August 5, 2010

Fear of being outed for some wrestlers

While the Gay Games are a great beacon for out gay athletes, there is also no shortage of wrestlers in Cologne who are afraid of coming out in their personal or professional lives.

One wrestler, who is a high school wrestling referee, said that if parents in his area found out he is gay they would petition his state’s kids wrestling federation and that federation would ask him to resign as a referee. When I asked him whom at the organization I could speak to about it, he got emotional and begged me not to. Another wrestler, a high school coach, turned away when I asked for a photo saying he couldn’t be featured. His friends, who remained behind, said he was afraid of losing his job.

I wondered (quite nearly aloud) whether their fear was justified, or whether it was the same unfounded “fear of the unknown” that so many closeted professional athletes face. For example, Outsports has already done a full-length, front-page story on the high school coach using his full name, city and a photograph of him. When I asked the closeted referee how he knew he would lose his job if he came out publicly, he said he just knew. When pressed, he said he had seen parents push out gay coaches in his area before (he is a referee).

Regardless of whether the fear is justified or not, that fear is very real and very personal. The referee got tears in his eyes just thinking about even a remote possibility that he could lose his job. He said he has worked with inner-city kids for years, and coming out in his job isn’t worth risking the great work he has done with so many kids who need the direction he provides. The high school coach has even adopted a wayward kid (who had been kicked out of his home by his parents), and that kid is soon attending an Ivy League school.

A lot of people make villains of those who won’t come out fully in their lives, and I understand it to an extent. But I also understand these men who are doing so much in their local communities; Nothing is worth risking that to them

How Do You Say Gay In German? Click Here

Athletes, How do you say ‘Gay’ in German?

by Cyd Zeigler jr..

Team fights homophobia in soccer

Justin Fashnau All-Stars

It’s hard to miss the Justin Fashnau All-Stars on the soccer pitch. The team is clad in distinctive pink shirts, a color picked deliberately to highlight the team’s fight against homophobia in soccer.

The team is named after English soccer player Justin Fashnau, who came out as gay in 1990. He faced a huge backlash after, and committed suicide in 1998 after allegations of sexual assault. The Justin Fashnau All-Stars were formed, player Simon Bennett said, to remind the soccer world of the homophobia that is still prevalent.

The team was started last year and plays only in tournaments. Anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, is invited to play and the Gay Games squad has players from several countries, Bennett said. They are always looking for players and anyone interested shouldcheck out their comprehensive website.

Moroccans Start Petition To Abolish The Penal code Against Gays

Moroccans Start Petition To Abolish Article 489

August 5, 2010 by Jason Shaw

A small but dedicated and growing group of Moroccan gays and lesbians, with the support of their parents, friends and families have launched a brave on online petition. They are demanding the repeal of article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code. And, to ensure more equal rights for the gay and lesbian citizens of Morocco, they, like most people wish to be able to live their lives from from prejudice and discrimination and the right to express their sexual orientation and identity.

Article 489 of the Penal Code of Morocco basically criminalizes “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex.”. Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco and can be punishable with prison sentences ranging from 6 months to 3 years!
The Morrocan Government has long since banned books and magazines on homosexuality, it’s has introduced a teaching curriculum that “emphasizes the danger and depravity of unnatural acts”, and has consistently opposed international gay groups from going to the country.

Yet, in some of the main cities, especially the tourist, there is a small vibrant, mostly underground gay scene. It’s also in these areas that a large number of male prostitutes congregate and work.

The group has started a Facebook page, to help article 489

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125725770805352

Jason Shaw -UK Correspondent for gayagenda.com

Jason’s own personal blog, can be found at The Seafront Diaries.

Anne Rice's Gay Son Christopher: Is He Why She Quit Christianity? Read on Click here

It's Not Like Anne Rice's Gay Son Christopher Is Why She Quit Christianity

"My commitment to Christ demands a certain honesty and authenticity for me, and I am moving away from this group of his followers," Anne Rice told Joy Behar last night about her grand Facebook announcement that she's quitting Jesushouse. But while one of the reasons Rice is quitting the religion is the institutional anti-gay stance, her son Christopher Rice, a gay novelist, wasn't the cornerstone of her decision. It was her gay readers.

