Maryland Governor Larry Hogan today signed a bill into law that will protect Maryland youth from the practice of conversion therapy by health professionals. Conversion therapy, sometimes called “ex-gay therapy,” attempts to change an individual’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity and has been discredited by every major medical and mental health organization as an ineffective and harmful practice. On April 4, Maryland Republican Delegate Meagan Simonaire made headlines when she took to the floor of Maryland’s House of Delegates to give an impassioned speech about the harm that resulted in her own life when her family, including father state senator Bryan Simonaire, sought conversion therapy for her.
Today’s bill signing was the result of targeted grassroots advocacy efforts by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), local Maryland LGBTQ advocacy group FreeState Justice, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). NCLR has been standing up on behalf of survivors of conversion therapy for the past 20 years, and in 2014, launched its Born Perfect campaign—marking a commitment to end this practice in each state across the country.
NCLR Youth Policy Counsel and Born Perfect Campaign Coordinator Carolyn Reyes issued the following statement in response: “Today, Maryland, nicknamed the ‘Free State,’ just signed a bill into law to ensure LGBTQ youth can be free from harmful, ineffective attempts to change sexual orientation or gender identity through conversion therapy. Right now, there is a growing movement across the country. Maryland, and many other states, are taking action to protect youth from what the American Psychological Association has shown puts our youth at an increased risk of depression, substance abuse, and even suicide. We will keep fighting until all of our youth are protected, no matter where they live.”
Conversion therapy survivor and NCLR Born Perfect Campaign Strategist Mathew Shurka issued the following statement in response: “By sharing our stories, survivors like Meagan Simonaire and myself can help change hearts and minds to protect LGBTQ youth. Today, the state of Maryland took an important step to ensure that all of Maryland’s young people know that they are born perfect.”
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Bohemian Rhapsody Will Rock You!
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
20th Century Fox has just debuted the official teaser trailer for the upcoming film BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aiden Gillen, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY hits theaters everywhere November 2.
Queen fans around the world can visit PutMeInBohemian.com on a mobile device and record their best rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody," for a chance to have their voice included in the movie.
Shea DIamond - Keisha Complexion
Shea (pronounced she-uh) Diamond's upcoming EP Seen It All's first single is “Keisha Complexion", an ode to the beauty of dark skin and self-love. The EP will drop June 29 via Asylum Records, and is executive-produced by acclaimed songwriter/producer, Justin Tranter. Tranter also co-wrote on three of the EPs tracks, including “Keisha Complexion.”
“Everything about Shea exudes confidence, love and the secret beauty of being an underdog,” says Tranter. “‘Keisha Complexion’ showcases all of that and then some. Getting to make music with her is a career highlight for me.”
Shea first caught the ear of Tranter after he heard an a-capella performance of her original song, an empowering trans anthem, “I Am Her” at a Black Trans Lives Matter event.
“A friend sent me a video of her singing,” recalls Tranter. “I just kind of lost my mind and was like, ‘Who is this? Why is this song so good? How have I never heard of this person?’ From there I tracked her down.” Shea immediately impressed Tranter with her talent. “When I brought her out to L.A. to work together, I was blown away within the first couple minutes,” he continues. “Not only does this woman have a very beautiful, powerful story to tell, she can back it up as a musician. Vocally, her tone is magical; it’s so rich and so beautiful. Every time she opens her mouth to sing, you believe every word. And in terms of songwriting, she’s a real storyteller.”
Denver Botanic Gardens Breaks Ground on Freyer - Newman Center
“As one of the first 2017 General Obligation Bond-supported projects to break ground, the Freyer - Newman Center is an outstanding example of how these community approved investments can move a project to reality and enhance our world-class museums and culturals,” says Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “Institutions like Denver Botanic Gardens provide opportunities for our residents and visitors of all ages and backgrounds to learn, have fun and explore together. I’m looking forward to the opening of this new center and the wonderful experiences it will bring to the Gardens.”
