World AIDS Day

Today, countries all over the world are recognizing World AIDS Day. AIDS is a serious disease plaguing the world that is caused by HIV. HIV/AIDS doesn't discriminate and affects millions every year. We need every one's support to help find better treatments, and, hopefully one day, a cure.

It is important to remember that sexual contact isn't the only way to contract the AIDS causing disease. HIV is also spread through blood contact, hypodermic needles, from parent to child during birth, and from parent to child when breastfeeding. While the virus can only live for 5 minutes outside the body, it is still a deadly and infectious disease. AIDS is the third stage of the HIV disease and, as of now, there is no cure.

As of the end of 2010, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in the world, and 1.8 million had died from AIDS. In the US alone, every 9 1/2 minutes a person is infected with HIV.

Do yourself a favor and get checked for HIV/AIDS today.

Washington State Reveals New Certificate Of Marriage

Washington State Department of Health released a sample form of what the new Washington Certificate of Marriage will look like. This is in anticipation of it being legal for same-sex couples to marry in Washington come December 6, 2012.

Originally the state was going to remove the "Bride" and "Groom" options from the certificate and replace them just with "Spouse". However, many comments made by the public suggested having options so couples could choose what terms they wanted to use. Now, the certificates will still have "Bride" and "Groom" but "Spouse" has been added as well. This way applicants can choose what they prefer, be it "Bride" and "Bride", "Groom" and "Groom", "Spouse" and "Spouse", "Bride" and "Spouse", or "Groom" and "Spouse". Furthermore, the certificate has added the term "Parent" to the terms "Mother" and "Father" of the applicants.

I like the look of the new certificate! It gives every couple the chance to choose what terms they prefer, and, likewise, gives same-sex parents to both be listed on their children's marriage certificates. Seeing the new certificate sample form makes me get even more excited for December 6th!

A Super Sweet Milestone!

I saw this on a couple different LGBT related Facebook pages today, and I just had to share it with you all!

Recently, ex-Navy Veteran Cory Huston dropped to one knee and proposed to his U.S. Marine boyfriend, Avarice Guerrero, after Guerrero returned from a mission in Afghanistan. Their proposal happened right on U.S. military base soil at Camp Pendleton. 

This proposal made history as this was the first marriage proposal and engagement to happen between two gay men, both military vets, on a U.S. military base! 

Congradulations to the both of them! How exciting! 

This story was posted on Have A Gay Day (http://www.facebook.com/MyGayDay) as well as LGBT News (http://www.facebook.com/NEWSLGBT)

Small Tribute To Harvey Milk

(sorry I'm a day late in posting this!)

Yesterday, November 27, was the 34th anniversary of the day Harvey Milk was assassinated. Milk's assassination was unlike other notable assassinations in the history of US politics because he wasn't shot once to the head from a distance, such as with Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. He was murdered, along with San Francisco mayor, George Moscone, in 1978.

On November 27, 1978, a half hour before a press conference announcing the new member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, a man named Dan White entered the San Francisco City Hall through a basement window. White had resigned as Supervisor just days prior, on November 10, after claiming his salary was too small to support his family. However, he later tried to get re-appointed and was denied. This left him furious with San Francisco mayor George Moscone, who refused to re-appoint him to the Board of Supervisors, and Supervisor Harvey Milk, who lobbied heavily against his re-appointment.

After getting in through the basement window, to avoid going through the metal detectors, witnesses heard shouting between White and Moscone followed by gunshots. White shot Moscone in the shoulder and chest before shooting him twice more in the head after he fell to the ground. Afterwards he made his way to his former office while reloading his pistol. He intercepted Harvey Milk along the way and asked him to step into the office for a moment. Milk was found shot five times, which included also being shot twice in the head at close range just like Moscone. White turned himself into the police an hour later. Harvey Milk was only 48 when he died.

Now some of you are probably wondering who Harvey Milk was and why he is relevant to this blog. Harvey Milk was actually the FIRST openly gay person to be elected to a public office in both California and the United States itself. Milk's political career was actually fairly short. He didn't win a seat in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors until 1977. However, that didn't stop him from becoming a martyr in the gay community as well as an icon in San Francisco during his brief time in office.

