Tag Archives: LGBT Advocate

Oakland Raiders Get A Kluwe! – Raiders Sign LGBT Ally and Advocate Chris Kluwe! BOOYAH!

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Chris Kluwe OMGAwesome ally and LGBT advocate NFL punter Chris Kluwe has been signed by the Oakland Raiders, less than 10 days after the Minnesota Vikings cut Kluwe which led to suspicions’ that the Vikings management did not like Kluwe’s straight to the point and sometimes colorful LGBT advocacy

FOX Sports reports:

“Chris Kluwe, who was released by the Minnesota Vikings on May 6, will step in for Pro Bowler Shane Lechler, who left Oakland for the Houston Texans via free agency. Kluwe’s contract is for one year, and is for the league minimum.

…Kluwe is known for his mind and mouth, as well as his leg. He is a vocal advocate of equality in sports (and life), and says he will continue to speak for what he believes. “I’m still going to be myself socially and continue to tweet and interact with my fans,” Kluwe said.

The issue of same-sex marriage remains a hot-button one in California. Kluwe said he was happy the same-sex marriage bill passed and was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Mark Dayton in Minnesota. Kluwe didn’t think it would be an issue there and is ready to press forward in the Golden State….Prop 8 was passed by voters in 2008 and governs that the state only recognize marriages between a man and a woman. The law’s legality was argued before the US Supreme Court in March, with a ruling expected in June, and Kluwe is optimistic about the likely repeal of the measure. If the measure is not repealed, however, he says it will be an issue of concern that will need to be addressed.”

Congrats to Oakland for picking up Chris!

The Oakland Raiders got a Kluwe and the Minnesota Vikings get a lot of pissed off fans.

Singer-Songwriter Josh Ritter Advocates for LGBT Rights at Anti-Gay Messiah College Venue

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Josh Ritter

Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter has posted on his  Facebook page about his concert at the anti-gay and hostile Messiah College

I travel a lot – this month I was in fifteen cities in as many days. I always like to learn a little bit about the place I’m going to play – that Chicago has the fourth largest GDP of any world city, or that Louisville is famous for a sandwich known as the “Hot Brown.”

Today I was Grantham, Pennsylvania, at Messiah College, and as I was doing a little digging about the place I learned something that surprised and disappointed me.

Messiah College requires all students to sign a “Community Covenant” promising to, among other things, “avoid such sinful practices as…homosexual behavior….”

This policy, which I see as exclusionary and bigoted, could not run more counter to my personal beliefs. If I had done my homework, and read about Messiah’s policies ahead of time, I would never have agreed to play there.

I did play at Messiah College tonight, and I chose to use the opportunity to talk to the students – to encourage them to seek openness and change. I spoke honestly about my personal views – that we should all have the right to love – and to marry freely, no matter what our sexual orientation.

Everyone was respectful and kind, and it is my hope that they’ll continue to demand a change to the Community Covenant.

I hope to have made the best of a difficult situation. I’m donating the fee I received from Messiah College tonight in its entirety to The Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org), the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

I won’t play Messiah College again – not until they welcome, in word and deed, all members of their faith regardless of sexuality, and I urge my fellow musicians to do the same.

– Josh Ritter

I applaud  Ritter for his handeling of this.. This is the perfect way to show up these bigots. Honour your agreement, state your disgust of their policies and beliefs, and then have none of their blood money and donate it to whats exactly opposite of thier hateful warped teachings.

Bravo dude.

 

LGBT Advocate Sean Avery On Why He Supports Equal Rights

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Bullying of any kind incites a lot of passionate emotional responses. And it is a;ways welcome when we see a person turn such a negative aspect of their life into a positive and major leguage hockey player Sean Avery continues to do that. Now serving as an LGBT advocate, Avery wishes to expand his message of tolerance and acceptance by speaking out about his past. Here’s more:

“Maybe it’s because when I was such a bully when I had my uniform on, that when I took it off I felt the need to stand up against the bully,”

That’s how Sean Avery describes his decision to speak out in defense of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in recent years. The former New York Rangers star, known for his agitating playing style as well as controversial behavior off the ice, discusses his LGBT advocacy stance at length in a Dec. 8 interview with the New York Daily News.

The 32-year-old, who publicly backed marriage equality in 2011, also claims to have been subjected to a number of anti-gay slurs in recent years. That same year, he was slammed by Wayne Simmons of the Philadelphia Flyers. Also, Avery pointed that the use of anti-gay language by players has yet to be addressed at the NHL labor negotiations.

“My belief is the responsibility lies with the leagues, the way they discipline players, the position they take and use it in every-day incidents, One guy’ll get slapped with a fine, the next day nothing will happen. There needs to be consistency.”

