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February 2011

kantala13 asked: Umm about replacing the words ‘homophobia’, ‘biphobia’ and ‘transphobia’ with the word ‘heterosexism’.
Wouldn't cissexism be a better replacement for transphobia, as hetersexism is the belief that heterosexual relationships are superior, and transgender isn't an orientation?
And sometimes what is referred to as...

Lesbian Students Question Sudden Policy Change →

A lesbian high school couple in Champlin, Minn., were told that they cannot walk into a school dance together after Anoka-Hennepin school district administrators changed rules to make students walk in one at a time instead of in pairs. The two girls were picked by their fellow students as royalty, similar to that of homecoming queen and king, for the Snow Days event at Champlin Park High ...

Rahm Emanuel Didn’t Have To Cuss Out Chicago’s... →

Now that the Illinois Supreme Court rued Rahm Emanuel can run to become dictator of Chicago, the city’s gays are going to do their part to get him elected. Yesterday at the Center On Halsted, some 200 of our kind gathered to form the LGBT Committee for Rahm. The man himself was there, to receive accolades like “a proven friend to our community.” Maybe he’ll also...

CIVIL UNIONS OFFICIALLY LEGAL IN ILLINOIS!!! →

gayinil: WOOOOOOOO! One giant step closer to marriage equality!

Pentagon Reveals DADT Repeal Plan →

Pentagon officials updated reporters Friday afternoon on progress in implementing repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. During the 45-minute briefing, Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Clifford L. Stanley, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, answered questions about the time line, content, and guidelines for the...

January 2011

Ind. School District Settles With Trans Student →

Lambda Legal has reached a settlement with the Gary, Ind., school district, in the case of a transgender student who was barred from attending prom in a dress in 2006, and the district has adopted LGBT-inclusive policies as part of it. K.K. Logan, who at the time identified as a feminine male and now identifies as female, was physically blocked by the school principal from entering the West...

White House announces three major gay appointments →

This week, the Obama administration filled two high-ranking positions with openly gay appointees and nominated a third for a federal judgeship in New York. If approved by the Senate, J. Paul Oetken will become the third openly gay federal judge in the country. Oetken is a senior vice president and associate general counsel at Cablevision Systems. Two LGBT officials will take on key roles...

Obama Walks Marriage Tightrope →

The Obama administration is running head-on toward a confrontation with the Defense of Marriage Act, and it’s not clear how it will play out. New lawsuits regarding the 1996 law, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriage and allows states to not recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions, have been filed. While Obama doesn’t support DOMA, he feels...

Culhane: State of the (Gay) Union →

Question of the day: What are your favorite queer...

I am preparing for Project Queer’s newest video - set to post on or before this Wednesday. Any and all responses are appreciated - even if duplicate bands/musicians are listed. Please spread the word!!

Thai Airline Recruits Transgender Staff →

Thai airline PC Air is recruiting transgender staff in a bid to boost the prospects of the “third sex”. The newly-formed company took on three trans women this week in its first round of hiring. View Source at PinkNews.co.uk

I just went through my entire queue and deleted...

since these words can be deemed offensive to some. Instead, I have replaced these words with the word ‘heterosexism’ - which, either way, is more inclusive to the lgbtq+ community. Thanks again to all of you who responded to my questions regarding the issue with the words listed above ending in -phobia. I REALLY appreciate all of the feedback - especially since everyone, for the...

Big Day for Illinois!!!! →

ff4equality: More than 1,000 people are expected to witness Illinois make history today as Gov. Pat Quinn signs a bill granting gay couples the right to form civil unions. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act — SB1716 — passed the Senate last month with a vote of 32-24. Once Quinn signs the bill today, it will take effect June 1. Civil unions would give heterosexual...

keeponshouting asked: Sorry. I'm too wordy for just using the reply feature.

Re: the official definition of "homophobia." I think the problem is that the definition, in this case, was written to match the word rather than the word being made to match a definition, if that makes sense. If a word is used often enough by a large enough number of people and therefore becomes common, it will...

lesbrary asked: I appreciate the conversation about the term "homophobia," but I really wish you wouldn't invoke a dictionary. For one thing, dictionaries differ in their definitions. But more importantly, dictionaries describe how a term has been used, not how it should be used. It's descriptive of common use, not an indication of how the word should be used or how minorities may perceive it....

