A Gay Blog….Just Two Gay Women Giving Our Opinions…Very Exciting Stuff;)
More than 429 Florida Leaders Have Already Endorsed Amendment 2
See Names and Pictures including Governor Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum.
Site “Yes2Marriage.org: http://www.yes2marriage.org/about-us/endorsements/
Aetna has become the first health benefits company in the U.S. to link its online provider directory - DocFind- to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s online database of more than 1,200 health care providers. The database includes primary care providers, specialists, therapists, and dentists who welcome LGBT patients.
In addition, Aetna has awarded GLMA a $50,000 grant as the diamond sponsor of GLMA’s 26th Annual Conference scheduled for Oct. 22-25 in Seattle. The conference will feature presentations and workshops on HIV/AIDS; lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual health; substance abuse; aging; families and relationships; and legal issues.
Joel Ginsberg, GLMA’s executive director, said he hopes to see other insurance companies follow Aetna’s lead by linking to the database.
“This is a valuable tool that allows LGBT individuals to find LGBT-friendly health care providers whom they can trust,” said Ginsberg.
“All patients must feel comfortable speaking candidly with their health care providers so that the care delivered is appropriate and effective, and patients can take greater control of their health and well-being,” said Troyen Brennan, M.D., Aetna’s chief medical officer.
“Aetna and the GLMA share a similar goal of eliminating disparities in health care, including unequal health care access and outcomes that critically challenge the American health care system today.”
Openness between patients and their health care providers can be an issue for the LGBT community and can impact their quality of care. A study released in July by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showed that men who disclose having sex with men to their physicians were twice as likely as those who did not to have been tested for HIV (63 percent vs. 36 percent).
The study also revealed in a survey of 452 New York City men who have sex with other men that 39 percent had not disclosed their sexual orientation to their doctors.
Any provider who is willing to affirm their commitment to providing a welcoming environment for LGBT patients and clients is invited to join the GLMA Provider Directory, the association said. GLMA also has resources available for providers on how to meet the unique health care needs of LGBT individuals, which includes creating an environment where patients can feel comfortable talking openly.
Aetna said it will alert its participating health care providers of the link between the DocFind tool and GLMA’s database to raise additional awareness of GLMA among providers.
Aetna has earned the top rating of 100 percent in the 2009 Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign. This is the seventh consecutive year that Aetna has received a perfect score for its service to LGBT employees and consumers.
I heard this discussed on the radio last night. I know it’s not a story about gays, but it’s so important to everyone and gays could do a lot to save the horses by calling their Senators and Reps in Congress telling them to put an end to the rounding up and euthanasia. The BLM is using our tax dollars to kill the horses.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rounding up healthy wild horses planning to euthanize them. The BLM wants the horses off grazing land used for cows.
Wild horse advocates fear the free-roaming legends of the West might vanish from the ranges within five years if the federal government continues to round them up, as they’ve done in Red Rock Canyon.
At a news conference Monday, they said they will petition Congress to force several federal agencies to stop most roundups and return horses now in some holding facilities to historic ranges.
They also don’t want “excess” horses euthanized, as Bureau of Land Management officials have suggested might be necessary.
“How can we let our government destroy the last of what we have?” said Karen Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, wrapping up the weekend’s Wild Horse and Burro Summit in Las Vegas.
Any hope for keeping viable herds in Clark County have already been quashed by emergency roundups by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service in recent years. No viable herds now exist near the Las Vegas Valley.
About 35 horses roam the south end of Red Rock Canyon, about a dozen are left on Mount Charleston, and no horses or burros are in the Muddy Mountains or Gold Butte, based on estimates by the National Wild Horse Association.
Sussman, speaking to reporters at a corral near the Western Trails Equestrian Park, said it takes about 150 horses to maintain a genetically viable herd and 75 percent of the nation’s herds have fewer than that.
She said the herds are rapidly declining and many will be zeroed out in five years, even though BLM officials disagree.
