SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – A bill that would ban a therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality in children and teens passed California’s Senate on Wednesday, moving the state a step closer to becoming the first in the nation to ban the controversial treatment.
The 23-13 vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say the therapy has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder, and that it can cause depression and lead to substance abuse and suicide.
The bill still needs to be passed by the state Assembly and signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown before it can become law. It is expected to be taken up by the Assembly, also controlled by Democrats, within a month.
“These therapies are dangerous,” Senator Ted Lieu, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said on the Senate floor before the vote, citing the case of Ryan Kendall, an outspoken advocate of gay rights who underwent such therapy as a child.
“(Ryan) was told that being gay made God cry,” Lieu said. “He testified that for 10 years of his life, he wanted to commit suicide. He has not done that and now he is speaking out against this type of therapy.”
The Pan American Health Organization, a division of the World Health Organization, said earlier this month that therapy claiming to “cure” people with non-heterosexual sexual orientation lacked medical justification and represented “a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people.”
Equality California, a civil rights group that co-sponsored the bill, welcomed its passage.
“Too many young people have taken their own lives or suffered lifelong harm after being told, falsely, by a therapist or counselor that who they are is wrong, sick or the result of personal or moral failure,” Clarissa Filgioun, Equality California Board President, said in a statement.
A group opposed to the bill, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, said such therapy could help those who “struggle with unwanted homosexuality” and hoped the California legislature would think twice about a ban.
The group said in a statement it was concerned the bill “transfers the oversight of proper psychological care from mental health professionals and licensing boards into the hands of politicians.”
from Reuters
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Luka Magnotta

OTTAWA, CANADA – A porn actor is wanted in a gruesome case of dismembered body parts that were mailed to different places including the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada, police said.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is wanted for homicide, Montreal police said Wednesday at a news conference.
According to an official close to the investigation Magnotta worked as a porn actor and there is video of the crime. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about those details.
Magnotta, believed to originally be from Toronto, was renting an apartment in a working-class Montreal neighborhood. It was behind that building that police found a man’s torso in a suitcase in a heap of garbage Tuesday, police said. That same day, a foot was found in a package mailed to the Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa, and a hand found at postal warehouse in the Canadian capital. The package with the hand was addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada. Early testing shows the three body parts come from the same man, police said.
Police in masks combed through the blood-soaked Montreal studio apartment on Wednesday. A blood stained mattress remained there after they left.
“For most of the officers that were there all night long this is the kind of crime scene they’ve never seen in their career,” Montreal Police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said.
Lafreniere said they are investigating the possibility that other body parts might have been mailed. He said the suspect and the victim knew each other. He said it isn’t linked to organized crime.
The packages with the foot and the hand had been mailed to Ottawa from Montreal. It wasn’t clear why.
“As a father, I would have trouble sleeping at night knowing that the suspect was in my neighborhood,” Lafreniere said.
Police said Magnotta is also known by the names Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov. They described him as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall (1.78 meters) with blue eyes and black hair.
His internet presence indicates he is a bisexual porn actor and model.
Police discovered the severed foot after Jenni Bryne, a top political adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, opened a bloodstained box at Conservative party headquarters Tuesday.
When Bryne opened the box, a foul odor overcame the office.
“It was such a horrible odor. I’m sure many of us will not forget it,” Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said.
Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.
Canada Post wouldn’t comment on the discoveries.
Eric Schorer, the manager of the building where the suspect lived, said Magnotta had been living there for about four months but hadn’t been seen around in a while. He said there were never any complaints about noise in the unit, and that Magnotta passed a credit test to rent there.
“He seemed like a nice guy,” Schorer said.
Richard Payette, who lived across the hall from Magnotta, said the door of Apartment 208 was left open for part of the day on Wednesday. Payette said there was an overwhelming smell drifting out into the hallway, like bad meat.
An online video showing a man that looks like Magnotta shows him committing violent acts against kittens. The video contains at least one photo made available by Montreal police Wedesday that identified the man as Magnotta. For nearly two years, the name has been notorious among animal-rights activists looking for a man who tortured and killed cats and posted videos of it online.
“It’s very upsetting,” Opposition New Democrat member Yvon Godin said. “It could be just one crazy person that did it, but at the same time we have lots of people unhappy in our country, the way the country is going.”
Opposition Liberal member Justin Trudeau called the packages horrific.
from The Associated Press
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UTAH – Erika Munson has never been to a pride parade.
But this weekend, she will be in one, along with at least 100 other active Mormons who — decked out in their Sunday best — will march at the head of the Utah Pride Parade to show support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
“There have been so many years of heartbreak and strife between the LDS and LGBT community,” said Munson, organizer of the group Mormons Building Bridges. “We just want to send out a message of love to the LGBT community that God loves them because of who they are.”
