Tag Archive for "LGBT issues"

Posts Tagged LGBT issues

Enough with “I date women and trans men”

I’m traveling on the east coast right now, which has thrown me back into the kind of queer, mostly female assigned community that exists in the “I date women and trans men” frame (I’m not saying this doesn’t happen on the west coast – but I’ve found alternatives way more easily). This is a big part of what my Girl Talk piece was about, but I want to address this particular issue really directly.

“I date women and trans men” is the definition of cissexism. It’s basing your frame for sexuality on the gender coercively assigned to a person by their doctor at birth, not on that person’s actual identity. In this case, we’re talking about folks who were assigned ...

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

Conservative moms outraged – just outraged! – by gay comic book hero

Last week, DC Comics announced that one of their characters is going to be coming out soon. Over at The Advocate, they suspect it’ll be The Green Lantern.

Marvel has also announced that Northstar, its first openly gay superhero, is going to marry his boyfriend in an upcoming installment.

As you might imagine, the mothers of the American Family Association are not pleased. Their mothers’ group, One Million Moms, is urging their members to write to DC and Marvel and urge them to change their minds. OMM is for moms who are “fed up with the filth many segments of our society, especially the entertainment media, are throwing at our children.” And apparently, they consider positive messages about ...

Last week, DC Comics announced that one of their characters is going to be coming out soon. Over at The Advocate, they suspect it’ll be The Green Lantern.

Marvel has also announced that Northstar, its ...

By Vanessa • 11 years ago

Colorado legislators kill civil unions bill

In the closest the state has come to legalizing civil unions, a special session in Colorado’s legislature effectively killed a bill that would have granted the right to same-sex couples before it even reached the House floor:

A measure allowing same-sex civil unions that prompted Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to call a special session after Republicans killed it last week may be defeated again later today.

On the first day of the new session, Colorado Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty assigned the bill to the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, a panel dominated by conservative members.

McNulty “sent it to state affairs, unfortunately known as his ‘kill’ committee,” said Democrat House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, the bill’s sponsor. “I’m going in knowing ...

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

“I only wanted to love him.”

As Zerlina said earlier this morning, President Obama’s announcement yesterday that he believes that same sex couples should be allowed to get married was significant. It represents an historic turning point in this particular struggle for American civil rights.

This video, by Shane Bitney Crone, is about what it can look like, and feel like, when people are forced to live and love without those rights. Shane was not married to his partner of six years, Tom. And when Tom died, his family, who had never accepted their son’s homosexuality, cut Shane out, of their lives and of their version of Tom’s life. Shane was threatened with physical violence if he came to Tom’s funeral.

This story, and many thousands more ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

President Obama: making news and making history

Yesterday’s announcement by President Obama that he personally believes that same sex couples have a legal right to get married was a watershed moment. It will go down as one of the great days in civil rights history. As Rachel Maddow said last night, policy-wise, the Obama administration’s legacy on the issue of gay rights was already solid.

The administration’s accomplishments include not only repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but as The Maddow Blog lists, the administration has also

…expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees, signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples, lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS, ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

What Would Happen If Obama Supported Gay Marriage?

While NC tries to ban gay marriage, yesterday Katie wrote about how Joe Biden is being pushed into the closet on gay marriage after expressing his full support on Meet The Press for same-sex marriage.

Within hours of the appearance, a Biden aid felt the need to clarify the comments and senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod tweeted, “What VP said – that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights – is precisely POTUS’s position,” a comment that Katie felt came off as “pathetic, desperate and spineless.”

Today, as the fallout continues and that political spin machine continues to churn out explanations, clarifications, and rationalizations, TPM has a great piece exploring the question on every Obama-loving liberal’s ...

Within ...

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

CeCe McDonald pleads guilty to manslaughter

On June 5th of last year, there was a fight outside a bar in Minneapolis. Several people were involved, a few were injured, one was killed. Only one was arrested.

The person who was killed was a straight white cisgender man, and the person who was arrested was a young transgender woman of colour.

Around 12:30 am, CeCe was walking to the grocery store with some friends, all of them young, African American, and either queer or allied. As they passed a local bar, the Schooner Tavern, a group of older, white people who were standing outside the bar’s side door began hurling racist and transphobic slurs at them, without provocation. They called CeCe and her friends ‘faggots,’ ‘niggers,’ ...

On June 5th of last year, there was a fight outside a bar in Minneapolis. Several people were involved, a few were injured, one was killed. Only one was arrested.

The person who was killed was a straight ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Marriage equality proponents oppress anti-gay politician by interrupting his dinner

Tony Abbott, the conservative leader of the Australia’s opposition party, was having dinner on Sunday night in Melbourne when he was interrupted by a group of gay rights activists.

Abbott, who said just yesterday that he wants a “non-discriminatory society” in which gays and lesbians are not allowed to get married, was not pleased to be disturbed during his meal.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

…the group of about six protesters chanted: “Tony Abbott, you’re a bigot, gay marriage you don’t dig it,” before being removed from the restaurant by a staff member.

Equal Love convenor Ali Hogg, who organised the protest, said she was tipped off about Mr Abbott’s location by another diner in the restaurant.

Tony Abbott, the conservative leader of the Australia’s opposition party, was having dinner on Sunday night in Melbourne when he was interrupted by a group of gay rights activists.

Abbott, who said just yesterday that he wants ...