Nigeria’s Senate voted on Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, instituting prison terms up to 14 years in jail, and witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Nigeria and in areas of the north where Islamic Shariah law has is enforced gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.
“Such elements in society should be killed,” Sen. Baba Dati said during the Senate debate.
The bill now heads to Nigeria’s House of Representatives, who have to approve the bill and send it to President Goodluck Jonathan for his signature before it becomes a law.
Nigeria’s new anti-gay law comes in the wake of British Prime Minister David Cameron promise to withhold aid to over 41 states which, according to Cameron, are violating the rights of homosexuals. Malawi, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana are expected to be the first targets of the policy change.
Defiantly Senate President David Mark said Nigeria would not bow to international pressure on any legislation.
“Our values are our values,” Mark said. “No country has a right to interfere in the way we make our laws.”
According to Examiner.com
According to the Examiner.com---since 01/09/11
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Lady Gaga to be Honored with "Hero Award"
"Our young people are at the center of a health crisis, and vocal leaders like Lady Gaga and technology leaders like Google Inc have stepped up to help change our culture," said David McFarland, Interim Executive Director and CEO of The Trevor Project. "Our honorees are working with The Trevor Project to make a better today and a brighter tomorrow for youth. We are proud to honor Lady Gaga with the Trevor Hero Award and Google Inc with the Trevor 2020 award for their work to help young people express their true selves with pride." Full story here!
Sandusky Charges Bring Focus on Pa. Sex Crime Laws :: EDGE New England
Sandusky Charges Bring Focus on Pa. Sex Crime Laws :: EDGE New England
More info on what is happening with the Penn State Scandal... for more info click above
More info on what is happening with the Penn State Scandal... for more info click above
Ricky Martin to star on Glee!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the openly gay singer/actor is in talks to guest star in an episode of Fox’s musical phenomenon currently scheduled to air in January.
The episode is said to feature two musical numbers headlined by Martin, who will play a Spanish teacher with a talent for singing and dancing.
Paltrow’s performance as McKinley High substitute Holly Holliday was praised by fans and earned her an Emmy. A guest spot on Glee could offer a similar boost for Martin, who has had limited mainstream performances or exposure to US audiences since publicly coming out in 2010.
Danny Vega, Seattle hairdresser beaten into coma, dies
SEATTLE -- Danny Vega, the Seattle salon owner who was brutally attacked by a group of teenagers almost two weeks ago, died Sunday afternoon after 12 days on life support.
"It's very painful for me to see him in that kind of situation," said Eli Ferrer, who knew Vega for decades. "It's really so hard to lose a friend."
Ferrer was one of about 30 people who gathered to pray for Vega Sunday night at his home, which also served as his salon most his life.
On Nov. 15, Vega, a prominent figure in the city's Filipino American community, was taking an evening walk nearby in Seattle's Rainier Valley neighborhood when three teens attacked him from behind, said police.
They beat Vega unconscious and took his cell phone and keys. Vega was hospitalized with severe injuries to his kidneys, liver and brain. He fell into a coma and was later put on life-support.
James Saarenas, who along with some international students lived in Vega's house, said they were not just praying for peace, but for justice.
"The prayers and vigil will continue while those three people have not been caught," Saarenas said. "We just want to make sure that this will not happen to anybody else."
Family, friends and neighbors also held a vigil for Vega Saturday night at Othello and Martin Luther King Way in the Rainier Valley.
Although police were not investigating the attack as a hate crime, his family believes Vega was targeted. He was openly gay and not afraid to show it
Bedside Vigil For George Michael's Family
The singer, who is being treated in hospital in Vienna, Austria, is said to be responding to treatment and "slowly improving". He had been joined by his 75-year-old father Kyriacos Panayiotou, who is known as Jack Panos, as well as sisters Melanie, 49 and Yioda, 53. His former boyfriend, art dealer Kenny Goss, is also due to join the group in the Austrian capital shortly. The 48-year-old star’s boyfriend, hair stylist Fadi Fawaz, has kept a bedside vigil since the singer fell ill on Monday of last week. Fawaz, 38, reportedly appeared tired and drawn as he left the hospital over the weekend. He was accompanied by two women, believed to be Michael’s sisters, one of whom held her head in her hands waiting in the hospital lobby.