Munson is not gay, and she’s not someone who became involved because of a gay family member or friend. Rather, she started the group Mormons Building Bridges a few weeks ago to support LGBT Utahns, to show other Latter-day Saints that it’s all right to embrace the LGBT community and to reach out to LGBT teens in hopes of stemming suicide rates.
“We’re going to be marching in our church clothes,” Munson said, “and we want other LDS people to see us and say, ‘Oh, they’re just like me. Maybe I can reach out to a gay person in my congregation or not be afraid to discuss this issue.’ ”
Munson got involved after seeing her own children, as young adults, question their Mormon faith because of its stand on homosexuality, which, to them, seemed at odds with their own attitudes toward LGBT teachers, friends and neighbors and Jesus Christ’s message of love.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that it is no sin to have same-sex attraction, but it condones sexual relations only within the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman. The Utah-based faith also helped pass California’s Proposition 8, which limited marriages in the Golden State to unions between only men and women.
“I felt that there must be people like me,” Munson said, “who are committed to the church, who believe in the gospel and want to live Jesus’ word, which is, ‘love one another.’ ”
Munson’s group is not affiliated with the LDS Church or any political party, and though it started just a few weeks ago, it’s been gaining steam through social media. As of Wednesday, the group had more than 900 members on Facebook; more than 100 had committed to Sunday’s march in downtown Salt Lake City.
The group will likely march at the front of the parade directly behind grand marshal Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Milk,” a film about openly gay politician Harvey Milk, said Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center.
Mormons to march in church clothes in Utah gay pride parade
Erika Munson has never been to a pride parade.
But this weekend, she will be in one, along with at least 100 other active Mormons who — decked out in their Sunday best — will march at the head of the Utah Pride Parade to show support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
“There have been so many years of heartbreak and strife between the LDS and LGBT community,” said Munson, organizer of the group Mormons Building Bridges. “We just want to send out a message of love to the LGBT community that God loves them because of who they are.”
Munson is not gay, and she’s not someone who became involved because of a gay family member or friend. Rather, she started the group Mormons Building Bridges a few weeks ago to support LGBT Utahns, to show other Latter-day Saints that it’s all right to embrace the LGBT community and to reach out to LGBT teens in hopes of stemming suicide rates.
“We’re going to be marching in our church clothes,” Munson said, “and we want other LDS people to see us and say, ‘Oh, they’re just like me. Maybe I can reach out to a gay person in my congregation or not be afraid to discuss this issue.’ ”
Munson got involved after seeing her own children, as young adults, question their Mormon faith because of its stand on homosexuality, which, to them, seemed at odds with their own attitudes toward LGBT teachers, friends and neighbors and Jesus Christ’s message of love.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that it is no sin to have same-sex attraction, but it condones sexual relations only within the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman. The Utah-based faith also helped pass California’s Proposition 8, which limited marriages in the Golden State to unions between only men and women.
“I felt that there must be people like me,” Munson said, “who are committed to the church, who believe in the gospel and want to live Jesus’ word, which is, ‘love one another.’ ”
Munson’s group is not affiliated with the LDS Church or any political party, and though it started just a few weeks ago, it’s been gaining steam through social media. As of Wednesday, the group had more than 900 members on Facebook; more than 100 had committed to Sunday’s march in downtown Salt Lake City.
The group will likely march at the front of the parade directly behind grand marshal Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Milk,” a film about openly gay politician Harvey Milk, said Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center.
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Larabee called the group’s message “poignant.”
“We all want to support and heal the families who have LGBT members,” Larabee said, “and that’s really the most important thing.”
Marchers also hope to show another side of Mormonism.
“I’m a lifelong member of the church, I love being Mormon, and I have felt I have grown up in a church that taught me that God loves his children, and I feel sad that sometimes that message has been lost,” explained Luana Uluave, of Cottonwood Heights, “so a chance to say ‘God is love’ just seems like a really great thing.”
Others have personal reasons for wanting to take part.
Michele Rideout, of Sandy, has watched a family member who is bisexual leave the church because she felt out of place. Rideout said it pains her to see LGBT Mormons abandon a faith that she feels has much good to offer.
“It’s important for our gay and lesbian members, brothers and sisters, to know that they are loved and they are welcomed, and I think it’s really important for members of the church to step up and be modern-day pioneers,” Rideout said. “I just don’t want to see any more hurt when it doesn’t need to be there.”
She hopes the group’s participation on Sunday shows there are “plenty of people who belong to the LDS Church who are very warm, very embracing, very supportive.”
Mormons Building Bridges is just one of a number of LDS groups planning to march in pride parades across the country in June, though Munson said her group is not connected to the others. Groups also plan to march in San Francisco, Memphis, Boise, Cleveland, Portland, Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C., according to mormonpride.org.
The Utah group plans to hand out lollipops labeled with stickers that read “Love One Another” and carry signs with religious messages such as “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and “God is love.”
