Here, without further ado, are the other tabs open in my browser:
1. A new study, done by a panel of twenty-six researchers, has come out showing the connections between bullying [of all kinds: childhood, Religious Right, societal] and higher rates of depression and suicide in LGBT people. Add that one to the growing stack our ideological opponents pretend doesn’t exist.
2. Cliff Schecter has a great new piece where he compares the Religious Right’s current freak-outs over gays to the film Black Swan, suggesting that what wingnuts fear the most with the growing tide of gay acceptance is the black swans in their own mirrors. This is a good point, as one of the hallmarks of the Religious Right is their desperate need for authority figures and rulebooks to, seemingly, protect them from themselves.
3. GLAAD and the Rainbow Sash Movement, a group of LGBT Catholics, are at odds over whether anti-gay bigots should be given airtime on networks. I tend to fall in with the Catholics here [for once], with a few caveats, mostly for the media conducting interviews. I think the FRC and AFA should have all the airtime they want, because they damn themselves in the eyes of the general populations with their unfiltered words. However, I think the media needs to drop the act where they pretend there are simply “two opposing sides,” and step up their game in calling BS when people like Tony Perkins start farting provably untrue crap out of their wordholes.
4. Chely Wright is so awesome, but sometimes integrity comes with consequences. She’s lost a lot of record sales and received death threats since coming out. Poor thing. Chely: Make like the Dixie Chicks and cultivate real, grown-up music fans.
This is pretty cool. Newly out country star Chely Wright teamed up with Nate Berkus to redo the youth lounge at the YES community center in New York, and then talked to the kids about her experiences. Here’s some of what she said:
“I am from a small town in Kansas,” Wright said. “I scoured my little town looking for anyone else like me and I couldn’t find anyone. I continued to hide because I had a dream of being a country music singer.”
“I hit my rock bottom and I found myself in 2006 ready to kill myself because I had painted myself into a corner. I had created an entire life where nobody knew me. I got on my knees and prayed to God, ‘Help me out of this,’ and the answer I got was stand up, tell the world who you are. And I came out for me, most of all because I wanted to live.”
“But my second most compelling reason for coming out was I didn’t want to think about another kid sitting on the edge of his bed, or another young person like Seth Walsh, I couldn’t stand the thought of somebody else feeling like there wasn’t somebody else like him or like her,” she said, referring to the 13-year-old California boy who hanged himself after suffering years of torment at the hands of his classmates.
“I came out in May of 2010 and it’s the best thing I ever did for my life,” Wright added to a warm applause.
I’m not sure whether to celebrate or cry. It is the best of times, and the worst of times, for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
On the plus side, the Florida Department of Children and Families said that it won’t appeal a September appeals court ruling that declared the state’s law banning adoption by gay people was unconstitutional.
A DCF spokesperson said that it chose not to fight the decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Miami involving Martin Gill and his long-time partner’s adoption of two brothers. The law hearkened back to the Anita Bryant era, when the disgraced orange juice queen overturned a Miami law banning discrimination against gay people with a hate-mongering campaign that pledged to “Save the Children”.
It probably did not help our opponents that their “expert” witness, George Rekers, was caught with a male escort he met on Rent Boy.com. As I said on Anderson Cooper 360, “George Rekers thinks its okay to rent boys, but not to raise them.”
As a native Floridian, it feels incredibly liberating to finally have this yoke of inferiority and second-class citizenship lifted. I’d also like to recognize Equality Florida’s Nadine Smith, who tirelessly spoke out against the harm caused by this law and refused to let our foes’ public association with Rekers die.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered an immediate end to enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prohibits gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly. We are waiting to see if the Obama administration will appeal this ruling.
However, the early signs are not good. In a move that has enraged much of the LGBT community, the president’s Justice Department filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in support of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, that bans marriage equality, even though Obama claims he actually opposes the law. It seems curious that Obama would make this move so close to the elections, when he is trying to excite his base. The president seems tone deaf and still believes that if he is nice enough to the extreme right, they will come to like him.
