This is apparently an ad for gay tourism in Las Vegas. Click on the pics to enlarge.
Check the tagline – “Everyone’s welcome. Even straight people.”
More ads below…
(via JMG)
Las Vegas tourism ads – 1 guy and 29 women
New wine dedicated to the spirit of LGBT equality
With all the progress the gay community has made in the past year, there’s a lot to celebrate. And now we can raise our glasses—and awareness— with a sparkling wine dedicated to the spirit of LGBT equality.
Created by New York winery Biagio Cru, Égalité, (French for “equality”) is a Crémant from the Burgundy region of France that its makers describe as “[offering] hints of peach and honey blossom on the palate, with a clean, dry finish found in only the finest Champagnes.”
Biagio Cru has donated $1,000 each to The Trevor Project, The Ali Forney Center, Equality Maine, GLSEN and Chicago’s Center on Halsted. And for every bottle of Égalité sold, a portion of proceeds will be donated to LGBT youth groups.
“With same-sex marriage now legal in states from Maine to New York and Iowa to Washington, this is a time to recognize the hard-earned progress that has been made in pursuit of Equality,” says winery co-owner Darren Restivo.
As of Friday, Égalité is available in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, New Hampshire and Illinois.
Paris: Thousands gather to protest same-sex marriage in France
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Paris today in opposition to the same-sex marriage bill proposed by President Francois Hollande and his Socialist Party.
Organisers reserved five high-speed trains and 900 buses to bring protesters from provincial towns to the capital, some before dawn, to join Parisians and display the extent of the opposition that has built up in recent weeks. “Nobody expected this two or three months ago,” said Frigide Barjot, a flamboyant comedian leading the “Demo for All” she described as “multicultural, multireligious and multisexual.” Strongly backed by the Catholic hierarchy, lay activists have mobilised a coalition of church-going families, political conservatives, Muslims, evangelicals and even homosexuals opposed to gay marriage. “We want this draft law to be withdrawn,” Patricia Soullier, a protest organiser, told BFM-TV before boarding a Paris-bound train in Montpellier in the south of France. Hollande angered opponents of same-sex marriage by trying to avoid public debate on the reform, which Justice Minister Christiane Taubira described as “a change in civilisation”, and wavering about some of its details.
Reports vary in terms of the number of protesters that took part, with some press accounts estimating the crowd “in the tens of thousands” while the organizers say more than 800,000.
New poll: Fewer Americans see homosexuality as a sin
There’s been a substantial drop in the proportion of Americans who think being gay is a sin, according to a new poll.
The poll, from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, a Christian-oriented firm, showed 37% of respondents saying “homosexual behavior” is a sin, down from 44% in a September 2011 survey. That’s a statistically significant difference, say LifeWay pollsters, who conducted their latest study in November and released the results Thursday.
In the new poll, 45% of respondents said homosexuality is not a sin, up from 43% in 2011, and 17% said they don’t know, up from 13% in the previous study.
More at The Advocate
Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association announces Dorian Award nominees
The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association have announced their Dorian Award nominees for 2012’s best in film and television across 20 categories, including Visually Striking Film of the Year, Campy Flick of the Year, TV Musical Performance of the Year and LGBT TV Show of the Year.
In addition, Sir Ian McKellen is this year’s recipient of GALECA’s Timeless Award.
Winners will be announced Wednesday, January 16.