That the Utah parade is taking place on a Sunday morning is not lost on marchers.
“That’s a big deal,” Munson said. “Some people will be missing their regular church meetings … but this is an act of worship for us. We’re dedicating this, really, to the gospel of Jesus Christ and loving one another.”
from The Salt Lake Tribune

GREENSBURG, INDIANA – An Indiana pastor is reportedly fielding death threats after footage surfaced of his congregation going wild for a tiny tot singing an anti-gay hymn.
The clip went viral on Wednesday and features a young boy crooning a song about God and bible verses, including the lyrics, “Ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven.”
Since it hit the blogosphere, the church, identified as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana, has received harassing phone calls, and its pastor, Jeff Sangl, has even gotten death threats at home, members told TMZ.com.
The website reports the church is “on lockdown” and members are taking turns watching over the property.
Sangl fears for his safety and he and his wife fled for vacation Wednesday morning without telling anyone where they were going, one member told TMZ.com.
Representatives of the church could not be reached for comment by the Daily News.
Viewers online were jolted by the video — and by how young its star appears to be.
Gawker writer Neetzan Zimmerman likened the video to child abuse.
“What makes this particular demonstration of intolerance so shocking is just how young this congregant is. Believing him to be no older than five, some are calling the church’s treatment of the boy out-and-out child abuse.”
Others were appalled by the congregation’s overwhelmingly positive response to the performance.
“Listen to the applause he’s getting for spouting hate!” wrote one commenter on YouTube.
Author Anne Rice posted the video on her Facebook page, writing: “In this country, Christians can teach toddlers to hate and to persecute, and we, through the automatic tax exemption for churches, foot the bill.”
Despite the uproar and reported threats, church members told TMZ.com they don’t regret that the video surfaced online.
“The people who are upset just don’t reach the word of God,” an unnamed member of the church told the website. “If we don’t teach the children the truth early they will never learn.
“Of course we applauded a child who is singing a song about God.”
from The New York Daily News

The Second Mile – the charity founded by a former Penn State football coach who has been charged with sexually abusing children – is seeking to transfer its program to a Texas-based ministry because it’s having difficulty operating and raising funds.
The organization, founded by former coach Jerry Sandusky, announced Friday that it wants to transfer its programs and about $2 million in cash and other assets to Arrow Child & Family Ministries Inc., a Houston nonprofit. Like the Second Mile, Arrow helps at-risk children and their families.
Second Mile submitted a petition in the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County, Orphans’ Court Division, outlining the proposed transfer of programs and dissolution of local charity.
“Over the past several months, representatives of The Second Mile, based in State College, have been in discussions with parents, school partners and donors to determine what steps should be taken after criminal charges were announced against founder Gerald Sandusky,” the charity said in a statement on its website. “The board learned that there is overwhelming support for the programs, but that there would not be adequate support, including financial, from donors, volunteers and referring social service agencies to continue The Second Mile as its own entity.”
Court action could last several months, Second Mile said. The charity said it would be a legal entity even after it dissolves and will continue to “cooperate fully with any investigations.”
“The Second Mile has made a positive difference in many peoples’ lives, and we are very pleased that Arrow will continue this good work,” interim Chief Executive David Woodle said in the statement. “Arrow’s mission is consistent with the goals and objectives of The Second Mile’s programs. While we are sad that The Second Mile will not continue running programs, we are heartened that the important work of helping children – and their families – reach their full potential will go on.”
The announcement of the impending dissolution of the charity has been expected ever since the child sex abuse scandal rocked the Penn State area. Sandusky, a former assistant coach, is charged with more than 50 counts of sexual abuse involving 10 children, including clients of Second Mile.
Some of the abuse is alleged to have occurred at Penn State, where Sandusky was seen showering with a boy. Though the former coach has insisted that nothing improper took place in the shower, the incident eventually cost revered head football coach Joe Paterno his job; the university president was fired from the top post for failing to contact police. Two other university officials also face criminal charges in connection with the scandal.
The charity has been attempting to deal with the diminishing support by considering restructuring into a smaller organization, but eventually decided to go with Arrow after talking to more than 15 organizations. Arrow currently operates in Pennsylvania.
“Our priority is to ensure children continue to be served by these programs,” Mark Tennant, founder and chief executive of Arrow Child & Family Ministries, said in a prepared statement. “We were shocked and saddened by the events that led us here, but we are committed to the future of these children and their families and look forward to building on the outstanding work done by so many individuals who have been a part of The Second Mile over the years.”
Tennant said he was born and raised in Pennsylvania and was physically and sexually abused as a child.
“I grew up not far from Penn State and the hurt created by these shocking circumstances affected me personally. I felt the need to turn my heart home and be a part of the healing process,” Tennant said in a statement on the Arrow website.
