White House says Equality Act under review - WATCH

The Equality Act would be a broad sweep of equality for us. However, there's a lot of pieces that keeps this act at bay. During a press conference, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke about the Equality Act.

Washington Blade reports:

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Equality Act, which would amend existing areas of civil rights law to include gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, is still under review by the administration. Earnest made the remarks during a routine news briefing when the Washington Blade asked if he’s ready to announce President Obama endorses the Equality Act after positive comments from Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, and Biden, who’s considering a presidential bid. “I’m not prepared to say that yet,” Earnest said. “This is a piece of legislation that the White House does continue to review. There’s significant consequences to this bill going into effect. It has an impact on housing law and a variety of other policies in the federal government, so it’s something that’s still being carefully reviewed by the administration.”

Watch

Bishop Harry Jackson thinks he has Mystical Powers to Curse Newspapers

The fake Christ Leader just told a whopper. In one of his sermons, he claimed to have cursed the downfall of a gay newspaper.

Harry said:

"One night I walked past one of those newsstands. As I was walking past it, I looked at that newsstand and they had some article about same-sex marriage and all that blasphemous stuff. And I laid hands on that newsstand and I said, 'In the name of Jesus, I CURSE THIS PAPER!' Less than two months, that paper went bankrupt. It was part of a six-newspaper chain! It went bankrupt! It went out of business! IT WENT UNDER! It did!"

That paper is the Washington Blade, which is STILL in business! I guess he thinks people don't google. Oh well, another day in crazy ass preacher world.

And if you want to hear this mess, go over to Good As You blog for the audio.

Showtime Synergy! Washington Blade is DC Agenda

The Jemstar earrings has saved Washington Blade from oblivion.

They are now, DC Agenda. Here's their mission statement:

Don’t judge us too harshly — the edition of DC Agenda you’re holding is a modest, early iteration of what we hope to achieve in the wake of Washington Blade’s sudden closing this week.

The news that parent company Window Media was shuttering and liquidating its newspapers came as a shock to the staff, some of whom devoted their careers to the paper that became an institution. We were ushered out the doors of our offices with no severance, canceled paychecks and more questions than answers about why this was allowed to happen.

The former staff of the Washington Blade remains united and DC Agenda represents our effort at continuing the important mission and work of the Blade. It will grow and evolve to include a much larger and more diverse group of voices. But the core of the Washington Blade’s work remains unchanged. We will cover Congress, the White House, the LGBT rights movement, the D.C. marriage fight, local hate crimes and other political issues important to the LGBT residents of the city.

It’s been a tough week for us, but we are buoyed by the outpouring of support from people all over the city and beyond. We welcome and need your help and will respond to each offer as soon as possible. Thank you to all who have pledged to stick with us, especially our advertisers. Please visit savetheblade.com for updated information on DC Agenda or to make a gift to support the new venture.

The strength of the Washington Blade did not lie in its brand name — it came from the spirit of those who worked passionately to serve and inform our community. Those people are still here. Our work continues.

Yes, the work continues.

The Death of LGBT media

This is sad to hear about.

The much talked-about "death of newspapers" hit LGBT communities in a big way this weekend when Window Media shut its doors, taking with it six major LGBT publications: Southern Voice, Washington Blade, South Florida Blade, 411 Magazine, Houston Voice, and David Magazine. The closing followed months of turbulent struggle within the company that resulted in being forced into federal receivership and the resignation of CEO David Unger last July. Nevertheless, the final blow came abruptly for the employees of Window Media, who arrived at its Atlanta offices this morning to find the doors locked and a brief note informing them that their jobs had gone the way of the dodo:

It is with GREAT regret that we must inform you that effective immediately, the operations of Window Media, LLC and Unite Media, LLC have closed down.

Please return to this office on WEDNESDAY, November 18th, 2009 at 11:00 AM to collect personal belongings and to receive information on your separation stipulations. Please bring boxes and/or containers that will allow you to collect all your personal belongings at one time.

Regretfully,

Steve Myers
Mike Kitchens

These are great LGBT publications. I hope we can keep the info flowing on the web.

source

Question of the Day

I saw this on NGblog and I found it very interesting...

The LGBT news site, Washington Blade, tweeted this question:

Is it time to set aside marriage and make the more pragmatic push for civil unions? What do you think?

I'm so curious to hear y'all views on this