Brian Vogt, CEO of Denver Botanic Gardens adds, “We are all filled with gratitude as we begin the final chapter of our Master Development Plan with this stellar project. Deep appreciation goes to Denver voters for their support of the 2017 General Obligation Bond and to all of the donors, designers, builders, neighbors, staff and volunteers who are taking us to the finish line.”
Free Memorial Day Weekend Program at Sand Creek Massacre NHS
The one and one-half hour guided walk will begin at the visitor parking lot and stop at multiple points along the one-half mile long unpaved Monument Hill Trail, before concluding at the Monument Hill Overlook. Park Guide Launius will provide information and interpretation of events leading up to, during, and after the infamous massacre. Visitors are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy walking shoes.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Denver Limo, Inc.: The Hottest Limos at the Lowest Prices!
Rhein Haus: Serving Up Weiners Und Balls in Downtown Denver
Nice To See StevieB: The Oil Rig Fire
An odd thing happens when you mention that your parent just passed. There is that phase where you hear your own voice confirm the fact, hearing that your Mom is dead. But, I’m more speaking to the reaction by other people. There is of course the expected “oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Which honestly goes a long way in my book. Let’s just acknowledge it and move forward. Yet, I have noticed another reaction. The reaction where the person I just shared the statement with, and I expect the acknowledgment, then goes into a long dramatic tale of how their parent too died, but in much more horrid and traumatic fashion. Like it’s a competition.
My favorite response to “How did she die?” is to steal a line from the Golden Girls “Fighting an oil rig fire in the Gulf.” [pause] “She was eighty-three, how do you think she died?!?”
I am usually great at getting away from small-talk conversations. As I don’t really care for people, and I have found endless ways to avoid them. Yet, when someone is interrupting your story of how you learned of your Mothers passing to strut and fret their hour upon the stage, explaining exactly how long their mother of incontinent before being found dead with her thirteen year old cat Snoodle, there is no real escape. Now that you have a dead parent in common, are they free to dump their pent-up emotional baggage upon you? I say, no. Unless you’re asked.
Friday Night Bazaar Returns To RiNo
Friday Night Bazaar’s debut summer event is set to host 30+ pop-up shops, a selection of Denver Metro’s most delicious food trucks, and a variety of local breweries. The June 1st edition welcomes Resolute Brewing Company, Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project, 14er Brewing, Spice Trade Brewing, Boulder Beer Company, Factotum Brewhouse, and Stem Ciders – all pouring samples of their tastiest Colorado brews and ciders. To stay up to date with the weekly lineups of makers, participating breweries, and food trucks, please visit the Official Facebook Event and join our mailing list here.
General admission to Friday Night Bazaar is free. To participate in beer and cider tasting, Shop & Sip tokens are available for purchase at www.denverbazaar.com.
Trans Military Ban: NCLR, GLAD File to Permanently Stop Ban
The
plaintiffs’ motion describes the ban as the only military “policy that
excludes people from military service based on their membership in a
class rather than on an individual’s fitness to serve” and calls out
that “no other military policy excludes a class of persons from an equal
opportunity to enlist or serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.”’ It also
characterizes the March 23 “Mattis Plan” and panel report
as “most notable for what it fails to do”: it does not and could not
show that transgender people are not capable of meeting existing
military standards for service. Instead, the “Mattis Plan” and panel
report makes sweeping generalizations, relying on false stereotypes
about mental health and deployability.
Plaintiffs also filed a separate motion last night opposing the administration’s motions to dismiss the case and to dissolve the nationwide preliminary injunction
issued October 30, 2017 by District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The government’s own documents, newly obtained by discovery, show the March 23
‘Mattis Plan’ is the same unconstitutional, categorical ban of all
transgender people from military service that President Trump announced
on Twitter,” said Jennifer Levi, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) Transgender Rights Project Director.
