What is wrong with her? Elizabeth Hasselbeck of The View needs a serious reality check. Everything that comes out of her mouth in terms of gays and lesbians is utter nonsense. The look on Joy Behar’s face while Hasselbeck is talking though? Priceless.

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(CNN) — A school district in Mississippi has agreed to pay a recent high school graduate $35,000 in damages and adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to a statement released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The settlement comes after the ACLU sued the school district in Fulton, Mississippi, on behalf of Constance McMillen, a lesbian teen who was told by Itawamba Agricultural High School officials she and her girlfriend would be ejected if they attended the school-sponsored prom.

The agreement, which was filed Tuesday, ends the lawsuit.

“I’m so glad this is all over. I won’t ever get my prom back, but it’s worth it if it changes things at my school,” McMillen said in a statement released Tuesday.

The prom, originally scheduled for April 2, was eventually canceled by school board officials who previously said they reached their decision based on “the education, safety and well-being of [its] students.”

Officials at McMillen’s former high school are not commenting at this time, and a call to the north Mississippi school district seeking comment Tuesday wasn’t immediately returned.

According to the ACLU statement, McMillen “suffered humiliation and harassment after parents, students and school officials executed a cruel plan to put on a decoy prom for her while the rest of her classmates were at a private prom 30 miles away.”

McMillen believes the alternative prom she was sent to was a sham because only a handful of people attended. “A lot of people were talking about how it was a joke just set up for me,” she previously said.

In March, a federal judge ruled that McMillen’s First Amendment rights were violated when her school district refused to let her attend her prom in a tux with a girl.

That was good news, said her attorney, Christine Sun, senior counsel with the ACLU’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender project. It set a precedent and helped broadcast an important statement, which was made stronger by virtue of where it came from, she said.

“We’re in a conservative area of the country, where people tend to think we can do what we like,” said Sun, who lives in New York but has traveled multiple times to Mississippi on McMillen’s behalf. “This case sends a strong message that that’s not going to fly anymore.”

In 2004, the national gay rights group GLSEN — the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network — issued a report that said of all 50 states, Mississippi had the most hostile environment for gay youths.

“We hope this judgment sends a message to schools that they cannot get away with discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students,” said Bear Atwood, interim legal director at the ACLU of Mississippi.

Since McMillen’s name made national headlines, the lesbian teen advocate has served as the grand marshal for New York’s Gay Pride Parade, she received a $30,000 college scholarship from an anonymous donor, and a Facebook page called “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!” had attracted nearly 410,000 fans as of Tuesday.

“It means a lot to me,” McMillen said. “The amount of support helps me to continue with the fight.”

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I have designed some great gay shirts that are fun to wear and that make a statement. It’s kind of an experiment on my part, expanding this blog and doing my part to getting the message of equality out there. I have designed some for men, women, even babies and pets can get some cute gay themed clothes.

I really wanted this gay clothing line to be versatile and I wanted there to be something for everyone so I have more than just gay shirts. I have some great shirts and a water bottle for men and women who are straight but who want to support gays and lesbians and the really the entire LGBT equality movement.

There is something for everyone and they don’t cost an arm and a leg either. So pick something up and start showing your support of the plight of gay and lesbian equality today. Most of these items make great gift ideas too.

I have one question for you all though. I want to donate a good portion of the money I make from these to a charity and I need some ideas. Drop me a line in the comment section with a charity you think would be worth donating the proceeds to.

Thanks for looking at them and I hope you like all my original gay merchandise!

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Join the FIGHT against LGBT descrimination

Argentina legalizes gay marriage in historic vote
By MICHAEL WARREN (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage Thursday, granting same-sex couples all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexuals.

The law’s passage — a priority for President Cristina Fernandez’s government — has inspired activists to push for similar laws in other countries, and a wave of gay weddings are expected in Buenos Aires. Some gay business leaders are predicting an economic ripple effect from an increase in tourism among gays and lesbians who will see Argentina as an even more attractive destination.
But it also carries political risks for Fernandez and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner. The vote divided their governing coalition, and while gay rights have strong support in the capital, anti-gay feelings still run strong in much of Argentine society, where the vast majority of people are Roman Catholic.

“From today onward, Argentina is a more just and democratic country,” said Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender federation. The law “not only recognizes the rights of our families, but also the possibility of having access to health care, to leave a pension, to leave our assets to the people with whom we have shared many years of life, including our children,” she said.