We need more inspired leaders that are inspired to stop these harmful acts upon one another.

Advocates We Love: Christopher Meloni

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I don’t know what it is about this man but he is just perfection to me. It could be that firm,.solid frame. Or those perfect rough hands, Maybe it’s those eyes…those beautiful ice blue orbs of perfection, You know, they have this sinister look that he can work you into a complete frenzy yet still be all attentive and sweet at the same time and it makes me…oh hey fellow readers. Sorry I got carried away (i wish) by another advocate we love: Christopher Meloni.

From his hard edged raucous causing character from HBO’s Oz to his decade long stint of a hotheaded detective on Law & Order: SVU, Meloni shows that he is much more than his character personas.

Meloni has been a strong advocate for marriage equality even recording a message for New Yokers in 2011 before the law was passed allowing same sex couples to marry:

“I believe in love, in family and in fairness. That’s why I’m a New Yorker for marriage equality. Already, five states and the District of Columbia have marriage equality. It’s time for New York to lead again. Join me in supporting New Yorkers for Marriage Equality.”

It’s always great knowing that an actor you’ve supported and cheered on through their work also supports your right to love and marry whomever you wish. And that what makes him an advocate/

…and a frequent visitor in my dreams as his character, Stabler, on SVU. And Mariska Hargitay is there too playing Benson. And then…guys, it gets complicated from there.

 

PS look at how flexible this man is!!! Age is not a deterrent for this man.

 

Cyndi Lauper Continues To Sings Out For LGBT Causes

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In some uplift your spirits and it’s good to think of helping others news, music icon Cyndi Lauper continues to be an outstanding advocate for LGBT causes. On December 8th, Lauper, along with other musical talents like Roberta Flack, Adam Lambert, and Sarah McLachlan will be performing for  Lauper & Friends: Home For the Holidays that will benefit True Colors Fund’s Forty to None Project. The performances will be to help homeless LGBT youth.

Lauper expressed her dismay about the staggering number of homeless youth that do not receive the right amount of care and she’s working to change that:

“When I first learned that up to 40 percent of all homeless youth in this country identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender I was shocked and saddened. For far too long homeless youth have not received the attention, resources and funding necessary to bring an end to this epidemic. My hope is that through this inspiring evening of music and comedy we can raise awareness and much needed funds to help these young people through our newly launched Forty to None Project.”

Other performers such as Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg and Bravo TV’s Andy Cohen will also be lending a helping hand to the cause. What an amazing advocate Lauper continues to be.

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Sally Field Rocks As She Praises Her Gay Son During Acceptance Speech

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In a touching acceptance speech during the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Ally for Equality Award, multifaceted actress Sally Fields, gave a detailed account of why she supported LGBT rights and how her own son, Sam Greisman, helped her understand even more as he came out as a gay man. Fields also noted how the journey to discover sexuality is difficult but with organizations like HRC help LGBT youth come into their own identity:

He grew up wanting to be just like his big brothers — athletic and rambunctious, not to mention a little bit macho. But Sam was different, and his journey to allow himself what nature intended him to be was not an easy one. As his mother, I consider it one of the great privileges of my life to be part it.”

“There are so many children who struggle to understand and embrace their sexuality in families who do not welcome them, with parents that somehow find it acceptable to shut them out their hearts and their homes, and that I find unacceptable

You’ve changed and are changing the lives of little boys and girls who realize somewhere along the way they’re just different from their other brothers and sisters…and so the fuck what?

So amazing the conviction she has during the speech as any good mother who is proud of who their child has become shows. Griesman noted what a great mom he has and how great her support has been:

Being gay was just one more thing she loved about me. She couldn’t be more supportive of me…if anything, I wish she was a little less supportive of me.”

Highly recommend watching the entire speech here. Amazing woman and mother. And I REALLY want her to do another sitcom.

ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

Minnesota Vikings’ Chris Kluwe Tackles Bigoted Baltimore Raven’s Matt Birk’s Anti-Gay Editorial

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Yesterday we posted about bigoted Baltimore Raven Matt Birk and the anti-same sex marriage editorial that he penned for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.   Later that day Birk had the nerve to increase the gay hate by maing a video for the Minnesota Catholic Conference against same-sex marriage.

Well lucky for us America’s answer to the UK Rugby stud Ben Cohen, Minnesota Viking and equality advocate Chris Kluwe responded to Birk’s homophobic nonsense with six reasons why Birk is wrong.