According to the group, Arrow works with abused and neglected children and has expanded to Maryland, California, Honduras and Altoona, Pa., where Tennant’s extended foster family still lives.
Arrow Child & Family Ministries currently has 382 employees and, since its formation in 1992, has served approximately 40,000 children and families.
from The Los Angeles Times
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Zach Wahls

An Eagle Scout whose defense of gay civil unions went viral in 2011 on YouTube plans to challenge the anti-gay policy of the Boy Scouts of America at its annual conference in Orlando on Wednesday.
Zach Wahls, 20, of Iowa City, Iowa, told Reuters he will present the Boy Scouts leadership with a petition signed by more than 280,000 people calling for the organization to end discrimination against gay youth and leaders.
Deron Smith, public relations director for the BSA, said on Tuesday that the conference and Wahls’ presentation will be closed to the press and public.
Eagle Scout is the top rank attainable in the BSA and requires a major service project to demonstrate leadership, along with numerous merit badges.
The petition was launched April 17 on Change.org, the web-based social change platform, by Jennifer Tyrrell, 32, a former Boy Scouts den leader from Bridgeport, Ohio, one week after she was ousted because she is gay. The petition also calls for her reinstatement.
“The hope would be for them (the Boy Scout leadership) to see the vast amount of signatures … There’s going to be boxes and boxes and boxes to set the stage for (them to see) this is how many people agree with this, hoping to get the Boy Scouts to do the right thing,” Tyrrell told Reuters.
Tyrrell, who will not attend the event, said she is not optimistic. But Wahls, whose defense of his lesbian mothers and civil unions before the Iowa House of Representatives has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.5 million times, said gay rights advocates are aware of many Boy Scout leaders who support change.
“I think it’s a lot closer than people might expect,” Wahls said, adding, “It’s very clear that there’s a lot of support even within the Boy Scouts of America … What we’re trying to do is make sure we give them some real credence so they know that they have external support, that there are a lot people that have their back when it comes to actually changing this policy from a national perspective.”
Smith released a written statement on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America:
“Scouting values the freedom of everyone to express their opinion and teaches its members to treat everyone with courtesy and respect at all times. The BSA sets polices that are best for its organization and membership. The BSA welcomes all who share its beliefs but does not criticize or condemn those who wish to follow a different path,” the statement said.
The Boy Scouts of America in 2000 famously won a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the organization to ban gays whose conduct, the Boy Scouts argued, violated its values.
Wahls, his lesbian parents and Tyrrell found that local Boy Scout leaders and parents accepted them regardless of the parents’ sexual orientation.
“It was a complete non-issue after people got to know me and know my parents,” he said.
Tyrrell said she was assured by her local cubmaster that her sexual orientation was not a problem and she was even drafted to be den leader.
However, later, when she became treasurer and pointed out some financial discrepancies in the books, someone told the pastor of the church that chartered her den that she was gay, and the Boy Scouts dismissed her.
“The fact is the (Boy Scout) organization is still run by a lot of older folks who grew up in a time and culture where quite frankly this was not something that was discussed,” Wahls said.
On the Change.org web page hosting Tyrrell’s petition, supporter James Dozier was one of several former scouts who posted comments critical of the anti-gay stance.
“It is stuff like this that really demeans all I worked for to become an Eagle Scout … I am so grateful for everything the Scouts taught me and I am proud about being an Eagle Scout, but this really diminishes everything I accomplished,” Dozier wrote.
The BSA is one of the biggest U.S. youth organizations, claiming some 2.7 million youth members and over 1 million adult volunteers at the end of 2011. It was founded in 1910 as part of the international Scout movement established in Britain by General Robert Baden-Powell.
from Reuters
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Dharun Ravi

Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi on Tuesday apologized for the first time for invading the privacy of his gay roommate, who later committed suicide, saying his behavior was “thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish.”
In a statement issued two days before he begins serving his 30-day jail term, Ravi said he never was motivated by anti-gay bias toward Tyler Clementi, who threw himself from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010. Days earlier, Clementi had learned that Ravi had spied on him during a date with a man in the dorm room they shared. He was 18.
“I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on Sept. 19, 2010 and Sept. 21, 2010,” Ravi said in a statement issued through his lawyers. “My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices.”
A jury in New Brunswick, N.J., in March convicted Ravi, now 20, of more than a dozen crimes, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, after concluding he targeted Clementi because he was gay. Ravi pleaded not guilty. He could have faced 10 years or more in prison because of the bias intimidation charges, which are considered hate crimes.
Ravi’s failure to apologize was noted repeatedly by speakers at his sentencing this month, including Clementi’s mother, father, brother and M.B., Clementi’s unidentified date the night Ravi secretly fixed a webcam at them. Ravi’s parents also spoke at the hearing, appealing for mercy for their son. Ravi did not speak.
Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman scolded Ravi for not saying he was sorry before he announced his sentence. “I heard this jury say ‘guilty’ 288 times — 24 questions, 12 jurors — that’s the multiplication,” Berman said. “And I haven’t heard you apologize once.”
Berman went on to give Ravi a relatively light sentence, saying he did not believe Ravi had been motivated by anti-gay hatred and that he did not expect Ravi to commit future crimes.
In his one-page statement, Ravi noted that because prosecutors are appealing the sentence, he could have waited for that appeal to wind its way through the courts before beginning to serve his time. But he said he had decided to “accept and hopefully complete the sentence as soon as possible. It’s the only way I can go on with my life.”
Ravi did not explain why he had decided to apologize now, and the statement never mentions Tyler Clementi by name or alludes to his suicide. Ravi never was charged in connection with Clementi’s death, but his supporters said prosecutors and jurors unfairly linked Ravi to the suicide, thereby leading to harsher charges than were warranted.
“It’s his decision,” one of Ravi’s lawyers, Steven Altman, said of Ravi’s statement, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported. “He wanted to get it over with.”
In addition to 30 days in jail, Ravi faces three years probation and was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and pay $10,000 to an organization dedicated to assisting victims of bias crimes.
from The Los Angeles Times
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In a church nestled among a row of residential brownstones, parishioners clapped and danced as a woman began to testify.
“Aren’t you glad Jesus got up?” the woman, Twanna Gause, asked the predominantly black congregation, which responded with enthusiastic shouts of “Amen” and “Hallelujah.”
“He got up so I can come out,” Ms. Gause said, as worshipers hopped out of their seats and cheered in agreement. “He got up so you can come out.”
For black Christians who are gay and lesbian, church can be a daunting experience, where on any given Sunday they are taught that homosexuality is not only a sin, but a one-way ticket to hell. That alienation has been a benefit for the Rivers at Rehoboth congregation, in Harlem, which has made ministry to gay men and lesbians, combined with the worship traditions of black churches, its mission.
The congregation was formed by the merger of two churches,  Rivers of Living Faith and Rehoboth Temple. The pastor of Rivers, Vanessa M. Brown, 41, is a lesbian, and the pastor of Rehoboth, Joseph Tolton, 45, is gay, and both were born and raised in Harlem. Their merged congregation rents space out of Grace Congregational Church on West 139th Street, where Mr. Tolton’s former church worshiped for four years.
Ms. Brown, the church’s senior pastor and Ms. Gause’s partner, preaches what she calls a “radically inclusive” message, while Mr. Tolton, the associate pastor, offers as a mantra the phrase “Gay by God.”
“God doesn’t make any junk,” Ms. Brown said. “He made us knowing who we were going to be before we were it.”
Only “small segments” of black church leaders openly welcome gay men and lesbians in their congregations, according to Lawrence H. Mamiya, a professor of religion at Vassar College who has researched black churches.
“There’s also a large majority that doesn’t,” Mr. Mamiya said.
As evidence, he said that many black churches supported a ballot measure barring same-sex marriage in California.
“That gives you some indication of how strong the opposition is,” he said.
But there have been some signs of change. This month, the board of the N.A.A.C.P. voted to express its support for same-sex marriage.
Rivers at Rehoboth is attended by an average of 200 members each Sunday. On Easter, ushers had to place folding chairs next to pews to accommodate visitors, some of whom had traveled from as far as Italy and Australia.
Both pastors speak openly about their own experiences struggling with sexuality as black Christians.
Mr. Tolton said that for over 20 years, he believed his sexual orientation was a spiritual demon from which he needed to be saved. As a young man, he asked clergy to pray for him to be straight.
Mr. Tolton said he left his church after a friend told him he could not be the best man at his wedding because he is gay.
“It broke my heart,” Mr. Tolton said.
Ms. Brown said she, too, struggled with the church’s stance on homosexuality.
She said she married a man who was gay, to help him cover up his sexuality and protect his image in the church. But Ms. Brown divorced him after growing tired of living a lie, she said.
“I was ruining my own self,” she said. “I wasn’t happy.”
Many members of the Rivers at Rehoboth have their own stories.
Derrick Smith, 26, who found out that he had contracted H.I.V. shortly before joining Mr. Tolton’s church in 2007, said he had been asked to step down as the organist at his former church in the Bronx when he told people of his sexuality. He said he learned about Mr. Tolton’s church on a promotional postcard at a support clinic for gay black men in East Harlem. After a couple of visits, Mr. Smith joined the church and has been an active member since. He now serves as the church’s sound technician.
“I believe it helped save my life,” Mr. Smith said.
Julie Chisolm-May, who attends the church with her wife, Stacey, said before joining Rivers at Rehoboth, they attended separate churches for about eight years because of the glares they would get from people when they were together. Ms. Chisolm-May said if she and her wife had not found Rivers at Rehoboth, they would probably be worshiping from their bedroom, watching ministers preach on television.
