Target Donates 100% of Gay ‘Pride’ T-Shirt Sales to Group Advocating Same-Sex Marriage

in: http://cnsnews.com/

(AP Photo)

For  June “Pride Month,” dedicated to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, the Target Corp. announced it would sell “gay pride” t-shirts and donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the Family Equality Council (FEC), a group that, among other issues, supports same-sex marriage and works to remove restrictions against LGBT persons adopting children.

In June, Target Corp. agreed to sell t-shirts in its stores nationwide for $12.99 to help the Family Equality Council raise $120,000 towards the defeat of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment in the Great Lakes State this November, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

The t-shirts, 10 varieties, promoted pro-gay themes such as the rainbow coupled with the word “Pride” or “Harmony” and “Love is Love.” A typical ad for one of the t-shirts read: “PRIDE Mens Heather Grey Rainbow Colorblock Crew Graphic T-Shirt. Target will Donate 100% of PRIDE Merchandise Sales to Family Equality Council. Free shipping when you spend $50.”

Target’s communications director, Molly Snyder, told CNSNews.com: “Target supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business and has a long history of supporting the LGBT community through giving, volunteerism and event sponsorship and participation. Over the past year, we heard from our team members and guests that they’d like to see an assortment of Pride merchandise available at Target.”

"Love is Love" t-shirt sold at Target stores for June Pride Month. (AP Photo)

“Target was pleased to be able to bring our guests products they want while, in turn, helping support the LGBT community through the donation of 100 percent of the purchase price to the Family Equality Council,” she said.

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for Policy Studies at Family Research Council, said Target should refrain from engaging in the culture war by not supporting same-sex marriage.

“The fact that they are donating all of the proceeds of these sales to the Family Equality Council, which is an explicitly pro-homosexual political advocacy group, it indicates that they are taking sides in the culture war,” said Sprigg. “And that’s something we think corporations should not do.”

He added, “We’re not in the business of calling for or sponsoring boycotts of particular businesses, but we will call attention to the corporate practices of these companies so that our constituents know what’s happening there.”

In 2010, Target Corp. was criticized for making a $150,000 contribution to MN Forward, an economic conservative group that endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Following complaints reportedly from Target employees, Target Corp. CEO Gregg Steinhafel issued a letter apologizing for the political contribution and promised to be more mindful of LGBT concerns.

Steinhafel wrote, “We remain fully committed to fostering an environment that supports and respects the rights and beliefs of all individuals. The diversity of our team is an important aspect of our unique culture and our success as a company, and we did not mean to disappoint you, our team or our valued guests.”

The Family Equality Council was created in 1979 to advance gay rights and similar causes. It supports same-sex partnerships, adoption of children by homosexuals, and anti-bullying measures in schools, among other issues.

According to the Family Equality Council Web site, the group works at the federal, state, and local levels “to gain recognition of same-sex relationships and to fight off attempts to deny recognition to families who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” with bills like the Respect for Marriage Act.

Additionally, the organization promotes adoption by homosexuals, reads its Web site, by “defeating legislation, policies, and practices that restrict LGBT parenting; promoting and passing new laws that promote LGBT parenting such as second parent adoption; and promoting policies and practices that are inclusive of LGBT parents.”

Recently the organization supported the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 1681), a bill that was re-introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D- Calif.) in May. It would prohibit “discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child involved.”

With respect to anti-bullying legislation, the Family Equality Council has promoted the Safe Schools Improvement Act and Student Non-Discrimination Act. These efforts seek to implement school policies ensuring that “all children have the same opportunity to thrive – which requires that they feel safe, supported and valued in school and are able to attend without fear of bullying, violence, harassment, and discrimination because of who their parents are or how their families were created,” states the Family Equality Council Web site.

http://cnsnews.com/

Creator of Rainbow Flag Shares His Memories of the Movement

in: http://www.edgeboston.com/

The rainbow flag 

On June 19, artist Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag in 1978, shared his memories of that period and the flag’s creation in a discussion at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco with longtime activist and friend, Cleve Jones.