Christian activists on Twitter continue to gleefully report on Michael's condition. Some are openly praying for his "death from AIDS." No reliable report has ever been issued on Michael's HIV status.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Street Wear: Nasty Pig: Video
New York men’s streetwear brand Nasty Pig introduces editorial materials from its “Do You” campaign showcasing its new line of “Dominant Jeans.”
“Men who wear Nasty Pig are unswayed by influence,” says Nasty Pig CEO David Lauterstein. “There are a lot of people out there telling you what to do. We say: do you.”
The released materials include a 90-second spot and a series of images, both photographed by Carlos Arias, who has previously photographed for YRB, GQ, and Krave. The photos and ad feature Matthew DeLaGarza in his modeling debut. DeLaGarza, a windshield deliveryman by trade, was discovered in his native Phoenix, Arizona in early 2011. "Carlos approached me to shoot the ‘Do You’ campaign for Nasty Pig,” said DeLaGarza. “I'm all about doing me."
The shoot was styled by Polar Buranasatit, a New York-based stylist whose window displays for Nasty Pig were recently nominated by Racked.com as the Best Store Windows in New York City for 2011 (alongside Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Paul Smith and Moschino).
Nasty Pig Creative Director Frederick Kearney designed the styles featured and provided additional styling input for the shoot.
Official Site & Online Store nastypig.com
Nikolay Abrosimov by Marat Mukhonkin
Nikolay Abrosimov by Marat Mukhonkin, styled by Olga Nemka
Fashion Credits-- Look 1: Kask for hockey, Shorts - the property of the photographer | Look 2,3,5: T-shirt – Nikitin, Cap – M.Romanov | Look 4,6: Shorts - the property of the photographer | Look 7,10: Boots & belt - the property of the stylist | Look 8: The form hockey | Look 9: Sweater – Evgeniy Nikitin, Shorts - the property of the photographer | Look 10: Kask for hockey, Shorts - the property of the photographer | Look 11: Ornaments- Olga Berg | Look 12: Kask for hockey, Corset the property of the stylist
November 27, 1978--- 32 years ago today Harvey MIlk Assassinated
At 11 a.m. on a beautiful Monday morning, on November 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed in cold blood by disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White.”
San Francisco ground to a halt. Many offices and businesses closed. People wept openly in the streets. Strangers hugged each other, trying to offer comfort. But there was no comfort.
That was 32 years ago, and there is still no comfort today.
But Harvey Milk left us a legacy. He profoundly influenced gay and lesbian politics, and was a champion of human rights. Milk once said, “…you’ve got to keep electing gay people…to know there is better hope for tomorrow. Not only for gays, but for blacks, Asians, the disabled, our senior citizens and us. Without hope, we give up. I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it life is not worth living. You and you and you have got to see that the promise does not fade.”
Harvey’s martyrdom is a painful reminder of the length and difficulty of the journey to freedom.
Harvey Milk a true LGBT hero and legend. His actions and words must never be forgotten. To this day we must listen to them, learn from them and follow them.
This is Harvey’s legacy to us.
You see there is a major difference–and it remains a vital difference–between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It’s not enough anymore just to have friends represent us. No matter how good that friend may be.
The black community made up its mind to that a long time ago. That the myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders, so the black community could be judged by the leaders and not by the myths or black criminals. The Spanish community must not be judged by Latin criminals or myths. The Asian community must not be judged by Asian criminals or myths. The Italian community should not be judged by the mafia myths. And the time has come when the gay community must not be judged by our criminals and myths.
Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain in limbo–a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth of a nation supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of children–and no offense meant to the stereotypes. But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.
The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing. They must be–for the good of all of us–independent, unbought. The anger and the frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and friends can’t feel that anger and frustration. They can sense it in us, but they can’t feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope–and our friends can’t fulfill that.
I can’t forget the looks on faces of people who’ve lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they black looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that’s foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word “I” because I’m proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I’m proud of you. I think it’s time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact and do not have to remain in the closet. I think that a gay person, up-front, will not walk away from a responsibility and be afraid of being tossed out of office. After Dade County, I walked among the angry and the frustrated night after night and I looked at their faces. And in San Francisco, three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he was gay. And that night, I walked among the sad and the frustrated at City Hall in San Francisco and later that night as they lit candles on Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic thing that would give them hope. These were strong people, people whose faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings and people who I never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed hope.
