On the path that more than 100 students take each day to get to high school and a Boys & Girl’s Club in Casper, Wyoming, there is a sign that says “To be gay = death.”  Chris Trumbull is the man that put the sign on his property and says that they are not his words, rather they are those of the Lord.

It is his own take from Leviticus 20:13 which states “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own hands.”

The response from city officials has been that they cannot and should not remove the sign.

Read the full story…

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geordiemac_pics/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)

Anti-gay sign in Wyoming sign considered free speech by officials originally appeared on Gay Vantage on April 21, 2010.

The University of Notre Dame recently came under fire after a anti-gay comic appeared in its student run newspaper, The Observer.  The tasteless and inappropriate comic suggested that the solution to homosexuality is “a baseball bat.”

The school has since apologized and now Kara King, the assistant managing editor of the paper has resigned.  In her resignation letter, Ms. King writes that she is “solely responsible for providing a forum for this message of hate. I was the final one to check the paper that night, and am accountable for all of its content. I regret nothing more than the oversight that led to it and apologize for disgracing the paper with its printing. The comic does not reflect my views or those of The Observer in any way, and I cannot begin to quantify the humiliation in knowing that it is, ultimately, my fault.”

She also used her letter to call out the Catholic school for their lack of anti-discrimination policies for LGBT community, writing “If nothing else, the administration needs to use this instance to acknowledge that discrimination against the LGBT community is a very real problem and one that should not be tolerated. Adding sexuality to the non-discrimination clause and recognizing student groups who fight for these equal rights is overdue, and excuses for not doing so have been used for too long. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, but the University can join The Observer in taking the first steps towards remedying it.”

(via)
(Photo: mattindy77’s photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/netmonkey/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Editor of Notre Dame Student Newspaper Resigns Over Anti-Gay Comic originally appeared on Gay Vantage on January 18, 2010.

The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is asking Walt Disney Co. to adopt a policy and institute diversity training that would make discrimination against “ex-gays” a violation of company policy.

PFOX believes that gay people can become straight through prayer and therapy.  In August, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a statement saying that numerous studies have shown “that sexual orientation was unlikely to change due to efforts designed for this purpose.”

PFOX argues that Disney policies protect and support gays, lesbians and bisexuals, but not “ex-gays.”  An addendum filed with shareholders for Disney’s upcoming annual meeting says “ex-gays and their supporters are subject to an increasingly hostile environment because they live out or support a different view of homosexuality.”

Disney, which feels that it has adequate anti-discimination policies, is urging shareholders to vote against the proposal.  In the filing they respond that the company’s policies “provide broad and appropriate protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

(via)
(Photo: Express Monorail’s photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/expressmonorail/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ex-Gays Want Protection, Too! originally appeared on Gay Vantage on January 18, 2010.

Police in China shut down what was supposed to be the first Mr. Gay China pageant.  In the ongoing struggle for acceptance of homosexuality in China, event organizers said that they are not surprised that the police shut down the event.

An hour before showtime, eight police officers showed up at the upscale club in Beijing where the pageant was set to take place.  The event, hosted by a drag queen, was also to have a fashion show component.

Police told the organizers that they were shutting it down because they did not follow procedures for hosting such a show.  Similar events have been shut down by police in the past.

Read the full Associated Press story at Yahoo News

(Photo: kafka4prez’s photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/kafka4prez/ / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Police Shut Down First Mr. Gay China Pageant originally appeared on Gay Vantage on January 16, 2010.

After 50 years as partners, the Los Angles Police Department (LAPD) is severing ties with the Boy Scouts of America because of the youth groups policies that discriminate against LGBT youth and those that are atheist or agnostic.

The organizations have been partnered since 1962 under the Boy Scouts Explorers program, where scouts interested in law enforcement assist the department with crowd control, clerical work and other police tasks.

The Police Commission voted last month to sever ties because the Boy Scouts discriminatory practices violate the city’s non-discrimination policy.  It should be noted that Robert Saltzman is the LAPD’s police commissioner and serves in that position as an openly gay man.