The rainbow flag is so iconic, so ubiquitous, so universally recognized, that there is a habitual tendency to think that it has always flown to represent queer Pride. Yet it is not so: it was created and consciously adopted in the streets of San Francisco, when activists spoke of gay liberation rather than LGBT acceptance in the after-fires of the political fires of the late 1970s. And no, it wasn’t created because we’re all friends of Dorothy.

"1977 -- that was a pivotal year," Baker said. "That was the year of Anita Bryant. That was he year Harvey (Milk) was elected. That was the year we became galvanized."

Paul Boneberg, Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society, Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker and activist Cleve Jones  (Source:Roger Brigham)

It was also the year after the American Bicentennial Celebration, a period that Baker said made him more flag conscious as cranked out hundreds of banners and signs for the endless parades that activists were busily organizing.

"I thought, ’You know, we ought to have a flag,’" Baker said. "A flag is something you can’t disarm. What makes a flag a flag is that people own it. It connects to their souls. It belongs to them."

Baker said he did not want to work with the symbols of oppression that had been adopted in the early victim politics.

"The Lambda was a little obscure," he said, "and the triangles were given to us by the Nazis."

He began researching rainbows and their uses in the Bible, in Native cultures and in the psychedelic hippy peace and freedom culture of the Sixties. 

"It represents all the colors, all the genders, all the humanity," Baker said. "I wanted to expand on the use of visual images that would not depend on language."

Gilbert Baker  

Baker said the first two flags were made using all-natural materials and dyes in the fashion of the day. But the colors ran when they got wet. In addition, the flag started off with eight colors, not the six it has now, and each color stood for something different: pink (sex), red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sun), green (nature), turquoise (magic), blue (serenity) and lavender (spirit).

"Eight is a very magical number," said Baker. "It’s symmetrical, and allowed me to split them into hot and cold colors. It gave me a way to incorporate pink. Of course, it was a fuschia hot pink. And it allowed me to bring in turquoise, connecting to Native island cultures."

But, in the long run, the eight color flag was too complicated and costly to reproduce in the pre-digital age of four-color printing. So he dropped pink and turquoise.

"I felt strange because I was giving up sex and magic," Baker said with a laugh.

Jones said there was a lot of community conversation at the time about the need for a unifying symbol.

"When that went up the flag pole, all conversation on it stopped," Jones said. "Everybody just embraced it."

It seemed, Baker and Jones said, that just about everyone wanted the gay flags except the flag industry: world of flag-makers and vexilographers.

"It took about 10 years," Baker said, recounting how he cut his hair and dressed in business attire in order to try to fit in at the flag industry conventions. "They pretty much decide on what a flag is. They would not even entertain a motion that there even was such a thing as a gay flag. A lot of good old boy flag companies down in Texas didn’t want to know anything about a gay flag."

Gilbert Baker’s sea-to-sea rainbow flag is displayed in Key West in 2003  

But when one took a chance and made 5,000 little flags for Baker, they sold out in two hours. Game over, battle won.

Now they are everywhere, and the rainbow is incorporated in knick-knacks and collectibles. Jones teased Baker about not having patented the symbol.

"How do you feel when you see all this rainbow crap and you don’t stand to make a penny off it?" Jones asked.

"It’s not about money," Baker teased back. "It’s about power."

There have been some iconic world record moments for the flag since then, such as the Stonewall 25 flag in New York City in 1994, and the sea-to-sea rainbow flag in Key West in 2003 on the 25th anniversary of the flag. 

And there have been the grim reminders of why the flag was needed, as when a parade of the flag in a celebration in Stockholm drew 300,000 spectators, and then was disrupted when gangs of young neo-Nazis grabbed and brutally beat some of the spectators.

"It blew my mind," Baker said. "There is this resistance that comes to us in the form of violence. We’re lucky to be in America. I think about those gay people in China who can’t come out -- making those rainbow tchotchkes and they can never come out. Or Uganda: there wasn’t any ’Will and Grace’ in Uganda. Our liberation is an ongoing struggle. It was before us and it will be in the generations after us. It’s more than the colors we can see: It’s the colors that we can’t see, the thing that go past our own lives."

