6/16/14

My president believes all people are equal, and will be signing an executive order banning job discrimination against the LGBT by federal contractors


Via Joe.My.God:

The National Lesbian & Gay Task Force is first with the news that President Obama will sign an executive order forbidding anti-LGBT discrimination by employers who have contracts with the federal government. Via press release:
“This is a major step forward in the struggle for freedom and justice for LGBTQ workers and their families. Now millions of people will have the economic security they need to provide for their families. Through his actions, the President has demonstrated again his commitment to ending discrimination. We thank all the organizations who have worked so hard to make this piece of history. This decision is good for LGBTQ people, good for our economy and good for America. Unfortunately, many of us who don't work for federal contractors will still lack workplace protections. Now we must redouble our efforts for the urgent passage of state employment protections and strong federal legislation.”

6/14/14

A shocker! The Netherlands hammers the once invincible Spain team yesterday, 5 - 1.



Is the one of the greatest national soccer teams in history past its prime and on the decline?  That's what the critics were wondering after the Spanish took a drubbing the Dutch, who lost to Spain four years ago in the final.  Talk about sweet revenge.

Hopefully, this loss will shock the Spanish into playing their best. Time will tell.

U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv celebrates gay pride. Thank you, Barack Obama!

"Safe in My Hands" video and song is a moving way for Allstate to recognize LGBT pride. Thank you!

6/10/14

Tweet of the day, on the Eric Cantor loss


Behind the scenes of New York Times photo shoot with two of my favorite soccer stars: Neymar and Iniesta

I love this op-ed column about a father who is watching his 9-year old son develop crushes on other boys



"I Know My 9-Year-Old Son's 'Type': Pretty Boys With Dark Hair'
by Dave, from the Huffington Post
I went to pick up my kids from school the other day, my usual 3 o'clock date with the playground. My eldest son's teacher met me as I walked up, all atwitter with excitement. "We had some high-school seniors come in today to do some tutoring, and your son just really clicked with one of the boys," she told me. "He just talked and talked to him, and they got along so well." She knows just how painfully shy my son can be around new people and was just as happy as I was that he could find someone to interact with in a way other than hiding behind someone taller than he and sneaking glances around their torso. 
"Let me guess," I said. "Is this boy slim, dark-haired and very pretty?" Most people can't talk to people they find attractive, but my shy, shy boy is the exact opposite. 
"But... how did... how did you know that?" she asked. 
I know what my 9-year-old son's "type" of guy is. This is not something I expected to have knowledge of, not when my son was 9, and perhaps not ever. But that knowledge is in my brain anyway, and now I have to deal with it. And as much as it weirds me out, it is so cute to see him when the right kind of boy walks into his life.
Read the whole post.

How to handle the narcissists in your life...


Hepper and her co-authors asked a group of 95 female undergrads to take the same narcissism quiz, and then later to watch a 10-minute documentary about Susan, a victim of spousal abuse. Half were told to try to put themselves in Susan’s shoes (“Imagine how Susan feels. Try to take her perspective in the video…”), while the others were told to imagine they were watching the program on TV one evening. The subjects who were told to take Susan’s perspective were significantly more likely to score higher on empathy. In fact, the more narcissistic they were, the more the trick seemed to work. 
“I think what’s going on here is that people who are low on narcissism are already responding to people—telling them what to do it isn’t going to increase their empathy any further,” Hepper said. “But the higher on narcissism you get, the less empathy [you feel]. By instructing them to think about it, it activates this empathic response that was previously much weaker.”
Source: The Daily Dish

Outsports captures the bro-kisses of soccer players: I love it



Check it out here. 

6/9/14

Quote of the day, the First Lady of Japan



"There is no difference to importance of love from sexual orientation. There should not be any discrimination because who you love. I am going to raise my voice. If my raised voice could contribute to the pride of LGBT people, there is no greater joy." 
- Akie Abe, the First Lady of Japan, speaking this spring at a gay pride event sponsored by the US embassy in Tokyo.

Watch this compilation of news clips about gays from the '80s, the decade I came out. I am glad that survived it all

6/8/14

One of the greatest sports spectacles is coming this week: the World Cup! I can't wait

One of the greatest and fiercest tennis players of all time, Nadal handily wins his 9th French Open



3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4

He is the perfect man-boy: a strong man with a wonderful boyish quality




Quote of the day on 'reparative therapy'

There is no legitimacy or value to this “reparative therapy,” just as there is no “homosexual lifestyle,” since being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender stems from biology, not choice. And there certainly should be laws and executive orders banning aversion therapy because it is based on non-science and is almost always deeply harmful to the people who undergo it.
--Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times

6/4/14

This DC-based high school principal shows his students how to live with authenticity and dignity, by coming out at the school's pride event

This is how to make an apology. And why the f-word is so devastating to all men



I am sure Jonah Hill is not a homophobe and I appreciate the tone of this apology.

Underlying this apology is the homophobic societal notion that calling a man "faggot" is the worst thing you can do to demean another man, as any school boy knows from his playground experience.  In essence, you are saying he is weak, ineffective, and not a man.  Until we change that belief about gay men and AFFIRM them as they grow up, the use of the f-word is continue to wreak havoc on the psyches of gay and straight men alike.