Jaime King comes out... as an ally of equality!

Visit http://www.glaad.org/ally to join the #AllyNetwork and take action for LGBT equality.

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St. Albert public school passes sexual orientation, gender identity policy

in: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Albert+public+school+passes+sexual+orientation+gender/8589739/story.html

St. Albert public school trustees have passed a policy designed to protect staff, students and their families from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The board passed the stand-alone sexual orientation and gender identity policy at a regular meeting Wednesday night.

It is similar to a policy Edmonton public school trustees approved in November 2011, the first such policy to be approved in Alberta.

Last year, the Alberta School Boards Association rejected a policy to protect sexual minorities, saying existing harassment and discrimination policies already protect all children and there is no need to single out a specific group.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Albert+public+school+passes+sexual+orientation+gender/8589739/story.html

Hudson Taylor comes out... as an ally of equality!

Visit http://www.glaad.org/ally to join the #AllyNetwork and take action for LGBT equality.

http://www.glaad.org/ - For more information about GLAAD's work, please visit http://www.glaad.org, http://facebook.com/glaad, and http://twitter.com/glaad.

US: Boy Scout leaders reprimanded for marching with gay pride parade

in: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/16/us-boy-scout-leaders-reprimanded-for-marching-with-gay-pride-parade/

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has reprimanded two scout leaders who took part in a gay pride parade with several scouts.

Peter Brownstein and Neil Whitaker, who took part in the Utah Pride Parade in Salt Lake City on 2 June, were disciplined for violating the BSA’s policy prohibiting the use of scouting to promote a political agenda, said Salt Lake City BSA officials.

The Associated Press reports that the pair were warned that they would break the policy if they were to wear their uniforms at the march.

The pair of leaders wore their uniforms, however the scouts they were with did not. A former scout master, Dave McGrath of Idaho Falls, also attended, wearing his uniform.

“We were very disappointed that you used Scouting to advance the gay agenda at the Utah Pride Parade,” council leaders wrote, addressing Brownstein.

“You and others are welcome to participate in the parade as supportive citizens but not as uniformed members of the BSA.”

Whitaker had told the Salt Lake Tribune that the pair had never intended to promote a political agenda, but instead were celebrating a “cultural event”. He compared the march to the Days of ’47 Parade, which honours Utah pioneers, and usually includes uniformed boy scouts.

“We weren’t rallying for a politician or political event,” said Whitaker. “To me, it was being supportive of my fellow human beings.”

Both leaders have refused to sign an apology letter which would acknowledge that they violated the BSA’s policy, and that they were disobedient.

The pair have been threatened with the revocation of their Scouting membership if they commit a similar offence in future.

The decision by the Utah BSA council is backed up by the national organisation. Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the BSA said: ”These individuals, many of whom are not registered in Scouting, expressed a personal opinion and do not represent the Boy Scouts of America,”

“Scouting is taking appropriate steps to respond to this issue,” continued Smith.

Valarie Larabee, executive director of Utah Pride Center, which organises Utah Pride, condemned the decision by the BSA.

“Any discipline or questioning of members of the Scouting family who participated in our procession as a member of our color guard, a unit carrying out nation’s flag, would be deplorable,” she said in a statement.

Back in May, the BSA’s final vote on the issue of gay members took place in Dallas-Fort Worth, Grapevine, where over 60% of the 1,400 strong national council of local leaders, voted to lift the national ban. The ban on adult members remains in place.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/16/us-boy-scout-leaders-reprimanded-for-marching-with-gay-pride-parade/

Tamala Jones comes out... as an ally of equality!

Visit http://www.glaad.org/ally to join the #AllyNetwork and take action for LGBT equality.

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Russian gay rights activists detained after 'kissing protest'

in: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/11/20890471.html

A gay rights activist is comforted by a supporter after being attacked during a protest against a proposed new law termed by the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, as "against advocating the rejection of traditional family values" in central Moscow on June 11, 2013. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

Russian police detained more than 20 gay rights activists involved in a “kissing protest” on Tuesday outside parliament where lawmakers were preparing to pass a bill banning homosexual “propaganda”.

The bill is one of a series of socially conservative measures garnering support in the Kremlin-dominated parliament during President Vladimir Putin’s third term.

The gay protesters were far outnumbered by around 200 anti-gay activists who surrounded them, chanting “Russia is not Sodom”, singing Orthodox Christian prayers and crossing themselves. They threw rotten eggs at the gay protesters.

After scuffles in which one man was knocked to the ground and kicked by the anti-gay activists, police began detaining the gay protesters and bundling them into waiting buses.

Journalist and Putin critic Masha Gessen said she was among 24 people being taken to police stations. Moscow police said about 20 people were detained.

The State Duma, or lower house of parliament, was expected to pass the bill later in the day, ignoring Western criticism that it curbs basic freedoms and concerns among activists that it is fuelling hate attacks on homosexuals.

The bill would ban the spread of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors and impose heavy fines for violations.

“Traditional sexual relations are relations between a man and a woman, which ... are a condition for the preservation and development of the multi-ethnic Russian people,” lawmaker Yelena Mizulina told the Duma on Tuesday.

“It is precisely these relations that need special protection by the state,” she said.



VIOLENCE

Critics says the bill - a nationwide version of laws already in place in several cities including Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg - would in effect ban all gay rights rallies and they fear it could be used to prosecute anyone voicing support for homosexuals.

“There is already enough pressure and violence against gays and with this law it will only continue and probably get worse,” said Viktoria Malyasova, 18, standing outside the Duma.