FILM OF THE YEAR
Argo (Warner Bros.)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Keep the Lights On (Music Box)
Les Miserables (Universal)
Lincoln (DreamWorks/Touchstone)
Moonrise Kingdom (Focus)
FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR
Alan Cumming / Any Day Now (Music Box)
Bradley Cooper / Silver Linings Playbook (Weinstein)
Daniel Day-Lewis / Lincoln (DreamWorks/Touchstone)
Hugh Jackman / Les Miserables (Universal)
Joaquin Phoenix / The Master (Weinstein)
John Hawkes / The Sessions (Fox Searchlight)
FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway / Les Miserables (Universal)
Emmanuelle Riva / Amour (Sony Pictures Classics)
Jennifer Lawrence / Silver Linings Playbook (Weinstein)
Jessica Chastain / Zero Dark Thirty (Sony/Columbia)
Marion Cotillard / Rust and Bone (Sony Pictures Classics)
LGBT FILM OF THE YEAR
Any Day Now (Music Box)
Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Gayby (Wolfe Releasing/The Film Collaborative)
Keep the Lights On (Music Box)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Summit/Lionsgate)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (IFC)
Bully (Weinstein)
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (Samuel Goldwyn)
How to Survive a Plague (Sundance Selects)
The Invisible War (Cinedigm)
The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia)
VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
Anna Karenina (Focus)
Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Les Miserables (Universal)
Life of Pi (Fox)
Moonrise Kingdom (Focus)
CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR
2016: Obama’s America (Rocky Mountain)
Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Magic Mike (Warner Bros.)
The Paperboy (Millennium)
Pitch Perfect (Universal)
Rock of Ages (Warner Bros./New Line)
UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
Bernie (Millennium)
The Cabin in the Woods (Lionsgate)
Chronicle (Fox)
Holy Motors (Indomina)
Looper (Sony)
Your Sister’s Sister (IFC)
TV DRAMA OF THE YEAR
American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Homeland (Showtime)
Mad Men (AMC)
TV COMEDY OF THE YEAR
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Girls (HBO)
Happy Endings (ABC)
Louie (FX)
Modern Family (ABC)
TV PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR
Aaron Paul / Breaking Bad (AMC)
Damian Lewis / Homeland (Showtime)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson / Modern Family (ABC)
Jim Parsons / The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Jon Hamm / Mad Men (AMC)
TV PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS
Claire Danes / Homeland (Showtime)
Jessica Lange / American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Julianne Moore / Game Change (HBO)
Edie Falco / Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Lena Dunham / Girls (HBO)
Sofia Vergara / Modern Family (ABC)
TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Darren Criss, “Teenage Dream,” Glee (Fox)
De’Borah Garner, The Fray’s “You Found Me,” The Voice (NBC)
Jennifer Hudson, Tribute to Whitney Houston, The Grammys (CBS)
Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee, “Let Me Be Your Star,” Smash (NBC)
Raza Jaffrey, Katharine McPhee and cast: “A Thousand and One Nights,” Smash (NBC)
LGBT TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Happy Endings (ABC)
Modern Family (ABC)
The New Normal (NBC)
Smash (NBC)
CAMPY TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
666 Park Avenue (ABC)
American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
GCB (ABC)
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (TLC)
Liz & Dick (Lifetime)
Smash (NBC)
UNSUNG TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
Bunheads (ABC Family)
Catfish (MTV)
Fringe (FX)
GCB (ABC)
Happy Endings (ABC)
Parenthood (NBC)
TV OR MOVIE TITLE OF THE YEAR
Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23 (ABC)
GCB (ABC)
I Was Impaled (Discovery Fit & Health)
I’m Having Their Baby (Oxygen)
It’s Christmas, Carol! (Hallmark Channel)
WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU (NEWCOMER AWARD)
Andrew Rannells
Anna Camp
Ben Whishaw
Eddie Redmayne
Ezra Miller
WILDE WIT OF THE YEAR
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
Bill Maher
Chelsea Handler
Jon Stewart
Lena Dunham
Sarah Silverman
Stephen Colbert
WILDE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theatre and/or television)
Lena Dunham
Louis C.K.
Ryan Murphy
Tony Kushner
Tig Notaro
TIMELESS AWARD
(honoring an actor or performer whose exemplary career has been marked by character, wisdom and wit)
Sir Ian McKellen
ABOUT GALECA
The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, founded in 2008 by Us Weekly television critic John Griffiths, is comprised of over 80 established film and TV critics and entertainment journalists who cover those fields for recognized media outlets across America and the United Kingdom.
