April 13, 2011

Follow Up: Fans, Players give Support To Brazilian Player After The "Bicho" Incident

Last week we told you about the awful incident where 3,000 fans at a Brazilian pro volleyball playoff match taunted a gay player, Michael, with “faggot,” which caused him to come out publicly after the match. On Saturday, Michael’s team, Volei Futuro, played host to Sada Cruzeiro in Game 2 of their best-of-three series and the reaction was nothing but love.

Michael’s teammates wore pink warm-up shirts in support and one player wore a rainbow-colored jersey during the match. And fans rapturously clapped pink thundersticks emblazoned with “Michael” all throughout the match. And after Volei Futuro won a pulsating five-set match to stay alive, the sound system played “I Will Survive.” It wasquite a scene as this video shows.

From an online translation of the account of the game, Michael said: “The music I want? You’ve heard the [song], right? ‘I Will Survive.’ This song can be it then.”

The website Volleywood has been doing a terrific job of following this story and hopes it proves a turning point:

We’ve said this before but we just want to let everyone know out there that volleyball has room for you regardless of what and who you are. Michael’s story has inspired a lot of people. Those 3,000 people who chanted homophobic slurs against him are outnumbered by the fans from all over the world who have showed love and support for Michael.
His tale marks the beginning of a battle against prejudice and inequality in the world of volleyball.

The deciding Game 3 of the playoff series will be held Friday back on Sada Cruzeiro’s court where the homophobic taunts occurred. It will be fascinating to see the reaction this time. Michael’s story has received huge play in Brazil, where volleyball is a major sport. Will the same fans calling Michael a “bicha” do it again and risk public ridicule or will their homophobia win out?

Here are some great images from Game 2, courtesy of the Facebook page of Volei Futuro:

Michael, left, with teammate:

Hat tip to reader Josh

http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/

Bipolar Disorder, About Time We Learn More-Here's ur Chance

Catherine Zeta Jones has checked herself into a mental health facility to treat her bipolar II disorder.

Catherine Zeta Jones has checked herself into a mental health facility for treatment of bipolar II disorder, her rep confirmed to CNN on Wednesday. The 41-year-old actress has been by husband Michael Douglas' side since his treatment for throat cancer last fall.

(Health.com) -- Although the symptoms of bipolar disorder can vary significantly from person to person, mental health professionals have identified four main subtypes of the illness that together are referred to as bipolar spectrum disorders: bipolar I, bipolar II, bipolar not otherwise specified, and cyclothymia.

Factors that differentiate the types of bipolar include the duration and intensity of the mood swings. Knowing which type you have can help doctors choose the right course of treatment, according to Gabrielle Carlson, M.D., professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Stony Brook University Medical Center, in New York.

Bipolar I

People who have bipolar I -- the "classic" bipolar disorder -- have experienced one or more manic episodes lasting at least a week and almost always one or more major depressive episodes.

Manic episodes bring an abnormally elevated mood. A person may be agitated, have grandiose ideas, need less sleep, be easily distracted, and act impulsively.

Health.com: 10 subtle signs of bipolar disorder

Depressive episodes bring feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt, worthlessness, and pessimism; patients may experience difficulty concentrating, a loss of interest in normal daily activities, and changes in eating and sleeping habits. It's considered a depressive episode if the person experiences several of these symptoms for most of the day for more than two weeks.

Bipolar disorder can also cause psychosis, which may include hallucinations (seeing things that aren't there) or delusions (strongly held beliefs not based in reality and not influenced by rational thinking).

Men and women are equally likely to have bipolar disorder, although a 2005 study in the "American Journal of Psychiatry" found that men are more likely to have their first manic episode at a younger age. The disease is also evenly distributed among ethnicities, says S. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., the director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, in Boston.

In bipolar disorder, periods of depression typically last longer than manic episodes. Depression can last for a year or longer, while manic episodes rarely go on for longer than a few months. If treatment is successful, bipolar patients may experience months or years of mood stability between episodes, although one-third have some residual symptoms, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Health.com: Tips for managing bipolar disorder

Bipolar II

Depression is the primary characteristic of bipolar II. While those with bipolar II do have "up" periods, these episodes are less marked. Instead of full-blown mania, people with bipolar II experience hypomania, a milder form of mania. Studies show that women are slightly more likely to have bipolar II.

Though a person with bipolar II may deny that anything is wrong, loved ones will probably notice that he or she seems agitated, is flying off the handle more often, or seems unusually upbeat.

Bipolar II is sometimes mistaken for depression because the hypomanic periods are harder to detect. Over time, without treatment, hypomania -- the "up" period -- can progress into mania or turn into a depressed state.

Bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (NOS)

This is a catchall category for those who seem to have bipolar disorder, but who don't fit neatly into any category.

