Jack Thorne Comes Out

High school swimming star, Jack Thorne, who has two 4A state titles in the 100m backstroke and one state title in the 100m fly, with the Colorado 4A high school record in the 100m backstroke, has come out as gay hoping his story will help and inspire other gay athletes.

“I've spent months trying to figure out how to do this, when to do this and I've realized there's never going to be the perfect time to say what I want to say. But there's no time like the present.

I'm gay.

Some of you already know, and for some of you this may come as a surprise. Nothing has changed, I'm still the same Jack, the same Jack you race, the same Jack who you carpool with, the same Jack screaming for you on the side of the pool. This doesn't define me, I'm not gay Jack, I'm just Jack. Being gay happens to be one of many things that make me who I am, it's not what defines me and I won't let it define me.”

Welcome out, Jack. Being gay is not a definition of a person any more than being tall, or blue-eyed, or athletic. It’s just a piece of the puzzle of a person. But coming out as gay, that’s a big deal, and doing so in high school is an even greater source of pride.

Hopefully no one will define you as “the gay swimmer” but will instead think of you as a swimmer who is gay. It’s a subtle difference, yes, but it is a difference.

So, welcome out Jack, and please accept as our gift to you, from HOMO HQ, the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and your own copy of The Gay Agenda.

Welcome out.

Read Jack's Coming Out letter at OutSports

Five Things To Know About The Transgender Community

I will admit I don’t know a lot about transgender people; I will admit I often didn’t “get” it. But I’ve listened and I’ve learned and I’ve met some transgender folks along the way through this here blog thing; check out The Camouflaged Man, for example, for a little lesson in transgender and learn how everything from pronouns to shoes to haircuts and clothing and sexual attraction, same-sex or otherwise, become an issue.

I’ve also listened to, and watched, Chaz Bono’s journey, and the one point he made that always stuck with me is that gender is not between your legs, it’s between your ears. A certain set of genitalia does not necessarily mean that’s your gender.

And of course, we’ve all watched, and heard, the discourse on the T-word; I used to think it was okay, but now I’ve learned that many in the transgender community find it offensive so it’s scrubbed from my vocabulary. My thoughts? If the community to whom you are referring, the transgender community, the Black community, the gay community, find certain words — the T-word, the N-word, the F-word — offensive,. Then you don’t use them. Case closed, for me.

But I saw this quick little post on LGBTQ Nation, and figured maybe it might help to understand what it means to be transgendered for those of us who aren’t, those of us who are, and those of us who aren’t sure …

Here are five things to know about transgender America:

#1 WHO YOU ARE v WHOM YOU LOVE

Sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same thing. Sexual orientation refers to a person’s physical and emotional attractions to another person. Gender identity is a person’s strongly felt sense of being female, male or perhaps neither.

That’s why transgender rights advocates are pushing for nondiscrimination laws that cover both sexual orientation [gay, lesbian or bisexual] and gender identity [transgender]. Some transgender people also identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

#2 WATCH YOUR WORDS

Terminology is constantly evolving. Words once tossed around casually are now considered offensive. A recent campaign pushed TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to stop using the words “tranny” and “she-male.” [Drag queens, such as RuPaul, are not usually considered transgender because their act is based on performance, not innate identity.]

“Sex change” has fallen out of polite use for the medical treatments that some, but not all, transgender people undergo to bring their bodies into alignment with their identities. Until recently, “sex reassignment” was the favored alternative, but it is giving way to “gender reassignment” and “gender confirmation.”

#3 MANNERS MATTER

Katie Couric was called out in January after she pressed model Carmen Carrera for details about her gender transition and “private parts.” Such questions are considered rude and intrusive.

As Washington Post etiquette columnist Steven Petrow has noted, “It wouldn’t be appropriate to ask a non-transgender person about the appearance or status of their genitalia, so it isn’t appropriate to ask a transgender person that question either.” Asking transgender people what their names were before they transitioned is similarly considered ill-mannered, as is failing to make an effort to use the pronouns they prefer.

#4 BY THE NUMBERS

Transgender people make up 0.3 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to estimates by The Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA. In a 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, 11 percent of respondents reported having a close friend or relative who was transgender, compared with 58 percent who had a close relationship with someone who was gay or lesbian.

And transgender people, especially women, remain vulnerable to violence. Out of the 18 bias-related killings of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people documented by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs last year, 13 victims were transgender women.