Problem the first – Your argument lacks facts, sources, or statistics. You can’t just say “Same -sex marriage is bad for kids because I think it’s bad for kids, and I think it’s bad for kids because it’s bad for kids”. That’s called circular reasoning and it’s a logical fallacy. If you want us to understand why same-sex marriage is bad for kids, you need to provide some sort of substantial evidence. Tell us that children from same-sex couples are more likely to grow up broke and miserable and alone and will end their days starving in a gutter. Just don’t use a study like this one, which displays clear source and confirmation bias (as outlined neatly in this article from Slate). Use something like this (sadly behind a paywall, but the abstract should give you the high notes). I’ll sum it up for those who don’t want to click on links: there’s no difference between children raised in heterosexual relationships and same-sex relationships, as evidenced by a meta-study of nineteen different LBGT studies.

Problem the second – Your argument that “government recognizes marriages and gives them certain legal benefits so they can provide a stable, nurturing environment for the next generation of citizens: our kids” is flawed on two counts. The first flaw is one of simple mathematics – if “marriage” is so necessary to the proper raising of children, why are we not passing an amendment to outlaw divorce? Current statistics from the CDC put the national divorce rate at approximately 50% (of roughly 2.1 million marriages a year, 1 million will end in divorce). They also put the number of same-sex couple households at 685,000, and those with children at 160,000. Let’s say, purely for the sake of example, that every single one of those same-sex households got married. You’re telling me you’re more concerned with the impact of those 160,000 households, as opposed to the 1 million heterosexual couples getting divorces? If this is truly about the children, shouldn’t divorce be first up on the constitutional amendment list, in order to save more children?

The second flaw is that you’re actually arguing in favor of same-sex marriage. If children having a stable home is the main crux of your concern, then denying gay couples the benefits of 1100 federal laws can only harm the children they will raise. Not allowing those children the same health benefits, family care benefits, survivor benefits; that can only be a detriment to the upbringing and care of a child, correct? Or do you propose that same-sex couples should be unfit for adoption, should be unfit to raise children?

Problem the third – You’re conflating “‘if it feels good, go ahead and do it’” with couples that want the stability and benefits of marriage and just so happen to be gay. There’s plenty more heterosexual couples that marry because “it feels good, go ahead and do it” with no intention of ever having children than there are same-sex couples (again, simple mathematics). Should we deny marriage to anyone who doesn’t plan to have kids? What about the infertile couples? The old people? You yourself say “Marriage is in trouble right now — admittedly, for many reasons that have little to do with same-sex unions.” So why the discrimination? Why should we be passing a constitutional amendment denying legal rights to American citizens who pay taxes and serve in our armed forces? If “marriage” is so important, why aren’t we going after all those “many other reasons” first?

Problem the fourth – Marriage has already been redefined multiple times over the years. Marriage used to be one man and multiple women. Marriage used to be a way to exchange property between two families. Marriage used to be between brother and sister to keep the royal bloodline pure. Marriage used to be between children. Marriage used to be only for people that were the same skin color. Marriage used to be a lot of things, many of them oppressive towards women and minorities. I think I’d rather marriage be between two people that love each other and are committed to each other no matter what combination of fleshy bits are hanging off their bodies; not a reality TV show.

Problem the fifth – You’re trying to raise a religious argument in a secular matter. The First Amendment isn’t just about the freedom FOR religion, it’s also about the freedom FROM religion. The word “marriage” appears in thousands of legal documents and laws in this nation, and to attempt to narrowly define it through a religious application means you’re trying to assert a religious viewpoint on those who may not necessarily hold the same views. Our founding fathers knew quite clearly the dangers that state sponsored religious persecution could inflict (they lived through it!), and the First Amendment is worded in favor of state neutrality for a reason. I will support your right to worship at whatever altar you choose, but I will not support you trying to force it on someone else, or to deny someone else legal benefits due to religious reasoning.

Problem the last – The only impact same-sex marriage will have on your children is if one of them turns out to be gay and cannot get married. What will you do (and I ask this honestly) if one or more of your kids ends up being gay? Will you love them any less? What will your actions speak to them, 15 years from now, when they ask you why they can’t enjoy the same relationship that you and your wife have now? And if your response is “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”, well, for a lot of people that bridge is here right now. They’re trying to cross it, but the way is barred, and I will do my best to tear those barricades down any way I can because I believe that we are infringing on the free will of other human beings by denying them their basic right to live free of oppression. I love my daughters for their minds and their personalities, not for who they love as adults. That’s none of my damn business, and I will support them in life no matter who they want to marry.

Seriously want to swap brains with Chris Kluwe for just a week so that I can voice my myself as brilliantly as he does. But, since I can’t I am so glad that he’s on our side.

