Listen to this articleClimate for Respect for Marriage Act, polluted
Legislation to protect marriage equality at the federal level, the Respect for Marriage Act, passed the United States House of Representatives and was introduced in the United States Senate, where it was expected to pass easily. The revelation of secret negotiations on the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act caused a pause in the RMA’s progress. RMA supporter Senator Susan Collins has said the secret negotiations leading to the death of the IRA could spell the end of the Respect for Marriage Act. Collins said a bipartisan spirit that led to gun safety legislation and microchip bills “destroys the many bipartisan efforts going on.”
Title IX reinterpretation launches lawsuits
Proposed changes to the legal interpretation of Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act have been announced by the United States Department of Education. The interpretation changes rules from the previous administration to more strongly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and change due process in sexual assault investigations at colleges and universities. One state, Florida, ordered public and private schools in the state to ignore the new rules. Other states should follow Florida’s lead. The beef is that the DOE suggests that federal funds for school lunch programs and other school programs be withheld if states have restrictions on gender identity expression or transgender participation in school programs, such as girls’ athletics. So far, 20 states have joined a lawsuit to end funding for school lunches. No one but lawyers gets away with these situations.
Wisconsin school district refuses flags and pronouns
A school district in Wisconsin announced a policy that prohibits staff “from using their positions to promote partisan politics, religious views, and propaganda for personal gain, monetary or non-monetary.” The effect of the policy is a ban on displaying gay pride flags (or any non-government-issued flags) in classrooms or teachers putting their preferred pronouns in email signatures. Students, alumni and others protested the policy, but district officials said it reaffirmed a policy that was already in place.
Chuck Norris inspires Hungarian Prime Minister
The Conservative Political Action Conference heard Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán deliver an anti-LGBTQ+ and pro-Christian rant. He felt that Europeans are threatened with becoming, as if they were not already, “half-breeds”. He has been applauded for calling for a ban on same-sex marriage, LGBTQ+ content accessible to minors, and legal recognition of transgender identity. “We decided we didn’t need more genres [and need] less drag queens and more Chuck Norris,” he said.
Oberfelfell wants to go to Washington, Again
Jim Obergefell, whose landmark U.S. Supreme Court case legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, is running for the Ohio Statehouse. He’s a Democrat running on the “Rodney King platform,” saying in his ad, “It really comes down to: can’t we all get along and treat each other like human beings?” Can’t we be honest people? Obergefell was unopposed in the Ohio state primary and will contest a seat in the eastern part of the state against a Republican incumbent.
Advice on monkey pox
The advice from health authorities, including the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control, to people at risk of catching monkeypox is to consider reducing the number of sexual partners. The UN health agency said to remain monogamous or socially distant “for now”. The WHO said 98% of monkeypox cases detected since the outbreaks first emerged in May have been in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. The CDC has issued 11 guidelines, which are to “cool your jets.” Two notable guidelines advise masturbation from a distance of six feet. He also advises “to have virtual sex without contact in person”. The CDC and others say anyone can get monkeypox from skin-to-skin contact or even sharing linens, it’s not an STD. The WHO has also denounced any violence against monkeys encouraged by stigma.
Turing Memorial
Alan Turing was a British World War II codebreaker who helped defeat Nazi Germany and was instrumental in the development of the modern computer. He was also gay when it was illegal in Britain. Turning, subject of the film “Imitation Game”, committed suicide after being convicted of gay sex offenses that led to incarceration and chemical castration. He was posthumously pardoned in 2013. A 12-foot-tall statue was commissioned to be placed in a courtyard at King’s College, University of Oxford, sparking controversy. First, the college will charge people to look at the statue. Local authorities want the statue on a public road. King’s College says on-campus placement will be disruptive and viewing fees will reduce traffic. Second, it is not a representation of man, but a modern sculpture. Critics say the sculpture’s abstract design, although not a pierced whale in a roundabout, would be jarring in King’s College Gothic architecture.
Another bad card for Kevin Spacey
Unable to get a better hand, Kevin Spacey lost an attempt to overturn a court order that ordered him to pay nearly $31 million to the studio behind the Netflix series “House of Cards.” The production company is recouping lost revenue after Spacey’s crude mannerisms caused the show to crumble like a… house of cards. The first card drawn to Spacey’s career was actor Anthony Rapp’s 2017 “Me-Too” accusation that Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986. Spacey has since been accused by various other handles, bartenders and reporters of unwanted sexual advances. Some charges and lawsuits have been dropped, others settled, some forgotten. Still, Spacey’s career is a dead man’s hand.
Log Cabin Repubs drop
One question that’s not being asked by anyone but us is, “Do Log Cabin Republicans want to be so laughable they’re irrelevant”? In a submission on Twitter, the NLCR compared the recent FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago to the 1969 police raid on the historic Stonewall Inn in New York, a location now protected by government antiquities law. federal. In a troll tweet, the NLCR said, “Just as Stonewall bosses weren’t intimidated by the police, we won’t be intimidated by the militarization of the FBI and DoJ.” The NCLR is committed to continuing with its plans to hold its annual gala at Mar-A-Largo. The misguided move came after the FBI executed a search warrant at the former president’s Mar-A-Lago, Florida hideout. The research was decried by conservatives and pushed back by liberals.
RIP Elana Dykewomon
Famous author and lesbian activist Elana Dykewomon has died of cancer at the age of 72. Dykewomon wrote about lesbian life in “Riverfinger Women,” a coming-of-age story published in 1974. Social change in early 20th-century New York City was published in 1997. “Riverfinger Women” is on The New York Times‘ of the 100 Greatest Gay Novels and ‘Beyond the Pale’ won the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. Dykewomon has also written poetry and essays, including a collection, “Dispatches From Lesbian America,” published in 2017. She was born Elana Nachman but changed her name to not be defined by men. “I chose ‘dyke’ for power and ‘woman’ for alliance.” His play, “How to Let Your Lover Die,” about the death of his longtime partner, is slated for this year’s Bay Area Playwrights Festival in California.
Love and marriage (living well together) in the United States
The US Census Bureau extrapolates census data. The current American Community Survey shows nearly 63 million marriages in the United States and 17 million unmarried couples living in the same household. The survey indicates that there are approximately one million living same-sex couples both married and unmarried, with approximately 600,000 same-sex marriages and 400,000 couples in unmarried households. A majority of “same-sex couple” US residents in the survey identify as female.
‘Fear’ marketing is now a Texas thing
In a tight inventory “buyers” real estate market, it may not be easy to use fear as a marketing tool to acquire listings and referrals. A Dallas real estate agent, however, created a website called “Flee Texas” to appeal to LGBT people who are afraid of living in Texas. The site offers to help LGBTQ+ homeowners leave the Lone Star State, saying, “As LGBTQIA+ citizens of Texas, many of us feel unsafe. If you feel the need to leave Texas jurisdiction, let us help you sell your property here and connect you with an LGBTQIA or ally agent in a better location of your choice. Says the apparently fearful officer: “A lot of people don’t remember what it’s like to be an illegal person. I’ve been in Texas since 1987, and I’ve watched this state grow into a juggernaut of right-wing conservatism.
