Hockey Scout Speaks Out On The Importance Of Gay Role Models In Sports |
Patrick Burke, an NHL scout and the brother of Brendan Burke — one of the first openly gay athletes in hockey — called on gays and lesbians to come out and straight athletes to accept their teammates. “We need more role models. We need more straight and gay athletes at the professional level to step up and say that it’s okay,” he said. “Having a masculine role model would be a huge, huge step forward.” Burke also cited this 2006 Sports Illustrated study, which found that 80 percent of hockey players would support an openly-gay player. Watch it:
Michele Bachmann went after Mitt Romney’s record on same-sex marriage during an appearance on the Steve Deace radio show last week, accusing the former Massachusetts governor — whose state began issuing same-sex licenses in May of 2004 — of signing “189 same-sex marriage license.” Without referring to Romney by name Bachmann asked, “If a candiate has signed those same-sex marriage licenses, how likely will they be to fight against same-sex marriage?” Listen:
Bachmann is regurgitating a popular misconception put forward by right-wing groups that conflates the state’s One Day Marriage Designation with actual marriage licenses. As the Massachusetts state website explains, “[t]he One-Day Marriage Designation is not a marriage license,” but rather a certificate the governor can issue to “designate non-clergy individuals to solemnize a marriage.” Once same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the Romney administration granted designation applications to same and opposite sex couples.
While Romney walked a more moderate line on LGBT equality as governor than he he now does as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, he has opposed same-sex marriage and took steps toward blocking town clerks from issuing licenses to out-of-state gay couples.
Obama Administration Denies Asylum To Gay Saudi Ex-Diplomat |
Ali Ahmed Asseri, a gay former Saudi diplomat who has been living in Los Angeles, “has had his political asylum application denied by the Obama administration.” Asseri, who formerly worked in the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles, fears abuse or even execution if he is forced to return to Saudi Arabia. “This was a political decision by the Obama administration, who are afraid of upsetting the Saudis,” Asseri told Rasheed’s World.
It’s great to see Dan Harmon acknowledge some of the problems with last week’s Community — and to stand up for the idea that being thoughtful about representation isn’t a matter of political correctness, but of quality:
In telling this story, we used the notion of a “gay community” as a tool. When you saw gay characters in the story, you weren’t seeing much of them. The two gay characters with lines were clearly gay, from the moment they spoke. The entire time they spoke, they were parts of setups and punchlines about gayness, and the surface never got scratched beyond that…
I cut corners. There was probably a way to do the same episode while somehow quickly and efficiently reminding the audience that gay people are just people that are gay and come in all kinds of flavors other than gay in addition to their gayness…I don’t think anyone that “complained” was asking for Community to be censored or for it to become a schmaltzy PC pile of shit. I think they were asking me to stick a post-it note on my brain regarding the situation, which I can do without making the show any less brilliant or funny.
The larger point that I’m still not sure Harmon sees is that this kind of slip-up is particularly frustrating because Community hasn’t used gay people as anything other than instruments. The show is pretty consistently excellent on race because the diversity of the cast means that the characters are constantly negotiating their assumptions about race as part of navigating their friendships. The moment in “Interperative Dance” when Shirley asks Britta “What is it about being a single white slacker that makes you people so jaded?” only to have Britta reply “Ooh, you people? What do you mean ‘you people’? I cannot believe I got to say that!” is a great little moment, made better by Shirley’s “It’s the little things, isn’t it?” Community should aspire to a moment that great about sexual orientation. It’s smart enough to get there.
Immigration Deportation Working Group Includes LGBT Representative |
A Department of Homeland Security working group examining pending deportation cases includes an LGBT liaison. Openly gay DHS executive secretary Philip A. McNamara will represent LGBT interests for the working group, including concerns about the separation of binational same-sex couples whose marriages are not recognized under the Defense of Marriage Act.
NEWS FLASH
Half Of High School Students Have Experienced Sexual Harassment |
A new study shows that nearly half of seventh to 12th graders experienced sexual harassment in the past year, with 87 percent suffering negative consequences such as absenteeism, poor sleep, and stomach aches. The harassment took place both online and in-person, including unwelcome comments and jokes, inappropriate touching or sexual intimidation, and having sexual rumors, information, or pictures spread about them on the Internet. About 18 percent of both boys and girls reported being called gay or lesbian in a negative way, but boys specified that being called gay had the worst effects. Girls were more likely to experience harassment (52 percent in person, 36 percent online) than boys (35 percent in-person, 24 percent online).
New York Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been incredibly vocal in his opposition to marriage equality, repeatedly condemning the rights of same-sex couples under the guise of love and support for the gay community. As of last month, he has prohibited by decree any Church personnel or property from being utilized for same-sex marriage ceremonies under penalty of “canonical sanctions,” calling the state’s new marriage equality “irreconcilable with the nature and the definition of marriage as established by Divine law”:
1. No member of the clergy (priest or deacon) incardinated or assisting in the Archdiocese of New York, or any person while acting as an employee of the Church, may participate in the civil solemnization or celebration of a same-sex marriage, which includes but is not limited to providing services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privilege for such event. Ecclesiastical solemnization or celebration of same-sex marriages is expressly forbidden by Canon law.
2. No Catholic facility or property, including but not limited to parishes, missions, chapels, meeting halls, Catholic educational, health, or charitable institutions or benevolent orders, or any place dedicated, consecrated, or used for Catholic worship may be used for the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages.