#5 “T” TIME

“Orange is the New Black” co-star Laverne Cox’s made history this month with her debut as the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine. But several other people who identify as transgender have been in the limelight because of affiliations with other Time cover subjects.

During his boyhood in Indonesia, Obama’s nanny was a transgender woman who told The Associated Press two years ago that she did not dress as a woman around her young charge but that he “did see me trying on his mother’s lipstick, sometimes.”

When he was president, George W. Bush hosted a White House reunion for his former Yale classmates, including a transgender woman who had lived as a man when Bush knew her. Another guest told reporters that the president grabbed the classmate’s hand and exclaimed fondly, “Now you’ve come back as yourself.”

So, there you have it. Just a few rules, a few questions answered, but hey, if it makes the dialogue more clear, and makes the road to understanding a little easier to navigate, then it’s a good thing, right?

Architecture Wednesday: Pebble Beach Residence

Located in beautiful Pebble Beach, this classic Mid-Century Modern California home was stripped to the studs and the rafters and then redesigned around an open plan living area with central hearth, gourmet kitchen, and three bedrooms, each with private baths. The rear wall of the great room opens to create a beautiful indoor-outdoor setting for parties featuring an outdoor kitchen and dining area, fire pit, lounge area and hot tub.

And it can be yours for the low price--considering it's Pebble Beach, y'all--of $2.690 million.

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Update Central: Crsytal Moore, Frank Schaefer, Kristene Chapa

Earlier this week the people of Latta, South Carolina finally had their say about Mayor Earl Bullard’s firing of openly gay police chief, Crystal Moore, and they spoke loudly and clearly.

Moore was reinstated to her position and Earl Bullard, the mayor who fired her because she was gay — and because she questioned his ethics — was stripped of some of his powers. See my original post HERE.

The voters passed a referendum changing the governing structure of Latta from “mayor-strong” to “council-strong," which gives the town council the ability to rehire Moore, and while the ballots still must be certified by this Friday, the council plans to make the rehiring of Moore its first order of business.

Bullard, who has been mayor since December, started this whole mess back in April when he fired Moore after giving her seven reprimands. Moore maintained that she had done nothing wrong, and that the reprimands were the first she had received in 20 years. 

Shortly afterwards, though, a council member released a recorded phone call in which Bullard went on a homophobic tirade saying he preferred to leave his children with a raging alcoholic than with someone whose "lifestyle is questionable."

And the town, who long felt Moore was the best person, male or female, gay or straight, for the job, fought back, with hundreds of townspeople rallying for her reinstatement. Bullard denied that he fired Moore because of her sexual orientation, and there was no concrete proof — even though there was that damning phone call — that that was his motivation, but many people in Latta felt Moore's firing was personal.

Now she’s back, and the mayor is a little less powerful, all in a tiny town in, of all places, South Carolina.

UPDATE UPDATE ... via Bilerico ... 

In a desperate bid to thwart the will of the town council, Mayor Hubbard scrambled announced this morning that he's hired a new police chief before the council's vote could be certified. Stay tuned.

h/t to BloggerJoe.

via: HuffPost Gay Voices

Late last year, Frank Schaefer, a former Pennsylvania pastor was convicted of breaking church law when he officiated at the 2007 same-sex wedding ceremony of his son and his son’s partner. Schaefer’s son had asked him to perform the wedding — held not in a Methodist church but at a restaurant — and Schaefer did not publicize the wedding. The story came out in April 2013, when a member of the congregation learned of the ceremony and filed a complaint. See my original post HERE.

Now, however, a United Methodist Church appeals panel has overturned a decision to defrock Schaefer and the church has been ordered to restore his pastoral credentials. The panel called the jury’s punishment illegal under church law and said that “revoking his credentials cannot be squared with the well-established principle that our clergy can only be punished for what they have been convicted of doing in the past, not for what they may or may not do in the future.”

“I’ve devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me.”—Frank Schaefer, who says he will continue to work for LGBT rights “with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church.”

The ruling can be appealed to the Methodist church’s highest court, and the pastor who prosecuted Schaefer, the Reverend Christopher Fisher, said he has not made a decision about an appeal.

