“ The White House is expected to announce Monday that President Obama will issue an executive order requiring that all companies who contract with the federal government must not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity…” Read more in ThinkProgress … [Read more...]
LGBT News: Why Gay Pride Still Matters And Isn’t Just About Parades And Parties
“Since then Gay Pride, which is usually the whole month of June, has expanded around the globe. This celebration of life, love and liberty isn't just about parades and partying. It's about the gay community being visible and belonging to a community, a town, a city, a nation and the world.” Read more in The Huffington Post … [Read more...]
The Transcending Gender Project
Artists Statement: “It is a series of black and white environmental portraits trans-identified and gender nonconforming humans that celebrate who they are as people. The media and society in general is starting to discuss trans issues more, and there is more awareness, but so often, the focus of discussion is about bodies and what is underneath our clothes, instead of who we are and what we have to offer the world.” To view the photographs and learn more about this project visit transcendinggender.org … [Read more...]
International LGBT News: Rainbow Crosswalks In Toronto For World Pride Are Here To Stay
“In advance of World Pride, taking place June 20 to 29 in Toronto, two rainbow-coloured crosswalks have been installed in the LGBTTIQQ2SA* village near Church and Wellesley Streets — and they're there to stay.” Read more in the Huffington Post … [Read more...]
LGBT News: High school principal comes out at school-wide Pride Day event
“A Washington D.C. high school principal surprised and inspired his students when he came out as gay at the school's Pride Day event. Pete Cahall, principal of Wilson High School, hid his sexuality for many years. During the school-wide Pride event, with more than twenty community organizations and government agencies that support LGBT youth in attendance, Cahall decided it was the right time to come out.” Visit GLAAD to view the full video and article … [Read more...]
Local LGBT News: Santa Cruz Celebrates Equality at 40th Annual Pride Parade
“Organizers estimate some 7,000 people attended this year's Pride Parade and Festival, celebrating the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. And about 60 groups participated in the parade to honor the community's "trailblazers," who were the earliest to march, said Adam Spickler, former president of the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz.” Read more and view photos from the event in the Santa Cruz Sentinel … [Read more...]
LGBT Local News: Inside Out
“The arrest of gay men entrapped by undercover Capitola police officers in 1980, and the subsequent publishing of the names and home addresses of those arrested in local newspapers, led to over 200 people protesting the actions at a Capitola City Council meeting. Santa Cruz County was the first in the nation to adopt a gay non-discrimination policy for its own employees in 1975, and the City of Santa Cruz and Metropolitan Transit District’s domestic partners benefits programs were among the first in the nation in the mid-1980s. In 1983, I had … [Read more...]
LGBT Local News: Santa Cruz Pride Celebrates 40 Years of Advocacy
“As socially progressive as Santa Cruz may seem now, it wasn't always the case, the couple said. ‘In those early years, people were yelling at us on Pacific Avenue, 'Fags, go home,’’ Friedman said. ‘It was not very welcoming’ and ‘to come from that where we are today’ is a major leap.” Read more in The Santa Cruz Sentinel … [Read more...]
National LGBT News: US Dept. of Education. Announces Title IX Protects Transgender Students
“The guidance, from the Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), states: "Title IX's sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation." Read more at The National Center for Transgender Equality … [Read more...]
Local LGBT News: Youths Break Silencing Effect of Bullying
“Breaking the Silence,” a rally held last Friday at the downtown Santa Cruz Town Clock, expanded awareness of the national Day of Silence, an annual event formed in 1996 by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) during which students across the country vow to stay quiet for a whole day to symbolize the silencing effects of harassment and bullying on LGBTQ students. Read more in City on the Hill Press … [Read more...]