Exploring Chicago's Gay History →

The Chicago History Museum is planning an expansive exhibit on the city’s LGBT-related milestones — possibly the first ever gay history project produced by an urban museum. The “Out in Chicago” exhibit opens May 21 and will include pictures and stories of gay life in the Windy City, including the rise of gay voters as a political force. Chicago has been a magnet...

keeponshouting asked: A phobia is a legitimate and serious mental issue, an irrational and, more importantly, not easily controled fear of something that is often in no way affected by whether or not the person is ignorant or knowledgeable in regards to the subject of their fear. A phobia affects the life of the person who suffers from it far more than it will ever affect the lives of those around them or even those...

thislgbtproject asked: I don't remember hearing about the controversy surrounding "homophobia" et cetera until you just posted about it, but I've started looking into it and from what I can tell the problem is that the word itself is appropriative of phobias.
Having issues with the LGBT+ community is not an actual fear, though fear tactics may be used in hate speech. It's just prejudice...

pandorasprings asked: this is the first i've heard of there being a problem with "homophobia" (besides straight people conolaining about it) but i think i can see why. I think many people believe "phobia" means only an irrational, debilitating fear. if that were true, then yes, perhaps using "homophobia" in all the ways we do would be offensive/ableist to the people who had...

theyhaveacavetroll-deactivated2 asked: I'm pretty sure your average Westboro Baptist Church member doesn't experience panic attacks at the thought of gay people..

iamwhoiamandidontgiveadamn-deac asked: There is a difference between fear and hatred. Most hatred is based on fear, but the word homophobia leaves it off at the fear. Heterocentricism seems more appropriate because it encompasses not only the hatred of non-heterosexual people, but also the assumption that all people are heterosexual unless otherwise stated. The media is the biggest perpetrator of this, like in womne's magazines...

itdoesdeath asked: I think that homophobia is an appropriate word. While those who preach hatred towards the LGBTQIA+ community aren't like, "gay people are scary," they clearly don't have any understanding of what it's like to be queer. People naturally fear what they don't understand, and that fear manifests itself in hatred/intense dislike, which is generally the context for using...

Anonymous asked: I feel like some people are just easily offended.. I don't understand how saying "homophobic" is offensive... It's a fact. It happens. There are homophobic people out there. It seems to me that lately people just keep picking apart everything you say trying to make it sound bad, taking it out of context, or putting meaning into it that isn't there. I just don't get...

There are many discussions going on (on tumblr)...

Can anyone rightfully justify this for me? Now, I know that there are other terms that one can use to describe ignorance/hatred towards the homosexual community, like ‘heterosexism’ - for example. But how does one justify the word ‘homophobia’ as ableist? I do not get it. The simple fact is: There are people in the world who fear the gay community. They are taught this...

Fighting NOM in N.H. →

California-based gay activist Fred Karger (pictured) has produced a marriage equality commercial for New Hampshire, a state the National Organization for Marriage is targeting in their efforts to end same-sex nuptials. The commercial, which began airing Thursday in the Granite State, aims to portray NOM as a hate group that helped overturn marriage equality in California and Maine by...

Family Research Council Condemns White House... →

The above link is taken directly from the Family Research Council’s website. The article is written by its leader Tony Perkins.

Ugandan lesbian’s asylum appeal rejected because... →

A lesbian asylum seeker who was granted a last minute reprieve from deportation to Uganda was rejected the right to remain in the UK because she didn’t own magazines or other literature relating to her sexuality it has been revealed. View Source at PinkNews.co.uk

Push for Change at Smithsonian →

Following last year’s scandal involving a gay artist’s video being pulled from the “Hide/Seek” exhibition (pictured) at the Smithsonian, a group is calling for reforms at the government-funded institution. Responding to complaints from Catholic groups and House speaker John Boehner, the Smithsonian pulled A Fire in My Belly, a video from late gay artist David...