The 33-27 Senate vote was tallied shortly before dawn, after a marathon debate that touched on religion, ethics, the legacy of Argentina’s dictatorship and the challenges of raising children. There were three abstentions. Since the lower house already approved it, the law takes effect within days.

Gays and lesbians who have already found Buenos Aires to be a welcoming place to live will likely rush to the altar, but same-sex couples from other countries will need to live in Argentina before becoming eligible, and the necessary residency documents can take months to obtain.

The approval came despite a concerted campaign by the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical groups, which drew 60,000 people to march on Congress and urged parents in churches and schools to work against passage. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio led the campaign, saying “children need to have the right to be raised and educated by a father and a mother.”

Opponents of gay marriage proposed a civil-union law instead that would have barred gays from adopting or undergoing in-vitro fertilization to have children, and enabled any civil servant to “conscientiously object” to register gay couples. In the end, parliamentary maneuvers kept the Senate from voting on civil unions as the government bet all or nothing on the more politically difficult option of marriage.

“I’m proud that we never tried for civil unions, always for complete equality,” said Esteban Paulon, the LGBT federation’s general secretary. He credits “an enormous conviction that equality means the same rights with the same names.”

The final vote split both the governing coalition and the opposition, with lawmakers on both sides saying they went with their convictions.

Sen. Juan Perez Alsina, usually a loyal supporter of the president, called marriage between a man and a woman “essential for the preservation of the species.”

But others compared the discrimination closeted gays face to the oppression millions suffered under Argentina’s dictatorship years ago, and urged their fellow senators to show the world how much Argentina has matured. “Society has grown up. We aren’t the same as we were before,” Sen. Daniel Filmus said.

Same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay and some states in Mexico and Brazil, and the Colombian Constitutional Court has granted same-sex couples inheritance rights and allowed them to add their partners to health insurance plans.

Mexico City went even further, not only legalizing gay marriage but launching a tourism campaign to encourage foreigners to come and wed. On Thursday, Mexico City officials offered a free honeymoon in Mexico to the first gay couple to wed under the new Argentine law.

Argentina doesn’t allow non-resident foreigners to tie the knot, but it is likely to draw more gay tourists who already spend millions in the country’s economy, said Pablo De Luca, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Buenos Aires.

“The fact that we are the first country in Latin America that respects the rights of the gay community by law sends a solid message that makes Argentina even more attractive,” said De Luca, who estimates that 18 percent of the tourists who come to Argentina are gay or lesbian.

Argentina now sets a new standard for other countries in the hemisphere.

“Today’s historic vote shows how far Catholic Argentina has come, from dictatorship to true democratic values, and how far the freedom-to-marry movement has come, as 12 countries on four continents now embrace marriage equality,” said Evan Wolfson, who runs the U.S. Freedom to Marry lobby.

Wolfson urged U.S. lawmakers to follow suit: “America should lead, not lag, when it comes to treating everyone equally under the law.”

Gay activists in neighboring Chile hope Argentina’s milestone will improve chances for a gay-marriage law currently in committee in their own Congress.

“Argentina’s political class has provided a lesson to the rest of Latin America,” said Rolando Jimenez in the Chilean capital, Santiago. “We hope our own countries and political parties will learn that the human rights of sexual minorities are undeniable.”

Activists in Paraguay plan to propose a similar law in October, said Martin Viveros of the group Somosgay. And in Uruguay, gays unsatisfied with the partial civil-union rights are preparing legislation to replace “man and woman” with references to “spouse” throughout the civil code.

Still, many Argentines, especially outside the capital, remain firmly opposed to gay marriage, and while the president’s confrontation with the Roman Catholic Church may play well in the socially liberal Buenos Aires, the vote may encourage fissures in her ruling coalition.

Some opposition leaders accused Fernandez and Kirchner of trying to gain votes in next year’s presidential elections, when Kirchner is expected to run again.

Associated Press Writers Bridget Huber, Almudena Calatrava and Debora Rey in Buenos Aires; Eva Vergara in Santiago, Chile; Pedro Servin in Asuncion, Paraguay; and Raul O. Garces in Montevideo, Uruguay, contributed to this report.

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Following a year-long undercover investigation by a reporter, the British Medical Association has determined that “gay conversion therapy” is not therapy, is more harmful to patients than helpful, and should be banned.

Journalist Patrick Strudwick posed as a patient seeking “gay conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy” for a year. In his report on his experience, he described what amounted to psychological torture; Strudwick went to two conversion therapists. One, a Christian, focused on turning him to focus on her god and tried hard to convince Strudwick he’d been sexually abused. The other focused on explaining to Strudwick that he was somehow “wounded”, and that he had to find the source of those “wounds” to discover the roots of his sexuality.