For an illness to be considered bipolar I, for example, a manic episode needs to last at least a week. If the manic episode lasts only three days, doctors may say you have bipolar disorder not otherwise specified, Carlson says.

Health.com: Bipolar celebrities: does it make them more creative?

Other bipolar variations

Bipolar disorder is a complex condition that isn't easy to categorize. Some people have bipolar I without ever having experienced a major depressive episode, though this is unusual.

People with bipolar disorder may also experience a mixed episode, symptoms of depression and mania simultaneously.

"If you're manic, you may not be going 100 mph every second of every day," Carlson says. "You may be moody and have ups and downs. You are wired but your emotions are completely dysregulated. Someone tells you they hate your lipstick, and you may burst into tears or hit them in the nose."

And even if you've been diagnosed with a particular type of bipolar, it doesn't mean that your symptoms will remain the same over time, or even that you will remain in the same subtype.

Left untreated, bipolar disorder tends to worsen over time, according to the NIMH. Episodes can be more severe or can begin to cycle rapidly. About 20 percent to 25 percent of people have four or more distinct episodes of mania or depression in a year, according to Ghaemi. This is called rapid cycling, and it can occur in those with bipolar I, II, or NOS. Rapid cycling tends to happen later in the course of the illness and is more common in women than men.

Health.com: Bipolar disorder is different for women

Even within rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, there are many variables.

While some who are rapid cycling have periods of normality between episodes, a smaller number careen from high to low without any breaks in between; this is sometimes called continuous cycling. An even smaller group has ultra rapid, ultra-ultra rapid, or ultradian cycling, which can bring multiple mood shifts in a single day.

Rapid-cycling bipolar disease poses challenges for physicians trying to determine the correct treatment, because antidepressants can cause manic episodes to flare or get worse.

Be sure to write down the details of your manic episodes, including your symptoms, feelings, and how long the episode lasts, so your doctor is better able to help.

Health.com: 10 must-read books about bipolar disorder

Cyclothymia

People who have cyclothymia are often considered by their loved ones to be extremely moody. They have a history of cycling through "up" and "down" periods, none of which are so severe or last long enough to qualify as mania or major depression.

People with cyclothymia may have bursts of energy and need less sleep, followed by mild depression. "Very few people have to come to the doctor for treatment for cyclothymia," says Carlson.

Some mental health professionals consider cyclothymia to be a condition distinct from bipolar. But not all mental health professionals agree. Ghaemi says cyclothymia is a personality trait, albeit one that's related to bipolar.

Research shows that people who have a parent or close family member with cyclothymia are more likely to have bipolar disorder. In addition, people with bipolar disorder have a greater tendency to experience cyclothymia between episodes of depression or mania.

"In my view, it's a temperament," Ghaemi adds

By Jennifer Thomas

http://www.cnn.com

Ottawa Man Travels Land by Greyhound to Promote LGTB Rights

'I believe that there are gays and lesbians in every town in this country who want to do something for gay refugees in the rest of the world,' says David Pepper.

Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen

David Pepper has his Greyhound bus pass, his backpack and his laptop for Tweeting, blogging and updating his Facebook page. The man is ready for a 21st-century, one-man awareness-raising trip across the country.
Pepper, a longtime Ottawa activist and organizer, begins his trip today in Winnipeg, where he'll officially launch the North Star Triangle Project. His volunteer effort aims to mobilize members of Canada's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) communities to sponsor men and women being persecuted in other countries for their sexuality. It's a simple idea: take the bus to 14 cities, meet with GLBT groups and individuals to share his knowledge of refugee issues and what they can do to help someone who has been forced to flee their home country.
Pepper will be visiting Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge, before returning through Ontario and ending in Windsor by the end of April -14 cities in all. In May he flies to British Columbia, and in June he heads to the East Coast. He's still looking for contacts in some towns, but gaps in the schedule don't worry him.
"I believe that there are gays and lesbians in every town in this country who want to do something for gay refugees in the rest of the world," says Pepper, 48. "If I can help link them up with resources locally, provincially or nationally in a way that helps them contribute with their own aspirations, that in itself will be a goal met."
Homosexuality is illegal in 77 countries and carries the death penalty in five, according to Egale, the national GLBT human rights organization.
"Those of us who have been active in GLBT human rights issues for most of our lives are well aware of the horrific stories we heard coming out of Iran in the '80s, where young gay men were hanged and more recently, in Uganda," says Pepper, referring to the East African nation where a leading gay rights activist was beaten to death earlier this year.
Canada grants permanent resident status to an average of 30,000 refugees each year. In a speech last June, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney urged Canadians of all stripes to "step up to the plate" and make use of the government's Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program to help people fleeing persecution in their home countries. He singled out members of the gay and lesbian community and urged them to organize to sponsor homosexuals "facing persecution simply for who they are."
That challenge stuck with Pepper. Within a few months, he and a handful of friends had begun a "group of five," one category of private sponsorship in which individuals come together to sponsor a United Nations-certified refugee. They commit to providing initial financial support for his or her settlement and helping the refugee make a home in Canada. Thousands of refugees have been sponsored in this way, in addition to those sponsored by church groups and settlement agencies.
Pepper's group, which includes friend Lisa Hebert and immigration lawyer Mike Bell, has identified a Colombian woman they want to sponsor. They're beginning the paperwork necessary to bring her to Canada and researching how best to support her as she settles in Ottawa.

