US Pediatrics Support Marriage Equality

Hello beautiful people! I'm finally back! I'm sorry for being MIA for so long, I had some computer issues (turns out you shouldn't sneeze coffee on your laptop's exposed motherboard! Who knew right? =P ) and then I just wasn't sure what to post about. However, inspiration has finally struck, and I have a rather fascinating and exciting story I read on The Advocate's website to share with you all. 

This week, just in time for the US Supreme Court to consider it next week, the influential American Academy of Pediatrics publicly issued its support for marriage equality for the very first time. They argue that scientific studies prove children thrive in stable and secure environments which are best created through marriage. They go on to say, "Scientific evidence affirms that children have similar developmental and emotional needs and receive similar parenting whether they are raised by parents of the same or different genders." So science proves it. Same-sex parents are JUST AS GOOD as straight parents.

Along with the policy change, the American Academy of Pediatrics also released an online report that states it has 30 YEARS of scientific research to back up its stand point that children are in no danger if they are raised by same-sex parents. The research also supports the idea that children are better off if their parents are LEGALLY married, whether they are same-sex or not. 

Having an organization as huge and as influential as the Academy of Pediatrics supporting marriage equality and same-sex parents is a big leap forward for the LGBT community and the US as a whole. It seems like the first quarter of 2013 has shown how far the US and the world has come in the fight for equality. Let's hope this pattern continues throughout the rest of the year!

<3

If you want to read the article in full, here's the link http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2013/03/21/american-academy-pediatrics-backs-marriage-equality-best  =)

Extra Bit Of NFL Ally News

Hi all! I know I already posted today about Brendon Ayanbadejo, which was a bit of a read so thank you so much to all that read it! However, I stumbled upon a web article earlier and wanted to share it with you.

Last week, before the Super Bowl, San Fransisco 49ers' cornerback Chris Culliver made anti-gay comments when doing a podcast. When asked about gay players, Culliver responded with "I don't do the gay guys, man. I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah … can't be … in the locker room, man. Nah." He also said that players should wait 10 YEARS after retiring before coming out. He later apologized and recanted his comments, but, it's still a bit skeptical to many that it him being honest and not someone writing out his apology for him.

The article I found includes various statements from both the Baltimore Ravens and the San Fransisco 49ers in regards to the anti-gay comments made earlier this month by Culliver.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/31/5153922/49ers-defenders-bashes-the-idea.html#storylink=cpy

Here are a my favorite statements from the article. 


"On this team, with so many different personalities, we just accept people for who they are. We really don't care too much about a person's sexuality. You know who you are, that's who you are, and we accept you for it."
-- Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs


"I don't think we should tear a man's head off or a woman's head off just because of their sexual preference. I think we're all good people. I really believe we should be able to look beyond that in this day and age. It's here in our world, it's not like it just came yesterday. So for us to act like, oh my god, this is like a bad disease that just hit our country, it's not."
-- 49ers receiver Randy Moss


"If people hear you say those things, regardless of whether you mean them or not, they're going to fry you for it if it's in a public arena, and your whole reputation is going to be roasted for it. He apologized and hopefully he'll learn. I think he's going to learn and he's going to grow from it and he's going to be a better person for it.''  
--Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayenbadejo


"Who knows, there could be someone who's gay in our locker room right now that's scared to come out, which he has a right to be if he is because of all of this and how other teammates might feel. I feel like anybody can be who they want to be as long as you don't disrespect other people and go about your business in your own way. "
-- 49ers safety Donte Whitner

If you have a moment, check out the whole article. The statements are pretty interesting. =)

http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_22494882/ 

Ally In The NFL

This last week in the world of LGBT News the name Brendon Ayanbadejo has been quite prominent. Now, if you are like me and not a fan of football, you haven't heard this name before and aren't familiar with this person. Brendon Ayanbadejo is a linebacker for, recent Super Bowl winners, the Baltimore Ravens. He is also a very big advocate for LGBT Rights and Marriage Equality.

Unfortunately, pro-athletes, in sports like football, in the past have been generalized as being against LGBT rights and gay players. However, thanks to players like Brendon Ayanbadejo that stereotype is starting to change for the better.

Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California (about 1 1/2 hours south of San Fransisco), Brendon has been an advocate for marriage equality since 2009. His support became more publicly known earlier this year when Maryland, the state he plays football for, put same-sex marriage on their voting ballot. He has also credited his marriage equality support as one of his biggest accomplishments. In the weeks preceding the Super Bowl, Brendon took part in a photo shoot for the NO-H8 Organization to show his support for the LGBT community.

 

 

However, thanks to his team's recent Super Bowl win, his platform has garnered more media attention then ever.  On February 5, 2013, a video was uploaded onto CNN.com of an interview with Brendon Ayanbadejo on his support of the LGBT community and marriage equality. This video is only a little over 7 minutes, but it is one of the most powerful things I've seen in awhile. 

The first thing he says is, “Well I don't really call it Gay Rights, I just call it Rights. Everyone deserves to be treated equally.” I love this quote because it is very true. It should just be rights as everyone is the same regardless of who they love or are as a person. That right there made me a Brendon Ayanbadejo fan immediately. He goes on to make a very good point.“Everyone's been talking to gay people our entire lives, whether we know it or not.”  This is something I don't think a lot of people realize or think about. You can't just look at a person and know that they are gay, straight, bi, etc.  As Brendon also mentions, it shouldn't matter if a person wears clothing of another gender, or they feel inside they are one gender but physically another. People are just people.

When the Raven's Super Bowl win against the 49ers was mentioned, Ayanbadejo said something I found surprising and extremely refreshing. “And you ask why did the Ravens win the Super Bowl this year? Because we loved each other more then the 49er's loved the man next to them. So I love the man next to me. My teammates love me. The coaches loved us, and we won this football game because of love. We didn't win because we are tougher or more macho or anything like that. We won because we loved each other more, and we're gonna do anything for the man next to us.”  This is the first time I've ever heard of a team basing their win on the love between the team and not their physical strength or hard work. 

Brendon Ayanbadejo was also asked about his opinion of the possibility of having gay players on the Ravens and other NFL teams as well as his reaction to the anti-gay comments made earlier this month by Chris Culliver (San Fransisco 49ers). He responded with, “Everybody's the same. We're all equal. It doesn't matter. if you put your minds together, no matter what that person's background is or their orientation is that we can make change and do positive things.” 

The last quote I wanted to share from this interview was something Brendon said near the end. He mentioned the US Constitution and how it ties in with LGBT Rights. “Someone's rights are not your opinion. Someone's rights are granted through the constitution.”  This is a lesson that needs to be shared and taught.

Other people he mentions that are also LGBT Allies in the NFL world include Chris Kluwe (Minnesota Vikings), Scott Fujita (Cleveland Browns), and Connor Barwin (Houston Texans). He also mentions a group called Athlete Ally, which is an organization dedicated to supporting athletes of all orientations. 

http://www.athleteally.com/

If you can spare a few minutes out of your day, I strongly suggest clicking the link below and watching the whole interview. Brendon Ayanbadejo makes so many good, strong points that it's impossible to include them all in this post.

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/02/05/exp-brendon-ayanbadejo-talks-nfl-gay-rights.cnn.html

 “People are born gay so why treat them any differently? It's time we treat everybody fairly. And not only are we trying to dictate who people should love, but dictate who people should be. If a woman wants to wear man's clothes, if a man wants to wear woman's clothes or if you feel like you are really a woman on the inside and you're really a man, who cares? Let's just treat everybody equally. Let's move on. Let's evolve as a culture, as a people.”   

- Brendon Ayabadejo

 

Identifying As Asexual

So I've decided the time has come that I finally (wo)man-up and tell you all something that I haven't shared with really anyone yet. Not even my family. After spending about a year of researching and wondering, I finally admitted something to myself. I'm asexual.

To be put simply, being asexual means you don't experience sexual attraction. Unlike celibacy, it is not a choice; it's a type of sexual orientation, same as being bisexual or pansexual for example.There are many degrees of being asexual. Some, like me, have no desire in ANY intimacy. I enjoy people' s friendship and conversation, but I'd much rather share hugs and my sleeping space with my dog :) Then there are some that are just fine with holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, or a variation, with another person except they have no desire in sex. There are also Asexuals that are more toward what is called the "gray scale". These people still identify as being an Ace (fun term for Asexuals :D) but they might not mind being fully intimate with another person if they have been with them for a certain length of time or with just a certain person.

