Just now, President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court. With this nominee, LGBTQ rights are at risk.
Click here to email Senators Gardner and Bennet and demand they fulfill their Constitutional responsibility to thoroughly and closely examine this nominee and ensure he respects full equality under the law.
Justice Kennedy’s replacement will immediately be deciding what our Constitution means and how it will affect the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Coloradans and their families. Basic rights and protections LGBTQ Coloradans rely on are now at serious risk — including the ability to adopt and foster children, protection from discrimination in employment, housing, and public spaces; and the ability to get health insurance even if you have a pre-existing condition. Any nominee for the Supreme Court must unequivocally acknowledge and respect full equality under the law for LGBTQ Americans.
Email Senators Gardner and Bennet NOW and tell them to closely examine Judge Kavanaugh’s past record, answers to questions about how he would rule, and reject efforts to rush this nomination through to confirmation.
This nomination is about the values our nation and Constitution stand for — freedom, dignity, fairness, and equal opportunity. While the challenge before us to make sure the nominee upholds these ideals seems enormous — and the stakes high — WE have the power to demand and achieve a fair process and an acceptable nominee. If the protests and activism since the 2016 election have shown us anything, it that our voices and activism do make a difference.
Email Colorado’s Senators about President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Kavanaugh, and tell them to closely examine his background and his stances on LGBTQ equality.
The United States Supreme Court represents the last line of defense for our country’s most cherished rights and the legacy of its rulings endure for generations. A nominee who is hostile to civil rights and liberties will adversely affect LGBTQ Coloradans and their families.
Please join us in doing everything you can by contacting Senators Gardner and Bennet to ensure a nominee hostile to LGBTQ equality will not replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court. - via One Colorado
Monday, July 9, 2018
Books: Night Soil, a Gothic, Gay Coming of Age Story
The art world falls in love with Dixie Stammers when it is discovered that not only are her pots mechanically perfect spheres, they are also identical, despite the fact that they are made entirely by hand, without benefit of a wheel, measuring device, or any other tool.
Her teenage son, Judas, is pathologically shy, and retreats into a world of anonymous sexual encounters at a roadside rest area, although what he really longs for is a relationship with one of the boys at the private school he attends. This Academy was founded by Judas's ancestral grandfather, a nineteenth-century coal magnate. Driven by his mother’s secretive nature, Judas begins digging into his family's history, and the Academy's, until he unearths a series of secrets that cause him to question everything he thought he knew about his world.
SOFI TUKKER - Good Time Girl
Ahead of their European summer festival run, SOFI TUKKER shares the music video for their single "Good Time Girl" featuring Charlie Barker. Come along with the gang as they indulge in simple pleasures while floating down the river on Charlie's London houseboat. Debuted with Gay Times
"This is a really personal, tongue-in-cheek song about navigating this nebulous thing called a ‘casual relationship,'" the pair say about the track.
OUT in Theaters: Hot To Trot
Away from their graceful turns on the dance floor, the characters’ backstories frame their struggles and conflicts in life. The film follows charismatic Ernesto Palma, a former meth addict from Costa Rica, who strives for success and love; gritty, determined Emily Coles, a diabetic who wears an insulin pump 24/7...even while performing; handsome Nikolai Shpakov, a dazzling dance champion, who came out only a few years ago and still longs for the full acceptance of his Russian family; and introspective Kieren Jameson, whose identity was forged in the strict, conservative environment of a New Zealand military household. Hot to Trot follows the dancers over a four-year period, as it watches their relationships with family, dance partners, life partners – and themselves – develop and deepen.
For these individuals, dance is a form of personal power and political engagement that simultaneously shapes their identities and helps them overcome uniquely personal challenges. They are not mere emblems of LGBTQ politics – they are living them.
OutServe-SLDN & Strive Health/Veteran & First Responder Healthcare Launch Mental Health & Substance Abuse Programs for LGBT military community
“This joint program initiative with Strive Health & VFR is truly groundbreaking for our LGBTQ service members, veterans and their families. Time and again, one of the hurdles our patriots face is access to care for those battling addiction and in need of mental health services. Even more importantly, this program will be the first of its kind to offer treatment from qualified professionals that are culturally competent in the unique needs of our LGBTQ military and veteran communities.” said Matt Thorn, President & CEO for OutServe-SLDN.
There is a substantial gap in the availability of treatment specifically designed for LGBTQ service members, veterans, and their families with mental health and substance use disorder issues.
“After decades of anti-LGBTQ laws and policies both inside and outside of the military, LGBTQ service members, veterans, and their families not only face stigma when seeking treatment, but also a justified fear that we will experience discrimination or poor treatment in health care settings,” said Kai Blevins, Director of Education, Chapter & Veteran Services for OutServe-SLDN. “The power of this new initiative is that it is by and for the LGBTQ military community. In partnership with Strive Health, we are proud to begin bridging the gap that has prevented so many in the LGBTQ military and veteran communities from seeking treatment for mental illnesses and substance abuse.”
