Last week Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act. (DOMA) President Obama appeared to be an advocate of equal rights for the LGBT community, however; this incident runs far in the opposite direction. DOMA denies recognition of same-sex marriages and the federal benefits that go along with it. The Justice Department argued that the law does not discriminate against gay and lesbian couples, claiming it is constitutional. They also compared same-sex marriage to incestual and underage marriage.
With the current stance on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and now this, the LGBT community is infuriated. The offensive language in the brief is unacceptable and just plain wrong. As a candidate President Obama made many promises that are clearly not being held. What is your stance?
Rachel Maddow and Former Governor Howard Dean on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP76-N2qxxgLast week Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief defending the Defense of... more
The month of June is Gay & Lesbian Pride Month so in honor of that, we have put together a list of some of the most influential gay films which have helped inspire, educate, and encourage audiences to make a change and support equal rights.
With the release of Gus Van Sant’s film Milk coinciding with the current issues of Prop 8, gay cinema was finally pushed into the forefront of everyones attention both on screen and off. Although this genre may be a touchy subject, more and more directors and actors are choosing to discuss the issues behind the repression of homosexuality both in politics and ones life.
Check out our top 5 films and why they're important...The month of June is Gay & Lesbian Pride Month so in honor of that, we have put... more
Like you, I feel happiness & I feel pain. When cut, I bleed just as you do. I have loved & I have lost. I am a daughter, a sister, a grand daughter, a niece, a Godmother, a spouse, a friend. I am human.
I live and let live. I treat others, as I would want to be treated. I want to live, learn & grow. I have dreams for the future. I am human.
I get up and go to work, not only for myself, but also for you. It can be two in the afternoon, or two in the morning…. I race to your aid when you are in need. I extinguish the fire that threatens you, your loved ones, & your possessions. I run in when others are running out. I cut you out of your vehicle when it no longer resembles one, because you have been involved in a collision. I care for you when you are in pain, broken & bleeding. I come to pick you up when you can’t get back up on your own. I mitigate the hazardous material incident; I enter when others don’t dare to come near. I go into the hole to retrieve you when you have fallen in and your cries can barely be heard. I enter the swift water that has swept you away, threatening to take your life. I risk my very own life for yours and never expect a thank you in return. I am a firefighter.
I am fair and try to always do what is right. I am honest. I am kind, I smile at you, open a door for, pick up something you have dropped, help you find something when you are looking, and return something you may have lost.
I contribute to society. I pay my taxes, I donate to charities, I volunteer my time, I don’t take unless I earn, I stay out of debt and live within my means, I don’t except free rides to take from those truly in need, I contribute to the economy by being a consumer. My tax dollars go to programs you benefit from, ones I will never use, and that is ok.
I am a proud American. I would give my life for the red, white, & blue. I am grateful for the people who have and do serve in our armed forces. My heroes are those who have paid that ultimate price.
With the above, I think you would agree that I satisfy the social and civil roles of a citizen, and that of a descent human being???
Then how can it be I am tolerant of you, yet you may not be tolerant of me? I am a woman. A woman who loves, cares for, and cherishes another woman. A woman who deserves the same civil rights as any straight human being, the right to take care of another & to protect our assets until our dying days, the right to love and cherish until death. THE RIGHT TO MARRY in one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL.
While foundations may seem set, what we build upon then can change, I'm motivated to help change, which I truly believe is just a matter of time. It was not long ago women didn't have the right to vote, or blacks did not have the right to be free, & not too long ago inter racial marriages were an issue. With that said I hope it is in my lifetime the fight for gay marriage is just another one of those issues that become a page in history.Like you, I feel happiness & I feel pain. When cut, I bleed just as you do. I have... more
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Democrat from Vermont who is the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is adding another controversial ingredient to the volatile mix of an immigration debate that President Obama has said he hopes to spur in Congress before the end of the year.
Mr. Leahy has offered a bill that would allow American citizens and legal immigrants to seek residency in the United States for their same-sex partners, just as spouses now petition for foreign-born husbands and wives.
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Opponents of the Leahy bill argue that it would foster immigration fraud because it would be difficult for immigration officers to determine whether same-sex couples had an established relationship.