Both of these “therapists” were licensed and receiving funds via the NHS. Strudwick learned that they use methods created by Joseph Nicolosi, the Christian Evangelical American founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.

The British Medical Association has determined that such “therapies” have been discredited, are damaging to patient, and should be banned. The Association’s membership further agreed that the NHS should investigate any cases of such conversion therapies, and terminate any public funding to such practices.

Tom Dolphin, vice-chair of BMA’s junior doctors committee, proposed the motion. “Sexuality is such a fundamental part of who a person is, that attempts to change it just result in significant confusion, depression and even suicide. You can’t just wish away same-sex attraction no matter how inconvenient it might be,” says Dolphin.

Strudwick commented on the successful motion, “My undercover investigation for The Independent, which prompted this motion, highlighted the fact that not only are psychiatrists and psychotherapists still peddling these abhorrent techniques, but that in some cases the NHS are paying for it.

“Hopefully, anyone involved in the so-called treatment of homosexuality will realize that the medical profession considers them dangerous charlatans, and will reconsider their beliefs. I also sincerely hope that any vulnerable gay person who is unhappy about their sexuality takes notice of this motion and realizes that it is the world that needs to change, not them.”

As read on Secular News Daily

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Two huge victories for marriage equality.

In an enormous victory for same-sex marriage, a federal judge in Boston today (Thursday, July 8 ) ruled, in two separate cases, that a critical part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.

In one challenge brought by the state of Massachusetts, Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that Congress violated the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when it passed DOMA and took from the states decisions concerning which couples can be considered married. In the other, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, he ruled DOMA violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

In Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services, Tauro considered whether the federal law’s definition of marriage — one man and one woman — violates state sovereignty by treating some couples with Massachusetts’ marriage licenses differently than others. InGill v. Office of Personnel Management, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), a gay legal group, asked Tauro to consider whether DOMA violates the right of eight same-sex couples to equal protection of the law. Both cases were argued, separately, in May, and the decision released today is a relatively quick turnaround, given that some judges take almost a year to decide cases.

GLAD attorney Mary Bonauto told Tauro that DOMA constitutes a “classic equal protection” violation, by taking one class of married people in Massachusetts and dividing it into two. One class, she noted, gets federal benefits, the other does not. Just as the federal government cannot take the word “person” and say it means only Caucasians or only women, said Bonauto, it should not be able to take the word “marriage” and say it means only heterosexual couples. Bonauto said the government has no reason to withhold the more than 1,000 federal benefits of marriage from same-sex couples, and noted that a House Judiciary Committee report “explicitly stated the purpose of DOMA was to express moral disapproval of homosexuality.”

Maura T. Healey, chief of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division, told Judge Tauro that Section 3 of DOMA — the section that limits the definition of marriage for federal benefits to straight couples — violates the state’s right under the federal constitution to sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents. Healey called DOMA an “animus-based national marriage law” that intrudes on core state authority and “forces the state to discriminate against its own citizens.”

Christopher Hall, representing HHS, said Congress should be able to control the meaning of terms, such as “marriage,” used in its own statutes, and should be able to control how federal money is allocated for federal benefits provided to persons based on their marital status. Tauro essentially replied that the government’s power is not unlimited.

Both Bonauto at GLAD and Healey at the Attorney General’s office urged Tauro to apply heightened scrutiny in considering whether the federal government had any legitimate need for DOMA. Heightened scrutiny requires the government to come up with a fairly significant reason for treating gay couples differently under the law. In both cases, however, the judge said that DOMA failed to meet even the most simple judicial review, rational basis — in other words, there was no justifiable reason to the federal government to treat same-sex couples.

Both lawsuits are very precise legal attacks against DOMA — targeting just Section 3 — and most legal observers believe both cases will eventually be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for resolution. The only other marriage case right now that has that same potential is the Proposition 8 marriage case in a federal district court in San Francisco. Judge Vaughn Walker heard closing arguments in that case in June and has not yet issued his decision. The next step for all three cases is the U.S. Court of Appeals.

As read at Bay Windows GLBT Newspaper

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The bill was opposed by Catholic bishops and a protest was held outside. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said it was “one of the most important human rights pieces of legislation the House had dealt with”.

Our society has changed substantially in recent decades,” he said.