For information about ongoing exhibits and presentations at the GLBT Historical Society, 4127 18th Street, a half a block off Castro Street, visit www.glbthistory.org.

http://www.edgeboston.com/

Obama Pride

in: http://artdept.advocate.com/post/25877650055/obama-pride


A Brooklyn artist inspired by Obama's stance on marriage equality created this fractal-rainbow portrait:





http://artdept.advocate.com/post/25877650055/obama-pride

Facebook, Google, And Other Tech Companies Show Off Their Gay Pride (Pics)

in: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/25/tech-gay-pride/

Pride got high tech this weekend as thousands of employees from Google, Facebook, Electronic Arts, Zynga, and more celebrated to support equal rights for everyone. Parades in San Francisco and New York saw search engine, social network, and game developer logos decked out in rainbows as engineers danced in the streets.

Here’s a look at our favorite photos of tech companies representing at Pride…

Google tells me “We support our LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender] employees in a number of ways — in taking a stand on matters of policy, putting programs in place that support Gayglers (Gay Googlers) and their families, and hosting and sponsoring events and programs around the world to continue the discussion on equality.”

Over 400 Facebook employees marched down Market Street in San Francisco for Pride yesterday. I wondered if Facebook feared any backlash from conservative countries where it’s popular but tolerance is not. Slater Tow, a member of the Gay @ Facebook employees group assured me “Facebook very much supports diversity” but that its presence at Pride is “not a company led initiative. Its 100% employee driven.”

Both companies have been showing their support online too. Last year Facebook added civil unions and domestic partnerships as relationship status options, and the company won a GLAAD award this month. And just last week, Google added a PrideEaster egg to search, displaying a rainbow banner on results when you search for Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, NYC Gay Pride, or SF Gay Pride, or Gay Pride.

So now let’s check out the awesome photos. If your tech company has pics from Pride too, post them as Imgur links in the comments and I’ll add them in.

You didn’t have to search hard to find Google at Pride. It had almost 700 marchers in New York City and over 1,000 in San Francisco

With such a huge contingent, Google figured it’d bring a bus

…and a trolley in SF

Whose to say what gender the cute little Android robots are?

–

Zynga shows how Words With Friends does Pride

Zynga’s dog logo gets rainbowed

–

All the Electronics Arts characters supporting gay rights

EA is a sports game company after all

–

Facebook brought a huge crew to San Francisco Pride

That looks like about 900 million, right?

Facebook decked out its team with special Pride shirts

And they weren’t shy about showing their colors

It is a social network after all, so Facebook had a DJ playing to the crowd as its trolley car drove through the parade

Because pride connects us

From atop SF’s Dolores Park, Facebook shows its support

That means equality even if you’re dressed up like Katy Perry

And even Facebook’s office got into the spirit, with its giant hack sign painted rainbow to show pride visible from space

[Thanks to Jason Agron, Chandler Abraham, and all the other photographers]

in: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/25/tech-gay-pride/

Oreo Surprises 26 Million Facebook Fans With Gay Pride Post

in: http://www.adweek.com/

Oreo is widely known to be one of the most successful brands on Facebook, but tonight the brand proved it could be one of the boldest, too. 

Around 8 p.m. Eastern, Oreo posted a gay-pride-themed picture featuring a six-layer cookie colored like a rainbow, with “June 25” and the word “Pride.” 

The caption said “Proudly support love!” (The significance of the date is unclear, at least to me. San Francisco’s famous Gay Pride Parade was the 24th, as was the one-year anniversary of New York’s Marriage Equality Act.) 

The response among Oreo’s 26.9 million fans has been fiercely divided, with many commenting that they planned to stop purchasing Oreos. 

“I'm never eating Oreos again. This is just disgusting,” one commenter said. “Unliking page and the rest of the ‘kraft’ family products... i will not support a company with these views,” wrote another. 

