Via JMG: A E I O U to you!

Your Vowels Are Totally Gay

According to a new study due out from Ohio State University, most people can correctly guess a man's sexual orientation by listening to recordings of the way he pronounces his vowels.

They asked seven gay and seven heterosexual males to record single-syllable words (including "mass," "food" and "sell") and then played the recordings for listeners. The study participants were then asked to identify the sexual orientation of the speakers when hearing only the first letter sound of those words, the first two letter sounds, or the entire words. The listeners were unable to determine the sexual orientation after hearing the sound of the first letter in the spoken word, for example, just the "m" sound in the word "mass." But, "when presented with the first two letter sounds [for example "ma"], listeners were 75 percent accurate," [researcher Erik] Tracy said. "We believe that listeners are using the acoustic information contained in vowels to make this sexual orientation decision," he explained.

I'd like to know how the gay voices were chosen for the study.

Labels: education, language

reposted from Joe

Rachel Maddow - It's Ok To Be Takei!

MSNBC - Majority Of Americans Support Marriage Equality

Via AmericaBlog: Alcoa opposes TN hate law, calls on governor to veto bill

Finally some courage. Alcoa is the only company so far to say explicitly that they oppose the Tennessee legislation that would repeal Nashville's civil rights ordinance, and that they want the Governor to veto the bill.

Alcoa:

“Alcoa provides equal employment opportunity without discrimination and supports state and local legislation protecting the rights of all community members. We do not agree with the chamber on this issue and would ask that the governor veto the bill."

Beautiful statement. Simple, clear, to the point. No semantic games, no trying to have it both ways.

In contrast, AT&T, Nissan and FedEx issued statements that might look like they're opposing the legislation (that's how HRC has apparently interpreted their statements), but when you actually read the statements a few times you realize they're a very well-crafted effort at saying nothing at all (it helps to have a law degree). None of the statements from AT&T, Nissan or FedEx state unequivocally that they oppose the legislation. None of the statements call on the Governor to veto the legislation.

Alcoa is the only board member of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce that didn't play games with their statement. Until AT&T, Nissan, FedEx, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, and United HealthCare all issue statements calling on the governor to veto the bill, they get zero credit for trying to rectify the damage they've done.

Please sign our open letter calling on all of these companies to tell the governor to veto the bill.

Via JMG: That's Gay: Real Housewives

Via JMG: National Gallup Poll Shows First-Ever Majority Support For Gay Marriage

Gallup reports: "For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change."

Labels: Gallup, marriage equality, polls

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: LOS ANGELES: Gay Cop Wins $1M Suit

Los Angeles cop Sgt. Ronald Crump has won a $1M judgment in a lawsuit filed against the LAPD because of retaliation he suffered after complaining about anti-gay mistreatment by a superior.

Sgt. Ronald Crump sued the city last year, alleging that his direct supervisor at the Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations Section -- Lt. John Romero -- made derogatory remarks about his homosexuality. Romero, who has since been promoted to captain, allegedly described him as "the new Ruby minus the heels," in reference to the woman he replaced in the unit. On another occasion, Romero allegedly told him, "I was a religion major at Liberty University. Jerry Falwell would roll over in his grave if he knew I had hired you."

Labels: gay cops, LAPD, lawsuits, Los Angeles

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Binational Couples Tell Their Stories

Learn more here.

Out4Immigration - Binational Couples for Immigration Equality in the US from Devote Campaign on Vimeo.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Labels: DOMA, immigration, Immigration Equality

posted by Joe

Via JMg: TENNESSEE: Major Corporations Back Statewide Ban On LGBT Rights

AmericaBlog Gay reports on the backers of yesterday's ban on LGBT rights in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce - chaired by Nissan, and whose other board members include such companies as FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare - actively lobbied for a religious right bill in the Tennessee legislature that would rescind Nashville's civil rights protections for its gay and trans citizens, and which bans every city in Tennessee from passing any civil rights laws, for anyone, ever again. The bill passed yesterday. It's on its way to the state's Republican governor for his signature, unless he vetoes it. And these companies led the way in making it happen.

Sign this open letter to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce demanding that they rescind their support for this hateful bill.

