once by the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission for slapping a teenager in a meeting.
Media reports have noted that Judge Johansen did not offer any evidence to the state to support his ruling that same-sex couples offer lesser environments for children. In fact, national medical and psychological organizations have unequivocally affirmed that a parent’s sexual orientation has nothing to do with his or her ability to be a good parent. All major studies on the matter show that the sexual orientation of a parent is not related to a child’s mental health and social development.
LGBT couples continue to face serious obstacles to adopt children in the United States. Studies have also documented that LGBT adults are willing to adopt the very children most in need of homes and those who wait the longest in temporary foster care the longest – those who are older and who may have special needs – and do so at a higher rate than heterosexual adults.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Olive Or Twist: A Fundraising Party for Colorado's Community Cats
Funds raised at this event will support and enhance Divine Feline’s mission of promoting the health and welfare of all cats by providing quality and accessible spay/neuter services, as well as the Feline Fix program, Colorado’s first high quality, high-volume spay/neuter clinic for tame, stray, and feral cats.
Bitch, Please Returns for Third Season
Op/Ed: Christians Are Leaving Homophobia Behind - Will Journalists Keep Up?
The majority of Christians in America now believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society. But major media outlets routinely depict homophobia as just Christian or religious belief, giving a pass to some of the most extreme anti-LGBT activists and organizations in the country.
For years, media coverage of the fight for LGBT equality has followed a "God vs. gays" narrative that pits LGBT equality against religious -- and specifically Christian -- communities.
But according to recent poling data, 54 percent of all Christians now say that "homosexuality should be accepted by society." The data come from Pew's 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed more than 35,000 U.S. adults as a follow up to Pew's 2007 study. Now, the majority of major Christian groups, including Catholics, mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and historically black Protestants, believe homosexuality should be accepted by society:
Despite the shifting attitudes of Christians in America, major media outlets continue to accept right-wing framing that conflates homophobia with mainstream Christian or religious beliefs.
In fights over LGBT equality, hate groups with track records of disparaging and demonizing gay people are referred to as Christian organizations by mainstream media. This tendency was on full display during the recent controversy surrounding Kim Davis - the Kentucky clerk who refused to provide wedding licenses to same-sex couples. Media outlets described Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis in her legal battle, as a "Christian" organization with no mention of its hate group status or history of anti-LGBT extremism. Hate group leaders like Family Research Council's Tony Perkins are routinely given airtime to act as the voice of Christian voters.
That conflation is even worse in right-wing media, where even blatantly homophobic remarks are spun into testaments of Christian faith. When Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson compared homosexuality to bestiality, Fox News' Sean Hannity defended his "old-fashioned traditional Christian sentiment." When the Benham brothers, a pair of right wing activists, were criticized for their extreme anti-gay rhetoric, conservative radio host Dana Loesch lamented the "anti-Christian bigotry" at play.
The conflation goes beyond whitewashing bad actors -- it also legitimizes discrimination against LGBT people under the guise of "religious liberty." "Religious freedom" laws like the controversial Indiana law this past March are built around the right wing narrative that serving LGBT people violates Christians' religious beliefs. Anti-LGBT groups have used the media to popularize stories about Christian business owners who are fined for refusing service to gay customers, depicting them as Christian martyrs who've been victimized by non-discrimination laws.
There's no reasonable limit to the kind of animus that anti-LGBT conservatives can justify under the guise of Christian or religious belief. In October 2014, a pediatrician in Michigan cited her religious beliefs after she refused to work with the baby of a same-sex couple. A former Ford Motor employee filed a complaint with the EEOC claiming that his "religious liberty" was violated after he violated the company's anti-harassment policy with a hate-filled response to an article detailing Ford's efforts to be more LGBT-inclusive. A teacher who was fired from a private school for refusing to accept a transgender child appeared on Fox News recently, and Fox host Megyn Kelly said that the teacher's "Christian beliefs ... don't support this."
While it's not the role of the media to question the validity or sincerity of a person's religious beliefs, it is imperative that journalists not blindly follow that self-identification. In the fight against Indiana's "religious freedom" law, religious leaders were some of the most outspoken critics of the anti-LGBT legislation - yet in the media, these religious voices were often drowned out by those of anti-LGBT extremists. Anti-LGBT groups and activists may sincerely identify themselves as Christian, but it's irresponsible and misleading for the media to advertise their views without noting that they increasingly contradict dominant Christian beliefs in America.
Chelsea Manning Responds to US Government Move to Dismiss Lawsuit Seeking Health Care for Gender Dysphoria
Said Chelsea Manning:
"I believe that defining ourselves in our own terms and in our own languages is one of the most powerful and important rights that we have as human beings. Presenting myself in the gender that I am is about my right to exist. What the government is basically telling me is 'you cannot exist,' that 'you are wrong,' and that 'you do not exist.’ What they are doing is taking away our right to exist. I think this is the kind of situation that justifies all kinds of terrible things like ignorance, maltreatment, torture, murder, and genocide.