If Barack Obama does not vacate this bipartisanship delusion in the next 12 months he will be a one-term president. (Unless the GOP nominates a nut to run against him, which is not out of the question)
This has been a year of tremendous strides. A Gallup Poll found that, for the first time, the percentage of Americans who perceive “gay and lesbian relations” as morally acceptable has crossed the 50 percent mark. The numbers on people who support marriage equality is also at an all-time high – and more notable people than ever (Ricky Martin, Ken Mehlman, Chely Wright) are coming out.
However, the dramatic success of 2010 does not mean that the barbarians have agreed to go back into their caves without a fight. This week, New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, trashed the LGBT community, saying, “I don’t want [children] to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option. It isn’t.”
The candidate’s openly gay nephew, 23-year old Jeff Hannon, whom the candidate used as cover to prove he was not hateful, said that he was “very offended” by his uncle’s remarks and stopped showing up to work for the campaign. (Let’s give Jeff credit, because the lesbian sister of rabidly anti-gay Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell still disgracefully supports her sister. Jenny O’Donnell recently proclaimed herself, “A lesbian, liberal Democrat for Christine, right here.”)
The Paladino situation went from uncomfortable to downright embarrassing when it was revealed that the candidate’s son, William, had once run a gay Buffalo nightclub, Cobalt, that held drag queen nights and featured “boy-tenders”. Backed into a corner, the perpetually angry candidate offered a lame apology.
However, words matter and the consequences of homophobia are devastating. In the Bronx, the ninth and 10th suspects of a grotesque anti-gay kidnapping and torture hate crime were arrested. And, a week after attending a Norman Oklahoma City Council meeting, where a hateful and disparaging “debate” on gay rights took place, 19-year-old Zach Harrington committed suicide at his family’s home.
In a appalling breech of journalistic standards, The Washington Post, gave space to the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins to justify such bigotry and try to absolve his role in the slew of recent gay youth suicides.
There is no doubt we are winning, but it is clear that we have quite a fight ahead of us.
The war over gay rights in America and other modern nations has been largely won. Too many people have come out of the closet and will never go back in for the clock to be turned back. Most of these out individuals have loyal friends and family members who offer unequivocal love and unqualified support. We have reached a tipping point where LGBT people are even coming out in traditionally conservative bastions where the issue has long been seen as taboo.
For example, in England, 6’3″, 225-pound rugby star Gareth Thomas recently came out. He was featured in a major Sports Illustrated spread detailing his life as the first openly gay male athlete in team sports. While no comparable male star has come out in America, Thomas’ brave journey sets the stage for this breakthrough to occur.
Gospel singers Ray Boltz and Tonex have acknowledged their sexual orientation, blazing a trail in a very homophobic environment. Country music crooner Chely Wright (pictured), who will be working with the LGBT organization Faith in America to combat religion-based bigotry, courageously came out this month.
While Ricky Martin’ announcement that he is gay did not seem to shock many people, it still had a significant impact in the Hispanic community and reverberated across Latin America. And, the recent support of marriage equality by Cindy McCain and Laura Bush gave fair-minded Republican women across this nation a green light to openly embrace their gay friends.
Daily advances suggest that the LGBT community is about fifteen years away from full equality. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 78 percent of the public supports allowing openly gay people to serve in the military, with only one in five opposed.
“Support is widespread, even among Republicans. Nearly six in ten Republicans favor allowing openly gay individuals to serve in the military,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “There is a gender gap, with 85 percent of women and 71 percent of men favoring the change, but support remains high among both groups.”
A new Gallup poll released Monday showed that while the number of Americans opposed to marriage equality continues to outnumber those in support of it, the number opposed has dropped to tie Gallup’ all-time low for the number. According to the poll, 53% of Americans oppose marriage equality compared to 44% who support it. The 53% number is tied with 2007′ 53% for the lowest opposition to gay marriage among Americans that Gallup has recorded.
In the next decade or so, a more supportive demographic will fully come of age and replace voters who hail from more conservative generations. During this period, we will witness an increasingly bitter and divisive culture war, as opponents sense defeat and grow desperate. There is no alternative to fighting these battles if we expect to win.
Often, I am asked the question: Why do you spend so much time focusing on religious extremists?
I spotlight these zealots because the only way we can now lose is if America is overthrown by a theo-fascist regime that obliterates the separation of church and state. Let me state clearly that it is highly unlikely that such a takeover will occur.
