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Yahoo Premieres Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government's War on Gays

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BY CORY FERNANDEZ
JUNE 17 2015 12:23 PM EDT

The June 22 premiere episode of Viewfinder will explore gay rights in America

Matt Bomer

Matt Bomer contributed voiceover work to the episode.

Originally launched in 2012, Viewfinder is a short-form docuseries that will be available on Yahoo’s video platform, Yahoo Screen, and social media site Tumblr. The epsiode “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge” was a 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award winner and, given the incredible response, Anna Robertson, VP and head of Yahoo Video, decided to bring back the series. “We wanted to reimagine a documentary series that would bring awareness to the compelling individuals and current issues that are impacting today’s world, especially issues important to a younger generation,” Robertson says.
Each episode will explore a new topic, from women’s rights in India to being a transgender teen in the U.S., and the first return episode is titled “Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays” which investigates gay rights in the U.S. as told through the eyes of Charles Francis, the former leader of a group of gay Republicans known as the Austin 12. The episodes feature reporting from Yahoo’s editorial team, including chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, so we asked him what to expect with the June 22 episode.
Out: What were your experiences like while investigating for the first returning Viewfinder episode, “Uniquely Nasty: US Government War on Gays”? Were there any difficulties with your research/investigation?
Michael Isikoff: This was quite the fascinating experience. The film centers on Charles Francis, once a close friend of George W. Bush, who served as his emissary to the gay community in the 2000 campaign and then grew disillusioned in 2004 when the Bush re-election campaign used gay marriage as a wedge issue. It set Francis off on a mission to uncover “the deleted history” of the persecution of gays and lesbians by the U.S. government, and he has turned up some amazing documents about the FBI’s “sex deviates” program and other matters that we’ll be showing for the first time in the film.
Was there anything particularly shocking or memorable about the investigation?
I don’t think most people fully realize (I certainly didn’t) the extent to which gays were targeted by the U.S. government over the years: hundreds of thousands of files collected on individuals solely because of their sexual preference. But for me, the most memorable part of this was tracking down 87-year-old Lester Hunt, Jr., son of the late U.S. Senator Lester Hunt. It was the son’s arrest for soliciting gay sex in Lafayette Park that was used by allies of Joe McCarthy to blackmail his father — a plot that drove Sen. Hunt to commit suicide, and became the inspiration for the blackmail plot inAdvise and Consent. Lester Hunt, Jr. talks on camera for the first time and tells the story, which former Sen. Alan Simpson (who knew Sen. Hunt and appears in the film) likens to something “out ofMacbeth.”
What do you think people who watch the docu-series should take away from it?
I hope they will take away a fuller understanding of the abuses and excesses that our government is capable of, and perhaps a better appreciation of just how far we’ve come on these issues as we await this month’s Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage.
The Viewfinder episode “Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays” premieres June 22 on Yahoo Screen.

 

The 4Cs Model of Effective Communication – part II

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Communications - The 4C's

Communications – The 4C’s

The First C: Comprehension

In my introduction to Effective Communication (part I), I referred to the 4C’s of effective communication,  and how we need to be aware of these and how to use these 4C’s in our daily lives.  Today I am going to clarify the first C – ‘Comprehension’.  To comprehend means  do you and your reader understand what has been written; is the main idea or point understood.

Lets look at a few examples of badly written communications:

 

  • Example 1.
    • he appeal of the view that a work of art expresses nothing unless what it expresses can be put into words can be reduced by setting beside it another view, no less popular in the theory of art, that a work of art has no value if what it expresses can be put into words.
  • Example 2
    • Ms. W!!!!Wazzup? girl tell me what we have to do for Friday bcuz I take 3 claeses and wrk 15 hrs/wk and I dont have time 2 git to a comupter to look n e thing up I rlly like your cls bcuz your funny well let me know cuz im a rlly gd stdt and need a A in you’re cls.[no signature]

      – See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2009/07/26/examples-of-poor-email/#sthash.mA8iKyQg.dpuf

Here are three tips for better comprehension:

  • Make the message clear and sharp
  • Repetition helps.  Tell them what you’re going to tell them; next, tell them; and then tell them what you told them
  • Keep it simple – don’t go too deep

The old adage of KISS – Keep it Short and Simple

 

Kissing boys in the street

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GayTimes

Kissing Boys in the StreetEditorial: ‘Kissing Boys in the Street’,  is a wonderful song, with wonderful and thoughtful lyrics – I wonder how many of our readers feel it pull heart strings and memories about a relationship in their own family.  Why not comment and let us know what happened to you!

Greg Holden is back

Greg Holden is back


 

The brand new track from Greg Holden is certainly an emotional one. It’s a song about a young boys conflict with is father about his sexuality, and “kissing boys in the street”.

