PRIDE in Utah

SLC, UT – PRIDEinUtah is co-hosting a house party with Senator Ben McAdams of Senate District 2 for LGBT citizens! Everyone RSVP now so you can talk to him about the upcoming election, where he stand on issues and what he thinks will happen to us LGBT folk during this next session!

Send your RSVP to the email on the invite below.

LGBTQhouseparty[1]

Tags: ben mcadams, Gay, lgbt, mary bishop, prideinutah, utah

Ari Ezra Waldman has compiled a fantastic analysis of what constitutes discrimination. Are LGBT people discriminated against because of their status or because of their conduct? Check out exerpts from his article below.

The difference between being gay and doing something about it matters, both in the bedroom and in the courtroom. Identifying yourself as gay is identifying your status, similar (to some varying degree) to identifying yourself as Jewish or as an Asian-American, for example. Granted, your faith is not necessarily unchanging, like race or sexual orientation, but at least when it comes to Judaism, if your mother is Jewish, you are Jewish. As fellow members of the tribe can attest, bacon and ham and cheese sandwiches can hardly stand up to a Jewish mother.

Acting as a result of your status is conduct. Some gays engage in the act of sodomy, for example. It can be an act that is reflective of or a physical manifestation of their status. For others, sodomy is not part of their lives, but their expressions of love or physical desire manifest in other ways.

This distinction between status and conduct is not limited to the legal treatment of the gay community. Throughout American history, our concept of liberty eventually won out against state attempts to criminalize who we are; but our concept of order allows the state to regulate what we do. Japanese-American internment during World War II was turning heritage into a crime; Jim Crow laws that restricted  African-Americans from doing anything from voting to using public transportation also discriminated based simply on status (this time, race). Japanese-Americans and African-Americans were not being punished for something they did — their conduct; they were being punished for who they were — their status. As such, both policies are rightly on history’s dustbin.

Gay men and women still fall victim to the criminalization of their status and despite protestations to the contrary, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) is a perfect example.

You can read his full article over at towleroad.

Tags: ari ezra waldman, conduct, Gay, lgbt, status

California – Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have responded to the California Supreme Court’s query as to why they aren’t continuing to appeal Judge Walker’s decision overturning Prop 8. Their answer? It would be frivolous.

Today, Schwarzenegger and Brown filed papers in the California Supreme Court responding to an appeal of that ruling that was filed on September 7, with Deputy Attorney General Tamar Pachter writing for Brown that Beckley’s attempt “is too little, too late.”

Pachter concluded:

It is within the Attorney General’s discretion to determine that it is or that it is not appropriate to pursue an appeal. In Perry, given the Attorney General’s position at trial, there are no grounds for an appeal, and the filing of an appeal under such circumstance would be frivolous. The petitioner’s contention to the contrary is manifestly without merit.

Tags: appeal, brown, California, Prop 8, schwarzenegger, supreme court

California – The California Supreme Court has asked Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to explain why they are refusing to continue defending Prop 8 through the appeals process.

The Pacific Justice Institute, upset that the appeals court ruled against their lawsuit forcing the Gov and AG to defend the bigoted law, petitioned the Supreme Court to investigate.

AG Brown and Gov Schwarzenegger

In August, a federal court in San Francisco overturned the voter approved measure that stated that marriage is between one man and one woman.  While the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear the appeal of the lower court’s decision, they have made clear that there is a question whether the parties before them have standing to pursue the appeal.  The Attorney General as well as the Governor have failed to file the appeal in this matter based on their personal opposition to Proposition 8.  The proponents of the ballot measure took on the State’s job of defending the measure in court.

The California Supreme Court has ordered the Attorney General and the Governor to respond by 9 am this morning explaining why they have not filed this appeal.  Then the Pacific Justice Institute has just three hours to respond by noon today.

Tags: attorney general, brown, Governor, Prop 8, schwarzenegger, scotus, supreme court

California – Target Corp has yet to build a location in San Francisco, but now they’re facing even more setbacks because the city has a policy of only giving contracts to companies that provide equal benefits to both heterosexual and LGBT employees.

Hopefully San Francisco won’t back down on their policy, as Target is still embroiled in the on-going boycott from the LGBT community over it’s donations to anti-gay groups and candidates. Group’s like “Money I Would Have Spent At Target” are reporting that the giant retailer has already lost over $230,000 because of the boycott.

Target currently has refused to offer all benefits to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.

Tags: benefits, boycott, contract, Gay, lgbt, san francisco, target

Dan Hampton, co-host of Pro Football Weekly stirred up a hornet’s next last weekend on his commentator show. He described a team as being “less Clint Eastwood, and more Brokeback Mountain.” But GLAAD announced today that the NFL Hall of Famer will apologize on this week’s show.