But the post also drew a massive amount of support in the form of 14,800 shares and 87,000 Likes as of this writing. “I didn't think it was possible for me to love oreo's more than I already did!!” said one supportive fan. 

While there’s likely to be plenty of fallout for Oreo over this simple photo post, at least the brand has shown it’s not afraid to tackle a thornier issue than “Do you ever think of Oreo cookies when drinking milk?”

http://www.adweek.com/

Today in LGBT History

June 25, 1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

Pentagon to participate in gay pride month

in: http://www2.tbo.com/

 Last summer, gays in the military dared not admit their sexual orientation. This summer, the Pentagon will salute them, marking June as gay pride month just as it has marked other celebrations honoring racial or ethnic groups.

In the latest remarkable sign of change since the military repealed the “don't ask, don't tell” policy, the Defense Department will soon hold its first event to recognize gay and lesbian troops. It comes nine months after repeal of the policy that had banned gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.

Details are still being worked out, but officials say Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to honor the contributions of gay service members.

“Now that we've repealed `don't ask, don't tell,' he feels it's important to find a way this month to recognize the service and professionalism of gay and lesbian troops,” said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman.

This month's event will follow a long tradition in the Pentagon of recognizing diversity in America's armed forces. Hallway displays and activities, for example, have marked Black History Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.

Before the repeal, gay troops could serve but couldn't reveal their orientation. If they did, they would be discharged. At the same time, a commanding officer was prohibited from asking a service member is he or she was gay.

Although some feared repeal of the ban on serving openly would cause problems in the ranks, officials and gay advocacy groups say no big issues have materialized — aside from what advocacy groups criticize as slow implementation of some changes, such as benefit entitlements to troops in same-sex marriages.

Basic changes have come rapidly since repeal — the biggest that gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines no longer have to hide their sexuality in order to serve. They can put photos on their office desk without fear of being outed, attend social events with their partners and openly join advocacy groups looking out for their interests.

OutServe, a once-clandestine professional association for gay service members, has nearly doubled in size to more than 5,500 members. It held its first national convention of gay service members in Las Vegas last fall, then a conference on family issues this year in Washington.

At West Point, the alumni gay advocacy group Knights Out was able to hold the first installment in March of what is intended to be an annual dinner in recognition of gay and lesbian graduates and Army cadets. Gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were able to take same-sex dates to the academy's Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen.

Panetta said last month that military leaders had concluded that repeal had not affected morale or readiness. A report to Panetta with assessments from the individual military service branches said that as of May 1 they had seen no ill effects.

“I don't think it's just moving along smoothly, I think it's accelerating faster than we even thought the military would as far as progress goes,” said Air Force 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, a finance officer and co-director of OutServe.

He said acceptance has been broad among straight service members and has put a spotlight on unequal treatment that gays continue to receive in some areas. “We are seeing such tremendous progress in how much the military is accepting us, but not only that — in how much the rank and file is now understanding the inequality that's existing right now,” he said.

That's a reference to the fact that same-sex couples aren't afforded spousal health care, assignments to the same location when they transfer to another job, and other benefits. There was no immediate change to eligibility standards for military benefits in September. All service members already were entitled to certain things, such as designating a partner as one's life insurance beneficiary or as designated caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program.

As for other benefits still not approved, the department began a review after repeal with an eye toward possibly extending eligibility, consistent with the federal Defense of Marriage Act and other applicable laws, to the same-sex partners of military personnel.

“The department is carefully and deliberately reviewing the benefits from a policy, fiscal, legal, and feasibility perspective,” Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Thursday.

Gay marriage has been perhaps the most difficult issue.

Though chaplains on bases in some states are allowed to hold what the Pentagon officials call “private services” — they don't use the words wedding or marriage — such unions do not garner marriages benefits because the Defense of Marriage Act says marriage is between a man and a woman.

The policy known as “don't ask, don't tell” was in force for 18 years, and its repeal was a slow and deliberate process.

