Ready to Bare : Queer Culture, News, Art, Community & Discussion
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NEW YORK — Three years ago, during his junior year at New York University, Kirk met with a financial aid officer to plead a familiar case: his inability to manage the yearly payments on his $50,000 tuition bill. Once again, the school official reminded Kirk that in order to register for next semester’s courses, he needed to come up with another $8,000 — or risk expulsion. Kirk nearly divulged his secret to the loan officer, finally letting her know exactly what he had resorted to in a desperate attempt to finance his education. Midway through college, Kirk had begun turning tricks in order to pay for school.
what it was that brought the name into my head. Maybe it was God. Maybe it was one of my synapses misfiring. For some reason, Rebecca Brown popped into my head not long ago. Brown wrote two books, He Came to Set the Captives Free and Prepare for War. My mother insisted that I read both when I was in junior high school. The books told the story of Brown and her “associate,” Elaine, and their self-described journey through Satanism.
Last night, ABC’s Primetime Nightline ran an hour-long special on transgender identities, focusing in particular on the experiences of transgender young people. Overall, the special was positive and affirming, but it also fell into some journalistic traps and missed some important opportunities to highlight challenges the transgender community faces. Here are five critiques of last night’s special. 1. FALSE BALANCE: One of the five segments focused on an adult individual named Charles Kane, who transitioned to female and then back to male. Claiming that he regrets his transition, he had disparaging things to say about the transgender experience, including calling puberty blockers for young trans people “brainwashing.” His experiences are unfortunate, but not representative, and he has absolutely no expertise in transgender health to be critiquing other people’s transitions. His inclusion was unnecessary, irrelevant, and represented false balance .
In an interview that aired on CNN last night, Piers Morgan pressed Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on his views opposing marriage equality, including his suggestion of agay “jihad” against him. Santorum tried to avoid answering whether he believes homosexuality is a sin, but confirmed that as a Catholic, he subscribes to the Catholic Church’s teachings that indeed it is a sin. Asked how he would respond if one of his sons came out, Santorum said he would be supportive of what he sees as a “very difficult and troubling time in their life,” going on to say he “knows a lot of gay people” and some of them continue to “struggle” even after coming out and “admitting” their identities.
Lyon-Martin Health Services, the pioneering San Francisco clinic that has served women and transgender people for more than 30 years, will start accepting new patients today – eight months after it nearly closed due to financial problems. The clinic’s board of directors voted in late January to shut down the health center, but Lyon-Martin’s patients and supporters decided to put up a fight. They raised more than $500,000 within a matter of months while the clinic’s staff worked internally to stabilize operations, cut expenses and find additional revenue sources for the Market Street clinic.
Arizona Mother, Blew Marijuana Smoke In Her Baby’s Mouth To Calm Her Down, Police Say
A 21-year-old mother was arrested by Gilbert, Az., Police on Saturday after she allegedly tried to calm her infant daughter by blowing marijuana smoke in the girl’s mouth. Witness
footage allegedly shows Jessica Callaway on Friday telling her 10-month-old to, “shut the f*** up before I kick you in the mouth,” as she repeatedly hits the baby to get her to stop crying, The Arizona Republic reported. Callaway, whose Facebook page is “loaded with postings about pot and parties,” according to ABC-15, told police that she was frustrated because she was “having trouble finding an outfit to wear out that night.”
Think your doctor’s white coat is as clean as a whistle? It might not be. A study finds that dangerous germs could be lurking onnurses‘ and doctors’ uniforms. Researchers from Shaare Zedek Medical Centerin Jerusalem cultured three spots on the uniforms of 75 nurses and 60 physicians working in a 550-bed hospital. Potential pathogens (also known as infectious agents, or germs) were found on 63% of the uniforms, and antibiotic resistant bacteria were found on samples from 14% of nurses’ uniforms and 6% of doctor’s uniforms. Eight of those cultures grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.
Anderson Cooper visits Google’s NYC office to discuss his new daytime talk show and answer questions from YouTube fans around the world moderated by Steve Grove. This event took place on August 24, 2011, as part of the @Google Talks series.