GLECA members write or report for the likes of TV Guide, Us Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Movies.com, ETOnline, The Advocate, Out, The Huffington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, major TV network affiliates, and regional titles such as The Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, Frontiers L.A. and InsideOut Nashville. GALECA is home to the annual Dorian Awards, which honor movies and TV programs of all types.
Overall, GALECA’s aim is to generate camaraderie in an unsettling media environment, to preserve and champion the crafts of criticism and entertainment journalism, and to help elevate the screen arts and culture at large.
For more information, please visit: galeca.com and facebook.com/galecadorianawards
Some gay servicemembers to have full separation pay reinstated
According to the Windy City Times, some military personnel who had their separation pay cut in half after being discharged for being gay will receive their full pay under a legal settlement announced today.
“There was absolutely no need to subject these service members to a double dose of discrimination by removing them from the armed forces in the first place, and then denying them this small benefit to ease the transition to civilian life,” said Laura Schauer Ives, managing attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico. “This decision represents a long-delayed justice to these veterans.”
The ACLU’s class action lawsuit represented approximately 181 honorably discharged veterans who had their separation pay cut in half because of the discriminatory policy. The total amount of separation pay withheld from those veterans is approximately $2.4 million. The lead plaintiff in the case is Richard Collins, a former staff sergeant in the Air Force who served for nine years until he was discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Collins was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico before being seen by a co-worker exchanging a kiss with his boyfriend in their car while stopped at an intersection off-base.
The settlement covers veterans who served at least six years and is retroactive to November 2004. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations prevents payments to those discharged earlier.
(via JMG)
The Advocate returns to newstands
After a more than two-year absence The Advocate will be returning to newstands in print form, according to a press release from Here Media:
“Due to both reader and advertiser demand, we are thrilled to bring The Advocate print edition back to newsstands in 2013,” said Advocate editor in chief Matthew Breen and executive vice president publishing Joe Landry in a joint statement. “We remain committed to providing timely and in-depth reporting of issues important to the LGBT community and our community allies, as well as providing the best media outlet for businesses targeting the gay market.”
For the first time in over two years due to strong reader demand, The Advocate, which has been sold only by subscription since 2010, will again be available at major distributors nationwide starting February 2013.
The first edition will be back on January 15.
(source)
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin sworn in as 1st openly gay US Senator
Poll: Americans Favor Rights for Gays, Lesbians to Inherit, Adopt
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Most Americans say gay and lesbian domestic partners or spouses should have inheritance rights and health insurance and other benefits. And a majority say gays and lesbians should be able to legally adopt children.
From the recent Gallup survey:
While 53% of Americans support legalizing same-sex marriage, significantly higher percentages support the idea of equal rights for partners or spouses of gays or lesbians when it comes to inheritance rights and employee benefits, and making it legal for gays and lesbians to adopt children. Support for all three issues is up at least slightly from three years ago.
Less than half of Americans, however, support the idea of openly gay adults serving as Boy Scout leaders. Given the lack of a trend on this question, it is not clear whether support is higher than in the past, or the degree to which the lack of support may reflect respondents’ reluctance to say how a private organization should decide who holds its positions of leadership.
(via JMG)
United Nations passes resolution condemning killing of LGBT persons
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The United Nations approved a resolution that condemns the killing of LGBT persons either by governments or via “extrajudicial” means such as hate crimes:
An international coalition of organizations dedicated to human rights celebrated yesterday’s historic vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to pass resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The vote reversed the events of 2010 when the same body voted to strip the resolution of reference to “sexual orientation.” The UNGA also expanded upon its commitment to the universality of human rights by including “gender identity” for the first time in the resolution’s history. The resolution, which is introduced biennially in the Third Committee, urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling upon States to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. It was introduced by the Government of Sweden and co-sponsored by 34 states from around the world.
The United Arab Emirates attempted to strip “sexual orientation” from the resolution on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, just as they did two years ago.
Japan broke its long silence on the issue with this declaration: “We cannot tolerate any killings of persons because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Our delegation voted against the proposed amendment to this paragraph because we think it is meaningful to mention such killings from the perspective of protecting the rights of LGBT people.”
(via JoeMyGod)