05/20/2013
David Cameron's marriage equality legislation faces a challenging series of votes in parliament today, the Guardian reports, the primary one coming from an amendment by Tory opponents to grant civil partnerships to heterosexual couples:
Maria Miller, the equalities minister, has warned that the entire gay marriage bill will be at risk of collapse if Tory opponents join forces with Labour MPs to vote in favour of granting civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.
In the strongest indication yet that Downing Street will shelve the bill if "fundamental" changes are made, Miller warned that opponents were in danger of giving the government a "headache".
The Guardian adds:
The government warned of three dangers to the bill if an amendment to grant civil partnerships to heterosexual couples is passed. It is being tabled by the former children's minister Tim Loughton who opposes gay marriage. A government source said the Loughton amendment would:
• Come with a price tag of £4bn. Steve Webb, the pensions minister, told parliament's joint committee on human rights last week that the state would be liable for new "survivors'" pension rights.
• Delay the introduction of the entire bill by 18 to 24 months because the government would need to work on the joint implementation of new rights for gay married couples and heterosexual couples in new civil partnerships.
• Complicate the government's argument that the changes are about strengthening the institution of marriage by opening it to all couples. "If you open up civil partnerships to opposite sex couples then the institution of marriage will be weakened," one
Posted May. 20,2013 at 7:38 AM EST by Andy Towle in David Cameron, Gay Marriage, News, United Kingdom |
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A worrisome moment at last night's Billboard Music Awards.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
Fortunately, the woman was okay, and in decent spirits backstage after the show.
Continue reading "Miguel Slams Woman's Head at Billboard Music Awards: VIDEO"
Posted May. 20,2013 at 7:29 AM EST by Andy Towle in Miguel, News |
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The killer of a gay man in NYC's Greenwich Village early Saturday has been charged, the WSJ reports:
Elliot Morales was charged with murder as a hate crime and weapons charges after he allegedly volleyed antigay slurs at Mark Carson before shooting him once, point blank, in the head, police said.
Mr. Morales, who has a criminal history that includes several stints of incarceration, was arraigned Sunday in Manhattan Criminal Court and remanded to prison. He wasn’t required to enter a plea. His court-appointed attorney couldn’t be reached for comment. Being charged with murder as hate crime means he could face a harsher sentence if convicted.
“It’s clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay,” New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during a news conference on Sunday. “There is no question about that. There were these derogatory remarks. The victim did nothing to antagonize or instigate the shooter in this case. It’s only done because the shooter believed him to be gay.”
Morales "laughed in hideous glee as he confessed," the NYDN reports.
As we noted yesterday, there is an anti-violence rally and march TONIGHT which begins at 5:30 pm at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (208 w. 13th Street), ending at the site of the murder on W. 8th street and Sixth Avenue.
Posted May. 20,2013 at 7:17 AM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, Mark Carson, New York, News |
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05/19/2013
In a new interview with ESPN, Brittney Griner has revealed that Baylor University head coach Kim Mulkey asked her to conceal the fact that she was gay and claimed that not doing so might jeopardize recruitment for the team.
ESPN reports:
In a series of interviews -- including one on camera Friday -- for an ESPN The Magazine and espnW.com story set to hit newsstands later this month, Griner said her silence during college was because Mulkey and her staff were concerned about the program's image.
"It was more of a unwritten law [to not discuss your sexuality] ... it was just kind of, like, one of those things, you know, just don't do it," Griner said Friday. "They kind of tried to make it, like, 'Why put your business out on the street like that?'"
But Griner reiterated on Friday that her sexuality was an open secret at Baylor.
"I told Coach [Mulkey] when she was recruiting me. I was like, 'I'm gay. I hope that's not a problem,' and she told me that it wasn't," Griner said. "I mean, my teammates knew, obviously they all knew. Everybody knew about it."
Watch the ESPN interview with Griner, in which she addresses the above, AFTER THE JUMP.
Continue reading "Brittney Griner Claims College Coach Told Her To Hide Sexuality"
Posted May. 19,2013 at 5:35 PM EST by Steve Pep in Brittney Griner, News, Sports, WNBA |
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Earlier this school year, Florida’s Sebastian River High School senior Kaitlyn Hunt began a relationship with a fellow classmate, a 15-year old girl. This past February, soon after her 18th birthday, she was arrested and charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12–16 years of age.
Hunt's parents claim the the family of their daughter's girlfriend has never approved of the same-sex relationship and has since made Hunt a target. According to The Examiner:
“They are out to destroy my daughter, because they feel like she ‘made’ their daughter gay. They see being gay as wrong and they blame my daughter. Of course, I see it 100% differently. I don’t see or label these girls as gay. They are teenagers in high school experimenting with their sexuality – with mutual consent. And even if their daughter is gay, who cares? She is still their daughter.”
The other girl's family has taken even more action against Hunt: "The girl’s family petitioned the school board and got Kaitilyn expelled from school, weeks before graduation. This decision was made in spite of a judge declaring she could continue to attend school as long as she didn’t have contact with the girl."
More from Opposing Views, who reports on a plea deal that Hunt has been offered:
Her mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, claims State Attorney Brian Workman offered her daughter a plea deal that she has until Friday to accept or face trial. The plea deal includes “two years house arrest and one year probation.”
Her father, Steven R. Hunt, said the school disapproved of the relationship from the beginning. Hunt reportedly had good grades and participated in cheerleading, chorus and basketball. She was voted “most school spirited.” But when she began dating another girl from the basketball team, her coach dropped her citing that the relationship would cause “drama.”
Hunt's family has started a petition on Change.org (which has so far netted over 36,000 signatures) as well as a Free Kate Facebook page.
Posted May. 19,2013 at 4:38 PM EST by Steve Pep in Florida, News |
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Game of Thrones set to end after its seventh season.
Jake Gyllenhaal strolls around SoHo in disguise.
A comic book about Stonewall will hits stands on the 44th anniversary of the riots. Watch a trailer here.
Singer and Daft Punk collaborator Romanthony dead at 46.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson might be done.
Neighbourhood Watch survey inquires whether responder is gay, bisexual or straight: "The questionnaire by West Midlands Police asked residents in Birmingham questions about their sexual orientation so they could help officers 'detect crime and anti-social behaviour.'"
80,000 expected to attend today's Long Beach Pride parade.
Pride communion celebrates marriage equality in Minnesota: "Revolution Church in Minneapolis served congregants rainbow-colored communion bread during its inaugural service last Sunday."
European Union asks Russia to not move forward with "gay propaganda" bill: "'The EU called on Russia to refrain from adopting federal legislation on ‘homosexual propaganda,’ which it believed could increase discrimination and violence against LGBTI individuals,' the EU said in a statement on its website. The statement referred to the results of a meeting on May 17 in Brussels between Russian and EU diplomats on human rights issues."
Yahoo will fork over $1.1 billion dollars for Tumblr.
Star Trek: Into Darkness has raked in over $84 million at the box office since it opened Wednesday.
Posted May. 19,2013 at 4:03 PM EST by Steve Pep in Gay Marriage, Jake Gyllenhaal, Minneapolis, Minnesota, News, Robert Pattinson, Russia, Star Trek, Stonewall, Tech |
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