President Obama to Bestow Presidential Medal of Freedom on Harvey Milk
San Francisco – Today President Obama announced that he will honor assassinated civil rights leader Harvey Milk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor recognizing significant contributions to the nation and the world. The President will also honor Senator Edward Kennedy and tennis legend Billie Jean King, an open lesbian and longtime champion for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, with the Medal of Freedom on August 12.
Last year, EQCA sponsored the first bill in the country to officially honor Milk, the nation’s first openly gay man elected to major political office, but the Governor vetoed it. Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced the Harvey Milk Day bill, sponsored by EQCA, again this year. The legislation would require the governor to annually proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, designating it as a “day of special significance,” to recognize Milk’s work to secure equal protections.
Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/president-oba…
LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
BOSTON. The largest survey to date comparing the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to heterosexuals and non-transgender residents showed sharp health disparities.
The statistics:
In a survey of nearly 1,600 Massachusetts residents:
- Almost 31 percent of transgender citizens reported considering suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexuals and 4 percent for gay or lesbian.
- Nearly 35 percent of transgender citizens said they were threatened with physical violence during their lifetime by an intimate partner, almost three times the rate of non-transgender residents.
- Just 45 percent of bisexual women said they had never had a mammogram, below the 59 percent of heterosexuals and 58 percent of lesbians.
- Bisexuals reported the most days binge drinking, having four or five drinks in a sitting an average of nearly two times in the past 30 days. Bisexuals also reported smoking marijuana nearly twice as often as heterosexuals.
See LGBT health survey shows trouble spots
Metro.us
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/lgbt-health-s…
DeFrank Center’s boss knows a challenge when he sees one in San Jose
Paul Wysocki was about to show me the drop-in center for youth at the Billy DeFrank Center when the silent burglar alarm went off. Wysocki fiddled with the box to accept his code and wound up calling the alarm company, telling them all was fine. “There’s usually a little lag time before they call the police,” he explained. The situation bore more than a little irony. As interim executive director, Wysocki is sounding the public alarm for the center, San Jose‘s gathering place for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. But he has no lag time. Last week, he dispatched an e-mail that bluntly said the center would have to close its doors by Sept. 1 unless it raises $50,000. Wysocki hopes to coax backers to sign up for continuing contributions that would total $20,000 a month. “We had been talking about what we needed to do to get people’s attention,” said the red-haired 60-year-old, an exuberant and funny man who has become an expert in turning around nonprofits. “We decided we had to hit them right between the eyes.”
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/defrank-cente…
Outgames international gay sport and culture event opens in Copenhagen
There will be triathlon and handball – but also bridge and line dancing. Copenhagen is preparing for thousands of gay people from dozens of nations to descend this weekend for the Outgames, a nine-day sporting and cultural olympics for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
When the 5,500 participants are introduced on a catwalk in Copenhagen’s central square today, it will kickstart nine days of sport, arts and political debates with almost 100 nations represented in more than 30 events, traditional and improvised.
But the event is about much more than podium places. The Outgames has launched itself under the banner of sport, culture and human rights. Participants from a host of cities, including Tel Aviv and Mexico City, will take over public spaces throughout Copenhagen to showcase artists and performers.
See Outgames international gay sport and culture event opens in Copenhagen
guardian.co.uk -
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Yes on 8 people going door to door
We just learned that Ron Prentice and his group, Protect Marriage, will be focusing their efforts in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and the Central Valley.
They’ll be going door to door in the same areas where EQCA is already working with volunteers, only they will be spreading lies about how marriage needs to be protected from same-sex couples.
They know our strategy of going door to door is effective, so they are ramping up their fundraising efforts and targeting the same areas.
Make a donation before midnight Saturday so we can match them dollar for dollar.
Don’t be fooled—the other side won’t stop with stripping us of the freedom to marry. Their aim is to reverse every law that protects the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. They’re already flooding the governor’s office with calls opposing our Harvey Milk Day bill and our Marriage Recognition and Family Protection Act, a bill that would ensure that California recognizes couples who were married out of state.
We are close to the halfway mark of our $500,000 goal. Help us raise $25,000 by midnight Saturday. Your donation will fund our efforts on the ground in a range of communities, talking with people about their stance on marriage.