Pepper then decided to take it one step further and the speaking tour was born. He began networking, offering to lead information sessions through GLBT organizations in cities across the country. He dubbed his effort the North Star Triangle Project, an homage to Canada's role as a safe haven to American slaves.
"It's really important that more Canadians think about how they can contribute to giving a new home to someone facing persecution, including members of GLBT communities, who know what it's like to suffer discrimination," says Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. "I'm really hoping that it will speak to the imagination of people across the country. It's a small amount of hardship for David on the Greyhound but even that might remind people of the kind of luxury we live in here, and the broader world out there, where attacks on the rights of gays and lesbians are very acute."
Pepper paid $277 for his bus pass for the first leg of the tour, and plans to stay in hostels most of the way, perhaps even sleep on the occasional couch. As for why he's doing it now, while on sabbatical from his job as director of community development at the Ottawa Police Service, Pepper says it's simple.
"I have tons of privilege and one of the privileges I have right now is the luxury of time and resources," he says. "This is about going out and educating and getting the attention of people of goodwill -my generation and the younger generation -who actually care and know that we can help change the world and make it better."
ltaylor@ottawacitizen.com For more information, visit www. northstartriangle.blogspot.com or find it on Facebook.

by Louisa Taylor

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

NOM Facebook Admin DELETED the Orgs Facebook Pge With it's Fans

Facebook via All Facebook

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Who says people don't change?

After five years of writing anti-gay blogs, making anti-gay YouTube videos and going on the National Organization for Marriage's "Summer of Marriage," NOM Facebook administrator Louis Marinelli deleted the organization's Facebook page, taking all 290,000 "fans" with it, reports All Facebook.

Marinelli originally launched the Fan page to promote his own initiative, Protect Marriage: One Man, One Woman, according to gay rights website GoodAsYou.org. He stayed on as administrator until last Friday, when he submitted his resignation. In a blog post titled "I now support full marriage equality,"Marinelli explained why:

Having spent the last five years putting all of my political will, interest and energy into fighting against the spread of same-sex marriage as if it were a contagious disease, I must admit that it is hard for me to put the following text into words let alone utter them with my own voice.
Whether it is an issue of disbelief, shame or embarrassment, the one thing that is for sure is that I have come to this point after several months of an internal conflict with myself. That conflict gradually tore away at me until recently when I was able to for the first time simply admit to myself that I do in fact support civil marriage equality.

That's civil marriage, mind you, performed and recognized by the State — as opposed to "holy matrimony," which Marinelli maintains is about a man and a woman. He doesn't mention anything about the enormous tax burden and extra insurance costs gay couples still carry, civil marriage or not.

Marinelli does describe, in emotional detail, an internal journey that began when he met real live homosexuals and lesbians protesting NOM's cross-country campaign against gay rights and could not help but notice they were just as human as he. This fact was reinforced by a online dialogue with a gay rights blogger who contacted him and ongoing conversations with same-sex marriage supporters in another Facebook group.

"I soon realized that there I was surrounded by hateful people; propping up a cause I created five years ago, a cause which I had begun to question," he writes, and one might assume he's referring to NOM, the largest anti-gay marriage organization in the U.S.

Marinelli's blog doesn't go into detail about his Facebook fan page purge, and it appears NOM doesn't use a third-party archival service — and therefore must build its previous 290,000 following back from scratch. At the time of this post, it had around 600 fans.

http://digitallife.today.com/_news

Homophobic Facebook group trying to out Australia’s gay military personnel

A homophobic Facebook group has been found trying to out Australia’s gay military personnel.

At least 80 people from the Australian Defence Force were signed up to the page, which claimed to inform which colleagues are “biting the pillow.”

The group – which called homosexuality a "filthy lifestyle decision" –went on to say: "It is your right to know who is biting the pillow. If you know any more bum bandits getting around in the ADF, shoot me an email.”

The page, which has since been taken down, was also said to have links to violent, anti-gay videos on YouTube.

According to Australia's Star Observer newspaper, one of those outed by the Facebook page has already received a death threat in his work email, as well as a threatening note delivered to his house, as a result.

Complaints about anti-gay Facebook pages were received by the ADF eight months ago in August 2010, but no action has been taken against members behind the page’s creation. An investigation by the organisation is apparently ongoing.