Rice also says that while she believes abortion "is the taking of a human life," she would never support a law banning abortion. That, "and I don't think laws against abortion have ever worked."

Mexico Supreme Court: Mexico City's Gay Marriage Law Can Stay Read more: Click here

Mexico Supreme Court: Mexico City's Gay Marriage Law Can Stay

In a 8-2 ruling, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Mexico City's six-month-old same-sex marriage law, passed in December, is just fine, as it doesn't violate the Constitution. In fact, the Constitution offers no definition for "family," so state prosecutors alleging it will harm the family don't have any ground to stand on. That means the hundreds of couple who began marrying in March can keep their certificates

Remember When HRC + ACLU Bashed the Perry Prop 8 Lawsuit? Read more: click here

Remember When HRC + ACLU Bashed the Perry Prop 8 Lawsuit?

In May 2009, when we learned Chad Griffin had lined up Ted Olson and David Boies to argue the shit out of Prop 8's unconstitutionality, America and California's Gay Inc. groups were furious. Now they're so happy!

HRC joined Freedom to Marry, ACLU, Lamda Legal, GLAAD, Victory Fund, Log Cabin Republicans, and PFLAG in denouncing the Perry v. Schwarzenegger lawsuit, saying in an open letter, "Rather than filing premature lawsuits, we need to talk to our friends, family and neighbors, and help them understand why denial of the freedom to marry is wrong."

By June 2009 many of them had come around, or come around long enough to say they hoped the lawsuit at least didn't go poorly. And then some of them demanded Griffin & Co. let them in on their high-profile case; he was like, "Oh hell no!" (By June 2010, HRC was talking about how it was "hopeful" our side would prevail.)

Fast-forward to today, when all these groups were bouncing off the walls.

Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson: "Today's federal ruling strikes down a cruel and unfair constitutional amendment that should never have become law and affirms that the freedom to marry belongs to every American. As the first court to strike down race restrictions on marriage said in 1948, 'the essence of the right to marry is freedom to join in marriage with the person of one's choice.' There is no gay exception in the Constitution to personal choice and the right to marry, and there is no good reason to continue excluding same-sex couples from marriage. Judge Walker's decision will be appealed and litigation will continue, but what we witnessed in the clear light of his courtroom cannot be erased."

HRC's Joe Solmonese: "We thank the courageous plaintiff couples, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies for their tremendous efforts leading to today’s decision and their ongoing commitment as the case moves forward on appeal. The battle for marriage equality continues, and we must all continue our work – in courthouses and statehouses, in church pews and living rooms – until equality is reality for LGBT people and our families everywhere."

ACLU LGBT Project's James Esseks: "Today's decision is a huge victory for the LGBT people of America. For the first time, a federal court has conducted a trial and found that there is absolutely no reason to deny same-sex couples the fairness and dignity of marriage. At the same time, we know that this is not the end. In order to give this case the best possible chance of success as it moves through the appeals courts, we need to show that America is ready for same-sex couples to marry by continuing to seek marriage and other relationship protections in states across the country. It's simply not fair, and not legal, to continue to exclude committed same-sex couples from marriage."

Now it's not like these groups don't have a right to be happy. They do. And they should! But if everybody took their advice last year — and opted not for a federal lawsuit, but a continued piecemeal strategy that's an exercise in two steps forward, one-to-three steps back — we'd be here in August 2010 still with our tails between our legs. And while Perry has a long way and likely several years to go before today's ruling becomes the law of the land, it is unarguably the most significant victory in the history of the marriage equality battle. And HRC, an organization devoted to securing federal equality, didn't have a single hand in it.

These Gay Inc. groups proved that while they remain sometimes useful, they are not necessary to securing LGBT rights. That is a shift change only one year ago might have seemed unthinkable.