During his mere 11 months in office, Milk managed to pass a binding gay rights ordinance for the city. His last work in the city and the gay community was campaigning against Proposition 6, or the Briggs Initiative, which would have made it mandatory to fire any gay or lesbian teachers in the state of California. He attended every Briggs event in the state during 1978. Attendances in the Gay Pride marches in San Francisco, as well as Los Angeles, swelled in the summer of 1978.  375,000 people attended San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day Parade where Milk gave a version of his most famous speech, the Hope Speech, which was reported to "ignite the crowd". On November 7, 1978, the Briggs Initiative lost by more then a million votes. 75% of San Francisco alone voted against it.

His final campaign manager, Anne Kronenberg, said about Milk, "What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us." This is what makes him a great man even to this day.

In 2002 he was called "the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States", and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The more I learn about Harvey Milk, the more my respect for him grows. Milk was a huge reason the fight for LGBT rights started to become a mainstream issue here in the US. While we might still have a ways to go as far as LGBT equality here in the US, we have to take a moment to see how far we've come in the last 30 years. We owe our thanks to Harvey Milk for kick starting our country's journey towards equality. He was an amazing man, both for US politics and the LGBT community, and a true hero in my book.

"On this anniversary of Stonewall, I ask my gay sisters and brothers to make the commitment to fight. For themselves, for their freedom, for their country ... We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets... We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out. Come out to your parents, your relatives" 

- Harvey Milk, "Hope Speech"

Transgender Day Of Remembrance

Today, November 20, 2012, is the 14th annual Transgender Day Of Remembrance. This day is recognized all over the world and is a day to remember those that took their own life or had their life taken from them due to anti-transgender discrimination and violence. So please at some point in your day, take the time to send those lost to us a thought, prayer, good feeling, or even just a smile to let them know they are not forgotten, never forgotten.

If you yourself are transgender, know there are those out there that love you exactly for who you are. I do and I don't even know you. If you know someone who is transgender, make sure you go see them, call them, text them, IM them, tweet them, whatever, just to let them know they are important to you and that you are thinking of them.

I saw this today, just a little while ago, while walking my dog. It filled me with great joy that today of all days something this beautiful would just randomly show up. There is even a faded second one to the right as well. I like to think this is some sort of message that those we are remembering today know we are thinking of them, and this is their thank you.

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Fun With Terms

The other day I posted this image on my own Facebook page after seeing it on the wonderful page Have A Gay Day. I asked if anyone knew what each flag represented. My sister didn't and asked me to name them. Once I had, she told me she didn't know what half those terms meant. That got me thinking. I didn't even know many of these until this last year, and I saw myself as an LGBT ally. So I started wondering how many other supporters out there didn't realize how many groups actually are represented in the LGBT community, and what the terms mean. There are many more flags in the LGBT community then these, but we'll just talk about these seven for now to keep it simpler.

(Left to Right)

1. Pansexual flag. Pansexual means you are attracted to everyone. Not just men and women but transgender men and transgender women as well as those who identify as having no gender.

2.  Transgender flag. Transgender means the gender you are is not the one you were born physically. FTM means female to male transgender (born female but identify as male) while MTF means male to female transgender (born male but identify as female).

3. Asexual flag. Asexual means you have no sexual attraction. This is often seen as the opposite of pansexual because instead of being sexually attracted to everyone you are sexually attracted to no one.

4. Homosexual flag. Homosexual means you are attracted to people the same sex as yourself.

5. Genderqueer flag. Genderqueer is a broad term that contains all the genders besides male or female. This could include people who identify as both male and female (bigender), neither (genderless), or who move between genders (genderfluid).

6. Bisexual flag. Bisexual means you are attracted to both men and women.

7. Intersex flag. Intersex is a person who has either the physical features of both genders or has a combination. Intersex plants and animals are often called hermaphrodites.

Now these terms are all really just umbrellas for more sub-terms. However, these are just the broad, basic terms and definitions just to start. I encourage you to look up the ones you aren't familiar with and learn something new!

These days we don't live in a black and white colored world. We live in a bright, vibrate world with all kinds of people. It's important to remember that it doesn't matter what someone looks like, but who they are inside. Let's show support for every part of the LGBT community, and help educate people on the groups of people that aren't as well known.

I hope this was educational and interesting to read! Also, if you are something other then one of these seven, I am so sorry I didn't mention you. I'm still learning new terms and info everyday. 

xoxoxo

This Is Our Time Now!

Times are changing my friends, and for the better. These past few days were some extremely exciting and uplifting days for the LGBT community here in the US!

As many of you are already aware, Tuesday was our presidential election day. The whole evening had me ridiculously edgy and nervous, but at the end of the day the LGBT community could breath one huge sigh of relief. President Barack Obama was officially RE-ELECTED!!!! Obama is the first and only president who has OPENLY supported gay rights and marriage equality. I can't wait to see what he accomplishes in the next 4 years.

