Tag: LGBT

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Attorney General Loretta Lynch Announces Full Federal Benefits For All Married Same-Sex Couples

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch today announced that the U.S. government will now extend all federal rights and benefits of marriage to legally married same-sex couples:

“Following the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell that every couple has the same right to participate in the institution of marriage, whether the partners are of the same-sex or opposite sexes, I directed Justice Department staff to work with the agencies to ensure that the ruling be given full effect across the federal government. Thanks to their leadership and the quick work of the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, today I am proud to announce that the critical programs for veterans and elderly and disabled Americans, which previously could not give effect to the marriages of couples living in states that did not recognize those marriages, will now provide federal recognition for all marriages nationwide. The agencies are currently working towards providing guidance to implement this change in law.

“Just over a year ago, Attorney General Holder announced that agencies across the federal government had implemented the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision by treating married same-sex couples the same as married opposite-sex couples to the greatest extent possible under the law as it then stood. With the Supreme Court’s new ruling that the Constitution requires marriage equality, we have now taken the further step of ensuring that all federal benefits will be available equally to married couples in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the US Territories. The department will continue to work across the administration to fulfill our commitment to equal treatment for all Americans, including equal access to the benefits of marriage that the Obergefell decision guarantees.”

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Android Joins The 2015 Pride Celebrations

Via a new video featuring animated celebs like Tom Daley, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Mary Lambert, Sir Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue, YouTuber Tyler Oakley, Robbie Rogers, Sam Smith and Conchita Wurst, Android joins the 2015 Pride celebrations with a new hashtag campaign – #andproud.

The video invites you to “Androidify yourself to join our online parade, and your character could even appear on Pride parade floats in London, New York and San Francisco.”

Head over to http://androidify.com/pride to participate.

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Chobani Yogurt Features Attractive Lesbian Couple In New Ad

Chobani Yogurt has a new commercial out featuring a very attractive lesbian couple in bed.

I know, I know – cue Franklin Graham and his boycott contingency. Not only homo – but homo in bed!

Graham’s list of companies to avoid is getting long, long, long…

Interestingly, Gawker hated the ad for other reasons; primarily, the product itself. Here’s the rather pointed review:

Bad yogurt company Chobani, whose product is to “Greek yogurt” what fermented urine is to champagne, has stooped to an outrageous, sexy new low in trying to distract the public from the taste of its pasty goo.

 It is plain as day to see that Chobani, desperate to align itself with any image other than “maker of America’s worst cow-related product,” has plunged directly to the bottom of the barrel, enlisting hot naked lesbians lounging around in their birthday suits in a last-gasp effort to make you, the easily seduced consumer, believe that bad yogurt is “sexy.”

(h/t JMG)

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Target Announces #TakePride Campaign For Pride Month

We’re not born with pride. We take pride. Pride in celebrating who we were born to be.

Those are the powerful words we at Target want all guests and team members — of every size, color, gender and sexual orientation — to hear as we head into Pride month this week. But let us be clear: to Target, pride doesn’t just start and end in June, it is a year-round commitment. And this year, we’re going all out, supporting Pride parades, events and merchandise — all grounded by one simple but powerful manifesto:

“We’re not born with pride, we take pride”

“We’re making our message loud and clear: Target proudly stands with the LGBT community, both as a team member and team player through all that we do – from our volunteer efforts to our long-standing partnerships with groups like Family Equality Council and Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, to the very products we carry in our stores and online,” said Laysha Ward, executive vice president and chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target.

The products Laysha mentioned include everything you and your family need to show and celebrate pride this year. Take a look at Target’s new collection of pride merchandise here.

(via press release)

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Mini-Documentary: Make Now Matter

Created in collaboration with Kenneth Cole and the news folks at RYOT, check out this series of highly-stylized mini-docs that shed light on the hardships their subjects faced when growing up gay.

In the video below, Shawn & Thomas talk on their two very distinct experiences dealing with being gay and in the military. They were the ‘First Kiss’ in Navy history.

Well done and thoughtful.

RYOT works on the philosophy that people are empowered through information and that no matter who you are, you can inspire change by choosing action over passive consumption.

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Rainbow Flag Inducted Into Museum Of Modern Art Permanent Collection

JoeMyGod shares the news that the designer of the iconic rainbow flag, Gilbert Baker, will see one of his flag added to the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.

From their letter to him:

On behalf of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, I am excited to formally announce that your work, the Rainbow Flag, has been acquired into the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, following our committee meeting yesterday afternoon.

I am so delighted we will be able to share your work with MoMA audiences now and in the future, and I am grateful to you for all your help during the acquisitions process. We are thrilled to represent your work in MoMA’s collection.

How cool.

And very deserving.

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Marriage Equality Comes To Guam

It took just about an hour and a half for Guam’s chief federal judge to rule the territory’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

In doing so, Guam becomes the first U.S. territory to legalize same-sex marriage.

The ruling is expected to take effect on Tuesday.

From Pacific Daily News:

In her ruling, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood said the laws denying marriage rights to same-sex couples were unconstitutional, citing a previous decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Guam.

Following her ruling, the courtroom erupted into applause for Loretta M. Pangelinan and Kathleen M. Aguero, the couple who filed the case.

Pangelinan and Aguero filed the case in April after they were denied a marriage license application at the Department of Public Health and Social Services. Their attorneys argued that the case had already been decided by the 9th Circuit in 2014 and, as a result, Guam had no choice but to follow suit.

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Poll: More Americans Would Support A Gay President Than An Evangelical President

According to a new poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News, Americans are more comfortable with the idea of an openly gay president than an openly evangelical president.

The survey, which was taken last month, asked 1,000 adults living in the U.S. if they would be okay with having a gay or lesbian presidential candidate. 61 percent said yes, they’d be fine with it.

When asked if they would be okay with an evangelical Christian running for president, however, and only 52 percent said yes.

Boom.

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Ohio Widower Continues Fight To Have Marriage Recognized

Excellent, in-depth article on the impact of marriage equality on Ohio couple Jim Obergefell and John Arthur by Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner.

The piece begins:

Jim Obergefell and John Arthur had wanted to marry for a long time. In 2013, after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, they decided this was the time to do it — even though Arthur was very, very ill. He had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2011, a fatal neurological disease that paralyzes the body. He was confined to his bed.

The couple could not get married in their home state of Ohio. They could, however, get married in one of the handful of states that did allow same-sex couples to marry. So their wedding took place aboard a small, specially equipped medical plane with two pilots, a nurse, and Arthur’s aunt — she performed the ceremony.

“We landed at Baltimore, sat on the tarmac for a little bit, said ‘I do,’ and 10 minutes later were in the air on the way home,” Obergefell said.

The marriage performed there on the tarmac of Baltimore-Washington International Airport has become iconic within the marriage equality movement and beyond, a testament to a couple’s commitment and to the absurd lengths the law required them to undertake for a simple ceremony.

After Arthur died in 2013, Jim sued to have the death certificate show they were married. He initially won in court, then lost in appeals court.

Now it heads to the Supreme Court.

I really encourage you to read the entire piece. All the moving pieces of a story that explain why this issue is so important.