Author: Brett

Madison Teen Battles Gay Bias

Brett

http://www.shorelinetimes.com/articles/2012/01/24/life/doc4f1f58c16aa21100519618.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Sometimes a rock isn’t just a rock; it’s a wake-up call.

That was certainly the case for Jacob Gardner, a Madison teen on the Daniel Hand High School track team. Two years ago, when he was a freshman, he was walking the track with his teammates before a meet when he was hit in the head with a rock the size of a baseball.

It had been thrown at him by one of his teammates, who defended himself by saying it wasn’t a big deal because, after all, Gardner is gay. (The guy used a series of gay slurs to get this point across.)

“It was an awakening,” says Gardner, 17, now a junior. “I had been bullied and teased in middle school, but once I got to the high school, everything had settled down. I even dared to join an athletic team.

“When I joined the cross-country team, I realized I couldn’t have chosen a better team to participate with. I was treated like one of the guys. People weren’t saying nasty things to me in the hallways anymore. I was in a passive state of feeling that things were getting better. And then that happened.”

At Sundance “Love Free Or Die,” Documentary About Bishop Gene Robinson Takes Center Stage

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/sundance-love-free-or-die-bishop-gene-robinson_n_1229291.html

It’s been years since the incident, but Bishop Gene Robinson’s heart still races when he sees it on film.

Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly bishop, was preaching in London when a man in the audience stood and began yelling at him. The heckler waved a motorcycle helmet in his hand as he ranted. Robinson silently wondered if he was hiding a gun or a bomb beneath it.

Ultimately, the man was escorted from the church, but the moment reminded everyone, including Robinson, of the risks of taking a stand.

It’s one of many moments — some suspenseful, some inspiring, some heartbreaking — captured in “Love Free or Die,” a documentary about Robinson that’s premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Britain’s Most High-Profile Gay Sportsman Sets a Challenge for Football: Time to Tackle Homophobia

Brett

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/britains-most-highprofile-gay-sportsman-sets-a-challenge-for-football-time-to-tackle-homophobia-6296585.html

The former Welsh rugby captain, Gareth Thomas, has urged the Football Association to make a public statement in support of gay footballers to break down homophobic prejudice in the game.

Speaking in a BBC documentary, Britain’s most high-profile, openly gay sportsman claims talented players will be frightened away from a professional career unless the sport takes action to create a more welcoming atmosphere.

“I think if the FA were to make a statement saying … we will stamp on anything, then it would create a safer environment that’s comfortable for the footballers,” said Thomas, 37.

Transgender Woman Runs for Commissioner

Brett

http://www.kplctv.com/story/16500160/transgendered-woman-runs-for-commissioner

 

ORANGE COUNTY, FL (WESH/NBC) – A former football player and homecoming king is running for office as a woman.

Gina Duncan, 56, filed paper-work to run for Florida’s Orange County Commission earlier this week.

Duncan says being a transgender woman is a part of who she is.

“It’s been a challenge and a very interesting life journey,” Duncan said.

Duncan spent 50 of her years as Gregory Pingston, once known as a star linebacker in Merritt Island, then a husband.

“I was married for 25 years,” Duncan said.

Gregory fathered a son and a daughter before telling his family in 2006 that he was going to undergo surgery to become a woman.

Transgendered woman runs for commissioner

Brett

ORANGE COUNTY, FL (WESH/NBC) – A former football player and homecoming king is running for office as a woman.

Gina Duncan, 56, filed paper-work to run for Florida’s Orange County Commission earlier this week.

Duncan says being a transgender woman is a part of who she is.

 

http://www.kplctv.com/story/16500160/transgendered-woman-runs-for-commissioner

Seattle’s Most Influential People of 2011

Brett

http://www.seattlemag.com/article/arts/seattles-most-influential-people-2011

Dan Savage
( person of the year )

The It Gets Better Project

Sometimes life’s most fleeting moments are the ones that have the greatest impact. Take, for example a distinct memory Dan Savage recalls from his Chicago childhood: “I was 8 or 9, and my family was in line for a movie, and we saw two gay people holding hands,” he says. “My parents were appalled—they literally turned our heads away so we wouldn’t see. But I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ll be OK. They have friends, they’re laughing, they’re OK…I’m going to be fine.”

Helping gay kids understand they’re going to be OK was the chief source of inspiration for the It Gets Better Project, which The Stranger editorial director and syndicated “Savage Love” sex columnist Savage launched with his husband, Terry Miller, late last September by way of a video heard around the world. Saddened by the suicides of two teenage boys who were victims of antigay bullying, Savage and Miller recorded a simple YouTube video explaining (in a nutshell) that high school sucks for anyone perceived as different, but if you can just get through it, life gets better.

Shannon Allen, Ray’s wife, talks on cooking show

Brett

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=7467467

In a matter of days, Shannon Allen — wife to Boston Celtic superstar Ray Allen — will give birth to the couple’s fourth son.

And then, the clock starts. In March, she’ll be back on camera, hosting her popular cooking show,“Pre-Game Meal,” where she entertains the region’s most favorite athletes and gets them chopping and cooking all in the name of good health.

Bishops Say Rules on Gay Parents Limit Freedom of Religion

Brett

 

Roman Catholic bishops in Illinois have shuttered most of the Catholic Charities affiliates in the state rather than comply with a new requirement that says they must consider same-sex couples as potential foster-care and adoptive parents if they want to receive state money. The charities have served for more than 40 years as a major link in the state’s social service network for poor and neglected children.

Gay Parents Better Than Straight Parents? What Research Says

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/gay-parents-better-than-straights_n_1208659.html

Gay marriage, and especially gay parenting, has been in the cross hairs in recent days.

On Jan. 6, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a New Hampshire audience that children are better off with a father in prison than being raised in a home with lesbian parents and no father at all. And last Monday (Jan. 9), Pope Benedict called gay marriage a threat “to the future of humanity itself,” citing the need for children to have heterosexual homes.

But research on families headed by gays and lesbians doesn’t back up these dire assertions. In fact, in some ways, gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don’t.

Minnesota Elects First Out Lesbian Native American to State Legislature

Brett

Democrat Susan Allen, a Victory Fund-endorsed candidate in a special election for Minnesota’s State House, won the seat with 55.96% of the vote, making her the first out lesbian Native American elected to a state legislature, according to Southwest Minneapolis Patch.

Allen, an experienced tax and tribal law attorney who has lived in the city for the past 14 years, will replace Jeff Hayden who currently represents District 61B in south central Minneapolis.