“I think that’s an erroneous statement,” said Doran Sanchez, communications chief for the BLM in Nevada.
Barbara Wolin, a Las Vegas wild horse enthusiast who was one of about 75 summit participants, said the BLM should put horses back in herd areas that are being used for ranching and other interests (cow grazing).
“I just want to see the horses handled properly and given their just due. They need their place on the range,” she said.
“I don’t think they’ve made the effort to do what they need to bring some relief for these horses,” Wolin said about the BLM.
Laurie Howard, who has served on the boards of a number of wild horse advocacy groups, brought her pinto mustang, Coco, to Monday’s news event. She wants Congress to intervene so that wild horses won’t be euthanized.
“We’re only hoping that the BLM will listen to our suggestions,” she said.
Howard said BLM Deputy Director Henri Bisson seemed to be leaning the way of advocates who called for a halt to the roundups and understood their concerns for wanting to return gelded horses to historic herd areas and pursue better birth-control methods for mares.
“He was very receptive to everything, but he’s on his way out,” Howard said, noting that Bisson plans to retire early next year.
“One of the things we’re concerned about is that (BLM) wild horse specialists are trained properly and that the management is trained properly” and that they understand that family bonds among horses shouldn’t be broken, Howard said.
Sanchez said even if there are gathers next year, the horses that are left have a 20 percent reproduction rate. In a few years there would be too many horses for the ranges to support, especially in Nevada, where wild fires have taken a toll on forage and water is scarce.
“It’s imperative to maintain the overall health of the range and not only for wild horses and burros but also for permitted livestock and wildlife,” he said in a telephone interview.
Sussman said the BLM’s estimates of 29,500 wild horses in 10 Western states is off by as many as 15,000.
Sanchez said, however, the BLM’s count is accurate.
In Nevada, the BLM estimates about 16,000 are in the state, mostly in central and Northern Nevada. Those in Southern Nevada represent 2.5 percent of the nation’s wild horses.
Meanwhile, federal holding facilities are at capacity, adoption outlets are saturated and the BLM is considering exterminating those that are declared excess. The BLM’s budget for wild horses is not expected to increase and bureau officials say they are left with no choice but euthanasia to curb holding costs.
Nearly 74,000 horses were taken off the nation’s ranges between 2001 and 2007. Some 44,000 have been adopted, leaving about 30,000 in holding facilities.
“This is a force that has to be reckoned with,” Sussman said about the BLM’s roundup practices. “They have not been an agency we can rely on.”
Openly gay former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell will host a live, hour-long special on NBC on Nov. 26 called Rosie’s Variety Show, it was announced in The Hollywood Reporter today.
The show — a 2009 version of classic variety shows like The Carol Burnett Show or The Ed Sullivan Show — will feature celebrity guests, musical acts, comedy skits and prizes for the audience and TV viewers.
O’Donnell became famous with the success of her long-running NBC talk show The Rosie O’Donnell Show (1996-2002), which ended its run the same year she came out as a lesbian.
A woman whose dogs viciously attacked and killed her neighbor in the hallway of their apartment building seven years ago was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in prison.
Marjorie Knoller was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2001 mauling death of Dianne Whipple, but a judge later reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter and sentenced her in 2002 to a four-year prison term.
But the California Supreme Court last year said the trial judge was wrong and sent the case back. Last month, Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woolard reinstated the murder conviction, for which Knoller was sentenced Monday.
The case is the California’s first murder conviction connected to a dog mauling, prosecutors say.
The case turned into a tabloid sensation because of the viciousness of the attack - the dogs tore all of Whipple’s clothing from her body and left her with more than 70 bites - and the seemingly cavalier attitudes of Knoller and her law partner and husband, Robert Noel, who blamed Whipple for the attack.
The couple also said they were keeping the canines on behalf of a white supremacist accused of running an attack dog ring from his state prison cell. The couple eventually adopted the prisoner, Paul “Cornfed” Schneider, as their son.
