Lakers, NBA to work with GLAAD To Avoid Anti gay Behavior in Sports

In light of Kobe Bryant's anti-gay slur uttered during Tuesday's game against San Antonio, which led to a league-imposed $100,000 fine, the Lakers and the NBA are working with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the advocacy organization said Friday.

"In light of this slur, there is a real opportunity to build support for our community and educate fans of Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the NBA about the use of such words," GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in the statement. "The Los Angeles Lakers have taken a positive step and we look forward to working with them to create messages from players and coaches that combat bullying. We also suggested and will continue to advocate for zero tolerance policies for anti-gay slurs at home games, similar to what the New York Yankees adopted last year."

Barrios is referring to the organization's partnership with the Yankees after video emerged showing Yankees fans shouting an obscene version of Village People's "YMCA" at fans of opposing teams. GLAAD also worked with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after a Feb. 21 broadcast this year featured wrestler John Cena trash talking to The Rock with homophobic lyrics in a rap song. A week later, Cena joked about "The Miz" and his wrestling partner being a secret couple.

Bryant directed the slur toward referee Bennie Adams in response to Adams' issuing Bryant his 15th technical foul of the season. The slur was caught by the television camera, and later the Lakers star appeared on 710 ESPN's "Mason & Ireland" show and said he planned on meeting with gay rights groups.

“I will be saying something,” said Bryant, who later apologized to the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. The group then praised Bryant for his apology. “I plan on talking to them. Out of this, I believe it's our responsibility as athletes and those in the spotlight to bring awareness of these issues. It's coming from a negative light, but it's our responsibility to make it into a positive and raise awareness as much as we can and say it's not OK to insult or discriminate. It's not the right thing to do. I will say something to them and talk about doing things to help prohibit hate crimes and violence. It's important to do that."

"What happened in Tuesday night's game is not representative of what the Lakers stand for," said Lakers spokesman John Black in the statement GLAAD released. "We want to reaffirm our commitment to all our fans and our appreciation for the support we receive from all segments of society. We also understand the importance of positive messages in helping us convey this. We appreciate the input we've received from GLAAD the past two days and will look forward to working with them on ways to help educate ourselves and our fans, and to help keep language like this out of our game."

--Mark Medina

mgmedin@gmail.com

http://lakersblog.latimes.com

The cost of saying “faggot” in sports has gotten higher, Thanks kobe

 thanks to Kobe Bryant

 

by Jim Buzinski.

$100,000. That’s the new baseline for yelling “faggot” in the NBA, based on the fine issued to Kobe Bryant. (Does this mean that “fag” gets you 50K?) As far as I can gather, that’s the largest fine in American major pro sports for someone uttering a gay slur.

True, it should have been more and was less than one third of the $365,000 Kobe earns per game, but 100K will get peoples’ attention, even rich jocks. It’s 10 times what the NFL fined then-Steelers linebacker Joey Porter in 2006 for calling another player a fag. And I could find no evidence that then-Lions general manager Matt Millen was fined anything in 2003 after calling an opposing player a faggot.

Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, was fined $20,oooin 2006 by Major League Baseball for calling a columnist a fag. More recently, Larry Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs was suspended a game in 2009, costing him $315,000, after using three anti-gay slurs. But the fine was as much for Johnson being an all-around dick to the organization as it was about him being  a homophobe; the NFLapparently wanted Johnson fined only $10,000.

There’s been some grumbling about Kobe appealing his fine, but that is standard procedure in the NBA regarding such things, so it doesn’t mean much. Kobe should and will pay up. It would be terrific if the NBA donated that money to an organization like The Trevor Project, with Kobe kicking in another 100K as a match (it would be a lot less than the $4 million he shelled out on a diamond for Mrs. Kobe around the time he faced that rape charge).

There has not been a lot of focus on Kobe’s post-game comments Wednesday, where he was asked once again about calling referee Bennie Adams a “fucking faggot.” His first response was lame and not very apologetic, but hours later he sounded a lot more contrite (thanks to Billy Witz of Fox Sports.com for these):

For me, it’s about the bigger message. I made a mistake in terms of what  I said, but it’s always the responsibility that carries with it. What I mean by that, is for kids that think it’s OK or it’s cool to call kids that, or to tease them because of that. I don’t stand for that. I never have. I’ve been in so many altercations in high school and middle school  protecting kids from that and I certainly won’t be part of enhancing the feeling of that’s OK. I just won’t. We’ll do some things to focus on that. And make sure that’s a top priority and make sure kids understand that.

