Obama signs military funeral protest ban bill
US President Obama has signed a bill into law which while make protests within 300 feet of military funerals, of the kind favoured by the God Hates Fags Westboro Baptist Church, illegal.
The Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 introduces a range of new military benefits in addition the the law prohibiting pickets at the funerals of military personnel.
President Obama said: “We have a moral sacred duty to our men and women in uniform.
“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground. And obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech, but we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”
Westboro Baptist Church protests at the funerals of US service men and women because it claims the death of soldiers is a sign of God’s wrath against homosexuality.
It continues to attract attention by upsetting mourners. Its activities have resulted in members being barred from entering the UK.
The law now prohibits such protests within 300 feet of a military funeral, and those between two hours before and after the service.
REF: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/08/07/obama-signs-military-funeral-protest-ban-bill/
glee : coming out
a long story short of how hard coming out can be in high school. This is also a great way of seeing how t.v. and media focus on the stereotypes of LGBT to get their best story line.
Comment: Why are there so few openly gay athletes at London 2012?
Why are there so few openly gay athletes at the Olympics? (Photo: Fang Guo)
Sleeping accommodation in the Olympic village is segregated by gender. Given that several nations agreed only reluctantly and with very bad grace to send women athletes to the games at all, you would not expect otherwise. The rule of segregation is enforced with no exceptions.
So spare a crocodile tear for Russell and Lauryn Mark, members of Australia’s shooting team, who are not allowed to share a room, despite being husband and wife. Reacting to this hardly unpredictable news on arrival in London, Russell Mark complained, ‘There are tons of gay couples on the Olympic team who will be rooming together. So we are being discriminated against because we are heterosexual.’
Of course, while gender segregation does not wipe out opportunities for heterosexual adventures, it might well improve the opportunities for same-sex ones. There is no reason to suppose that such a huge gathering of physically active, healthy, young people will be some kind of Festival of Chastity.
The gay dating website Grindr crashed within minutes of the first wave of athletes arriving at Heathrow. The site was down for twenty-four hours. One theory is that arriving gay athletes had gone online as soon as they stepped off their planes; another is that every gay man in London was getting into the Olympic spirit by trying to link up with an overseas athlete.
That there are ‘tons of gay couples’ on the Australian team is good news for those of us of a progressive frame of mind. But what is sad is the low numbers of out-gay athletes, not only in this team but at the games as a whole. According to the website http://www.outsports.com, of the 12,000 athletes at London 2012, only twenty are openly gay. There are said to be only two openly gay paralympians.
Of the twenty in the main games, only three are men: the Dutch equestrian Edward Gal, the British equestrian Carl Hester and the Australian diver Matthew Mitcham. The lesbian women come from a range of sports: field hockey, basketball, beach volleyball, soccer, cycling, fencing, equestrianism, triathlon, handball and tennis. But, with the exception of the one woman in the triathlon, none of them is a participant in the blue riband track and field events. The pressures on athletes to remain in the closet are still extreme.
Think of the types—or stereotypes—of the masculine girl (‘tomboy’) and feminine boy (‘sissie’). They may experience school sports in very different ways. For the girl, sports may represent a welcome opportunity for self-expression, whereas to the boy the sports field and locker room may seem little more than officially sanctioned arenas for yet further bullying and humiliation. A route to success for one; for the other a route to failure.
This may go part of the way—but only part—to explaining the gender imbalance in lists of lesbian and gay sports people. In tennis, to take an obvious example, it is far easier to name great lesbian players of the game—with Martina Navratilova at the top of the list—than (any?) gay men. It could be that male numbers are proportionately no lower than female, but it appears that sportsmen are under greater pressure to maintain their watertight performances of machismo, involving at least a tacit implication of heterosexuality. Female strength and agility do not carry the same associations. This is a massive area for discussion and further research; I don’t pretend to be addressing it in any depth.
At school, the British diver Tom Daley was continually bullied with the unimaginative taunt ‘Diving Boy’—as if to be exceptionally good at something were a matter for embarrassment or shame (what a comment on the values instilled by the UK educational system!). Perhaps this experience helped build his confidence, both in the pool and beyond it.