Straight ally Hudson Taylor, an All-American wrestler known for his gay rights advocacy, tells Thomas Roberts he wants to do more than tell LGBT kids it gets better — he wants to make it better. Taylor also acknowledges that his pledge to fight against homophobia and transphobia in sports has “put a bit of a target” on his back, but says he’s “on a mission to unite people.” Watch the video below. Sign Taylor’s pledge against bullying at AthleteAlly.com
UPDATE:
By SAMANTHA GROSS and MITCH WEISS, Associated Press
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says that Irene has lost hurricane strength and made landfall on New York’s Coney Island. Forecasters say Irene’s winds have fallen to 65 mph. They say Irene should move over New England by the afternoon. Officials also warn that isolated tornadoes are possible in the northeast throughout the morning.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Rangers investigated Saturday whether a Michigan man was the victim of a grizzly attack in Yellowstone National Park or if the bear had come upon the hiker’s body after he died. The man was found Friday morning by two hikers on the Mary Mountain Trail, which runs northeast of the park’s iconic Old Faithful geyser. Investigators found grizzly bear tracks and scat near the man, but were not immediately sure whether the grizzly caused the man’s death or disturbed his body after he died. “Bears are opportunistic when it comes to food sources,” Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said.
DAEGU, South Korea — With a strong finishing kick on his carbon-fiber blades, double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius swept past several able-bodied runners in the 400 meters Sunday to qualify for the semifinals at the world championships. It also claimed another historic breakthrough for Paralympic athletes.
Next month, Cyndi Lauper‘s 1986 hit “True Colors” takes on new meaning when the True Colors Residencefor homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (L.G.B.T.) youth opens in Harlem on September 1.
In New York City, a very disproportionate number (up to 40 percent), of homeless youth identify as L.G.B.T. Even more disturbing are reports that these young people often face discrimination and at times physical assault in some of the very places they have to for help. This is shocking and inexcusable!— Cyndi Lauper
Will lead to this, via FailBlog
Rutgers sociology professor Arlene Stein reminds us that while many middle-class gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey may be celebrating the spread of marriage equality just across the Hudson (or entering into civil unions in the Garden State), lower-income community members are far less interested about joining the institution.
These couples became the cause célèbre of the religious right when they objected to their kids reading books portraying same-sex couples, like King & King. David Parkerwas even arrested for trespassing at his children’s school, protesting that he couldn’t opt his son out of learning about same-sex families. Watch the videos:
Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category Two storm, and is expected to track a path of destruction up the densely populated Atlantic coast, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordering the first-ever mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas of the city. As the U.S. government report “Global Climate Change Impacts in the US” summarized in 2009, warming of the oceans is causing Atlantic hurricanes to become more intense and dangerous.
Two sources of pushback on my post on Ron Paul’s anti-freedom view of abortion rights. Ann Althouse chooses for some reason to dispute that Ron “respecting the God-
given right to life—for those born and unborn” Paul wants to ban abortion. Since she’s apparently incapable of reading between the lines of such proposals as “Defining life as beginning at conception by passing a Sanctity of Life Act’” she might be interesting in some other quotations from Congressman Paul such as…
A kitten tossed from a moving car on New York City’s Verrazano Bridge has found a home with Whoopi Goldberg. “The View” co-host posted a video of the cat, nicknamed Vinny, on her Facebook page. It shows the adorable gray kitten grooming himself and batting a feather toy with his paw.
A Monterey Park yogurt shop owner is facing kidnapping and attempted murder charges for abducting a female employee and keeping her inside a box in a soundproof room, prosecutors said Friday. Robert Yachen Lee alleged lured the employee to a storage room above O My Yogurt on south Atlantic Boulevard early Wednesday, knocked her unconscious and then — after removing her clothing and dressing her in an adult diaper — placed her in a box, authorities said.
A deputy’s move to grab the testicles of a man who was resisting arrest was reasonable given the circumstances, albeit unorthodox, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
Turns out high school students in one New Jersey district won’t be reading Norwegian Wood this fall. Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s celebrated novel about Tokyo college life in the 1960s was banned by the Monroe Township Schools in Williamstown after a public outcry over its supposed inappropriateness. “Some of the language is inappropriate,” said Chuck Earling, superintendent of Monroe Township Schools. “We were not trying to create controversy. We were just trying to get students to read.”
The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention program aimed at LGBT young people, was honoredtoday at the White House as part of the Obama administration’s Champions of Change initiative. David McFarland, the Trevor Project’s interim executive director and CEO, accepted the honor and met with administration officials to discuss priorities in suicide prevention prior to National Suicide Prevention Week, which begins September 4.
