Saturday, August 31, 2013
Darren Manzella, Gay Servicemember Who Fought DADT, Has Died
Army Sargent Darren Manzella, the first active duty combat
servicemember to publicly disclose that he was gay, has died. He was
36.
Manzella died Thursday night in a tragic automobile accident in suburban Rochester, New York.
The Democrat and Chronicle quotes Cpl. John Helfer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office as saying that Manzella stopped his car in the middle westbound lane of Interstate 490 after his car sideswiped another about 8:30 PM. Manzella got out of his car and started to push it from behind when he was struck by an SUV. Helfer said that Manzella was pronounced dead at the scene.
In 2007, Manzella revealed to 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl that he had been serving openly. He said that he acknowledged to superiors investigating him that he was gay without incident.
Manzella died Thursday night in a tragic automobile accident in suburban Rochester, New York.
The Democrat and Chronicle quotes Cpl. John Helfer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office as saying that Manzella stopped his car in the middle westbound lane of Interstate 490 after his car sideswiped another about 8:30 PM. Manzella got out of his car and started to push it from behind when he was struck by an SUV. Helfer said that Manzella was pronounced dead at the scene.
In 2007, Manzella revealed to 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl that he had been serving openly. He said that he acknowledged to superiors investigating him that he was gay without incident.
Manzella enlisted in the U.S. Army in
2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge for
providing medical care under fire during the Iraq war.
After CBS aired the story, the Army
handed down a determination of ineligibility, and Manzella was
discharged under “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” in 2008. The policy,
which prohibited gay troops from serving openly, was repealed three
years later.
Steve Ralls, who coordinated Manzella's
coming out on 60 Minutes, told gay blog Bilerico.com
that Manzella knew that he would be discharged for speaking out.
“That's how passionate he was about
ending this policy,” Ralls said.
Manzella and Javier Lapeira-Soto
married on July 5. A friend said that he had recently rejoined the
military as a reservist.
Manzella was a true hero in every sense of the word, one can only hopefully aspire to make the same difference that this man did in his lifetime.
My deepest sympathy goes out to his husband Javier.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Ruth Bader Ginsburg To Officiate Same-Sex Wedding
Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first Supreme Court justice to officiate a same-sex wedding, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Ginsburg will officiate the wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser and economist John Roberts, according to the Post. The wedding will take place on Saturday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Appeals court upholds California ban on ‘gay cure’ therapy
The 9th US Circuit of Appeals court ruled in the two separate legal challenges to the law to reject the arguments of a group of therapists and families who had sued in order to attempt to block its enforcement.,
The three-judge panel was unanimous in upholding the legislation, saying that it does not violate the free speech rights of counsellors who support the practice, nor does it intrude on parents’ right to choose such guidance for their children.
“(It) does not violate the free speech rights of practitioners or minor patients, is neither vague nor overbroad and does not violate parents’ fundamental rights,” Judge Susan Graber wrote for the court.
The 9th Circuit has now lifted its injunction on the ban, despite that those opposed to it may ask the court to reconsider its case but this time with an 11-judge panel.
Chicago's Archbishop Francis George Says Gay Marriage Is 'Unnatural'
Cardinal Francis George, the leader of the Catholic Church in Chicago, said this week that he believes gay marriage is not natural.
Speaking to the Chicago Sun Times, George, a longtime opponent of gay nuptials, placed his faith secondary in framing his opposition to marriage equality.
“This is first of all a rational issue before it's a faith issue,” George said. “That is, it's nature that tells us what marriage is, that in marriage, men and women aren't interchangeable.”
“We didn't invent marriage. The church didn't invent marriage. The state didn't invent marriage. Nature gives us marriage. The Chinese are not Americans, and they're not Catholic. They know what marriage is. Where did that come from?”
George continued: “In marriage, men and women do different things. They raise children differently. They contribute differently. They simply are different. It means something to be a man that's different from what it means to be a woman, and vice versa. And to deny that obvious fact is something that just puzzles me, not as a matter of faith, but it seems to me to be less than reasonable.”
A bill which seeks to legalize marriage for gay couples in Illinois stalled in the House earlier this year after it passed in the Senate on Valentine's Day. Rep. Greg Harris, the bill's champion in the House, has pledged a House vote sometime in the fall.
George said that if approved, the marriage law would mean that “people have to kind of suppress what they know about marriage, just ignore it.”
Talk about devaluing marriage, the Bishop just said marriage means nothing more than two sets of genitals coming together and has nothing to do with religion.
I think someone forgot too tell the animal kingdom that when they fuck, they are married.
What a backwards, loathsome bigot.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Fucktard Of The Week....Pat Robertson
Televangelist Pat Robertson claims gay men in San Francisco deliberately spread HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with special rings that cut others when shaking hands.
