Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
When football superstar Michael Sam came out as gay in the New York Times last weekend, much of the country was ready for it. We started figuring this out when NBA player Jason Collins came out last year, making him the first openly gay male pro athlete ever. Athletes from lower-level leagues come out every day, and especially as we turn our attention to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, we’re more and more attuned to the destructive consequences of systemic homophobia and its effects on the sporting world. On its cover this week, Sports Illustrated juxtaposed two telling headlines: “America is ready for Michael Sam” in bold font, next to a smaller “Is the NFL ready for Michael Sam?” Different people have different answers, but a few outspoken advocates who know their football are pretty sure that welcoming a gay player shouldn’t have any effect on the game. For example, former NFL player Donté Stallworth has tweeted his support for Sam and said that any team afraid to “handle the media coverage” he’ll spark is “already a loser.” Dallas sports anchor Dale Hansen made an even bigger statement criticizing the NFL for welcoming accused rapists and criminals, yet potentially shunning a gay player. The Christian website Charisma News asked some of these questions, too — but they’ve gotten their answers all wrong. Writer Michael Brown is clearly uncomfortable with LGBT people in general, let alone gay athletes, so he doesn’t even know where to start with Michael Sam. He’s got all kinds of questions about how a pro football team could possibly function with a gay player on the field and in practice and (gasp!) in the locker room. His answers to those questions were pretty terrible, so I thought I’d step in and help him out. (His questions in bold.) Read more
Republican lawmakers in Idaho are so worried that LGBT people will force them to abandon their religious beliefs, they’ve outlined a plan of attack for a problem that doesn’t exist. Last week, Rep. Lynn Luker introduced plans to preemptively protect professionals in various fields from having their licenses revoked if they refuse to serve LGBT people on religious grounds. Professionals from physical therapists to midwives to teachers would be protected if they decided it was against their religious beliefs to provide services to gays and lesbians. (The only exception is that emergency personnel could not refuse to treat somebody.) Read more
Conservative Christians who hadn’t heard of Macklemore’s pro-gay hit “Same Love” have certainly heard of it now. The massive wedding that took place live at the Grammys last weekend, which included same-sex couples and was officiated by Queen Latifah, has right-wingers furious over the destruction of marriage, morals, purity, and everything else they get upset about as soon as LGBT folks enter the picture. But few seem to be more upset than Bizzle, a Christian rapper who has previously targeted the music of Jay-Z, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, among others, for the messages their music sends. This “Same Love” nonsense really has Bizzle in a tizzy — so much so that he released a rap song explaining why LGBT people actually have it all wrong. In “Same Love (A Response),” Bizzle offers his opinions on the LGBT rights movement and the presence (or absence) of God in the ongoing debate, all while the iconic instrumental of the original song plays underneath. If we could only ignore how we feel and give our lives to God, he seems to say, everything would be fine. Listen to the song below: Read more
Here’s the newest Republican platform regarding marriage equality: if you can’t beat them… screw everyone else over. After a U.S. district judge ruled earlier this month that Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, State Rep. Mike Turner missed the point and filed legislation to ban it again. Now he’s taken it a step further, suggesting that Oklahoma should stop recognizing any and all marriages, same-sex or different-sex. Read more
You know how some anti-LGBT people tend to quote the Bible a whole lot when trying to defend their bigotry? A city councilman in Louisiana pulled that stunt recently when trying to bring down an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policy, but one activist put him — and his Bible-thumping hypocrisy — in his place. Last month, the City Council of Shreveport, Louisiana, passed an ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination in matters of housing and employment. The sole dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Ron Webb, who cited the Bible when explaining his decision: Read more
