HUMOR - Hell Now A Thriving Epicenter Of Gay Culture

THE MALEBOLGE, NETHER REGIONS OF DARKNESS—Noting the incredible rate at which the community has grown, sources confirmed Thursday that Hell, the Endless Kingdom of Misery, is now a booming haven of gay culture...

“I’ve only been here for a few months, but I’ve already fallen in love with it,” said 49-year-old Daniel Edelson, adding that he has already befriended hundreds of fellow gay men and women in the accursed underworld, all of whom have welcomed him with open arms. “The streets of fire and brimstone are full of so many great cafés, restaurants, bakeries, independent bookstores, and of course plenty of gay bars and clubs. There’s just so much to do.”

“My favorite place is this wonderful little promenade along the River Styx, where couples always take walks together on the weekends,” continued Edelson. “I’d say this is easily the most LGBT-friendly place I’ve ever lived.”...

Hell has been widely celebrated by gay rights leaders for its far-reaching acceptance of alternative lifestyles, and residents told reporters it is incredibly common to see a rainbow flag hanging over various shop awnings, in car windows, or atop thrones of blood-soaked bones and rotting flesh. Additionally, the Inferno’s Gay Pride Parade, held every July in the Second Circle, is noted for its extravagance and high attendance rate...

“The gay community has really flourished here, and I have to say, they’ve been great for the place,” said Nephirem the Malevolent, a 10,000-year-old, 70-foot-tall minotaur who has resided in hell since rising from the ashes of a smokeless flame. “At the end of the day, they’re just like anyone else. Everyone has the right to express their love for whomever they want. They don’t bother me in the slightest, and if anything, we in the Dark Lord’s Army encourage any and all public displays of affection between same-sex couples.”

To read more - http://www.theonion.com/articles/hell-now-a-thriving-epicenter-of-gay-culture,33928/

HUMOR - X-Men and the GLBT...

POLITICS - The Gay Agenda! Noooooooo!

HUMOR - It's true! Bugs Bunny has!

POLITICS - Area Teen Quickly Running Out Of Chances To Be First OpenlyGay Anything

PEORIA, IL—Citing the increased visibility of gay athletes, politicians, and officials, area teen and homosexual Alex Zaragoza, 15, told reporters today that he is worried about running out of opportunities to become the first openly gay member of any professional field or social group. 

">http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-teen-quickly-running-out-of-chances-to-be-fir,33521/

ENTERTAINMENT - You Know What “Pandering” Is in Superhero Comics? 75 Years of Straight White Dudes as the Default

Can we talk about the idea of “pandering” in Superhero comics? I’ve see the world tossed around a lot in the free wheeling world of internet commenting and I gotta say if I see it one more time, I’m going to punch as wall.

Marvel creates a set of comics with female leads? PANDERING!

Green Lantern and Batwoman are gay? PANDERING!

Characters of color getting their own comics? PANDERING!

Transgender characters in Demon Knights or Batgirl? Pandering!

It seems that anytime anything but a straight white male character is introduced there’s a certain part of the internet that balls up their little hands and screams “PANDERING!”

Because you know, why would comics reflect anything but the little bubble that surrounds their little world.

Lately I’ve seen the term pandering turned towards the comics community on Tumblr. Bleeding, channing and cbr’ing and stamping their feet that some comic creators and publishers are choosing to pay attention to NOT THEM!

http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/58001028889/you-know-what-pandering-is-in-superhero-comics-75

POLITICS - Only if we could legally enforce this!

CULTURE/SOCIETY - The Gay Holocaust

In 1928 there was an estimated 1.2 million “out” homosexual men living in Germany.  As Adolf Hitler rose in power, gay organizations were banned and scholarly books regarding homosexuality were burned. Hitler's racial state ideology branded homosexuals not only as "parasites" and degenerates, but as enemies of the state. In 1935, the Nazi government significantly expanded the criminalization of homosexuality. 

Under the direction of SS head, police drew up "Pink Lists", and embarked on a vicious crackdown on homosexual men and women. Many were sent to mental hospitals, others were castrated by court order, and 100,000 of these men were sent to concentration camps.The pink triangle (now a symbol of Gay Pride) was placed on the prisoners to mark that they were homosexuals. An estimated 55,000 were executed.

http://www.stop-homophobia.com/thegayholocaust.htm

HUMOR - Michele Bachmann Figures Why Not, IntroducesHomosexual-Beheading Bill

Saying that she’ll be gone soon anyway so she might as well, Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann introduced H.R. 259: The Homosexual Decapitation Act, which would give the United States government legal authority to behead any gay U.S. citizen.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/michele-bachmann-figures-why-not-introduces-homose,32641/

HUMOR - The scary power of a late period!

HUMOR - Minnesota is now FINALLY as gay as Iowa!

What do you think of this T-shirt?

What do you think of this new T-shirt from Raygun in Des Moines?

The shirt is being offered as Minnesota prepares to join Iowa as the only states in the Midwest to allow same-sex marriage.  The shirt reads "5/14/2013 Minnesota is now finally as gay as Iowa."

Minnesota's governor is set to sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriage Tuesday.  Couples could hold weddings starting Aug. 1.

Gov. Mark Dayton has repeatedly said he would sign the bill. He's scheduled to do so during a ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the front steps of Minnesota's Capitol in St. Paul.

The state Legislature gave its final stamp of approval Monday when the Senate passed the bill by a 37-30 vote. The House passed it last week.

Minnesota becomes the 12th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, and the first in the Midwest to do it by legislative vote.