Ball Memorial Hospital Responds to Criticism Over Treatment of Transgender Patient

A few days ago, I wrote about Erin Vaught’s trip to the Ball Memorial Hospital emergency room. Vaught went to the hospital expecting treatment for a lung condition. Instead, she was ridiculed by hospital staff and eventually denied treatment because she’s transgender.

Since the incident, bloggers and organizations have put pressure on Ball Memorial Hospital to ensure that transgender patients be treated respectfully. Bilerico broke the story in an interview with Erin Vaught, the Ball Memorial Hospital Facebook page was flooded with concerned comments, nearly 2,000 emails were sent to the hospital, and Erin’s complaints were followed up by organizations including Indiana Equality and the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance.

Thanks to the work of advocates concerned with Vaught’s treatment, Ball Memorial Hospital has issued a new statement about the incident. The hospital is working with Indiana Equality and Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance to review the hospital’s care policies, employee benefits, and diversity training. The groups are helping the hospital to develop an LGBT awareness training for employees, to improve their awareness of LGBT issues. The training will include information specifically pertaining to the treatment of transgender patients

How President Obama Is Like Target's CEO on Gay Rights

Many of us are familiar with the cliche: "You can't have your cake and eat it, too."

Perhaps someone should clue both President Obama and Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel in on what this line means. Because both men have, in very different ways, proven that while they're willing to put on a show of support for the LGBT community, they're not entirely down with the goal of equal rights.

In President Obama's case, this became all too apparent in the wake of yesterday's decision in California, where Judge Vaughn Walker declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. In the immediate aftermath of the decision, here's what a spokesperson for the President told the press.

"The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans." That's according to Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesperson. So does that mean that the President will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans in the form of equal marriage rights?

Not so fast.

Prop 8 Ruling Exposes Superiority Complex, and Dilemma for President Obama

Justice Vaughn Walker and his clerks produced 136 pages of legal genius that can be read as a series of goose bump-inducing poetry. The decision, which finds Proposition 8 unconstitutional, is a Popeye-strong document that was built to survive.

You would be hard pressed to identify a favorite line in this sea of brilliance, but there is one part that moves me more and more each time I read it. In Walker’s conclusion on page 135, he writes:

“Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.”

Superior.

This word crystallizes why I find opposition to marriage equality so troubling. When people think they are being fair-minded by expressing support for civil unions, because “marriage should be between a man and a woman,” they are most definitely saying that their relationship is superior to others. They deserve something that others cannot have. Their religion tells them that their love is better than mine.

In essence, Proposition 8 and similar ballot initiatives flat out asked voters if they wanted to let the minority into their exclusive marriage club … and for the most part, they said “No.”

The idea of superiority makes it increasingly infuriating that there still are so many so-called progressive leaders who do not support full marriage equality. Even as the White House made a statement yesterday outlining President Obama’s opposition to Proposition 8, an anonymous White House aidereiterated that the President is still not on board with full marriage equality.

Pam Spaulding summed up the ridiculousness by saying, “Yes, we have a biracial constitutional law scholar for a President who still believes that ‘god is in the mix’ and that separate is equal when it comes to marriage.”

Mr. President, I’ve asked you before and I will ask you again: Do you feel that your relationship with Michelle is superior to my relationship with my husband? Does God bless your relationship more than mine? When your heart goes pitter-patter when Michelle enters the room, is it somehow more real or more special than when mine does the same? Is the lifelong commitment of love you made somehow more deserving of respect than the commitment I made?

I don’t mean to single out the President, because obviously from our ballot initiative record, there are a lot of people who feel exactly the same way he does. Many of those minds will change over time and the superiority complex will lessen, but the truly exciting part is that because of yesterday’s ruling, we will hopefully never again have to be subjected to the tyranny of the majority at the ballot box.

Photo credit: vaXzine by Adam Amel Rogers http://gayrights.change.org