Via 365gay: Our story: A gay couple, torn apart by DOMA

Niles and Thiago da Silva met on a Sunday morning in 2002 at the Quincy Center T stop just outside of Boston.

They struck up a conversation, had a lot to talk about, and agreed to get coffee together in Boston. Coffee turned into lunch, lunch turned into a hike, a hike turned into more coffee, which turned into dinner. They were engaged six months later and legally married in Massachusetts in 2004.

“We knew from the beginning that we were soulmates,” says Thiago. “We both found something in the other person that was special and different from any other person we had dated in the past.”

Now, struggling to find a way to stay together before Thiago’s visa expires next year, it is one of the only things in their lives that is still certain.

jump here to read the full story

Via 365gay

Monday Watercooler: Obama’s directive comes too late for older gay CA couple

By James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog 04.19.2010 11:33am EDT

• Small steps count. Yes, the Obama White House is tortoise like when it comes to gay concerns. Sure the Justice Department presents odious arguments when defending stuff in court. Yet the president’s directive concerning gay couples and publicly funded hospitals is a step in the right direction. Only true knot-heads are going to maintain gay couples should be locked out of medical decisions. A toast to the White House for doing the right thing, albeit a small step that comes with little political cost. Let’s keep the pressure on President Obama so he’ll do more. He would expect nothing less.

• Elderly gay couple treated like their plans do not matter. This case is one of the reasons we need to keep hectoring Obama and other elected officials about rights for same-sex couples. An elderly gay couple in Sonoma County, California thought they had all the legal papers—powers of attorney and medical directives— dotted and signed. County officials disagreed and deemed the pair, they had been together for 20 years, just roommates. So when one got sick and couldn’t continue living at their home, the county denied them visitation rights. Their lease was terminated and all their possessions sold. Read about the case. It will make your blood boil.

Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce' - Telephone - Piano Cover

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Lt. Dan Choi

"Last week's hospital visitation directive is a welcome, but small step. Long gone are the days when will we accept crumbs and politely smile as if we were served the entire meal. We are tired of waiting. We are tired of seeing our money and our support go to politicians who promise us everything yet give us only small token gestures in return. We will continue confronting our elected officials, including President Obama, with direct action demanding that they fulfill their campaign promises to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act." - Lt. Dan Choi, in a GetEQUAL press release promising more actions against the Obama administration. Last month Choi was arrested after chaining himself to the White House fence.a repost from JMG

Via JMG: Photo Of The Day - Prom Night For Derrick

Without incident, this weekend openly gay teen Derrick Martin (right) and his date Richard Goodman attended Derrick's senior prom in Cochran, Georgia.

About 7:45 p.m., couples started to arrive at the high school in a line of stretch limos, a bus, a John Deere tractor and even carriage and buggy, and afterward walked through a crowd of parents and friends who snapped photos. When Martin, 18, and his boyfriend Richard Goodman, also 18, stepped onto a makeshift “red carpet” and their names were announced, a few parents whispered but many in the crowd gave him a loud cheer. No one yelled out in protest. “I wonder if they realize what they’ve done,” said Arturro Beeche, a San Francisco professor who flew into Georgia on Friday and drove Martin and Goodman to the prom. “Once it happens in small-town America, it will inspire so many,” he said. Security was tight with at least 15 officers stationed at the high school, and no one could enter the parking lot without a ticket. Martin asked his school system for permission to take a same sex partner to prom earlier this school year.

Derrick's story became a national counterpoint to the Constance McMillen controversy after his school agreed that they had no rule in place to prevent him from attending the prom with a same-sex date. Goodman has invited Derrick to his senior prom at another school.

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reposted from JMG

Via JMG: PhoboQuotable - Rev. Dallas Henry

"On 9/11 terrorists turned planes into missiles. The next day the late Dr. Jerry Falwell said, 'We’d better realize that God is removing His protective hand from this nation.' And then he specifically cited our national sins of abortion and homosexuality. The liberal press absolutely crucified him. We rarely see such a vicious attack as he endured. But he was right. And God is now using our current administration to give us what we have been asking for. It's change, and we are finding out it is not change we can believe in." - Maine Family Policy Council head Rev. Dallas Henry, who says that God loves us so much, he's going to kill the fuck out of us for electing Barack Obama.

(Via - Good As You) reposted from JMG

Via JMG: Gay Homocons Attack Constance

The douchenozzle Quislings over at Gay Patriot are attacking "the gay left's newest tool," Constance McMillen.

