Posts made by leatherbear

The summer's Supreme Court decisions unleashed pent-up demand for gay marriages, and a handful of states reaped an economic benefit. The effect is not huge, but neither is it insignificant.

Steve Dinnen 19 hours ago

When Minnesota enacted a same-sex marriage law this summer, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak saw an economic opportunity.

Earlier this month, he flew to Illinois – where legislators had recently failed to pass a same-sex marriage bill – to launch “Marry Me In Minneapolis.” Mayor Rybak invited same-sex couples from Chicago to wed (and spend a few dollars) in his city.

The ad campaign might not promise sweeping changes for the city's finances, but it could help. Demand for same-sex marriage ceremonies has grown since the United States Supreme Court in June struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples, according to experts and businesses.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about gay rights in America? Take the quiz!

Now, some states and cities are moving in to take advantage.

“You’re going to see an exponential increase [in same-sex marriages] as people understand” the impact of the DOMA decision, says Charlie Rounds, managing partner of Brand g Vacations, a Minneapolis gay tour operator.

Currently, the District of Columbia and 13 states permit same sex marriages, and with few other states likely to shift position in the immediate future, the gay-marriage map appears set for the moment. That clarifies the options for gay couples wanting to marry.

California and New York are huge draws for gay weddings, says LoAnn Halden, spokeswoman for the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association. For California, that is the direct result of a second Supreme Court decision in June, which struck down Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that banned gay marriage.

During the next three years, gay weddings in California will generate $492 million, according to an analysis by the Williams Institute, a think tank on gay issues at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

Even tiny Vermont stands to benefit. It’s seen as a leader in marriage equality, which helps explain why a couple from Minnesota preferred to wed there in late July rather than wait a week for the Minnesota law to take effect, says Willie Docto, co-owner of Moose Meadow Lodge in Duxbury, Vt.

Mr. Docto and his partner, Greg Trulson, typically host 20 to 24 weddings a year for same sex couples at their bed and breakfast. But the Supreme Court's historic DOMA decision on June 26 changed that.

“The first 11 days of July we hosted 11 weddings. [DOMA] just opened up the floodgates,” says Docto.

Records from the Vermont Department of Health show that between 2010 and Aug. 31, 2012, 2,375 same sex wedding licenses were issued. Two-thirds of licensees came from out of state.

Some of these wedding travel dollars will go offshore. A number of foreign countries are touting themselves as gay wedding destinations, and Cruise Planners American Express Travel Inc. just announced a “Sea of Love” cruise from Florida to the US Virgin Islands where couples – both same sex and heterosexual – can participate in a mass commitment ceremony.

“We have seen an impressive increase in demand from same-sex couples looking to declare their love for one another, so we decided to kick it up a notch by doing this once-in-a-lifetime event,” says Michelle Fee, CEO of Cruise Planners. “This is … a turning point in history.”

Be it Vermont or the high seas, gay wedding providers may have to contend with smaller individual paydays. The average gay wedding costs $9,039, compared with $21,404 for a heterosexual couple, according to a 2012 study conducted for NYC & Co., the tourism arm of New York City. Gay couples weren’t tighter with money; they just typically invited fewer guests.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rounds, the Minneapolis tour operator, urged those wanting to tie the knot to, ahem, not forget Minnesota or Iowa, the only other Midwest state to allow gay marriage.

“Not everybody can afford to fly to New York or Boston,” he says.

http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-tourism-big-economic-boom-states-175611709.html

This article contains many live links within the text in the original post.

Transgender Homecoming Queen Draws Backlash, But it's Progress

By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer | Takepart.com 10 hours ago Takepart.com

Southern California high school students elected a transgender girl as their homecoming queen this week, exciting equal rights backers everywhere, but Cassidy Lynn Campbell was still wearing her tiara and sash when she recorded a sobbing confessional decrying the hateful public backlash that came with the crown.

As acceptance grows for gays and lesbians, transgender teens and adults struggle to earn the same respect and rights. Too often transgender people become targets of barbs and harsh responses, like those that 16-year-old Cassidy faced.

But the controversy and becoming part of the national conversation is still a step forward in the slow march to acceptance for the transgender community, experts say.

“Because of transgender people telling their stories in the media and people like Cassidy putting themselves out there by running for homecoming queen, there have been more policy changes on the state and national level,” Nick Adams, a spokesman for GLAAD, told TakePart.

“However, there is still a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding about the lives that transgender people lead.”

In the United States, something as seemingly small as the "M" or "F" that appears on most identification has a huge effect on the daily lives of the transgender community.

Until the Social Security Administration changed its policy in June, transgender people risked being outed by the agency during the employment verification process. Before the policy shift, the agency would send letters to employers saying a female transgender applicant's gender didn't match the gender they had on file.

Revised rules allow trans people to obtain federal documentation that reflects their accurate name and gender, without having to send proof of surgery. The landmark advance in policy is also true of passports and green cards, after changes at the State Department and federal immigration agency.

Social Security numbers and employment, in particular, are a serious issue because 90 percent of transgender people report harassment mistreatment and discrimination in the workplace, and are four times more likely to live in poverty, according to GLAAD. Being outed as a transgender person to a new boss or colleagues can create a hostile work environment and uncomfortable situations.

In other parts of the world the transgender community is making advances, but still struggles for recognition in some surprising places.

Human Rights Watch researcher Graeme Reid told TakePart that Argentina leads the way with progressive policy on LGBT rights by allowing transgender people to self-identify and legalizing gay marriage a few years ago.

That's not the case in The Netherlands and other European countries, where activists are working to change the laws.

Typically progressive Dutch legislators were once frontrunners when it came to transgender rights, making the country among the first European countries to grant the community legal recognition of gender identity in 1985.