His father, dead against any of that sort of behaviour, grows distant with him until the moments leading up to his death.
This is a truly heartbreaking song, but one with real depth, meaning and a little light at the end of the tunnel. Greg has outdone himself with the song, and the video isn’t bad either
Watch it here:

Image Myriam Santos
Words Josh Withey, @josh_withey

Australia: Anti-same-sex marriage booklet sent to Catholic schools 'degrades' gay students

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Daniel Hurst Political correspondent @danielhurstbne
Monday 15 June 2015 09.10 BST Last modified on Tuesday 16 June 2015 02.39 BST
 

Advocates slam ‘desperate’ letter from Catholic bishops warning children ‘same-sex friendships’ are very different from ‘real marriages’

Gay rights activists in Sydney

Gay rights activists stand next to a banner as they listen to speeches during a rally supporting same-sex marriage in Sydney on 31 May. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters


A booklet warning that “same-sex friendships” are very different from “real marriages” has been distributed directly to school students around Australia as part of the Catholic church’s lobbying against changes to the Marriage Act.
The wide distribution of the pastoral letter from the Catholic bishops of Australia has angered supporters of same-sex marriage, who say they are shocked at the discriminatory message it sends to vulnerable young people who are coming to terms with their sexuality.
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The letter is part of a conservative pushback against what appears to be growing momentum for same-sex marriage to be legislated in Australia.
The latest Fairfax Ipsos poll, published on Monday, showed public support for changing the Marriage Act stood at 68%. The poll results coincided with the resumption of debate in the lower house on the marriage equality bill proposed by the Labor leader, Bill Shorten.
The Catholic pastoral letter, titled Don’t Mess With Marriage, was published online by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in late May, but since that time has been distributed directly to students in numerous schools.
It is understood Catholic schools in New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and South Australia are among those to have distributed the letter. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said it was left up to bishops in individual dioceses to decide how to distribute the letter.
The document urges people “of goodwill to redouble their support for the institution of marriage” and to make their views known to their parliamentary representatives.
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The letter says the Catholic church “opposes all forms of unjust discrimination” but supporters of changing the Marriage Act “get things the wrong way around” by appealing to equality and non-discrimination.
“We must treat like cases alike and different cases differently,” it says. “Only women are admitted to women’s hospitals and only children to primary schools.”
The letter says it is “gravely unjust” to “legitimate the false assertion that there is nothing distinctive about a man and a woman, a father or a mother” and to “ignore the particular values that real marriage serves”.
The letter says the church’s traditional view of marriage is that it goes further than an emotional union and “involves a substantial bodily and spiritual union of a man and a woman” that is ordered “towards the generation and wellbeing of children”.
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“This is true even where one or both spouses are infertile: they still engage in exactly the same sort of marital acts as fertile couples, ie that naturally result in a child,” it says.
“On this traditional view what allows for this special kind of union between a man and a woman in marriage is precisely their difference and complementarity. Their physical, spiritual, psychological and sexual differences show they are meant for each other, their union makes them whole, and through their union ‘in one flesh’ they together beget children who are ‘flesh of their flesh’. They share the sameness of humanity but enjoy the difference of their masculinity and femininity, being husband and wife, paternity and maternity.
“Same-sex friendships are of a very different kind: to treat them as the same does a grave injustice to both kinds of friendship and ignores the particular values that real marriages serve.”
The letter argues messing with marriage “is also messing with kids” and “gravely unjust to them” – but adds that the church’s stance on marriage “is not to demean those other friendships or the individuals concerned”.
“We all know and love people with same-sex attraction. They are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbours. They need love and support like anyone else. But pretending that their relationships are ‘marriages’ is not fair or just to them. As Christians we must be willing to present the truth about marriage, family and sexuality and to do so charitably and lovingly.”
Australian Marriage Equality, the group that is spearheading lobbying efforts in favour of changing the Marriage Act, described the booklet as a “desperate” measure that would alienate bishops further from the next generation of Catholics.
The group’s national director, Rodney Croome, said bishops’ decision to “preach to a captive audience of children says that they know they’ve lost the debate”.
“The fact that the bishops have asked for this material to be distributed to students shows how completely out of touch they are with the strong support for marriage equality amongst young people and also the vulnerability of young gay people and the children of same-sex couples in their schools to the prejudice and discriminatory attitudes in the material,” Croome said on Monday.
“This material devalues and degrades and discriminates against the relationships that young gay people in Catholic schools aspire to enter.
“A 15-year-old at a Catholic high school in Australia today wants to believe that they can find love, they can find an enduring relationship in their life. There are many people in society that tell them that that won’t happen. The law tells them that won’t happen and now they have their own school telling them that shouldn’t happen.”
While an increasing number of Coalition MPs and senators have been prepared to add their voices to the ‘yes’ column, conservative members of the government have sought to head off the change by warning Tony Abbott against allowing a free vote.
Rightwingers in the Liberal party have told the prime minister that abandoning the long-held party position that marriage is between a man and a woman would anger the party’s base, and that frontbenchers should quit their positions if they felt strongly enough about supporting a change.
The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, who co-sponsored Shorten’s bill, told parliament on Monday it was time to “remove this last great inequality from same-sex couples”.
“In a few years’ time, the notion that two men who love each other, or two women who love each other, could be barred from the social and legal status that marriage confers, will seem as anachronistic as marriage laws which prevented Aboriginal Australians marrying whom they chose,” Plibersek said.
But the Liberal MP Philip Ruddock, a former attorney general, told parliament it was “extremely disappointing” that Shorten had pursued his bill in a political manner. He pointed to separate efforts, supported by several Liberal MPs, to work together on a cross-party bill co-signed by all sides of politics.
Ruddock also pointed out that at the same time as the Coalition was being urged to allow a free vote, senior Labor MPs including Plibersek were pushing for their own party to be bound to vote for same-sex marriage.
Plibersek told Sky News she still stood by her position of a binding “yes” vote for Labor, but would not say whether she would actively pursue the policy at the party’s national conference late in July.

