Barbara Walters Wins GLAAD Award By Rex Wockner - SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES - March 2008

SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES - [on March 17, 2008]

Barbara Walters won an award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation March 17 at the New York edition of the media-watchdog group’s annual ceremonies. Walters was honored for her 20/20 story “My Secret Self: A Story of Transgender Children.” She said the award meant more to her than “all the Emmys” she has received. Read more [aired 4/25/07]

Reuters [on March 17, 2008]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Television journalist Barbara Walters was honored by the gay media watchdog group GLAAD on Monday for her reporting on transgender children and she said the award was among the most important she had even received.

"You can forget all the Emmys," Walters said in accepting the award for television newsmagazine journalism at the 19th annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards. "This means more to me." Photo

The veteran television personality won for the story "My Secret Self: A Story of Transgender Children," which aired on ABC's "20/20" [aired 4/25/07] and examined the lives and struggles of young children who experienced conflicted gender identity, feeling their true sex was the opposite of their physical one. Read more Reuters

Related link

Barbara Walters on transgender children - Advocate.com

Harvey Milk, Billie Jean King given 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom By Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief, 365gay.com

(Washington) President Barack Obama today named gay civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk and tennis great (and open lesbian) Billie Jean King as two of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Read more 365gay.com

THE WHITE HOUSE



Office of the Press Secretary

____________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 30, 2009

President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients
16 Agents of Change to Receive Top Civilian Honor

WASHINGTON - President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

This year’s awardees were chosen for their work as agents of change. Among their many accomplishments in fields ranging from sports and art to science and medicine to politics and public policy, these men and women have changed the world for the better. They have blazed trails and broken down barriers. They have discovered new theories, launched new initiatives, and opened minds to new possibilities.

President Obama said, "These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments span fields from science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs. Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way.

"Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive. It is my great honor to award them the Medal of Freedom."

President Obama will present the awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, August 12.

The following individuals will receive the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom: Click here to see full listing.

Billie Jean King
 Billie Jean King was an acclaimed professional tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s, and has helped champion gender equality issues not only in sports, but in all areas of public life. King beat Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, then the most viewed tennis match in history. King became one of the first openly lesbian major sports figures in America when she came out in 1981. Following her professional tennis career, King became the first woman commissioner in professional sports when she co-founded and led the World Team Tennis (WTT) League. The U.S. Tennis Association named the National Tennis Center, where the US Open is played, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006. Photo

Harvey Milk
 - Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve social equality. Milk, alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor. Milk is revered nationally and globally as a pioneer of the LGBT civil rights movement for his exceptional leadership and dedication to equal rights. Photo

Read more THE WHITE HOUSE



www.whitehouse.gov

Despite what Church Says, Many Catholics Support Same-Sex Marriage - BY MICHAEL A. JONES – Gay Rights

It's no secret that the institutional Catholic Church thinks that marriage equality is a sign of the end of days. Witness the activism of the Catholic Church in Maine to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians, or the outspokenness of Catholic politicos like Rick Santorum (who just this week sent out an appeal message for the National Organization for Marriage).

But here's the funny thing: despite what the institutional Church - the bishops, the Pope, the talking heads that get themselves on TV - says about same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, Catholics themselves as a whole seem to favor equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks. The proof?

A religious scholar, Mark Silk, who took a Columbia University study examining support for same-sex marriage, and meshed it with a study analyzing religious identification. When the two data sets are merged, one thing becomes clear. Here's the juice, according to Silk:

Six of the eight states where 50 percent or more of the public supports gay marriage are the states with the highest proportion of Catholics, ranging from Rhode Island at 46 percent to New York and California at 37 percent.

Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today has this to say about the weird dichotomy at play here, between an institutional Church adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage, and a flock of followers who think that marriage equality is just another item in a line of civil rights due LGBT folks.

The bishops have campaigned long, loudly and clearly against same-sex marriage but the Catholic Church also offers a pervasive message of social justice, an umbrella many liberal Catholics stand under when they argue for marriage equality or life issues such as abortion, contraception and end-of-life decisions. Photo

Read complete article & Learn more by MICHAEL A. JONES

Michael Jones
Communications Director
Human Rights Program
Harvard Law School

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Charges Dropped Against Salt Lake City Kissers - by Timothy Kincaid – Box Turtle Bulletin

Revised 8/20/09 2:08:19 GMT

Prosecutors will not pursue charges against Derek Jones and Matt Aune, the gay couple cited for trespassing in a public plaza after being confronted by Mormon Church security guards for giving a kiss on the cheek.

