Saturday, May 23, 2015

Gay News Roundup, May 23, 2015

Orrly, (Wiki.)





Harold C. Jones






Top of the morning to you, bottom of the evening and both sides of the afternoon.

Sure and begorrah, Ireland turns out for the same-sex marriage vote.

“Allowing gay couples to wed would be a seismic change in a country where homosexuality was illegal until 1993, and where abortion remains against the law except where the mother's life is in danger. State broadcaster RTE said polling stations were recording a higher turnout than usual for referendums, with voting levels in cities such as Dublin, Limerick and Waterford predicted to top 60 percent.” (yahoo.)

***

Michael Sam first openly gay football player in the CFL.

“Michael Sam has been out of professional football since the Dallas Cowboys released him from their practice squad last October, but the defensive end’s Twitter handle made plain his ambition: @MichaelSamNFL. But if Sam, pro football’s first openly gay active player, lands back in the NFL, he will go through the CFL first. He signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes on Friday morning.”

No financial details. Well, that sucks. (He didn’t mean that, ladies and gentlemen. – ed.)

Holy crap, I didn’t know the CFL was still around…and I’m an avid sports fan. If you don’t believe me, just read the bio located somewhere below. (thestar.)

***

Decision on Gay Scout Masters Expected.

“Robert Gates, the president of the Boy Scouts of America, tells NPR his organization will have a decision on its ban on gay adults no later than October. His comments come a day after he told the Boy Scouts that a ban on gay adults was ‘unsustainable.’” (npr.)

Yeah, it’s probably unsustainable. It’s as unsustainable as a ban on gay scouts. The trouble is that all of those scout troops operate out of church basements. There are gay scout leaders in the organization. There have been scandals regarding pedophilia and child molestation. And the law on discrimination is pretty clear.

Kay Tobin Luhusen
This writer would say the Scouts face some serious challenges on the issue. Then there is the whole issue of scouting for girls, and gender and orientation for young women.

***

Kisses Make Big Statement at Eurovision Awards.

Lithuania ‘played the gay rights card.’

“Monika Linkyte and Vaidas Baumila took to the stage in Vienna on Thursday with their bubblegum pop song "This Time", itself a bit "meh" but made more memorable with some same-sex kisses thrown in. Lithuania has clearly researched its market, cleverly opting to make a statement by having its male-female backing dancers swap partners mid-way through the performance for some gay and lesbian smooches.”

If only Disney had thought of that first. But we will see this type of dance move more in the future, methinks. (independent.)

***

Jeweller Threatened for Opposing Gay Marriage.

“You must not only bake the cake, or arrange the flowers, or make the ring, you must hold the correct opinion when you do it.”

“A lesbian couple came into the jeweler’s shop looking for custom-made rings for their wedding. No problem, he told them. Later the couple recommended him to some friends, who dropped by — and noticed a sign on the wall that read, ‘The sanctity of marriage is under attack. Let’s keep marriage between a man and a woman.’ The lesbian couple then decided they wanted a refund on their rings. The media picked up the story, and now the jeweler’s being threatened for his thoughtcrime. Of such things are the mileposts on the road to perfect tolerance made.”

“It seems to be a Canadian right to post what you believe,” said the jeweler in his own defense.

It’s an interesting story. He provided the service. When the customer discovered what their opinion was, they took offense.

Basically a fart in a windstorm, but this is also a new age in terms of media and dissemination.

Also, don’t threaten people no matter what they say.

The argument, is all about the moral high ground, isn’t it? (hotair.)

***

MOSCOW – Gay Pride Organizers Ask for Ban to be Lifted.

“Active members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community have appealed against the Moscow authorities' decision to ban them from staging a procession and rallies in late May. The organizers have asked the court to rule that the authorities' decision is illegal and to compel officials to allow the rallies and procession to be held next Saturday, May 30. Moscow authorities have been banning every LGBT-organized public event for ten years now.”

You have to admit, it takes guts, bearing in mind the present political atmosphere in fascist Russia. (russianbeyondtheheadlines.)

***

Editorial.

In Russia, or any country really, those bent on holding power at any price will use every political tool at their disposal. It’s a common feature of the despotic, whether it’s anti-socialism, fascism, imperialism, virtually all theocracies. They take advantage of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance, to manipulate the body politic and get what they want, which is power. A man like Vladimir Putin must inevitably grow old. Having seized power by means that don’t bear close examination, he must of course fear his own overthrow, his own replacement, his own little drive down a country road and the small-calibre bullet in the nape of the neck.

That doesn’t make his position any less immoral. Change will come. It may not happen for a while, but when it does come, it will be an absolute sea-change, and not just for gays either.

All of Russian society will be the better for Mister Putin’s passage from the political scene.

Thanks for reading.

                                                                                                                             Harold.