Supporters said the bill would assist about 36,000 same-sex couples nationwide. Rachel B. Tiven, the executive director of Immigration Equality, a group that advocates for gay rights legislation, said the bill had improved chances this year because of recent same-sex marriage victories in Iowa, Maine and Vermont.Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Democrat from Vermont who is the powerful chairman of... more
As rumored, Adam Lambert graces the cover of Rolling Stone this week in all his punk-rock glory. To say he officially "came out" to Rolling Stone would be a bit inaccurate, considering the mountains of photographic evidence that has been floating around the internet for months. Nonetheless, it's refreshing to see a young star, at the beginning of what looks to be a major music career, put an end to all of the gossip regarding his sexuality, and move on to more important issues. Newly signed to 19 Entertainment/RCA Records -- also the label of "Idol" winner Kris Allen -- Glambert's debut album will be released this fall.As rumored, Adam Lambert graces the cover of Rolling Stone this week in all his... more
Once a month, the LA GLBT Arts Examiner will be putting the spotlight on an interesting person in the LGBT community who is making strides in arts, entertainment and gay rights advocacy. This month we'd like to introduce to you Jack Mackenroth.Once a month, the LA GLBT Arts Examiner will be putting the spotlight on an... more
LIKE all students caught up in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, I was riveted by the violent confrontations between the police and protestors in Selma, 1965, and Chicago, 1968. But I never heard about the several days of riots that rocked Greenwich Village after the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in the wee hours of June 28, 1969 — 40 years ago today.
Then again, I didn’t know a single person, student or teacher, male or female, in my entire Ivy League university who was openly identified as gay. And though my friends and I were obsessed with every iteration of the era’s political tumult, we somehow missed the Stonewall story. Not hard to do, really. The Times — which would not even permit the use of the word gay until 1987 — covered the riots in tiny, bowdlerized articles, one of them but three paragraphs long, buried successively on pages 33, 22 and 19.
But if we had read them, would we have cared? It was typical of my generation, like others before and after, that the issue of gay civil rights wasn’t on our radar screen. Not least because gay people, fearful of harassment, violence and arrest, were often forced into the shadows. As David Carter writes in his book “Stonewall,” at the end of the 1960s homosexual sex was still illegal in every state but Illinois. It was a crime punishable by castration in seven states. No laws — federal, state or local — protected gay people from being denied jobs or housing. If a homosexual character appeared in a movie, his life ended with either murder or suicide.
The younger gay men — and scattered women — who acted up at the Stonewall on those early summer nights in 1969 had little in common with their contemporaries in the front-page political movements of the time. They often lived on the streets, having been thrown out of their blue-collar homes by their families before they finished high school. They migrated to the Village because they’d heard it was one American neighborhood where it was safe to be who they were.
Stonewall “wasn’t a 1960s student riot,” wrote one of them, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, in a poignant handwritten flier on display at the New York Public Library in the exhibition “1969: The Year of Gay Liberation.” They had “no nice dorms for sleeping,” “no school cafeteria for certain food” and “no affluent parents” to send checks. They had no powerful allies of any kind, no rights, no future. But they were brave. They risked their necks to prove, as Lanigan-Schmidt put it, that “the mystery of history” could happen “in the least likely of places.”
After the gay liberation movement was born at Stonewall, this strand of history advanced haltingly until the 1980s. It took AIDS and the new wave of gay activism it engendered to fully awaken many, including me, to the gay people all around them. But that tardy and still embryonic national awareness did not save the lives of those whose abridged rights made them even more vulnerable during a rampaging plague.
On Monday, President Obama will commemorate Stonewall with an East Room reception for gay leaders. Some of the invitees have been fiercely critical of what they see as his failure, thus far, to redeem his promise to be a “fierce advocate” for their still unfulfilled cause. The rancor increased this month, after the Department of Justice filed a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the most ignominious civil rights betrayal under the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton.
The Obama White House has said that the Justice Department action was merely a bureaucratic speed bump on the way to repealing DOMA — which hardly mitigates the brief’s denigration of same-sex marriage, now legal in six states after many hard-fought battles. The White House has also asserted that its Stonewall ceremony was “long planned” — even though it sure looks like damage control. News of the event trickled out publicly only last Monday, after dozens of aggrieved, heavy-hitting gay donors droppLIKE all students caught up in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, I... more
Why Aren't We Equal shows the world that everyone is human and deserves to be created equally. This is a moving video made with pictures off Google and "Big Love Adagio" by Bond as the song. I re-mixed the song and wrote the poem/text that goes across the screen.Why Aren't We Equal shows the world that everyone is human and deserves to be... more
The Assembly voted 28-14 Sunday to override Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto and to change state law so that domestic partners, whether gay or straight, have many of the rights and benefits that Nevada offers to married couples.