Apparently, the Mormon Church decided that it was not the Christian thing to do to try and use the legal system to punish this couple for a chaste kiss. Oh, wait. That isn’t why. The Mormon Church was all for civil punishment.

It turns out that the prosecutor found that the church had not adequately noted the terms under which people could cross the plaza nor adequately let the public know that this plaza was not really public property. That can happen when you blur the line between church and state. (Salt Lake Tribune) Read complete article and more by Timothy Kincaid – Box Turtle Bulletin

Anything Goes – Cole Porter - Tony Awards Photo 289

Patti Lupone funny 4,561

Times have changed, * And we've often rewound the clock, * Since the Puritans got a shock, * When they landed on Plymouth Rock. * If today, * Any shock they should try to stem,* 'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock, * Plymouth Rock would land on them. * In olden days a glimpse of stocking * Was looked on as something shocking, * But now, God knows, * Anything Goes. *

Good authors too who once knew better words, * Now only use four letter words * Writing prose, Anything Goes.*

The world has gone mad today * And good's bad today, * And black's white today, * And day's night today, * When most guys today * That women prize today * Are just silly gigolos * And though I'm not a great romancer * I know that I'm bound to answer * When you propose, * Anything goes More

Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration, 1988.

Madeline Kahn - You'd Be Surprised! 49,970 "He's not so good in the house, but on a bench in the park, you'd be surprised." - written by Irving Berlin in 1919

Sondheim - A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1992 Concert Cast) by Stephen Sondheim

Madeline Kahn "Getting Married Today" - Company

Night Fever - Adam Garcia 1998112,212

Olympic Games in Sydney 2000

Adam Garcia - Olympic Opening Ceremony 43,258

United Nations: First Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organization from the Global South to Gain Consultative Status

07/28/2009


For Immediate Release 
(Geneva, July 27, 2009) The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) granted consultative status today to the Brazilian Federation of LGBT Groups (Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas e Transgêneros, ABGLT), the first LGBT organization from the Southern Hemisphere to receive it, a coalition of human rights organizations said today.

“This is a victory for the human rights of LGBT people,” said Toni Reis, president of ABGLT, who thanked the Brazilian Government for their support, and the other countries that voted for ABGLT. He added that ABGLT will fight for the rights of LGBT people globally, including in the 80 countries where consenting same-sex relations between adults are still a crime, in seven of them the punishment being the death penalty. “We greatly appreciate the support of the Brazilian government, which was fundamental in this process,” added Alexandre Böer, of Somos a member group of ABGLT. “The strong statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of all Mercosur and Associated States also underlined that this is viewed as a fundamental human rights issue throughout the region.”

Consultative status is a key means for civil society to access the UN system. It allows non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver oral and written reports at UN meetings, and to organize events on UN premises. With it, LGBT NGOs are able to share information and analysis of the abuses and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity taking place around the world.

ECOSOC, consisting of 54 member states of the UN, grants consultative status to NGOs after reviewing recommendations made by its subsidiary body—the NGO Committee—which screens the applications. At its July session in Geneva today, the ECOSOC voted to overturn a negative recommendation by the NGO Committee, and granted UN consultative status to ABGLT by a vote of 25 to 12, with 13 abstentions. A list of the States’ votes at the current ECOSOC session is included below.

“We congratulate ABGLT for obtaining ECOSOC accreditation. Particularly significant is that support for NGOs working to address human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity continues to increase,” stated John Fisher from ARC International, who coordinated lobbying at the ECOSOC session in Geneva. “This is the largest margin of victory ever for an LGBT NGO seeking ECOSOC accreditation. Today’s decision confirms that human rights concerns related to sexual orientation and gender identity fall squarely within the mandate of the United Nations, and must be addressed by all States.”

“All NGOs should be given the chance to participate in the UN debate, without discrimination,” said Adrian Coman from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, who supported the ABGLT representative at the NGO Committee sessions.