However, such a nightmare can only take place if we do not pay attention to our opponents. There is no shortage of Americans who desire an intolerant “Christian Nation” that excludes non-fundamentalists from first-class citizenship. I have traveled to rabidly right wing conferences, witnessed their radical vision for America and have seen the determination in their eyes. We should never underestimate their will or doubt their commitment to turn this country into the Christian version of Iran.
The one genuine concern I have is the enthusiastic embrace of fringe anti-gay activists by respectable members of the Republican Party. Strong ideological divisions combined with a weak economy and high unemployment could place in power Republicans beholden to fanatical elements. This could potentially create a dire situation where our opponents have the raw power to reverse the LGBT community’ notable gains.
If you don’t think they can do it, consider that the extreme right took over the Texas School Board and rewrote the history books. These same people would have no qualms about writing LGBT people out of America’ future.
Minnesota is a troubling example of GOP leaders in bed with extremists. According to the Minnesota Monitor, a radical anti-gay ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCR), has solidified ties to the Republican Party of this state. The group is linked to Rep. Michele Bachmann and gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.
YCR recently said on its radio show that Muslim countries that use the death penalty for gays and lesbians are “more moral than even the American Christians”. While this has caused Emmer to tiptoe away from YCR, the question remains, why is the GOP cavorting with crazies?
As we approach the finish line for equality, we must always keep one eye on the prize and the other on the awful surprise our theocratic foes desperately want to inflict on America. If they win, we lose. That is a lesson we don’t have the luxury of forgetting.
(Example in video of the crazy people we must face)
Chely Wright came out a few weeks ago, so of course, she went on Oprah. In the interview, she clarifies that she felt it was important to come out, not only for herself, but because she’s in a unique position to be able to provide a counter message to the hateful, bigoted messages young kids hear from their churches on the issue of sexuality.
Compare this to the words of, say, Matt Barber or Peter LaBarbera.
I’m sure this will surprise no one who’s involved in the country music world, as country music is much like Christian music, in that it’s full of closeted gay people. But many country fans may be surprised to find out that Chely Wright is a lesbian:
TMZ has learned the big “coming out” announcement planned for this week will be … country star Chely Wright.
(…)
Wright has a book coming out this week as well — it’s called, “Like Me.” And she has a CD coming out too — called “Lifted Off the Ground.”
The 39-year-old singer scored a #1 country song back in 1999 with “Single White Female,” when she was named Academy of Country Music new artist of the year.
Wright is the first major country artist ever to come out. She has been romantically linked to a number of celebs, including Brad Paisley.
On top of that, Bil Browning reports that Wright will be joining the board of Faith in America:
Known as a devout Christian, the close association with Faith In America is a natural fit for the country superstar. “Her life experiences drew her to the work FIA is doing,” Mitchell Gold, Faith In America’s founder, told me. “She knows this is a big part of the change we need.”
(…)
“Chely has made a commitment, like me, that not one more kid should go through what we went through. We often talk about having the right messengers deliver the messages of equality to various audiences,” Gold said. “Well, now we have one – a shining star – that will touch an audience I dare say none of us could ever dream to. I think this is going to be significant.”
That’s awesome. I’ve always said that, the more visibility LGBT people have, especially in places where anti-gay forces have trained their people to believe that we don’t exist, will mark a sea change in the struggle for equality in this country. It’s one thing when it’s Rosie O’Donnell, who they can easily broadbrush as an East Coast elitist Hollywood San Francisco big gay lesbian Pelosifascist liberal. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) But when their own celebrities come out, many who exist somewhere between the movable middle and the Red State Right will have to confront the fact that people they admire and respect are gay.
And there are more of them. SO many more.
I haven’t done any statistical analysis on this, but it seems to me that the trickle of celebrities coming out is increasing lately. So who’s next?
If you weren’t familiar with her (I knew the name, but not much else), here’s one of her biggest hits:
For example, in England, 6’3″, 225-pound rugby star Gareth Thomas recently came out. He was featured in a major
While Ricky Martin’ announcement that he is gay did not seem to shock many people, it still had a significant impact in the Hispanic community and reverberated across Latin America. And, the recent support of marriage equality by Cindy McCain and Laura Bush gave fair-minded Republican women across this nation a green light to openly embrace their gay friends.
