It’s hard to peg him as the comicbook king of controversy, but we’re about to see the third (third!) Archie wedding to make waves in recent news: the series’ gay character, Kevin, will be getting married after returning home as a war hero.
Interestingly, there hasn’t yet been any huge public outcry against the portrayal of a happy, healthy fictional gay character. Most of the news coverage seems to be hedging on the question of whether there will be controversy:
After a pair of straight weddings — both strangely involving Archie, though in his dreams — drew national attention, the publisher behind the popular stories has confirmed that it’s making room for someone else to walk down the aisle: Kevin Keller, the series’ first openly-gay character.
“Kevin followed in his father’s footsteps and is returning to Riverdale as a war hero, but that’s not all – It’s Kevin’s wedding day!” reads a news release from Archie Comic Publications, promoting an upcoming issue of “Life With Archie.”
In this offshoot series, which runs glimpse-into-the-future storylines based on the lives of Archie, Betty and Veronica, readers soon will be able to discover how Kevin met “Mr. Right.”
Archie holds a place of nostalgic Americana for many of us; I’ve seen both my mother and sixteen year-old sister reach for the latest double digest in the check-out line at the supermarket. Keeping in mind the changing attitudes of the country and growing acceptance of gay couples, it only makes sense to include this storyline in the wholesome series.
One could argue the gay character Kevin has a moral leg up on old Archie himself, who just can’t seem to settle down with one girl! Kevin’s will be one Archie wedding without the typical Maryanne/Ginger factious fighting — we can all get behind it. No controversy here, folks: look to every other Archie comic for that.
Take Action: Like this post as a reminder to buy the Archie wedding comic for someone you love! America supports Archie’s gay friend, just like all our other gay friends.
Words we never thought we’d read in the same sentence: Dick Cheney Gay Marriage Advocate. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as such a surprise; attitudes about gay rights are (to borrow a term from president Obama) “evolving” faster than any equal rights issue in the nation’s history, by some estimations. It was only a few months ago that support for marriage for gay couples inched over the line of becoming a majority position. A new AP Poll is now putting support at 53% across the U.S.
It’s not hard, with a little bit of empathy, to understand why marriage is so important to gay couples. The issue has been a political wedge for decades, but we’re seeing a heartening shift in the public dialogue: in the clip below, the Cheneys don’t talk about marriage in the abstract. They talk about their daughter, Mary, and her partner and children. As we continue to recognize that gay issues are really about the lives of gay people, more hearts and minds will change, paving the way for the legal equality we so desperately need.
What I see here are two loving parents and grandparents who have put politics aside because they see something more important happening. And what’s more, Cheney makes it clear that he hasn’t abandoned his ideology: for him, marriage equality is about the essential freedom all Americans are entitled to. A gesture like this has amazing potential to help this issue rise above partisan lines; if Dick Cheney can come out in support of marriage for gay couples, what’s preventing the rest of us?
Take Action: Share this post and video with your friends — let’s celebrate our culture changing to embrace marriage for all, and help the 44% still opposed see all we’re asking them to support is freedom and the gay people they already care about!
Being a friend means not staying silent when somebody’s treating your friends badly. That’s why we’ve launched a petition on Change.org: so you can tell the Sizzler that discrimination and violence against gay customers won’t fly on your watch.
The full story is in the petition, but here’s an excerpt that’ll send shivers down the spine of anyone who enjoys the occasional meal out with gay friends:
Imagine being out to brunch with a few pals. So far so good, right? Until, the manager aggressively approaches your friend, yelling and accusing her of not paying for brunch.
Screaming, the manager violently shoves your friend. He calls her a f***ing d*ke. An angry mob of patrons joins in, relentlessly attacking your friend with homophobic and hate-filled language, even threatening her with sexual assault. Finally the police arrive and your friend is taken, bruised and battered, by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
It’s unthinkable, but true. This is what happened to Liza Friedlander at the Sizzler in Queens, and it could happen to you and your gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender friends. Lambda Legal has taken up Liza’s case, and now’s our chance to make a public showing that we all think this sort of treatment is unacceptable.
This isn’t an abstract political argument about why gay Americans should have full freedom from violence and fear of bias crimes. This is a real story that happened to someone’s real friend. This is why we all need to stand together and denounce this behavior and the lack of corporate response: we still live in a world where this can happen to our friends.
Send a powerful message that it’s not just gay people who care about discrimination and assault – we all do. You can make a difference today by demanding that the management at Sizzler provides better training on anti-discrimination policies, gets serious about enforcement, and speaks out against discrimination and violence toward customers. Gay assault is assault, period.
Take Action: After you sign the petition yourself, share it or this blog posts with as many friends as you can. If we can reach our goal of 5,000 signatures, we’ll be letting Liza and all our gay friends know we have their backs when it gets tough. We can hold this corporation accountable and make the world a little safer for everyone.
It might not make the news very often, but housing discrimination against gay people is a huge problem in the US: In 29 states, there are absolutely no laws protecting your gay friends from being evicted or denied access to housing just because of who they are. A whopping 35 states don’t protect your trans friends either.
