Mike Rogers outs Rep. Mark Kirk
Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican Congressman long suspected by the gay community to be, well, gay – actually is, according to Mike Rogers.
The interesting thing here is that Kirk has a pretty pro-gay voting record, voting for ENDA, against a constitutional ban on gay marriage (twice) – and even voting to re-introduce the Equal Rights Amendment (not specifically gay, but lesbian feminists like myself are cheering).
So why is a gay activist – who also outed clearly anti-gay Mark Foley and Larry Craig – outing this guy?
He voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Rogers says Kirk came out to him (kinda) at a party in 2004:
“I was introduced to [Kirk] by the person I came with and at the time did not realize he was a member of the House. As my friend walked away, Kirk asked me if the man who introduced us was ’single or attached.’ When I said that he had a partner Kirk replied disappointingly, ‘Oh, well.’ At the end of that interaction I walked away and didn’t think much of it at the time.”
And after the DADT vote, two men wrote him to say they had slept with Kirk.
Kirk is running for Senate this fall – and he is in the military (he’s a Commander in the Naval Reserves).
What do you think about this, folks? Do you think his gayness will make a difference in the election? Is there actual hypocrisy here, or was this just a bill he didn’t agree with (not all gay people vote in lockstep, after all, and the House didn’t need his vote to pass the bill). Or is this anti-gay vote a bid to help his election – and so the worst kind of hypocrisy?
Duffy: Don’t ask my fellow soldiers about ‘Don’t Ask’
I have a lot of opinions. I am sure that we all have a lot of opinions. Why in the world would a big army open up the question of whether to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to soldiers?
I was never provided an army-sponsored chance to express my feelings on the Iraq or Afghanistan war. I have never been asked to discuss my feelings on anything, really. I was told that the Army isn’t a democracy and was not able to voice my opinion on anything or anyone I may have had to share my bay, chu, or tent with.
Recently I read that the first submariner females were graduating the naval academy. I missed my chance to comment on that idea. I missed my chance to comment on many things, apparently. It’s not like the Army has a Facebook page designed for servicemembers to comment on how they feel about each sex, each creed and each race. Why is the gay community singled out as a group that it is ok to comment on? Why haven’t I heard much of an uproar against this idea?
Each stage of integrating women and African-Americans throughout the years was undoubtedly met with plenty of opinionated military personnel at all ranks. They made movies such as “GI Jane”and “Men of Honor” to show the opinions and the battles that segments of the population face to be treated equally. There was never a suggestion box for soldiers to place their comments expressing their willingness, or lack thereof, to serve next to others. Integration happened and you had to suck it up and drive on.
I am extremely worried that this process will be used to develop excuses to keep the gay military ban from being repealed. At best, it seems to be a method of garnering support for more separate-but-equal laws like those used outside of the military for marriage and adoption.
I find nothing positive or pleasurable in the idea of being “free” to be a target for discriminatory policies after I am allowed to be out. I would rather stay mute on some important parts of my life and serve than serve while constantly evaluating any new rules or laws that set me apart as something other than a soldier.
Oh, and next time they want to bail out banks… I would like to comment on that too.
‘Michael Duffy’ is the pseudonym of a soldier who formerly served in Iraq.
US reports harassment and rape of gays in Zimbabwe
(Harare, Zimbawe) Gay Zimbabweans face widespread harassment and some have even been raped by those intending to convert their sexuality, the U.S. State Department said in a discussion of its annual human rights report in Zimbabwe.
Gay men were forced into heterosexual acts and lesbian women were raped, sometimes by male relatives, to teach them to change their ways, said Amanda Porter, political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare and compiler of the report.
“Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct,” she said Tuesday.
Homosexuals reported widespread discrimination in 2009, the year under review. But the report notes that the conservative southern African country has long frowned on homosexuality.
Hate speech by politicians against the nation’s small gay community fueled social pressures on families, Porter said. And crimes against human rights and sexual abuse against gays were rarely reported to police.
“Victims are afraid to speak out,” she said.
Same-sex acts are illegal in Zimbabwe and while there have been no reported prosecutions related to consensual homosexuality in recent years, the offense carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000.
President Robert Mugabe last month vowed gay rights would not be protected in a new constitution being drawn up under a power sharing deal ahead of new elections, possibly next year. Mugabe once described homosexuals as “lower than pigs and dogs.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he personally shared an abhorrence of homosexuality, but called for tolerance toward all minority groups.