A 700 Club viewer asked whether it was wrong for her church not to inform her that she was driving to worship services a man who is “dying of AIDS.” Robertson told the woman she would be fine provided she didn't “have sex with them,” then added, “unless there's a cut or some bodily fluid transmission.”
“There are laws now,” Robertson continued. “I think the homosexual community has put these draconian laws on the books that prohibit people from discussing this particular affliction. You can tell somebody you had a heart attack. You can tell them they've got high blood pressure. But you can't tell anybody you've got AIDS.”
“You know what they do in San Francisco. Some in the gay community there they want to get people so if they got the stuff they'll have a ring, you shake hands, and the ring's got a little thing where you cut your finger,” he added. “Really. It's that kind of vicious stuff, which would be the equivalent of murder.”
The Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) edited out Robertson's comments in a video posted online, and the video was later removed.
In remarks to The Atlantic, Robertson said that he “regretted” that his remarks had been “misunderstood.”
“[T]his often happens because people do not listen to the context of remarks which are being said,” Robertson said. “In no [way] were my remarks meant as an indictment of the homosexual community or, for that fact, to those infected with this dreadful disease.”
This man was born with two assholes, one at each end and both spew shit everywhere that his followers lap up greedily.
Meet the Gay Russian Teenager Using Twitter to Combat Homophobia
By Sofie Mikhaylova
In the last few months, Russia has become notorious for its antigay stance. Vladimir Putin’s regime has passed “gay propaganda” laws that effectively ban people from discussing anything in support of LGBT people, and now gay people and their allies live in fear of prosecution and attack—especially from the neo-Nazi anti-gay group Occupy-Pedofilyay, a group led by former skinhead Maxim Martsinkevich, which uses online personal advertisements to lure gay boys to buildings where they detain and humiliate them. The group films the boys being harassed and then uploads the videos onto the internet.
In the last few months, Russia has become notorious for its antigay stance. Vladimir Putin’s regime has passed “gay propaganda” laws that effectively ban people from discussing anything in support of LGBT people, and now gay people and their allies live in fear of prosecution and attack—especially from the neo-Nazi anti-gay group Occupy-Pedofilyay, a group led by former skinhead Maxim Martsinkevich, which uses online personal advertisements to lure gay boys to buildings where they detain and humiliate them. The group films the boys being harassed and then uploads the videos onto the internet.
Russian queers cannot run to the police for help, since most likely,
none would be given. Few gays are able to leave Russia, so they live
within a country that hates them. Apart from activists protesting in
Moscow and Saint Petersburg, most gays have either gone into hiding or
attempted to mask their identity, making it difficult for Westerners to
know what it’s really like to be gay in Russia. But one brave gay
Russian teenager is changing this with @ru_lgbt_teen, a Twitter account about being a gay teen in Novosibirsk, the third most-populated city in Russia.
Like most teenagers, Kirill tweets about his personal life, with short sentences about his recurring depression
and minor updates on what he does in his free time. In recent tweets,
he has discussed bullying at school and his inability to seek
asylum. His avatar is a simple "SOS," and he often posts news about
Russia and images of boys in homoerotic situations that could also be
seen as tragic—such as the 19th century Russian painter Ilya Repin's Barge Haulers on the Volga, which shows over-worked men falling on each other as they drag a barge across a river.
Barge Haulers on the Volga, a picture the Russian painter Ilya Repin painted 140 years ago in 1873, via Wiki Commons
Via email, Kirill was kind enough to speak to VICE about his Twitter
account, how he meets other gay teens, and his plan to escape Russia.
For his protection, Kirill has asked us to only use his first name.
VICE: What's it like being a gay teenager in Russia?
Kirill: Generally speaking, you have a gay teen being seen as a “disenfranchised deviant” in the eyes of society and the state. People are different, but the male members of society are trying to avoid having anything to do with gays, [because they don’t want anybody] to think that they are gay. In Russia, gays are not people.
Kirill: Generally speaking, you have a gay teen being seen as a “disenfranchised deviant” in the eyes of society and the state. People are different, but the male members of society are trying to avoid having anything to do with gays, [because they don’t want anybody] to think that they are gay. In Russia, gays are not people.
Has being gay in Russia always been this difficult?
There have always been problems. Personally, I came across homophobia when I was 11 years old. People began to mock me just because my first literature teacher offered me the female lead in the Autumn Festival of Russian Language and Literature in the fifth grade, citing the fact that in Japan, women's roles are played by men. But I'm not in Japan. Because this snowballed into bullying around my sexuality, at some point the whole school became aware that I was gay.
There have always been problems. Personally, I came across homophobia when I was 11 years old. People began to mock me just because my first literature teacher offered me the female lead in the Autumn Festival of Russian Language and Literature in the fifth grade, citing the fact that in Japan, women's roles are played by men. But I'm not in Japan. Because this snowballed into bullying around my sexuality, at some point the whole school became aware that I was gay.
