Tag: LGBT ally

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Dodger Stadium Kiss-Cam Couple

From MSNBC: At a recent night out at the ballpark, the crowd at the L.A. Dodgers’ stadium erupted in cheers after a gay couple were featured on the “Kiss Cam.”

That couple, Steve and Rick Simone-Friedland, join Lawrence O’Donnell to share the story.

The couple shares that they committed to each other in 1999, and later married in 2013.

Apparently the camerawoman at the Los Angeles Dodgers game asked if they would appear on the Kiss Cam; Rick agreed, but Steven expressed some trepidation about the crowd’s possible reaction.

And then came the overwhelmingly positive reaction from the crowd.

Folks may recall that in 2000 a lesbian couple was ejected from the stadium for a simple kiss.

Progress, kids. Progress.

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Best Ever Gay/Straight Prom Date

Anthony Martinez (L) and Jacob Lescenski (R)

Last week I reported on the prom date heard round the world here in Las Vegas – straight Jacob asked his bestie Anthony (who’s gay) to the prom, and the interwebs exploded.

They’ve gotten love from all over the globe as they live their example of the ultimate gay/straight alliance.

Ellen hosted tbem and gave each $10,000 scholarships.

And now Teen Vogue followed the two best friends on prom night to share what a great friendship this is.

Adorable.

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Wells Fargo: Learning Sign Language

This Monday, Wells Fargo will launch a new TV ad, “Learning Sign Language,” representing the challenges and achievements of LGBT couples as they build their families and their futures together.

This ad is the first of four TV spots developed as part of the new Wells Fargo campaign: “Working together to make a difference.”

Wells Fargo has a long history of supporting the LGBT community as an employer and a provider of financial services, dating back over 25 years and continuing to grow every year.

(via press release)

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Straight High School Guy Asks His Gay BFF To The Prom

Jacob Lescenski is straight, and BFF Anthony Martinez is gay.

Anthony is on the student council, and since he’s responsible for planning school dances, he says he never gets asked to go.

So, Jacob figured – who better to go to the dance with than his BFF?

Jacob surprised Anthony with a banner reading “You’re hella gay, I’m hella str8, but you’re like my brother so be my d8!”

“He’s a real man,” Anthony said of Jacob in a post, “given that he has the guts to fulfill my gay student council dream of always helping out planning dances, and never getting asked. I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life.”

And yep – Anthony said yes.

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Reba McEntire: “I Don’t Understand Why People Have A Problem With (Marriage Equality)”

In an interview with Pride Source promoting her new album Love Somebody, country music super star Reba McEntire made clear her support marriage equality.

I just went to my first gay wedding a couple of months ago in California for Michael and Steven, my two great friends. They’ve been together for 20 years! I thought that it was not fair, and I didn’t understand why they couldn’t get married. It wasn’t because they just wanted to get married. If one of them had gotten injured and gone to the hospital, the other one couldn’t make decisions for them.

It’s very upsetting. It’s not only for convenience or for romantic reasons – it’s for practicality. For practical reasons! I get a kick out of what Dolly said: “Why shouldn’t they get married and be as miserable as the rest of us?” (Laughs)

[snip]

I don’t understand why people have a problem with it. I’m a very spiritual person, but I don’t judge. I try not to; I’m only human. To each his own, and everybody is different. God did not make us all the same. So, I just pray for an open mind and a loving heart, and I think that’s all I can do.

Asked about how she would feel if she were to have a gay grandchild:

What a child needs when they’re growing up is support and love, mainly love. Love can go a long, long ways whether they’re gay or not. All the troubles and the problems and the obstacles that they are going to face in their lives are going to be astronomical, especially in their very young, inexperienced minds. And if they do happen to be gay, that’s going to be a harder hurdle to get over. What a parent needs to do more than anything is jump in there with love and support. You made ’em. They’re a gift from God. Love ’em as they are.

It’s no wonder this woman has enjoyed such tremendous success for decades.

Rock on, Reba!

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Giants Pitcher Jeremy Affeldt: “Jesus Walks With The Gay Community”

Jeremy Affeldt, a relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, recently took to his blog to share why he thinks Christians have gotten a bad rap these days and it has to do with their feelings towards gay people.

In a post on his blog, Affeldt asks his fellow Christians to be more loving of gays:

Why do people who aren’t Christians hate us? They look at us and say, “You’re just a bunch of Bible thumpers who are homophobic and you don’t love anybody.”

We’ve brought that on ourselves. I don’t think we’re showing the love of Jesus. Gay people are asking for equal rights under the law, and we’ve got Christians saying “God hates you.” I get so angry because that’s not true! God loves you! Jesus walks with the gay community! I think Jesus says, “I love you just as I love someone who is not gay. I love you as a human being. I just love you.”

I had homophobia. I know what that’s like. But I was wrong to fear like that. God reached deep within my heart and changed me. Now I have gay friends and colleagues. There is no difference between us. Gay people are human beings, and I’m going to love on them just as God told me to love all human beings. God told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Maybe if more of us did that, Christians wouldn’t be so hated everywhere we go.

There’s a reason why Affeldt is a three-time world champion. Clarity of mind and spirit will do that to you.

(h/t Outsports)

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Colorado Bakery Cleared Of Any Wrong Doing In Refusing To Make “Hate Cake”

The Azucar Bakery in Colorado has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Colorado Civil Rights Division for refusing to bake a cake with a hateful message.

LGBTQ Nation reports:

The state ruled that the cake shop had every right not to make the cakes on the grounds that the message on the cakes would be “derogatory.”

The complaint against Marjorie Silva, owner of Azucar Bakery, was filed by Castle Rock, Colo., resident Bill Jack, who claimed Silva discriminated against his religious beliefs when she refused to decorate a cake showing two groomsmen with a red “x” over them and messages about homosexuality being a sin.

Silva said she would make the cake, but declined to write his suggested messages on the cake, telling him she would give him icing and a pastry bag so he could write the words himself. Silva said the customer didn’t want that.

In its ruling, the state determined that because Silva would have responded to any other customer the same way, the bakery didn’t refuse service because of the customer’s religion.

Just another asshole trying to make a flawed point over the anti-gay bakers who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding celebration in a state where public accommodation laws include sexual orientation in their civil rights acts.