A gay porn DVD titled Boyz Tracks was discovered among the possessions of Libyan leader Mu’ammar Gadhafi’s son Al-Saadi when looters raided his home, reports Associated Press. Libyan rebels took control of Tripoli over the weekend and looters immediately raided the Gadhafi family’s luxurious compound of mansions, removing expensive cars, clothing, and bottles of alcohol. One rebel interviewed by AP says they “are not condoning looting of private property, and only allow the wrecking of symbols of the Gadhafi family’s abuse of power.”
As “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” comes to an end, we sent Chris Heath to interview dozens of gay servicemen from the past and present to find out what life was really like as
America’s military struggled with its last great identity crisis. On a day to come very soon—September 20, 2011—a serviceman’s sexuality will no longer be grounds for dismissal from the U.S. Armed forces. These are the voices explaining what it has been like to be a gay man1 in the American military over the previous seventy or so years, from World War II veterans in their late eighties to young servicemen on active duty.
Evangelist Pat Robertson this week suggested that cracks in the Washington Monument from Tuesday’s earthquake are a sign from God. Before making his point, he had a disclaimer: he doesn’t want to “get weird” when he talks about the Monument as “a symbol of America’s power.
Following recent criticism toward Brown, the only Republican member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, for not making an It Gets Better video, the “CrazyKhazei” feed said, “I promise to devote all my time in office to making gay videos. Shame on Scott Brown for focusing on jobs!” Another tweet from July 31 read, “Just got back from sunny California. Thanks to all the elitists there for donating to my campaign.
Antiretroviral medications have allowed HIVers to live longer and manage their viral load, but the drugs also sometimes have harmful, toxic side effects. A recent example comes from new research by the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the U.K.’s Newcastle University, which indicates that the older antiretrovirals are primary culprits in premature aging.
For More, go to HIV Plus Magazine
Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link recently caught up with Ledyard, NY town clerk Rose Marie Belforti, who has said she will not sign same-sex marriage licenses because it
would “grieve the Holy Spirit that resides in my heart.” She told Citizen Link that she has gay friends, but she’s worried that when people do genealogical research, they won’t know the sex (or species) of the couple: “We know what a bride is, we know what a groom is—but if we choose to be a “spouse,” does that even limit (marriage) to a human being? Do you know what I’m saying?”
Late Sunday, news came across the Mormon grapevine: an openly gay Mormon man namedMitch Mayne had been asked (or “called,” in Mormon parlance) to serve as a leader in an LDS congregation in San Francisco.
A study released today recommends eight ways to reduce transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among men 
who meet male sex partners online. Owners of popular dating and “hook-up” websites and users of those websites, along with HIV and STD program directors, agreed that a few simple measures could have a major impact on the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Among the online measures supported by a majority of those surveyed: Including “safe sex” as a profile option and allowing users to search for partners by such characteristics, Providing directories of STD testing locations, Sending automatic reminders to get an HIV or STD test at regular intervals chosen by users, Having chat-rooms and other areas for HIV-positive men looking for other HIV-positive men, Providing e-cards to notify partners of a potential exposure to STDs, Posting videos that show men discussing safe sex, HIV status, and related issues, Providing access to sexual health experts.
On Tuesday Jon Stewart’s correspondents broke down the two-party system for us, and today we bring you their examination of one of the most widely known third parties: The Tea Party. Watch as Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, Aasif Mandvi and John Oliver go over the motivation, tactics and fashion choices of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin’s prideful followers. For example, Cenac explains how the name was conceived (a 4th grade understanding of American history) and Jones tells us what he thinks of when he hears the term (hint: it has to do with his five-year-old daughter).
I don’t care about Apple stock. (Well, I do think it will be the first trillion dollar company). Or about his business successes. That’s boring. The only thing that matters to me is how Steve Jobs became the greatest artist that ever lived. You only get to be an artist like that by turning everything in your life upside down, by making horrible, ugly, mistakes, by doing things so differently that people will never be able to figure you out. By failing, cheating, lying, having everyone hate you, and coming out the other side with a little bit more wisdom than the rest.