Hopefully Fisher has seen that the times are changing, and that the church, even the Methodist Church, needs to change as well. Otherwise, when the change does come, he’ll be seen as the pastor who stood on the wrong side of equality.

via: LGBTQ Nation

One night in 2012, girlfriends Mollie Olgin [right] and Kristene Chapa [left] went to Violet Andrews Park in Portland, Texas so Olgin could show Chapa were she’d been baptized. See my original post HERE.

They encountered someone who allegedly forced them down a steep incline, tied them up, and then shot each girl in the head. It wasn’t until morning that a couple out for a walk found the two girls; Mollie Olgin had died during the night but Kristene Chapa was alive.

The gunshot initially left Chapa unable to sit or stand, with the bullet piercing the part of her brain controlling movements on her left side. Thankfully, today, she has recovered those abilities though she is still undergoing physical rehabilitation.

Better news, though, is that a suspect in the case — David Malcolm Strickland [right] — was arrested last week by US Marshals and Texas Rangers in San Antonio; his wife, Laura Kimberly, was also arrested. Strickland faces charges of capital murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated sexual assault; his wife faces charges of tampering with evidence.

“I hope that it gives them some closure knowing that this person is taken off the street. It is one day before the two-year anniversary. We've been working very hard to make sure we get him as soon as possible. A series of fortunate events has led us to this point and I'm just very happy that we could help in — at least at this point — in bringing him to justice.”— Portland Police Chief Gary Giles

Nothing will bring back Ollie Olgin, and nothing will erase the memory of what happened that night to Kristene Chapa, but now, at least, the person responsible appears to have been arrested and will stand trial.

via: NBC News

Presbyterians Vote For Marriage Equality By 3-to-1 Margin

Last week the Presbyterian Church of the United States [PCUSA] voted to allow same-sex weddings to be performed inside their churches, making them on of the largest Christian denominations to allow its entire congregation equality.

And it wasn’t one of those, Oooh, narrow victory kind of voted either; it was passed by a 76% to 24% vote—meaning nearly three times as many members stand for equality as don’t. In addition, naturally, the General Assembly also made it clear that they will take no issue with any pastor in their ranks who chooses to perform a same-sex wedding in states where they are legal, and delegates approved new language about marriage in the church’s Book of Order altering references to “a man and woman” to “two persons.”

Now, to make this queer, the change will not become church law until a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries vote to ratify the new language, but given that this vote was 3-to-1 for approval, it seems approval is expected.

The Presbyterian Lay Committee, which opposes same-sex marriage, urged congregations to launch a financial boycott out of protest:

“The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them. … You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions. … God will not be mocked, and those who substitute their own felt desires for God’s unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God.”

In other words, those folks who believe that everyone is equal both in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of their God, might be going to Hell because they approve same-sex marriage, but my feeling is that if The Gays and The Gay Allies are all going to Hell because we believe in equality, then Hell might be the best party ever!

Congratulations to the PCUSA and let’s hope that, as this vote is spread throughout the churches in this country that the vote for equality stays strong.

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The Stuff Of Nightmares ... At Least Mine

American Ends Up Trapped in Giant Vagina

Yes, that’s the headline and I’m still shuddering. I mean, sure, for some of you it might be heaven, but for me it’s a place I’ve never been and hope to never visit, like Oklahoma.

But last week in Germany, an American exchange student — his name ALLEGEDLY withheld out of embarrassment — found himself in need of rescuing when he became trapped inside a giant vagina … sculpture. Apparently he tried to climb inside it, and apparently he’s a straight young man because, well, gay men, and got himself stuck.

A total of 22 rescue workers with special equipment were deployed to the scene to birth the young man from the vagina with their bare hands.

I’m still sh-sh-sh-aking just writing about it.

via NBC News

Asshat of the Week: ExxonMobil

Last week President Obama announced that he will soon issue an executive order extending essential workplace protections to the LGBT employees of federal contractors, and suddenly everyone was eyeing ExxonMobil Corporation — a Fortune 100 corporation and one of the nation’s largest federal contractors.

See, ExxonMobil has — for the last nearly twenty years — resisted instituting non-discrimination protections for its LGBT employees, even though most other Fortune 500 companies treat these kinds of protections—like not being fired just because you’re an L, a G, a B, or a T — as a rule of thumb. So, folks were wondering what ExxonMobil was going to do in the face of Obama’s announcement and it turns out that they’ve decided to lie.

In a statement ExxonMobil is now claiming it has “a longstanding policy that strictly prohibits any form of discrimination by or toward employees, contractors, suppliers and customers in any ExxonMobil workplace. Our global, zero-tolerance policy applies to all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Lie.Lie.Lie.