“While marriage is more popular than ever, other forms of relationships have become increasingly common; they create some difficulties in the legal system and require in our law a measure of recognition and of protection.”

The bill was supported by all parties in the Dail, although individual politicians have criticised the legislation. It is expected to become law in the autumn, 17 years after homosexuality was fully decriminalised in the Irish Republic.

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Obviously most of these inane and ridiculous ramblings are not mine. I am much to good for this sort of…cripes I can’t even think of a word. Anyway, just thought I would share the stupidity of some really dumb guy. I even made the main point bold so you wouldn’t necessarily have to read the whole thing if you didn’t feel like it. You’re welcome by the way heehee.

It would be funny if people didn’t read these types of things and actually take them to heart.

Here it goes, again, so not me saying the following:

I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you’re also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.

Estrogens are female hormones. If you’re a woman, you’re flooding your system with a substance it can’t handle in surplus. If you’re a man, you’re suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your “female side,” physically and mentally.

In fetal development, the default is being female. All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen.

If you’re a grownup, you’re already developed, and you’re able to fight off some of the damaging effects of soy. Babies aren’t so fortunate. Research is now showing that when you feed your baby soy formula, you’re giving him or her the equivalent of five birth control pills a day. A baby’s endocrine system just can’t cope with that kind of massive assault, so some damage is inevitable. At the extreme, the damage can be fatal.

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That’s why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today’s rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t homosexual.” No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can’t remember a time when excess estrogen wasn’t influencing them.

Doctors used to hope soy would reduce hot flashes, prevent cancer and heart disease, and save millions in the Third World from starvation. That was before they knew much about long-term soy use. Now we know it’s a classic example of a cure that’s worse than the disease. For example, if your baby gets colic from cow’s milk, do you switch him to soy milk? Don’t even think about it. His phytoestrogen level will jump to 20 times normal. If he is a she, brace yourself for watching her reach menarche as young as seven, robbing her of years of childhood. If he is a boy, it’s far worse: He may not reach puberty till much later than normal.

Research in 2000 showed that a soy-based diet at any age can lead to a weak thyroid, which commonly produces heart problems and excess fat. Could this explain the dramatic increase in obesity today?

Recent research on rats shows testicular atrophy, infertility and uterus hypertrophy (enlargement). This helps explain the infertility epidemic and the sudden growth in fertility clinics. But alas, by the time a soy-damaged infant has grown to adulthood and wants to marry, it’s too late to get fixed by a fertility clinic.

Worse, there’s now scientific evidence that estrogen ingredients in soy products may be boosting the rapidly rising incidence of leukemia in children. In the latest year we have numbers for, new cases in the U.S. jumped 27 percent. In one year!

There’s also a serious connection between soy and cancer in adults – especially breast cancer. That’s why the governments of Israel, the UK, France and New Zealand are already cracking down hard on soy.

In sad contrast, 60 percent of the refined foods in U.S. supermarkets now contain soy. Worse, soy use may double in the next few years because (last I heard) the out-of-touch medicrats in the FDA hierarchy are considering allowing manufacturers of cereal, energy bars, fake milk, fake yogurt, etc., to claim that “soy prevents cancer.” It doesn’t.

P.S.: Soy sauce is fine. Unlike soy milk, it’s perfectly safe because it’s fermented, which changes its molecular structure. Miso, natto and tempeh are also OK, but avoid tofu.

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Google, developer of the Internet’s most popular search engine, has announced today it will be giving raises to its employees, but only if they are gay or lesbian in a partnership. Heterosexuals are now paid less, by design, than their gay counterparts.

According to Google, whose AdWords division is located in Ann Arbor, the company will gross-up imputed taxes on health insurance benefits for all same-sex domestic partners. Grossing up is a common payroll procedure when a company issues a bonus or other pay for which the company has agreed to pay the taxes.

The gay and lesbians raises are intended to offset the healthcare tax benefit enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

Married heterosexual couples do not pay taxes on the healthcare benefits for their spouse. However same-sex couples who include domestic partners on their health insurance pay federal taxes on the extra fee.

Not all unmarried couples will receive the raise – only the gay and lesbian couples. Google says heterosexual couples living together have the option of getting married to avoid the tax.

Proponents are heralding the move as an overdue recognition of the plight of gay and lesbian couples. They say it recognizes the discrimination they receive because of not having legalized marriages.

Opponents, including the religious group Focus on the Family, say Google should also, in the sense of fairness, give gross-up pay to married heterosexual couples paying the marriage-penalty tax.

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