“There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of the population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation,” he said in debate on constitutional reform earlier this month.
Condemnation of gays is common in Africa. In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage, and even so the gap between the liberal constitution and societal attitudes can be wide.
Ugandan lawmakers have proposed imposing the death penalty on some gays. A gay couple is on trial in Malawi, charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency and face up to 14 years in jail.
Ugandan clerics have accused President Barack Obama of “exporting” homosexuality to Africa under the guise of human rights.
Porter said the annual U.S. rights review presented to a discussion group in Harare late Tuesday gave greater emphasis to gay rights than in previous years, reflecting concerns in Obama’s administration about homophobia.
She said attitudes and laws in Zimbabwe made gays feel unsafe. Many did not seek medical care, for fear of being shunned by health providers and others who were stigmatized, reported abandoning their education early and suffering higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than other groups.
US reports harassment and rape of gays in Zimbabwe
(Harare, Zimbawe) Gay Zimbabweans face widespread harassment and some have even been raped by those intending to convert their sexuality, the U.S. State Department said in a discussion of its annual human rights report in Zimbabwe.
Gay men were forced into heterosexual acts and lesbian women were raped, sometimes by male relatives, to teach them to change their ways, said Amanda Porter, political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare and compiler of the report.
“Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct,” she said Tuesday.
Homosexuals reported widespread discrimination in 2009, the year under review. But the report notes that the conservative southern African country has long frowned on homosexuality.
Hate speech by politicians against the nation’s small gay community fueled social pressures on families, Porter said. And crimes against human rights and sexual abuse against gays were rarely reported to police.
“Victims are afraid to speak out,” she said.
Same-sex acts are illegal in Zimbabwe and while there have been no reported prosecutions related to consensual homosexuality in recent years, the offense carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000.
President Robert Mugabe last month vowed gay rights would not be protected in a new constitution being drawn up under a power sharing deal ahead of new elections, possibly next year. Mugabe once described homosexuals as “lower than pigs and dogs.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he personally shared an abhorrence of homosexuality, but called for tolerance toward all minority groups.
“There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of the population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation,” he said in debate on constitutional reform earlier this month.
Condemnation of gays is common in Africa. In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage, and even so the gap between the liberal constitution and societal attitudes can be wide.
Ugandan lawmakers have proposed imposing the death penalty on some gays. A gay couple is on trial in Malawi, charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency and face up to 14 years in jail.
Ugandan clerics have accused President Barack Obama of “exporting” homosexuality to Africa under the guise of human rights.
Porter said the annual U.S. rights review presented to a discussion group in Harare late Tuesday gave greater emphasis to gay rights than in previous years, reflecting concerns in Obama’s administration about homophobia.
She said attitudes and laws in Zimbabwe made gays feel unsafe. Many did not seek medical care, for fear of being shunned by health providers and others who were stigmatized, reported abandoning their education early and suffering higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than other groups.
US reports harassment and rape of gays in Zimbabwe
(Harare, Zimbawe) Gay Zimbabweans face widespread harassment and some have even been raped by those intending to convert their sexuality, the U.S. State Department said in a discussion of its annual human rights report in Zimbabwe.
Gay men were forced into heterosexual acts and lesbian women were raped, sometimes by male relatives, to teach them to change their ways, said Amanda Porter, political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare and compiler of the report.
“Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct,” she said Tuesday.
Homosexuals reported widespread discrimination in 2009, the year under review. But the report notes that the conservative southern African country has long frowned on homosexuality.
Hate speech by politicians against the nation’s small gay community fueled social pressures on families, Porter said. And crimes against human rights and sexual abuse against gays were rarely reported to police.
“Victims are afraid to speak out,” she said.
Same-sex acts are illegal in Zimbabwe and while there have been no reported prosecutions related to consensual homosexuality in recent years, the offense carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000.
President Robert Mugabe last month vowed gay rights would not be protected in a new constitution being drawn up under a power sharing deal ahead of new elections, possibly next year. Mugabe once described homosexuals as “lower than pigs and dogs.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he personally shared an abhorrence of homosexuality, but called for tolerance toward all minority groups.
“There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of the population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation,” he said in debate on constitutional reform earlier this month.