President Barack Obama on Dec. 22, 2010, signed legislation repealing it. Framing the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied, Obama said that “we are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot … a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal.”

The military then did an assessment for several months to certify that the forces were prepared to implement it in a way that would not hurt military readiness. And it held training for its 2.25 million-person force to inform everyone of the coming change and what was expected.

http://www2.tbo.com/

Apple Adds Gay and Lesbian Couple Icons to iOS 6

in: http://gizmodo.com/

The new version of Apple's iPhone operating system comes with new emojis, the popular emoticons that are often used in texting and email, especially by young kids and nerdy adults like me. Two of these new pictograms represent gay and lesbian couples for the first time.

The icons are placed next to the previous relationship-related emojis showing a heterosexual couple holding hands and a heterosexual couple with a son. One shows two men holding hands. The other shows two women in the same position.

From Japan to the world

Emojis started in Japan. Meaning picture (e) and letter (moji), the pictograms quickly become a standard across this highly visually oriented culture. Apple introduced an emoji keyboard when it got the iPhone into the Japanese market, knowing that they were fundamental to compete there.

But then Westerners, fascinated by their cuteness, quickly adopted them too. Software appeared to enable that special Apple emoji keyboard in any iPhone or iPad. Every kid and nerdy adult with an Apple device quickly adopted them, and emojis spreaded like wildfire. Now you can find them everywhere.

Apple has greatly expanded the emoji palette with the new iOS 6, including these two gay and lesbian icons which weren't present in iOS 5. I wouldn't be surprised if same sex couples with babies appear in iOS 7.

There's only one question: why don't the gay and lesbian couples have any facial expressions? [Thanks Logan!]

http://gizmodo.com/

Hillary Clinton’s Gay Pride Month Message: ‘We Will Not Rest Until Equal Rights Are A Reality’

in: http://www.mediaite.com/

The Obama administration further demonstrated its commitment to upholding LGBT rights with a video message by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released Tuesday. Clinton’s statement came on the heels of President Obama’s proclamation of June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Month.”

The message is the latest in a series of addresses by Clinton over three years in support of Pride Month and the LGBT community. Her last significant address on the subject took place in Geneva last year during Human Rights Day, where she declared that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” During the two-and-a-half minute video, Clinton elaborated on the importance of freedom and equality for all. Additionally, she commented on the progress the international community has made in fighting for LGBT rights.

“In the United States and around the world, progress is being made,” said Clinton. “The tireless advocacy of generations is bending the arc of history. Barriers are being torn down, discriminatory laws repealed, and millions are now able to live more freely and participate in the future of their communities and countries.”

However, Clinton also warned that there is still room for improvement. “Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender men and women continue to be persecuted and attacked,” she stated. “They are arrested, beaten, tortured, and even executed.”

But the Secretary of State also reiterated her high hopes for the future, citing the continuation of a “concerted effort” by the international community as the key to combating discrimination against LGBT individuals.

Watch Clinton’s message below:




http://www.mediaite.com/

LGBT Pride Month

Barack Obama decretou oficialmente que Junho é o "LGBT Pride Month", o mês do Orgulho LGBT.

E, pelo menos quem está um pouco dentro das questões LGBT, sabe bem o porquê da simbologia deste mês. Em 28 de Junho de 1969, despoletaram os confrontos de Stonewall, em NY, que marcaram o início da luta pelos direitos da população LGBT (Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, e Transgéneros).

Ao mesmo tempo que mediam forças com a polícia que, mais uma vez tinha invadido os bares LGBT nas suas rusgas, aproveitavam para afirmar a sua existência e o seu direito à dignidade e respeito.

Sentiram a necessidade de tomar uma atitude perante as constantes rusgas policiais e clima de repressão, afirmar: Nós estamos aqui, existimos, sim, somos, gays, lésbicas, bis, transgéneros, transsexuais e acima de tudo somos PESSOAS e exigimos direitos iguais e a sermos tratados e tratadas com respeito.

