October 1, 2010
Dear Daniel, Equality California’s 72nd and arguably most important sponsored piece of legislation passed by the Legislature was signed into law yesterday by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  SB 543 -- Mental Health Services for At-Risk Youth -- is an historic bill that allows youth 12 to 17 years old to receive mental health care without requiring their parents’ consent. LGBT youth across California who are fearful that their families could become abusive or kick them out if they come out -- or refuse to consent to their obtaining mental health services -- will now be able get the help they need, before it’s too late. Equality California and Senator Mark Leno made this bill a priority to address the hostile environment too many of California's young people find themselves dealing with everyday, the kind of environment that has led to bullying, hate crimes and several recent tragic and heartbreaking suicides. This bill is one critical step to provide support for LGBT and questioning youth. But we have a long way to go to end the climate of terror that those who oppose equality and promote hatred have created. Equality California is already working on new legislation to provide greater protection for LGBT youth. Please help us continue making California a safer place for all LGBT people. The governor also signed AB 2199 (Lowenthal) – Repeal of Discriminatory Code; AB 2700 (Ma) – Separation Equity Act; and AB 2055 (De La Torre) – Unemployment Benefits Equality. These critical bills advance equality and end discriminatory treatment for many LGBT Californians, and we are grateful to the bill’s authors for their leadership and to the Governor for signing these bills into law. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed AB 633 (Ammiano), the LGBT Prisoner Safety bill, leaving corrective institutions free to continue their outrageous policy of placing LGBT prisoners in solitary confinement as a first step in supposedly protecting them from rape and other violence. He also vetoed AB 1680 (Saldaña), the Hate Crimes Protection Act, which would have prohibited contracts requiring mandatory arbitration of hate crimes, and SB 906 (Leno), the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act, which would have affirmed that clergy are not required to solemnize any marriage that goes against their faith, taking an argument away from opponents of marriage equality. We will continue working to enact these protections through legislative and administrative means. Your support can help us enact these and other critical protections moving forward. This was our busiest legislative year ever. In addition to the Equality California bills that passed the Legislature, six resolutions passed that have become California’s official policy. These resolutions include support for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act; overturning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; passing the Uniting American Families Act; lifting the Food and Drug Administration ban on accepting blood donations from gay and bisexual men; urging the 2020 Census to collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity; and requesting the IRS to accept joint returns from same-sex married and registered domestic partner couples. Our work would not have been as successful without the support from our members who helped elect fair-minded legislators; who called, wrote letters and emails, and signed petitions to their elected officials to help us get these bills passed; and, of course, donated the money that funds our legislative work in Sacramento. With your support, we will continue to change the laws and policies in California until we achieve full equality and acceptance for every LGBT person. Please give today to support this work. We have much left to accomplish. Your support and advocacy are more critical than ever to achieving full equality. In solidarity, Geoff Kors Executive Director Equality California	Support Our Work! Visit our Legislative Center to learn about all the bills we've passed this year. Then, please give today to keep our state moving towards full equality.
Connect with us on  Facebook and  Twitter Equality California is dedicated to achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians. Our work depends on individual financial contributions. Donate now using our secure website or download a donation form to send via fax or mail. Donations to EQCA support our political work and are therefore not tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

A Quickie

Via HimalayaCrafts:

You can use your life in a very useful and intelligent way. You can very well transform that negative energy into a positive energy that empowers you and makes life meaningful. -- Zen Buddhist Monk

Via HRC:

Dear Daniel, Communities are reeling from recent suicides. Students are being pushed to the edge. The bullying must STOP. Ask the Secretary of Education: take action NOW to make our students safe. This is an epidemic. Last week, Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi killed himself by jumping off a bridge after his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student, then broadcast the video online. I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident. But Tyler's death as a victim of anti-gay harassment was just one of a number of recent suicides among teenagers who were ruthlessly "bullied to death." Our schools and our nation cannot sit back and wait for the next tragedy. So today, we're calling on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to speak out immediately – and to push every school anti-bullying program in the nation to include sexual orientation and gender identity like HRC's Welcoming Schools program. Please stand with us. Ask Arne Duncan: improve our nation's anti-bullying programs so we can end this tragedy. Tyler wasn't the only one. After months of relentless bullying, 13-year-old Seth Walsh hung himself from a tree outside his California home this week. Billy Lucas of Indiana was 15 years old when he hung himself after being called a "fag" over and over again. Asher Brown's classmates teased him without mercy and acted out mock gay sex acts in class, and last Thursday he shot himself in the head. He was only 13. And a single district in Minnesota has seen seven suicides in the last year by young victims of intolerance. As a virulently anti-LGBT candidate seeks the governor's chair (a man who could decide the fate of anti-bullying measures), it's clear that the very lives of Minnesota's children are at stake. This isn't a new problem. It's been happening for decades. And too often, administrators fail to act, even after parents complain about the bullying at school. That's why HRC developed Welcoming Schools, an innovative program that gives elementary school teachers, parents and students across the country the tools to help stop the name-calling, bullying and gender stereotyping that so many students face every day. It helps kids learn respect and tolerance early on, to prevent violence later in middle and high school. But it's up to those who run our schools – from Secretary Duncan down to every local school board – to act to end the bullying. Secretary Duncan: No more children should be bullied to death. Help stop anti-LGBT harassment in schools now. Once you take action, I hope you'll write a letter to the editor of your local paper. I hope you'll also let educators and administrators in your local school district know about www.welcomingschools.org and explain why you want to see Welcoming Schools in elementary schools near you. The more we spread the word, the better our chances of preventing another tragedy. If school officials don't act, more young lives will be tragically lost. We can't let that happen. Sincerely, Joe Solmonese