But that was not the only exciting thing to occur on election day for the LGBT Community, oh no. Three, count them, THREE more states made same-sex marriage LEGAL. Maryland, Maine, and Washington now join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York as well as Washington D.C. on the list of places where it is legal to get married to someone the same gender as yourself in the United States. Yup! That means Referendum 74 that I was going on about? It passed! This might not seem like a big list, only 9 states and the US Capital, but it is 3 more states then we had last week. Not to mention it shows that this country is finally moving the right direction. I, for one, am finally proud to be a Washington resident. =)

Finally, there is one more piece of exciting LGBT news from election day. Wisconsin's senate race ended with the win going to democrat Tammy Baldwin. Ms. Baldwin is now this nation's very FIRST openly gay U.S. senator.  This is a huge win to the LGBT community. It means there is a community voice actually in the senate for once.

I can't help but feel like this country is finally headed in a good direction, and I was a proud American this week.

Hugs! xoxo

Good News in the World of HIV Research!

Hows abouts an upbeat post today my lovelies? Well, have I got some news that should make many people at least smile or feel hopeful!

Recently, two women down in South Africa may have unlocked a secret that could lead the medical world to developing a vaccine against HIV! Studies by the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa have revealed that these two HIV positive women's bodies created antibodies that were able to neutralize and kill off 88% of the virus in their bodies. The scientists are hoping that by studying these antibodies, they will be able to create a virus that, when administered, can create similar antibodies to neutralize and kill the virus in other HIV patients.

The way HIV strands keep themselves protected is they create a barrier of sugar called glycan. Normal antibodies are useless to glycan, but the antibodies created by these women's bodies actually bonded WITH the glycan to prevent the HIV strands from infecting healthy cells.

The article is more lengthy and detailed so I encourage you all to go read it yourselves! Here is the link!

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/hiv-vaccine-breakthrough231012

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HAPPY COMING OUT DAY!!!!

Tada! it's October 11th! That means it's Coming Out Day!! woohoo!!! What a great day to celebrate right? Today is a day to celebrate the fact that you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer, asexual, aromantic, pansexual, you name it! (sorry if I missed any!) It doesn't necessarily mean you need to come out today, although by all means please do if you WANT to, but it is a day to celebrate your diversity. Even just with yourself in your mind. ;)

Now, do you know where Coming Out Day came from? Why it is celebrated on October 11th? Well, it is actually the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This historic march took place on October 11, 1987. The first National Coming Out Day was celebrated the following year on October 11, 1988! The first year it was only recognized by 18 states. In 1990, there was more promotion from the media, subsequently, ending up with all 50 states participating, just as they still do today!

So in honor of it being October 11th, Happy 24th annual Coming Out Day!


X's and O's my lovelies!

Watching Presidential Debates.....

Well cue headache.......... at least that's how I feel right now. I'm watching the first Presidential Debate (I don't have cable and there isn't anything else on) and even though I muted it so I could just read along, I still want to punch Mitt Romney in his ugly, square, bigoted head.

They haven't even got to talking about anything LGBT related yet, just taxes and the economy and medicare, but Mitt Romney has been nothing but rude, pushy, and annoying. Frankly, President Obama has a lot more self restraint then I would if I were him!

Anyway, sorry for the annoying political rant, but this election is actually the first one I'm invested in. Maybe because it's the first I am able to actually vote on, or because of how much I care about the LGBT community. This election is definitely crucial to the LGBT community here in the US though. Make no mistake about that. Obama is the FIRST president to actually come out and admit he supports same-sex marriage while he was in office! If Mitt Romney is elected so many milestones will be erased from the last 4 years for this amazing community! WE CAN NOT LET THAT HAPPEN! Romney doesn't support same-sex marriage, he will try to put Don't Ask, Don't Tell back into place, he isn't an LGBT supporter in anyway and does not deserve to run this country!

DADT just passed it's 1 year mark of being repealed. I, for one, do not want to see this back in effect. Do you?  All other issues aside, Romney will be horrible for the LGBT community and does not see LGBT members as 1st class citizens. He will set us back further then before if elected. Join others like me and help keep Mitt "the twit" Romney out of the White House!

Thanks for letting me rant. I love you guys! and girls! and neutrals! You're all amazing! Now go let your sparkly selves shine ;) Come back soon!!

<3