As I said before, I know we can restore the freedom to marry if we can reach enough people with the stories of how our families are affected and the hurt of being denied a simple right. We need your support today to make it happen.
In solidarity,
Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/yes-on-8-peop…
Human Rights Campaign Statement on Death of San Diego Area Sailor
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, released a statement today in the death of Seaman August Provost, 29, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, CA. According to local media reports, the Navy and Marine Corps confirmed that a sailor’s body was found on the base at about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. A military spokesperson confirmed that there was evidence of foul play in the killing and that the case is a murder investigation. It is also understood a “person of interest” is in custody at Camp Pendleton but has not been charged with a crime. Local activists report the victim may have been targeted because of his sexual orientation.
“Our thoughts are with the Provost family at this time as authorities work to learn what happened in the early morning hours this past Tuesday,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “The Human Rights Campaign has confirmed Congresswoman Susan Davis has been in touch with officials at the base and is tracking the investigation. We know that every day members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are targeted for simply being who they are. Furthermore, our gay or lesbian soldiers struggle with the extra burden of not serving openly and honestly based on the discriminatory policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ As we monitor the investigation, our community must continue to raise awareness on a law that we know hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers at risk.”
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
See Human Rights Campaign Statement on Death of San Diego Area Sailor
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Gays Step Up Efforts to Reverse Gay-as-Godless Stereotype
A groundbreaking survey about the faith lives of gay Americans that the Barna Group put out last week got surprisingly little attention. In my latest God & Country column for U.S. News Weekly, I tied the Barna survey’s fascinating portrait of gay religious life to the gay rights movement’s recent efforts to ratchet up outreach and messaging. Much of the work is aimed at reversing the gay-as-Godless stereotype.
Here’s the top:
Though he was raised in the United Methodist Church, Harry Knox knew he couldn’t become a minister in his denomination because it doesn’t ordain openly gay members. He enrolled in a seminary of the more liberal United Church of Christ but was eventually denied ordination anyway. “My whole career as an activist is an accidental ministry,” says Knox, 48, who now works at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group. “I would rather be a local pastor.”
Instead, since 2005, Knox has built HRC’s “religion and faith program,” which works to combat the stereotype of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community as antireligious. “For far too long, LGBT organizations did not put religious allies at the forefront of our efforts,” Knox says. “That’s a mistake we’re making less often now.”
Those religious allies may be more plentiful than most Americans think. A Barna Group survey out last week shows that most gay Americans lead pretty robust faith lives. While 72 percent of straight American adults describe their faith as “very important” in their lives, so do 60 percent of gays and lesbians. Almost as many, 58 percent, say they’ve made a personal and ongoing commitment to Jesus Christ.
And though they are much less likely than straights to share the beliefs of born-again Christians—which comes as no surprise, since most churches in the born-again tradition condemn homosexuality—the Barna survey found that 27 percent of gays do hold those beliefs. “Many in the Christian community assume there’s this significant gap between heterosexuals and homosexuals in terms of faith beliefs and activities,” says George Barna, the country’s top pollster on religious issues, who supervised the survey. “While there are statistically significant differences, it’s the narrow size of the gap that’s most surprising.”
The poll unleashed a torrent of hate mail, mostly from believers furious with Barna’s conclusion: that many gays are Bible-believing Christians. But more and more gay rights organizations are joining HRC in stepping up efforts to highlight the faith beliefs of many gay Americans, largely through religious outreach programs. And some religious traditions and denominations are taking steps to welcome gay and lesbian members.
Gay rights activists say that the 2004 election, when voters in 11 states passed gay marriage bans that were heavily promoted through churches, was a wake-up call. To help counter the image of the gay marriage battle as a fight between gays and religious Americans, HRC, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and other national gay rights groups quickly hired religious outreach staff.
Read the full story here.
See Gays Step Up Efforts to Reverse Gay-as-Godless Stereotype
U.S. News & World Report
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ST. PETERSBURG –– The rows of rainbow…
ST. PETERSBURG –– The rows of rainbow flags, feather boas and glitter-streaked men dressed as Hollywood starlets made for an unusual campaign backdrop.
But there they were, a handful of St. Petersburg mayoral and City Council candidates, passing out campaign literature, posing for pictures and introducing themselves to potential voters amid Saturday’s St. Pete Pride festivities.