Okay. So have you heard of this story where the high school girl who wanted to attend the prom with her “lesbian girlfriend” (I use the quotes because, really. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud*, but are high-schoolers self-aware enough to realize they’re lesbians already? And even if so, are we encouraging kids that young to identify themselves sexually? What ever happened to the innocence and beauty of youth? Ugh, but anyway.) was duped into arriving at some sham event while the actual prom was being held somewhere else? [snip] Additionally, let’s note that her reaction was to broadcast far and wide to anybody willing to listen that she’d been completely punked and embarrassed through her gullibility in hopes of garnering sympathy, rather than reflecting on how she could have been so credulous. This will likely also find her kindred spirits in the movement.

Since high school kids aren't self-aware enough to know that they're gay, I guess we're all wasting our time trying to protect them from beatings, bullying and torture. And all those homeless gay kids on the streets of NYC? Totally invented by the gay left.reposted from JMG

VIa JMG: Today In Lying Bigots

ENDA Will Cause Sexual Assaults On Disabled Veterans

Right Wing Watch points us a poorly attended panel on the "gay agenda" that took place at the Freedom Federation's Awakenings Conference. In the clip below, liars Matt Barber (Liberty Counsel) and Andrea Lafferty (Traditional Values Coalition) explain to their meager audience that the passage of ENDA will unleash who-knows-how-many amputee stump lovers, pedophiles, and horse fuckers upon the nation's employers.

What are those "isms" and "philias"? You can be aroused by stumps of amputees. And we brought that up during the hate crimes thing because what if you have an employee working at the VA and someone has just come back from Iraq and they have this orientation. You can't fire them. What about the family that's upset that they've been aroused by their family member? It's disgusting. And it's tragic for the victim. Um, men that want to rub their bodies up and down women. That's on the list, that might become a protected class. Fecal matter. Their involvement with fecal matter. Or urine. Transvestism. The list goes on, I'm not naming all of them. Children. Animals. And so we really need to draw a line in the sand.

reposted from JMG

Via BEYOND (STRAIGHT AND GAY) MARRIAGE

Obama's hospital visitation memo -- it's really not just about same-sex couples

From the press reports of President Obama's directive on hospital visitation and medical decisionmaking, you'd think it was a divisive gay rights issue, just one step short of authorizing same-sex marriage. And it is absolutely true that it should help prevent the tragedies involving gay and lesbian partners, including one in Florida, another in Maryland, and another about to go to trial in Washington state.

But the memo's reference to the elderly with no children who might be denied the companionship of a good friend is not just a throwaway. It's a fact. And it's a fact that will affect many gay people by assuring them the comfort of close friends, by legitimating that those friendships are a critical component of a happy life. And think of unpartnered gay people of all ages estranged from parents and siblings. They need this directive as much as any same-sex couple. For that matter, the deep relationships we form with friends even when we do have partners also deserve recognition.

There's a critical detail in the directive that bears mention. I read the memo as requesting that the new regulations ensure that a person selected as a decisionmaker in an advance medical directive be allowed to visit. (The syntax of the sentence is a bit convoluted, and if there is any doubt I hope the HHS rule writers will read it this way.) This is important because the easily available advance directive forms often do not state this. So it's actually possible for a person with a valid medical power of attorney to find himself or herself excluded from visitation. (see the examples from the states in the first paragraph, above.) Ridiculous and tragic, but there are enough stories for us to know this happens.

The new regulations will not create a right for a same-sex partner or close friend to make medical decisions. That is still left to each of us to designate in writing, or to state law which often ignores unmarried partners and friends. But it's an important step for all of us, not just for those of us in couple relationships. Yeah!

Posted by Nancy Polikoff at 8:52 AM 0 comments

Via Courage

"[A] gay judge's sexual preference will, without any question whatsoever, 'interfere with their job.' It's not possible for it to be otherwise... We simply should not elevate to the highest court in the land people who are known for engaging in sexually abnormal behavior which would technically make them felons in a quarter of the states over which they will have jurisdiction." -- Bryan Fischer, American Family Association

Dear Daniel --

Disqualified.

That's what the American Family Association and Focus on the Family -- both right-wing religious organizations -- think of gays and lesbians potentially serving on the Supreme Court following the retirement of venerable liberal Justice John Paul Stevens.

Their outrageous position is that gays and lesbians are "sinners" and since character is a consideration in approving judges, they should be automatically disqualified.

Sexual orientation should NOT be a factor in the appointment of a Supreme Court justice. Period.

