Bisexual visibility on National Coming Out Day
The Bisexual Index, a network of activists, will honor National Coming out Day with badges that can be posted on blogs and social networking sites.
According to Pink News, The Bisexual Index says that the B in LGBT is often silent.
Marcus Morgan, coordinator of the Bisexual Index told Pink News:
“Coming out …
Tags: Activists, Badges, Bisexual, Coming Out Day, Lgbt, Marcus Morgan, National Coming Out Day, Pink, Social Networking Sites, VisibilityMarried lesbian couple seeks protection in India
LUCKNOW: Even as the country debates pros and cons of legalising the same sex marriages and the Central government finds itself in a fix over the issue, a lesbian couple tied nuptial knot defying all social norms in Muzaffarnagar, known for honour killings and fundamentalist diktats by caste-based panchayats.
This is not all. Two days after the incident hit the headlines, the Muzaffarnagar district administration received another application for same sex marriage from another lesbian couple. While in the first case, officers have provided security to the newly wedded, they have not given permission to the second couple fearing a backlash from the community. Significantly, in both the cases, the couples belong to low income group and are not highly educated.
In the first case, Komal Sharma and Pinki Kashyap entered into wedlock and left their families to live together. The couple hails from Dayanand Nagar, a small locality in Shamli tehsil of Muzaffarnagar district. While Komal belongs to a Brahmin family and is educated till class XI, Pinki hails from an other backward class family and has studied only till class VIII. Komal’s father Rajendra Sharma is with home guard and Pinki’s father Hariram runs a small dairy.
The two girls met three months back in a vocational training centre where both had enrolled for a course in stitching. The friendship soon turned into love and they got secretly married through Arya Samaj rituals at a temple in Muzaffarnagar. They also to have entered wedlock legally through a court marriage in Delhi. While Pinki posed as the groom, Komal dressed as a bride.
The couple kept their marriage a secret till July 23, the day they left their families. According to police, Pinki came to Komal’s house in the morning of July 23 when Komal was alone with her two younger siblings. The duo gave sleeping pills mixed in cold drink to the Komal’s younger brother and sister and left the house. The two girls also filed an application in the office of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Muzaffarnagar, complaining that they have threat to their lives from their families. See Married woman marries her ‘girlfriend’ in west UP Times of India
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/married-lesbi…
In UK, New initiative launched to tackle homelessness among LGBT youth
Four leading LGBT charities have announced the launch of a new initiative to reduce homelessness among young LGBT people.
The initiative, known as ‘Jigsaw’, brings together the legal advisers Stonewall Housing, youth homelessness and support charity the Albert Kennedy Trust, the mental health organisation PACE and Galop, which supports victims of homophobic crime.
A joint statement from the groups said: “Despite the greater legal recognition of LGBT people, social acceptance is far from universal.
“Even in London today, many young LGBT people face rejection from their own family, persecution from their own communities, and even physical attack.
“Furthermore, most offenders of homophobic hate crime are aged between 16 and 20″.
Michael Nastari, the co-ordinator of Jigsaw, and a director of LGBT Youth Homelessness Prevention Network, commented: “The effects of homophobia and transphobia on young people’s lives can be devastating. As a result, they can fail to succeed in education, miss out on employment and training, and suffer a range of mental health issues.
See New initiative launched to tackle homelessness among LGBT youth
PinkNews.co.uk
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-uk-new-ini…
Old Game, New Buzz, Gay Community Outraged
Pink News reports on gay groups becoming re-outraged over a game which requires players to shoot gay men. The game is called “Watch Out Behind You, Hunter”, and was originally launched in 2002 by frenchie Stéphane Aguie. The game is banned in France, but that hasn’t stopped it from making the rounds and finding a new host.
The gay group Gay Armenia said it was “completely disgusted” by the game, adding that it was created by “those religious-minded people in Tbilisi, Georgia… who constantly cite Bible to ‘justify’ their homophobia and hatred. A post on the gay group’s blog added: “Is this their ‘orthodox’ way of bringing up children by creating an image of an enemy and teaching them how to deal with it?”
The website’s owner, Jean Christophe Calvet, has rebuked claims of prejudice, saying that he “really didn’t understand why the association was attacking us” . He told news site France24.com: “The guy who came up with the game, Stéphane Aguie, wanted to mock hunters and rednecks, not gay men”.
