Ellen DeGeneres used her TV monologue on Wednesday to express her gratitude to those supporting her against criticism that JCPenney should not keep her as its spokesperson. One Million Moms, self-described as a conservative pro-family group, have publicly protested the department store’s partnership with Ellen because she is openly gay. Despite such criticism, JCPenney stood behind their decision to keep DeGeneres as spokeswomen.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made a ruling today in regards to Proposition 8 in California, the controversial “Marriage Initiative” which amended the California constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. A lower court had ruled that the initiative was unconstitutional, but a stay was placed of that ruling. Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals announced that they will uphold the lower court’s ruling, striking down the initiative as unconstitutional and moving us one step closer towards same-sex marriage in California.
”Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.” -Judge Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
While marriage equality advocates rejoice, the strong possibility that this case will make it all the way to the Supreme Court still looms.
For the first time ever, gay-rights advocates will launch a sassy advertising campaign aimed at football fans in the mostmacho of American venues — the Super Bowl.
Four award-winning public service announcements feature various celebrities telling teens to “knock it off,” when they overhear them using the ubiquitous line, “That’s so gay.”
The videos will be strategically placed on a screen at the entrance of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., to be viewed by the 150,000 Super Bowl ticket holders on Feb. 5.
In its newest ad, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, has garnered cooperation from the NBA and Phoenix Suns stars Grant Hill and Jared Dudley. The NBA is the first professional sports league to address antigay language among teens.
Once again Orlando has made The Advocate’s annual list of the 15 gayest cities in America. Up two spots from last year’s #4 ranking, Orlando falls second to Salt Lake City.
The Advocate used a point-based criterion to rank each city. Orlando has four area teams that competed in the Gay Softball World Series, LGBT elected officials, LGBT bookstores and concerts by Gossip, the Cliks, and the Veronicas. Other criteria included having WNBA teams, transgender protections and cities that sent a finalist to the International Mr. Leather competition.
The first survey of its kind “Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States” revealed that homophobia is pervasive in elementary schools and most teachers do little to intervene.
At this age, bullies use words to attack those who are different, but if not curtailed early, warn advocates, verbal teasing turns to violence at the middle school and high school level.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) examined homophobia and gender nonconformity among 1,065 students in grades 3 to 6 and 1,099 teachers in grades K to 6.
The survey found an estimated 45 percent of students and 49 percent of teachers said that the word “gay” was most often used in a negative way, for example, “That’s so gay.”
Only 24 percent of teachers report having personally engaged in efforts to create a safe and supportive environment for families with LGBT parents, even though nearly half of them regularly heard students making homophobic remarks.
“One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”
Martin Luther King Jr. said these words on August 28, 1963 referring to the inequality, discrimination and violence towards African-Americans in this country. Today in 2012 we still honor MLK Jr.’s words, but we wish to expand the meaning of equality to everyone, including LGBTQ youth.
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire announces the introduction of legislation legalizing same-sex marriage. “Some say domestic partnerships are the same as marriage. That’s a version of the discriminatory, separate but equal argument of the past,” explains Gregoire at a press conference.
Australian Psychological Society backs same-sex marriage saying it reduces stress and suicide.
Proof that marriage equality means better mental health came today as the Australian Psychological Society backed same-sex marriage. Incidences of suicide and stress are less prevalent in married gay people than those who are prevented from doing so researchers have said.
The Australian Psychological Society represents over 20,000 Australian psychologists and therefore lends significant weight to the fight for marriage equality. Professor Simon Crowe, president of the APS said: ‘Decades of psychological research provides the evidence linking marriage to mental health benefits, and highlighting the harm to individuals’ mental health of exclusion. The APS supports the full recognition of same-sex relationships on the basis of this evidence.’
After winning a raffle which allowed her to be the first to kiss a loved one upon docking, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta was welcomed home by her girlfriend, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell.
Applying for financial aid as a college student is frustratingly complicated. Applying for financial aid for a student with two legal mothers is even more daunting. For one prospective college student, it took her five attempts to fill out the 106-question federal form to determine whether or not she would be eligible for financial aid.