Labels: AmericaBlog, business, LGBT rights, Tennessee

reposted fromJoe

Via JMG: Gillibrand: Obama May Endorse Marriage Equality Before 2012 Election

In an interview with Andrew Harmon at the Advocate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speculates that President Obama might complete his "evolution" on same-sex marriage before the 2012 election.

Harmon: Do you think it’s possible that he could come out in support of marriage equality before the 2012 election?

Gillibrand: Definitely. He put the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in his State of the Union address. So there’s no reason why he can’t lean into marriage equality in a public speech or through some action he could do through the White House. I’d be thrilled if he decided to do that. He did take the step of not [defending] DOMA through his Department of Justice, which is a fantastic step because it was one that he was unwilling to do in “don’t ask, don’t tell.” So it shows a shift in his willingness to use the power of the White House — the power of the administration — to change public perception and to change policy. So I think we could get a very strong public statement out of him.

Read the full interview.

Labels: 2012 elections, Advocate, Barack Obama, Kirsten Gillibrand, marriage equality

reposted from Joe

BrowseMoviesUpload Sign Out George Takei vs. Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" Bill

Via JMG: MINNESOTA: Libertarian Party Rebukes GOP Over Proposed Marriage Ban

The Libertarian Party of Minnesota has "rebuked" the GOP for the campaign to put a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to a statewide vote.

The proposed Gay Marriage Ban would expand government control and restrict the freedom of consenting adults to live their own lives as they choose. Libertarians believe that marriage is a private matter between individuals. We believe that marriage is a fundamental human right, and that all personal relationships, including marriage, should be at the sole discretion and agreement of the individuals involved, as well as any family, friends, or religious institutions they may choose to involve. Government has no business restricting or interfering with marriage. This ban would create a caste system by dividing society into two classes: those who are permitted to marry, and those who are not. We also oppose any attempt to place a marriage ban before voters, as the trappings of democracy do not legitimize infringements upon personal liberty; a 51% majority does not have the right to force its will upon the other 49%. We instead support a free society, where 1% can still be free to live their own lives as they choose, even if 99% might disapprove. Furthermore, we call upon legislators to expand liberty by repealing the existing statutory gay marriage ban.

Labels: GOP, Libertarian Party, marriage equality, Minnesota

reposted from Joe

Via Huffington: The Hypocrisy Hall of Fame: Schwarzenegger and Marriage Equality

Arnold Schwarzenegger's long list of past indiscretions -- including the recent revelation that he fathered a child with a member of his household staff -- shouldn't be any of our business. As long as he didn't break the law, nobody beyond his immediate family should be concerned with his private affairs. But is it too much to ask that Schwarzenegger, and other politicians who have found themselves caught up in messy family situations, extend to all Americans what they say they want for themselves: to not have others meddle in their private lives?

I am still angry at Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not because he hid a personal secret from the public and from his own family, but because he did so while working to deny thousands of California citizens the right to have legal families at all.

make the jump here to read the full article

PINK DOT 2011: SUPPORT THE FREEDOM TO LOVE - 18 JUNE 2011

Via JMG: Catholic Molestation Study: Priests Were Stressed Out By The Sexual Revolution

According to a five year study commissioned by the Catholic Church, the real reason all those priests committed child molestation is because they were "poorly prepared and monitored" during the social tumult of the sexual revolution. Blame it on Woodstock.

The researchers concluded that it was not possible for the church, or for anyone, to identify abusive priests in advance. Priests who abused minors have no particular “psychological characteristics,” “developmental histories” or mood disorders that distinguished them from priests who had not abused, the researchers found. Since the scandal broke, conservatives in the church have blamed gay priests for perpetrating the abuse, while liberals have argued that the all-male, celibate culture of the priesthood was the cause. This report will satisfy neither flank.

The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abuse decreased as more gay priests began serving the church. Many more boys than girls were victimized, the report says, not because the perpetrators were gay, but simply because the priests had more access to boys than to girls, in parishes, schools and extracurricular activities.

The $1.8M study was conducted by New York's John Jay College, with the DOJ kicking in $280K.

Labels: Catholic Church, molestation, NYC, religion

reposted from Joe

Grant Hill From The Phoenix Suns On "Think Before You Speak" PSA

Via JMG: Another Rapture Update

The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that End Times proponent Harold Camping credits gay pride events and same-sex marriage for hastening the arrival of Saturday's rapture. Camping also says that 200 million Christians (only) will ascend to heaven in three days (time zone by time zone, beginning at 6PM, you'll recall) with the rest of us to be turned into pillars of salt, destroyed by earthquake, or burned alive in a hail of sulfur. All that will take place over the next five months because the Earth itself isn't scheduled to explode until October 21st.