He continued: “Our games are not politically correct. They’re aimed at teenagers and it’s true that they’re of a juvenile humour”. Mr Calvet said that while the game was removed from French websites after legal action from gay rights groups, it is “impossible to wipe it from all foreign sites too”.
He added: “Incidentally, not everyone in the gay community was supportive of banning the game. “I realise now that this one in particular could be found shocking, but I believe that you should be able to make this kind of joke in the name of freedom of speech.” The site has faced backlash for its games before. In 2001 it was criticised by American groups for a game entitled ‘New York Defender’ where the object was to protect the Twin Towers from plane attacks.
Mr Calvet also commented that the site was attacked over its depiction of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the French National Front. He took the creators to court after the game involved users throwing axes at his face. He was not the only celebrity depicted in the game, but for him, the axes were changed to swastikas. He added: “In the end, its all a bit of fun.”
See Old Game, New Buzz, Gay Community Outraged
Ve3d.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/old-game-new-…
In UK politics, It’s Gay Gordon versus Camp David
GORDON Brown and David Cameron were last night locked in a bizarre and bitter battle for the GAY vote.
The PM and Conservative leader are desperate to win over the UK’s three million pink voters.
Two Cabinet ministers sprang into action to accuse the Tories of being anti-gay after new figures showed a rise in the number of gays planning to vote Tory.
Openly-gay Ben Bradshaw and Chris Bryant warned homosexuals and lesbians the Tories once persecuted them.
Culture Secretary Mr Bradshaw told the BBC: “A deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches.” And Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant said: “If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon.”
See It’s Gay Gordon versus Camp David
The Sun
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-uk-politic…
Mennonites in Ohio protest exclusion of gays
Gay and lesbian Mennonites dressed in bright pink have gathered with others outside the church’s biannual convention in Columbus to criticize its leaders for trying to push them out.
About 100 ministers and lay people prayed, sang hymns and spoke of feeling ostracized from the church at the protest in downtown Columbus on Thursday. The “pink Menno” campaign is an effort to get the church to address the deeply divisive issue of allowing homosexuality within its congregations.
See Mennonites in Ohio protest exclusion of gays Washington Post
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/mennonites-in…
Boy? Girl? Parents aren’t telling — and s/he’s 2!
A Swedish couple believe so strongly that gender is a social construction that they do not reveal whether their 2.5-year-old is a boy or a girl.
Only those who have changed the toddler’s diapers know if “Pop,” which is not the child’s real name, is male or female. “We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mold from the outset,” the tot’s 24-year-old mother told the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. “It’s cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.”
Pop’s wardrobe includes both pants and dresses, and the child usually gets to decide what to wear. “Although Pop knows that there are physical differences between a boy and a girl, Pop’s parents never use personal pronouns when referring to the child — they just say Pop,” according to the English-language Swedish site the Local.
See Boy? Girl? Parents aren’t telling — and s/he’s 2!
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/boy-girl-pare…
Gay animals may help species survive, scientists claim
More than 450 species of animals display gay behaviour, scientists have found.
In a paper, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, they suggested that homosexuality among animals may be vital for the survival of the species.
“The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals is impressive,” wrote the paper’s authors Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk. “Many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and nematodes.”
“It’s been observed a lot,” Bailey, a post-doctoral researcher at University of California, Riverside continued. “But it took people a long time to put it in an evolutionary context.”
For traditional Darwinism, the notion of animals indulging in behaviour that will not result in procreation may seem confounding. However, Bailey and Zuk have argued that in many cases, gay behaviour in fact supports a species and can improve the chances of survival.
See Gay animals may help species survive, scientists claim PinkNews.co.uk
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/gay-animals-m…
British ambassador to Poland criticised for ‘pushing’ gay rights
The British ambassador to Poland has been told by the country’s civil rights ombudsman he is “exceeding his authority” by promoting a gay Pride march due to take place in Warsaw this weekend.
Ric Todd has also been accused by Catholic groups of “representing the ‘homosexual lobby”.
Earlier this week, he gave Polish gay rights leaders a UK Guide To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender People And Their Rights, translated into Polish.