This joint initiative intends to use a national platform to set the new standard and break down the stigma of accessing addiction and mental health services; providing this specific community a much-needed resource. This will mark the first time an initiative to address mental health and addiction will be geared toward LGBTQ service members, veterans and their families on a national level.
“As an organization that believes all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation deserve care, dignity and respect, it is of critical importance for us to address the significant unmet need for treatment services among LGBT service members, veterans and their families” said Eric Frieman, Co-CEO of Strive.
“As a veteran myself, we are honored to be working with OutServe-SLDN to take this issue head-on and increase the access to, and quality of, addiction and mental health treatment for LGBT service members, veterans and their families” said Eric Golnick, CEO of VFR Healthcare
As part of this joint endeavor, Strive Health & VFR will provide clinical services to referrals from OutServe-SLDN on an outpatient basis for service members, veterans and their families; ensuring that those seeking services are able to see a provider within 24-hours of contact. OutServe-SLDN will establish a referral system and access point for individuals seeking services while providing ongoing cultural competency training for all of Strive’s staff, highlighting specific areas of concern and trends affecting the LGBTQ military and veteran communities.
The ACLU's New Podcast Talks SCOTUS
Listen to the latest episode of the ACLU's new podcast, "At Liberty," to hear ACLU Legal Director David Cole unpack what Trump's Supreme Court pick could mean for our future legal battles – and how we can continue to defend and expand rights for all.
Justice Kennedy's swing vote was often the deciding factor in contentious cases: recognizing marriage equality, allowing affirmative action to continue, and preserving Roe v. Wade when it was very close to being overturned. His replacement will have a lasting impact on generations to come.
Op/Ed: In the Supreme Court Vacancy Fight, Our Future is at Stake
By Marge Baker, Executive Vice President, People For the American Way
Last week, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, giving Donald Trump the chance to nominate another justice to a lifetime seat on the bench and, potentially, to reshape the Court for a generation.
Since Sandra Day O’Conner left the Court in 2003, Kennedy has widely been considered the swing vote — usually joining with the Court’s four extremely conservative members in cases that broke on ideological lines, but occasionally siding with the moderates on key issues. Over the last 15 years, he provided the fifth and decisive vote on some of the most critical rulings that safeguarded justice and civil rights in our country, including women’s reproductive rights and marriage equality. If Trump is allowed to replace Kennedy with a nominee in the mold of his last pick, Neil Gorsuch, the effect will wreak havoc on our country for generations to come.
If Trump is allowed to replace Kennedy with a nominee in the mold of his last pick, Neil Gorsuch, the effect will wreak havoc on our country for generations to come.
Trump has made no bones about who he wants to appoint. During the 2016 election, he won the support of the Religious Right by promising that he’d impose an anti-choice litmus test on all his nominees. In fact, he pledged to go a step further, and to limit his choices to potential nominees preselected by two of the most extreme right-wing advocacy organizations in Washington, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. Since his election, he’s made clear that he intends to keep that promise. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first pick for the Supreme Court, is exhibit A, not just routinely siding with the other conservatives on the court, but occasionally indicating in written concurrences that he’d go much further to the right given the opportunity. Trump’s nominees to the lower courts have been a rogues gallery of right-wing activists, virtually all of whom have spent their careers pushing an extreme ideological agenda in the law.
Should Kennedy be replaced by another jurist like Gorsuch — and every single jurist on Trump’s shortlist meets that test — the results would be catastrophic.
Perhaps most obviously, Kennedy, despite having a mixed record on issues related to women’s reproductive choice, in both Whole Women’s Health and Casey, Kennedy provided the fifth and decisive vote that upheld Roe v. Wadeand safeguarded women’s bodily autonomy. But Trump has promised time and again that he would appoint anti-choice judges who will take every opportunity to severely limit abortion access — and overturn Roe. Cases challenging Roe are already in the pipeline. As CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin made clear, should one of Trump’s extreme nominees be confirmed, “abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There is just no doubt about that.”
Similarly, Kennedy’s vote was critical in vindicating the right of same-sex couples to be treated equally under the law. Kennedy’s rulings in Obergefell and Windsor secured the right to same-sex marriage, but there’s ample reason to fear for the future of marriage equality and LGBTQ equality more broadly, if any one of the judges on Trump’s short list were to be confirmed. While many Americans might think the question of same-sex marriage is settled, the Religious Right has been working to overturn that decision from the moment it was handed down. Indeed, the Heritage Foundation, which has already approved all the names on Trump’s list, has been at the forefront of charting the legal strategy to turn back the clock on marriage equality. Without Kennedy on the Court, there simply aren’t five votes in favor of recognizing this fundamental constitutional right.