Knoller, who has served three years in prison, will have to serve 12 more years before she can apply for parole.
In denying Knoller’s plea for probation, Woolard noted that Knoller didn’t call 911 or otherwise try to help Whipple during the 10-minute attack. The judge said Knoller knew the dogs were dangerous, ignored numerous warnings to train them and hasn’t expressed remorse for the attack.
“She has blamed the victim and has held her dogs in higher regard than humans,” Woolard said.
Whipple’s partner, Sharon Smith, addressed Knoller before she was led off to jail. Smith called Knoller’s relationship with the two dogs and the prisoner “perverted” and expressed satisfaction with the lengthy prison sentence.
“It is very hard to find forgiveness for someone who doesn’t accept responsibility,” Smith said.
Gays will march in three areas of the country this weekend with walks in New York City and San Francisco to support same-sex marriage, and one in Mississippi to call on the next president to issue a stronger commitment on battling HIV/AIDS
People living with HIV/AIDS, their loved ones and other supporters will march from Jackson to Oxford, Miss., on Sept. 13 to demand that the next U.S. president take significant steps toward creating a national plan within 100 days of taking office to end AIDS .
Stand Against AIDS is being spearheaded by the Campaign to End AIDS, a national network of people living with HIV/AIDS. It is made up of a diverse cross-section of people - African-American, Latino and white; gay and straight; male and female.
On Sunday, several thousand people are expected to attend the fifth annual simultaneous walks across the Golden Gate Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge in support of marriage equality.
A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in New York passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly last year ,but Republicans who control the Senate have refused to consider the legislation.
Gov. David Paterson earlier this year issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples who were married in areas where they are legal. A challenge by Republicans was thrown out in court.
In New York City, marchers will gather at 11 a.m. EST at City Hall Park and proceed across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn. The event will end with a picnic and festival in Cadman Plaza.
In San Francisco, marchers will gather at 9:30 a.m. PST at the west end of Crissy Field to march across the Golden Gate Bridge and then return to Crissy Field for wedding cake and entertainment.
Today we attended a seminar given by Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media. Matt joined us for lunch. Matt is a fantastic guy. We enjoyed each other’s company and heard many interesting stories.
We learned a lot about advanced features of the Internet including blogs, social networking sites, online video and more,
PinkBananaWorld.com and it’s companion site PinkieB.com, are new sites launched in January 2008, designed to bring the best of today’s Internet technologies and experiences to GLBT users worldwide, including integrations with Flickr.com, MySpace.com, FaceBook.com and more… integrations with a distinct gay & lesbian flair!
Pink Banana Media can offer you Banner Advertising and E-Mail Marketing opportunities to help promote your business to the online GLBT community.
PinkBananaWorld.com: Bringing the GLBT audience worldwide news, blogs, podcasts, photos and videos from a wide variety of content sources from around the globe. Also bringing together an online member’s various personas on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and more… using RSS and XML to deliver the best side of our GLBT members to their friends, family and new acquaintances found on PinkBananaWorld.com.
www.PinkBananaWorld.com
PinkieB.com: GLBT Social Networking and Online Community web site
Today we attended a seminar given by Matthew Skallerud, President of Pink Banana Media, where we met Richard, manager of advertising on IGLTA (International Gay and Lesbian Travel). Richard joined us and Matt for lunch.
We learned that IGLTA is the Gay & Lesbian Traveler Portal. It’s the world’s leading travel trade association. It’s committed to growing and enhancing its members’ gay and lesbian tourism business through education, promotion and networking.
Travelers can search, contact and utilize our members around the world for all your travel needs.
Businesses can join IGTLA association and find themselves on the forefront of gay and lesbian travel.
IGTLA members offer: accommodations, airlines, car rental, cruises, travel agencies and more.