Meet the Anti-Bullying Contest Grand Prize... →

Culhane: Analysis of today’s gay marriage decision... →

Victory: Belmont U Gives in to Protests Over... →

Early in December, I wrote about the Belmont University women’s soccer coach removed from her position after sharing the happy news with her players that she was expecting a baby — with the woman she loves. Coach Lisa Howe’s players were furious and rallied in her defense, but the Belmont University administration, which has also refused to recognize a student LGBT group on campus as going...

London anti-hate crime charity opens drop-in... →

London charity Galop is offering a new drop-in service for LGBT people affected by hate crime, discrimination and domestic abuse. The service will also offer LGBT people the chance to talk to a sexual abuse caseworker in confidence about incidents, whether recent or from childhood. View Source at PinkNews.co.uk

Ugandan gay activist’s funeral marred by protest →

[trigger warning: brutal homophobic murder] An anti-gay protester created a commotion at the funeral Friday for a prominent activist slain in Uganda, yelling out homophobic phrases that led to a scuffle with mourners attending the burial. Hundreds of people attended the services for David Kato, who was bludgeoned to death earlier this week at his home in Uganda’s capital. Police had to...

Hillary Clinton: Gay activist David Kato was... →

From the State Department: STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON Murder of Ugandan LGBT Activist David Kato We are profoundly saddened by the loss of Ugandan human rights defender David Kato, who was brutally murdered in his home near Kampala yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues. We urge Ugandan authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate and...

Tiara the Merch Girl: I'm starting to get really... →

tiaramerchgirl: …mainly because it seems a little too easy. Instead of engaging with points of view that are challenging to yours (or just even working from a very different perspective), instead of looking within yourself to see how you’re perpetuating and practicing discrimination and harm, all you have to do is pick out a word and go “Ableist! Classist! XYZist!” and dismiss the other...

theadfmstore asked: I know you have alot of followers, so please spread this important petition to all woman or just anybody! Let's stand up and fight for all gay women in Africa.

Here's the actual link.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_corrective_rape?fp

You can reblog mine or do your own.

nervation asked: Hi. In your recent post here http://projectqueer.tumblr.com/post/2999122168
you say to 'reblog like crazy'. Could you not say stuff like that? 'Crazy' is a slur. Thank you.

Gen. Amos, Command Sgt. Major Hill Say That... →

euphoriaplocephalus asked: [[[[I hope you won't mind posting this: It's important to get Queer info out!]]]]

Hey Everyone; My name is Sinia Rodriguez [http://euphoriaplocephalus.tumblr.com/] & I'm a co-chair for this years' Queer People of Color Conference, which is being held at UCR in April (8th-10th)!

The Theme for this year is Decolonize Your Mind.

We...

ESPN: On homophobia and recruiting →

Some women’s college basketball coaches use a subtle vocabulary to diss certain programs. But there’s no polite way to say this: Their homophobia is polluting the recruiting trail.

Make 10,000 Schools Safer for LGBTQA Youth →

Vote for GLSEN, please! The organization needs your help. There are only 4 days left to vote, and they’re in 3rd place. Only the top 2 ideas win. I know there are tons of LGBT-friendly people on tumblr, so this should be reblogged like crazy! :) Every vote counts and matters. GLSEN does amazing work — trying to make K-12 schools safe for everyone regardless of sexual orientation and...

Lesbian teens sue Minn. school over pep fest →

Two lesbian teens at Champlin Park High School have taken the state’s largest school district to federal court because they want a judge to force the district to allow them to make a political statement by making a high-profile entrance to a pep fest as a couple on Monday.

Discussion about Queer POC in Media [including... →

Report details past problems with former Michigan... →

Former Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell was warned about using state resources to launch anti-gay attacks on politicians two months before he began targeting the University of Michigan’s student body president, newly released documents show.

Iowa Senator Knows Political Price For Gay... →

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal says he’s willing to accept the reality that his decision to block a debate over same-sex marriage could cost him his leadership post or even his seat in the Legislature.

Md. Senate Republicans Opt For Conservative... →

In a state where a marriage equality bill has a chance of becoming law this year, Maryland Republicans on Friday selected a new senate minority leader after state senator Allan Kittleman, who deemed himself to be too socially moderate to represent his colleagues, stepped down from the post earlier this week. Senate Republicans appointed Sen. Nancy Jacobs for the position, which drew...