“Nobody knows your gender more than you do. No—one. You do not know my gender better than I do. A doctor doesn’t know it better than me. My parents don’t know it better than me. No one experiences my gender in the way that I experience it. Gender presentation should reflect the person that you are. When you lose control of your gender presentation you lose an important aspect of your identity and existence.”
Chelsea Manning's statement is on Medium, here: https://medium.com/@xychelsea/gender-dystopia-74b8b1323a59
Said Chase Strangio, Chelsea Manning’s lawyer in the ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Project:
“The government is attempting to complicate and diminish Chelsea’s core constitutional rights to be treated equally and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Chelsea’s demand is simple: that she be treated with her medically necessary treatment and like all other women in military custody. Her fight is central to the pursuit for justice for transgender people and for those who are incarcerated and we are honored to fight alongside her.”
In September 2015, military officials again denied her repeated requests to be treated as female for purposes of hair length and hair grooming regulations, a recommended part of her treatment for gender dysphoria. Chelsea Manning is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.
The government’s brief may be found here:
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/manning-v-carter-defendants-memorandum-support-motion-dismiss.
More information about ACLU case Manning v. Hagel is available at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/manning-v-hagel-et-al.
The Feline Fix, Colorado's Leading Spay/Neuter Source for Community Cats
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.
Want To Reach Gay Denver? Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog!
Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
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.
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, November 11, 2015
Pet Portraits By Maurice Becnel
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!"
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.
Want To Reach Gay Denver? Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog!
Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.
Tuesday, November 10, 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.
The Gay Vegans: A Citizen Revolution
There are always two sides to a story, and when politics is involved there could be dozens of sides. Please keep this in mind while reading this post.
Two years ago, in Jefferson County, Colorado (west suburbs of Denver) three "reformists" were elected to the school board. With five on the board they became the majority and immediately showed it. They did not want to negotiate with teachers, they wanted to invest more into charter schools, they liked the idea of pay for performance (of students) and they didn't have any use for rules of how the board should work. They hired an expensive lawyer just for the three of them, a lawyer who specializes in representing school board members just like them.
My personal problems with them were that one of the seemed to be the epitome of a misogynist in action and another, because of her religious beliefs, was not fond of gay people. These things are not good when serving 85,000+ students. I also saw constant disrespect for anyone who might disagree with the "reformists" as they moved full speed ahead on an agenda that seemed to be a checklist of education "reform".
Fast forward to this year and parents, students and others got enough signatures to bring a recall to vote. This vote happened this past week and all three "reformists" were voted out, in a landslide.
I called it a citizen revolution. I was ecstatic. Not only because of the results, but because of the huge outpouring of support in the community to work towards a recall.
Those supporting the "reformists" called it union thuggery taking hold. No matter where you looked, the word union was used everywhere when speaking against the recall.
114,000 citizens voted for the recall. Yet these folks were called union pawns, stupid, mindless and many other words that dehumanize them and simplify a vote that was so much more than union versus non union.
Takeaways for me are:
When people don't vote, bad things happen. No matter your view on anything, this is true.
If you have interest in any type of activism, pay attention to politics and vote. This has been almost a life-long mantra for me.
Just because something "is" right now doesn't mean it has to be. I saw people who had not been politically active take their frustration with the school board and use it to make change.
Don't be a jerk. I ran into this a lot and called many names and judged by all sorts. Treating other people like this does nothing for your cause. If you can't present your side and stick to the facts without demonizing someone else, be quiet. Especially online, where the whole world can see how terrible you look.
Political change is possible. Again, no matter what you believe or what you see that you don't like in any forum where the participants are elected. The citizen revolution that happened in Jefferson County can happen anywhere.
No election is local anymore. Money, and lots of it, comes from everywhere. It's just how things are now.
Finally, one person can make huge change. Add them to another person who wants to make change, and so on, and you have a citizen revolution.
A citizen revolution is possible anywhere. If it can happen in Jefferson County, Colorado, it can happen anywhere.
Thanks very much for reading.
This post originally appeared on Dan Hanley's website The Gay Vegans. Republished with permission.
Supreme Court Decision on Birth Control Will Affect Millions of LGBTQ People
“We believe that freedom of religion is important—that’s why it is already protected in the Constitution. Unfortunately, self-interested politicians want to create sweeping religious exemptions that encourage businesses to pick and choose which laws they’re going to follow. Equality opponents have now taken their fight all the way to the Supreme Court in their attempt to use religion to block coverage for reproductive health care. We live in a nation that provides freedom of religion and freedom from religion. That means that faith should never be used as an excuse to discriminate against millions of people and vital health care access,” said Rea Carey, National LGBTQ Task Force Executive Director.
“It is clear that these cases are about discrimination against people who have the capacity to become pregnant. If the court rules in favor of equality opponents, the decision could have devastating consequences for millions of LGBTQ people—opening up a can of worms that result in endless lawsuits at the expense of taxpayers. Together, we must continue raising our voices and let the Supreme Court know that everyone deserves access to affordable health care inclusive of reproductive health,” Carey added.
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