Friday, June 24, 2011

Gay Marriage in New York

Tonight, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a gay marriage bill that will bring Gay Marriage to the state of New York in 30 days. A crush of gay weddings are expected, reports MSNBC.

New York will be the sixth state where Gay Marriage will be legal. The other states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Washington, D.C. also allows Gay Marriages.

USA Today reports that a key vote, to pass the bill in the New York Senate, came from Catholic State Senator Mark Grisanti. The story quotes Grisanti as saying that although "he was raised to believe marriage is between a man and woman, he could not 'legally come up with an argument against same-sex marriage . . . .'"

To read the USA Today story, click here.

To read the MSNBC story, click here.

For additional coverage, click on the links below.

To read CNN's coverage, click here.
To read the Washington Post's coverage, click here.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Gay Dad's on Father's Day

On a day honoring fathers, CBS News had as a major item a story entitled "Two Dads' Top 10 Things learned from their child." The story lists 10 items a gay couple mentions they have learned by having an adopted daughter.

To read the full CBS News story, click here.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Bullying of Against Gay-Rights Opponents

Are individuals opposed to gay-rights being subjected to discrimination or bullying? This is the question addressed by a recent Fox News article. The article quotes Jim Campbell, attorney for the Alliance Defense fund as saying that gay-rights groups advocate "for a lot of changes in the name of tolerance . . . yet ironically the tolerance is not returned, for people of faith who don't agree with their agenda."

Conversely, Evan Wolfson, president of pro-same-sex marriage group Freedom to Marry says that arguments such as Campbell's are "diversions, scare tactics and . . . playing the victim."

Fox news reports several instances where individuals or firms have been targeted because of their disagreement with same-sex marriage: Peter Vidmar stepped down as chief of mission of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, state Sen. Ruben Dias (D) has received death threats, and law firm King & Spalding terminated its service to U.S. House of Representatives Republicans seeking to defend the federal ban on same-sex marriage.

Read the complete Fox News story here.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

1970s Therapy for 'Sissy' Boy Destroyed His Life

In the 1970s, Kirk Murphy was treated at UCLA because his parents were concerned his behavior was too feminine. The four-year-old underwent experimental treatment conducted largely by George A. Rekers who was a doctoral student at the time. Although Rekers concluded that after the treatment Kirk's feminine behavior was gone and he was like any normal boy, Kirk's siblings say that he was never a happy person again. Kirk's mother believes the treatment ruined his life. In 2003, Kirk committed suicide.

Read the full CNN story here.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Ad Campaign “Raise a Child” puts a Positive Spin on Gay Parenting

In January, the Pop Luck Club launched an ad campaign with the intent of reducing the stigma around gay parenting.

The ads ran in the San Fernando valley, San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles, Central Los Angeles, Long Beach, West Los Angeles, and Orange County.

Read the story here.

Visit the Pop Luck Club website here.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Elementary School Students are taught that Gender is a Spectrum

Children and teachers in all grades at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland, California received instruction in anti-bullying from a group called Gender Spectrum. Fox News, reports that Joel Baum, director of education and training for Gender Spectrum, taught that "Gender identity is a spectrum where people can be girls, feel like girls, they feel like boys, they feel like both, or they can feel like neither."

To read the Fox News report, click here.
To read the Advocate.com report of the story, click here.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

For the First Time, Most Americans Support Same-Sex Marriages

A new Gallup survey reports that 53% of respondents felt that same-sex marriages should be legally valid. This is a major shift from previous surveys.

...............Should be valid ...............Should not be valid

2011 ..................53%....................................45%
2010 .................44%....................................53%
2009..................40%....................................57%

The shift in opinion appears to be driven by a shift in opinion among those who identify themselves politically as Democrats or Independents.

Read the Gallup report by clicking here.