CNN) — If you’re a woman contemplating surgery on your female parts, you’ll find plenty of ladies chatting and blogging away about their experiences, often on websites
adorned with pink ribbons. But if you’re a man considering male surgery there’s not so much out there. There’s no ribbon for, say, penis surgery, and comparatively few men trading stories and sharing advice. “Women are much more engaged with their health,” says Dr. Dennis Pessis, president-elect of the American Urological Association. “It’s gotten better in the past 15 years, but still, men don’t always seek out the best treatments for themselves.”
An accused naked man encountered last week at Humiston Park in Vero Beach defied arrest, saying, “‘I’m just out here helping people!'” A couple and their teen daughters flagged down a Vero Beach police officer just before 8 p.m. Aug. 19 about a man exposing himself at the showers, a recently released arrest affidavit states.
Apes, other animals at Washington’s National Zoo sensed earthquake seconds before shaking started
They may be apes, but they knew the East Coast earthquake was about to hit before their more evolved human cousins realized what was happening. Five to 10 seconds before the earth shook Tuesday, an orangutan at the National Zoo in Washington named Kyle and a gorilla named Kojo stopped foraging and raced to the top of the tree-like structure in their enclosure, zoo officials reported Wednesday.
Nomads sound much my appealing while rolling off the tip of my tongue but it’s just a fancy word for creative homeless hippies. Lawless and thieving equals criminals, not gypsies playing by different rules. We all live on this planet called earth, so disguising yourself by cute well put together rag outfits and renaming the way’s in which you interact with society doesn’t make you something new or lawless. You “New Nomads” living on the edge cities, of Central Europe live off the grid, you are just common street beggars, homeless people of a different shade of dirt. Mike Enders
Wandering the edges of townships in the grey zones between cities, the Gypsies of Central Europe live off the grid. Myths, rumours, lies cloud their histories for they heed no rules and leave few traces – instead, they survive off the land, and sometimes they beg, thieve and steal.
Count Kálnoky tells me at his residence, in the village of Miklosvar in Romania where I was staying as a guest, that he was indeed wireless: the Gypsies had cut the cables to fence the copper for their lawless trade. If Gypsies can’t be trusted it is because they play a different game: While we build around hearth and home, and bank our paper money, Gypsies scavenge, forage and live as nomads, content to be rootless and transient. While we fill our archives with images, texts and our libraries with facts, their stories remain oral and they choose to forget the rest. (via www.huffingtonpost.com)
No illegal drugs were in the system of Amy Winehouse when thetroubled singer died July 23, says her family. Spokesman Chris Goodman said in a statement Tuesday:
“Toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy’s system at the time of her death.”
The Ugandan cabinet made its clearest attempt yet to rid the legislative agenda of the “kill the gays” bill. But parliament’s David Bahati isn’t listening, potentially keeping the bill on a fast track toward passage. The Daily Monitor reportstoday that the ruling party’s lawyer, Adolf Mwesige, convinced cabinet ministers during a meeting Wednesday that the bill is unnecessary. Mwesige reportedly advised them to search the archives because other laws already criminalized homosexual acts.
George Michael: “It’s Time to Be Honest” George Michael reveals that he split from longtime partner Kenny Goss more than two years ago, due at least partly to Goss’s struggle with alcohol addiction, according to Access Hollywood.
A New Sort of Lesbian Panic Defense James Kraig Kahler, the Meriden, Kan., man accused of murdering his wife, their two teenage daughters, and her grandmother in 2009, told a Kansas Bureau of Investigation special agent that he was upset because his wife began a lesbian relationship that broke up their marriage, the agent testified in court last week.
Princeton University politics professor Robert George — the founding chairman of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) — has announced that he will co-moderate Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) The Palmetto Freedom Presidential Forum on September 5. The event is also being co-sponsored by George’s American Principles Project, a conservative group that kicked off this year’s boycott of CPAC to protest the participation of the Republican pro-gay rights group GOProud.
HHS ENCOURAGES PARENTS TO BE HONEST WITH KIDS ABOUT THEIR BODIES | The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services offers resources for parents about talking to their kids openly and honestly about their bodies and sex. HHS links readers to KidsHealth.org, which affirms masturbation, sexual exploration, and same-sex attractions in pubescent teens. The religious right, of course, refutes any such suggestions that young people have sexuality at all and condemns any form of sexual experimentation as “wrong.”
GAY BASHING LEADS TO DEATH IN MICHELE BACHMANN’S HOMETOWN |After a brutal fight in which he was called “faggot,” 19-year-old Marcellus Richard Andrews of Waterloo, Iowa died from his injuries. Waterloo is the hometown of Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, who voted against federal hate crimes protections and has regularly opposed anti-bullying policies.