Esse 28 de Junho de 1969 marcou um passo muito importante na história da população LGBT e é considerado como a 1ª Marcha do Orgulho LGBT.

Porquê "Orgulho"? Porque ser LGBT não é motivo de vergonha. A nossa orientação sexual ou identidade de género não nos torna pessoas nem melhores nem piores, nem superiores nem inferiores às pessoas heterossexuais.

Alguns insurgem-se contra a palavra "Orgulho". E, pergunto eu, porque não devemos ter orgulho de sermos quem somos? (e isto aplica-se não só à nossa orientação sexual ou identidade de género mas em muitas outras características da nossa vida).

Referindo-me específicamente às questões LGBT, sim, devemos ter Orgulho por termos a nossa orientação sexual ou identidade de género, que não nos faz nem melhores nem piores do que os outros, mas pessoas que simplesmente têm uma característica diferente da maioria da população. E não deve existir nada de errado na diversidade.

"Orgulho" por oposição à palavra "vergonha" que muitas vezes é o que a Sociedade quer que tenhamos; "vergonha", só por termos uma característica diferente da maioria das pessoas. Na verdade, a própria Sociedade é que deveria sentir "vergonha" por não aceitar a diversidade Humana como algo natural e continuar a castigar pessoas (desde a perda do emprego, conflitos familiares, chacota pública, nalguns países a prisão e por vezes até a morte), pessoas que simplesmente têm uma orientação sexual ou identidade de género que não a da maioria.

Falo assim tão apaixonadamente sobre este tema porque, orgulhosamente, pertenço à população LGBT. :)

Voltando ao tema inicial, o LGBT Pride Month, todos os anos, em diversos países e cidades no Mundo, LGBTs se juntam, para recordar Stonewall, e, tal como em 1969, dizermos "estamos aqui, existimos, queremos igualdade em relação às pessoas heterossexuais, não queremos ser tratados como "cidadãos de 2ª", queremos o fim da homo, bi e transfobia e de toda e qualquer discriminação e reivindicamos o direito a sermos tratados como pessoas, com dignidade, com respeito, com equidade. Porque, ainda em pleno século XXI, ainda é necessário sairmos à rua reivindicarmos por direitos iguais, por respeito, dignidade... Porque esses princípios básicos da Humanidade (igualdade, equidade, respeito, dignidade...) ainda não chegaram a muitos, muitos LGBTs pelo Mundo fora...

Damos a cara para mostrarmos que somos pessoas exactamente como os heterossexuais, com as mais diversas características físicas, condições sociais, as mais diversas profissões, ... Existimos.

E, dada a importância dos acontecimentos de Stonewall, em Junho 1969, as Marchas do Orgulho LGBT realizam-se um pouco por todo o Mundo, durante o mês de Junho (por vezes também no início de Julho, como no ano passado, em Madrid, que se realizou a 4 de Julho), mas sempre próximo de 28 de Junho, a data dos acontecimentos de Stonewall.

Em Portugal, vai-se realizar, muito brevemente (já este sábado, 19 de Junho), a XI Marcha do Orgulho LGBT de Lisboa. Começa no Jardim do Principe Real, pelas 17h, até à Praça do Martim Moniz .

Aí, como habitual, para terminar a Marcha, representantes das associações que pertencem à organização da Marcha do Orgulho LGBT falarão um pouco.

A novidade, é que este ano, esses "mini-discursos" terão interpretação em Língua Gestual Portuguesa (por mim. :)), dando dessa forma total acessibilidade no acesso a essa informação a todos os Surdos LGBT que existem (ou a todos os outros Surdos, que, mesmo não sendo LGBT se queiram juntar a nós na participação da Marcha do Orgulho LGBT).

Por isso, convido tod@s, LGBT ou não, Surdos LGBT ou não, convido toda a gente a juntar-se a nós na XI Marcha do Orgulho LGBT de Lisboa, neste sábado, dia 19, com saída no Jardim do Principe Real. :)

(Também está para breve mais uma Marcha do Orgulho LGBT do Porto, da qual informarei brevemente.) :)