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India’s court ruling a dreadful new judicial low for international LGBT human rights
Wednesday’s Indian Supreme Court decision reversing a lower court and re-criminalizing same-sex sexual intimacy marks a dreadful new judicial low for international LGBT human rights. Even as we in the U.S. enjoy ever increasing visibility and protections for our community, life for many of our brothers and sisters in other countries is going from bad to intolerable. It is repellent that extremist religious opposition worldwide is such a corrosive impediment to basic human rights…
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Why I joined LGBT activists in solidarity to fast for immigration reform
Last week, I joined thousands of fasters around the country during the “National Days to Act, Fast and Pray” on December 1-3. For 24 hours, I abstained from food in an act of solidarity with a group of immigration reform activists who had gone 22 days ingesting nothing but water. I joined the fast because my mother was forced to leave her country due to the discrimination and violence she faced there. In my work on LGBT immigration policy, I know I encounter only a fraction of our nation’s 267,000 undocumented LGBT adults. Yet I constantly hear stories like my family’s — stories of people who have fled to the United States in search of a better life.
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Gay-Straight Alliances: Empowering youth, saving lives
I have a vague memory of hearing announcements and seeing posters for it on the walls. I remember wanting to go. I hadn’t yet come out at this point but I had the sense that I would find support and understanding in this club, and I wanted to be a part of it so badly. But there was a barrier in my mind that prevented me from being able to attend the club. I graduated without going to even one meeting…
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To the Bishop judging the minister who officiated his gay son’s wedding…
In 1990, I fell in love. I met a beautiful man named Paul who shared my values, my heart and my soul. We quickly knew that we intended to spend the rest of our lives together. We were not looking for legal protection or rights, and the public conversation about same sex marriage and marriage equality really had not even begun. We just sought to solemnize our relationship into s spiritual marriage. My parents had been on their own journey accepting my sexual orientation, and they had evolved to the point that they felt comfortable approaching the minister of their church that they had supported significantly for years…
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In such a diverse nation, there is no such thing as a ‘traditional’ family
It’s the holidays again — a time to come together and express gratitude and love for the positive things in our lives and the people in them. But as much as the holidays may symbolize a great American tradition, this country is home to a diverse set of traditions and increasingly diverse families. In such a diverse nation, there is no such thing as a “traditional” family. What connects all American families together is not having the same family traditions or the same types of families, but a shared belief in the American tradition of freedom…
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The Legacy of ‘Seeing’ Harvey Milk
Thirty-five years ago today, our country lost a man who symbolized the breakdown of barriers for LGBT elected officials everywhere. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major public office in California, had held his office for less than a year before he was assassinated. But even in that short time, Milk helped erase some of the invisible boundaries defining who in our country can be elected officials. Following Marian Wright Edelman’s famous words that “you can’t be what you can’t see,” Harvey Milk gave generations to come a successful LGBT elected official to “see.”
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Gay cadet group leader responds to Air Force academy controversy
Most of the “reporting” on the recent “scandal” at the Air Force Academy, regarding the employment of Dr. Mike Rosebush, refuses to quote the cadets that spoke openly in a conference call last week, but continues to quote their cadet sources. I find the absolute disregard for a discussion with all the voices represented increasingly interesting. Why are these other cadet sources to be considered real and truthful but the cadets on the call thought of as liars? And truly, if one thinks cadets are afraid of speaking frankly in the face of rank, one must not know very many cadets…
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Senate passage of ENDA an important step toward dignity, fairness
Despite the scare stories from those opposed to workplace fairness, ENDA does not create any special rights for anyone. It simply prohibits employers from using a worker’s sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for hiring, firing, promotion, or compensation. It means that LGBT people will be afforded the same workplace protections already in place regarding race, religion, gender, national origin and disability. The fact is, most of America’s largest corporations have already recognized the value of treating LGBT people fairly and have enacted policies similar to ENDA. But employers in 29 states can still lawfully discriminate because of sexual orientation, and in 33 states they can discriminate because of gender identity…
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Domestic abuse affects the LGBT community, too
What issue will affect gay and bisexual men at a rate of two in five and affect approximately 50 percent of the lesbian population in America? If you didn’t know the answer, you are not alone. The answer is domestic violence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but most of us don’t think about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, community when we think of domestic violence victims. Experts believe that domestic violence occurs in the LGBT community with the same frequency and severity as in the heterosexual community…
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HRC needs to engage more with the LGBT community rather than policymakers
This past summer, I was a Family Project intern of the Human Rights Campaign. Depending on who I’m talking to at Yale, that sentence can serve as a coming-out statement on various levels. Aside from my friends who are conservative in their attitudes on same-sex marriage, I have progressive friends who are angry with HRC. I’ve been carrying an umbrella and mug displaying HRC’s logo — the equal sign that took Facebook by storm last March — only after giving it much thought. I’m wary of entering a heated debate at any moment, with friends on my right or my left. At some points I have felt frustrated with the organization too…