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21 Feb 2012 01:13

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Politics: “Outed” Arizona sheriff won’t quit Congressional race after scandal

  • I’ve never defined myself by anything other than my service, and my duty, and what we should all be judged on in life. We’ve all had relationships, as is clear as day now — now this is national news — that I have had one where he wanted to harm me. And now this is rolled out, and the timing is more than a coincidence.
  • Pinal County, Ariz. Sheriff Paul Babeu • On having to “out” himself in light of a personal scandal. The sheriff, currently running for a Republican Congressional seat in Arizona, had been dogged by rumors that he threatened to deport an ex-lover to Mexico if their relationship a secret wasn’t kept. In order to deny those rumors, Babeu held a press conference and, in turn, announced his sexuality. Babeu, a hard-line conservative who had been a rising GOP star prior to the scandal, recently spoke at CPAC, where he called his primary opponent, Rep. Paul Gosar “most liberal Republican member of Congress.” Babeu thinks political rivals were behind the recent scandal. “I’ve got a record of service. people know me. I want to be judged, as every American should be, on results,” Babeu said. Does Babeu stand a shot at getting elected in the wake of this news? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2012 18:30

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Politics: Some important nuance regarding Proposition 8

  • A quick note about today’s prop 8 ruling: While the court did rule in favor of gay marriage, the court did not assert that gay marriage is a fundamental or constitutional right. That’s not the angle the court was coming from, and in fact, it intentionally deferred answering that question. Rather, the ruling rested on two assertions. One, the notion that US Constitution requires a “legitimate reason” for states to pass laws that treat “different classes of people differently.” Two, the fact that “under California statutory law, same-sex couples had all the rights of opposite-sex couples, regardless of their marital status.” Because of this fact, Proposition 8 serves only and exclusively to “lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.” The court ruled that this isn’t “legitimate reason,” and therefore, is unconstitutional. As we’ll explain later, this nuance has significant implications for future court rulings. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Oct 2011 23:06

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Culture: Casual Monday: ABC anchor comes out on-air like it’s no big deal

  • Big kudos to ABC World News Now host Dan Kloeffler.  Not only did he come out while broadcasting on-air — itself an incredibly courageous thing to do — but he did it in a casual, nonchalant way. No big, dramatic announcement; Kloeffer just off-handedly dropped it during a story about actor Zachary Quinto. “He’s thirty-four, I’m thirty-five,” Kloeffler said about Quinto, who also just came out. “I’m thinking, I can lose my distraction about dating actors for that one.” Kloeffler didn’t present it as a game-changing fact of outsized importance, but just a part of who he is. This is the kind of thing that helps encourage — however slightly — mainstream acceptance of different sexualities, even. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 13:12

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Culture: Good read of the day: NY Times’ ‘Coming Out’ interactive feature

  • Spend a few hours with this package, guys. The Times wrote three stories for the piece, but the readers submitted 32 of their own equally moving stories. It makes for a very powerful package — in a time where not every corner of society accepts homosexuality, the Times has stepped up to tell some of the stories that need to be told the most — from that of a young Christian girl, to another about a high school ROTC student. It’s a moving read that sends a positive message, too, one we’re all familiar with: It gets better. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2011 16:07

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Politics: Rachel Maddow talks about responsibility, coming out

  • I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out.
  • Rachel Maddow • Talking about closeted people working in the TV news business, in a profile and interview with British newspaper The Guardian. The paper asked Maddow whether she felt frustration towards an “equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out,” which prompted the above response. (Are they referring to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, a common is-he-or-isn’t-he target of celebrity gossip sites?) While the right to not divulge one’s sexual identity is (we would argue) an absolute one, Maddow’s argument is a classic advocate’s stance — that the importance (solidarity, mainstream appeal, and inspiration) of an uber-successful media professional coming out of the closet ought to trump that person’s reluctance to admit it. What do you all think? (EDIT: Maddow clarified her comments; she didn’t mean Anderson Cooper.) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Feb 2011 23:47

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U.S.: Jeremy Bernard: The White House’s new gay Social Secretary

  • We don’t care how gay Jeremy Bernard is. It has nothing to do with his job. In fact, it’s awesome that Obama’s willing to appoint a gay man to be the Social Secretary position in the White House, a position which has traditionally been straight and female. This is a milestone that could only be topped if Obama made Barney Frank the next Treasury Secretary. Bernard, right, only has to do one thing to win our approval in the next Pew poll. Keep the Salahis out. That’s all you have to do, man. You can suck at every other aspect of your job. Just prevent that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 11:52

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Politics: Republicans benefited from Democrats’ inaction on gay rights

  • 31% of gays went GOP, a big increase from 2008 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Sep 2010 09:29

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U.S.: HIV still a huge problem for gay males in major cities

  • 19% of gay men (in a new study of 21 major cities and HIV) have the disease – and nearly half don’t know it
  • 28% of black men in the study had HIV, and over half of them didn’t know they had it; the number was lower for other races
  • 63%of young people in the study were unaware of their HIV-positive status – a number that went down with age source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Aug 2010 11:06

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Politics: Ken Mehlman: Former RNC chairman says he’s gay

  • Next up: Current RNC chairman says he’s an idiot. Ken Mehlman, who was the campaign manager behind George W. Bush’s re-election, revealed the fact to family and friends, according to The Atlantic’s Mark Ambinder. Mehlman, who only recently came to that realization, admits that he was in a place to actually do something to encourage gay marriage in his former role, and regrets that he didn’t. But it doesn’t mean that he can’t encourage it in his private life. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 May 2010 07:20

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World: In Malawi, gay rights isn’t exactly a “thing” they promote

If nothing else, the country, which just jailed two gay men for indecent acts, has pretty clever signs. Oh, and apparently a very conservative culture. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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