As for Matt Birk (who in the past has been paid by  The National Organization for Marriage) in his “editorial” he states he  “encourage people on both sides to use reason and charity as they enter this debate. ” But on YouTube where his anti  same-sex marriage video for the Minnesota Catholic Conference is posted the comments are “disabled”

Get A Kluwe! – Minnesota Vikings’ Chris Kluwe Once Again Writes and Fights For LGBT Equality

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Awesome straight LGBT ally and Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Viking is once again tackling bigotry and homophobia in his eloquent wat this time replying to Mormon fundie by the name of Reilly Balling (an associate attorney at Fogg & Powers LLC.) who wrote an op-ed for the Star Tribute stating that same-sex marriages “do not provide safe environments for children.” and harms his “traditional marriage”

“Same-sex marriage falls short of producing safe environments for children because it, at the very least, reinforces changes to the marital definition…….  This modern view is directly culpable for the rise in broken homes and its resulting negative effects. Because same-sex marriage is made possible by this modern view of marriage, if we make same-sex marriage equivalent to traditional marriage, we only more firmly impart to future generations that marriage is about personal fulfillment……. Thus, any change to the definition of marriage affects our marriage. Our “traditional” marriages and the children they produce are our greatest source of happiness, and we desire that our children will live in a world that will promote their ability to make the same choices that brought us happiness.”

What a crock of bullshit.  And Chris Kluwe felt the same way responding to Elder Bigot Balling by writing: (excerpts)

Chris Kluwe naked“I can only assume that you’ve never been trained in classical logic, debate techniques, or basic empathy, so I will humbly offer my own meager knowledge in these fields as it relates to your literary masterpiece “Why same-sex marriage affects my marriage”.

When you state that “As we have seen, and understandably so, people in homosexual relationships are trying to change society to more readily embrace and promote their view of their identity. This is possible largely due to the dissociation between sexual relationships and procreation.”, what you’re really saying is “Those gay people do sex things that I find icky, and we should oppress them because they can’t have babies.” You completely ignore the fact that “people in homosexual relationships are trying to change society” not just because they want to have teh buttsecks (or rise and grind for the ladies), but also to avoid, oh I don’t know, things like being tortured and tied to a fencepost until you die (Matthew Shepard), shot to death while attending school (Lawrence King), shot to death for being transgender (Moses King), committing suicide by hanging due to repeated bullying and taunting (Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover), shot to death and burned while standing military guard (Seaman August Provost), stabbed to death after serving in the Vietnam War (James Zappalorti) – every single one of these attacks because of the victim’s sexuality. Let’s not even get into the over 1100 federal benefits gay couples are legally unable to obtain in this state because they can’t get married – things like health care, survivor benefits, legacies to pass on to their families (including children); things like tolerance, acceptance, and compassion.

You see, Mr. Balling, since you don’t actually provide a definition of what “traditional marriage” is, I think your definition of “traditional marriage” boils down to “I want to make other people who believe differently than I do miserable by taking away their free will so I’ll cloak my hate in the guise of ‘tradition’ and ‘history’ without knowing what those words really mean”, and, well, I’m not really ok with that.

Is Chris Kluwe becoming the Americans sports counterpart of Ben Cohen?

Lets hope so.  And we could really use a lot more like him!

KLUWE IS KEWL!

Theres MUCH MORE of Chris taking calling to task which you can read HERE

Lady Gaga Launches The “Born This Way Foundation” To Fight Bullying and Inspire The Young

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Today Lady Gaga announced the launching of the Born This Way Foundation, which will aim to further inspire young people.

With the help of her mother Cynthia Germanotta, Gaga has launched the intiiative to “establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonmen”

 The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

The foundation will focus on “youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive change.”

via: MTV News

Brad Pitt Stands Up For Equality And Trashes Anti-Gay Religious Fanatics : ““What are you so afraid of?”

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In the upcoming issue of Parade magazine, Brad Pitt talks about how  he can’t believe that we’re still fighting for equality in America and his issues with Religion and its all consuming hate of LGBT’s

Says Brad:

What are you so afraid of? That’s my question. Gay people getting married? What is so scary about that? You grow up in a religion like that and you try to pray the gay away. I feel sadness for people like that. This is where people start short-circuiting—instead of being brave and questioning their beliefs, they are afraid and feel that they have to defend them.

“It is an amazing thing that New York has finally gotten same-sex marriage. But the real problem is that the federal government hides behind states on this issue. It is blatant, ugly bigotry, and the federal government shouldn’t be doing that. You’re denying some Americans the right that all Americans have, to live their lives as they choose. 

After all these years.  Brad Pitt is still a fucking stud.

BRAD PITT FOR PRESIDENT!