It was a sign of Daley’s maturity at the Beijing games, when he was only fourteen, that he was completely relaxed in the company of the openly gay Matthew Mitcham. They became friends. On the other hand, it was a sign of the immaturity of corporate institutions that, even after winning gold in Beijing, Mitcham struggled to secure the levels of sponsorship that his straight counterparts attracted. He was eventually taken up by the telecoms group Telstra, and then by Funky Trunks, for whom he is a ‘swimwear ambassador.’
Gregory Woods is Professor of Gay & Lesbian Studies, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University. Further information about his work can be found atwww.gregorywoods.co.uk.
Nikolai Alekseev first to be convicted of ‘gay propaganda’ in St Petersburg
Gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alekseev has become the first man to be convicted under St Petersburg’s recent ‘gay propaganda’ laws.
Mr Alekseev was said to have been fined 5,000 roubles, just over £100, by a court in Russia’s second city for the promotion of homosexuality among minors, AP reports.
The law was approved in February; this is the first time a citizen has been successfully prosecuted under it.
Mr Alekseev had held up a sign reading “Homosexuality is not a perversion” outside the Smolny Institute in April in public view.
A former journalist, Mr Alekseev turned his attention to full-time gay rights campaigning in 2005, setting up the gay rights advocacy group GayRussia.ru.
He has appeared regularly on Russian television and has been honoured for his work by LGBT organisations worldwide.
He has been arrested on numerous occasions for holding illegal Pride marches and gay rights demonstrations and launched lawsuits against Moscow authorities for banning the events and had announced his intention to retire last year.
Soccer Pro David Testo on Coming Out
Fantastic interview of a gay soccer player from canada and his challenges about being gay in the soccer world! He is the only gay soccer player in North America.
Musical Chairs – Movie Trailer
Musical Chairs Trailer (2012). “Everybody dances to their own beat”. Set against the exciting backdrop of competitive ballroom dancing, MUSICAL CHAIRS is about Armando a Bronx-bred Latino who aspires to be a dancer but whose only way in is as handyman at a Manhattan dance studio, and Mia, an Upper East Side princess who is the studio’s star performer.
Frock Magazine – Article – Musical Chairs
Frock magazine has been granted exclusive access to some of the people behind the new movie, Musical Chairs. Your Frocky editor girl and friend of the stars, Katie, has been talking to the director, Susan Seidelman (who directed ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’) but mostly to transgender actress, Laverne Cox, who is making her Hollywood debut in this movie.
Set in New York City, Musical Chairs is about the meeting of several disabled people who are also colorful misfits in various ways and who go on to rise above their disabilities. Cox plays Chantelle, a pre-op transsexual woman who is paralyzed from the waist down. She meets the female lead, Mia who is also wheelchair bound, and together with the others they enter a “Wheelchair Ballroom Dance Competition”.
Featuring able-bodied and disabled actors and dancers, MUSICAL CHAIRS is a romantic and energetic celebration of the transformative powers of love and compassion in the face of life’s adversities.
Here’s what happened when I interviewed actress, Laverne Cox and got to ask the director a question too…
Katie: Laverne, tell us a bit about your own transgender journey.
Laverne: From an early age I was very feminine. When I was in third grade my teacher called my mom and said, “Your son is going to end up in New Orleans wearing a dress if we don’t get him into therapy right away.” Going to a therapist at eight years old to discuss my “gender confusion” was life changing. The therapist asked me if I knew the difference between a boy and a girl. Up until that time everyone was telling me that I was a boy and I knew I was a girl. So I rationalized that there was no difference. I thought a girl could have a penis too. That’s how my child’s mind rationalized the situation. My mother subsequently yelling at me insisting on the differences between boys and girls was one of many moments during my life where I was shamed about my gender expression. Then I began to internalize a tremendous amount of transphobia which didn’t begin to lift until I moved to New York City and met actual transgender people. For many of my teenage years I couldn’t ever fully run away from my gender but I was terrified to be trans because of my internalized transphobia – androgyny was my sort of compromised strategy. When I finally accepted that I’m a woman and began my medical transition over 13 years ago, my load was so much lighter. But internalized transphobia persists inside me. It’s lessened tremendously over the years. I wouldn’t have been able to transition if it hadn’t. But in accepting my womanhood, I have to be careful not to beat myself up because I might not conform to some arbitrary ideal of what I should look or sound like. The work of self- acceptance is never done.