The Australian Defence Force has allowed gay men and service women to openly serve in its ranks since the 1990s.

Peter Lloyd and Tom Hegarty
http://news.pinkpaper.com

Foul! Kobe Bryant Tells Referee The F Word Followed by The F Word

Slammed for Antigay Slur

by MARC MALKIN

Ben Munn/Cal Sport Media/Sipa Press

Just because Kobe Bryant insults someone with a homophobic slur doesn't mean he has any sort of beef with gay people.

At least that's what the NBA star's saying today after being criticized this morning by a gay rights group for using an antigay word to cuss out a referee during last night's Lakers game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Here's the deal on the hoops star's bigoted behavior...

TWITTER: Follow Marc

First, a summary for you. After a referee penalized him for a technical foul, Bryant was caught on camera—and live television—referring to him as a "f--king f----t."

"Discriminatory slurs have no place on or off the court," Jarrett Barrios, president of gay media watchdog group GLAAD, said in a statement. "Professional sports players need to set a better example for young people who use words like this on the playground and in our schools, creating a climate of intolerance and hostility."
Barrios also said the Lakers should "educate their fans about why this word is unacceptable."

Bryant insists he meant no harm. "What I said last night should not be taken literally," he said in s statement. "My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone."

Bryant didn't exactly win over GLAAD.

"This statement is a start, but the NBA must now take action," Barrios said. "No matter the intent, slurs like this fuel intolerance. The NBA has a chance to show leadership by taking disciplinary measures and sending a message that words like this have no place in sports. All sports leagues have a responsibility to create a safe environment for fans, employees and players."

Jim Buzinski, cofounder of gay sports website OutSports, dismissed Bryant's explanation as a "non-apology apology."

"It's still disturbing that this is the epithet of choice in the sports world," he said. "It's still considered the worst thing you can use to demean and insult someone. You could have called the guy a 'jerk' and slew of other words, but when he uses the f-word, it's truly disturbing."

Buzinski agrees with GLAAD that the Lakers need to use this as a stepping-off point to educate. "I think this could be chance for Kobe to do something positive," he said. "Maybe he should speak before young kids and say, 'It's wrong to say it. I shouldn't have said it, and you shouldn't say it either.'"

http://www.eonline.com

No Justice for Lesbian Arson Victims

by Michael Jones

You could argue that good news is hard to come by for Carol Ann and Laura Stutte. The couple, who has been together for more than 14 years, had their Tennessee house burned to the ground in September 2010 in a vicious anti-gay arson attack. The word "Queers" was spray-painted in black letters on the only thing left standing: an adjacent garage that lied next to a pile of ashes.

For nearly eight months now, Carol Ann and Laura have waited for their insurance company -- American National Property and Casualty -- to pay the claim on the burned down property. After all, that's what home insurance is for: to cover tragedies like this, and make sure families can get back on their feet again after disaster. But that's not what happened with Carol Ann and Laura. Instead, American National Property and Casualty has all but ignored their claim, refusing to pay them anything for the burned down house, and even continuing to charge them monthly insurance fees on the burned down property.

But while American National Property and Casualty has turned their back on these two women, the LGBT community in Nashville and around the country has stepped up and is helping seek justice for Carol Ann and Laura. And on this note, there are two amazing pieces of good news. First is that because of the online petition to hold American National Property and Casualty accountable for their disgusting treatment of these two women, Carol Ann and Laura were put in touch with a Pennsylvania woman who was able to donate an insulin pump to their family. Why is this so important? Because Carol Ann and Laura have a daughter who is diabetic, and the pump is necessary for her.

The second piece of good news? Activists with GetEqual are getting ready to hold what will be the first demonstration against American National Property and Casualty. What a way to take disgust at this insurance company public, and put pressure on the company in a very direct way.

Organizers and activists with GetEqual will be in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, staging a protest at the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) conference. It's one of the largest insurance gatherings of the year, and a perfect opportunity to shine a light on how awful American National Property and Casualty has treated victims of a hate crime.

"The lengths that this couple has gone to simply to ask American National Property and Casualty to honor their fully-paid insurance policy are horrifying,” said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEqual. “No insurance company should treat people the way the Stuttes have been treated, and we’re asking American National Property and Casualty’s peers and colleagues to dissociate themselves from such a soul-less and discriminatory company.”

Booyeah.

So far, nearly 50,000 Change.org members have sent American National Property and Casualty a message, demanding that the company pay the Stuttes what is rightly owed to them as customers. Let's help keep up the pressure, and stand in solidarity with the folks who will be in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, raising awareness about the tragic crime that happened to Carol Ann and Laura Stutte, and the ineptitude and unjust actions of American National Property and Casualty.

Photo credit: YouTube