Author: Brett

DePaul has its 1st gay student-body president

Brett

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=34382

Anthony Alfano was the team captain for his final two seasons of the four he played for the co-op Huntley Raiders varsity hockey team that also featured players from Marian Central Catholic High School.

A left-handed shooting forward, Alfano was popular on the team and quite the playmaker. He also excelled in the classroom at Huntley before graduating in 2008, earning a spot on the Dean’s List and the National Honors Society.

However, the real Alfano was hidden in the closet, afraid to reveal to anyone that he was gay. In fact, he admits he dated girls at the time to hide his identity. No one had any idea what Alfano was going through emotionally. He was, quite simply, a wreck, ready to end his life.

“In high school, I was very suicidal because of my sexual orientation,” Alfano told Windy City Times. “I grew up in a very Italian, very catholic household, and being gay was never a point of discussion. I believed, because the Catholic Church was preaching against being gay, that something was wrong with me and that I was inevitably going to hell.”

He attempted suicide three times, each time trying to suffocate himself, but he could never actually do it.

“I always felt that if I could keep pushing and getting involved in [ high ] school that life would be fine after [ graduating ] ,” Alfano said. “I was lucky. I didn’t fully accept who I was until the end of my senior year in high school and, at that point, I was still very uncertain of where I was headed in life and coming-out was not even on my radar. It wasn’t until I started college at DePaul and went on a retreat for first-year students where I truly understood the importance of coming-out.

 

Madison Equality Discusses Parental Options for LGBT Couples

Brett

http://www.breezejmu.org/news/article_6d6fb96e-05b8-11e1-b089-0019bb30f31a.html#.Tso0PPFU2vM

A chorus of “awws” echoed from the Madison Equality crowd as senior Spanish major Marjorie Cook that they would discuss ways for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people to have a family at Tuesday’s meeting.

“There’s going to be people in your life who are going to struggle with this,” Cook said. “I’m graduating, and it’s a serious thought for me because one day I want to start a family.”

Cook, the senior adviser to Madison Equality, hosted a discussion Tuesday night about the obstacles that nonheterosexual people face when it comes to starting a family.

Madison Equality has about 200 members and is the JMU community for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students as well as their allies.

FLOTUS Shares Struggles

Brett

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1111/scary_b6c718ab-d0c2-4a26-b5a3-51d760d71f03.html

First lady Michelle Obama urged a group of high school students on Tuesday to “work their butts off,” and go to college so that they can succeed in their professional lives and “own their dreams.”

The nearly hour-long gathering at Georgetown University also became, as Obama called it, “a therapy session” — as she shared her inner struggles and fears as a college student at Princeton and Harvard Law School.

In a question-and-answer session with 60 high school juniors and seniors from the Washington area, the first lady reflected on her own life growing up on Chicago’s South Side with limited resources and parents who never attended college. And she urged students to follow her lead and take risks and challenge themselves.

Bevan Dufty: I’m A Proud Gay Dad Who Happens To Be Running For San Fransico Mayor

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bevan-dufty/gay-dad-san-francisco-mayor_b_1022968.html

I’m proud to be a gay dad with a beautiful child who has a wonderful lesbian mom.

Recently, Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.) became the first openly gay parent in congressional history. But just this month conservative religious leaders in Honduras asked the government to deny Ricky Martin — a gay dad with twins — the right to visit their country and perform at an October concert.

We’ve made a great deal of progress, but there is so much more to be done.

Adoption Day Painful for LGBT Families

Brett

http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=50263

While Michigan’s Ninth Annual Adoption Day on Nov. 22 is something to celebrate, many families that want to adopt are feeling left out.

“Hundreds of children across the state have the legal protection of only one of their two parents, simply because not a single judge in Michigan is routinely granting second-parent adoptions. And children are sadly put into this position in the first place because same-sex couples are not able to jointly adopt children in Michigan,” says Kathleen LaTosch, special projects consultant at Affirmations Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Ferndale.

