Show Your (Gay) Pride

My heart and well wishes go out to all gays in Moscow!

I just learned that the gay pride organizers have asked the European Court of Human Rights to order the city of Moscow to pay one-million Euros (about $1.5 US)!!! This, because of the fact that Moscow has been banning pride parades over the past two years.

The complainants have filed the lawsuit against the city government and City Mayor Yuri Lushkov.

Over the years, Lushkov failed to grant the pride organizers permits to hold their gay pride festivals. Apparently, the mayor was “concerned” with possible violent scenarios.

Which is totally funny because really, how violent can we homosexuals really be? (not counting the matters exchanged in bed, of course! LOL) In any case, most, if not all, of the so-called violent scenarios are usually results of provocation!

Very disturbing news!

Do you know that the very same school that 14-year old Belinda Allen comes from is also the same school where an 11-year old boy who hanged himself from his own bunk bed at home using shoelaces comes from as well?

Allen recently committed suicide because of alleged bullying. The kids at school reportedly called her “a dyke” and chided her for her clothes.

So what has the school been doing? And most importantly, what will they do now that two of their students have unfortunately decided to take their own lives?

The Allen family has issued a statement. Read it after the jump. Heartbreaking!

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This has GOT to be a joke! Or at least some morbid practical joke for dummies!

The University of Michigan (God bless them for their so-called ingenuity!) is offering

ENGLISH 317. Literature and Culture.

Section 002 — How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation.

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Instructor(s): David M Halperin (halperin@umich.edu)

Yes, I’m also tempted to send Mr. Halperin a very inquisitive email. I’d probably start with “Dear Mr. Halperin, How long have you been gay?”

Click, click, click for the course description of this really bizarre course.

Continue reading »

It’s back to square one for 48-year old Peter Lewis and Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). Lewis is seeking nearly $10 million in compensation from HSBC, one of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Lewis, who was the former global head of equities at the said bank, was dismissed after a co-worker accused him of alleged sexual harassment in an incident at the bank’s gym. Naturally, Lewis denied the allegations and he’s now crying foul because, according to him, the bank didn’t undertake a proper investigation before they disgracefully fired his butt.

While Lewis had his share of a small success when an employment tribunal ruled that HSBC had erred in its initial handling of the case and had indeed showed discrimination against Lewis, Lewis still basically lost because his claim plus the monetary damages he sought have been dismissed. Still, there’s a ray of hope as the Employment Appeals Tribunal recently quashed the findings and ordered a fresh hearing.

This is why straight guys hate office gyms. They feel that just because their office lives are marred by very intelligent and decent gays, they go about accusing them of harassment. Fools!

I know that a lot of families have “broken down” because a member is gay/lesbian/transgender/bisexual. These families simply cannot accept the fact that a loved one has chosen to be himself or herself and has decided not to succumb to the norm or to the dictates of society.

But I want to ask you now…

Do you really have to sever your ties with a family member, your own flesh and blood, just because he or she is a homosexual?

Case in point: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who just announced via his commencement speech at a Phnom Penh university (no less) that he has dumped his adopted daughter because she was a lesbian and currently has a wife.

“My adopted daughter now has a wife. I’m quite disappointed,” he said.

Sen also said that he intends to go to court to have his daughter formally disowned so that she could not claim any inheritance.

“We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble … and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets,” he said.

You know what bothers me?

First off, the gall of a Prime Minister at that to wash dirty laundry in public! Was it really necessary to do so? Was it the right forum to do so?

What was the motive of all that? Money? Was he just scared that this yet unnamed adopted daughter would go after his wealth? Or was he more scared of the humiliation that this “realization” would cause his name?

Secondly, I don’t understand why he had to use words like “disappointed” or “cause us trouble” or “try to stake her claim.” He was disappointed exactly because…? Disappointed because he really thought his adopted daughter would go marry a prince from a far away land and will bear a million male heirs? Disappointed because she instead was true to herself and followed her heart? Or was he simply disappointed because she was a lesbian and lesbians may just cause trouble and may try to stake a claim at his wealth?

Exactly why was he disappointed?

Thirdly, it’s very weird (and unfatherly-like) to think so badly of your daughter. After those years of rearing her, you entertain the possibility that she might cause trouble?

Fine, it’s true that she’s only adopted and that she’s not your own flesh and blood anyway. However, being a father should not stop just because she’s a lesbian. Being a father should not stop just because she’s adopted. Being a father - being a true father, that is - should start as soon as you accept and recognize the responsibility of taking care of a human being. Once you accept that, then there’s literally no turning back. Now if this realization that your adopted daughter is a lesbian is really something that you can’t accept, can’t you just fix things behind closed doors?

I can’t believe a Prime Minister and a father at that could act so crudely, so tactlessly and so heartlessly before the public.

No, of course not.

To be kicked out of a Rite Aid pharmacy just because of a simple hug is not fair. It’s preposterous. It’s stupid. It’s unfair.

This week’s Metro Weekly reported that a gay couple was kicked out of a local Rite Aid pharmacy apparently without reason.

Jay Hill and Mike Browne went into the said store located at 13th and U streets NW last Friday. They reportedly embraced as they browsed along an aisle. Then, according to Hill, the pharmacy’s manager walked by, saw them and obviously didn’t like what he saw. The manager then asked the security guard on duty to get them to leave.

Hill asked the guard why they were asked to leave and allegedly, the guard just said, “I don’t know, that’s just what the manager said. This is private property so y’all got to go.”

Good thing Howard University art professor Raymond Dobard witnessed the incident. He was able to obtain the name of the homophobic manager: DENNY GETACHEW.

As of press time, Getachew refused to comment on the story and Rite Aid’s corporate HQ has yet to release a formal statement with regard to the incident.

Funny how an affectionate hug could lead to something like this. I can just imagine what could’ve happened if the gay couple managed to steal a peck or two.

Thoughts?

Photo courtesy of Metro Weekly

This has just been a sad week, really.

This piece of news about harassment particularly interests me primarily because it involves a 9 year old kid — and with the way mainstream media’s picking it up, I’m sure this is one of the most talked about topics in the LGBT world today.

A 9 year old Milton, MA kid has allegedly been harassed by her fellow schoolmates — and only because her mother is a lesbian.

Things have apparently gotten worse because the kid was eventually forced to attend school with a bodyguard.

“She had been harassed, told she has coodies, and that she should be ashamed that her mother should be ashamed because she’s a lesbian,” said Virginia Gaffey, the kid’s mother.

That poor kid!

Luckily - bless her heart - the sweet little one has a fighting spirit. When the kid’s mother transferred her daughter to the Glover School, she was able to show how brave she was. In class, when they were told to write about why they were special, Gaffey’s 9 year old daughter wrote:

“I remember when kids picked on me. They still do. I stuck up for myself. Instead of being chicken I stick up for others.”

Now THAT is something laudable.