My homeroom teacher is a biology teacher. This is why when she heard
rumors about my sexuality and bullying in 2008, she explained that
homosexuality is normal. Many people argued with her in class. Today,
she would be charged under the “propaganda” law. She changed her views
and does not protects gays, because this year in class she openly joked
about children in same-sex families. Perhaps, this really is funny.
Personally, I was sad to hear that.
Do any of your friends or family members know you're gay?
I live in a single-parent family. My mother pretends not to know. One day she found my journal, where there was one very gay entry, after which there was a big scandal. She said to me, “If you're sick, I'll treat you.” I haven't had friends since July 22, 2010, in part because of my sexual orientation. Now I’ve finally turned into a “problem” teenager. No psychologist can help me, and I need to see a psychiatrist.
I live in a single-parent family. My mother pretends not to know. One day she found my journal, where there was one very gay entry, after which there was a big scandal. She said to me, “If you're sick, I'll treat you.” I haven't had friends since July 22, 2010, in part because of my sexual orientation. Now I’ve finally turned into a “problem” teenager. No psychologist can help me, and I need to see a psychiatrist.
Have any antigay attacks happened near you or even to you?
I am not a victim of Tesak [Maxim Martsinkevich's Russian nickname, which means “the Cleaver” in Russian] or his followers. However, I have experienced the unimaginable limits of school homophobia, where you are constantly humiliated, insulted, and almost beaten during recess and by the school, while teachers act like they do not notice.
I am not a victim of Tesak [Maxim Martsinkevich's Russian nickname, which means “the Cleaver” in Russian] or his followers. However, I have experienced the unimaginable limits of school homophobia, where you are constantly humiliated, insulted, and almost beaten during recess and by the school, while teachers act like they do not notice.
Do you know any other gay teens?
In real life, I do not know of any other LGBT teens. But on social networking sites, I talk with several kids from other cities. I would not say that their problems are drastically different from my problems. Not all of them know what it means to be an outcast at school, but they know firsthand what it means to be an outcast in society as a whole.
In real life, I do not know of any other LGBT teens. But on social networking sites, I talk with several kids from other cities. I would not say that their problems are drastically different from my problems. Not all of them know what it means to be an outcast at school, but they know firsthand what it means to be an outcast in society as a whole.
Do you want to leave Russia?
I would very much like to leave Russia. I would say that for me, it is kind of an obsession at the moment. I can't be granted asylum, because I cannot prove school bullying, and I do not have the mental health or the mental capacity to protest to help the gays. But that does not mean that I am not doing anything to leave Russia. In the fall I will start learning German, and I plan to study for a few years in Germany. For me, this is one of the most accessible options in terms of my financial situation.
I would very much like to leave Russia. I would say that for me, it is kind of an obsession at the moment. I can't be granted asylum, because I cannot prove school bullying, and I do not have the mental health or the mental capacity to protest to help the gays. But that does not mean that I am not doing anything to leave Russia. In the fall I will start learning German, and I plan to study for a few years in Germany. For me, this is one of the most accessible options in terms of my financial situation.
Have you been involved in any protests?
I remember August 31, 2011. In the central square of the city of Novosibirsk, there was a rally in support of LGBT teens. I myself decided not to take an active part in it, but I walked around where the action was.
I remember August 31, 2011. In the central square of the city of Novosibirsk, there was a rally in support of LGBT teens. I myself decided not to take an active part in it, but I walked around where the action was.
How do you feel about the West boycotting the Sochi 2014 Olympics and Russian vodka?
I believe that the boycott will not improve the situation with the rights of gay people in Russia. The main Russian TV channels represent the state propaganda. When France passed legislation on same-sex marriages, there were rallies and protests against them. Our television stations talked about it for several days and just said, with such theatrical pathos, that “in France there is gay censorship and dictatorship.” This was followed by measurements of public opinion polls about how the country's homophobia is growing. And then a few weeks later, Russia adopted the antigay law. While at the same time, personally for me and for the majority of gays whom I know, our last hope is the West.
I believe that the boycott will not improve the situation with the rights of gay people in Russia. The main Russian TV channels represent the state propaganda. When France passed legislation on same-sex marriages, there were rallies and protests against them. Our television stations talked about it for several days and just said, with such theatrical pathos, that “in France there is gay censorship and dictatorship.” This was followed by measurements of public opinion polls about how the country's homophobia is growing. And then a few weeks later, Russia adopted the antigay law. While at the same time, personally for me and for the majority of gays whom I know, our last hope is the West.
I truly feel for this poor kid, but much of the travails he is suffering are still prevalent in our own high schools (tho not just limited too)
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
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