GLBTQ: Combined Gay News Headlines (T5T-1)

170 passengers. 5 crew members. Rescue boats reached plane while it was still above water. Plane has sank below surface now. Updates on Jossip … Permalink | post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg Post tags: breaking, disaster, NYC

Natalie Dylan, the 22-year-old brunette who's selling her virginity online somehow, is definitely in this for the publicity. Although the auction has somehow ratcheted up a $3.8 million price tag for the honor of breaking her hymen, Dylan has also, conveniently, scored a book deal. And now just to fuel more press reports — like [...]

"I think most Americans would be put off if they knew what went on at these parties. Every special interest group has a ball of some sort, but this is not just any special interest group. More than half the country considers their behavior immoral." —Peter LaBarbera (pictured), president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, [...]

Here is another guest post by Rev. Irene Monroe, who generated a lot of discussion with her last contribution, "Gay is NOT the new black." This time, she has the inauguration of Barack Obama on her mind, and how what should be a day of joy for all Americans, particularly black citizens, it's tempered for those of us who are LGBTQ because of Obama's embrace of Rick Warren.

Obama's inauguration brings mixed feelings for many Black LGBTQ Americans

Rev. Irene Monroe

The last time a nation came to Washington and was mesmerized and stirred to action by the oratory brilliance of an African American man was at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech. In that speech King said "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." King, a Baptist preacher and the Moses of the 1960's Black Civil Rights Movement, knew in a distant future that a Barack Obama would come, but not in his lifetime.

"And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!"

Those were Kings final words delivered on April 3 1968 at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), in Memphis, Tennessee. The following day King was assassinated.

With a nation then in moral chaos who would lead not only blacks in this country toward full equality, but all Americans?

Forty years later and the day after Americans will celebrated MLK Day 2009 our nation on January 20 will once again come to Washington mesmerized and stirred to action by the oratory brilliance and leadership of an African American man to be sworn in as our nation's 44th President of the United States - Barack H. Obama.

With the election of Barack Obama as our country's first African American president, my enslaved ancestors who built the White House could have never imagined that one of their progenies would one day occupy it.

Obama's campaign slogan "Yes we can!" resonates from black pulpits, giving boundless hope that as African Americans we can make positive changes in our lives, such as stem gang violence, the AIDS epidemic ravaging the entire African-American community, the epidemic level of fatherlessness, and teenage pregnancy just to name a few.

This historic election inspires many of our black boys and girls to not only consider attending college but to one day consider running for president too.

Obama has galvanized the country, bringing people of all races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions and cultures together.

Whereas King was the Moses of his people leading us to the Promised Land, Obama is our Joshua, leading America's Israelites following our Moses and taking us there.

But on the day Obama will be sworn in not all of us will feel this historic moment include us too. With Rich Warren, founder of the evangelical megachurch, Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, California and supporter of California Proposition 8, which amended the California Supreme Court's ruling that gay marriage is constitutionally permissible, chosen to give the invocation at his inauguration many LGBTQ Americans who voted for Obama feel thrown under the bus.

More below the fold...

And like Bayard Rustin, the gay man who was chief organizer and strategist for the 1963 March on Washington that further catapulted Martin Luther King onto the world stage, who was not the beneficiary of King's dream, we LGBTQ Americans feel we too will not be the beneficiaries of Obama's, especially LGBTQ African Americans.

And many of us LGBTQ Americans and our allies are speaking out.

"President-Elect Obama, many of us will be at your inauguration. We will dance and party and drink a toast to your success upon which so many hopes are tethered. But, you have to understand that we are once again coming to Washington DC to cash a check. Yes, like the 1963 March on Washington, organized by a black gay man, Bayard Rustin, we LGBT people have been given the same promissory note that is the heritage and pride of every American," Sylvia Rhue, Director of Religious Affairs for National Black Justice Coalition, the only African American gay civil rights organization in the country wrote in an op-ed on the Huffington Post. "The right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, "the riches of freedom and the security of justice." And this fierce urgency of now has been tainted by the choice of a man who is so deeply flawed that he equates the lifelong love and commitment of a same gender couple to be equivalent to incest and pedophilia."

An African American cleric and ally to the African American LGBTQ community, Rev Kenneth L. Samuel Senior Pastor of Victory for the World United Church of Christ in Stone Mountain, GA, told the Associated press that, "If Barack Obama or the King Center had selected Reverend Jeremiah Wright to speak at these auspicious occasions, more than a few persons would have become agitated to the point of having their heads explode. Why? Because many would have seen Reverend Wright's selection not as an invitation to dialogue, but as an affront to their national solidarity and their personal dignity. Apparently, anger about America's historic and current racism is totally unacceptable, while denial of equal rights based upon sexual orientation is not only to be tolerated, but also given center stage... Obama's hope and King's dream should inspire each of us toward a greater commitment to freedom and equality for all persons."

Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, was selected to give the invocation at the kickoff event "We Are One" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial January 19. While many feel the selection of Robinson is to placate the queer community, the black queer community isn't buying it. Robinson, however, opines differently about it. In an e-mail to his friends Robinson wrote, "I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, "We are One," to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 pm. It will be an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president, standing on the holy ground where the "I have a dream speech" was delivered by Dr. King, surrounded by the inspiring and reconciling words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It is also an indication of the new president's commitment to being the President of ALL the people. I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community."

For King, justice was more than a racial issue, more than a legal or moral issue. Justice was a human issue. And this was evident in King's passionate concern about a wide range of issues. "The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place," King once told a racially-mixed audience. "Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial injustice."

Hopefully, Obama's words "Yes we can!" will inspire us ALL to do so as we celebrated King's holiday and Obama's inauguration.

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves, people. Look at this press release from the Presidential Inaugural Committee prominently featuring John McCain's infamous bootlicking Baghdad rug shopping partner and long-rumored queen of the Palmetto State. Does someone on that committee have a sly sense of humor?

Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Bipartisan Leaders to Serve as Mistress and Masters of Ceremonies and Introducers for Bipartisan Dinners
Veteran Republican Senators Warner, Hagel and Graham to Play Key Role in Dinners on Eve of Inauguration to Highlight President Elect Obama's Commitment to Renew Bipartisan Cooperation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, as part of an Inauguration for all Americans, the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced a bipartisan group of national leaders who will serve as the mistress and masters of ceremonies or act as introducers at a series of bipartisan dinners to take place on Monday, January 19th, the eve of Inauguration Day.
Each of these leaders has a career that has been marked by a commitment to place the interests of the American people ahead of partisanship. Veteran Republican Senators John Warner (Ret., R-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will play key roles at the three dinners, each introducing an American whose lifetime of public service has been enhanced by a dedication to bipartisan achievement.
"On the eve of this historic transfer of power, Americans from both sides of the aisle will come together to move past partisan differences and start a new chapter of cooperation for the common good of our country," said Presidential Inaugural Committee Director of Communications Josh Earnest.
General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) will be honored at a bipartisan dinner held at the National Building Museum. United States Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) will serve as the mistress of ceremonies, and United States Senator John Warner (Ret., R-VA) will introduce General Powell.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be honored at a bipartisan dinner held at Union Station. Democratic Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine will serve as the master of ceremonies, and United States Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) will introduce Vice President-elect Biden.
United States Senator John McCain will be honored at a bipartisan dinner held at the Hilton Washington. Democratic Governor of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will serve as master of ceremonies, and United States Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will introduce Senator McCain.

On Wednesday there were peaceful vigils held around the country, a National Day of Action demanding justice for Oscar Grant, who was executed by a BART police officer on New Year's Day. Grant, 22-year-old man from Hayward, California (and who leaves a four-year-old daughter), was told to lie on the ground, with hands behind his back, and Officer Johannes Meherles pulled out his gun, stood over the unthreatening Grant and shot him in the back -- in front of hundreds of BART patrons -- some capturing the crime with their cell phone cameras.

Speaking at this vigil, held in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, were: Vincent Jones (Jordan Rustin Coalition), Vallerie Wagner (National Black Justice Coalition), Elmer Roldan (Community Coalition), Latrice Dixon (Here To Stay Coalition), Brian Morgan (Courage Campaign), and Nakhone Keodara (Gays United Network).

"We are united by more than a public execution and gross misuse of authority," says Jordan Rustin Coalition Board Member Vincent Jones. "We come together tonight because all of our civil rights are at risk when we don't lift our voices against this type of injustice."
The goal of today's National Day of Action is to put pressure on legislative leaders to create an independent body with oversight powers over BART police and to have BART officer Johannes Mehserle arrested and charged to the fullest extent of the law.
"There is only one answer to a tragedy like this: justice. On behalf of our nearly 400,000 members, the Courage Campaign calls for an immediate independent oversight of the BART police," says Courage Campaign Chair Rick Jacobs. "We join in solidarity with hundreds of people across the country in mourning this horrific shooting and pledge to redouble our efforts to build social justice in our state."
"In light of last night's arrest of the former officer who committed the killing of Oscar Grant, it is now more important then ever for a national showing of solidarity and demand for and end to police brutality everywhere," says Sean Dugar, President of the California NAACP Youth & College Division.
The death of Oscar Grant has brought together a diverse coalition of groups committed to ending discrimination and violence. A number of LGBT groups have stepped into the struggle in a show of solidarity.
"We are stunned and outraged at the continued pernicious attacks that the Black community suffers at the hand of the police," says Latrice Dixon of the Here to Stay Coalition, a Black LGBT organization." From the murders of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell by the NYPD to the recent assassinations of unarmed Dante Story in South Central and unarmed Oscar Grant in San Francisco, the Here to Stay Coalition condemns the repeated police terror of Black and poor communities and calls for all communities to use King's example and organize for justice!"
"Gays United Network is standing with the African-American community to fight injustice in all of its forms," says Nakhone Keodara, Gays United Network Founder & Community Organizer.