Caring for Family – Hospital A&E

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Family CaringOver the last year I have had to take my father into Belfast hospital A&E  for assessment and admission following a pro-longed illness and time at home – this occurred on a number of occasions.  The waiting times at A&E from time registered to time of admission into the ward have been 11-12 hours on each occasion – and according to the hospital staff, these were not busy, busy days!

The staff in the wards were excellent and they managed to get my father stabilised; however in the first instance whilst they resolved his physical symptoms they did not tactical underlying problem, and he was discharged after nearly three weeks to his home and myself.  This discharge was pushed through due the urgent need to release beds for new patients, and when I arrived in the evening to pick my father up I found him sitting in his pyjamas, dressing gown and with a blanket wrapped around him beside the desk in the reception area; totally unsure of where he was and why he was being asked to sit there.  I further had the indignity of having to dress him into his street clothes by using the toilet, as there was nothing else available.  This whole situation further stressed him out, and when I did get him home he slipped into  the illness and went straight back to where it had been before admission, and after another 4 weeks of both stress for my father and myself, he was again admitted to hospital, and this time was taken onto a ‘Ward for the Elderly’ where he was assessed as having dementia.

From this point forward the route was fairly well planned, and he ended up being discharged to a great nursing home ‘Ben Madigan’ in Newtownabbey.  The staff here have proved to be wonderful and very supportive of both my dad and myself, for being in the midst of dementia is stressful for both the parties – the family member diagnosed and the rest of the family supporting.

Illness at any time is stressful, but when the patient is suffering from such a debilitating disease as dementia, then more care must be taken in hospitals and our NHS to ensure a quality of care above that of what we expect.

 

Pope Francis's Comments On Heterosexual Parenting Alienate Gay Catholics

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Posted: Updated:
POPE FRANCIS

Pope Francis gives an audience to the participants at the Convention of Rome Diocese at St Peter’s square on June 14, 2015 at the Vatican. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images) | FILIPPO MONTEFORTE via Getty Images

On Sunday June 14, Pope Francis addressed more than 25,000 faithful on the importance of heterosexual parenting during his general audience — just one day after thousands marched in Rome’s LGBT pride parade.
Heterosexual marriage makes for happier couples, the pope said, and is essential for healthy parenting.
“Children mature seeing their father and mother [happy],” Francis argued. “Their identity matures being confronted with the love their father and mother have, confronted with this difference.”
The pope called the differences between men and women fundamental, and said these differences make heterosexual couples strong. “What great richness this diversity is, a diversity which becomes complementary, but also reciprocal. It binds them, one to the other,” he said.
Francis’s comments may seem out of touch to many, particularly as several Catholic-majority countries have been among those leading the charge for legal same-sex marriage. Many of the nations that allow gay marriage — like Brazil, France and Spain — are also some of themost Catholic countries in the world.
Historically Catholic Ireland approved same-sex marriage by a popular referendum in May, leading Dublin archbishop Diarmuid Martin — despite voting against the measure — to say the church was in need of a “reality check.”
For LGBT Catholics, the pope’s comments are particularly hurtful. Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of Catholic LGBT advocacy group DignityUSA, is a parent of two adopted children. She told The Huffington Post that Catholics tend to be more progressive than church leaders on the issue of same-sex families. But not all LGBT families are willing to remain in a church they feel rejected by, she said. Attitudes like like those expressed in Pope Francis’s comments perpetuate a culture of exclusion.
“This leads to the refusal to honor and support families that don’t look like the model held up by church officials, and, even worse, the failure to see and address problems in families headed by heterosexually married couples,” Duddy-Burke told The Huffington Post.
LGBT families aren’t the only ones who might feel left out by the pope’s championing of heterosexual two-parent households, added Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Catholic LGBT advocacy group New Ways Ministry.
“Pope Francis’ message…is harmful to many others in the Catholic Church: single-parent families, families where emotional and physical abuse occurs, families who are separated geographically because of political or economic situations, to name a few,” DeBernardo told HuffPost. “In focusing his attention on a standard of male-female child-rearing, Pope Francis ignores the real economic, political, cultural, and psychological forces which harm contemporary families around the globe.”
To combat the bias against LGBT families, Duddy-Burke said she will travel to Philadelphia for the pope’s visit in September. She and a group of Catholic families and bishops from around the world will ask Pope Francis to meet with them and hear their stories.
“Sizable majorities of Catholics readily embrace their LGBT members, and have grown comfortable with a wide range of family configurations,” she said. “They are impatient for the leadership to catch up!”