“It’s the safest place to go without being condemned at the end of service,” she said.
Now, she said, her entire family attends the church, including her six adult children, and her 74-year-old mother, who changed her views on homosexuality when she joined the congregation.
The pastors say they are now looking for a larger space in which to expand.
“We want people to know that they are loved, there’s a safe space for them in the house of God,” Ms. Brown said, “where they can truly worship the Lord and be their authentic selves.”
from The New York Times

Chely Wright

Two years after becoming the first country star to come out as gay, Chely Wright is now at peace, living honestly and married to another woman, but she feels somewhat cut off by the country music world to which she has devoted her life.
Gay artists have long struggled with the impact that coming out might have on their careers, but Wright thinks the time has never been better to be open despite her struggles depicted in a new film documentary, “Wish Me Away,” in U.S. theaters June 1.
Still, since she announced she was a lesbian in 2010, the invitations for charity events, award presentations and radio appearances have all but disappeared, said Wright, who is as famous for her hard-working nature as she is for her good looks.
“When people say, ‘it’s not that hard. Who cares anymore? Coming out is no big deal.’ Oh, it really is, and I think ‘Wish Me Away’ really displays that narrative of any person coming out. Not just for a singer, for anybody it is hard,” she told Reuters.
The movie is a follow-up of sorts to her coming out memoir “Like Me: Confessions Of a Heartland Country Singer” and her last album, “Lifted Off The Ground” with the single “Broken” that chronicled her true romantic heartbreak. It also completes a two-year period in which Wright, 41, has spoken openly of hiding herself for fear of losing her hard-won success.
But with the aid of tear-filled video diaries, the film goes beyond the book in offering a behind-the-scenes look at prepping a public figure for the pressure and anguish of coming out.
As with the book and album, Wright said she allowed the filmmakers to document her life because she wanted to give young gay people strength and show others what it is really like to face oneself truthfully.
“It’s important for those who don’t understand the journey, the real fear,” she said. “And those very deep profound moments of feeling isolated and afraid to take a step that might get you kicked out of your church, might get you kicked out of your social situation or might cause you to lose your job.”
The film documents Wright’s rise through country music to her first top 40 hit in 1997, “Shut Up and Drive,” and her first country No. 1 single two years later, “Single White Female,” in a career spanning seven albums and over a dozen hit singles.
She was named one of People magazine’s 50 most beautiful people and briefly dated country singer Brad Paisley.
“Wish Me Away” also delves into her parallel secret life, living for years with another closeted woman in a 12-year on-and-off relationship. Of her double life, Wright now says: “I put myself through a military-like discipline to pull this off … I became a very skilled liar.”
Her lowest point came at age 35 when a male country singer confronted her about gay rumors and said fans wouldn’t accept it, leading her to deny being lesbian, break off her relationship and eventually put a gun in her mouth.
“I reached my breaking point, but thank God I didn’t pull the trigger,” she said.
The film recounts a sometimes troubled childhood growing up in Kansas and a strained relationship with her mother, as well as a continuing strong commitment to her religious faith.
“I felt like a sinful person when I dated men and allowed them to feel for me in a way I knew I could never naturally feel for them. That felt wrong and a lie,” she said.
After coming out, she added, “I felt honest … I have peace inside of me now.”
But being honest in public has had its drawbacks. She has lost some fans. Her last album – less country than previous efforts – sold only a third of what she usually would have.
Since coming out, she said she hasn’t been invited to return to old venues where she once performed or asked to become involved in charity events that typically would lure celebrities of her former, straight stature.
“I was one of those people the community engaged, and they don’t engage me anymore,” she said. “I don’t want to make it seem like it doesn’t hurt my feelings. It does hurt my feelings to be excommunicated from one’s passion in an industry that I worked very hard in. It’s unfair, but it’s not ruining my day.”
Wright is quick to add that she “knew this was coming.”
Tony Brown, a top Nashville music executive and producer on some of Wright’s albums, said he thought her absence from award shows and social functions was mostly to do with a fixation on today’s new crop of stars.
“Chely’s just carving out a new place in her celebrity. She’s always been so driven that she easily gets impatient,” he said. “I am proud of Chely and her status as a person, and her celebrity has been elevated in my eyes.”
Wright said she is hopeful of attracting new fans and regaining old ones for an album she will start recording this year. And she isn’t about to give up her beloved country music.
“If I wanted to be a pop singer, I would have done that 20 years ago,” she said. “I love country music.”
from Reuters
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JAPAN – A man who had his genitals removed seasoned them before cooking them for five paying dinner party guests, it has been claimed.
Mao Sugiyama, 22, who is asexual, had voluntarily undergone surgery to have them removed.
But the illustrator took his frozen penis and scrotum home from hospital and organised a grim party.
