The poll released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in partnership with Greenberg Quinlan Research found that 77 percent of voters support protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in employment.
“Indeed, support for anti-discrimination laws and policies are so non-controversial that overwhelming majorities of Republicans, conservatives and observant Christians support them as well,” the report’s authors wrote.
Seventy percent of Republicans and sixty-seven percent of conservatives support such protections.
Sometimes, I have to step back and realize that I’m just a guy fighting for his job. Whereas in other parts of the world (Jamaica is notorious as well), people are fighting for their lives:
I’ll still fight, but there are others doing much more important work than myself.
I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there.
And rightfully so, the town, city council and the rest of the country called her out on it. It’s certainly okay to make those kind of remarks, you’re entitled to your opinion, much like how I am disinclined to ever go to Troy. However (and I haven’t seen clarification if this was on her personal page, and if it was, she needs better privacy settings, or on some sort of official ‘Mayor’ page, which in that case, makes it public, and worth the shaming), if your’re going to utilize your free speech, be prepared for everyone else to use the same right.
While discussing plans for a forum on bullying and suicide, Daniels told students she wanted to invite “a panel of psychologists who would testify that homosexuality is a mental disease,”
It’s nice to see people being called out on their bigotry, makes me smile a little bit.
I’ve seen this before, but never with this much of a demo. We knew it was only a matter of time:
This is an NYT article about a cool service connecting kids to useful accurate sex ed (text messaging, of course). However, here’s the really scary sentence:
Sex education is a thorny subject for most school systems; only 13 states specify that the medical components of the programs must be accurate.
I don’t ever know how to react to that. Rage? Disbelief? Do I cry or laugh, I just freaking don’t know.
And speaking of craziness and sex, did you know that Louie Vuitton (I remember in my advertising class, being one of two guys, and we both had to ask who that was), makes condoms. And they cost $68 each.
Banksy has done a sculpture, this time, to remember the victims of the abuse of the Catholic church. It’s an awesome piece, entitled Cardinal Sin.
Also across the pond, the Louvre is going to be offering a program where people can use their 3DS’s to take tours. Pretty awesome!
Graph time:
And just for fun, forgot to add this graphic:
Remember, voting is every American’s right. There shouldn’t be roadblocks to it (take for instance, the Iowa Republican caucuses, which have no ID requirements like those proposed around the country, although apparently in Virginia, you have to sign an oath saying you’ll vote Republican in the general election).
That’s it for this update, but I’ll be back with more soon!
Google has their annual recap of the year. Not going to lie, tears rolling down my cheeks by the end (for all kinds of reasons, although some aren’t shown in the video, but more on that tomorrow):
Copyranter mentions how hard it is to do a good rape ad, and he’s right. It’s a very, very tough line to walk.
Slog points out that alcohol and drinking do not magically make rapists exist. It’s a valid point, and it makes me think that this works better as an alcohol awareness ad.
In that sense (with some changes to the the copy), I think that it is a great ad, and I would hope it would remind, not just women, that when impaired, people are prone to do things they wouldn’t otherwise, or were even coerced into. It could be quite an awesome campaign, focused around the “couldn’t say no” theme.
Emphasis on “couldn’t.”
Contrary to the views in the links above, I don’t see this as victim-blaming. I can see how it could be perceived as that, but I guess I’m more looking at the ad as a piece about self-control.
Even though this ad was quickly pulled, it got a lot of coverage online, so at least we can hope that brings attention to the cause.
It is a weird place in which proximity is determined by interest, rather than a space in which interests are kept apart by distances. It is a place in which nearness defeats distance. It is a place, not just a space, because spaces are empty but places are saturated with meaning: Place is space that has been made to matter to us. The Internet is a place.
More things for you (and then probably just one or two more big posts like this this weekend):
Cool Russian PSA for reading:
I thought I posted about this before, but maybe I didn’t, how awesome are these pools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7mXLqIJXHs
Now you can use a typewriter to make a painting. Pretty awesome, but I think it would take too long and turn out being a bit pixelated (although it would be a cool style)
From Copyranter, we’ve finally found Snooki’s doppleganger:
eBooks are becoming more expensive, which, I hope will reverse itself soon. I think it may take some time, as the author suggests, but I think it will become more of a gap between prices for e-versions and printed version of the same book.
The second point, is about reading more on a tablet. On my hacked tablet (Nook Color running Cyanogen Mod 7), I love reading larger pieces, especially Slate and articles from the Post Gazette. I’m hoping the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich will allow me to install a couple other sources as well.
Legalising same-sex marriage may create a healthier environment for gay men, say US researchers. The number of visits by gay men to health clinics dropped significantly after same-sex unions were allowed in the state Massachusetts. This was regardless of whether the men were in a stable relationship, reported the American Journal of Public Health…. Research has already suggested that gay men are more likely to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts than heterosexual men, and that social exclusion may be partly responsible…. Dr Mark Hatzenbuehler, who led the study, said: “Our results suggest that removing these barriers improves the health of gay and bisexual men “Marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions.”
If the government really wants to make things better for society, we need marriage equality.
Or if we just want an economic boost, like Iowa has seen:
since Iowa extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in 2009, the resulting spending on wedding arrangements and tourism provided an additional $12 to $13 million to the state and local economy.
But it gets more interesting when we piece together other data about our nation’s gayest cities. District of Columbia, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Denver rank in the top 25 for the most educated cities in the country, and District of Columbia, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Minneapolis all landed on the highest earners list as well.
And is it surprising that out of the gayest cities, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis and Denver were voted in the top 20 for most fun in the country? I think not. On the downside, Atlanta and Minneapolis earned spots on the most dangerous cities list for their high crime rates.