ABGLT Brazil joins over 3,000 other NGOs with consultative status at the UN. However, only a handful of LGBT groups have received the status. In recent years, some states have treated LGBT groups’ applications with intense hostility. With the exception of COC Netherlands, ECOSOC has only granted such groups consultative status after first overturning negative recommendations from its NGO Committee. ECOSOC approved the Danish National Association for Gay and Lesbians (LBL), the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe), and the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD) in December 2006. The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Québec (CGQL) and the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) gained consultative status in July 2007. COC Netherlands and the Spanish Federation of LGBT Groups (FEGLT) were granted the status in July 2008. The US-based International Wages Due Lesbians and Australian-based Coalition of Activist Lesbians have had consultative status at the UN for more than a decade.

In 2010, the NGO Committee is due to review applications from other LGBT groups, including Lestime and LOS, both from Switzerland, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which were deferred from prior sessions. Read more

Photo - Brazilian Federation of LGBT Groups (Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas e Transgêneros, ABGLT) is the first LGBT organization from the Southern Hemisphere to receive consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council.

Activists congratulate ABGLT after ECOSOC vote. Left to Right: Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota (Brazilian Mission to the UN), Alexandre Boer (ABGLT), Rodrigo Cardoso (Brazilian Mission to the UN), John Fisher (ARC International). [photo credit: Yuvraj Joshi]

For more information please contact:

Alexandre Böer and Toni Reis (ABGLT): +55-51-8125-7536 alexandreboer@somos.org.br - presidencia@abglt.org.br

John Fisher (ARC International, in Geneva): +41-79-508-3968 - john@arc-international.net

Adrian Coman (IGLHRC, in New York): +1 (212) 430-6014 - acoman@iglhrc.org

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

"The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living" - Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC) - Kids are being hurt!!!

Revised – Thursday, July 30, 2009, 13:41:15 GMT

Thalamus Center

By Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

Important note: I mean no disrespect to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children. Kids are being hurt!!!

As, a priest, I was always worried about preaching whether I was helping in the smallest way helping people to become better or whether I was making them crazy. I would tell people from the pulpit that it was like raising kids, “Parents always worry whether they are making their kids better or making them crazy.” I would go on to say that “…in the end, it really doesn’t matter much what the parents do, because when their kids turn teenagers they will say that their parents made them crazy.”

I am one of the middle generation of the baby bloomers. Meaning growing up, for me, was always in the midst of tons of kids born before me and tons born after me. Families, neighborhoods and schools were flooded with kids and raising kids was of prime importance, maybe for the sake of survival for parents, for everyone, because we were like swarming locust covering the entire land. I believe that our parents were truly focused on making this a better world for their children and did their best for us kids. Growing up out of this social environment of the 1950’s and 1960’s I guess I have that same kind of concern about caring for kids and people ingrained in me. This is especially true growing up in a city like Grand Rapids, Michigan.

So, when I was ordained, I was worried about doing my best not to harm anyone. Psychology has been a passion of mine as far back as I can remember, even in the first grade. I always wanted to know what makes people tick, why do they do, what they do. This passion of mine was in part due to my growing up gay, which I was not conscious of at that time. So, when your natural sexual orientation growing up is not acceptable to others, as a child for survival sake, a child will try to learn quickly how to act in a way that will be acceptable. Because the biggest fear for a child is being abandoned. The threat of being abandoned for a child can be overwhelming, even traumatizing depending on kind and degree of abandonment.

J.K. Rowling speaks about how people block out huge sections of their childhood years, which were most unpleasant and then will say that their childhood years were wonderful. Ms. Rowling will challenge these adults by reminding them of some of the most unpleasant things that happened to them and even then they will say that their childhood years were wonderful. People forget the unpleasant memories, but she states that her brain does not let her forget. Our entire lives are significantly shaped by what happens to us in our early childhood years, which most people forget. However, in our adults lives we tend to be constantly trying to unconsciously resolved issues that were troubling for us growing up. This oftens prevents us from truly living our lives, which not only impacts our own personal lives but many others in our lives. 13,645

I had been in years of Catholic psychotherapy; because of the problems I had growing up gay, due to the psychological harm of the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings. I was concerned about not harming others by my preaching and this was another reason why I continued in psychotherapy and due to the fact that Catholic psychotherapy was heavily influenced by the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings. In these years of psychotherapy, studying psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan and then changing to psychotherapy not influenced by the Vatican unsubstantiated antigay teachings, I vividly and thoroughly examined my early childhood years. And it is in this way I can see so clearly the harm that the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings has on children in early childhood psychological developmental years growing up. It freed me from the past-unresolved problems and to truly begin growing and living my life. However, without the influence of the unsubstantiated Vatican’s antigay teachings I would have begun to truly living my life over some 50 years before and have avoided wasting decades of my life and not had to have been in any psychotherapy. No child should ever have to experience this kind of harm and wasting most of their lives trying resolve these issues caused by the influence of the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings. "Kids are being hurt!!!