With Focus on the Family, the American Family Association and the rest of the religious right firing up their massive lobbying machine, we need you to make your voice heard right now. Sign our letter to President Obama ASAP:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/NotAFactor

Last year, we thought that Focus on the Family -- the leading organization lobbying on behalf of the religious right -- might be turning over a page when they said being LGBT should not automatically disqualify someone from serving on the Supreme Court.

But now Focus on the Family wants a "do over" because they still think gays and lesbians are unfit immoral sinners. Check out their latest statement:

"To be honest, this is one of those conversations we'd like to 'do over.' We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God's created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land."

This truly scandalous attempt to marginalize and dehumanize LGBT people, shared by countless others in this country, is exactly why we need legislation like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And it is exactly why we need to draw attention to this discrimination.

It's time to take a stand and say no to discrimination, especially on the highest court in the land. Sign our letter to President Obama and invite your friends to join you now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/NotAFactor

In the coming years, the Supreme Court will adjudicate several historic cases, including Perry v. Schwarzenegger -- the Prop 8 case that will soon be decided in federal district court.

That's why it is so important that President Obama -- no matter the sexual orientation of his nominee -- gets this decision right.

Thanks for all you do in the name of equality.

Rick Jacobs
Chair, Courage Campaign

The Courage Campaign is a multi-issue online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots supporters to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country.

To show your support for this critical campaign, please chip in what you can today:

Via JMG: CNN On Obama's Hospital Ruling

President Obama's hospital visitation rights order late yesterday was heavily covered by the networks. Last night Anderson Cooper hosted Janice Langbern, whose story about being blocked from seeing her partner in a Miami hospital made national news. Obama called Langbern yesterday shortly before his order became public and apologized for the manner is which she and her late partner had been treated.


(Via - Towleroad)a repost from JMG

Via JMG: Today: GLSEN's Day Of Silence

Today is GLSEN's national annual Day Of Silence in which students draw attention to anti-gay bullying by pledging to remain silent at school (except during class when required.) GLSEN is asking to students to Tweet The Silence to remind others. Anti-gay groups have called for Christian students to walk out of class today in an effort to punish participating schools financially.

"Every child that stays home on Friday in protest will take almost $100, in California at least, from the government school system in the form of ADA -- average daily attendance funds," (Save California's Randy Thomasson] explains. "We think that's appropriate punishment for a school district that allows homosexual indoctrination of children." He adds that it is the only type of lesson to be learned for public schools which value money much more than morality. Other groups calling for parents to keep their children at home as a protest of the Day of Silence include the American Family Association and the Illinois Family Institute.

a repost via JMG

via rawstory.com

Obama grants hospital visitation, power of attorney rights to gay and lesbian couples | Raw Story

The White House issued a memo Thursday directing all hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid to end discrimination against same-sex couples, thereby granting full visitation and medical power of attorney rights to gay and lesbian partners at the vast majority of hospitals nation-wide.

make the jump here to read the full story

Via O Globo:

Projeto de lei transforma em crimes a discriminação por orientação sexual

Quem praticar, induzir ou incitar a discriminação contra homossexuais, além da prisão, fica sujeito a pagar multa.

“Vai discriminar homossexual por que? Não são seres humanos como nós?“.

“Eu sou a favor, porque eu acho que não deve ter nenhum tipo de discriminação na sociedade brasileira”.

É fato que o preconceito existe. Uma mulher que não quer ser identificada, conta que já foi discriminada. "Fui me despedir da minha namorada beijando a bochecha dela, quando o caixa da lanchonete expulsou a gente do local... E ele falou que era proibido beijar ali. Aí eu falei: ‘ta nas normas o preconceito?’ aí ele: ‘ta nas normas a intolerância com a homossexualidade aqui dento do clube. Então, por favor, se retirem do local’”.

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Quote Of The Day - Dorothy Hamill

"If I hadn't been born a woman I would have certainly been gay, because I love sparkles and ruffles and color." - Olympic figure skating legend Dorothy Hamill, when asked what it means to be a woman. Hamill was in NYC attending the 125th anniversary party for Good Housekeeping Magazine.a repost via JMG

Via JMG: Out Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Gays

Out Magazine has just published their annual Power 50 list of the most prominent gays in the country.

Out, the world’s leading gay fashion and lifestyle brand, presents the fourth annual Power 50, a veritable who’s who of prominent gay men and women representing all walks of life. From entertainers to politicians, writers, and cultural icons, the Power 50 honors the influencers affecting the cultural and social landscape for the LGBT community. Taking into account political clout, personal wealth, and an individual’s media profile, the list recognizes men and women living the good fight. Ellen DeGeneres tops this year’s list, with America getting a double dose of the multi-Emmy winner via her hugely popular talk show and her new gig as American Idol judge. DeGeneres traded spots with Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, whose outspoken demeanor has made him a rare political figure: a progressive with a visible spine.