Labels: crazy people, end times, religion

reposted from Joe

Via PFAW: Arnold Schwarzenegger's long list of past indiscretions

Dear Daniel,

Arnold Schwarzenegger's long list of past indiscretions -- including the recent revelation that he fathered a child with a member of his household staff -- shouldn't be any of our business. As long as he didn't break the law, nobody beyond his immediate family should be concerned with his private affairs. But is it too much to ask that Schwarzenegger, and other politicians who have found themselves caught up in messy family situations, extend to all Americans what they say they want for themselves: to not have others meddle in their private lives?

I am still angry at Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not because he hid a personal secret from the public and from his own family, but because he did so while working to deny thousands of California citizens the right to have legal families at all.

Sure, Schwarzenegger was not one of those politicians who regularly use inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric, but nobody in state office has done more to hold back marriage equality for more people. Despite Schwarzenegger's often gay-friendly tone, he is the only governor ever to have vetoed marriage equality legislation twice...twice! Now, Schwarzenegger wants to be known for his refusal to defend the discriminatory Proposition 8 in court. But while he was in office, he had the chance to do the right thing and failed...twice. This is what Americans should remember about Schwarzenegger's gay rights record. A friendly tone doesn't mean a thing when it's paired with hateful policies.

Schwarzenegger, despite his purported unwillingness to join the ranks of the fire breathing gay-bashing Right, has placed himself with the likes of John Ensign and Newt Gingrich on the long and growing list of GOP officials who accused gay people of ruining the institution of marriage while they themselves flouted their wedding vows.

No politician, however squeaky clean his or her personal record is, should be in the business of telling grown adults who they can love and marry, or demonizing people who are trying to achieve the financial and emotional security of marriage. But the people who make my blood boil are those who accuse gay people of harming the institutions of marriage and the family while causing real harm to their own marriages and families. These men expose the real hypocrisy behind efforts to stop gay equality. They insist that family is a personal matter and beg for privacy in their personal affairs. We should all expect -- no, demand -- that they extend that belief to their public policy when and where it really matters.

Sincerely,

Michael Keegan, President

This piece also published on The Huffington Post.

---

Via Change.Org:

Thank the San Francisco Giants for announcing they'll make an "It Gets Better" video!

Dear Daniel,

We have some wonderful news -- a breakthrough moment that could catalyze a cultural shift in America.

The San Francisco Giants have just committed to becoming the first team in professional sports to produce an “It Gets Better” video against anti-gay bullying, opening up a broader conversation in America about homophobia in the sports world and in our society.  

The Giants will join President Obama, corporations like Google and Apple, and more than 10,000 people who have uploaded poignant and powerful videos supporting kids struggling with sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Inspired by the It Gets Better Project and heartsick about recent homophobic incidents in sports, Giants fan Sean Chapin decided to start a petition on Change.org reaching out to his favorite team. More than 6,000 Giants fans signed on in support of Sean’s petition, including four San Francisco mayoral candidates.

The San Francisco Giants are now taking a courageous stand on behalf of gay kids, and those perceived to be gay, perhaps changing sports forever. Click here to join Sean Chapin in thanking the Giants for their amazing leadership.

This fantastic news comes in the aftermath of incidents involving basketball star Kobe Bryant and Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell, who was suspended for calling a group of Giants fans a “homo couple” and making lewd gestures before a recent game in San Francisco.

With role models like Bryant and McDowell, it’s no wonder homophobia is rampant in sports, from high school to the pros -- and it’s no wonder that there are zero openly gay men in the four major American sports leagues.

By taking a stand against anti-gay bullying, the Giants are striking a big blow to homophobia -- and giving a big boost to gay youth across America, especially kids who seek to one day play professional sports. 

Please add your name to join Sean Chapin in thanking the Giants and letting them know how much you appreciate their courage:

http://www.change.org/petitions/thank-the-san-francisco-giants-for-making-an-it-gets-better-anti-homophobia-video

Thanks for joining thousands of fans across America who support equality. Together, we’ll make sure the sports world is no longer a home for homophobia.

- Eden and the Change.org team