“I may not be gay but I came to stand up for my rights and the rights of other people to love whom they want,” she said.

Putin, who has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church as a moral authority and harnessed its influence as a source of political support, has championed socially conservative values since winning a six-year third term in May 2012.

The 60-year-old president denies that Russia discriminates against gays but he has criticized them for failing to increase the country’s population, which has declined sharply since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Activists say violence against homosexuals has increased since Putin returned to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister and that it is being fuelled by the bill and other aspects of his conservative agenda.

It is unusual for Russian authorities to link crimes with homophobia, but investigators have said anti-gay hate was the motive in the brutal murders of two men in the past month, one in eastern Russia and one in the southern city of Volgograd.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/11/20890471.html

US: Gay couple to receive $147,000 in damages for harassment by apartment maintenance staff

in:  http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/11/us-gay-couple-to-receive-147000-in-damages-for-harassment-by-apartment-maintenance-staff/

The management company of an apartment complex in the US state of Iowa has been ordered to pay a substantial amount in damages to a gay couple who were discriminated against by an on-site maintenance man, and others who refused to stop the harassment.

The couple Charles Anderson and Brandon Morehead, were awarded $147,000 (£95,000) in damages, after a jury found they had been discriminated against.

Jurors heard testimony that Allen Emert, a maintenance technician for the apartment complex management complex, New Life Multi-Family Management LLC, continually harassed the defendants, calling them names, after he learned in March 2011 that they share a one-bedroom apartment.

Despite complaints to two of Emert’s supervisors, the daily harassment was not stopped. He had among other names, called the couple “queer”, and “pillow biters”.

According to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, which sued on the couple’s behalf, the couple received $22,000 (£14,100), in economic damages, $50,000 (£32,100) for emotional distress, and $75,300 (£48,300) in punitive damages.

Beth Townsend, director of the rights commission, said: “As the jury in this case determined, there is no place in the state of Iowa for such outrageous and illegal activity, and failure to stop such behavior can result in serious penalties to responsible parties.

“The Iowa Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act were both written to ensure that Iowans are as free from discrimination and harassment in their housing as they would be in their place of employment.

The four-day trial ended with the conclusion that the management company had discriminated against the couple based on their sexual orientation.

 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/11/us-gay-couple-to-receive-147000-in-damages-for-harassment-by-apartment-maintenance-staff/

Prince Harry stepped up for gay soldier

in: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/09/20886181.html

Prince Harry stepped up for a gay soldier who was facing a homophobic attack from six members of another regiment, the U.K. MailOnline reports.

Lance Cpl. James Wharton told Prince Harry, 28, the besieged soldier's tank commander, "I think I'm going to be murdered by the infantry."

According to the MailOnline, the incident took place in September 2008 during a training exercise in Canada.

The gallant prince called out the openly gay Wharton's tormentors and warned them they faced disciplinary action if they didn't stop and then reported the encounter to a senior officer.

Before the stern warning, Harry told Wharton: "Right I'm going to sort this s--- out once and for all."

Wharton, who quit the army this year, recounts his 10-year military career and time with Harry in his new book, Out In The Army.


"I will always be grateful to Harry and I will never forget what happened," the MailOnline quotes Wharton. "Until he went over and dealt with everything I was on track for a battering."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/09/20886181.html

Edmonton Pride Parade 2013

 


Edmonton's Pride Parade on June 8, 2013 - this is the entire parade as it passes by 103 Street and 102 Avenue, in front of the historic Revillon Building.

Jackie Chan comes out... as an ally of equality!

 


Visit http://www.glaad.org/ally to join the #AllyNetwork and take action for LGBT equality.

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Russia: No adoptions for same-sex couples

in: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/01/20865626.html

Russia will ban foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children, an official said on Saturday, underscoring a growing rift with the West over gay rights under President Vladimir Putin.

Putin said in April that a French law allowing same-sex marriage went against traditional Russian values and signalled Moscow would take steps to ensure gay couples from abroad did not adopt Russian orphans.

An amendment restricting foreign adoptions to “traditional” families will be submitted to parliament in its autumn session by the government, said Alexei Levchenko, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets.

Russian legislation sets several requirements for adoptive parents from abroad such as sufficient income and a clean criminal record. But it does not mention sexual orientation or address the issue of same-sex couples.

Putin has frequently championed socially conservative values and courted the conservative Russian Orthodox Church during a new term he started in May 2012, after a series of large street protests by mostly liberal Russians in big cities.

Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but prejudice runs deep.

A poll by the independent Levada Center found that 38 percent of Russians believe gays needed medical treatment and another 13 percent said they should face prosecution. A March poll found that 85 percent opposed same-sex marriage.

Putin says Russia does not discriminate, but he has criticized gays for not adding to Russia’s population and the ruling United Russia party is backing legislation activists say will amount to a prohibition on public support for gay rights.

Western governments have criticized the legislation and Putin faced protests by supporters of gay rights on a visit in April to the Netherlands, the first country to allow same-sex marriage.

Russian gay rights activists say Putin’s statements and the legislation encourage discrimination against gays. The brutal killing last month of a man investigators said had told drinking partners he was gay has fueled fears of more violence.

Rights campaigners say Russian orphanages are rife with criminal violations, including sexual abuse. But Olga Batalina, a lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party, said last week that adoption by same-sex families should not be an option.

Russia banned all adoptions by Americans this year in a dispute with the United States over human rights.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/06/01/20865626.html

Pauley Perrette comes out... as an ally of equality!

 


Visit http://www.glaad.org/ally to join the #AllyNetwork and take action for LGBT equality.

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