Fresh off the news that the upcoming Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen will be an“intervention” that could aid the troubled actor in his recovery from the massive public fallout from “Two and a Half Men,” Comedy Central has released the first promo for the special. And by the looks of it, the intervention could be a metaphorical explosion.
VicBears is planning to start some life-changing conversations this September 15, hosting a discussion evening on mental wellbeing and how to look after your mates. The evening is being held to coincide with R U OK Day, a national day of awareness that aims to prevent suicide by encouraging Australians to have open and honest conversations and stay connected with people in their lives. www.ruokday.com.au
read more »
A strong thunderstorm in Madrid brought a premature end to Pope Benedict XVI’s Saturday night speech asserting the primacy of heterosexual marriage. Pope Benedict XVI had to cut short a speech asserting the primacy of heterosexual marriage as a severe thunderstorm hit Madrid Saturday night, Agence France-Presse reports. Strong winds and sheets of rain hit the air base where he was speaking, blowing off his skullcap, shaking the stage, and knocking over at least one tent.
Last week, the Obama administrationannounced that it would review all 300,000 active deportation cases to ensure that they are consistent with the nation’s enforcement priorities. The case-by-case review will allow the government to focus its resources and efforts on high priority targets — individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security or repeat immigration law violators — while exempting low priority groups, including binational same-sex couples, from deportation, the administration maintained. In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano explained that the new approach would also allow immigration judges “to more swiftly adjudicate high priority cases, such as those involving convicted felons.” “This process will also allow additional federal enforcement resources to be focused on border security and the removal of public safety threats,” she said.
REPORT: UGANDA’S PARLIAMENT MAY ADVANCE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL
Jim Burroway is reporting that Uganda’s Parliament may soon take-up the Anti-Homosexuality bill, despite some reports that the cabinet has thrown it out. Previous reports had indicated that the measure — which would impose the death penalty or life imprisonment for some homosexual acts — would be considered in late August.
Joe Sudbay reports that the Justice Department has filed a brief in support of Edie Windsor’s challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Windsor was forced to pay exorbitant federal inheritance taxes after her wife passed away because the government could not legally recognize their 44-year relationship (the couple married in Canada in May of 2007 and their union was recognized in New York). Since President Obama announced that he would no longer be upholding the constitutionality of the Act, House Speaker John Beohner (R-OH) has hired former solicitor general Paul Clement to defend the measure from legal challenges.
We’ve all experienced tourst traps. Those heavily advertised attractions that turn out to be bland misrepresentations of the places we’re supposed to be seeing. Expensive time
eaters that leave us with lighter wallets and a taste of burnt coffee in our mouths. So which are the world’s worst tourist traps? For starters, in no particular order, try the devil’s dozen below. Then add your “favorite” tourist traps in the comments section.
Atlanta (CNN) – He is a good Christian, Michael is telling his two therapists. He goes to church most Sundays. He’s a devoted husband and father of two daughters. “But when I would leave on business trips,” he says, “I knew I was going to get to be someone else.” “Prostitutes, porn – I took anything I wanted.” Sitting on a comfortable, worn couch, Michael glances out the window and sees a reflection of himself set against the parking lot of this suburban Atlanta office building. He fidgets, runs his fingers over his closely cropped blond hair and straightens his green tennis polo. He clears his throat. Above his head hangs a poster covered in words describing feelings – angry, anxious, sad. On it is a big yellow cross.
Jeremy Hooper notices that conservative “values” groups like Focus on the Family and the National Organization of Marriage — who publicly argue they respect gay people but oppose their right to redefine the definition of marriage — are going out of their way to connection pedophilia to homosexuality:
The videos are titled “It Gets Better.” They are aimed at persuading kids that although they’ll face struggles and perhaps bullying for “coming out” as homosexual (or transgendered or some other perversion), life will get better. […] Can you imagine George Washington, Ronald Reagan, or any other president telling school children that it’s okay to be immoral and that they’ll eventually feel better about it? It’s disgusting. And it’s part of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that “lifestyle.”