IGLTA newletter blog is the voice of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel.
www.iglta.org offers a complimentary internet link and listing that advertises your business, location, and contact numbers. It also includes: website banner advertising opportunities, our global calendar of events, and a consumer portal to find your business.
NBC has apologized for what looked like a refusal to report fully on openly gay Australian diver Matthew Mitcham’s astonishing upset victory over the heavily favored Chinese team, taking the gold medal and garnering the highest score in Olympics history for his event.
NBC, which had offered extensive coverage on the personal lives of a number of other athletes, did not acknowledge the presence of Mitcham’s partner, Lachlan, whom Mitcham had brought to Beijing with the help of a program underwritten Johnson & Johnson to allow athletes to bring family members along.
More dramatic still was the back-story of a young athlete who had suffered depression over his sexual status to the point of nearly quitting, before making a comeback that took him all the way to the gold medal–and who came out of the closet publicly along the way, making him the first Australian athlete to do so and conferring upon Mitcham the distinction of being one of only ten, out of over 10,000 athletes competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics, to go to Beijing as an openly gay athlete; moreover, of those ten courageous people, Mitcham is the only man.
For gay and lesbian viewers, who were solidly invested in Mitcham’s performance and thrilled with his triumph, the result of four perfect dives, the lack of coverage regarding Mitcham was an insult. It also smacked of censorship.
When the GLBT media erupted in protest over the network’s silence regarding Mitcham’s personal life and the role it played in his victory, NBC made its apologies.
In a Gaywired article from Aug. 28 it was reported that NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel had stated to GLBT publication AfterElton, “We regret that we missed the opportunity to tell Matthew Mitcham’s story. We apologize for this unintentional omission.”
That same article reported that when AfterElton editor Michael Jensen asked Greg Hughes, spokesperson for NBC Sports, about the issue of censorship which some GLBT viewers had begun talking about, Jensen was told by Hughes, “[W]e don’t discuss an athlete’s sexual orientation.”
Except, pointed out The Advocate.com in an Aug. 28 article, the sexual orientations of the athletes upon whom the network lavished coverage were implicit to the stories of married athletes, tortured love affairs, and the like.
And while the partners and spouses of straight athletes were discussed, Lachlan was never mentioned.
Moreover, once NBC reported the basic facts of Mitcham’s victory, Mitcham himself barely got a mention again.
Coming out of the closet was part and parcel of Mitcham’s overall story, from embracing his true identity as both an athlete and a gay man, to arranging for the funds for Lachlan to accompany him to the Games.
“However, the higher ups at NBC Sports decided that all these bits of information were not ready for prime time,” wrote Moylan, who went on to note that, “the omission shows a sore lack of sound news judgment.”
Moylan added that, “you could argue that his sexual orientation has nothing to do with the competition, but, then again, neither does what Michael Phelps eats for breakfast, that divers David Boudia and Thomas Finchum are roommates, or that the decathlon prepared Bryan Clay for being a father, all of which were mentioned more than once.”
The view from the heterosexual sports writers’ world is a bit different, at least at the blog The Big Lead which took a Mitcham quote from the Australian newspaper the Herald Sun (”I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics. It’s everybody else who thinks it’s special when homosexuality and elite sport go together”) as evidence that Mitcham would rather not have had his sexuality discussed on air.
An article declared that to the athlete for whom being gay and coming out had involved a personal and professional crisis that other media indicated was so profound that Mitcham contemplated quitting, being gay was “no big deal.”
For many GLBT viewers and journalists, however, the incident rankles, and NBC’s apology is, as The Advocate.com had it, a case of “too little, too late.”
Event date: August 17, 2008 - September 7, 2008
“Same-Sex in the City,” a wedding expo for gay and lesbian couples, takes place in two different cities at two different dates. The event will include top wedding professionals in catering, event planning, floral arranging, attire, and other services.
Twenty percent of show proceeds from each show will go to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.