In a sign of St. Petersburg’s changing politics, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is harnessing its collective voice, forcing candidates to take notice.
After years of tension between the group and conservative Mayor Rick Baker, it’s seizing the coming leadership change as a chance to make inroads and get its issues addressed.
“It is a matter of get-out-the-vote,” said Rick Boylan, founder of the Pinellas Stonewall Democrats. “If we can mobilize the community and inform them of which candidates support issues and which candidates are pro-equality and get them to participate, we can definitely have an impact on who is elected.”
See St. Petersburg’s gay community seeks to become key voting bloc in …
Tampabay.com
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In Maine,Sen. Damon leads gay pride parade NECN -
Advocates of same-sex marriage marched through the streets of Portland, Maine on Saturday for the annual gay pride parade — the first since passing a gay marriage law last month.
Participants carried a 900-foot long rainbow flag that stretched for several city blocks.
The man who sponsored Maine’s gay marriage law, Senator Dennis Damon, was the master of ceremonies.
“It isn’t just the gay. Lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, it’s our community as a whole. And that’s what I hope that Maine will look onto, will grab onto and continue to move forward with,” Sen. Dennis Damon said.
Last month, Maine became the fifth state to allow gay marriage.
Since then, New Hampshire adopted its own a gay marriage law.
See Sen. Damon leads gay pride parade NECN -
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‘Come Out’ Album’s Message: God Loves You Just as Gay as You Are
LOS ANGELES, CA — Gospel singer and an out lesbian member of clergy in the Gospel Truth Music Ministry (http://www.rizigospel.com/), the Rev. Rizi Nasele Timane’ is unveiling her new album “Come Out,” a collection of original songs that call for full human rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. As part of the album’s promotion, Timane’ is touring the United States during the summer of 2009.
The album’s title song challenges the fundamentalist notion that God and the Bible condemn homosexuality and strives to educate the public about what the Bible really says and does not say about homosexuality. “I have extensively studied the Greek and Hebrew translations of the Bible, and I found that, when interpreted properly, the Bible does not condemn homosexuality at all,” stated Timane’.
“I’m the first out lesbian reverend and gospel singer from Nigeria, West Africa,” Timane’ continued. “I was one of the first people to identify as openly gay in homophobic Africa, and I know firsthand how that rejection translates to drug addiction and suicide.” According to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Additionally, San Francisco State University’s Chavez Center Institute has found that LGBTQ youth who come from a rejecting family are up to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers because of the negative treatment endured.
“For LGBT persons, this painful struggle with religion or spirituality and sexuality is responsible for depression, low self-esteem, drug addiction, self-abuse, isolation and the entering into of false heterosexual marriages,” said Timane’. “Worst of all, it’s responsible for thousands of suicides each year in the LGBT community, especially amongst our teens and young adults. It is my hope to put a stop to these negative traits and suicides by re-educating our community.”
“Anti-LGBT arguments like the one contending that California’s Proposition 8 ensures children’s wellbeing by providing them with a mother and father are totally absurd. In the case of Proposition 8, the state’s laws permit adoption by gay and lesbian parents as well as single parents and even allows courts to assign a single grandparent, aunt, uncle or even a non-blood relative to be a child’s guardian or caregiver,” continued Timane’.
“The goal of my new album is to enable any LGBT person seeking God to know that God loves them just as gay as they are,” states Timane’. She also wants to help those who are struggling with their spirituality and sexuality, just as she did for many years, to finally find complete reconciliation and affirmation.
Gospel music lovers and Timane’ fans will be able to attend live performances at the following times and events:
– June 20 at 2:50 p.m., Rhode Island PrideFest in Station Park
– June 27 at 3 p.m. and June 28 at 12:30 p.m., San Francisco Pride Celebration in Civic Center Plaza
– July 9 at 7:30 p.m., Annual Fellowship Convention in Westin Atlanta Airport hotel
– July 18 at 2 p.m., San Diego Gay Pride 2009 in Balboa Park
To learn more about Timane’ and her experiences as a gay Christian that inspired her music, visit http://www.rizigospel.com/.
“Come Out” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfre1lV61Es
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/come-out-albu…
