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Cuba’s gay pride rally received a big political push over the weekend as the niece of former Cuban President Fidel Castro and the daughter of the current president marched during the celebration.
According to the Associated Press, hundreds of gay and lesbian activists, some dressed in drag and others sporting multicolored flags representing sexual diversity, marched and danced through the streets of Havana on Saturday along with the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro as part of a celebration aimed at eliminating homophobia around the world.
Some of the marchers played drums and others walked on stilts as they made their way down a wide avenue in the capital’s hip Vedado neighborhood, where they have held a series of debates and workshops ahead of the May 17 celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia, which participants say marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness.
“We have made progress, but we need to make more progress,” said Mariela Castro, a campaigner for gay rights on the island and the leader of Cuba’s National Sexual Education Center. She is also the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro.
Cuba has come a long way in accepting homosexuality. In the 1960s, shortly after the revolution, homosexuals were fired from state jobs and many were imprisoned or sent to work camps. Others fled into exile.
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Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago. 1 comment
If the rumors about a high-profile celebrity coming out in People magazine this month are true, then it looks like it’s going to be a big country music star.
According to the NY Daily News, Country music is about to take part in the
biggest coming out party ever.
Singer Chely Wright will be sticking her boot into the traditionally conservative
community by announcing she is a lesbian in People Magazine next week, TMZ
reports.
The 39-year-old musician, who was named Academy of Country Music’s Top
New Female Vocalist in 1999, will be the first major country artist to come out.
Wright has seven albums under her belt and scored a number one hit in 1999 with
“Single White Female.” She has also written songs for Brad Paisley – with whom she has also been romantically linked – Mindy Smith and Richard Marx.
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James “The Amazing” Randi is finally coming out of the closet at 81, writing in his blog that that he was inspired by the movie “Milk.”
According to Metro Weekly, Randi wrote in his blog (Randi.org) ”I’m gay…. From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style…. This declaration of mine was prompted just last week by seeing an excellent film — starring Sean Penn — that told the story of politician Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. I’m in excellent company: Barney Frank, Oscar Wilde, Stephen Fry, Ellen DeGeneres, Rachel Maddow, are just a few of those who were in my thoughts as I pressed the key that placed this on Swift and before the whole world…”
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Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
Many seniors are coming out of the closet late in life, which some experts say they have to deal with different issues, such as regrets for waiting so long.
According to the Associated Press, increased awareness and acceptance of varied sexualities and gender identities has led Americans to come out far younger, as early as middle school.
A less noticed but parallel shift is happening at the other end of the age spectrum, with people in their 60s, 70s and 80s coming to terms with the truth that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
While no one tracks the numbers of the elderly who come out, those who work with older adults say the trend is undeniable, and a resulting network of support groups and services has cropped up.
The decision can fracture lifelong relationships. Or it can bring the long-sought relief of an unloaded secret.
“For the first time in my life, I’m not putting on a show,” said Farthing, who eventually had sexual reassignment surgery and changed her first name to Chrissie. “It seems like I’ve been out on a cloud all my life and now I’m not. I’m me.”
Outing yourself late in life can be complicated after having lived through times when being openly gay could get you arrested, put in an institution and given shock treatments. It’s snarled in a lifetime of trudging along through society’s view of normalcy and the resulting fear of being ostracized by children and grandchildren. And it’s marked by a nagging doubt that all the heartache, all the potential for it to go wrong, may not be worth it with one’s years numbered.
“When somebody comes out at the age of 20, they have their whole life ahead of them,” said Karen Taylor, the director of training and advocacy for SAGE, a national group that works with LGBT seniors. “There’s a real sense of regret and loss for somebody who comes out later in life, even when talking to them and they say the decision was the right one.”
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Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago. 1 comment
As he gets ready for Super Bowl XLIV, New Orleans Saints star Scott Fujita is speaking out in favor of gay marriage, gay rights and his fight against inequality.
According to The Advocate, Scott Fujita is known for many things — being a “big white guy with the Japanese last name.” as he says; his dedication to charities and community service; and, more recently, his unapologetic views on gay rights.
Fujita was adopted as a child by his Japanese father and white mother, and he grew up in Southern California. Even though he is not ethnically Japanese, Fujita says he is Japanese in his heart. After a standout student-athlete career in high school, Fujita was recruited by the Ivies but decided to play for the University of California, Berkeley, as a walk-on player.
After going pro, Fujita played for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys before settling down with the New Orleans Saints in 2006, the season the team returned to the Big Easy following Hurricane Katrina. Since then, Fujita said, he’s found his second home. His team named him Man of the Year in 2009 for his charitable efforts for breast cancer awareness, adoption, and two local organizations, Adoption Services of Catholic Charities of New Orleans and the children’s charity Angel’s Place.