In its place the LAPD will have a program that welcomes all youth.

(via)

(Photo: custom-logo-rugs.com)

LAPD Drops Boy Scouts Over Discrimination originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 28, 2009.

A report by LGBTmap.org outlines the gay rights movement from 2000 to 2009.

Highlights include:

• States outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation is up 83%, from 12 to 22
• Fortune 500 companies protecting employees based on sexual orientation is up 73%, from 51% to 83%
• States allowing gay marriage is up from 0 to 5
• States that do not allow marriage, but have limited relationship recognition laws is up 500%, from 1 to 6
• States blocking marriage through popular vote are up 500%, from 5 to 31
• Hate crimes are down but anti-LGBT murders are up
• HIV for men who have sex with men is up 10%
• Members of military discharged under DADT is down 50%
• Openly gay people elected to public positions is up 73%, from 257 to 445
• Percentage of people who believe homosexuality is morally acceptable is up 23%

Download the full 2 page report as a PDF.

Gay Rights Over the Last Decade originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 26, 2009.

Chai Feldblum, a respected professor of law at Georgetown and also President Obama’s nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), has been approved by the Senate health committee and will be moving on to full Senate vote.

Back in 2004, she outlined her strategy for strengthening and expanding gay rights:

“There is a war that needs to be fought and it’s not a war overseas where we’re killing people in the name of liberating them,” Feldblum said. “It is a war right here at home where we need to convince people that morality demands full equality for gay people.”

In 2006 Feldbulm signed a document that she is trying to distance herself from.  That document called for the recognition of all types of marriages, including those between three or more partners.

Feldbulm has also been criticized by the right for suggesting the sexual identity rights should always trump religious rights.

Needless to say, some Republicans may make her confirmation hearings quite interesting.

(Photo courtesy Georgetown University, Georgetown Law)

Obama EEOC Appointee Big on Gay Rights originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 21, 2009.

On December 4th we reported Chase’s decision to disqualify the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) — a group that exists to fight against gay marriage — from its Community Giving contest.

We are happy to report that Chase honored their word.  They’ve wittled the finalists down to 100 organizations that are sure to receive $25,000.  Now, each organization is working on submissions in hopes that they will win a $1 million prize.

See the finalists at the Chase Community Giving Facebook app.

Chase Bank Keeps Word on NOM originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 18, 2009.

Although two of the openly gay members in Congress predict that the House of Representatives will pass historic gay rights bills next year, they are not certain that the Senate will, too.

Speaking at the LGBT leadership conference that was recently held in San Francisco, U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Jared Polis (D-Colorado) said that they hope to get two of the three LGBT rights bills passed in the House and off to the Senate for vote by March. They expect that they will sail through the house but could become bottlenecked in the Senate where they may not have as much support.

The bills that they hope to pass are the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (EDNA), the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) and the extension of benefits to the domestic partners and spouses of LGBT federal civilian employees.

The worry is because in the House a bill can be passed by simple majority, whereas in the Senate any single member can put a hold on legislation.  There must then be 60 votes to override that hold or filibuster.

LGBT leaders, who are fed up with the delay in getting EDNA passed, issued this statement:

“There is absolutely no reason for Congress to continue to delay this non-controversial bill or drop LGBT issues to the bottom of their agenda.  We will not be denied our basic rights any longer.  Nothing is more important than protecting peoples’ jobs so EDNA must pass now.  Further delays are absolutely unacceptable.”

(via Edge)

Will Senate Block Gay Rights Bills? originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 14, 2009.

Buju Banton, a reggae star, has been getting a lot of attention lately; first from the Grammy’s, then GLAAD and now the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Banton was arrested by the DEA last Thursday and is currently being held in federal lockup in Miami on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

GLAAD recently criticized the Grammy’s — and started an online petition — after Banton was nominated for his ninth album, “Rasta Got Soul.”  In his earlier songs, Banton advocated violence against gay people.

(via ABC News)

Anti-Gay Reggae Star Arrested by DEA originally appeared on Gay Vantage on December 14, 2009.