Second-parent adoption means that “two unmarried persons (could) petition to adopt a child,” according to the original language in HB-4131. The bill, introduced into the House in February 2009, would have allowed same-sex couples, who are not allowed to marry in Michigan, to become legal parents if the bill passed.

Racing History: Is Aspiring Mayor Christine Quinn a Gay Leader, or a Leader Who Happens to be Gay?

Brett

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/11/4106424/racing-history-aspiring-mayor-christine-quinn-gay-leader-or-leader-w

In early April, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called Kathryn Wylde, the president of the city’s most powerful business lobby, with a proposal: She wanted Wylde to round up some of her members and release a letter in support of same-sex marriage.

Wylde’s Partnership for New York City, an organization that represents the city’s business elite, does not ordinarily embark on social crusades. But Quinn, who has become the preferred 2013 mayoral aspirant among business leaders like Wylde, made the Richard Florida-esque argument that gay marriage was as much a business issue as it was an issue of civil rights. Open societies build creative classes, which, in turn build economies, and so on.

Gretchen Peters: Being Transparent

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-peters/being-transparent_b_1100823.html

My least favorite word when people ask me about my son is “become,” as in, “When did he decide he wanted to become a man?” When do we decide to become the gender we are? Does it happen at toddlerhood, at school age, at puberty? My son has always been male. The only difference between him and me and probably you is that his body betrayed him, once at birth and again, traumatically, at puberty. Being the parent of a transgender child has led me to some interesting analogies. Being trans is a state which most of us cisgender folks can’t quite wrap our heads around, at least initially. But this question of becoming vs. being reminded me a lot of something that’s bothered me about the music business (I’m a singer-songwriter) for years: people used to ask me the same question after I’d had success as a songwriter and was making my first album as a recording artist. “When did you decide to become an artist?” I felt a similar sense of indignation. I’ve always been an artist. You just didn’t know it.

True LGBTQ Stories: Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s Young and Forbidden Love

Brett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-manske/true-lgbtq-stories-annise-parker_b_1084681.html

Houston mayor Annise Parker was elected two years ago and was re-elected two nights ago. She’s also a lesbian, making her the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city. When we asked her to share a story with us — any story, not necessarily about politics — she was inquisitive. Her Chief of Staff checked and then double-checked with us if Mayor Parker could really share any story from her life. We said, “That’s correct.” After finally meeting the mayor, she asked one more time: “Any story, right? It doesn’t have to be about the election?” After affirming, she began her story, and I realized why she triple checked:

Mayor Parker could share any story she wanted, and she chose to share an honest, courageous story about first love as a teenager.

Adam Ebbin: Virginia’s First Openly Gay State Senator

Brett

http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=10032&MediaType=1&Category=26

Democrat Adam Ebbin on Tuesday became Virginia’s first openly gay state senator, gay weekly The Washington Blade reported.

Ebbin trounced his Republican rival Timothy McGhee with a 64 to 35 percent win to represent the people of Senate District 30, which includes parts of Arlington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon and tends to heavily favor Democrats.

 

Mass. Makes Transgender a Protected Class

Brett

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/9828-massachusetts-makes-transgender-a-protected-class

The state legislature of Massachusetts passed a measure on November 15 to extend discrimination protection for transgender people in matters related to housing, credit, and employment. Further, the billwill include such individuals in the definition of a “hate crime.”

After a nearly party line vote of 115-37 (the Democratic party is currently in the majority in the Massachusetts House by a split of 127 to 33 Republicans), the legislation, known as the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, was passed by the House and sent on to the state senate. Upon being passed by the upper house, the bill was sent to the state’s Democratic Governor, Deval Patrick (left), and he signed the measure making it state law.
Said the Governor: “I think we have hate crimes on the books today,” he said. “They, in the case of transgender people, don’t go far enough.” He continued, calling the matter a “question of human and civil rights.”