Activism

ESPN reports: Gus Kenworthy started coming out to his family and closest friends nearly two years ago. His mom said she knew. His brother said he was proud. His best friend 
voiced unrelenting support. And if Gus Kenworthy were an average 24-year-old, the announcement — the story — might have ended there. But Gus Kenworthy is not an average 24-year-old. …

Two separate polls conducted by Houston television stations show that the Yes On 1 vote, which would keep the city’s LGBT rights law, is leading by an uncomfortably close margin. Most worrying are the undecideds – who make up 18% of the KHOU poll and 20% of the KPRC poll, although the Yes side leads 45-36 in the latter survey. …

Watch the clip below. Via press release: The PSA begins with Elizabeth Taylor’s historic and impassioned speech at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as a framework to introduce a new generation to the modern realities of HIV and AIDS, as well as the tools we have to overcome them. It includes participation from Meredith Vieira, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, …

Openly gay 2002 British Pop Idol winner Will Young tackles trans identity in his new single Brave Man, the video for which follows a real life transgender man as he stumbles forlorn and naked through the streets of London. Young explains: “It seems extremely brave to be a man in a woman’s body and then decide to do something about …

Early voting begins today in the vicious campaign to repeal Houston’s LGBT rights ordinance (HERO) and hate group leaders are flooding Twitter to exhortations to vote against the “bathroom bill.” Mayoral candidate Ben Hall calls himself the “only one who has consistently opposed HERO” and his latest clip is below.

Yesterday Margaret Cho launched a somewhat misdirected Twitter tirade against the Philadelphia police over the light sentences handed down this week for two of the three gay-bashers charged last year in a brutal street attack against a gay couple. As you can see, Philly police responded by pointing out that they don’t handle prosecutions. The exchange between Cho and the …

In recognition of this month’s National Coming Out Day and Spirit Day, Facebook has produced an analysis of its users in the United States who have identified (in various ways) as being LGBT. They write: Examining aggregated, de-identified information about people in the U.S. on Facebook, we look at the total number of people who came out on each day. …

Just a reminder that I’m in Las Vegas for the 2015 InterPride World Conference where gay pride organizations from around the globe are meeting to strategize and share event planning information. JMG readers are invited to attend an InterPride mixer tonight at 5PM at the Pegasus Lounge in the host hotel, the Alexis Park All Suite Resort. This morning I’ll …

As you can see the battle to repeal Houston’s LGBT rights law is really heating up with early voting starting just next week. Please consider pitching in by donating to Houston Unites where the ACLU Of Texas is TODAY doubling all contributions. From Houston Unites: Lieutenant Governor Patrick is pushing an extreme, radical agenda in Houston—spending his campaign money to …

Via the Associated Press: A Nevada board has approved a $615,000 payment to lawyers who successfully challenged the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. The Nevada Board of Examiners voted Tuesday to pay attorney fees and costs to Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which said it spent about 2,000 hours working on the case. The group originally sought more …

And every GOP candidate makes sure NOT to wear purple. Via press release: Today, GLAAD issued an invitation for candidates running for President of the United States to join millions of Americans taking a stand against bullying for Spirit Day this Thursday by “going purple” in support of LGBT youth. “While every candidate running for President doesn’t agree with us …

This weekend I’ll be in Las Vegas for the 2015 InterPride World Conference where gay pride organizations from around the globe will meet to strategize and share event planning information. (There’s a LOT that goes into putting on a parade that can draw more than a million people.) I’ll be representing Pride Life Magazine, which has been the official publication …

We haven’t seen an It Gets Better video in awhile but yesterday the FDNY published their clip to mark National Coming Out Day. They write: In the FDNY-produced video, twelve active FDNY Firefighters, Paramedics, EMTs discuss the challenges they faced throughout their lives and the success they have found both as adults, as members of New York’s Bravest. “As Firefighters, …

NBC News reports: A large crowd gathered in Center City to call for justice and equality for transgender men and women in the wake of a brutal murder. The 5th Annual Philly Trans March took place Saturday afternoon at Thomas Paine Plaza, less than a week after Kiesha Jenkins, a 22-year-old transgender woman, was killed by a group of men …

The Log Cabin Republicans today salute GOP members of Congress whom they consider to be allies of LGBT movement. Named in the animated “Superfriends” clip: Rep. Mike Coffman, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, Rep. Charlie Dent, Rep. Bob Dold, Rep. Chris Gibson, Rep. Richard Hanna, Sen. Mark Kirk, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Rob Portman, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

The 27th annual National Coming Out Day is Sunday. The date was chosen in 1988 as the anniversary of the previous year’s historic March On Washington, when an estimated 500,000 gathered on the National Mall to demand increased funding for HIV/AIDS research, the repeal of anti-sodomy laws, and the legal recognition of LGBT relationships. Many of those 27 year-old dreams …

New York City’s Ali Forney Center will hold its annual fundraising gala for homeless LGBT youth on Friday, October 23rd in downtown Manhattan at Capitale. Tickets are still available! Comedian and Orange Is The New Black star Lea DeLaria will be the evening’s host and there’s an always terrific after-party following the main event. The following night, Saturday the 24th, …

The website MuckRock has launched a crowd-funding campaign to obtain the emails of Kim Davis. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act, Davis is required to hand over her emails upon request, but she tells MuckRock that each email must be printed and physically mailed because she’s “old school.” And she wants $1200 for that. They write: A couple days before …

Clip recap: “Can anger make the world a better place? We usually think of anger as destructive, but if you can harness it, you can turn it into a constructive force for good — as Harvey Milk discovered, both in real life and in the movie Milk. “

Freedom To Marry may have already held its “going out of business” party, but founder Evan Wolfson still has marriage battles to fight. Via the Guardian: US embassies in Europe have invited an instrumental figure in the movement to legalize same-sex marriage to visit three countries where it is not yet legal. Evan Wolfson, founder of marriage equality campaign group …