… You get [on the court] and you don’t really know what you’re doing. You get caught up in the moment and you’re reacting and you’re going. Hopefully, other players will look at the situation I’ve been through and people are watching and kids are watching and you don’t want to have those messages out there.

Those quotes, whether they came after pressure from handlers or from sincere reflection, give Kobe the chance to make good. There are numerous ways he can make a difference in the LGBT community, and I hope he knows that some nice words won’t cut it — actions will.

My theory in dealing with gays in sports is that it’s 2 steps forward and 1 1/2-steps back and this was the case here. On the one hand, we were reminded again how prevalent homophobic slurs are in sports, so much so that “faggot” flew out of Kobe’s mouth rather than a dozen other less-targeted slurs. It shows that he has been marinated in a culture where “faggot” and all its derivatives remain the slur of choice to put someone down.

On the positive side, the NBA reacted very swiftly and decisively, with David Stern pulling no punches in condemning what Kobe said. Kobe was also roundly criticized in the media and I did not see anyone prominent rushing to his defense. Charles Barkley, for one, said thisto the L.A. Times:

“I’m a big pro-gay-marriage person; I have a bunch of gay friends who I hope can get married some day, so I’m a little bit sensitive,” Barkley said. “But I’m not going to go overboard. You have to just be careful what you say with stuff like that.”

One of the greatest and most prominent athletes on the planet was forced to spend a day on the defensive after insulting gay people, and neither his money nor his fame were enough to give him a pass (save for the usual moron fans who defend anything “their” team does).  That’s progress, no matter how painful.

http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog

California to be the First US State to Require the teaching of Gay History

Governor Jerry Brown will sign the law once it has passed through the assembly Photo: EPA

Children would take lessons on issues affecting gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, with schools granted discretion about what age to start the lessons.

The law was passed by the state's senate and is likely to pass the assembly easily, which is also controlled by the Democrats, before being signed by Governor Jerry Brown.

The legislation, sponsored by Democrat Mark Leno of San Francisco, passed on a 23-14 party line vote.

"We are second-class citizens and children are listening," he said. "When they see their teachers don't step up to the plate when their classmate is being harassed literally to death, they are listening and they get the message that there is something wrong with those people."

Republican state Senator Doug La Malfa opposed the bill saying: "I'm deeply troubled kids would have to contemplate at a very, very early age, when many of us are teaching abstinence ... what is sexuality." 

California law already requires schools to cover the contributions to the state and nation of women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, entrepreneurs, Asian Americans, European Americans, American Indians and labour activists. The new bill will also add the disabled to the list.

By Alex Spillius, Washington 

Follow Alex Spillius on Twitter

Wilson Cruz young!+Gay Character TV Show On Sundance Resurrected

Critically-acclaimed US television show My So-Called life will be aired on America's Sundance channel – fifteen years after its untimely cancellation.

The legendary series, which created a blueprint for the touchy-feely teen genre back in 1994, launched the careers of both Claire Danes and Jared Leto.

Despite only lasting one season, the cult series is still widely regarded as one of the best to emerge from America in the nineties – not least because of its coverage of teen homosexuality, years before it was a hot topic of debate.

Created by the executives behind Thirtysomething, MSCL was also the very first prime-time US television show to feature a regular gay teen character in the shape of Rickie Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz (pictured with Danes).

“We love My So-Called Life because it’s both substantive and engaging,” Sarah Bennett,Sundance general manager, said in a statement.

“We’re delighted to bring back the series for the passionate audience that adored the show when it first premiered and we’re thrilled to introduce it to a whole new audience that can enjoy it for the first time. The timeless stories hold up brilliantly.”

In 1995, Danes won a Golden Globe award for her role in the show at the age of just fifteen.