So you see there is no one solid version of being an ace. Some are like me and at one end of the scale while others are at the opposite end of the asexual scale. I hope that makes sense... Contrary to some people's opinions Aces are very much capable with having relationships just like anyone else, with both other Aces and with sexuals. Being asexual in no way means you hate people that are sexuals.

Only in recent years has asexuality been accepted as a branch of the LGBT community. So if you haven't heard this term much or at all, don't feel bad. Only about 1% of the world's population is asexual.

If you would like to learn more, as I know some of this is confusing at first, there's a great online network to find answers to all your questions,  doesn't matter if you think you are an Ace or not!

The Asexual Visibility Education Network, or AVEN, has really helped me with my questions and has helped me accept myself, as I hope all of you will.

xoxo <3

http://www.asexuality.org/home/

You Should Stop By And Say Hi!

I thought I'd take a second to let you all know that our blog's Facebook page is now up and running! I should have posted this earlier, but somehow I forgot! The page is all about LGBT Support, Rights, News, and Marriage Equality. I don't want you to worry that I'll only focus on the page, and this blog will stop being updated all together. This blog is totally still the main focus. The page was created to try and get the blog out there a bit more. It generally has more posts then the blog just because I like to share little tidbits I find there.

However, the FB page is also a great way to keep track of when the blog is updated!

This is the link to the page -
www.facebook.com/WallysGayWorld

If you look at the top left hand part of the blog's screen, you'll also see "Follow Us On Facebook Too!" in pink letters. Clicking that will also lead you right to our Facebook page! Convenient right?

I really hope you'll come by and check it out, maybe give us a like or share us with your friends. =)

The US's Most Gay Friendly Cities Of 2013?

Well we're back from the holidays at last! To give us a good kick off to 2013, I thought I'd share the article published by The Advocate of the gayest cities of 2013! They used some pretty interesting criteria for this list.

This is how they judged the cities -

THE CRITERIA
LGBT elected officials
According to Victory Fund;
1 point for each federal, state, and local official in office or elected in 2012
+
HRC Corporate Equality Index 100s
1 point for each company located in a city
+
Concerts by Scissor Sisters, Uh Huh Her, Girl in a Coma, and cast of Glee
1 point for each stop since 2009
+
Fabulous shopping
1 point each if a city has Whole Foods, West Elm, or Pottery Barn stores
+
Transgender protections
1 point for every jurisdiction with laws prohibiting discrimination, according to National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
+
Gay rugby
1 point for each team
+
Bisexual resource groups
1 point per organization, according to BiNetUSA
+
Roller Derby
1 point for each league
+
Marriage equality
5 points

Some of the criteria I don't completely understand, like Roller Derby, Gay Rugby, and the concerts. I'm not totally sure how important those are in a gay-friendly community, but I think overall they had a good mixture of serious and fun criteria to decide what cities made the list.

The top 25 gayest cities in the US are as follows -

1. Tacoma, Washington

2. Springfield, Massachusetts

3. Spokane, Washington

4. Washington D.C.

5. Seattle, Washington

6. Salt Lake City, Utah

7. Eugene, Oregon

8. Madison, Wisconsin

9. Atlanta, Georgia

10. Minneapolis, St. Paul (Twin Cities), Minnesota

11. Oakland, California

12. Providence, Rhode Island

13. Colorado Springs, Colorado

14. Salem, Oregon

15. St. Louis, Missouri

16. Scottsdale, Arizona

17. San Francisco, California

18. Anaheim, California

19. Richmond, Virginia

20. Long Beach, California

21. Peoria, Illinois

22. Denver, Colorado

23. Cincinnati, Ohio

24. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

25. Sacramento, California

Not everyone will agree with this list, and that's totally OK! But I still think it's cool how they are ranked and which ones made the list! My hometown is actually #3 ! I found that really exciting! :)

If you want to read the whole article and see what was wrote about each city, you can find it here - http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2013/01/09/gayest-cities-america-2013

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"