Janusz Kochanowski, the Polish civil rights ombudsman, told the Daily Mail: “Ambassador Todd has exceeded his authority. He is being improper and doesn’t understand the role of a diplomat. He represents the UK, he is not meant to intervene here in the way that he chooses.”
He added that Polish gays do not live in fear of persecution.
Slawomir Skiba, the editor of Catholic newspaper Christian Polonia, also attacked Todd’s actions.
“The ambassador has demonstrated an extreme lack of diplomacy and absolute ignorance of the values by which the vast majority of our society lives,” he said, adding that Todd should ensure he represents Britain, rather than the “homosexual lobby”. See British ambassador to Poland criticised for ‘pushing’ gay rights
PinkNews.co.uk
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/british-ambas…
MoxieQ Launches First Mobile “Gay Sensibility” Destination for Consumers Who Want the Gay POV
MoxieQ, the first mobile-centric gay entertainment publisher, today announced its official launch as a mobile and online entertainment destination with a gay sensibility. MoxieQ was founded by two pioneers in the mobile advertising industry — Heidi Lehmann, co-founder of Third Screen Media (which was acquired by AOL in May 2007) and Kim Olson, a founding member of the Sprint Mobile Media Network. The service appeals to the more than 16 million, $712 billion-spending members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community as well as other consumers who want the gay perspective.
The Premier Gay Mobile Entertainment Destination
The publisher debuted its editorial talents at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, March 28th and in LA, April 18th, where MoxieQ media personalities Ryan and Caroline, formerly of Clear Channel’s Pride Radio, conducted red carpet interviews with celebrities including Suze Orman, Tyra Banks, Judith Light, Kathy Griffin and Wilson Cruz. The GLAAD awards recognize accurate and fair LGBT portrayals and news content in the media.
“We are proud to share our TV ‘Gayed’ weekly guide to what’s LGBT on TV and outstanding LGBT-inclusive commercials from GLAAD’s online ad library with MoxieQ as they bring important and entertaining content to our community on the go,” said Neil Giuliano, President of GLAAD.
Leading Brand and Celebrity Partners
MoxieQ partners include a number of leading LGBT celebrities and brands: BRAVO’s “The Fashion Show” personality and underwear designer Andrew Christian, DishMiss, Gay Cities, GLAAD, LOTL, Ryan and Caroline, Under the Pink Carpet and Witeck Combs Communications.
“I am excited to have my products featured in the ‘Daily Briefs’ section of MoxieQ,” said Andrew Christian. “My viewers and customers are young, hip, and on the move which means the mobile channel is a primary way for them to discover new products. MoxieQ is a perfect match for us to expose our latest designs directly to our target consumer.”
For Advertisers Targeting the LGBT Community
MoxieQ exclusives deliver sassy, short-form content such as Test your Gay IQ, Psychic Snacs (”gay” horoscopes), Ask Mr. Moxie, “Bite, Sip and Buy” recommendations for gay and green businesses, and up-to-the-minute Gay Weather.
“The LGBT and LGBT-friendly demographics are a perfect fit for both mobile and advertising, with an audience that is increasingly looked to by the mainstream consumer as trendsetters with tremendous influence and insight into what is hot and cutting-edge,” said MoxieQ founder and CEO Heidi Lehmann. “MoxieQ is designed to provide both a primary source of entertaining content and interactivity with a gay twist and an extremely targeted environment for brands who want to reach this valuable community.”
MoxieQ is designed to appeal to the gay community and people who want access to fun and irreverent gay themed content, games, and “in the know” advice and insights. The destination is ad-supported with future revenue models to include premium, syndicated and online content. MoxieQ Media is available now on the mobile phone at: http://m.moxieq.com or on the web at www.moxieq.com.
About MoxieQ Media, Inc.
Based in New York City, MoxieQ is an entertainment and advocacy site with a gay sensibility. It features original, syndicated, and user generated content, formatted for mobile phones and the PC. MoxieQ’s unique mix of information, games, recommendations, audio, video and interactivity, captures the irreverence and trendsetting perspective of this hip and influential demographic. Through MoxieQ, Fortune 500 brands will be able to reach the LGBT market directly. For more information, visit us at http://m.moxieq.com or www.moxieq.com.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/moxieq-launch…