Katie: You are already a successful actress. Tell us about that aspect of your life and how being trans has affected it.
Laverne: Well choosing to be an actress is perhaps one of the most insane things to do, but I think acting chose me. Being an African American trans woman actress, there’s a bit of a box the entertainment industry wants to put me in. There are not a lot of roles being written for my type. But my job is to continue to get better at what I do and find ways to keep working. I am happiest when I am on a movie or TV set. Acting is truly my bliss. So I must continue to follow my bliss.
Katie: In addition to your acting career you also find time to be a transgender advocate. What does that involve?
Laverne: Well for me it’s just about using the platform I have worked so hard to obtain, to talk about the things that are important to me, to be as authentic as I know how to be in the moment, to tell my story and hopefully educate and inspire people to think differently about what it means to be a man or woman as well as a human being. My advocacy has taken the form of writing, public speaking as well as using the mediums of the internet and television to spread the word about #girlslikeus.
Katie: Having been involved in many TV shows, you are now making the leap to the big screen with your role in ‘Musical Chairs’. Tell us about that.
Laverne: I play Chantelle who is sexy, sassy and wise. She is an African American trans woman who is paralyzed from the waist down. In the face of all these things she maintains an infectious joie de vivre and a great sense of humor about it all. The film takes us into the world of wheelchair ballroom dancing and is ultimately a story about love.
Katie: Over the last couple of decades, trans people have been shown in a very poor light on TV (think Jerry Springer). What do you think can we do to change the viewing public’s attitudes towards us?
Laverne: Well one of the things I am intensely passionate about is proliferating diverse humanized representations of trans people in the media. I believe that if people can get to know us as human beings in our diversity then the misconceptions and prejudices will melt away. It’s important for us to be out and to tell our stories. There are a number of internet projects which exist for us to do that now including Imfromdriftwood.com and Transpeoplespeak.org, which are both platforms I have used to share my story.
Katie: The whole trans journey can be a very depressing one for many people, who may lose friends, their job and even their families. The fact that a trans person like yourself can be so successful is a real inspiration to us all. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. What would you say to any of our readers who are feeling low, perhaps having just come out?
Laverne: I feel low all the time. This journey has not been easy for me. But what has often gotten me through is the belief in something greater than myself, that I am on this planet for a reason. I have also been harder on myself than anyone else possibly could. I would say let’s stop being so hard on ourselves.
Katie: What’s next for Laverne? More movies, more TV or something different?
Laverne: I am actually prepping to shoot a TV pilot as a producer, trying to get more trans women’s stories out there. I am also in the ever continuing saga of writing a one woman show. As long as I have been at this I still have to remind myself that all the elements of my story are important.
Katie: Thanks for giving us an insight into your life Laverne, I hope your movie is a great success.
Laverne: Thanks so much for your interest in talking to me about who I am and my work. Please everyone join Janet Mock’s twitter campaign to spread the word about trans women’s stories by tweeting using the hashtag #girlslikeus. Everyone has the right to dream.
I also asked the director, Susan Seidelman, why she decided to cast a real transgender woman in the role of Chantelle rather than a non-trans actor and here’s what she said…
“I cast Laverne in Musical Chairs because she is a terrific actress and was able to bring the necessary drama, pathos, and humor to the role of Chantelle. I also cast Laverne because, being a transgender actress herself, she made the character very real and authenticity was important to me.
Some of my favorite scenes in the film are those involving the love affair between “Chantelle” and “Wilfredo” because they find the right balance between making you laugh and making you cry. Both are total romantics looking for someone to love them unconditionally and although they are culturally very different, they find they have much in common under the surface.”
What Northern Ireland is doing to help the LGBT Community.
Cara-Friend: Sharing premises and knowledge and delivering joint services
Cara-Friend is an organisation dedicated to supporting, empowering, educating, and offering friendship to everyone in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and to advocating on their behalf as well as working with all relevant public authorities on policy decisions. It offers telephone helplines, counselling, advice, safe social space, personal development and peer support through the Gay Helpline, Lesbian Line, and Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland.
The organisation provides five services:
- Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland: GLYNI is a regional youth service for 14 to 25 year olds providing safe alcohol and drug free social space in venues across Northern Ireland. It also provides training and support in areas such as coming out, mental, sexual and physical health; legal information and advocacy on the rights of LGBT people; information on the LGBT social scene and community support groups, self development and peer support training.