And while choice and marriage equality may be the two issues where replacing Kennedy with a narrow-minded elitist from Trump’s shortlist would most obviously endanger our rights, on other issues Kennedy provided the fifth vote to moderates on the Court who stopped the four most extreme Justices from pushing the law even further to the right.
In Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, Kennedy’s vote prevented the Court from ruling that the EPA had no authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. In Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Kennedy stopped the Court from eliminating the use of the disparate impact test under the Fair Housing Act, one of the most important tools we have to stop housing discrimination. In the Boumediene decision, Kennedy protected the right of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to file habeas corpus claims in federal court. In Brown v. Plata, Kennedy’s vote protected the right of prisoners not to be housed in overcrowded prisons that provided inadequate medical treatment to prisoners and produced “needless suffering and death.”
Without Kennedy on the Court, each and every one of those decisions, and many more, are in grave danger.
Yet those cases represent only the tip of the iceberg. We know that right-wing litigators have been dissuaded against bringing cases to the Supreme Court on which they knew they couldn’t get Justice Kennedy’s vote. Now, should the Court’s balance shift sharply to the right, the floodgates would open. Instead of needing to win the vote of Justice Kennedy, right-wing activists would merely need to secure the support of Chief Justice Roberts — a frightening prospect on issues ranging from Civil Rights to sex discrimination.
Just as important, replacing Kennedy with another justice in the mold of Gorsuch would harden the Court’s far-right bloc, making it harder to move towards a day when we can overturn destructive and dangerous rulings that are already having a brutal impact on our country, from Citizens United to Janus to Shelby County.
The fate of our future and the future of generations to come is in grave danger. We need a Supreme Court that will defend the Constitution’s guarantee of equality and for justice for all and justices who understand the impact of the law on all Americans. That’s not what we would get from any of Trump’s nominees. We need to make clear that we won’t accept anyone who will protect corporations and the wealthy over ordinary Americans or roll back the clock on rulings that protect women, workers, the LGBTQ community and people of color.
Our future depends on it.
Raptors Take Second To Seattle In Inaugural MLR Championship: Two Top-Ranked Teams Battle In Hard-Fought Final
Things got underway just after 7pm Mountain Time, under partly cloudy skies and mild seaside temperatures. The early minutes of the match were determined by a mixture of defense and attempts by both teams to size one another up for the third time this year. A penalty against the Raptors in the ninth minute lead to a Seawolves kick attempt and conversion, putting the Seattle side up 3-0. Displaying patience following the early deficit, the Raptors used field position gained from a Seattle penalty to drive a post line out maul into the try zone. Zach Fenoglio dotted down at 13 minutes, and Magie’s successful conversion gave Glendale a 7-3 lead.
Though both teams played aggressively following the Raptors’ score, with players on both sides making certain their on-field counterparts knew what was on the line, neither was able to make much of their effort. A penalty against Raptor Sam Figg at 18 minutes gave Seattle another shot at the posts, but the penalty kick wasn’t converted, leaving the score unchanged. A series of additional Raptor penalties ultimately saw Seattle dot down 23 minutes in, Ray Barkwill finding the try zone. The Seawolves unable to convert, the team took back a narrow 8-7 lead.
Win Free Tix to Denver County Fair!
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.
Friday, July 6, 2018
Cause an Effect at the Denver Botanic Gardens with Chipotle!
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.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
OUTBermuda: “We Will Never Surrender Equality”
The group’s statement was made in response to the Government of Bermuda’s decision to appeal the historic June 6 verdict by the Supreme Court of Bermuda that overturned the Government’s decision to ban same-sex marriages.
Said Roderick Ferguson, the original litigant: “Just one month ago, LGBTQ Bermudians inched closer to our goal of restoring marriage equality. We regret this ill-advised and costly decision to appeal the Supreme Court’s finding, and we will summon our voices and resources again as a united community to prevail.”
OUTBermuda, which served as a co-litigant in the original lawsuit, will join again with Roderick Ferguson, Maryellen Jackson and many allies seeking to defeat the Government’s appeal. Adrian Hartnett-Beasley, one of OUTBermuda’s directors, noted that “we have strength not only in justice but in our numbers – including our respected faith leaders like Sylvia Hayward-Harris, along with citizen-activists including Julia and Judith Aidoo-Saltus, Chai T, Wesley Methodist Church, and Douglas NeJaime. We’ve made outstanding progress with our business advocates led by Carnival Corporation and many encouraging Bermudian-owned/based businesses and employers.”
Catwalk: Drink Beer and Help Cats!
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