I must have missed this one…. probably because I hate football.

From GLAAD’s Blog:

During a discussion about the season-opening game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints, Hampton said the Vikings need to go into New Orleans and “ hit that town like Katrina.” Later, in a segment about the NFC East, Hampton predicted that the Dallas Cowboys would be unable to win the division because they “think they are Clint Eastwood; they’re more of the Brokeback variety if you know what I’m talking about.”

Hampton publicly apologized for the Katrina gaffe, but has not yet addressed the Brokeback comment. Pro Football Weekly publisher Hub Arkush told GLAAD that Hampton will be leading this weekend’s show with an on-air apology for both statements. Arkush said “it shouldn’t have happened” and assured GLAAD that similar incidents will not happen again.

Tags: apology, comments, dan hampton, football, Gay, glaad, homophobe, slur

Montana – The Big Sky Tea Party keeps going! Members of the teabagger group throughout Montana are furious that their president, Tim Ravndal was fired after he made bigoted and violent comments against homosexuals on his facebook page. Now they’re demanding he be reinstated.

So can’t wait to see where this goes..

If you missed it, Mr. Ravndal’s original comments on facebook condoning Matthew Shepard-style violence was posted HERE. And yesterday, board secretary Kristi Allen-Gailusha declared war on the gay community on her facebook page (see HERE).

Here’s the latest from this insane teaparty group:

Ex-President Tim Ravndal

“At a frequently contentious meeting, many of the approximately 30 members in attendence blasted acting board chairman Roger Nummerdor and chairman Jim Walker — absent because he’s hunting in the Crazy Moutains — for stripping Ravndal of his position and membership without giving him a chance to defend himself, and for announcing the move to the press over the Labor Day weekend. In the end, Nummerdor said the available board members would meet soon to consider reinstating Ravndal’s association membership, although he did not specify a date for that meeting.”

Tags: big sky, bigot, facebook, fired, Gay, montana, mt, tea party, tim ravndal

Bit of silliness really – Microsoft Corp banned one of the gamers on the x-box network over “offensive language.” The gamer had his hometown listed as ‘Fort Gay,’ West Virginia. Turns out… that’s a real town.

“Microsoft Corp. and Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the Xbox code of conduct by declaring he’s from Fort Gay…Xbox chief enforcement officer Stephen Toulouse acknowledges the agent reviewing a fellow gamer’s complaint against Moore made a mistake. He says keeping up with slang and policing Xbox for offensive language is challenging, but mistakes in judgment are rare. Toulouse says training has since been updated.”

Tags: banned, fort gay, gamer, language, microsoft, xbox

New York – Governor Paterson has signed the Dignity For All Students Act (DASA) today, the state’s first law which includes gender identity/expression protections of any kind. The bill put protections in place for all students, including bullying over LGBT issues.

NY Governor Paterson

The new law prohibits bullying and discrimination ”with respect to certain non-exclusive protected classes, including, but not limited to, the student’s actual or perceived “race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex,”

Said Paterson in a statement: ”Every student has the right to a safe and civil educational environment, but far too often young people are ruthlessly targeted by bullies. Bullying and harassment have disrupted the education of too many young people, and we in government have a responsibility to do our part to create learning environments that help our children prosper. I am proud to sign this bill into law as it will help ensure that students are protected from harassment, discrimination and bullying at school grounds and at school functions.”

Tags: bully, dasa, Gay, Governor, lgbt, new york, ny, paterson, school

France – Yoann Lemaire has played soccer (or football if you like) for club Chooz for 14 years. But following his teammates making homophobic slurs on television last year, Lemaire has been fired specifically because of the “tension his sexuality brings.”

“In May 2009, some teammates made homophobic comments in front of a TV camera, and

Yoann Lemaire

 Lemaire took a sabbatical from the club. He has since asked to return to the club, and the team has refused. The rejection was signed by the club president, Frédéric Pretty. The rejection specifically refers to Lemaire’s sexuality and the ‘trouble’ it can cause as reason for rejection…Lemaire said in an interview that it was only two players (out of 60) on the team who don’t like that he’s gay. Instead of removing the hateful players, they instead decided to remove the gay player. Lemaire may have been part of a small club, but he was one of the more well-known players on that club.”

The club also claims it has received online threats directed at Lemaire by the club’s former chief.

French Junior Sports Minister Rama Yade has called for sanctions against club Chooz.

Tags: bigots, club chooz, fired, football, Gay, soccer, yoann lemaire