Advocacy

A modern day pro-LGBT Joan of Arc, Kathy Baldock’s advocacy is not from behind a computer screen, but face-to-face interaction with the most rabid anti-gay ministers in the U.S. evangelical movement.

NEW YORK — The parents of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student tortured and murdered in 1998, are traveling to Russia on Friday to spread their message of tolerance and acceptance in a country where anti-gay policies and attitudes are widespread. The centerpiece of their five-day trip is a gay film festival in St. Petersburg at …

Twenty-two years ago, I made a promise that has shaped my life and my work ever since. My beloved partner Eddie, a talented musician, was dying of AIDS. At the time, we felt powerless, isolated and angry—there was no effective medical treatment, no hope for recovery and too much hate rooted in fear of a mysterious disease and its association with gay men…

NEW YORK — Despite seven months of international outcry, Russia’s law restricting gay-rights activity remains in place. Yet the eclectic protest campaign has heartened activists in Russia and caught the attention of its targets — including organizers and sponsors of the Sochi Olympics that open on Feb. 7.

NEW YORK — The pop-rock trio fun. is launching a campaign to raise money for at-risk LGBT youth in Detroit. The band says it plans to raise $250,000 to build a community health center for the Ruth Ellis Center, which provides housing, meals, clothing and medical services for LGBT youth in need.

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. hip hop artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have joined the U.N. Free and Equal Campaign to encourage greater respect for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

NEW YORK — The National Board of Directors of GLAAD, the nation’s LGBT media advocacy organization, on Monday announced the selection of Sarah Kate Ellis as the organization’s new CEO and president following a nationwide search.

NEW YORK — Actors Jonah Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell are among a batch of celebrities donning Russian-language “Love Conquers Hate” T-shirts to show support for gays in Russia alarmed by a new law banning pro-gay “propaganda.”

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…

It’s time for everyone to experience Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, for everyone to know they are beautiful just the way they are. It’s time for same-sex couples, same-sex parents, children of same-sex parents, and all LGBTQ persons at home, at school, in the workplace or in retirement to be protected by the laws of their lands. … It’s time to spread love. It’s time to change history.