No more religious exemptions

Tell Congress to Stop Religious Bigotry

 

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Last week women saw a devastating blow to their human rights with the Hobby Lobby case along with the court saying that religious non-profit companies could also be exempt from signing forms that would allow women to access contraceptives via their insurance. 

To say that women have it better than the LGBTQ community is naive (a white gay male still has more power than a female of any color, and still get paid better), but the war against women has become a covert war over the past few decades while the war against LGBTQ rights are still very overt. The battle against gay marriage is only one example. 

Now, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has added that religious institutions can discriminate based on sexual preference. 

Using religion as an excuse for bigotry has been a long-standing tradition, but it’s time that the women’s rights groups and LGBTQ groups unite under a singular cause: take away the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). There is no place for religious bigotry in this world, and especially not in a country that is meant to pride itself on freedom of and FROM religion.

Take the time to contact your SENATORS and DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE

 

Anti-gay rant by Vine star: Only gay men have HIV

This is…bad.  Nash Grier, a 16-year old Vine star with 8.7 million followers released this video in April but the video has come under the spotlight.  He’s showing a commercial for an HIV home-testing kit  where they say “Testing for HIV, it’s not a gay thing”.  Grier then says “Yes it is! Fag!”
The F word makes me cringe in agony each time I hear it.  Hearing an obnoxious teenage boy screaming it makes it worse somehow.  Grier has released an apology statement saying he is sorry and that he “was young and in a bad place”.   I think it’s safe to say the countless people that have been bullied for their sexual orientation or HIV status are the ones that were in a bad place. 

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This type of language is nothing short of a hate-crime.  Virtual in nature but very much real.  We all know HIV is not a “gay thing”.

Here are some facts from the CDC.  Read the full report here.

Transmission Category: From 2008 through 2011, among adult and adolescent males, the annual number of diagnosed HIV infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact increased. The numbers of infections attributed to injection drug use, to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use, and to heterosexual contact decreased. Among adult and adolescent females, the numbers of infections attributed to injection drug use and to heterosexual contact decreased. In 2011, diagnosed infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (65%, including male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use) and those attributed to heterosexual contact (27%) accounted for approximately 92% of diagnosed HIV infections in the United States.

Hope this kids learns his lesson and uses his fame for good.

Same-sex parents are the best!

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File this under DUH and YAASSSSS.

A study by Australia’s University of Melbourne says that children raised by same-sex couples have better health and well-being compared to their peers. More importantly, having same-sex parents does not hurt the child. Please note, “peers” is defined as children with heterosexual parents.

Here are some great highlights from the study.
-Children raised by same-sex parents scored six percent higher in regards to general health and family cohesion.
-Children raised by same-sex parents scored the same as their peers in the following categories: behavior, mental health and self-esteem.

“It appears that same-sex parent families get along well and this has a positive impact on health,” Dr. Simon Crouch from the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Centre for Health Equity at the University of Melbourne, told CNBC.

One of the most important findings of this study is that same-sex parents focused on skills rather than gender roles to assign parental duties. 

Crouch said, “So what this means is that people take on roles that are suited to their skill sets rather than falling into those gender stereotypes,”.   He went on to say, “What this leads to is a more harmonious family unit and therefore feeding on to better health and wellbeing.”

Check out more on the study here.

The point to me isn’t that same-sex parents are better…it’s that having same-sex parents will not harm a child.  A position that far too many have.  There are many different anti-gay adoption and surrogacy laws out there.  Hopefully the scientific proof will help pave the way for some smarter rules and regulations. 

Also, check out the 2012 study that said kids with two moms do better in school and are happier in life here.

Great organization to donate your clothes/furniture to

SA

I am in the process of re-furnishing my apartment and have some items that I could easily sell for a profit but let’s be real…ain’t nobody got time for that.  So, I take the route I always take and donate.  I live in downtown Manhattan so lugging around clothes or other bulky items is not an option.  We have a donation pick-up at my building which is great.  Or so I thought.

I just found out that my building uses the Salvation Army who is a fairly anti-gay organization.  And by fairly I mean THEY ARE ANTI-GAY.  Housing Works is a great organization that helps people who have AIDS or HIV.   Here is their mission statement:

OUR MISSION Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts.

They are NYC based and offer furniture pick-up in the area.   Check out their website here.

Click here for some other great places to donate your items to.  This list is from Apartment Therapy.com and they have everything covered from text books to art.

Click here to see why we don’t like the Salvation Army.

A bit of a random post but the moral of the story is that we should all make informed decisions when conducting any sort of business.  The more we support pro-equality businesses, the better.

Good for Burger King!

Burger King launched the Proud Whopper in San Francisco as part of Pride this year.  WELL DONE! Essentially it is a Whopper that comes in rainbow wrapping that reads “We are all the same inside”.  The special Whopper is only available at their Market Street location in San Francisco but hopefully they will take this national soon! 

The response has been mixed.  Bigots are of course all upset.  Some have even sworn off Burger King.  Someone was quoted as saying “Do gay people even eat fast food?”.  I don’t think he meant to be funny but that was great.  Show BK some love next time you’re in the mood for some fast food 🙂

Tell your Congressional leaders to represent you!

gay-marriage

Half of southerners support gay marriage, so why isn’t it the same in the Senate?

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