And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and more offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.
So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope.
George Michael Condition Worsens!!
He was hospitalised on Monday after a doctor was called to his suite at the Hotel imperial in Vienna's posh first district and diagnosed breathing difficulties.
He was taken by ambulance to the city's top Rudolfiner private hospital in the 19th district of the city, where a decision was taken to move him to the main general hospital - the AKH.
The hospital refused to say why the star was moved but it is believed it was decided that the singer's condition was so acute that it would be better if he was moved to the AKH - the biggest in Europe and where many of the continent's top medical experts are based because of the advanced facilities it offers for research as well as treatment.
The hospital has two skyscrapers, identified for navigating around the huge complex as the red tower and the green tower. He is currently in intensive care on the 13th floor of the red tower as a result of heart problems believed to be caused by the shortage of oxygen caused by his pneumonia.
On Thursday afternoon he was fitted into a special full-body bed designed to keep all the pressure off his lungs and to help them to function - so far without any sign of improvement.
Head doctor from the nearby Otto Wagner Hospital, Norbert Vetter, said that the reason a person with a lung problem was being treated in the cardiac unit probably lay in the fact that if there was a lung problem - and not enough oxygen being taken into the body - then that could affect the heart especially if the heart had already been damaged in some way. He added in the worst case the heart could cease to function.
AKH spokeswoman Karin Fehringer said: "We have no comment to make on this matter at the request of the patient."
But a hospital insider confirmed that the singer's condition had worsened. He said: "I have not seen him myself but cardiac specialists and internists are treating him round the clock." Internists specialise in treating adults with multi-system disease problems in hospitals.
A spokesman for his management team would only confirm his condition remained "bad".
Vienna Times
David Pocock Says He Won't Marry Until Gay Marriage Is Legal In Australia
Rugby star David Pocock (pictured Left) says he won't marry until Australia legalizes gay marriage.
Pocock, the 23-year-old Western Force and Wallabies openside flanker, told The Sun-Herald Extra that he and his fiancee Emma Palandri won't wed until their gay friends can.
“More than 60 per cent of Australians are in favor of same-sex marriage, so it just doesn't make sense to stop it from happening,” Pocock said. “For a lot of Christians, it's a big issue and I know there's a lot of people who don't share the same opinion as me. It comes down to equal love. I don't think it's the government's role to tell people that their love is right or wrong.”
In a previous interview, Pocock said he gets “pretty annoyed with the Christian lobbies around the world who say gay marriage destroys the family and that kind of rubbish.”
“I guess it is fear of the unknown – if you talk to someone who doesn't like gay people you can almost guarantee that they don't know too many.”
“Emma and I decided not to get legally married until our gay friends could do the same,” Pocock added.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tush Magazine "Farbzuwachs"
The new 26th issue of TUSH magazine features the men's grooming story 'Farbzuwachs', with models Alexander Pohnert, Hannes Kettritz and Sigurd Larsen. The men were photographed/groomed by Armin Morbach, and styled by Kaey with coloring by Isabel Eiler.
Massachusets' Passes Transgender Equal Rights Bill
As The Patriot Ledger is reporting, the Transgender Equal Rights Bill also expands the state's hate crime statutes to include violence against transgender men and women, although the removal of a provision that would have required all "sex-segregated facilities" such as rest rooms or locker rooms to grand admission to people based on gender identity was heavily criticized by many who considered it a key component.
"No individual should face discrimination because of who they are,” Patrick said in a statement. "This legislation gives Massachusetts the necessary tools to stop hate crimes against transgender people and to treat others fairly. I am proud to sign it."
In what may have been a nod to the provision's removal, Patrick added that state lawmakers would "come back around to public accommodations," according to the Ledger.
Patrick's decision to sign the bill, which had been widely expected, drew praise from many transgender rights advocates. “Gov. Patrick was a staunch advocate of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill from the earliest days of his administration,” Gunner Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), is quoted by LGBTQ Nation as saying in a statement. “We are so grateful for his leadership in getting this bill passed and for his unwavering commitment to ensuring that all residents of the Commonwealth, including transgender people, are treated with dignity and respect under the laws of our state."