Peter Lloyd


http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStor

10 Cities With the Most Same-Sex Couples

The 2010 census marked the first time that same-sex married couples will be counted as such in the decennial population count. During the 2000 census, even when no state recognized same-sex marriages, many gay couples listed themselves as spouses; now that five states, plus the District of Columbia, issue licenses to same-sex couples, the bureau will be able to count them more accurately, and that data will be released for the first time ever this November. Detailed census data from recent years shows more specifically where high concentrations of same-sex couples are living. The data suggests that a large proportion of same-sex couples in a city, state, or region is a factor that sets the stage for legislation granting marriage rights to non-heterosexual couples.

All of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest proportions of same-sex unmarried partnerships, according to data from the Census Bureau's 2005-2009 American Community Survey, are in states that currently grant either same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships. But only two of those states--Massachusetts and Maine--issued any type of legal same-sex partnerships for that entire period. Four of the 10 metropolitan areas with the greatest proportion of unmarried same-sex partners by household were in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2004. This suggests that many Massachusetts cities may have far more gay couples who simply cannot be counted with this data. Maine, whose capitol city of Portland is at No. 4 on the list, also issued domestic partnerships starting in 2004. But the other states represented among the top 10--Vermont, California, Oregon, and New Hampshire--began issuing same-sex marriage licenses or partnerships much later, in some cases after the data-gathering period.

According to Michael Cole-Schwartz, press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy organization, this is because government is a "lagging indicator" of public sentiment. "It is more likely, if you have an organized and active LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] community, that you're going to see relationship recognition happen. This climate would have to come together before the political process."

Schwartz says that large gay communities often form in cities not because of the presence of gay-friendly legislation but because of the impression that they will be accepted. "One of the largest factors is really about perception, and how a place is perceived to be welcoming or not." Factors that can play into perception can be a city's political climate and the practices of its major employers, which may provide benefits to domestic partners.

According to Census Bureau data gathered from 2005 through 2009, below are the 10 cities with the highest proportion of unmarried partners of the same sex, as measured by household.

Metropolitan Area Percentage of Households Occupied by Unmarried Partners of Same Sex

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. 1.36%

2. Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. 1.12

3. Barnstable Town, Mass. 1.10

4. Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine 1.09

5. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Calif. 1.03

6. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash. 1.00

7. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif. 0.95

8. Springfield, Mass. 0.92

9. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. 0.91

10. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. 0.91

Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2005-9

By DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN

http://www.usnews.com/news

Target Needs to Make Amends To the LGTB Community-Like Coors

As the number two discount retail chain in the U.S. with over $67 billion in annual sales, and intent on conquering Canada's retail market, Target Corp. undoubtedly wields significant socio-economic influence.

Recognizing this influence, Target regularly donates to good causes, encourages volunteerism among their employees, and boasts a generous and open work atmosphere (though their overseas record is less than spotless).

But as you might remember from last year, Target's name became synonymous with more than just shopping deals, having gained notoriety fortheir continued support of anti-LGBT politicians across the country; this after significant public outrage over their whopping $150,000 in cash donations to one hate-promoting group in Minnesota (nothing to twist here, WSJ).

All this in the name of seeking bigger breaks and business-friendliness from state politicians. (I guess agrowth of $3 billion in sales in the past two years isn't friendly enough).

As recently as last week,  Target even lost a brief legal battle to prevent a gay rights group from canvassing outside their stores in California. Target had claimed that the collection of signatures in support of marriage equality — outside their shops — was bad for business.

Noticeably, the fallout over Target's behavior continues to radiate among civic-minded citizens across the nation, with fans of one popular Facebook page "Money I Would Have Spent at Target" having recorded over $1 million in sales that they purposefully spent elsewhere.

I have no doubt that Target will fail to make amends with the LGBTA community until they actually pledge to stop political donations to anti-LGBT candidates, a lesson still not learned by beer brewing giant Coors(now MillerCoors).

While Target attempts to justify their donations to the advancement of anti-LGBT politicians by stating economic reasons, or in glossing over them by repeating that they donate $3 million a week for good causes, they cannot escape the fact that 1-cent for hate is 1-cent too much.

Target has yet to release their 2010 "Corporate Responsibility Report." When they do, I hope that they display some sense of gravitas, and use it as an opportunity to flex their socio-economic influence for the rights of their customers and employees, instead of blindly accepting the agenda of social and civil hate by supposed "pro-business" politicians. Agree? Let's send Target a message here.