He charged guests around £160 per person to eat his severed genitalia in Tokyo, Japan.
They were garnished with mushrooms and parsley.
Before tucking into dinner, guests sat down to listen to a piano recital and take part in a panel discussion, CalorieLab.com reported.
Mao, who goes by the nickname HC, had initially considered eating his own penis – but decided to serve them up instead.
He cooked the genitalia himself as he was supervised by a chef.
In a Tweet, he offered to cook his penis for a guest for £800. However, he ultimately decided to split the ‘meal’ between six guests.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen (£800). I’m Japanese.
‘The organs were surgically removed at age 22. I was tested to be free of venereal diseases. The organs were of normal function. I was not receiving female hormone treatment.
‘First interested buyer will get them, or I will also consider selling to a group. Will prepare and cook as the buyer requests, at his chosen location. If you have questions, please contact me by DM or e-mail.’
In total around 70 people attended the event in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. While five people tucked into Mao Sugiyama’s genitalia, the rest of them ate beef or crocodile
The people who ate his genitalia were a 30-year-old couple, a 22-year-old women, a 32-year-old man and Shigenobu Matsuzawa, 29, an event planner.
He Tweeted before the event: ‘It’s a once in a lifetime chance, so I decided on the spur of the moment to do it.’
He posted pictures of the event on his blog, but later removed them and said his decision to take them down was due to ‘privacy considerations’.
Sugiyama made guests sign a waiver so he was not responsible if they became ill after eating his genitalia. They were removed in early April shortly after his 22nd birthday.
The dinner party organiser joked before the event that he would be posting his recipe online.
Guests said that the genitalia were very rubbery and tasted of very little, CalorieLab.com reported.
Suginami Police were contacted but did not launch an investigation because they said nothing had been done which was against the law.
Sugiyama, who is an illustrator, has also had his nipples removed.
As an asexual, his genitalia will not be replaced with artificial female ones.
from The Daily Mail
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Christine Marinoni & Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni were married Sunday.
“On May 27, 2012, Cynthia Nixon and her girlfriend, Christine Marinoni, were legally married in the state of New York,” her rep tells PEOPLE in a statement. “Nixon wore a custom dress by Carolina Herrera.”
No other details were immediately available.
The Sex and the City actress, 46, and the education activist, 45, have been together since 2004. Marinoni gave birth to their son, Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni, in February 2011.
Nixon also has two children from her previous relationship with photographer Danny Mozes.
The couple waited to marry until it was legal in New York state, which happened last summer. “I’m enjoying being engaged very much,” Nixon said in 2010. “I don’t mind a long engagement, which this one is surely turning out to be.”
from People Magazine

Lady Gaga

The pop superstar decided to cancel her performance in the Muslim-majority country after Islamic extremists threatened violence if she tried to go on with the show.
While the “Born This Way Ball” sold out of its 52,000 tickets for its scheduled June 3 concert in Indonesia, Lady Gaga has decided to cancel the performance amid security concerns. Promoters will now issue refunds.
Police officials in the area had originally announced they were worried about potential violence after Islamic extremists threatened violence if the American pop superstar tried to perform in the Muslim-majority country of 240 million in Southeast Asia.
The police originally said they didn’t approve of Lady Gaga’s message or outfits. However, they seemed to be softening their stance on the pop star this past week, with fans of Lady Gaga believing the police would provide the appropriate security permits and crowd control if the pop star agreed to tone down her risque performance. But ultimately, the pop star and her team decided the risks weren’t worth it.
“With threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga’s side is calling off the concert,” Minola Sebayang, a lawyer for concert promoter Big Daddy, told the Associated Press Sunday. “This is not only about Lady Gaga’s security, but extends to those who will be willing to watch her.”
Lady Gaga is not the first American popstar with suggestive lyrics and costumes to be threatened in the Southeast Asian nation: Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue have all been the target of Islamic extremist protests. However, this may be the first major victory for the extremists in the nation. Some groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front, protest regularly against what they see as negative Western influences in Indonesia and in support of new local laws and regulations restricting gambling, alcohol, pornography, and other activities.
“This is a victory for Indonesian Muslims,” Salim Alatas, one of the leaders of the hard-line group, said, according to the Associated Press. “Thanks to God for protecting us from a kind of devil.”
For her part, Lady Gaga responded with a message on Twitter for her nearly 29 million followers: “There is nothing Holy about hatred.” She continued: “I am so very sorry for the fans & just as devastated as you if not more. You are everything to me. …I will try to put together something special for you. My love for Indonesia has only grown. #GagaSendsLoveToJakarta and all its people.”
from The Hollywood Reporter
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Pregnant Man / Thomas Beatie

The Superior Court of Arizona has found that Thomas Beatie, the world’s first married pregnant man, “will continue to have sole legal custody”(case FC 2012-051183) of his three children, after a public and intense temporary orders proceeding. His wife, Nancy, will get only supervised parenting time. While both Thomas and Nancy will be involved with any major life decisions for the children, Thomas has final decision-making powers if they cannot reach an agreement. The Beatie’s divorce proceedings will continue until a final trial date is scheduled in September.