Presently, there are no civil laws to protect children growing up or for receiving compensation for the harm inflicited on children by the influence of the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings.

The Needless Early Childhood Hardships Caused by The Vatican’s Unsubstantiated Antigay Teachings.

If being gay was not considered such an abhorrent evil, published by going to hell, a social disgrace, I would have learn that I was gay at an early age. This would have significantly improved my early childhood years growing up. It would have eliminated years of conflict and tension between my older brother and me.

My older brother by 3 years is a heterosexual and would be classified growing as all boy. He loved and played any and all sports. And he was good at everything he did. Me, I could not throw a ball to save my soul, although, I desperately tried to because I wanted to be just like my big older brother who idealized. And even though, my brother patiently practiced endlessly with me, I could not do it. He became frustrated and upset with me calling me all the stereotypical names about being gay, which hurt me deeply and forever. He was hurt by my inability and clumsiness at sports. He thought I wasn’t trying that I didn’t care about him, he felt rejected, abandoned and used by me. He didn’t know how bad I felt that I couldn’t be like my older brother and how that was so devastating to me that I was such disappointment to him. This started a needless separation and conflict between us that lasted throughout our growing up years.

When I was just about 3 years old, I slept in the same bed with my brother, who was 3 years older. This likely happened when my twin brothers were born. I can remember being thrill to sleep with my older brother. I could snuggle up next to him and would feel safe and secure all through the night. When he started school and my mother would wake him up to get ready to go, I would cry without end. It seemed like I cried all day until he came home. I was inseparable from my brother. But as we grew up my brother started to push me away, because at school, I didn’t know how embarrassing it was to have your younger brother always with you. It would not have been so bad if I could throw a ball. This is likely the reason why my brother tried so hard to teach me sports and why he felt hurt by my lack of improvement.

Had being gay been socially and religiously acceptable and understood by the adults in my life growing up, it would have prevented years of frustration and conflict between my brother and me. I would not have been put in the same bed with my brother. My attraction for my brother would have been understood and explained to me that my brother is "straight" and that I was "gay." I would have been told that some day I could meet someone like my older brother who is gay and I could marry him. It would have been explained to my older brother that I was gay, which would have saved a lot of hurt feelings, hurt feelings that either of us, including my parents understood. There would have been enormous improvements made for my entire family and me had being gay was understood correctly and accepted.

This does not even begin to explain the unending traumatic, humiliating, confusing and isolating experiences that I and others like me had growing up through puberty having an unidentified attraction for other boys. Only, knowing that something must be terribly wrong with the way I was made. In more extreme cases, this may begin to explained why some people who are so obsessively speaking out publicly against "gays" only to be exposed themselves publicly in a samesex sexual encounter, because their samesex attraction was never identified. This is not the experience of all gay people growing up; it seems to be for only those who grow up in more extreme antigay social and religious environments.

Revised – Thursday, July 30, 2009, 13:41:15 GMT

To be continued...

Photo

Queers United Protest Dr. Phil Continues Anti-Queer Crusade by Picking on "Gender Confused Kids"

Posted by Kelli Busey on July 27, 2009 at 11:26am

View Kelli Busey's blog

Please check out Queers United Dr. Phil Continues Anti-Queer Crusade by Picking on "Gender Confuse... Our campaign to get Dr. Phil to stop his anti gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender programming has been going on for several months. His shows continually promote topics such as "gender confusion", "rebellious bisexuals" and "discussion on ex-gay therapy".

Hundreds of people through this blog [Queers United] have joined in demanding Dr. Phil stop this anti-queer programming. Nonetheless this Wednesday July 29th another transphobic show is set to air titled "Gender-Confused Kids" Read more

Queers United Protest Dr. Phil Continues Anti-Queer Crusade by Picking on "Gender Confused Kids"

Please check out Queers United Dr. Phil Continues Anti-Queer Crusade by Picking on "Gender Confused Kids" Our campaign to get Dr. Phil to stop his anti gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transg… Continue

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