But the legal recognition came at a cost: a sex change operation had to be completed before legal status was granted.

“It’s an invasive, irreversible surgery and many people don’t want to do that,” said Reid. “(Laws that require sex changes were) based on some misconceptions around the transgender experience. Not everyone wants to transition fully. That was a very binary and rigid idea about gender.”

Activists are urging the Dutch government to stop requiring medical intervention in recognizing gender.

Although the United States has already halted the practice at the federal level "there continues to be a sensationalistic fixation on the medical aspect of a person’s transition when in fact the whole transition process is much more holistic than that – your pronoun, telling your friends and family, there are so many more aspects to consider," Adams said

Broad acceptance comes, in part, with familiarity. A GLAAD study found that only 8 percent of Americans personally know someone who is transgender, while a Pew study found that 90 percent of Americans say they know someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Media coverage of violence against transgender women has highlighted a deeply unfortunate and persistent problem: more than half of all anti-LGBT homicides are committed against transgender women.  Increased awareness and compassion would be key to curbing violence in such cases, Adams said.

Where shows like “Glee” paved the way for gay and lesbian teens, transgender characters are making their way into the national cultural conversation, too. One of the many absorbing plotlines in the hit Netflix series “Orange is the New Black” explored one transgender woman’s downward spiral into credit debt because insurance doesn’t cover gender transition, allowing unique struggles to be depicted in the mainstream, Adams noted.

In that sense, Cassidy’s tiara-wearing tirade does make her an important transgender trailblazer.

And proof of her success can be found in the fact that Cassidy’s community voted for her win.

As her high school principal told local reporters, the school’s administration is proud that students are spreading a message of “equity, acceptance, tolerance and respect.

http://news.yahoo.com/transgender-homecoming-queen-draws-backlash-progress-024001748.html

This article contains many live links within the text in the original post.

Andre and Jeremy, All Out

Eric Lembembe

Dear Michael,

Eric Lembembe worked to help gay people in Cameroon. But he was recently murdered – his neck broken, his feet smashed and his face burned with an iron.

It’s not an isolated incident. Cameroon's gay people are living in terror as mob attacks, beatings and anti-gay arrests increase. And finally the government is starting to respond to international pressure.

They've just said they will investigate police officers accused of attacking gay people. But they are still refusing to stop the anti-gay mobs and "kill the faggots" protests. Can you help build the pressure on Cameroon's President Biya to go further and help stop the attacks?

If 100,000 of us sign the petition in the next 72 hours, we'll send it directly to the Presidential Palace:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacks

President Biya is sensitive to the growing international scandal about Cameroon's treatment of gay people. That's because he likes to spend his millions travelling to luxury resorts, meeting influential people, and making even more money from international business deals.

But it's much harder to mingle in international circles if the country you run is seen as a place where gay people are tortured, killed and imprisoned.

President Biya may hope he has now defused the situation by saying Cameroon will investigate police violence. But we can show him the risk to his reputation and lifestyle hasn't gone away.

Will you urge President Biya to help stop anti-gay attacks, end the law that makes it a crime to be gay, and free all people in jail because of who they love?

Sign here to help get to 100,000 names:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacks

Remember Roger from Cameroon? He was jailed for texting another man to say "I'm very much in love with you". Last year, more than 130,000 All Out members heard his plea and helped bring a global spotlight to his case, getting President Biya to break his silence and announce that "minds in the country are evolving" about this issue. Now's our chance to get him to act.

All Out members also donated more than 5,000 dollars to help lawyer Alice N'Kom defend two women threatened with prison. Whether it's attacks and arrests in Cameroon, anti-gay laws in Russia or helping people escape anti-gay death squads in Iraq, we're so powerful when we work together.

Stop the attacks and arrests in Cameroon. If we get 100,000 names in 72 hours we'll send it to the Presidential Palace, and Cameroon embassies in London, Washington DC and Paris:
https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacks

Thanks for going All Out,

Andre, Guillaume, Leandro, Marie, Hayley, Joe, Kate, Sara and the rest of the All Out team.

PS: "Kill the faggots. They don’t deserve to live." – This was the message on posters and leaflets at a "Day Against Homosexuality" march, held 3 weeks ago in Cameroon. Sign the petition to President Biya now: https://www.allout.org/cameroon-attacks

Please take the time to sign this petition!!!!

    

Paradise Fears ~ Same Love

Paradise Fears - Same Love

Paradise Fears ~ Same Love Lyrics

Paradise Fears - Same Love Lyrics

:cheers: Great Version!!! Love the extra lyrics!!!  :cheers:

Loving these Graphics!!!

  leatherbear

Your posting is fine  :cheers: However, you can post 10 attachments to 1 post and then reply to that same post with the next 10 pictures. I will have your posts combined into 1 cohesive post. Just add the additional pics to your last 6-9 post as a reply please.

I spent my youth as a Gay Man moving around a lot for the sake of experience of other areas and because it was easy to move in my job. I never had trouble with making Friends but then I am not a ~ pretty antisocial person.

I did make the Best Friends from just such Groups as you mention here. Any Gay Social Group will offer a wide variety of members even if it is a Specialized Group ~ Like Leather Clubs etc.

Organizations where you can become a Volunteer in Gay Charity or Political work are excellent for meeting new Friends as well.

Anyone have advices how to approach people…...

This will take effort on your part ~ you just need to be more open and friendly with strangers basically. Don't be afraid to try to start a conversation with strangers. If they blow you off then they were not worth knowing to begin with.

I learned a long time ago that the drop dead stud's have problems meeting people because every one is afraid to talk to them. Don't be one of those people ~ say hello and chat a bit. I bet you will be surprised.  :lovp:

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