Human Rights Campaign [HRC] Vice President for Communications Fred Sainz:

“Put bluntly, this statement is a lie. ExxonMobil’s Equal Employment and Opportunity Policy has clearly and consistently omitted enumerated LGBT non-discrimination protections for its personnel. Though their statement sounds like it’s taking a very progressive stand, it is in fact a master class in doublespeak — crafted, no doubt, by a team of well-paid lawyers. Until a nondiscrimination policy is enumerated, it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.” 

Let’s go back to facts, something ExxonMobil thinks they can hide: in the last 17 years, ExxonMobil’s shareholders have voted 17 times to kill non-discrimination protections for ExxonMobil’s LGBT personnel — and did it again last month.

And let’s go back further, because when Exxon merged with Mobil in 1999, the newly formed company immediately rescinded domestic partner benefits that had previously been offered to Mobil’s LGBT employees.

In fact, ExxonMobil’s blatant disregard for its LGBT employees has earned it the only negative score in the 12 year history of HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. 

Asshats trying to rewrite history, to rewrite lies. I mean, rather than, say, oh I dunno, change their minds after all these years, they’re simply going to lie about policies they do not have in place.

ExxonMobil does not now, nor has it since merging ion 1999, given a rat’s ass about the LGBT community and I think, if you don’t already, we should return the favor.

source: HRC

From The Delusional File

At the sparsely-attended March for Marriage march in Washington last week, National Organization for Marriage [NOM] president and Delusional-in-Chief, Brian Brown really took to some word-twisting, er, paraphrasing, er, plagiarizing,, er, stealing, when he said:

"We know that some day, whether it's one year, ten years, twenty years, or decades from now, people will look back at this time and remember those of us who stood up for the truth."

I’m pondering what the ‘truth’ might be? That Brown is a secretly self-loathing gay man who has created this behemoth of bigotry to keep his little secret?

Or … he’s just delusional.

Not to be outdone, however, Gary Bauer, a former failed presidential candidate from the party of WTF, as well as president and Delusional-in-Chief of the Family Research Council, spoke at the Road to Majority summit today about President Obama's "secular" political agenda. He said Obama is "obsessed with this [gay rights agenda]" and he has threatened to drop aid to "third-world countries...if they don't adopt his views", like imposing sanctions on Uganda for human rights abuses, but it was when he said this that he crossed the line from crazy to downright delusional:

"He's repealed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' for homosexuals and replaced it with 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' for Christians! … If Obama succeeds in turning us into a secular, humanist nation, ripping us out of our Judeo-Christian roots, then the country, the republic will be destroyed."

God will smite us all, where, maybe I guess just the Christians, because Obama, and let us not forget, the majority of Americans now, believe in marriage equality. meanwhile i'm still trying to find the Christians who are being told not to talk about being Christian.

And lastly we have Jeremy Schwab, the ‘ex-gay’ Texas Republican delegate behind the party’s “Reparative Therapy” plank, who is speaking out — because the crazies love to be heard — saying he’s surprised with all the media coverage of the issue:

"There are counselors out there who help us overcome same-sex attraction by finding need fulfillment in other ways in our lives and by addressing emotional wounds, and that has reduced the same-sex attraction significantly."

Schwab says he was way gay for twelve years, but learned to suppress, he uses the word reduce, his homosexual attractions though prayer, counseling and emotional healing but he’s not fond of calling it reparative therapy because it isn’t about “repairing” anyone who’s broken.

It’s just brainwashing someone, though prayer and counseling and emotional healing, to think they are something that they are not. Jeremy Schwab is not an ‘ex’ gay; he’s a self-loathing gay man who is so afraid of living his truth that he’s chosen the path of the lie.

Or of the delusion. 

WTF? Lindsay Lohan ... Again

Y'all remember JLo in this dress from the 2000 Grammys, right? I mean, it was a statement dress, to be sure, though some felt the statement was high-class callgirl.

Well, leave it to Lohan ... Lindsay Lohan.

In 2014, wearing some Forever 21 looking knockoff of the JLo dress, cut up to there, littered with glitter, and clad in hooker heels.

High-class callgirl? Low-rent ho.