UK teen faces jail for wanting to go kill gay people with ISIS

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  | By Joe Morgan
 

He said he wanted to go to Syria and join the group of religious extremists

A 19-year-old who became influenced by religious extremists to believe gay people should be killed and join Islamic State is facing jail.
Syed Choudhury is believed to have become radicalised by older Muslims when he left his Bradford home to attend college in Cardiff.
He has pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to preparing acts of terrorism.
At and after college, Choudhury started to become more open about believing in the work of the religious extremists.
As part of an IT project, he made a poster saying ‘Islam Will Dominate The World, Freedom Can Go To Hell’.
He also posted articles on Twitter and Facebook, agreeing gay people should be killed.
When Choudhury left college with few qualifications leaving him to work in a fast food restaurant, it appears he saved around £3,000 to carry out his wish of going to Syria.
He had googled ’10 reasons to join Isis’, ‘Jihadist Highway’ and ‘How To travel To Syria These Days’, according to the prosecutor.
Choudhury had moved to a bedsit, after living with an aunt and uncle, when he was arrested on 4 December.
During his police interview, he told officers he had not gone to Syria as he wanted to go with someone else. He also said he cared little for the UK and wanted to impose Sharia law.
His lawyer Abdul Iqbal said Choudhury admitted he was embarrassed by some of the things he said to police.
‘[The case] shows a lack of sophistication, some naivety and level of immaturity,’ Iqbal said.
‘There appears to be no attempt at all to disguise his involvement or insulate himself from detection.’
He also said how Choudhury had a hard start in life, abandoned by his parents and brought up by relatives in Bradford.
And that was why he was susceptible when ‘older men who he regarded as more learned than him’ had ‘plied him with extremist ideas’.
As reported by The Telegraph, judge Peter Rook said: ‘You have pleaded guilty to conducting preparation for acts of terrorism and it is quite clear that you wanted to travel to Syria to join Isis and the only reason you had not gone was you had not found anyone you trusted to travel with.
‘You must understand there is only one sentence I can impose. It must be a custodial sentence.’
– See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/uk-teen-faces-jail-wanting-go-kill-gay-people-isis170615#sthash.5XDBIu5k.dpuf

Gay Dads in new Dove advert

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GayTimes
 

We’re not crying, just something in our eye

Dove, have released their newest advert and it’s so good. The video, shows men learning that they’re  new dads and dads to be, with home-caught footage that shows some incredible reactions.

Both gay dads traight dads are included with the tag line “real strength means showing you care even from the very first moment”.
The inclusivity of the advert is, again, another step forward for gay families.
Catch it below:

Words Dean Eastmond, @deanvictorr

HBO NOW Releases 'Pride Month Collection' In Celebration Of Queer Pride

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Posted: Updated:

We’re smack dab in the middle of Pride month and if you feel like you haven’t gotten your fill of queer-related cultural content, HBO wants to change that.
HBO NOW just released its “Pride Month Collection,” a round-up of queer HBO programming, documentaries, comedy specials and films from the last 40 years. The list is a diverse representation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, ranging from Liberace biopic “Behind the Candelabra” to “Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me” to the hit series “Looking.”
“Over the last 40 years, HBO programming has shed light on important issues like LGBT Families, Bullying, HIV/ AIDS, hate crimes, marriage equality and more that face the LGBT community through award-winning and critically-acclaimed original series, miniseries, films and documentaries,” a representative for HBO said in an email sent to The Huffington Post. “These programs have included some of the most dynamic, groundbreaking and inspiring stories that put human faces behind the challenges.”
HBO NOW curates round-ups each month for users to get the whole range of experience related to a specific event, genre or actor. It is a subscription-based service available through Apple or Cablevision. Check out the image below for a sneak peak of the “Pride Month Collection.”
hbo now