The property restrictions in Dolan’s decree are troubling, particularly given he specifically cites educational and health institutions. This would mean that a bed-ridden patient in a Catholic hospital would not be permitted to marry his partner on the property. It’s not clear from the decree, but this could conceivably extend to any and all recognition of same-sex unions, which would create severe complications for couples who might be accessing healthcare or charitable services that are provided by the Church.
Dolan continues to show just how out of step Catholic leadership is from the mainstream Catholic population, which overwhelmingly supports marriage equality. With this decree, Dolan signifies that discriminating against same-sex couples is one of the Church’s highest priorities.
Victim Of Anti-Gay Crime: ‘I Forgot That There Was Still So Much Hatred’ Towards Gays And Lesbians |
MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts hosted Burke Burnett this afternoon, an openly-gay Dallas man who was thrown into a fire for being gay. Burnett received over 30 stitches and burns on his arms, rib cage, and forehead. The three attackers have been charged with aggravated assault, but the incident has not yet been classified as a hate crime. Burnett told Roberts that the attack made him more aware “that this kind of stuff goes on.” “I guess I sort of forgot that there was still that much hatred, that much animosity towards the gay and lesbian population…it certain heightened my awareness that this type of stuff just still goes on,” he said. Watch it:
NEWS FLASH
Michele Bachmann: ‘If Anyone Will Not Work, Neither Should He Eat’ |
GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann promised to significantly lower funding to social safety net programs during a speech at the Family Research Council this morning, going so far as to suggest that people who can’t work should not eat. “Our nation needs to stop doing for people what they can and should do for themselves,” she said. “Self reliance means, if anyone will not work, neither should he eat.” Watch it:
Bachmann also reiterated her opposition to same-sex marriage and promised to push for a federal amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.”
Virginia State Sen. Ralph Northam (D) “is the target of an anonymous flier circulating in the Norfolk-based 6th District telling voters the Democrat wants them to accept homosexuals who ‘molest children into the gay life style,’” the Virginia Pilot reported on Friday. They flier claims that gay people “spread most of the AIDS in America” and that LGBT advocacy groups work with organizations “that support the molesting of children.” Northam’s opponent, Republican Ben Loyola had denied any connection to the flyer although his website calls marriage a “a sacred institution reserved by God to only exist between one man and one woman.”
Look:
Gay issues are also front and center in the Fairfax County Senate district, where flyers are describing openly-gay Republican candidate Patrick Forrest as “openly homosexual” and say he is endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Forrest has accused his Democratic opponent of raising his sexual orientation to turn away conservative voters.
NEWS FLASH
Study: Marriage Equality Increases Property Values |
A new study shows that a community’s views on same-sex marriage can impact property values if a same-sex couple is living there. The Ohio-based study found that in areas that were supportive of marriage equality, an increase in same-sex couples by one in 1,000 households is associated with a 1.1 percent price premium. When same-sex couples moved into areas that were opposed to equality, property values declined by 1 percent. Creating an environment that is supportive of all families isn’t just good for same-sex couples — it’s good for the whole community.
Cindy Golding, the Republican candidate in Iowa’s special state Senate election, initially sought to distance herself from the question of same-sex marriage by speaking out against meddling from outside interest groups and saying that she supports a popular vote on the issue in order to focus the state on more pressing economic concerns. But with poll numbers showing her running behind Democrat Liz Mathis, Golding is now actively courting the support of the state’s radical anti-gay conservatives and will accept their endorsement during an event today — on the eve of the state’s special election:
WASHINGTON D.C. – Family Research Council Action’s (FRC Action) Values Voters Bus Tour will roll into Iowa on Sunday and Monday, November 6 and 7, for rallies with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and State Senate Candidate Cindy Golding. FRC Action PAC will be endorsing Golding for State Senate.
Who: Connie Mackey, President, Family Research Council Action PAC
Sunday, with Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Monday, with Cindy Golding, State Senate Candidate and Chris Plante, Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage.
But the most recent Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey shows that only 11 percent of voters say that same-sex marriage is “the most important factor guiding their vote compared to 86 percent who say it’s something else.” Sixty-six percent of voters “do support either gay marriage or civil unions with only 30 percent opposed to all legal recognition for same sex couples.” The poll also found that Mathis leads Golding 52 to 46.
As Jeremy Hooper points out, Golding’s endorsers have compared same-sex marriages “to those bonds which might exist between a man and a horse (complete with horse photo),” claimed gay teens kill themselves because they know that they’re “abnormal,” and fundraised around the idea that gay kids are immoral and telling them otherwise is “disgusting.” Meanwhile, Golding herself recently said that she is troubled by schools that offer scholarships to LGBT students.
Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s 8:45 AM round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but let us know what you’re checking out as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality.
- The American Independent profiles the three conservative groups that pushed for North Carolina’s proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships.
- Third Way has launched the “Commitment Campaign,” a bipartisan effort to reframe the marriage equality fight around the value of commitment.
- Rob Reiner is planning to make a film about the Proposition 8 trial.
- A new study from Ireland shows that older gay people are more likely to fear rejection from friends and family and thus avoid coming out.
- NPR takes a look at the struggle to pass LGBT non-discrimination protections in Holland, Michigan.
It’s great to see 
New York Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been 
Cindy Golding, the Republican candidate in Iowa’s special state Senate election, initially sought to distance herself from the question of same-sex marriage by speaking out 
- The American Independent profiles