Asshats Of The Day Week Month Year Decade Century: The GOP

Remember that day back in 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center, when President George W. Bush stood before the nation and held up an old timey Wanted: Dead or Alive picture of Osama bin Laden and told us we’d hunt him down to the ends of the Earth and then didn’t?

The Republicans don’t remember that, either, because even after bin Laden was captured on President Obama’s watch they tried to say it was a victory for Bush.

And remember when President George W. Bush — draft-dodging George W. Bush — flew a fighter plane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier at sea in 2003 and proclaimed the war in Iraq was over even though the fighting went on and on for years and years after?

The Republicans don’t remember either, and now, with a new crisis in the Middle East their laying the blame for all that at the feet of Obama.

But what galls me most about this group of whiners and do-nothings and asshats is that now, after how many months of their phony Benghazi hearings and months of their fake Benghazi theories and scandals — created only in an attempt to make the President look bad — how is that now, under Obama’s watch, again, when the senior leader of the Benghazi terror branch, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was captured, the GOP only whines about how long it took, how it seems a little too convenient, and how it’s just a ruse, a distraction, to take our minds off all those other scandals that the GOP rails about instead of doing the jobs for which they were elected.

Remember when the Republicans criticized President Obama as being weak on radical Islamic extremists for his “failure” to apprehend the suspects in the embassy attack? Remember when then-presidential failure Mittsy Romney said Obama was weak on terrorism?

Well, they don’t remember that either, because now, in the manner of Mittsy that will forever be known as The Flip-Flop, the GOP doesn’t think that the capture of  Khattala should detract us, and by us I mean them, the GOP, from their now nearly six-year struggle to bring down the President.

See, now the GOP, and its lapdog FoxNews, is saying that the capture of this terrorist was orchestrated simply to take our minds off the IRS mess … or Hillary running for president … or because Obama wants to boost his approval ratings.

Seriously, GOP?

Fox News has a theory that the capture occurred because Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and perhaps the next President of the United States, is on a book tour. Yes, Fox News said this was done to make Hillary look good; on their program ‘Outnumbered’ the host said:

“You have a former Secretary of State who is in the middle of a high profile book tour, I think this is convenient for her to shift the talking points to some of the things she has been discussing.”

Yup, we captured a terrorist to get Hillary’s book to the top spot on a Best Sellers List.

Even has-been Eric Cantor, just before the door hit him where the Good lord split him, released a statement through his spokesman saying:

“While it’s great to see they caught the Benghazi suspect, it’s important to remember, he wasn’t really hiding.”

Seriously GOP? But they must be serious because the rest of the party took to Twitter to test their theories as to why Obama let this terrorist roam the world before capturing him at this most opportune moment, Chief wingnut in the asshat parade, Allen West, a Teabagger who can’t get elected and can’t shut up, Tweeted this:

Then former Representative and deadbeat dad, Joe Walsh chimed in:

And, of course, South Carolina’s own Lindsey Graham, who’s done nothing while in office but kvetch about Obama, added his two-cents — though I think he’s overcharging us — by saying:

Then, as if on cue, Rush Limbaugh set down his bottle of prescription meds to imply that this was all too coinky-dinky and so it must not be right:

“Isn’t it an amazing, timely coincidence here that they have found a militia leader of the Benghazi attack and they’ve arrested him? So I guess the video really wasn’t to blame. Because the guy that did the video is in jail, he’s who knows where anymore. Remember the video made these guys do it, so whoever did this really can’t be blamed. They were just incited by this video. But all of a sudden we’ve got the militia leader. But isn’t it fortunate that President Obama get a headline using the US military when he really needs one.”

Seriously GOP? The terror suspect was captured and you found a way to twist that into yet another scandal, another cover-up, another falsehood, in order to make the President look bad?

Stop already. And though I know none of you can stand Harry Reid, maybe take a page out of his book, just this once, and then go back to be the Party Of Loons, again:

"It doesn’t matter what your ideology is, you should feel good about this. There’s no conspiracy here, this is actual news. But the reaction of some of the Republicans, I’ve been told, is to downplay and insult the brave men and women of our special forces and the FBI….They’re insulting these good men and women who did some courageous things, heroic things, in order to criticize President Obama. I think they’ve lost touch with reality; it’s really pathetic, there’s no other word for it."

Think, as Reid suggests, about the men and women who captured Khattala, who risked their lives to do their jobs, and stop using this as another feeble attempt to attack the President.

Unless you like being the Asshat Party …

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The Funny Papers