Sunday News Roundup, I haven’t done one in about two weeks (okay exactly two weeks) so you are getting a little extra today…or a lot extra. Because they are so good. And may or may not be newsy so much. But just very, very good.
Get ready to spend an hour with your coffee and this post and these articles.
- For the first time in decades, The Advocate endorses a candidate (Barack Obama) for president;
- Beyond his on-record support for marriage equality May 9, Obama also signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act in 2009, announced the lifting of the ban on HIV-positive green card applicants and visitors to the U.S., signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the first pro-LGBT federal law in U.S. history), and after just two years into office, he had appointed more LGBTs to head commissions and agencies, to ambassadorships, and to senior staff positions than any president, surpassing the entire two-term record of Bill Clinton. He has also quadrupled the number of openly gay judges on the federal bench and ended the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the U.S. military;
- Mitt Romney on the other hand used to support gay rights when it was popular, but has recently changed his position, whether that’s a result of fear of blowback from an increasingly conservative GOP or just a personal devolution,” no one can assume he would make any strides favorable to LGBTQ folks during his term as president.
Ebony Magazine brings us a piece on why hip-hop star Frank Ocean’s “I’m Gay” announcement might just be bigger than that other guy’s:
GAME CHANGER: Why Frank Ocean’s Coming Out is More Significant than Anderson Cooper’s
- Anderson Cooper is already an established journalist with money to burn, Frank Ocean is still waiting on his first CD to be released;
- In the world of hip-hop, “perceptions of Black masculinity are dominated by hyper-sexuality, thug swagger and a deep homophobia. Neither hip-hop nor R&B has ever boasted an openly gay or bisexual mainstream male star.”
It seems that Exodus International is finally admitting what most of us knew all along. Although I’m not sure sure that “Being gay is natural, but being celibate or marrying someone of the opposite sex are still the only choices you have” is any better…
Rift Forms in Movement as Belief in Gay ‘Cure’ Is Renounced
- Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, declared last week that there is no “cure” for homosexuality and that the “reparative therapy” offered false hope and may even be harmful;
- Exodus has been the leading force of the “ex-gay” movement for the past 30 years, which holds that homosexuals can be “cured” through Christian prayer and psychotherapy;
- Chambers’ statements are causing a rift in the “ex-gay” community, 11 programs under the Exodus heading have since defected.
In a world where the “obesity epidemic” (read: not an epidemic and technically not even a medical condition but instead simply a ratio of height to weight) is making everyone run scared, one fearless (skinny) black woman tells it like it is:
From One Skinny Girl To Others: A Few Words on Fat Phobia
- The author feels that white people ought to be educating white people about racism and men ought to be educating men about misogyny because it should not be the job of the minority (people of color and women) to always do the educating, she also feels it is appropriate for skinny folks to educate other skinny folks about fat phobia;
- Favorite line ever: “And, really, let’s be honest, little of this is about health anyway. Talking about it in terms of health is just a convenient way to make fat people, especially fat women, wrong.”
- Fat phobia surrounding women has more to do with helping women get healthy and more about control over their lives;
- Another take on this would be Ragen Chastain’s Dances with Fat blog and her crusade to help the Health at Every Size movement gain acceptance.
If you hadn’t heard, lesbian bands are rocking the stage(s):
- Four lesbian bands you may never had heard of… and not one (except one) plays folks-rock hippie music;
- Not that there’s anything wrong with folk-rock hippie music;
- The article focuses on their music, certainly, but also details their struggles and triumphs as being lesbians (and women) in a mostly straight male music industry.
Last but not least, there’s no War on Women, really. Honest there’s not.
What war on women? Riiiight…
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Don’t Forget! Support the name change!
Any amount is helpful, we’ve got until the end of July to raise the money…we’re up to $237 which gets us two sets of fingerprints a piece, covers the cost of the federal and state background checks for both of us and gives us money for one of the name change application. We’re still looking to cover the other $120 for the second application and some money for dinner… We’re looking to raise $375 – only $138 to go!
Poems, Prayers, Promises & Politics 