09.29.07
Posted in D's Thoughts at 7:00 am by pikapp44
Disney issued a formal apology to a San Diego man for an incident Saturday at Disneyland that the company claims was a misunderstanding but which the man asserts was anti-gay bias. Sounds to me that this was just one big mistake - but here’s the news - from gay.com:
Wil Kenney claims he was targeted and harassed by Disneyland security — as well as roughed up by Anaheim, Calif., police — because a Disney staff member overreacted to Kinney’s holding another man’s hand.
According to Kenney, he and his partner — along with two other same-sex couples and their children — were walking through the theme park’s Downtown Disney area when Disney security detained them.
Security claimed Kenney had threatened someone with a gun; Kenney denied it. Anaheim police were called; Kenney said they forced him face-first into a wall and then frisked, searched and interrogated him in front of hundreds of Disney guests.
Kenney said officers left after finding no weapons on anyone in his party. He said he may have been targeted by police because a Disney employee grew nervous seeing Kenney holding hands with his partner, which he believes led to the chain of events.
Read the rest of the story after the jump.
Rob Doughty, vice president of communications for Disneyland, said the whole incident was a misunderstanding that had nothing to do with Kenney’s sexuality. Doughty claimed Kenney made a hand gesture that a Disney crew member interpreted as threatening. Doughty said security came over and detained Kenney and his group, who grew angry.
“He made his hand look like a gun,” Doughty said. “Someone interpreted that as a gun.”
One of Kenney’s friends at Disneyland was Brian van de Mark, the owner of a communications and marketing firm that focuses on social-justice issues. Van de Mark, who is serving as Kenney’s media representative, said there was no threatening hand gesture. Van de Mark said that after the police left, Kenney and his group demanded a meeting with Disney security manager Deana Van Noy.
At that meeting, van de Mark said, Van Noy told the group that she “could not remember whether the cast member (who contacted Disney security) said she was threatened, felt threatened or was offended,” and that she added, “It doesn’t make a difference anyway.”
Doughty could not confirm that Van Noy used those words. Doughty, who heads Disney’s employee gay group, said Disney staffers were not even aware Kenney was gay until two hours after the incident.
“Our policy is, everyone is welcome,” Doughty said. “If a same-sex couple wants to hold hands at our park, that’s fine.”
The Anaheim park’s unofficial Gay Days are Oct. 5-7 this year.
Doughty said the apology was being issued for the misunderstanding over the hand gesture and denied that a homophobic employee started the whole scuffle.
“I can assure you, this is a company that would not tolerate that behavior from a cast member,” he said. “We’re a very welcoming company.”
But van de Mark claims that Van Noy refused to apologize to the group, and that after the meeting, plainclothes Disney security followed them around the park. According to van de Mark, the group went to a Disney store, where a Disney employee asked how their day was.
When they answered that it had not gone well because they had been harassed by security personnel, van de Mark said the crew member told them, “Well, in fact, you’re still being followed,” and pointed to plainclothes security officers in their midst.
Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez denied the incident had anything to do with the guests being gay. When asked whether Kenney was pushed against a wall and frisked, Martinez said, “I would define it as ‘detained.’” Kenney and his group “might have been frisked,” he said.
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Posted in Gay Rights at 6:43 am by pikapp44
Adam Sandler said that he would like to work alongside gay-rights groups after starring in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” “If I can help anybody in any way, I certainly would.” Sandler described the kiss the two actors shared during filming as “not bad.
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09.28.07
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 5:47 pm by pikapp44
New Jersey’s civil unions law has failed to provide all the benefits of marriage to at least one in five same-sex couples, a gay rights group told a panel Wednesday that will report its findings to the governor and state legislature.
More than 300 of the 1,514 same-sex couples who have joined in civil unions have complained to Garden State Equality, the state’s leading gay rights group, about employers denying them benefits under the law, said David M. Smith, the group’s deputy director.
”If this law is a failure and people’s rights are at stake, why must we wait to fix the problem?” asked Thomas H. Prol, a state bar association trustee and former cochairman of the group’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Committee.
Smith and more than 20 others shared their experiences with the civil unions law — all negative — during a hearing Wednesday to review the law’s effectiveness. The law is supposed to provide those who take advantage of it with all the benefits that married couples enjoy.
Those appearing before the Civil Union Review Commission included parents of gay adults, gay rights advocates, lawyers, and gay couples, some with children in tow. All urged the legislature to change the law to include the word ”marriage,” and no one spoke in favor of reducing gay couples’ rights.
”This is not a privilege, this is not a right, this is about justice,” said Tom Barbera, a labor leader in Massachusetts, the only state that allows same-sex couples to marry, a right created by the top court in that state.