NEW YORK — Baby boomers heading into what used to be called retirement age are providing a 70 million-member strong market for legions of companies, entrepreneurs and cosmetic surgeons eager to capitalize on their “forever young” mindset, whether it’s through wrinkle creams, face-lifts or workout regimens. It adds up to potential bonanza. The market research firm Global Industry Analysts projects that a boomer-fueled consumer base, “seeking to keep the dreaded signs of aging at bay,” will push the U.S. market for anti-aging products from about $80 billion now to more than $114 billion by 2015.
At the northern end of Kenya’s Nairobi National Park, humans are coming to the rescue for baby elephants. Problem is, humans are also the reason why baby elephants need rescuing. An article in National Geographic‘s September issue profiles a nursery for elephants that have been orphaned mostly by poaching and human-animal conflict.
On its own, where you live isn’t enough to make you depressed. Personal circumstances and genes also play an important role in mental health, so an area that feels like a downer to one person may be home sweet home to another. That said, mental distress is unusually and persistently common in some states, whether due to economic troubles, lack of access to health care, or other factors. Tehran, Iran (CNN) — The two U.S. hikers detained for two grueling years in Iran on spying charges have been sentenced to eight years in prison, state-run TV reported
Saturday. Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer each received five years for espionage — specifically “cooperating with the American intelligence service” — and three years for illegal entry, the IRINN reported, quoting an “informed” judiciary source. They have 20 days to appeal their sentence, which was handed down by the Revolutionary Court, IRINN reported.
One Target store is already under construction in San Francisco and another is on its way, but gay activists and marriage equality supporters like Roy Steele will not be part of the welcoming committee. Steele, a gay Christian man who lives in the Lower Haight, has initiated a nationwide boycott of Target and a legion of other retailers who subscribe to the Christian Values Network. “When I saw Target on the list of companies on the CVN website I was unhappy. I thought they had learned,” Steele told the Bay Area Reporter.
San Francisco police have reported two robberies involving a gun near the city’s largely gay Castro neighborhood last weekend. Police suspect the robberies were related. No injuries were reported in either case. According to police, the first incident occurred at about 3:25 a.m., Sunday, August 14. Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman, said two men were walking near the 700 block of Castro Street when they heard two people running up behind them. Esparza said the first victim turned around and saw both suspects, one with a “short, semi-automatic pistol” in his hand. The suspect approached the man and ordered him to hand over all his property.
Two gay men are suing Great America three years after an employee of the Santa Clara amusement park reportedly attached the phrase “Were (sic) fags!” to a photo of them.
The Obama administration has announced a new process to review all 300,000 active deportation cases to ensure that they are consistent with the nation’s enforcement
priorities. The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice will form a working group that will consider deportations on a case-by-case basis and focus its resources and efforts on high priority targets — individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security or repeat immigration law violators. And while the review won’t explicitly offer categorical relief for any single group — like bi-national same-sex couples, children who were brought to America at a young age, pregnant women, military veterans — the process could provide greater protection for these populations. LGBT families and same-sex couples will be considered as families and could benefit from the discretion of the working group.
Google announced on Thursday that it has added a weather layer to its popular Google Maps tool, allowing users to instantly see current temperatures and weather conditions overlaid on its maps. In a blog post on the official Google blog, the company provides directions on how to use the new feature:
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Computers, like humans, can learn. But when Google tries to fill in your search box based only on a few keystrokes, or your iPhone predicts words as you type a text message, it’s only a narrow mimicry of what the human brain is capable. The challenge in training a computer to behave like a human brain is technological and physiological, testing the limits of computer and brain science. But researchers from IBM Corp. say they’ve made a key step toward combining the two worlds.
For years, gun stores were predominantly patronized by men. But these days, shooting ranges and shops selling firearms are seeing more female customers than ever before,
and that has them changing the way they do business. In one brand-new shooting range at Eagle Gun in Concord, N.C., shots from Sharon Skoff’s handgun boom behind glass that separates the range from the rest of the shop. “I just refuse to be a victim if I possibly can in life,” Skoff says. “I actually went and got my concealed permit a couple months ago so I can carry.”
I feel slightly creepy even reporting on the subject, lingerie for girls as young as four? There is free speech and will and then there is making your kin look like a 4 year old whore. In the voice of one of our free thinkers of our time Paris Hilton (puke), “Not Hot!” The designers are either these are over sexed straight men that like the flavor of young girls or big homo’s who like to dress dolls, 4 year old dolls.