When the bill takes effect next July, Massachusetts will become the 16th U.S. state, along with Washington, D.C., to offer vital protections against discrimination to its transgender residents.
Skip Donating to the Salvation Army
"The Salvation Army has a history of active discrimination against gays and lesbians. While you might think you're helping the hungry and homeless by dropping a few dollars in the bright red buckets, not everyone can share in the donations," Bil Browning notes on The Bilerico Project. "The organization also has a record of actively lobbying governments worldwide for anti-gay policies -- including an attempt to make consensual gay sex illegal."
Indeed, as Browning points out, the group's position statements reveal a somewhat rigid outlook on LGBT lifestyles. "Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex," one statement reads. "The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage."
However, the statement does go on to note, "Likewise, there is no scriptural support for demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation."
Like the Protestant Christian organization's holiday campaign itself, the controversy is very much an annual one. Last year, Jeffrey Curnow, the public and corporate relations manager for the Salvation Army, defended the position to Chicagoist, noting:
"I appreciate the opportunity to correct the record when it does come up. In fact, the Salvation Army serves countless people across the country every day from any variety of backgrounds, including gays and lesbians. This number probably reaches into the thousands, though it is impossible for us to determine, primarily because we would simply never ask about a person's sexual identity."
"Because The Salvation Army is a church we do have theological positions on a variety of topics. These positions are intended for our church members or those who are interested in our church. Just as you wouldn't expect everyone you meet to share all your ideas or beliefs, we would never expect everyone we help, our donors, or even our non-church-member employees to necessarily agree with these theological positions."
Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, was similarly critical of the Salvation Army's stance, noting, "If a racist organization was trying to collect money with the message that some of the money was going towards doing good, would you support them? I would hope not." He went on to suggest people would be better served by donating to more pro-LGBT organizations such as the Howard Brown Health Center, the American Red Cross, or The Trevor Project.
Hollywood to Dollywood
Gary and Larry Lane have done an amazing job in this documentary called from Hollywood to Dollywood.
This film referred to as a road trip documentary and civil rights odyssey features appearances by Leslie Jordan (Will & Grace), Chad Allen, Beth Grant (Sordid Lives), Dustin Lance Black (MILK), and Ann Walker (Sordid Lives)to name just a few!
The premise: The handsome gay twin boys wish to get their script (written with Dolly and only Dolly in mind) into the hands of the Queen of Country herself, so the boys drive an RV cross country to Dollyland in the hopes of hand delivering their brilliant script to Miss Dolly Parton herself!
George Michael Hospitalized
He is currently in intensive care on the 13th floor of the red tower as a result of heart problems believed to be caused by the shortage of oxygen caused by his pneumonia.
On Thursday afternoon he was fitted into a special full-body bed designed to keep all the pressure off his lungs and to help them to function - so far without any sign of improvement. Head doctor from the nearby Otto Wagner Hospital, Norbert Vetter, said that the reason a person with a lung problem was being treated in the cardiac unit probably lay in the fact that if there was a lung problem - and not enough oxygen being taken into the body - then that could affect the heart especially if the heart had already been damaged in some way. He added in the worst case the heart could cease to function.Business Week quotes one of the singer's doctors as saying he has "severe community acquired pneumonia." Michael's spokesman confirmed his condition as "bad." Some tabloids are already rushing out with AIDS rumors and commenters on anti-gay sites like Free Republic are saying exactly the sort of things you'd expect from loving Christians.
UPDATE: Pink News reports that Michael's team is denying the Vienna Times report about his heart.
The star’s spokeswoman said in a statement: “George Michael is ill with pneumonia and any other speculation regarding his illness is unfounded and untrue. “He is receiving excellent medical care, he is responding to treatment and slowly improving”. A source told the Daily Mail: “George has woken up and he’s in good spirits. Doctors are very pleased with him, and he’s making progress.” “He’s been in terrible pain. He’s had a dreadful chest infection, but he’s been in good care. He’s in very capable hands”.
Our prayers are with you George!
