Via AmericaBlog Gay: Southwest boots L-Word star off flight for kissing girlfriend after passengers complain

Buzzfeed:

This is unbelievable. Leisha Hailey, former star of The L-Word tweeted earlier today that she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after kissing her girlfriend, claiming a flight attendant said Southwest was a “family airline.” Leisha is now calling for people to #boycottSouthwest.

More via Felix Salmon, who is absolutely correct:

Southwest’s official statement is that the crew had received several complaints from other passengers about the pair’s “excessive” behavior, and that “Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender.

This statement is damningly self-contradictory. The crew can approach the kissing passengers based on other passengers’ complaints, or they can approach the kissing passengers based solely on behavior. But not both. As I’m sure Southwest is fully aware, passengers are much more likely to find kissing “excessive” if it takes place between a same-sex couple than they are if it’s a straight couple. If Southwest wants to pretend otherwise, they’re covering up their passengers’ homophobic attitudes.

More from the LA Times.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: New DNC video about gay soldier being booed: Not one candidate

http://gay.americablog.com/2011/09/new-dnc-video-about-gay-soldier-being.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AMERICAblogGay+%28AMERICAblog+Gay%29

Via JMG: Gary Johnson Condemns Booing

Former New Mexico governor and 2012 presidential candidate Gary Johnson has joined former Sen. Rick Santorum in condemning the audience members who booed an openly gay soldier at this week's GOP debate.

"If I have one regret from last evening, it’s that I didn’t stand up and say, you know, you’re booing a U.S. serviceman who is denied being able to express his sexual preference," he said. "There’s something very, very wrong with that." Johnson said he was "chomping at the bit" to respond to the audience, but he was reticent to speak out due to his exclusion from the recent debates. "I’m feeling a little bit like I’m walking on egg shells," he said. He told Sharpton he believes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which went into effect on Sept. 20, should have been done "a long time ago."

Johnson is by far the most gay-friendly of the entire GOP presidential field. Therefore, of course, he is at the bottom of the pack.

Labels: 2012 elections, DADT, debate watch, GOP

reposted from Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - John Shore

"If you’re a Christian who believes that being gay is a morally reprehensible offense against God, then you share a mindset, worldview, and moral structure with the kids who hounded Jamey Rodemeyer, literally, to death. It is your ethos, your convictions, and your theology that informed, supported, and encouraged their cruelty. We Christians who believe that God created gay people as much in His own image as he did straight people are begging you to reconsider your theology — to do nothing more than be open to an alternative, fully credible, scholastically sound interpretation of one or two lines from Paul. How can you be unwilling to do something so simple, when you see the horrible ultimate cost of that refusal?" - Christian author John Shore.

Labels: bullying, LGBT youth, suicide

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NFL Protects Sexual Orientation

With little apparent fanfare, the National Football League has added sexual orientation to the list of protected classes in its collective bargaining agreement. Via the gay sports blog Wide Rights, here's the new language.

Section 1. No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA.

In the above-linked article, Wide Rights speculates as to the source of this change, which may have come from gay-friendly New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Labels: football, LGBT rights, NFL, sports

reposted from Joe

'BULLYING IS VIOLENCE' Public Service Announcement Campaign

Lady Gaga - "Hair" [Jamey Rodemeyer Tribute] Live at iHeartRadio Music Festival 2011

Via JMG: Hate Groups: We're Being Oppressed!

Yesterday the New York Times took note of the months-old battle to get major companies to stop aligning themselves with hate groups.

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. [snip]

“This is economic terrorism,” said Mike Huckabee, the former pastor, governor and presidential contender, who is a paid CGBG consultant. “To try to destroy a business because you don’t like some of the customers is, to me, unbelievably un-American,” he said in an interview. CGBG, a for-profit company formerly called the Christian Values Network, resembles hundreds of so-called affiliate marketers, which retailers use to bring customers to their own Web sites. The affiliate receives a commission on any sales, and CGBG allows buyers to send half that commission to any of the Christian charities on its list.

When Christians pressure companies, that's righteous! When gays do the exact same thing? Economic terrorism!

RELATED: The Christian Values Network was launched by nutjob actor Stephen Baldwin and convicted drug felon Michael Lohan (father of Lindsay).

Labels: Christianists, Family Reseach Council, hate groups, hypocrisy, internet, Mike Huckabee

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Religion Poll On Marriage Support

Baylor University's annual survey on religion reports the above levels of support for marriage equality. Unsurprisingly, the "unchurched" are far and away our best allies.

Labels: marriage equality, religion, surveys

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NEW YORK: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Signs Landmark Bill Aiding LGBT Seniors

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill creating state services for LGBT senior citizens. The bill was sponsored by openly gay state Sen. Thomas Duane and openly bisexual state Assemblyman Micah Keller. The bill authorizes the replication of various state programs currently offered to traditionally underserved populations.

Via press release from Duane's office:

“Governor Cuomo has once again shown his commitment to ensuring that all New Yorkers have equal rights and protections under the law,” said Senator Duane. “This legislation is groundbreaking. For the first time, New York will recognize the unique needs of the ever growing segment of aging LGBT New Yorkers – and the services they may require in the years to come. Over the past decade, this State has gone from all but ignoring the LGBT community to enacting comprehensive LGBT hate crimes protections, providing a Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, protecting our students with strong anti-gay bullying protections in the Dignity For All Students Act, insuring our right to marry the ones we love with a Marriage Equality law, and now today taking major steps to assist elderly LGBT New Yorkers. I am proud at how far we have come in such a short amount of time.”

I believe this new bill is unique to New York state. Can anybody verify that?

Labels: gay seniors, Micah Kellner, New York state, Thomas Duane

reposted from Joe