Worse still, imagine getting kicked out of an apartment where you’ve lived for years because the landlord finally realized you and your boo weren’t “roommates.” Married to your sweetheart? Still not in the clear. Even though it’s been illegal to practice housing discrimination on the basis of marital status since the federal government passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968, you have no basis to fight the injustice because that same federal government won’t recognize your marriage.
That’s exactly what happened to one North Dakota couple, whose story is unfortunately far from unique:
Gina Powers has her own example of why North Dakota needs anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians. She and her partner, Steph Rindy, were booted from their West Fargo apartment once their landlord discovered Steph wasn’t a man.
It was just before Christmas, about seven years ago, Powers said.
“He literally came to our door, knocked on it, and said, ‘Yeah, you guys are out of here,’” Powers said. “I contacted my attorney, who assured me we had, really, no rights because we were being told to leave with no reason other than our orientation.”
This landlord was acting legally. The law says he can kick Gina and Steph out for absolutely no reason except their orientation. Despite admitting his discrimination outright, he’s within the bounds of the law.
There are few human needs more basic than the need to have a safe, warm roof over one’s head. The UN even includes housing as part of its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Right now, 29+ states aren’t treating your gay friends as fully human.
Take Action: “Like” and share this article. Raise awareness about the widespread housing discrimination your gay friends face. If enough of us make noise about this, we can make real change happen faster.
For more information on the real-world effects of housing discrimination against LGBT Americans, the Center for American Progress has wonderful resources on “Gay and Transgender Discrimination Outside the Workplace.”
As we discussed last week, marriage for gay couples is an incredibly important issue in the gay rights movement in the USA. Not only does marriage confer more than 1,100 rights and protections, it allows our gay friends to participate fully in one of the most recognizable and important ceremonies in our adult lives. You have an opportunity to make a difference for North Carolina gay marriage laws, today.
Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook, has joined with his fiancé Sean Eldridge in pledging to donate $10 for every person who “likes” Equality NC’s Facebook page by Tuesday, up to $10k.
"Like" Equality NC to protect North Carolina gay marriage laws now!
The money will go to help Equality NC fight the marriage amendment, which [Hughes] says “is bad for business, bad for the perception of my home state on the national stage, and a far cry from job-creating legislation that North Carolina lawmakers should be focused on.”
Hughes’ letter says he knows what it’s like to grow up different in a small Southern town and that this legislation “will only perpetuate this stigma for a new generation of creative, talented youth, uninterested in second-class citizenship in a state they call home.
As The New York Times notes, NC is the lone standout in the Southeast without a constitutional ban on marriage for gay couples. In reality, the constitutional ban would only truly server as salt in a wound — state law already prohibits North Carolina gay marriage. Taking it to the constitutional level only further solidifies the legislating of discrimination. The state is widely considered more gay-friendly than others in the region, leading activists in the area to bring particularly vocal opposition to the proposed ban.
Take Action: “Like” Equality NC’s Facebook page now, and share this article so your friends can do the same. We only have til Tuesday, and a few seconds of your time can make a real difference for friends in North Carolina.
Want to know the freshest news your gay friends will be talking about this weekend? Look no further! You’re five stories away from seeming super tapped-in with the world in which your friends live. Without further ado, awesome students, celebrity wedding photos, and some much-needed glitter.
Because we can’t celebrate the victory for New York marriage enough: this week’s wedding to get excited about! Cheyenne Jackson, of “Glee,” “30 Rock,” and “Every Broadway Show Ever” fame, married his longtime boyfriend Mante Lapka on Saturday. The couple has been together 11 years, and were positively ecstatic to tie the knot in the Hamptons, where they continued their long-standing tradition of providing the public with photos of an exceptionally good-looking couple.
High school and college students are at an advantage if they want to support a gay friend: many of them can simply join a Gay-Straight Alliance. These clubs exist at educational institutions around the country (and the world) as safe-spaces where gay teens can mingle with each other, and with straight students who want to be affirming. In an age where gay teens are committing suicide at four times the rate of straight ones, it’s easy to see why having a Gay-Straight alliance could make a huge difference in students’ lives.
Despite the clear importance of these groups, a high school in Tennessee has threatened to expel students who are lobbying to form a GSA. The school itself is clearly a hostile environment for gay and trans teens, making it even worse that the administration is standing in the way of creating an oasis:
Carroll says he has been bullied and sexually harassed for being gay most of his life. He says there are a lot of misconceptions about the GSA.
“The Gay Straight Alliance is not a club to talk about sexual orientation,” he said. “It’s about sexual orientation, but it’s not talking about sex in general. It’s a support group. It’s where you can go and you can talk about how you feel.”
Carroll and the other students have approached school officials about starting the GSA, but have been told they cannot.
That is when they started to pass around a petition to get support.
“These students have been following policy and they approached the principal,” said Linda Sigler, who has two children involved in getting the alliance started. “They’ve done this petition and now the school is telling them if they continue with the petition, they will be suspended.”
