- www.networkedblogs.com May 31, 2011

Rep. Allen West (R-​FL) has again come out against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, this tie saying that, “Unless I’m Michael Jackson, I can’t change my color. But people can change behavior.” People, meaning gay people, whom West presumably thinks can just become straight — or act like it to please his sense of right and wrong.

“Dubbing the military implementation of DADT repeal as ‘considerable social experimentation,’ the Heritage Foundation asked West what top leadership can do “to ensure that force effectiveness is sustained at a superior level,” writes Think Progress. “West opted to ‘put it very simple,’ stating that the military does not conform to the individual or ‘a very small special interest group’ like the LGBT community.”

Read the full story here: http://networkedblogs.com/iyeLQ

- www.sdgln.com May 31, 2011

MOSCOW, Russia – American gay-rights activists Dan Choi and Andy Thayer were among more than 30 people arrested today in Moscow as hate groups clashed with LGBT marchers.

The activists, who came from the U.S., the United Kingdom and other European nations, were demonstrating in front of the Kremlin and City Hall to protest the mayor’s denial of a permit to hold a gay rights parade in Moscow.

“We have been asking for the last six years to gather. We are being deprived of a very simple right that is taken for granted in democratic countries,” Nikolai Alexeyev, head of Gay Russia, chief organizer of the Moscow Gay Pride Parade, told CNN.

Alexeyev said as soon as activists took out their banners and flags, dozens of members of an ultra-Orthodox group attacked the activists.

Homophobia runs rampant in Russia, and various religious groups, ultra-nationalists, skinheads and other far-right groups oppose efforts to stage the gay pride parade.

Hoodlums attacked the gay-rights activists, and arrests were made. Various media are reporting that about 18 gays-rights activists were detained along with 14 others. The gay-rights activists have since been released, Alekseev said via Facebook.

Read more here: http://www.sdgln.com/news/2011/05/28/dan-choi-among-dozens-arrested-moscow-gay-rights-protest

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=37IJW9H08N4

- www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com May 27, 2011

New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz, just hours after NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered an excellent speech describing why everyone — including conservatives — should support same-​sex marriage, released a racially-​charged statement invoking slavery and the Holocaust, while claiming there “is no just comparison between America’s struggle to overcome the evils of slavery and the promotion of the lifestyle of homosexuality.”

The statement (full text below,) misleadingly titled, “Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz and Civil Rights Obstructionists,” claims it is “in response to reports of New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s speech about America’s civil rights movement.” The speech, which beautifully invoked many different elements of America’s civil rights movement, including the fight to end slavery, women’s suffrage, and workers’ rights. Diaz did not seem to take issue with those noble causes, only with Bloomberg’s mention of rights for LGBT New Yorkers.

Calling the fight for marriage equality “the push to legalize homosexual marriage,” Diaz, 68, says, “Black Americans should not sit back and let Mayor Bloomberg compare the long struggle of their ancestors against American slavery to the current fight for a lifestyle choice. The effort to redefine marriage to include a man and a man or a woman and a woman can never be compared to the struggle against slavery.”

Read the full story here: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/same-sex-marriage-new-york-senator-to-nyc-mayor-you-lie/politics/2011/05/27/20929

- www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com May 27th, 2011

Only 40% of Americans believe that people are born gay or lesbian, while 42% believe being homosexual is “due to factors such as upbringing and environment,” according to a new Gallup study.

“Americans who believe same-​sex orientation is inherent in individuals are much more likely to support legal gay and lesbian relations, and much more likely to view them as morally acceptable, than are those who believe it has its origins in environmental factors,” the study finds.

Read the full story here: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/homosexuality-born-this-way-only-40-of-americans-think-so/news/2011/05/26/20842

It turns out good things can come from one of the most bigoted organizations in America – albeit indirectly.

When comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, 49, learned that the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church planned to protest her Topeka, Kan., show, she vowed to donate a $1,000 to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization for each protester who showed up.

And, after more than 44 Westboro members, who happen to be headquartered in Topeka, crashed her performance Friday, Lampanelli followed through.

She also went above and beyond her initial pledge. When there was a discrepancy as to just how many protestors were there, Lampanelli decided to up her donation.

“WBC inbreds counted 48 protesters, so I won’t quibble,” she tweeted. “I’ll make it an even $50,000!!!”

Read the full story here: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/05/23/2011-05-23_comedienne_lisa_lampanelli_donates_50000_to_gay_organization_after_westboro_bapt.html

WHARTON, Texas – A Wharton County judge on Tuesday declared that a transgender widow’s marriage to a fallen Wharton firefighter was not valid, so she is not eligible for his death benefits.

Ever since Thomas Araguz died fighting a fire at an egg farm last year, his family has been battling his widow, Nikki Araguz, over $600,000 in death benefits.

The firefighter’s family argued that, since Nikki Araguz was born a man, her marriage to Thomas Araguz –under Texas law – was not valid.

WHARTON, Texas – A Wharton County judge on Tuesday declared that a transgender widow’s marriage to a fallen Wharton firefighter was not valid, so she is not eligible for his death benefits.

Ever since Thomas Araguz died fighting a fire at an egg farm last year, his family has been battling his widow, Nikki Araguz, over $600,000 in death benefits.

The firefighter’s family argued that, since Nikki Araguz was born a man, her marriage to Thomas Araguz –under Texas law – was not valid.

Read the full story here: http://www.khou.com/news/Judge-Transgender-widows-marriage-to-Wharton-firefighter-was-not-valid-122532719.html

- www.thetaskforceblog.org May 25, 2011

Congratulations to advocates in Vermont, and a special thank you to Rep. Bill Lippert and state health officials, who worked on tremendously important legislation relating to gender changes on birth certificates.

Although some other states allow gender changes without proof of surgery in their policies, Vermont becomes the very first to have clear language in its statute that makes clear surgery is not necessary to update one’s birth certificate.

It was our pleasure to provide consultation, along with GLAD, on state-of-the-art language in the statute so Vermont could modernize this law.

Read the full story here: http://thetaskforceblog.org/2011/05/25/transgender-rights-victory-in-vermont/

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zhl9MLno424

- www.oneiowa.org May 24, 2011

U.S. senator Al Franken has slammed the Minnesota state legislature for allowing a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage to appear on the 2012 ballot, calling the move an attack on same-sex couples who already cannot marry in the state.

“Every Minnesotan deserves dignity and equal treatment under the law, and our state’s same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as anyone else — period,” Franken said in a brief Monday afternoon statement to The Advocate. “This amendment would do nothing more than write discrimination into our state’s constitution and add to the barriers same-sex couples already face to the full recognition of their families. I’m hopeful that common sense and compassion will prevail and that this amendment will be defeated.”

Read the full post here: http://www.oneiowa.org/news-events/2franken-slams-antigay-minn-ballot-measure