Condemnation of gays is common in Africa. In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage, and even so the gap between the liberal constitution and societal attitudes can be wide.
Ugandan lawmakers have proposed imposing the death penalty on some gays. A gay couple is on trial in Malawi, charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency and face up to 14 years in jail.
Ugandan clerics have accused President Barack Obama of “exporting” homosexuality to Africa under the guise of human rights.
Porter said the annual U.S. rights review presented to a discussion group in Harare late Tuesday gave greater emphasis to gay rights than in previous years, reflecting concerns in Obama’s administration about homophobia.
She said attitudes and laws in Zimbabwe made gays feel unsafe. Many did not seek medical care, for fear of being shunned by health providers and others who were stigmatized, reported abandoning their education early and suffering higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than other groups.
New HIV infections increasing among international, US gays
(New York) New HIV infections are increasing among gays, drug users and prostitutes who don’t seek help because of laws that criminalize them, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency said Monday.
Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS, said “it is unacceptable” that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing same-sex relations among adults, including seven that impose the death penalty for homosexual practices.
He called a proposed Ugandan law that would impose the death penalty for some gays “very unfortunate” and expressed hope it will never be approved.
At a time when UNAIDS is scaling up its program and seeking universal access to HIV treatment, Sidibe said he was “very scared” because bad laws are being introduced by countries making it impossible for these at risk groups to have access to services.
“You have also a growing conservatism which is making me very scared,” Sidibe added.
“We must insist that the rights of the minorities are upheld. If we don’t do that … I think the epidemic will grow again,” he warned. “We cannot accept the tyranny of the majority.”
Sidibe told a group of journalists at a luncheon hosted by the United Nations Foundation that in countries from China to Kenya and Malawi, about 33 percent of new HIV infections are in men having sex with men, a significant increase.
By contrast, he said that in the Caribbean where most countries don’t have repressive laws, only between 3 and 6 percent of HIV infections are in male homosexuals.
Even in the United States, where laws are not restrictive and the gay community was the first to tackle AIDS, Sidibe said it is “shocking” that more than 50 percent of new HIV infections last year occurred among homosexuals. And he said in the 19-25 age bracket the infection rate was even higher.
“It seems like we have come full circle” in the United States, he said. “After almost no cases a few years ago we are seeing again this new peak among people who are not having access to all the information, the protection that is needed.”
In addition to failing to adequately deliver the right messages about AIDS prevention, Sidibe blamed complacency in a new generation that has access to treatment.
He added that this was not just a problem in the U.S. but in Europe and in Africa as well.
Sidibe said drug users are also getting the HIV virus that causes AIDS in high numbers.
“You have 70 percent of new infections occurring in Eastern Europe and Central Asia among drug users, but they are criminalized,” he said. “They don’t have access to services. They have to hide themselves and go underground.”
Of the 16 million people in the world who are injecting drugs, almost 3 million are HIV positive, and among them less than 4 percent have access to treatment and less than 8 percent have access to services, Sidibe said.
“It’s the same for men having sex with men,” he said.
In Nigeria, where there are 1,000 new HIV infections every day, over 30 percent are in vulnerable groups – drug users, sex workers and homosexuals, he said.
Sidibe called for “a prevention revolution” including a campaign in major cities around the world like the anti-smoking campaigns launched in recent years.
Chinese government opens gay bar
The Advocate reported that the health department of Dali, China has opened a government-funded gay bar in an effort to reach out to China’s increasingly open gay community.
Dali is one of the ten cities with the highest AIDS rates in China.
Same-sex transmission accounts for about one-third of those new HIV …
Nation’s largest gay newspaper publisher closes
(Atlanta) The nation’s largest publisher of newspapers serving the gay and lesbian community has shut down.
Laura Douglas-Brown, editor of Southern Voice newspaper in Atlanta, said she arrived at work Monday to find the locks changed and a note saying parent company Window Media LLC had closed down.
She said the company’s …
Goodbye, Washington Blade?
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is reporting that Window Media, owner of the Washington Blade (40 years old), Southern Voice (20 years old), South Florida Blade and other publications has ceased operating.
This is a great loss for the gay community.
Until the rise of the internet, gay and lesbian community papers were our …
Gay rights attorney dies at 94
Albert L. Gordon, whose sons are gay, was one of LA’s gay community’s lead pro-bono lawyers.
