Uncategorized Archives

March 2, 2012August 19, 2019

Equality Matters Weekly Podcast: February 27-March 2

Equality Matters campaigns for full LGBT equality.

March 2, 2012August 19, 2019

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali

For the teachers.

One of my FAVORITE spoken word poems. Although I do still prefer Taylor Mali, the author, doing his solo version.

(and yes, I have favorite spoken word poems…)

March 1, 2012August 19, 2019

Judge Sends Racist, Bestiality Email About Obama – Says He’s Not Racist

A federal judge, Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull from Montana, admitted sending a racist and bestiality-laden email about President Barack Obama and his mother.

He says he’s not a racist, and adds that he sent it because he is not a fan of the President.

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The email compares African-Americans to dogs, or, alternatively, suggests President Obama’s mother had sexual intercourse with a dog, reads:

“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.

“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’” the e-mail joke reads. “His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”

Judge Cebull did not write it but forwarded it.

Judge Cebull gave this explanation to John S. Adams of the Great Falls Tribune, who broke the story:
“The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” Cebull said. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”

It’s one thing to criticize President Obama’s policies or leadership or even his character. But to insult his mother and equate interracial sex with bestiality? SRSLY? And this from a federal judge…

Sad.

March 1, 2012August 19, 2019

Tennessee principal who told gay students they “were going to hell” resigns

Dorothy Bond

The Tennessee high school principal who reportedly told students during an assembly that gay students were going to hell, has resigned.

Haywood County High School Principal Dorothy Bond has resigned, according to the school system’s law firm, reported the Jackson Sun.

In a statement released through Purcell, Sellers & Craig, Inc., the school system said:

“The Haywood County Board of Education acknowledges its student body’s right to free speech. Further, the Haywood County Board of Education strives to provide an atmosphere of tolerance and diversity while maintaining high academic standards.”

Bond allegedly singled out LGBT and pregnant students during a meeting with students, and said, “If you’re gay you’re going to hell and if you’re pregnant, your life is over,” reported WPTY-TV in Memphis.

Since the story broke earlier today, more than 5,000 people signed an HRC petition calling on the Haywood County School District to investigate the allegations.

Think about this folks. Imagine YOUR child attending a school where the principal told them they were “going to hell” or “your life is over.”

Imagine.

March 1, 2012August 19, 2019

Maryland Governor signs marriage equality into law

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law HB 438, a bill legalizing marriage equality, in a 5 p.m. ceremony held at the State House in Annapolis Thursday evening.

Saying, “We are one Maryland,” he declared, “The bill is signed,” at 5:15 p.m.

O’Malley’s signature makes Maryland the eighth state and ninth jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage.

Marriage equality is also legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Washington state and the District of Columbia. The Washington law also faces a referendum effort.

Opponents, led by the Maryland Marriage Alliance, the chief organization pushing to repeal the marriage equality law, have vowed to collect more than the 55,736 signatures required to force a referendum on the law onto the 2012 ballot. They are expected to meet the necessary requirements for a referendum.

If upheld by voters via a referendum, the bill will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

Following O’Malley’s signing of the bill, several organizations that played prominent roles in the bill’s passage issued statements celebrating a major milestone for the state’s LGBT community.

“The Governor’s signature today puts Maryland on the road to fairness for all families,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the national LGBT organization Human Rights Campaign (HRC). “This victory was possible thanks to the hard work of so many on the ground in Maryland. Our congratulations go to Governor O’Malley and our legislative allies who were incredible leaders in this effort.”
(Read more at Metro Weekly)

March 1, 2012August 19, 2019

Brad Pitt will join all-star cast of “Prop 8”

The American Foundation for Equal Rights and Broadway Impact announced that the Brad Pitt will join the cast of the West Coast premiere reading of the Proposition 8 play, 8, which will be live-streamed via YouTube this Saturday, beginning at 7:45 p.m. Pacific.

The staged reading is an unprecedented account of the U.S. district court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the suit filed by AFER to overturn Prop. 8, which stripped same-sex couples in California of the fundamental freedom to marry.

Brad Pitt will star as Judge Vaughn R. Walker, the man who found Prop. 8 unconstitutional, joining an already star-studded cast that includes George Clooney, Kevin Bacon, Jane Lynch, John C. Reilly, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, George Takei, The Simpsons’ Yeardley Smith, and many more.

The same-sex couples at the heart of the piece will be played by Christine Lahti and Jamie Lee Curtis (who will star as plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, a lesbian couple together for 11 years and the parents of four boys) and Glee’s Matthew Morrison and White Collar’s Matt Bomer (who will play plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, a gay couple together over 10 years).

The production — sponsored by Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects and X-Men — takes place Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, and proceeds will benefit the fight for marriage equality at the federal level. The free live stream of the event is unprecedented for a cast of this magnitude.
(source)