Each person has their own page on the site (oy) so I'll just recap the top ten.

1. Ellen DeGeneres
2. Barney Frank
3. Anderson Cooper
4. Rachel Maddow
5. Adam Lambert
6. Barry Diller
7. Neil Patrick Harris
8. Joe Solmonese
9. Tammy Baldwin
10. Jared Polis

Other notable listings: Matt Drudge (15), Christine Quinn (23), Dan Choi (28), Andrew Sullivan (31). I'll admit I didn't recognize about a dozen of the names on the list, mostly the folks from film and fashion.another repost from JMG

Via JMG: Burned Rainbow Flag Hung Outside Of NYC LGBT Community Center

Staffers at the NYC LGBT Community Center in Manhattan's West Village found a burned and torn rainbow flag affixed to their front wall this morning. Executive director Glennda Testone:

"This morning our building staff arrived and discovered a burned rainbow flag hanging on one of the poster display cases outside our building. We called the NYPD, and they immediately dispatched detectives from the hate crimes unit and our local precinct. They are currently investigating the crime. We at the Center will not stand for anyone who thinks they can come into our community and try to intimidate us. We work hard to create a safe environment and provide a safe space for all LGBT New Yorkers. Hate and intolerance against us will not be accepted in New York, and it is so important the Center is a safe space in our city. It is sad that such incidents still happen in this day and age, but we appreciate the NYPD and especially the hate crimes unit doing everything they can to ensure the safety of all LGBT people in New York."

Testone reports that the perpetrator was captured on the Center's security camera, but she encourages anybody with additional information to call the NYPD at .a repost from JMG

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Anonymous Soldier

JMG reader and Afghanistan veteran R.D. tells his story today on the blog of conservative columnist David Frum.

"I had a very bad session with my workout partner tonight. He is the person I am closest to in Afghanistan yet even he knows very little about my life. He asked if I was married and I lied, telling him I was divorced. Damn. I hate lying; I can count on one hand how often I have told a lie in the past 20 years. Yet if I told him I was a never-married, 42-year-old male it would have been too risky. If I told the truth I could be fired and go home to face unemployment. Why in the world would any soldier be fired for being honest? Because I am a gay soldier and it is illegal to say so. It is illegal for me to tell not just anyone in the military but anyone in the world – my parents, my siblings – even my best friend.

"Despite repeated studies by the Pentagon over the past 50 years that clearly suggest gays pose no threat to unit cohesion or morale; social conservatives insist that it is so and have passed laws demanding that gay Americans be fired if we are honest – even with our closest friends or family members. Being honest should never be illegal. This law results in gay military members being socially isolated from our peers, our friends and our families so that others will not get to know us lest they discover that we are gay. We could be turned in by anyone. It also means we cannot date anyone – even on our own time and out of uniform. So we can only keep our jobs if we lie, pretend, and remain isolated — celibate and alone. How is a law with such cruel consequences considered Christian? Lying is never good but it is the law so what else can I do? As a result of being so angry I was quiet during the workout and my gym partner expressed concern but I could not tell him why. It would have been illegal."

Read R.D.'s entire essay.

reposted from JMG

Liberalism and Religion - We Should Talk

http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=co...

Shambhala Sun | July 1999
Liberalism and Religion - We Should Talk
By: Ken Wilber

...
The way it is now, the modern world really is divided into two major and warring camps, science and liberalism on the one hand, and religion and conservatism on the other. And the key to getting these two camps together is first, to get religion past science, and then second, to get religion past liberalism, because both science and liberalism are deeply anti-spiritual. And it must occur in that order, because liberalism won’t even listen to spirituality unless it has first passed the scientific test.
...
In one sense, of course, science and liberalism are right to be anti-spiritual, because most of what has historically served as spirituality is now prerational, magic or mythic, implicitly ethnocentric, fundamentalist dogma. Liberalism traditionally came into existence to fight the tyranny of prerational myth and that is one of its enduring and noble strengths (the freedom, liberty, and equality of individuals in the face of the often hostile or coercive collective). And this is why liberalism was always allied with science against fundamentalist, mythic, prerational religion (and the conservative politics that hung on to that religion).
But neither science nor liberalism is aware that in addition to prerational myth, there is transrational awareness. There are not two camps here: liberalism versus mythic religion. There are three: mythic religion, rational liberalism, and transrational spirituality.
...
---end excerpt---

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/a-g...