Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
A Louisiana bus driver far overstepped her call of duty when she pulled a 16-year-old boy aside and advised him to repent for his sins. The ACLU of Louisiana this week sent a letter to the East Baton Rouge Parish School System superintendent, the school district’s director of transportation, and the Broadmoor High Schools principal explaining how the anonymous driver singled out and harassed the student (referred to as John Doe). Last month, when Doe tried to get off the school bus, the driver pulled him aside for a lecture: Read more
Another business has closed up shop rather than serve a gay couple. When asked to photograph two men for their wedding, Bay Area-based urloved Photography (ironic name, no?) referred the couple to another photographer because of their clashing beliefs. The owners, Nang and Chris Mai, released a statement on their website explaining their version of what happened: Read more
Should a person of strong conservative faith attend a friend’s same-sex wedding? A curious mind asked this question in a column recently published in Charisma News, and you know the answer will be complicated: “I am a follower of God wanting to walk in His truth,” this person wrote. “I have been invited to a same-sex celebration of marriage by two, longtime Christian friends. “I could attend because I love both of them and could celebrate their happiness, but I could not celebrate their union as a marriage. If I go I feel like a hypocrite, and if I don’t go I feel like a hypocrite. I am seeking counsel.” If the letter-writer wants to be a good and kind person, then yes, they should probably quiet their homophobia for a few hours and just be happy for their friends. But everyone’s favorite loudmouth, Bob Russell, says the answer is a clear “no.” Read more
The Advocate, the oldest LGBT magazine in the country, has announced that its 2014 Person of the Year is Vladimir Putin, the horrifically homophobic president of Russia and a committed opponent of all things pro-LGBT. The yearly recognition is not necessarily meant to highlight someone who has made great strides for LGBT rights (an obvious fact, based on this year’s choice), but rather the person who has had the most profound influence on LGBT people in the previous year. Much like TIME magazine’s Person of the Year has, in the past, gone to anti-justice leaders (including Putin), sometimes the Person of the Year is a really, really influential bad guy. And Putin’s toxic, even deadly influence on LGBT people needs no explanation. The magazine cover breaking the news even illustrates the Russian president as a new-age Adolf Hitler, with the help of some strategic headline placement: Read more
Eight men in Egypt face a three-year jail sentence for broadcasting a video of a same-sex wedding and, as a result, “shaming God.” The men were charged for “spreading indecent images” and “violating public decency” after filming two men kissing, exchanging rings and celebrating with cheering friends on a Nile riverboat, suggesting a same-sex wedding. They were initially detained in September after Egypt’s chief prosecutor called the video “shameful to God” and “offensive to public morals.” Read more