Fujita made waves in October when he backed Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo’s support for gay marriage. Now, with the spotlight on him for this Sunday’s Super Bowl, the 30-year-old linebacker isn’t backing down. Earlier this week, Fujita talked to The Advocate about getting more pro athletes to open up about gay rights, and the possibility of alienating people by being so outspoken.
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Posted 6 months, 4 weeks ago. Add a comment
Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain who opposes same-sex marriage, is coming out against her husband and for gay marriage in a big way, posing for an anti-Prop 8 advertisement.
According to Yahoo News, Sen. John McCain has been a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage and he opposed it during his 2008 presidential campaign and was vocal in his support for California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.
His family, however, is increasingly on the other side of this hot-button issue.
McCain’s daughter Meghan distanced herself from her father’s stance last summer when she posed for an ad for NOH8, a gay rights campaign seeking to defeat Prop 8. Now his wife Cindy is joining in the effort and is also appearing in an ad for NOH8.
“In the year since we’ve started the NOH8 campaign, we’ve often been surprised at some of the different individuals who have approached us showing their support,” he wrote. “Few, though, have surprised us more than Cindy McCain.”
NOH8’s founder, Adam Bouska, lauded the shift, noting that it’s still very “stigmatic” for prominent Republicans to support gay marriage publicly.
Cindy McCain isn’t the first political spouse to do this, however.
During the 2007 Democratic Primary, Elizabeth Edwards stated that she’s “completely comfortable with gay marriage” even though her husband, John, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, was steadfastly against it.
Michelle Obama has hinted at her support, saying in a speech that connected the gay rights struggle to civil rights: “The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds.”
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Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
One of the most masculine sports legends on the planet comes out, saying he’s gay and that “keeping this secret was driving me crazy.”
According to the Daily Mall, Gareth Thomas, a highly accomplished Welsh rugby player, publicly announced that he is gay.
That secret, which he’d kept hidden his entire career, was – he admits now – ‘like a tight knot in my stomach, always threatening to seep out’.
He says: ‘I was like a ticking bomb. I thought I could suppress it, keep it locked away in some dark corner of myself, but I couldn’t.
‘It was who I was, and I just couldn’t ignore it any more.
‘I’d been through every emotion under the sun trying to deal with this.
‘You wake up one morning thinking: “I can handle it. Everything is fine,” and the next morning you don’t want anyone to see your face, because you think that if people look at you, they will know.’
That summer, he had confessed the truth to his devastated wife Jemma, unable to cope with the guilt of deceiving her.
But even as their marriage crumbled, he’d somehow hoped to maintain his charade for the rest of the world.
‘My life seemed to be falling apart. Jemma and I were splitting up, and I was scared of the future and being single again as a gay man,’ says Gareth, 35.
‘A coach named Scott Johnson, a great man, came up to me in the dressing room after the game for a chat and I just broke down in tears.
‘He said: “What’s up?” ‘I said: “Me and Jemma have split,” and he said: “Oh no, what’s happened?” Then he said: “I know what’s happened, I know what it is.”‘
Somehow, the coach had guessed.
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Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
A gay British Army trooper is speaking out about his process of coming out, while on the frontlines in Afghanistan.
According to a report by Mail Online, fighting the Taliban on the dusty battlefields is one of the toughest challenges a soldier can face, but Trooper Ben Rakestrow had to summon up his courage for a different reason — to tell his comrades that he was homosexual.
Now the 21-year-old is telling all about the support and acceptance he has received since coming out.
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Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
After years of being married, Howard Selekman finally came out! But experts say coming out as gay or lesbian later in life is not uncommon.
According to a CNN report, Selekman knew he had been attracted to men since he was 8, but in his 20s he still planned to marry a woman and have children with her.
When he brought his fiancee to see his psychiatrist, the young woman was optimistic, even though she knew Selekman was gay.
“And I will never forget my psychiatrist saying, ‘No, it will not overcome all of the obstaclesm’ ” he said.
The next 36 years would prove his psychiatrist right — Selekman never overcame his feelings that indicated he was gay.
This year, at age 61, he finally divulged his sexual identity to his brothers, and “went public” through sharing his story on CNN’s iReport.
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Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
Recently, the son of a star hockey player announced to the world that he was gay.
According to Edge, Brendan Burke, the son of former pro hockey player and current Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke has come out publicly as gay–and Brian Burke has come out just as publicly in support of his son.
Brendan Burke reportedly wants to pursue a management career in the sport in which his father excelled, first as a player and then as a manager (currently for the Toronto Maple Leafs).
Meantime, Maple Leafs psychologist and consultant Paul Dennis, who offered an optimistic prognosis on the status of tolerance among the ranks of pro athletes said, “If a player today wanted to be open about it, I would encourage it,” Dennis told the Toronto Sun.
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Posted 9 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
If you’re just coming out, you might want to check out the Parents & Friends of Gays and Lesbians (PFLAG) website.
The organization has support groups across the United States and the world.
The group has 200,000 members and supporters and over 500 affiliates in the United States alone.
Click on the link below to go to their website:
http://www.pflag.org