Jay Breneman is an Army veteran, having served for 6 1/2 years, with 3 years overseas, including two tours in Iraq.

http://news.change.org

Pub That Kicked Out First Date Kissing Guys Forced to Close its Doors

• Adam Gabbatt
• guardian.co.uk
• UPDATE

Protesters kiss outside the closed doors of the John Snow pub in Soho. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for the Guardian

The pub at the centre of a homophobia row was forced to close its doors, after hundreds of people attended a "gay kiss-in" at the venue.

The John Snow, in Soho, central London, became the focus of unwanted attention when James Bull and Jonathan Williams were asked to leave on Wednesday night by a staff member who allegedly described the couple's kissing as "obscene".

Williams tweeted about the incident, which propelled him and Bull, who were on their first date, to the attention of national media, leading to plans for a "gay kiss-in" Facebook event, scheduled for 7pm on Friday. The John Snow, perhaps wary of the impending siege, closed at around 3.30pm, leaving bemused drinkers locked out on the street with beverages in hand, according to one bystander.

About 300 people attended the scheduled kiss-in, which took place despite the closure of the pub and included Bull, Williams and gay rightsactivist Peter Tatchell. Just after 7pm mass co-ordinated kissing took place in the street, to whoops of encouragement from a growing crowd. "It's still a victory," said Paul Shetler, a senior director at an IT firm. "They've wound up losing a night's takings because they couldn't have a bunch of men with tongues in each others' mouths."

Encouraged by a large media presence, one attendee tried to pin a rainbow flag to the doorframe of the closed pub, while others stuck flyers depicting men in various states of undress on to the windows.

While the event urged same-sex individuals to engage in kissing, embraces were generally in short supply – although several participants made up for the lack of quantity with a large amount of vehemence. Michael Peacock, who described himself as a full-time male escort and was sporting red leather trousers with lace-up posterior, was one of the more enthusiastic.

"There's something really wrong if a pub will tolerate people of different sexes kissing but not of the same sex," he said, on breaking off from an embrace with a tall, dark, bearded man. "It wasn't as if they were having full-on sex."

The event had been in the planning since the early hours of Thursday, when Shetler first heard the news of Bull and Williams's ejection through Twitter.

Bull, a charity volunteer, and Williams, a journalist for a financial magazine, had dined in Covent Garden on Wednesday evening before strolling to the John Snow, which Williams said he was accustomed to visiting around once a week.

The date followed its natural progression but when the pair began to kiss they were asked to leave the pub, first by a man claiming to be the landlord, who said their display of affection was "bothering" him, and later by a woman in staff uniform who said she was the landlady and found their kissing "obscene".

Bull, 23, and Williams, 26, who were bombarded by news crews and well-wishers outside the John Snow last night, deny having behaved in any unseemly way.

The John Snow has refused to comment on Bull and Williams's allegations, while Samuel Smith's brewery, which operates the pub, has not replied to the Guardian's calls.

The pub shut its doors 3.30pm on Friday, according to Natalie Curran, a 31-year-old TV producer, who was drinking at the John Snow when it closed, said: "The guy on the door said the landlord didn't want to stay open because of the number of people who might come."

The Metropolitan police said it had not advised closure of the premises and there had been no plans for an increased police presence around the pub. There was a small police presence at the kiss-in, which spilled across the road at stages.

Williams had turned to Twitter to register his discontent on Wednesday evening: "Seven years in London & I've never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub, W1F had me removed for kissing a date," he tweeted.

His post, retweeted hundreds of times, spawned last night's festivities, organised by Shetler.

"Don't talk, just kiss," Shetler wrote on the Facebook event page, using the lyrics from Right Said Fred's seminal 1991 hit in his guidance to attendees, who were also advised: "Don't buy anything."

But despite the guidance, not all protesters were able to take advantage of the planned intimacy.

Kevin Wilson, 34, who described himself as "the only wheelchair user" at the protest, was one of several disappointed with the lack of lip-locking on show.

"I sort of like oiled my lips up," he said. "Brushed my teeth, chewed my gum, but no." He broke off from an interview to appeal to fellow protesters: "I'm ready for a snog! Anybody?" However the Guardian did not see his wishes fulfilled.