New Documentary: Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church

Journalist Clay Cane has created a documentary about homophobia in the Black church.

It's called, Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church. Here's more:

Created and produced by Clay Cane, the BET.com original puts the narrative in the hands of Black LGBT people who are torn between their faith and the way they are treated by some churches. To find stories that are varied, passionate and inspiring, Cane traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where church and LGBT culture cross paths like nowhere else. With extraordinary access and without judgment, Cane and BET.com tackle this controversial but important issue through the journeys of those who are living it everyday, and whose stories prove we all deserve to be heard and loved.

Watch the trailer here

The American Foundation for Equal Rights shuts down!

All good things come to an end.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights was formed in 2009 to combat Prop 8. Now that we have marriage equality, the group closes its doors, but acknowledges that the fight continues.

From their FB page:

Together, we made history.

Nearly six years ago, the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) was created with the specific mission of arguing for marriage equality before the U.S. Supreme Court and to, while doing so, dramatically advance the American conversation on equality.

And we accomplished that … and so much more.
> We returned marriage equality to California—our nation's most populous state—and, later, to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

> With David Boies and Ted Olson as lead counsel, we smashed the partisan barrier that traditionally divided supporters and opponents of marriage equality. Namely, we brought prominent conservative voices to the debate and proved that marriage is not a partisan issue, but an American issue.

> We put equality on trial. For the first time ever, a federal court heard evidence as to why denying gay and lesbian Americans the right to marry is unconstitutional. And, more importantly, for the first time, we forced our opponents to make their best cases, under oath, as to why marriage bans based on fear and hatred should stand. And we shared that story with the world.

But, perhaps, most importantly, we drew a line in the sand. We demanded that every American—whether a regular citizen, an editorial board writer, a member of Congress, or a Supreme Court justice—not only listen to the stories of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo—the brave plaintiffs fighting for justice—but that they also take a side.

The results were extraordinary. We saw Americans nationwide stand up to support equal marriage. We saw it in the opinion pages of our newspapers. We saw senators scrambling to change their public positions. And we saw it from millions of ordinary people who proudly posted the “equal sign” logo of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as their Facebook profile pictures, and turned the Internet red.

Today, because of you—and the pioneering work of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Freedom to Marry, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)—this group of brave plaintiffs and legal teams have finished the work and won every American the right to marry who they love.

But, even as we celebrate this amazing milestone, please remember we’re going to have to work harder than ever before to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans have full federal equality—nothing more, and nothing less.

The fact is that in 31 states LGBT people have very few clear, consistent legal protections against discrimination. They are still at risk of being fired, denied a job, evicted, bullied, harassed, refused service, or denied access to credit because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Last week, leaders in Congress introduced the Equality Act—a comprehensive federal nondiscrimination bill that would guarantee critically needed protections to LGBT Americans, based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in the workplace, housing, public accommodations, lending practices, education, jury service, and the use of federal funds. With more than 200 cosponsors already, this essential legislation is starting off stronger than any pro-LGBT bill in history. 

Led by our co-founder and former chair, Chad Griffin, and the team at the Human Rights Campaign, this effort is being heralded as the next major fight for the LGBT community by both the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, and it is being backed by major corporate giants like American Airlines, Apple, Dow Chemical, General Mills, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, and Nike.

This is a bipartisan issue that is being backed by a super majority of the American people. Likely voters support workplace nondiscrimination protections by a massive 78% to 16% margin. This includes support from 64% (two-thirds) of Republican voters, and 70% of observant Christians. And David Boies and Ted Olson have spoken out about the critical importance of this effort.

So, while AFER may be closing its doors, we are dedicating all remaining resources to the ongoing battle for full equality. It’s going to take all of us to reach the finish line, and we hope you will continue on this journey with Chad and HRC as we turn our sights to securing comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination protections in this country and to ensuring lasting equality around the globe. (www.hrc.org)

There is much more history to be made. And we hope you will continue on this journey with us.

Gratefully,
Adam Umhoefer
Executive Director
The American Foundation for Equal Rights

Bryan Fischer: No Father Should 'Put His Son In Proximity To An Adult Homosexual'

Olivia Newton-John's Magic turns 35

35 years ago today, we were blessed with this wonderful song

WATCH the Deadpool Teaser Trailer

Darren Wilson speaks Out

There is an interesting article in The New Yorker about Darren Wilson, the former cop who killed Mike Brown in Ferguson last year. In this piece, Wilson talks about life after the shooting and how he's coping with it all. Here's a few snippets:

• Although Wilson recently bought the house, his name is not on the deed, and only a few friends know where he lives. He and his wife, Barb, who is thirty-seven, and also a former Ferguson cop, rarely linger in the front yard. Because of such precautions, Wilson has been leading a very quiet life. During the past year, a series of police killings of African-Americans across the country has inspired grief, outrage, protest, and acrimonious debate. For many Americans, this discussion, though painful, has been essential. Wilson has tried, with some success, to block it out.

• In The American Thinker, David Whitley wrote that Wilson “should be thanked and treated as a hero!” Supporters raised nearly half a million dollars on behalf of the Wilsons, allowing them to move, buy the new house, and pay their legal expenses. But, as Wilson knows, such support has only deepened the resentment of people who feel that he deserves punishment or, at the very least, reprimand.

• Wilson, a former Boy Scout with round cheeks and blue eyes, speaks with a muted drawl. When Barb went to the hospital to give birth, he said, “I made her check in anonymously.” Wilson said that he had interviewed for a few police positions but had been told that he would be a liability. “It’s too hot an issue, so it makes me unemployable,” he said. He tried not to brood about it: “I bottle everything up.”

There more, however, I wasn't a fan of this 'feel for him' story. Check it out and tell me what you think.

A Tweet To Think About

White privilege in one picture pic.twitter.com/nCqaxiHJgF

— #TheCoolestTweeter (@LesIzMore) August 2, 2015

Check Out Matt Baume's A Salute to Sissies

Interesting Quote: Scott Lively

How is it that a relatively tiny handful of homosexual activists, themselves representing less than 2% of our population, has managed in the same period of time to establish a reign of homo-fascism in the United States that has turned centuries-old American values upside down and has turned its large Christian plurality (if not majority) into criminals (if they dare to cling to the teachings of the Bible)?

Isn’t it true that one man with the flimsiest of plans could utterly defeat the abortion industry and the LGBT agenda in short order — if God backed Him? So why have virtually all our efforts failed?

It’s really pretty simple. The American church just doesn’t have God’s favor anymore.

The brutal truth is the church has lost the so-called culture war and is now under occupation, like the French under the Nazis, with nothing left to do but organize resistance and plot to overthrow the occupiers through a political revolt.

But those efforts are also guaranteed to fail if we don’t first answer the only question that really matters:

“Why don’t we have God’s favor?”

source

Happy Birthday, James Baldwin

Writer, poet, fighter, activist, leader, gay

James Baldwin was all these things and more. Such a powerful man