September 30, 2010
We Must All Protect Gay Youth from Suicide Our family, and the staff and board at the Matthew Shepard Foundation, are all deeply saddened by the devastating report of at least the fourth gay or gay-perceived teen to commit suicide in this country in the last month. Reports say that Tyler Clementi, 18, leapt to his death from the George Washington Bridge near his New Jersey college campus after a roommate allegedly broadcast him in a same-sex encounter behind closed doors in his dorm room, and apparently invited others, via Twitter, to view it online. Regardless of his roommate’s alleged tweet, Tyler had apparently made no statement about his own sexual orientation. I’m sure we will all learn more about this terrible tragedy as legal proceedings unfold, but the contempt and disregard behind such an invasion of privacy seems clear. In the meantime, we send our thoughts and prayers to Tyler’s family as they mourn their loss. In the last month there has been a shocking series of teen suicides linked to bullying, taunting, and general disrespect regarding sexual orientation, in every corner of America. Just a few days ago, Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old in Tehachapi, Calif., passed away after 10 days on life support after he hanged himself. Police say he had been mercilessly taunted by fellow students over his perceived sexual orientation. Billy Lucas, 15, hanged himself a few weeks ago at his Indiana home after years of reported harassment by students who judged him to be gay. Asher Brown, a 13-year-old in Harris, TX, who had recently come out, took his life with a gun after, his parents say, their efforts to alert school officials to ongoing bullying were not acted upon. Many Americans also learned this week about Tyler Wilson, an 11-year-old boy in Ohio who decided to join a cheerleading squad that had been all-female. As a gymnast, he was interested in the athletic elements of cheering. He was taunted with homophobic remarks and had his arm broken by two schoolmates who apparently assumed him to be gay. He told “Good Morning America” that since returning to school, he’s been threatened with having his other arm broken, too. Our young people deserve better than to go to schools where they are treated this way. We have to make schools a safe place for our youth to prepare for their futures, not be confronted with threats, intimidation or routine disrespect. Quite simply, we are calling one more time for all Americans to stand up and speak out against taunting, invasion of privacy, violence and discrimination against these youth by their peers, and asking everyone in a position of authority in their schools and communities to step forward and provide safe spaces and support services for LGBT youth or those who are simply targeted for discrimination because others assume they are gay. There can never be enough love and acceptance for these young people as they seek to live openly as their true selves and find their role in society. Suicide is a complicated problem and it is too easy to casually blame it on a single factor in a young person’s life, but it is clear that mistreatment by others has a tremendously negative effect on a young person’s sense of self worth and colors how he or she sees the world around them. Parents, educators and peers in the community need to be vigilant to the warning signs of suicide and other self-destructive behaviors in the young people in their lives, and help them find resources to be healthy and productive. We urge any LGBT youth contemplating suicide to immediately reach out to The Trevor Project, day or night, at (866) 4-U-TREVOR [866-488-7386]. Judy Shepard President, Matthew Shepard Foundation Board of Directors
Please visit our website at www.MatthewShepard.org.

Via JMG: WISCONSIN: Man Attacks 14 Year-Old Girl Carrying Gay Pride Flag

La Crosse, Wisconsin police are investigating an incident in which a man shoved a 14 year-old girl in an attempt to wrestle away a version of the gay pride flag the teen was going to carry in the city's Maple Leaf Parade.

