If conversion therapy works on gay and transgender people, I guess it can be used to cure straight people as well, right?
Although gay and trans‘cures’ have been discredited by every major medical and mental health organization, it is still legal and practiced in most states.
Uganda is known for its homophobic attitudes and legislation. Still, the Magic Stormers women’s basketball team is LGBT-inclusive and includes lesbian and transgender athletes.
Jay Mulucha, FTM transgender athlete and point guard for the Magic Stormers of Uganda’s women’s basketball league. Photograph: JP Lawrence for the Guardian
The life of actor and comedian Alec Mapa has changed radically since he and his husband adopted a five year old through the
foster care system.
A new movie covers his award-winning one-man
show, where he talks about his sex life, midlife crisis, musical theatre, reality television,
bodily functions, stage moms vs. baseball dads, and the joys, challenges, and unexpected surprises of
fatherhood.
The movie includes behind-the-scenes footage of his family’s home life on a busy show day.
When you’re gay, the simple act of holding hands is anything but simple, says gay rights activist Panti Bliss.
“I am 45 years old and I have never once unselfconsciously held hands
with a lover in public,” she says. “I am 45 years old and I have never
once casually, comfortably, carelessly held hands with a partner in
public … Because gay people do not get to hold hands in public without
first considering the risk. Gay people do not get to put an arm through
another arm or put a hand on a boyfriend’s waist without first
considering what the possible consequences might be.”
Her gay agenda? To change that. To live in a society where hand holding
between any people is just hand holding and where everyone knows that
Bliss and other LGBTQ people are “just as ordinary, just as
unremarkable, and just as human as you.”
You know the world is changing when the big companies start supporting LGBT issues.
7 Eleven is the main sponsor of this week’s Oslo Pride in Norway.
Marabou, a Norwegian/Swedish company owned by Kraft, has launched a limited edition rainbow version of their Plopp chocolate bar in Sweden.
Ramlösa is sponsoring Stockholm Pride. They have a special edition of their mineral water called Kärlek (Love). The text on the back reads:
“How does love taste? Love comes in many forms and tastes differently to all of us. How does love taste to you? Ramlösa is proud sponsor of love in all its colors!”
This is not the first time Scandinavia based companies have supported LGBT issues. Absolute Vodka from Sweden started doing so in the late 1980s. In 2008, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Rainbow Flag, Absolut released a special rainbow colored bottle. Absolute is one of the supporters of this year’s Copenhagen Pride. Here’s an ad from 1989:
This is in no way a Scandinavian phenomenon only. American companies like Apple, Google, Oreo, Starbucks and Levi’s have announced their support for gay, lesbian and transgender rights. Ben & Jerry’s is currently celebrating same-sex marriage in this way:
I am sure this advertising reflects genuine LGBT support in company leaderships, but what happens now also reflects the current shift in public opinion. The economic benefits gained from being seen as a tolerant and progressive supporter of love and diversity, far outweigh the negative effects of attacks from homophobic and transphobic circles.
It seems we make a lot of fuzz out of something relatively unimportant.
In a recent article in the Guardian David Spiegelhalter reports from the UK National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal). He says:
16 percent of women age 16-44 report same-sex experience
For women in the age range 16 to 44, the proportion who report having had some same-sex experience has shown a dramatic rise over the past 20 years: from 4% in 1990 to 10% in 2000, and to 16% in 2010 – a massive change in behaviour over such a short period.
But this is not all just girls kissing girls in imitation of Madonna and Britney Spears; around half report genital contact, and around half of these in the past five years, so that overall nearly one in 20 women report a same-sex partner in the past five years.[…]
8 percent of men age 16-44 report same-sex experience
Men show a different pattern. In 2010, about 8% of 16- to 44-year-old men reported having had a same-sex experience: this is higher than in 1990, possibly associated with both better reporting and the decline in fear of HIV, but there have been no substantial recent changes. […]
Overall the proportion of people with same-sex experience is far higher than the proportion who identify themselves as gay and bisexual. […]
Dramatic increase in support for same-sex relationships
Natsal has been asking the same questions at 10-year intervals, and the proportion of 16- to 44-year-old women who agree that “same-sex relationships are not wrong at all” has gone up from 28% in 1990 to 66% in 2010 – an extraordinary reversal of opinion over just 20 years.
Men are a bit more conservative, but agreement has still more than doubled, from 23% to 50%.
Here is a fascinating video from Austria (English subtitles). The video makers wanted to test how tolerant Austrians have become towards queer and gay people.
In a candid camera setting their actors approach people of their own gender and started flirting.
Notice the lack of disgust, aggression or violence. There are a lot of polite “No thank you’s”, of course, but also a lot of positive feedback. And this is in Austria, one of the most conservative countries in Europe.
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