- Gay Helpline: This is a listening ear and information service, which allows individuals to share their concerns and seek information on a wide range of issues from coming out; mental, sexual and physical health; legal information on the rights of LGBT people; and information on the LGBT social scene and community support groups.
- Lesbian Line: This is a listening ear and information service for lesbian and bisexual women, which allows individuals to share their concerns and seek information on a wide range of issues from coming out; mental, sexual and physical health; legal information on the rights of LGBT people; and information on the LGBT social scene and community support groups.
- Family Ties: The aim of this project is to provide practical advice, guidance and support to parents who are perhaps coming to terms with the fact that their child is LGBT and need support for their own issues around this, or for parents who perhaps suspect themselves that their child is LGBT and do not know what to do.
- Education in Schools Project: The project provides LGBT awareness training to school pupils, teachers, governors and parents and provides resource materials, curriculum guides and classroom lessons, as well as lobbying the relevant public authorities on curriculum matters and Section 75 equality duties and works closely with the Minister for Education.
Collaboration project 1: shared premises
In 2009 the Director of Cara-Friend realised that the building in which the organisation was located did not fully meet the needs of disabled service users. As a result the Director spoke to colleagues in the LGBT sector and, along with the Directors of The Rainbow Project and Lesbian Advocacy Services Initiative (LASI), identified the Memorial Building in Waring Street, Belfast, as a suitable new location.
“Three organisations moved to this building in 2009, it has been a huge success.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
One of the positive outcomes of the organisations sharing premises was that they reviewed their administration and services and stopped duplication. It became apparent that the previous arrangement of operating from different buildings had led to a situation where each organisation was not fully aware of the services and support the others provided.
“We stopped duplicating, we examined what areas we worked in and decided if we could co-operate in some and be open that we were competing in some. If we couldn’t co-operate we would try to see who was best placed to provide a service.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
This has developed further. The Directors of Cara-Friend, The Rainbow Project (TRP) and LASI now meet on a monthly basis to discuss services and opportunities. In the past month the management boards of Cara-Friend and TRP have also met as both organisations are currently planning their next three year strategies and are interested in how they can link into their strategy and business plans.
Collaboration project 2: Family Ties project
Family Ties is a joint project undertaken by Cara-Friend and The Rainbow Project. This project was established because some young people were reporting to Cara-Friend GLYNI that they did not feel supported by their parents. The two main reasons that young people felt this were that either their parents could not accept their sexual orientation or their parents accepted their sexual orientation but worried about the consequences of this for their child. Both organisations felt that there was a gap in services with regard to supporting parents on how to support their child. As a result the Family Ties parents support service was launched in April 2008 when Cara-Friend and The Rainbow Project launched a guide for parents who have lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender children. The guide was officially launched at an event opened by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, and with keynote speakers including the Human Rights Chief Commissioner and senior representatives from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM). This booklet has been financed and published in co-operation with the Eastern Health and Social Services Board and the Southern Health and Social Services Board. A peer support service for parents now meets monthly.
“Young people were saying to us that they felt supported here but when they went home they didn’t feel supported by their parents.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
Collaboration project 3: Education in Schools project
Through working with young people, Cara-Friend discovered that many are being bullied in school as a result of their sexual orientation.
“Some are getting bullied both mentally and physically on a daily basis.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
Cara-Friend had conducted research into bullying in schools of young LGBT people and realised that there was a gap in services in this area, and that teachers needed training and resources. The Director of Cara-Friend realised the potential of working with TRP to establish a service to address this issue. Both had their areas of expertise, Cara-Friend has experience in working with young people and the Rainbow Project has more experience in lobbying.
“We thought how do we get these two strengths together to make a focused campaign in schools?” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
“Parents, pupils, teachers, tutors are all singing its praises, the LGBT sector; even the Minister for Education (John O’Dowd) is singing its praises.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
Collaboration project 4: Mental health support proposal for lesbian and bisexual women
One of Cara-Friend’s projects is to provide counselling for women through Lesbian Line as this is not provided anywhere else in Northern Ireland. Cara-Friend has no direct funding for this service and has to allocate unrestricted funding to support it. The Director of the organisation realised the potential of working with LASI in regard to developing this support service and contacted the Director of LASI to see if they could work in partnership with this aim.
