The LOUD Foundation awarded scholarships to a record 10 students for their community leadership, June 8, 2016, the highest number in the GLBT business association’s seven-year history of awarding the scholarships. Here’s a look at some of the 2016 recipients, whom event emcee Caryl Dolinko described as the next generation of leaders who will “set the stage for the rest of us, and the communities to come.” READ MORE
Why is the Straight Sports World Erasing 'Gay' and 'LGBT' From the Orlando Massacre?
In the hours and days after the terrorist attack on a gay bar in Orlando, the city's Major League Soccer Club, Orlando City SC, put out dozens of messages about the tragedy. The team's tweets and Facebook posts featured #OrlandoUnited and were adorned with rainbow flags. The team put out a seven-paragraph statement honoring the "fallen" from the "tragic events." Yet in all of the team's efforts, something has been desperately missing. There has been no direct mention by the team of the target of the attack: the LGBT community. The team has not uttered the words "LGBT," "gay," lesbian," "bisexual," "transgender," or "sexual orientation." Only four days after the attack did the team refer to even the name of the gay club - "Pulse" - where the attack occurred. Sure, they use "safe" terms like "pride," and they put a rainbow on their logo. But actually mention the targeted community by name? Not once. When I reached out to the team's spokespeople to ask them why that was, they did not respond. (OutSports)
L.G.B.T. People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate Crimes Than Any Other Minority Group
Even before the shooting rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were already the most likely targets of hate crimes in America, according to an analysis of data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. L.G.B.T. people are twice as likely to be targeted as African-Americans, and the rate of hate crimes against them has surpassed that of crimes against Jews. Politicians have been divided on how to define the Orlando tragedy. President Obama called it both “an act of terror and and an act of hate.” But some Republican officials have refused to acknowledge that it could be considered a hate crime. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has omitted any mention of gays when talking about the massacre, and Representative Pete Sessions of Texas has said the site of the shooting was not a gay club. According to a CBS News poll released on Wednesday, however, most Americans call the attack both a hate crime and terrorism. And the nightclub, Pulse, on its Twitter account, billed itself as “Orlando’s premier gay ultra lounge, nightclub and bar.” READ MORE
What Parents of Straight Kids Will NEVER Understand About Orlando
I finally cried this morning. My friend Cathy reached out to ask how my husband, Bob, and I were doing after the horrific Orlando shooting. None of my other friends called. I know they care. They just don’t understand what it’s like to be the parent of a gay child ... and we have two gay kids. Saturday we marched in the DC Pride Parade — proud parents of 2 gay kids. Marching with PFLAG has become a ritual for us. We march to send a message of love, to our son and daughter. To parents who love their kids but might be too shy to shout it out. To parents still struggling to accept their children and especially to the LGBTQ community of young people. We want them to know they are loved, even if their parents or religion reject them. We awoke Sunday to the tragic and devastating news that there had been 49 children killed and 53 injured during a terror attack in an Orlando gay nightclub. We were horrified thinking about what the kids experienced inside the club, and traumatized by hearing the parents on the news, uncertain about the fate of their children. What affected me most was the mom who received texts from her son, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, trapped inside the club. READ MORE
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Omar Sharif Jr: Coming Out in the Middle of a Revolution
I found the talk that actor/model Omar Sharif Jr did at the 2016 Oslo Freedom Forum to be very revealing about what it's like growing up as a gay person in Eygpt.
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Here's the official audio for "This Wheel's On Fire" by Kylie Minogue. The track is the theme song for the upcoming 'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Soundtrack'. Film and soundtrack will be released in July, 2016.