”The Court’s decision today reinforces our argument that the Mother’s domestic violence and substance abuse pose a serious danger to the children, whereas Mr Beatie’s transgender status does not.” explains one of Mr. Beatie’s lawyers, David Michael Cantor of the Cantor Law Group.
Mr. Beatie made headline news in 2008 as the world’s first married pregnant man after being legally recognized as a man in 2002. As a married transgender man, he then gave birth to his three children from 2008 to 2010 and now resides in Arizona. The Arizona court’s recognition of Mr. Beatie’s marriage is believed to be the first of its kind in Arizona.
“I am very pleased that the courts see that the best interest and welfare of the children is with me.” states Thomas, “I hope that Nancy continues to seek treatment and that, in time, she will be able to effectively parent.”
“Mr. Beatie is thrilled that this Court has recognized that a transgender marriage is a valid marriage under Arizona law.” continues Mr. Cantor, “Hopefully, this case will help pave the way for other State’s valid marriages to be recognized in the divorce courts of Arizona.”
from Press Release
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Related Post:

Pregnant Man Separates From His Wife

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Gay students at America’s military service academies are wrapping up the first year when they no longer had to hide their sexual orientation, benefiting from the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that used to bar them from seemingly ordinary activities like taking their partners openly to graduation events.
For the first time, gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were able to take a same-sex date to the academy’s Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen. The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., officially recognized a club for gay students this month. And gay cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., are relieved they no longer have to worry about revealing their sexuality.
Several gay students from the nation’s major military academies said the September repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” an 18-year-old legal provision under which gays could serve as long as they didn’t openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, meant significant change.
“For the most part, it allows us to be a complete person, as opposed to compartmentalizing our lives into different types of boxes,” said newly commissioned Air Force 2nd Lt. Dan Dwyer, who graduated from the Air Force Academy on Wednesday. West Point held its graduation Saturday, and the Naval Academy’s was set for Tuesday.
Official recognition by the Air Force school in May of the social club Spectrum means gay students there won’t have to meet underground anymore.
Students and gay alumni also say the repeal is creating professional benefits by opening doors to mentorship possibilities. Being open about their orientation gives students and experienced military personal one more common experience that can foster a mentoring relationship, they said.
“That’s what makes this type of networking a little bit more meaningful in our lives, because they’ve gone through the same thing and, yeah, it’s great to have that family. It’s great to have that support,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer did not know that a gay alumni group of academy graduates even existed before repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” On Thursday, Trish Heller, executive director of the academy’s gay alumni group called The Blue Alliance, swore him in as an Air Force officer.
“That was all based on the networking and mentorship relationship from Blue Alliance and Spectrum that would not have happened before, because we just didn’t have that much of a presence and that much of a connection with the cadets,” Heller said.
At West Point, the alumni gay advocacy group Knights Out was able to hold the first installment in March of what is intended to be an annual dinner in recognition of gay and lesbian graduates and cadets. Cadet Kaitlyn Kelly was among the dozens of cadets who attended the privately sponsored dinner. The 22-year-old Chicago resident was finally able to openly introduce her civilian girlfriend at an event marking 100 days before graduation.
“It was a remarkable thing for me, because I had taken her to previous things … but I had to do the ambiguous, `Oh, she’s my best friend,’”
Kelly emphasizes that she had always been respected by her fellow cadets and officers at West Point and that changes in her day-to-day life have not been dramatic. But both she and fellow graduating cadet Idi Mallari said the repeal lessened their stress.
“My friends and I, we were so relieved that we didn’t have to worry about that. Where we might not have necessarily worried about it 100 percent, it was still something in the back of your mind that you kind of always have to watch your step,” Kelly said.
Mallari, who was awarded a Purple Heart during his prior service in Iraq as a combat medic, said everyone at the academy has been accepting, with just a couple of exceptions.
“I think it has to do with the fact that we’re here at West Point and everybody here is just a little more educated,” said Mallari, a 26-year-old Chicago resident.
In Annapolis, a gay couple attending the U.S. Naval Academy and their classmates posed for a photo in front of the academy’s Bancroft Hall with a dozen heterosexual couples for the Ring Dance, when students in their third year receive their class rings.
Midshipmen Andrew Atwill, of Fulton, Ky., and Nick Bonsall, of Middletown, Del., said they received many compliments for bravely standing out in a way students had not before, and they did not receive any negative feedback from attending together.
“Because they made us feel so comfortable for going to the dance with each other, we didn’t have to worry about any negative consequences,” Atwill said.
from The Associated Press

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