Tag: equality

Barbra Streisand: I think some of the most creative, talented and innovative people in our industry come from the LGBT community. But we do have a long way to go in terms of making it comfortable and safe for gays and lesbians in the industry to be open and honest about who they are. There is still fear that being "out" in Hollywood could compromise an actor's career by affecting the kinds of roles or opportunities he or she is offered. But in acknowledging that reality, I do believe that we are moving forward and starting to break through the stereotypes and stigmas that once really inhibited actors from being true to themselves and having a successful career in the business. I look forward to the day when people are hired because they are the best person for the job and are not excluded from opportunities because of their sexual preference, gender, or ethnicity.

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Tags: Barbra Streisand, equality, interview, Matthew Shepard

An American clergyman, activist & prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement; Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin was born on January 15, 1929.

Every One Is Equal : Period! If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody w/ a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, If I can spread the message as the master taught, Then my living will not be in vain.

* Excerpted from MLK's Historic "Drum Major Instinct Speech" delivered @ Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, on February 4, 1968.

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Tags: equality, holiday, Martin Luther King

"I am honored to raise awareness and money for this cause and all these outstanding organizations. Organizations like these are in the trenches every day working on behalf of all of us, gay or straight" "Equal and full civil rights are supposed to be for all of us.”

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Tags: equality, event, lady gaga, New Jersey

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release                                     June 1, 2009 LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans. LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic. Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism. The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect. My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States. These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third. BARACK OBAMA

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Tags: american, discrimination, equality, gay, Gay Pride, hate, homosexuality, jobs, laws, president, proclamation, safe, Stonewall, White House

Typically, when we talk about silver linings, we mean small, ancillary benefits that are overshadowed by the cloud itself. For example, I might write, “I got dumped this weekend, but the silver lining is I saved $751 on a plane ticket to Chile, $340 for a hotel room, $50 for roses, and my pride.” But I digress. Yesterday’s Proposition 8 ruling by the California Supreme Court is a bitter disappointment to thousands of Californians and their friends across the country. But this is the rare case where gay rights supporters may look back and discover that the silver lining meaningfully outshines the gray. Why? The fight over marriage equality is radically altering how many Americans think of gay and lesbian people. It has, in effect, rebranded what it means to be gay. Over twenty years ago, legal pioneers like Evan Wolfson began the fight for equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans in the courts. At the time, the general public defined gay and lesbian identity in terms of sex and certain, rather specific, sex acts. They had vivid images of these acts (many, at the time, illegal), and created related, profane phrases to describe and categorize gay people purely in terms of sex. When, in the mid-1990s, Wolfson pushed for equal marriage rights, many in the gay community were worried that he was overreaching. They encouraged leaders in the community to wait and focus on gains like employment and housing non-discrimination. A decade later, when the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders filed the case that established legal same sex marriage for the first time in the United States, in Massachusetts, the same fears persisted. What Wolfson and GLAD may have known, but has not been commonly understood, was that the marriage fight itself would bring great benefit to the gay community. The fight over equal marriage has redefined gay and lesbian identity in terms of love. And this redefinition has made gay and lesbian people more acceptable to the general public and equal rights easier to win and protect. During the 1996-1999 Hawaii marriage fight and the subsequent state-by-state battles that followed, images of committed gay couples and loving gay families have filled the media. Each time that the battle is joined, same-sex couples that have been together for decades are shown holding hands and asking for the right to marry. These are not the sexual deviants depicted in profane phrases twenty years ago. We see images of two forty year-old women, watching their children play with the family dog in a front yard. We see two elderly men, describing their half-century together. We witness in their stories the same joys and same challenges that any family might face. And we hear them in the context of gay and lesbian people seeking recognition of their love. Today, tens of millions of Americans will hear that the court upheld Proposition 8 and learn that it’s a setback for gay marriage in America. But this same setback may well be part of a much bigger step forward for gay rights in America. Those same tens of millions will see images of gay and lesbian people in loving relationships. They will hear their stories. They will have images of loving couples and their families imprinted in their minds, filed as the new definition of "gay." And while it may have been easy to hate someone because of how they had sex (twenty years ago), it’s a lot harder to hate them because of whom they love. Abraham Lincoln once said "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." It doesn't matter what the generation before you told you the Bible said (even though it doesn't), and it is not true that denying rights to a group of people based on the way they were born will somehow change them. When the issue of marriage equality arises in your state, do the right thing and support love, not hate.

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Tags: acceptance, california, equality, gay, Gay Pride, marriage, Massachusetts, rights

May 15 marked a loss of profound proportions for the civil rights community, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, and the HIV/AIDS movements community. Rodger McFarlane, an early advocate, activist and strategist for the gay community, took his own life in Truth and Consequences, New Mexico, last Friday after battling compounding heart and back problems that were resulting in almost total debilitation