This misconception, that a Gay-Straight Alliance is an excuse to talk about inappopriate sexual topics, is both dangerous and ignorant. While sexual orientation is sometimes a topic for discussion, mostly teens come together for support. The clubs don’t encourage deviant behavior, they give kids a place to talk about being different, a place where they can be among friends. By threatening to punish students for trying to create a safe space, the school is only reinforcing the negative messages gay teens are already receiving from their environemnt: that there’s something wrong with them, that they don’t deserve support.
Take Action: ”Like” this post if you were ever involved with a Gay-Straight Alliance — we’d love to hear your stories about how a club like this made a difference to you and your friends in the comments!
Many thanks to awesome Ffriend Will Cheval Jr. for help with this post!
No, “LGBT” isn’t a special Morse Code signal; it’s a way to “simplify” the types of folks included in the gay, or LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi, and trans), community. (With that many letters, could have fooled us too.) But these labels are important to a lot of folks, so it’s worth a little research to understand the answer to the question, “What is LGBT?”
It probably seems a lot simpler to just refer to all our non-hetero friends as “gay” and be done with it. So why are lots of folks insistent on a different, particular term? As your friend navigates their new identity of “not straight,” they’re going to find a lot of different communities, identities, and ideas. It’s going to be hard, and settling on a label they’re comfortable with is a part of figuring out who they are, and sharing it with others.
And now, the terms: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Ally.
Gay is the typically used term to identify both guys and gals who are sexually attracted to someone of the same gender.
Lesbian, on the other hand, refers only to women who are attracted to other women.
Bisexual means a person is attracted to both men and women. No, it doesn’t mean your bi friend is constantly involved in torrid 3-ways and orgies, or that they can’t settle down permanently with one dude or lady. Just that they’re attracted to both sexes. Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know that in the US there’s still a total ban on gay men donating blood? Well, men who have slept with another man since 1977… which adds bisexual men to the no-go list, but I suppose frees up those celibate since the death of disco.
In any case, the United Kingdom is taking a step in the right direction on their blood donation ban. Donations will be permitted from men who have not had sex with another man in the past 12 months. A year waiting period still places gay men in the same category as “people who have slept with prostitutes” and, confusingly, “women who have slept with a man who has had sex with another man.”
You're invited to give blood, gay friend! Well, in a year or so.
A lifetime ban on blood donation by men who had had sex with another man was put in place in the UK in the 1980s as a response to the spread of Aids and HIV.
But following a review by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (Sabto), men who have not had homosexual sex within a year will be able to donate if they meet certain other criteria.
… The announcement was welcomed by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, but he said it fell short of lifting the ban on gay men who always use condoms. He said: “Although the new policy is a big improvement on the existing discriminatory rules, a 12-month ban is still excessive and unjustified.”
The original bans on gay men donating blood were an understandable if over-reaching response to the terrifying and confusing onset of the AIDS epidemic. Now we know so much more about transmission and prevention: there’s no reason gay men who practice safe sex are any more at risk than straight folks doing the same. In fact, straight folks who don’t practice safe sex can still donate without a waiting period. The final nail in the “this is totally just discrimination” coffin? All blood is tested before heading to hospitals for use. It makes sense to be double cautious about the safety of the blood supply, but current policy just doesn’t make sense.
Take Action: “Like” and share this article to raise awareness about the existing US policy that bans gay men donating blood, and to applaud the UK’s step in the right direction on the issue.
Your first reaction here may be that good health care is good health care, but suspend disbelief and read a little further: gay health issues are in many ways unique. Your friends are at risk if doctors aren’t being properly trained to deal with the particular issues affecting the gay community.
The obvious element of gay health that probably springs to mind is HIV prevention for the male community which, although in much better shape than it was during the initial AIDS scare of the 80′s, is still a major problem. Especially in queer communities of color. There are countless other ways in which being gay means you need different care, many of them mental-health related. And the folks running the med schools know it:
More than a quarter of the medical school deans said their school’s coverage of 16 related topics was “poor” or “very poor.” The topics included sex change surgery, mental healthissues and HIV-AIDS.
While nearly all medical schools taught students to ask patients if they “have sex with men, women or both” while obtaining a sexual history, the overall curriculum lacked deeper instruction to help “students carry that conversation as far as it needs to go,” said lead author Dr. Juno Obedin-Maliver of the University of California, San Francisco.
Without such education, doctors are left guessing and can make faulty assumptions, Obedin-Maliver said. For instance, lesbians need Pap tests, which screens for the sexually spread virus that causes most cervical cancer, as often as heterosexual women do. But some doctors assume they don’t need them.
On average, the schools devoted five hours in the entire curriculum to teaching content related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients, according to the survey results appearing in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. A third of the schools had none during the years students work with patients.
The high response rate of the study and the deans’ willingness to admit that gay health issues are being handled poorly are good signs. They indicate change may be on the way. But in the mean time, the onus still lies on your gay friends to make sure they’re getting the care they need, since chances are their doctors aren’t properly trained to provide it.
Take Action: ”Like” this article to support medical schools’ honesty in admitting this training gap, and to encourage them to make gay health a priority for doctors in the future.
After a pair of straight weddings — both strangely involving Archie, though in his dreams — drew national attention, the publisher behind the popular stories has confirmed that it’s making room for someone else to walk down the aisle: Kevin Keller, the series’ first openly-gay character.
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