The Assembly's vote -- the bare two-thirds majority needed -- followed the state Senate's vote a day earlier to enact the measure into state lawbooks over the conservative Republican governor's objections.
SB283 provides that domestic partners have the same rights as married couples in matters such as community property and responsibility for debts. It also prohibits discrimination against domestic partners.
Critics contended that domestic partners can sign private contracts to accomplish many of the goals of SB283, and that it conflicted with the intent of Nevadans who voted in 2002 for a constitutional amendment supporting marriage between a man and a woman.
Good news to hear, maybe in a couple years they'll legalize same-sex marriage.The Assembly voted 28-14 Sunday to override Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto and to change... more
If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing out postcards with questions on the back. Some of you filled them in with funny, interesting, and thought-provoking responses. And here are our favourites!
This is how people attending Pride events in Brighton answered the question "What's it like to be Gay?"
Remember to catch the show This is Gonna Sound a Bit Gay on Current TV (Sky 183, Virgin 155) on Monday 31st August at 10pm.If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing... more
California’s Supreme Court, in a decision yesterday, upheld Prop 8 and a ban on same sex marriage. At the same time, a host of states (Iowa, Vermont, and Maine) have legalized gay marriage in recent months. What’s next for the LGBT movement? Richard Kim of the Nation, Joel Silberman, Jewelle Gomez of the Horizon Foundation, and New York Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell discuss the California ruling and the gay rights movement.
Catch the live stream at 12 noon eastern at www.grittv.org. You can also see the full program tonight on Free Speech TV (Dish Ch 9415) or at our website.California’s Supreme Court, in a decision yesterday, upheld Prop 8 and a ban on... more
If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing out postcards with questions on the back. Some of you filled them in with funny, interesting, and thought-provoking responses. And here are our favourites!
This is how people attending Pride events in Brighton answered the question "If you could come out again, what would you do differently?"
Remember to catch the show This is Gonna Sound a Bit Gay on Current TV (Sky 183, Virgin 155) on Monday 31st August at 10pm.If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing... more
Meet in the Middle drew thousands of equal rights supporters to Fresno California this weekend. People came from all over the state to begin a conversation with the most conservative district in the state, where 70% of the voters oppose equality. Cleve Jones led the march from Selma County to Fresno using the slain Harvey Milk's bullhorn. Cleve Jones has called for a national march in Washington DC the weekend of October 10 - 11.Meet in the Middle drew thousands of equal rights supporters to Fresno California this... more
If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing out postcards with questions on the back. Some of you filled them in with funny, interesting, and thought-provoking responses. And here are our favourites!
This is how people attending Pride events in Brighton answered the question "What's the best thing about being Gay?"
Remember to catch the show This is Gonna Sound a Bit Gay on Current TV (Sky 183, Virgin 155) on Monday 31st August at 10pm.If you attended some of the Pride events in Brighton, you might have seen us handing... more
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This 2-minute short film is an emotionally moving reminder that there is so much still to be done in order to protect the civil rights of all. Respect others, respect individuality.
This piece includes a number of b&w photographs and the touching short film, “Human Rights.”On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed... more
“Mad World” is a short film by Evanoah Sea, with music provided by Adam Lambert. The film documents the San Diego Civil Rights March that took place on May 26th, 2009. “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny….I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be,” said Coretta Scott King, quoting her late husband, Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy.”
Includes a number of color photographs and the short film, “Mad World.”Mad World: A Single Garment of Destiny
“Mad World” is a short film by... more
The court announced moments ago that it will rule on proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26 at 10:00 AM. Day of Decision rallies are planned throughout the country to either celebrate or protest the decision. www.dayofdecision.comThe court announced moments ago that it will rule on proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26... more
Forty-two percent of Americans now say same sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. That's up nine points from last month, when 33 percent supported legalizing same sex marriage.
Support for same sex marriage is now at its highest point since CBS News starting asking about it in 2004.
Twenty-eight percent say same sex couples should have no legal recognition – down from 35 percent in March – while 25 percent support civil unions, but not marriage, for gay couples.
As has historically been the case on this issue, liberals are more likely to support same sex marriage. Sixty-nine percent support the idea, while conservatives generally favor either civil unions (28 percent) or no legal recognition (44 percent).Forty-two percent of Americans now say same sex couples should be allowed to legally... more