“Our organisation is about service delivery, theirs was about advocacy and policy. We perhaps used to look at each other as competition but by working together we have the strength and joint expertise to apply for proper funding for this essential service.” Steve Williamson, Director, Cara-Friend
Cara-Friend and LASI are the only two organisations in Northern Ireland working in this area. Instead of competing for funding they have jointly put in a bid to a major government agency to fund a part-time counsellor and part-time mental health development officer for lesbian and bisexual women. The organisations are waiting on a response from the agency but are optimistic that such a partnership service will be well received. Regardless of the success or failure of this bid, the two organisations have established a successful partnership whereby they will explore areas of joint working.
What went well?
The Director of Cara-Friend stated that the main thing that went well was the decision to share premises. It prevented the duplication of services, opened up the opportunity to work in partnership and to address gaps in services, leading to the successful ongoing delivery of Family Ties project, the Education in Schools project, the new mental health support proposal for lesbian and bisexual women and to the current situation where all three organisations can work together where possible and use their respective strengths to support each other where it’s not possible.
Great Magazines…
http://frockmagazine.com/ – Transgenered Magazine
http://www.attitude.co.uk/Default.aspx – Gay Lifestyle Magazine
http://www.divamag.co.uk/ – Lesbian/Bisexual Magazine
http://www.curvemag.com/ – Lesbian Magazine
Creative Review Magazine – Go Homo
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 6 November 2008, 18:21 Permalink Comments (22)
Ad for the Gay Times’ Homo Promo campaign by Leo Burnett, Chicago
Right-wing conservative groups have often accused gay people of having an agenda to promote homosexuality. In response to this, the UK’s Gay Times decided to run an interesting recruitment campaign: selling homosexuality to the straight community. Editor Joseph Galliano explains why he asked five ad agencies to help promote the gay cause…
CR: In light of the recent campaigning in the US, did some of the usual arguments emerging from the far-right help as a starting point for the project?
JG: “Actually, it’s unfortunately much more historical than that. The idea that there’s this ‘homosexual agenda’ is something that has come up many times, over the last 20, 30 years. I find it hilarious, the very idea that gay people might have a coherent set of agendas.
“So I just thought that, if it were true and we were trying to and sell homosexuality, what would it look like? It’s a simple idea really. But the serious point is in highlighting just how ridiculous some of those kinds of attacks are and trying to answer them in a way that’s interesting and creative.”
By The King’s Arms Creative, Manchester
CR: How did the ad agencies you approached respond to this unusual brief?
JG: “Creatively, it was great how open the people were to a good idea. It was something that was simple and that tickled them. Almost all the agencies we approached took part, which was really good, especially as there was no money involved.”
By Isobel, London (detail shown)
JG: “It’s all amused us greatly and is a project that we’d like to turn into something real, maybe gettting a viral campaign going. There was a readers’ vote to decide a favourite and the ad that won was the Guy Minds Think Alike one by Saint. The creators of that one connected it up with a Facebook page, too. It’s a very sharp and focussed message.”
By Saint@RKCR/Y&R, London
“While there are many old fashioned ways of campaigning for a cause, we wanted to do something more modern and creative to get the point across, and not be completely humourless. So it’s an interesting step in that direction.”
By Iris, London (detail shown)
The campaign, along with interviews with the various creators of the ads, runs in the November issue of Gay Times which is out now.
By James & Joe, Leeds.
Full credits for the work featured here are as follows:
We Really Want You
Created by Leo Burnett, Chicago
Creatives: Reed Collins, Mark McGinnis and Bob Winters
Go Gay
Created by The King’s Arms Creative, Manchester
Creatives: Paul Watson and Lynton Hemsley
Because
Created by Isobel, London
Creatives: Richard Allsop and Jana Pejkovska
Guy Minds Think Alike
Created by Saint@RKCR/Y&R, London
Creatives: Paul Graham, Simon Labbett, Jeeves & Pete and Kris Saliba
GA Why
Created by Iris, London
Creatives: Neale Horrigan and Leigh Wallace
Anything She Can Do
Created by James & Joe, Leeds
Creatives: James Kiers and Joe Callahan
I Am Who I Am 