These days it seems you can't turn on the television without slamming headlong into an award show of one kind or another. Lately everyone is in the running for something and usually it's less than noteworthy. But, while we can live without tuning into the teen equestrian geriatric skeet shooting stand up comedic competitive monologue reading homemaker awards, we've recently learned of an event that is definitely worthwhile: The Annual Emery Awards.
Kimora Lee Simmons will host the gala evening to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, as well as its founders and Harvey Milk. The Annual Emery Awards honor those individuals and corporations that exemplify Hetrick-Martin's mission of providing a safe and supportive environment for all young people -- regardless of their sexual orientation or identity -- along with those who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the community. This year Hetrick-Martin Institute will be honoring its founders, Drs. Damien Hetrick and Emery Martin, and activist Harvey Milk, as well as recognizing such leaders as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Dr. Joyce Hunter. Special guests include Mary Louise Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, B.D. Wong, and Cheyenne Jackson.
The Annual Emery Awards take place on November 10, 2009. The night kicks off at Cipriani Wall Street with a cocktail hour at 6:30, followed by the awards dinner and an after party. If you'd like to attend the awards or donate to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, please call Darra Gordon at 212-674-2600, ext. 277 or email dgordon@hmi.org. For more information visit www.hmi.org.
This afternoon President Obama signed The Matthew Shepard
and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act, a bill that updates the original 1968 federal hate crimes
statute to make violence against gay, lesbian, transgender, and disabled people a federal crime. The
bill, a version of which was first introduced in 1996, two years before the hate-motivated murders of Shepard and Byrd in 1998, allows for federal investigators, forensic tools, and
funds to be allotted to help state and local officials tackle hate crimes.
“As a straight ally and as a person with many lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender family members, friends and fans, I want to thank the
Human Rights Campaign, Judy and Dennis Shepard and Senator Edward Kennedy for
their leadership in the 11 year struggle to get the Matthew Shepard & James
Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Prevention Bill enacted,” longtime gay rights advocate
Cyndi Lauper said in a statement today. “FINALLY, with President Obama’s
signature, violent hate crimes against the LGBT community will be recognized
and prosecuted by the Federal government. This is only the beginning, I believe
that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, as
well as the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, will soon be
here. Today, that light at the end of the tunnel for the LGBT civil rights
movement is much brighter.”
The Ali Forney Center, which offers emergency shelter, transitional housing, food. clothing, medical and mental health treatment and other services to queer youth in New York City, received a gift of $300,000 from Bea Arthur's Estate today.
Arthur, who died April 25 at the age of 86, will be memorialized by the Center when it purchases a building to house 12 youths and names it after her.
"We work with hundreds of young people who are rejected by their families because of who they are. We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person, and that she placed so much value in the work we do to protect them, and to help them rebuild their lives." says the Center's Executive Director Carl Siciliano.
"I joined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During my
twenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal of
counseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, I
found much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply it
in my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist,
but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it was
criticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believed
was directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with them
internally. I saw the organization -- with all its warts, growing pains
and problems -- as an underdog. And I have always had a thing for
underdogs.
But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what
to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements
of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential "PR flap" you
allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the
church's words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is
now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and
intolerance, homophobia and fear.
The church's refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots,
hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word.
Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent."
86-year-old Republican WWII vet Phillip Spooner spoke before the Maine legislature last April in hopes of seeing the state legalize gay marriage. If his speech -- in which he states that he raised his four songs, three straight and one gay who all also served in the military, to be "hardworking, patriotic Americans" and recalls the time a woman at his polling place asked him if he believed in equality for gays and lesbians and he answered "What do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?" -- doesn't make you tear up, check to make sure your heart is still beating:
In May, Maine became the fifth U.S. state to legalize marriage. A referendum on the November 3 ballot will decide if marriage will stand in the state. Statistician Nate Silver currently sees the chances of gay marriage remaining legal at 5:2, but he emphasizes that it's voter turnout that will decide our fate. So if you're reading this, and you live in Maine, get your ass to the polls on November 3.
Some dos and don’ts from the bestselling (well, free,
really…) A Book of Rules, published by the Taliban in the original
Pashto-language and available at all reputable insurgent bookstores in
Afghanistan. “Receiving money for prisoner’s release is forbidden.” “Smoking is
strictly forbidden for Mujahideen.” “If someone gets the death penalty for his
crime, he will be killed with gunshot and making video of the event is
forbidden.” “The Martyrdom seeker must be well-trained prior to attack.”
“Mujahideen have to avoid company of the youngsters without having beard,
specially keeping them in camps.” “If there is no danger, Mujahideen should say
their prayers in…” Now just lets back up there, a little … right to the bit
about the beardless boys. And yes, it is pretty much exactly what you’re
thinking.
The tradition of “bacha bereesh” -- a boy without a beard-- is deep-rooted in parts of Afghanistan, with the beautiful youngsters recruited
often through trickery or allegedly by force, to dance for wealthy (male) patrons.
The men are into “bacha bazi”, which translates as “boy-play.” The boys are
typically 14-18 years old, but skewed towards the 14 rather than the 18.
Dressed in women’s clothes, the dancers provide the entertainment at parties
where, sex segregation is otherwise the norm. At the end of the night, the boys
are often shared among their patrons’ friends, and sometimes are sold on. As a
practice, it’s been impossible to stamp out, and even back in 2007, the famous
previous Taliban “Rule Number 19” specified that fighters must not take young
boys without facial hair into their private quarters.
Clearly, some rules are being broken regularly enough to
worry the Taliban that their behavior will not help win hearts and minds in
the territory they’re occupying.
The outcry over UK tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail’s homophobic take on Boyzone member Stephen Gately’s death is not about ignorant journalism; it’s about the hate that drives the tabloid business.
A grim fact: the much-reviled Jan Moir column about the singer, who died last Saturday while vacationing with his partner in Majorca, was not a error by the paper, or an oversight, or a columnist gone
rogue. It was a deliberate, vicious piece of work meant to cast doubt on the
notion that gay men can ever be accepted by right-minded society -- right-minded
society as defined by excluding minorities and taking what’s left as the norm (as decided by the right wing gutter press).
The only flaw in The Daily Mail’s piece (as far as The Daily
Mail is affected anyway) was that
Moir’s writing was so bad that it made even the hate-inured readers of
Britain’s second-largest tabloid pause for a second, and then, with some
prodding from the less-read liberal media, admit that it was too much,
probably. Plus, the Brits love Boyzone, and once the surviving members gathered
round to tearfully sing a farewell for Stephen, the die was cast. But it was a
close thing, and remains so: there has been no apology as such, and no guilt.
Just a long wounded rambling justification and “clarification” from Moir that
admits nothing but complains of conspiracy and suggests martyrdom.
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