The teen was rollerblading and carrying a flag pole with two rainbow flags — one a hybrid of the American flag and the gay pride flag — as members of 7 Rivers LGBT Resource Center’s float prepared for the parade about 9:45 a.m. Saturday on Rose Street, said Roseanne St. Sauver, the center’s executive director. Commodore Mark Schneider, who was on a float nearby, approached the girl and put his hands on the flagpole, St. Sauver said. St. Sauver walked over, placed her hands on the pole and told him, “Please stop, she’s a 14-year-old child." “He said, ‘I do not care. Look what you are teaching them,’” St. Sauver said. That’s when, St. Sauver said, Schneider shoved the girl with his body. St. Sauver said Schneider told the girl: “Go to a country where they will hang people like you.“ The incident left the teen crying, and others upset, St. Sauver said. This is the first year the center has participated in the parade. “I had tears in my eyes,” she said. “He specifically targeted us and made statements about our sexual orientation.”

Schneider says he was upset about the alteration of the American flag and not anybody's sexuality. Yeah, right. Yesterday he issued an apology to the girl and his family, presumably in return for assault charges being dropped. Here's the asshat in a news story about his being named "commodore" of Riverfest 2010.

NOH8 Campaign (a tribute from DC Douglas)

G.A.Y.S. (Guys Against You Serving) A new organization tells you exactly why they don't want gays serving in the military.

G.A.Y.S. (Guys Against You Serving) from Thomas Lennon

Via JMG: (Awsome) Rosie Perez FIGHTS BACK

Via JMG: "Jumping Off The GW Bridge. Sorry."

The New York Times reports more details about the suicide of 18 year-old Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate streamed live video of Clementi having sex with a man. Clementi's final Facebook update: "Jumping off the gw bridge. sorry."

It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” That night, the authorities say, the Rutgers University student who sent the message used a camera in his dormitory room to stream the roommate’s intimate encounter live on the Internet. [snip] The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton Junction, N.J., had each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi.

The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of five years. Mr. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for trying a similar live feed on the Internet on Sept. 21, the day before the suicide. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, James O’Neill, said the investigation was continuing, but he declined to “speculate on additional charges.” Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said Wednesday that he considered the death a hate crime. “We are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport,” he said in a statement.

Ravi is claiming that the first broadcast of Clementi was an accident, but police say he attempted a second live-stream two days later. Last night police recovered the body of a red-headed young man from the banks of the Hudson River. The family will make the identification today.

Labels: anti-gay harassment, bullying, education, gay youth, New Jersey, suicide

reposted fromJoe

Via JMG: AC360 - MI AG Mike Cox Defends Andrew Shirvell's Right To Cyber Bully

It Gets Better - Michael

it gets better michael urie

Today's Can anyone possibly be more stupid than this post::

PhoboQuotable - Eugene Delgaudio

"Last night, I had a dream. It was 2011 and Republicans were celebrating a sweep of the House and near takeover of the Senate. But that dream became a nightmare. A wounded soldier sat in a veteran’s hospital after returning from Afghanistan. Noticeably shaken, his doctor walked in and choked out the worst news of this young soldier’s life: He’d been infected with HIV. You see, the doctor informed him that his wounds came in contact with those of a practicing homosexual, now allowed to serve in our military. 'How could this happen?' the soldier expressed shock and disappointment right before I awoke.

"Today I was reminded of several disturbing news stories. Left and right I see conservatives -- even some good conservatives -- who no longer seem to care. And that’s when it hit me. In my nightmare, conservative Americans had been too busy focusing on jobs and the economy before the November elections. Distracted, they failed to maintain a committed resistance to the Homosexual Agenda." - Public Advocate head Eugene Delguadio, from a fundraising plea titled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Stalled In Senate By Public Advocate.

Send him money! He single-handedly stopped the repeal of DADT!

Labels: crazy people, DADT, mental illness, PhoboQuotable, religion

reposted from Joe

Via Truthout: "Underground" Group of Cadets Say Air Force Academy Controlled by Evangelicals

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "An anonymous cadet at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) spoke out against alleged religious discrimination at the school last week, saying that some cadets must pretend to be evangelical Christians in order to maintain standing among their peers and superiors. In an email to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the whistleblower stated that he is part of an 'underground group' of about 100 cadets who cannot rely on proper channels to confront evangelical pressure. The email, published by Veterans Today, applauds the MRFF from the 'underground' and indicates that the academy is 'literally overrun with Christian conservative fanatics.'"
Read Article

Time to Evolve

More "It gets better"

via belirico: This is what persecution looks like

There's been quite a bit of chatter over this video today. Many sites are proclaiming that the villain is a closet case and that's why he's so obsessed with a younger gay man. While he certainly sets off the ole gaydar, I sure as hell wouldn't want to claim him. He can agitate about the "radical homosexual agenda" all he wants, but the truly radical and definitely detrimental person here is looking him in the mirror.

For the record, while Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell claims that college student Chris Armstrong was elected student council president with the help of the Victory Fund, the group doesn't make endorsements or give contributions to student government campaigns. Armstrong interned at Victory Fund; that's it.

The Gay Test