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09.26.07
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 3:44 pm by pikapp44
A Minnesota school district that has been fighting to block a gay student group from using school facilities has been ordered by a federal judge to treat it the same as other organizations.
U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen issued a permanent injunction barring the Osseo school district from denying members of Straights and Gays for Equality, or SAGE, the use of facilities at on equal footing as other groups at Maple Grove Senior High.
Refusing to allow the LGBT student group to meet on campus while permitting other student groups to use facilities is a violation of the federal Equal Access Act, Ericksen ruled.
The injunction ends a two year battle by SAGE for recognition at Maple Grove, and makes permanent a temporary order issued last year.
The lawsuit claimed a violation of the federal Equal Access Act, which holds that public schools must extend the same privileges to all student-organized, non-curricular clubs.
The school board claimed that the groups which were officially recognized were “curricular” in that they related to courses, but that SAGE was “extra-curricular”.
In a footnote to her ruling Tuesday, Judge Ericksen called the school district’s argument “circular”.
“[T]he District deems certain student groups curricular because it sanctions them, but the District decides which groups to sanction. This type of decision making is exactly what the Equal Access Act is meant to prohibit.”
In April, 2006, Ericksen issued a preliminary injunction ordering the school district to recognize the club and to treat SAGE like any other student group when it came to access for meetings, avenues for communication and other rights.
Last December the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the temporary injunction.
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09.25.07
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 7:18 pm by pikapp44
The Human Rights Campaign marked a first in its history this month when it opened a campaign office in Concord, N.H. — a central hub for presidential candidates on the campaign trail.
Though the move attracted little attention nationally, the ceremony drew about 100 people, including HRC members, staffers from the Obama, Edwards, and Clinton campaigns among others, and key state politicians.
“We can’t be in all 50 states,” said Rouse, “so our goal has been to look across the country and see where we can be helpful in moving forward a GLBT agenda that, while important to the community members in that one state, also might have national implications.” He estimated that HRC would pour upward of $50,000 into New Hampshire during the primaries alone.
“What we’re trying to do is increase the LGBT visibility in these campaigns so the candidates know that they need to address our issues.”
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09.24.07
Posted in Gay Rights at 3:01 pm by pikapp44
Gays Join Protest Against Ahmadinejad Speech At Columbia
Gay activists holding posters of what is general believed to be a picture of two gay men being executed in Iran joined hundreds of other demonstrators protesting the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University on Monday.
Ahmadinejad said: “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like you do in your country. We do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”
The remarks were greeted with loud jeers and laughter from the mostly student audience.
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Posted in Advocate Articles at 2:57 pm by pikapp44
Seven in ten gay men and lesbians have switched products or service providers because they learned the company engaged in negative actions toward the LGBT community a poll released Monday shows.
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09.21.07
Posted in Gay Rights at 8:47 pm by pikapp44
Mark Ferrandino the former head of Colorado Stonewall Democrats has become the first openly gay man to sit in the state legislature.
“I’m proud to be representing my constituents and the GLBT community,” Ferrandino said. “I’m a qualified Democrat who wants to do good, who also happens to be gay.”
His selection was hailed by the Victory Fund, a national organization based in Washington that helps members of the LGBT community gain election.
“Mark is among a growing number of openly gay leaders who refuse to let their sexual orientation keep them from serving their communities as elected officials,” said Victory Fund president Chuck Wolfe.
“He will be a strong voice in state government not only for his district, but for gays and lesbians across Colorado.”
National Stonewall Democrats said that his work with the Colorado branch of the gay Democratic group embodies its principle of creating change through efforts at the state and local levels.
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09.17.07
Posted in Gay Portal at 9:58 pm by pikapp44
Walt Disney Co., SunTrust Banks Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Save-A-Lot grocery stores’ parent company SuperValu Inc. are among nearly 200 major U.S. employers cited this year for gay-friendly policies.
The Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights advocacy group in Washington, D.C., released its sixth annual Corporate Equality Index this morning. Of the 519 major public and private corporations that were rated, 195 achieved perfect 100 percent scores, which means they offer a range of gay-friendly policies, including same-sex domestic-partner benefits and diversity/anti-discrimination training programs.
Orlando’s sole Fortune 500 company, Darden Restaurants Inc., scored an 80 on the equality index. Other corporations with a Central Florida presence scoring 100 included Best Buy Co. Inc., The Charles Schwab Corp., Foley & Lardner, Hewitt Associates, Holland & Knight, Merrill Lynch & Co., MetLife Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., and United Parcel Service Inc.
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Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:41 pm by pikapp44
You know once in a while we list our sites on directories. Some don’t allow gay sites (jerks) and some do. One of them is Aviva Directory, check it out when you get a chance
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