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  3. “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married” 

     
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    Gay rights in the US, state by state
Gay rights laws in America have evolved to allow — but in some cases ban — rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people on a range of issues, including marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, housing, employment and school bullying. The handling of gay rights issues vary by state and follow trends by region.
And the winner is….the Northeast!

    Gay rights in the US, state by state

    Gay rights laws in America have evolved to allow — but in some cases ban — rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people on a range of issues, including marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, housing, employment and school bullying. The handling of gay rights issues vary by state and follow trends by region.

    And the winner is….the Northeast!

     
  5. I’m not gay. Although I wish I were just to piss off the homophobes.
    — Kurt Cobain (via ala-ange)
     
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  7. They Will Say We Are Not Here: The filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall explore the motivations, sorrows and dreams of the slain Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato.

     
  8. Phyllis Siegel, 76, left, and Connie Kopelov, 84, both of New York, embrace after becoming the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhattan City Clerk’s office.

     
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  10. You can have as many debates about gay marriage as you want, and over the last 22 years of campaigning for it, I’ve had my share. You can debate theology, and the divide between church and state, the issue of procreation, the red herring of polygamy, and on and on. But what it all really comes down to is the primary institution of love. The small percentage of people who are gay or lesbian were born, as all humans are, with the capacity to love and the need to be loved. These things, above everything, are what make life worth living. And unlike every other minority, almost all of us grew up among and part of the majority, in families where the highest form of that love was between our parents in marriage. To feel you will never know that, never feel that, is to experience a deep psychic wound that takes years to recover from. It is to become psychologically homeless. Which is why, I think, the concept of “coming out” is not quite right. It should really be called “coming home.”

     
  11. A day after we wondered why TOMS shoes’ founder had headlined an event with Christian far-right group Focus On The Family, we have our answer.


    Today, Mycoskie issued the following statement to Change.org, expressing “regret” for Mycoskie’s speaking appearance at a Focus on the Family event on June 30, claiming that the religious group had misrepresented its relationship with TOMS as a “giving partner” in its shoe program:
    “Had I known the full extent of Focus on the Family’s beliefs, I would not have accepted the invitation to speak at their event. It was an oversight on my part and the company’s part and one we regret. In the last 18 months we have presented at over 70 different engagements and we do our best to make sure we choose our engagements wisely, on this one we chose poorly.
    Furthermore, contrary to what has been reported, Focus on the Family is not a TOMS giving partner.
    So there is no misunderstanding created by this mistake, let me clearly state that both TOMS, and I as the founder, are passionate believers in equal human and civil rights for all. That belief is a core value of the company and of which we are most proud.”

     
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    San Francisco Pride

    San Francisco Pride

     
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    Pride Parade, SF

    Pride Parade, SF

     
  14. piecesofnicole:

Empire State Building just went Rainbow!

    piecesofnicole:

    Empire State Building just went Rainbow!

     
  15. A small, but important step. 

    Around the beginning of this year, the State Department began using gender-neutral language on U.S. passports — replacing “father” and “mother” with “Parent One” and Parent Two” — to make it simpler for nontraditional parents, beyond the male/female combination, to get passports for their children.

    Androgynous male model Andrej Pejic on the runway in Rio de Janeiro, June 4.