Too much too young? New French lingerie label Jours Apres Lunes is designed for girls aged between four and 12
In a move that has shocked fashion onlookers, scantily-clad young girls wearing make-up and sporting voluminous up-dos are promoting a new range of lingerie that is targetted at girls as young as four years old.
Combining lingerie and lounge wear to form ‘loungerie,’ the Jours Après Lunes line for four to 12-year-olds features a range of panties, bras, camisoles and T-shirts with lace edges, ribboned bow detailing and nautical stripes.
The shots feature young girls in poses and styling that seem far too premature for their ages.
More at www.dailymail.co.uk
Our Anderson Cooper loses himself to a number two joke and giggles like a school girl. I claimed him as ours, yes I did.
Before signing off each night, Anderson Cooper concludes AC360 with a segment called the “Ridiculist,” during which he comments on some trivial bit of news or pop culture. It’s a chance for Cooper to show off his less serious side, but he took things to a whole new level tonight when his own joke about French actor/plane urinator Gérard Depardieu caused him to giggle uncontrollably for a minute or so on live TV.
A benefit staged reading of8, Dustin Lance Black’s play about California’s Prop. 8 trial, has attracted an illustrious all-star cast that includes Cheyenne Jackson, Marisa Tomei, Morgan Freeman, Rob Reiner, Christine Lahti, and Anthony Edwards. The one-night-only reading will be directed by Tony Award–winning actor and director Joe Mantello and take place at the Eugene O’Neill Theater in New York City September 19 at 8 p.m. Proceeds will go directly to the foundation. For tickets or more information, visit AFER.org.
Tea Party darling Christine O’Donnell walked off the set during an interview today with Piers Morgan because the host asked about gay rights issues, and wouldn’t stop.
“I don’t think it’s relevant,” O’Donnell said in defiance of being questioned about gay marriage. “It’s not a topic that I choose to embrace. It’s not what I am championing right now. I have been there, done that, gone down that road.”
Sixteen years after a headline-grabbing scandal in which Rolling Stonefounder Jann Wenner (pictured) left his wife, Jane, for another rman (hunky former Calvin Klein model Matthew Nye), tongues are wagging again over this nonconventional trio — and New York’s new same-sex marriage law may be why. Though Wenner and Nye moved in together, had three children, and share homes in several states, Jann and Jane Wenner (who have three sons together) never officially divorced. Now, according to the New York Post, Jane has finally filed for divorce from Jann, whose empire also includes Men’s Journal and Us Weekly.
“I don’t think there is any danger of him [the gay friend] corrupting her and getting her into that lifestyle. Maybe she can help him. I mean, that’s not the same thing as you know, going out for gay parties…stay away from that. But if you can help him…he is asking for help,” Pat Robertson said in response to a question about whether or not a Christian should befriend a gay man. Watch:
An anti-gay organization in Ghana known as the International Movement Against Same Sex (IMASS) has released a statement trying to justify the criminalization of homosexuality. Currently, male same-sex activity is illegal, but many groups are calling for all people who identify as homosexuals to be prosecuted. The group reconciles the persecution with the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, claiming homosexuality is “illegal by both divine and man-made laws” and obstructs “national security, safety, health, rights, ethics, and freedoms.” The group’s Executive Secretary, Prince Osei Tutu, also decried the pro-LGBT group Amnesty International as “a mischievous organization” that is trying to “homosexually colonize our people.” (HT: Behind The Mask.)
Perhaps desperate that societal support for marriage equality and other LGBT issues continues to grow, anti-gay hate groups seem to be showing their true colors more and more, abandoning tame “protect our family values” talking points for flagrantly pro-bullying rants. MassResistance, in particular, is increasing its visibility, attacking Mitt Romney by painting him as pro-gay, partnering with the Family Research Council to smear GLSEN, and today inspiring fear in theAmerican Family Association’s “news” outlet that the anti-bullying “It Gets Better” project might soon be used in schools. Oh dear!
A lesbian accused of a homophobic attack showed a jury a picture of a gay rights tattoo on her bottom to prove she was not guilty. Lauren Proverbs, 21, said she would never have attacked Gina Landon who was out with a girlfriend because of her sexuality, adding she had once been in a gay relationship herself. She admitted punching the woman in a takeaway restaurant in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, but showed the court the rainbow tattoo to prove she was not anti-gay.
Accidental Bear 