New York, Monday, May 18, 2009 – It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our friend, colleague, and hero, Rodger McFarlane. A pioneer and legend in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and HIV/AIDS movements, Rodger took his own life in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico last Friday. In a letter found with his remains, Rodger explained that he was unwilling to allow compounding heart and back problems to become even worse and result in total debilitation. We know that Rodger was in a great deal of pain. Already disabled in his own mind, he could no longer work out or do all the outdoor activities he so loved. He was also now faced with the realization that he could literally not travel, making employment increasingly difficult. As his friends and family, we thought it was important that we communicate to the world that it has lost an amazingly wonderful individual who contributed so mightily to our humanity. Rodger approached every aspect of his life with boundless passion and vigor. While many people go their entire lives wanting to be good at just one thing, Rodger excelled at virtually everything he did. Brilliant activist and strategist, decorated veteran, accomplished athlete, best-selling author, and humanitarian are just a few of the accolades that could be used to describe our friend. To know Rodger was to love an irreverent, wise-cracking Southerner who hardly completed a sentence that didn’t include some kind of four-letter expletive. He fought the right fight every day, was intolerant of silence, and organized whole communities of people to advocate for justice. These were traits that endeared him to us and are traits that make his legacy incredibly rich and powerful. The power of Rodger’s many personal and professional accomplishments cannot be denied. He was on the forefront of responding to the AIDS epidemic that ravaged our country – and specifically the gay community – in the 1980’s. Before HIV even had a name, in 1981, Rodger set up the very first hotline anywhere; he just set it up on his own phone. That was the Rodger we knew. A born strategist and leader, Rodger took three organizations in their infancy and grew each into a powerhouse in its own way, empowered to tackle this national tragedy. One of the original volunteers and the first paid executive director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the nation’s first and largest provider of AIDS client services and public education programs, Rodger increased the organization's fundraising from a few thousand dollars to the $25 million agency it is today. Until his death, he was the president emeritus of Bailey House, the nation's first and largest provider of supportive housing for homeless people with HIV. From 1989 to 1994, he was executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), merging two small industry-based fundraising groups into one of America's most successful and influential AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. During his tenure at BC/EFA, annual revenue increased from less than $1 million to more than $5 million, while also leveraging an additional $40 million annually through strategic alliances with other funders and corporate partnerships. Rodger was also a founding member of ACT UP – NY, the now legendary protest group responsible for sweeping changes to public policy as well as drug treatment and delivery processes. Most recently, Rodger served as the executive director of the Gill Foundation, one of the nation’s largest funders of programs advocating for LGBT equality. He transformed the Foundation by sharpening its strategic purpose. He focused its philanthropy in the states, aligned its investment with political imperatives and forged relationships with straight allies that helped to further both the LGBT movement as well as the greater progressive movement. Rodger was instrumental in the creation of the Gill Foundation’s sister organization, Gill Action. The brilliance of Rodger’s vision is being seen today as important protections for LGBT people become a reality in more and more states. No one will ever doubt that our friend Rodger lived a rich and complete life. A proud U.S. Navy veteran, Rodger was a licensed nuclear engineer who conducted strategic missions in the North Atlantic and far Arctic regions aboard a fast attack submarine. A gifted athlete, he was a veteran of seven over-ice expeditions to the North Pole. He also competed internationally for many years as an elite tri-athlete, and in 1998 and 2002, competed in the Eco-Challenges in Morocco and Fiji, where he captained an all-gay female-majority team. In spite of the fact that Rodger never completed college, he was an accomplished and best-selling author and the producer of works for the stage. Rodger was the co-author of several books, including The Complete Bedside Companion: No Nonsense Advice on Caring for the Seriously Ill (Simon & Schuster, 1998), and most recently, Larry Kramer’s The Tragedy of Today’s Gays (Penguin, 2005). In 1993, he co-produced the Pulitzer Prize-nominated production of Larry Kramer’s The Destiny of Me, the sequel to The Normal Heart. Rodger had a reputation as a hard-ass. That reputation didn’t do him justice. Many of us will remember Rodger as a caregiver, a man who nursed countless friends and family members battling cancer and AIDS. He was the most compassionate and giving of friends, especially to those in physical or emotional distress. His many achievements were recognized throughout his life. Most recently, he had received the Patient Advocacy Award from the American Psychiatric Association. Other honors included the New York City Distinguished Service Award, the Presidential Voluntary Action Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, and the Emery Award from the Hetrick Martin Institute, as well as Tony and Drama Desk honors. How do you sum up someone’s life in just a few words? It’s impossible and you can’t. To commemorate Rodger’s life, his friends will organize celebrations of his, the details of which are still in the planning stages. If Rodger was anything, he was a character through and through; there are, quite literally, thousands of “Rodger stories.” That’s part of what made him such a special person. During our celebrations, we’ll share some of these stories and reflect on the many legacies left by our friend for life, Rodger McFarlane. Information on donations in memorial will also be forthcoming.

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Tags: activists, Advocate, AIDS, death, equality, funeral, glaad, HIV, New Mexico, tragedy

Congratulations to our members Jayare and Matt Wilson for helping to Make A Difference. Both of these terrific members recently contributed their winnings in the Big Gay Rainbow Easter Egg Hunt to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Jayare $50 Honor Donation

Matt Wilson $25 Honor Donation

The Foundation Focuses on Three Primary Areas

Erasing Hate in our Society

Putting GLBT Youth First

Ensuring Equality for all GLBT Americans

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Tags: donations, equality, hate, Matthew Shepard, winners

Today is the first day same-sex couples can apply for a marriage license in Iowa.

"It's one of the first things we told couples," says Rick Garcia, a spokesman for the Chicago gay-rights group Equality Illinois. "It's a great ruling, and we're thrilled for Iowans. You can get married in Iowa, invite 100 people, and show us your slides when you get back. But when you get back to Illinois, in the eyes of the law, you are strangers."

Still, Chicagoans Chad Gearig, 31, and Thom Howe, 41, plan to marry next month in Bettendorf. "We live on a pretty modest budget, and it's just a three-hour drive," Gearig says. "We're really just doing it for us."

A study by UCLA's Williams Institute, which researches gay issues, predicted last year that 55,000 same-sex couples would marry in Iowa in the first three years after it was legal. University of Iowa law professor Ann Estin says there are still legal issues that could reach the Supreme Court. The "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize legal marriages from other states, she says, but the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress allows states to ignore same-sex marriages sanctioned elsewhere and bars federal recognition of them.

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Tags: equality, Iowa, marriage