Gay Marriage Is Unconstitutional Because It Gives Women An Unfair Advantage
So says David Usher of the just-formed Center for Marriage Policy, who claims that non-gay women will marry other women just to get the financial benefits of "feminist marriage" Feminist marriage directly violates 14th Amendment protection against sex discrimination, and the 5th Amendment is violated at the Federal level. The Constitution cannot accept a structure of three-party marriage establishing an arrangement of government-sponsored economic polygyny as a protected, superior class of marriage under any rational-basis test. Secondly, the Constitution cannot accept any marital arrangement structurally establishing three classes of marriage, where the classes are crisply defined and either rewarded or discriminated against because of the natural reproductive capacity one sex is born with that the other sex does not have.
Corporations supporting the repeal of DOMA are making a tragic mistake supporting feminist marriage. Feminist marriage will demolish men’s drive to be successful, motivated workers. It will also further weaken the American job market and harm women’s employment opportunities. Our “Competitiveness Gap” with marriage-based Asian economies will expand as men’s productivity and educational attainment continues to decline, while growing social problems, violence, and higher taxes stimulate businesses to move jobs overseas.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Pope Implies That People With Poor Ethics Spread AIDS
This week a U.N. AIDS report said the number of new HIV infections worldwide has stayed at about 2.7 million for the last three years, suggesting that the epidemic is leveling off. That’s great news! But then comes along Pope Benedict XVI reminding everyone that unethical, slutty, un-Godly people spread HIV. Uuuggghhh.
Here’s what the Pope said exactly while speaking about the AIDS epidemic in Africa:
Above all, [the spread of HIV] is an ethical problem. The change of behaviour that [solving Africa's AIDS epidemic] requires—for example, sexual abstinence, rejection of sexual promiscuity, fidelity within marriage—ultimately involves the question of integral development, which demands a global approach and a global response from the Church.On one hand, he has a point. If a person knows about the importance of getting tested, knowing their status, communicating with sex partners and taking the necessary precautions to prevent HIV, not doing so could be construed as deliberate and unethical. But in Africa where many communities do not have safe-sex educators to disseminate information about HIV-prevention, the spread of the disease cannot be marked up to pure ethics and morality—money, government support, education and condoms all play a part too.
“For if it is to be effective, the prevention of AIDS must be based on a sex education that is itself grounded in an anthropology anchored in the natural law and enlightened by the word of God and the Church’s teaching.”
It’s a double-edged sword because even if the Pope considers governments “unethical” for failing to equip their citizens with HIV-prevention info, we can only imagine that sex education “enlightened by the word of God and the Church’s teaching” would also fail to teach people how to responsibly and safely fuck and go for an ineffective abstinence-only approach instead.
Pope Benedict XVI got a lot of well deserved flack in 2009 when he said that condoms in Africa actually make the AIDS problem worse. But he has since backtracked on that by saying that male hookers and pretty much everyone else can use condoms because “using condoms ‘is the lesser evil than passing HIV onto a partner.’
So while he’s managed to offensively imply that people who catch and spread HIV to others have some sort of moral or ethical failing, he’s at least implicated governments for those same failings while instructing the larger Catholic following that using condoms is more ethical and moral than
15 Die in Fire at India’s Transgender Gathering
15 more members of the global LGBT community have died by fire, though (thankfully?) burning someone to death doesn’t seem to be the motivation in this story ( which has been the case this last week in other transgender murders).
A fire broke out in the kitchen at India’s national transgender gathering, the Eunuch Gathering in East Delhi. Over 1000 of India’s estimated 700,000 transgender citizens were in attendance.
It’s worth noting that the term eunuch is not used in a derogatory manner in India.
Our condolences go out to those who lost loved ones in the blaze
A fire broke out in the kitchen at India’s national transgender gathering, the Eunuch Gathering in East Delhi. Over 1000 of India’s estimated 700,000 transgender citizens were in attendance.
One witness, Angelie, said there was a loud short, then flames suddenly erupted and a gas cylinder exploded. Crowds of people ran to the exit from the fairground, the witness said.
Television reports cited fire officials as saying initial investigations suggested the fire had started in the venue’s kitchen.
“We were rescued and brought outside the community centre but we don’t know what has happened to some of our friends who we think are still inside,” one person present at the gathering told reporters.
“The police aren’t giving us the right information … They are taking the bodies out through the back door of the hall,” they said.