“There is no reason to treat transgender people so unfairly. The
Plaintiffs seek nothing more than to be held to the same standards
applied to all other servicemembers.”
“By the military’s own count, thousands of transgender servicemembers are currently serving—one of our Doe plaintiffs has in fact served multiple tours of duty abroad, two in Iraq,” said Shannon Minter, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Legal Director.
“The ban erodes military readiness and would be the only military
policy to exclude otherwise qualified people for who they are rather
than their fitness to serve.”
Arguments from the plaintiffs’ filings:
- The Trump-Pence transgender military ban harms military readiness by irrationally excluding qualified transgender servicemembers.
- The Trump administration’s March 23 “Mattis Plan” excludes transgender people from service based on their transgender status, rather than on any medical basis.
- The “Mattis Plan” is the same categorical ban on trans service tweeted by President Trump despite its alleged “exception” for transgender people who serve in their birth sex. Just as a policy requiring Muslims to serve in the military only if they renounce their faith would be a ban on military service by Muslims, a policy requiring transgender individuals to serve in their birth sex is a ban on military service by transgender people. It is also similar to the earlier failed argument, uniformly rejected by courts, that laws limiting marriage only to male-female couples did not discriminate against gay people because a gay person could marry a person of the opposite sex.
- The Trump administration’s own documents, obtained through discovery, show that that the process leading to the “Mattis Plan” was specifically undertaken to produce a policy consistent with Trump’s complete ban on transgender service. Rather than providing a valid reason to treat transgender people differently, the plan relies on gender stereotypes and sweeping generalizations about the roles and capabilities of transgender people.
- Excluding qualified, fit candidates from service based on sweeping group-based generalizations is irrational. For example, depression, anxiety, and suicide are more common among white people than black people, but the military does not bar white people from service. And women are twice as likely as men to suffer from anxiety disorders, but the military does not exclude women from service.
- Defendants’ unit cohesion arguments boil down to a claim that, “simply by existing as such, transgender people undermine sex-based standards.” If “that claim were sufficient to justify barring transgender people from military service, it would also justify their exclusion from any, and all, institutions that maintain sex-based criteria for facilities, including schools, workplaces, public accommodations, and beyond”—something courts across the country have repeatedly dismissed.
With this filing, both the Trump administration and Doe v. Trump transgender military ban plaintiffs have now indicated to the court there are no factual disputes in this case that would need to be resolved by a trial. If Judge Kollar-Kotelly grants summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, the court would permanently block the Trump-Pence transgender military ban from taking effect.
BACKGROUND
June 30, 2016:
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) adopted a policy
permitting transgender people to serve in the military based on a nearly
two year DOD review determining that there was no valid reason to
exclude qualified personnel from military service simply because they
are transgender.
July 26, 2017:
President Trump tweeted that “the United States Government will not
accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the
U.S. Military.”
August 9, 2017: NCLR and GLAD filed Doe v. Trump,
the first lawsuit filed to stop the ban, challenging its
constitutionality and requesting that the court issue a nationwide
preliminary injunction to stop it from taking effect while the case is
being heard in court.
August 25, 2017:
President Trump issued a memorandum ordering Secretary of Defense James
Mattis to submit “a plan for implementing” the ban by February 21,
2018. Secretary Mattis delivered this (the “Mattis Plan” and panel
report) to President Trump on February 22, 2018.
October 30, 2017: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Doe v. Trump
plaintiffs had established a likelihood of success on their claim that
President Trump’s ban violates equal protection, that plaintiffs would
be irreparably harmed without a preliminary injunction to stop the ban,
and that the public interest and balance of hardships weighed in favor
of granting injunctive relief and temporarily halting the ban while the
case is heard by the court.
March 23, 2018: President Trump accepts the “Mattis Plan” and issues a memorandum in which he “revoked” his August 25 Memorandum.