Tell us what you think of the shirt and Minnesota legalizing same-sex marriage -- use the comment box below or post on theKCCI Facebook page.

http://m.kcci.com/news/what-do-you-think-of-this-tshirt/-/16916438/20144308/-/157oe9z/-/index.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY - How gay marriage won

No matter what the court decides, marriage equality is going to happen! The question is just how long will it take! And how long we will make the people wait! - OMGeek

http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/how-gay-marriage-won/

POLITICS - There is no "too much, too soon"!

From Etoile Frank on Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/etoile.frank/posts/579496355408780

With the Supreme Court currently hearing arguments on two major marriage equality cases, we all keep hearing the media and their talking heads going on about the worry that the the court could do "too much, too soon" to advance gay rights. There's apparently fear that giving too broad and sweeping of a judgement in favor of gay rights will cause a culture war that will put the furor over Roe v Wade to shame. I have news: that war has been going on for those of us with skin in the game for a very, very long time.

I, and people like me, have been second class citizens in this country since it's creation. We're members of a minority group that has historically been persecuted, prosecuted, murdered, mutilated, and tortured since civilization began.

There was a time, not so long ago, when the punishment for being gay in this very country was death. Then we got a reprive, homosexuality moved from mortal sin to mental illness in the early part of last century. And up until around 1973, gay men and women were treated for said disease with castration, lobotomies, pudic nerve surgery, and electroshock therapy.

It took until 1983 for the first state in the union to decriminalize homosexuality. And until 2003 for all states to finally make it so gay men and women couldn't be arrested in their own homes for the crime of sharing a bed and their lives. And that only happened because of a Supreme Court decision.

In 1993, brave gay men and women fighting for the freedom of their fellow countrymen were finally acknowledged...by being told they could serve, if they never let it be known that they were part of a lesser class of people. It took until 2011 for them to finally be able to die for their country without hiding their sexual orientation.

And so we get to the point of marriage equality. The question of whether or not gay men and women everywhere deserve the right to equal protection under the law. To things like hospital visitation rights, not being subject to thousands of dollars in estate taxes on property they share with their partner should they die (which their straight, married counterparts never have to worry about), to having their employer provide their family with health insurance, and about a thousand other rights and responsibilities that come with marriage.

And to add insult to injury, we gay folks work hard and pay our share of taxes for representation in the government that has, until relatively recently, used us as pawns in a political game. Our right to marry used a scare tactic to drum up arch conservative throwback voters. We serve our country in a time of war, and still get trotted out as the circus freak show to bring out the worst and most divisive in the general population come election time.

And people whose own lives will not be changed by the decision over marriage have the audacity to ask if it's too soon.

That question is beyond insulting, it's ignorant. Ignorant of the struggle gay men and women have had through history. Ignorant of the inexcusable treatment we've received for thousands of years. Yes, we've come a long way in this country, but that's no excuse to rest on our laurels and say that second class citizenship is "good enough" because some people may not be ready to let go of their prejudice and preconceived notions. The real question isn't if it is too soon... It's what took us so long to get to this point? Gay people being treated like people is long overdue.

ENTERTAINMENT - Redshirts for marriage equality!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2013/03/redshirts-for-marriage-equality.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY: We Found Our Son in the Subway

The story of how Danny and I were married last July in a Manhattan courtroom, with our son, Kevin, beside us, began 12 years earlier, in a dark, damp subway station.

Danny called me that day, frantic. “I found a baby!” he shouted. “I called 911, but I don’t think they believed me. No one’s coming. I don’t want to leave the baby alone. Get down here and flag down a police car or something.” By nature Danny is a remarkably calm person, so when I felt his heart pounding through the phone line, I knew I had to run.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/we-found-our-son-in-the-subway/

CULTURE/SOCIETY: The 50 Most Romantic Things That Ever Happened

This is what love looks like.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-50-most-romantic-things-that-ever-really-happened

POLITICS: Gay Pride In New York City: 1970-1979

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/gay-pride-in-new-york-city-1970-1979

POLITICS: Why Advancing Gay Rights is All About Good Timing

But that’s the thing about timing and the Supreme Court—Hardwick’s challenge came too early and Justice Powell’s change of heart came too late. Bowers was a major blow to the gay rights movement—“a sign that the Court, and, by extension, society, did not accept homosexuals.” How could it be otherwise if their expression of love and sexuality was against the law? Criticism rained down on the court from legal scholars including Richard Posner and Michael Sandel. As Yale law professor and Slate contributor William Eskridge writes, “a decision that was premature in 1986 swiftly became an embarrassment.” Yet it took the court 17* years to correct its error, in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 ruling that overturned Bowers and finally struck down state sodomy prohibitions.

slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2012/10/the_supreme_court_s_terrible_decision_in_bowers_v_hardwick_was_a_product.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Transgender Day of Remembrance: Why We Remember

Transgender people are those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. In 1999 a handful of transgender people sought to highlight the need for awareness around anti-transgender violence, which refers to attacks against people who are perceived as transgender -- regardless of how one may personally identify. To that end, we held the first Transgender Day of Remembrance event in the Castro district of San Francisco, holding the names of those we'd lost in silent testimony.

That was 13 years ago. Today, Transgender Day of Remembrance will be presented in the United States and Canada, Australia, Poland, Russia, the Philippines, South Korea and many other locations across the Earth. The notion of remembering our dead reaches into places that those few who gathered in 1999 could hardly have envisioned.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/gwendolyn-ann-smith/transgender-day-of-remembrance-why-we-remember_b_2166234.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Transgender Day of Remembrance: More Than a List of Names

Each observance is different, representing the uniqueness of the local transgender communities that organize them. Some are very formal, others more folksy; some feel like a church service, while others are more like a civil rights rally. However, almost all share one element in common: a reading of the names of people murdered over the last 12 months simply because they were transgender or someone believed them to be. This year's list has 256 names on it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/allyson-d-robinson/transgender-day-of-remembrance-more-than-a-list-of-names_b_2159093.html