Our condolences go out to those who lost loved ones in the blaze
Abercrombie & Fitch Holidays "Special"
"Ho ho ho!"
6 Parishioners Dead After Lying Pastor Tells Them They’ve Been Cured of HIV
A Sky News undercover investigation has revealed that evangelical churches in the UK have been lying to HIV positive patients about the curative powers of holy water, and insisting that patients stop taking their HIV medications. Now at least six are dead.The broadcaster sent three undercover reporters to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in the south London Borough of Southwark.
All of them were told by pastors they could be healed.
The team – who are all HIV positive – had water sprayed in their faces as part of the healing process.
They were also shouted at and told it would rid them of the devil.
One of the pastors, Rachel Holmes, told Sky News, that SCOAN has a “100% success rate”, adding: “if symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhoea persist, it is actually a sign of the virus leaving the body”.
Multiple investigations into the – we’re just going to go ahead and play fortune teller here for a second – criminal actions these churches are engaged in.
In addition to the deaths that have been reported, a case of HIV transmission has been documented by the boyfriend of a male parishioner who stopped HIV treatment after being “cured” by his pastor.
Case Closed: Jamey Rodemeyer's Bullies Not Charged
Rodemeyer killed himself in September after facing bullying that he "could never escape,” he said in posts on the Internet. But Amherst, N.Y., police chief John Askey said that despite the 14-year-old's complaints online about bullying, there wasn't enough evidence of what happened, and the bullying couldn't be pinned to any single student.
For example, police toldTheBuffalo News that they had investigated five incidents at North High School and found none had been reported to authorities, leaving investigators to rely on secondhand information.
"In most cases, you need a victim and a complaint," Askey told the News, noting that he isn't satisfied with the outcome.
After their son's death, Rodemeyer's parents shared a story on the Today show of how their daughter had gone to a school dance to take her mind off the death of her brother only to be met with taunts of "better off dead." The superintendent identified the student responsible for the chants and issued a suspension, taking the punishment "to the fullest extent allowed under education law."
That appears to be where the punishment will stop in the Rodemeyer case. The superintendent said he planned more education about the effects of bullying.
The tragedy had become a flash point in the national debate over how to address bullying, with Lady Gaga raising the issue with President Obama shortly afterward and activists calling for increased antibullying protections in schools.
Also in recent months, a videotaped beating of an Ohio student whose mother says he was repeatedly harassed for being gay became a viral sensation on YouTube because of outrage.
All of this has contributed to renewed attention around bullying and how it sometimes ends in death, including a special report from Anderson Cooper on CNN. Experts recommend that any young LGBT person with thoughts of suicide contact the Trevor Project’s hotline (866-4-U-TREVOR).
Newt Gingrich views on LGBTQ equatlity
This is what a President Gingrich would mean to us...-He has been an active and vocal supporter of placing an amendment banning marriage in the United States Constitution
-He has called marriage equality an aberration!
- He supports the lawsuit by Congressional Republicans to defend DOMA.
-He is even opposed to domestic partnerships in private industry.
-He is absolutely against adoption by same sex couples
-He is against the passage of ENDA
-He has personally called homosexuality a sin and should be treated as such.
-He explained in a radio interview last week that “the secular world,” which advocated same sex marriage, was connected to the United State’s economic downfall.
“The concept of family being between man and woman and the concept of all these core values that grow out of 3,000 years of Judeo-Christian tradition,” he said on Catholic Radio San Diego, according to On Top Magazine. “This is a direct threat to the entire secular world.”
-In an Iowa Conservative Forum Newt indicated he would 'abolish' or 'ignore' courts that made marriage equality decisions
Mega Stretch Super Short-short
For that special someone who has everything, or for yourself to go cruising bars, this short-shorts would be perfect. The website also has all kinds of other cool things.
. Check out their website here
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Mariano Vivanco "In the Woods"
Photographer Mariano Vivanco captures Ford models Travis Cannata, Kevin Freed, Billy Morgan, Maryna Lunchuk, and Re:Quest's Nicola Wincenc in the story 'In The Woods' for the second issue of DSECTION magazine.
Styling: Joseph Episcopo | Casting Director: Melissa Lee Batsel @ Batsel Creative | Assistants: Charles Quiles, Max Menacher and Joseph Paquette
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