April 20, 2018: Defendants file a motion to dissolve the October 30
nationwide preliminary injunction enjoining the transgender military
ban issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; a
motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint; and a Motion for
Summary Judgment.
May 11, 2018:
Plaintiffs file their cross-motion for summary judgment, as well as
motions in opposition to Defendant’s motions to dissolve the injunction
and dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint.
Life in the Doghouse - Danny and Ron's 10,000 Rescues
Life in the Doghouse tells the inspiring life stories of these two men and the selfless work they continue to do. With a no-kennel policy, there can be as many as 75 dogs living with them in their home at any given time; the dogs also join them on the horse show circuit on their journey of finding their “forever home.” Danny and Ron were honored with the 2008 ASPCA Humanitarian Award for their unwavering personal sacrifice and unique approach to dog rescue & adoption during hurricane Katrina. Ten years and almost 10,000 dogs later, Danny & Ron’s Rescue has become a powerful voice for abused, abandoned and starving dogs.
Caroline Rose - Bikini
Caroline Rose has been winning over fans and selling out shows all over the country on her first ever headline tour since releasing LONER this past February via New West. As described by Pitchfork, Rose “uses her mordant wit to confront serious subjects, exorcising trauma with hooks and humor” throughout LONER. It’s an idea masterfully executed with previous singles “Money,” “Soul No. 5,” and “Getting To Me,” recently recognized in the New York Times Magazine’s “New Sentences” column. Today, Rose presents this notion further with the “Bikini” video, which she self-directed along with the “Soul No. 5” video and explains below.
“A lot of my aesthetic tends to be very tongue-in-cheek, so I wanted to take a serious subject, in this case misogyny, and just sort of turn it around to laugh at it. I think satire can be used as an incredible tool to take the power away from the powerful when necessary. It was important to me to make sure the video was body positive. When we think of 'girls in bikinis,' the tendency is to see tall white models with perfect bodies. I knew that would be missing the point of the song.
I take a lot of influences from films, and you can see a lot of Almodovar's influence here. I had a pretty concrete idea to make the video bright and cheerful, kind of like a mix between old TV performances in the '60s and '70s and The Price Is Right-esque game shows. Almodovar is a master at using visuals to enhance a serious story. The colors he uses are a lot like the characters--vibrant and flamboyant. Here, I utilize something similar as a creative device to enhance the absurdism of a realistic situation.”
RuPaul's DragCon Breaks Attendance Records
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| Photo Credit: Movi Inc for World of Wonder // Getty Images |
Created by RuPaul and World of Wonder Productions, RuPaul’s DragCon is a family-friendly event welcoming attendees - of all ages and background - to kiki with all of their favorite drag queens and stars in a creative, friendly and accessible environment. The three day event included extensively curated panels and live runway performances, talent signings, more than 30 Instagrammable moments on the floor, including the actual Werkroom from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and over 350 exhibitor booths offering attendees some of the most sickening shopping around.
“In this time of chaos and lies, for three days tens of thousands of big-hearted, super-creative, and sensitive souls peacefully gathered to celebrate their truth at RuPaul’s DragCon,” says RuPaul. “Seeing all the young people and families and queens has filled my heart with gratitude and hope. The future is going to be fierce.”
"The overwhelming success of this year's DragCon is a testament to the talent and creative vision of the hundreds of drag artists who attended the convention," says World of Wonder co-founder Randy Barbato. "Drag has become a cultural force that is here to stay.”
"As we wrap up another DragCon on Mother's Day, it is especially exciting to see all the families that come to share the experience," says World of Wonder co-founder Fenton Bailey. "DragCon is about life, love, laughter and inclusion. It’s about tearing down walls, not building them."
Friday, May 11, 2018
Are You Gay With Something To Say? Bloggers Wanted For Denver's Best Gay Blog!
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.
RuPaul is Coming to Netflix!
Oh, and RuPaul performs a killer musical number in every drag club.
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