Tony Perkins Vs Penn State

Responding to complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Penn State has reportedly removed Gideon bibles from its campus lodging. Tony Perkins is ever so pissed. Via press release:

In a wild misrepresentation of the Old Testament, FFRF claims the Bible calls for "killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, 'stubborn sons,' and women who are not virgins on their wedding nights." According to the Foundation's bullies (none of whom bothered with the actual context of the Scripture they're distorting), the Bible is "inappropriate" and "obnoxious" reading material that shouldn't be available in "state-run lodges." Penn State eagerly complied, snatching the books from rooms and relegating them to the library -- without taking the time to actually look up the law on the subject.

As Alliance Defending Freedom has said countless times, "Federal cases have consistently affirmed private citizens' rights to share religious literature at public schools." But instead of relying on the Constitution or the courts to inform its decisions, Penn State is placing its trust in an anti-Christian, agenda-driven arm of the political Left. "The decision to remove Bibles from individual guest rooms was made following questions from the Freedom From Religion Foundation," the Director of Strategic Communications explained. "It raised our awareness, and we took the opportunity to review our hotel practices. We wish to be respectful of all religions, and also of those who have differing beliefs, yet we still want to make the publication available to those who desire to read it while staying with us."

According to Perkins, Penn State has an obligation to offer bibles to the tax-paying public, who are "forking over $282 million a year" to the school.

College Football Star Comes Out, May Become First Openly Gay NFL Player

University of Missouri football star Michael Sam came out today. As an NFL draft prospect, Sam may become the first openly gay active player in the pro football.

Coaches at the University of Missouri divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise. One by one, players were asked to talk about themselves — where they grew up, why they chose Missouri and what others might not know about them. As Michael Sam, a defensive lineman, began to speak, he balled up a piece of paper in his hands. “I’m gay,” he said. With that, Mr. Sam set himself on a path to become the first publicly gay player in the National Football League. “I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Mr. Sam said Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he spoke publicly about his sexual orientation.

Sam has been forecast to be drafted in the early rounds and says he came out now because he knew rumors were circulating. Some of his teammates knew he had been dating a member of the Missouri swim team.

I want to thank everybody for their support and encouragement,especially @espn, @nytimes and @nfl. I am proud to tell my story to the world!
— Michael Sam (@MikeSamFootball) February 10, 2014

UPDATE: Outsports has a behind-the-scenes look at Sam's coming out.

UPDATE II: More of the back story.

Sam was a defensive end for Mizzou Tigers of the University of Missouri. He graduated in December and is currently a highly-touted prospect in the National Football League (NFL) draft. He becomes the first publicly gay athlete in any of the Big 4 sports drafts. In interviews with The New York Times and ESPN tonight, the football player stated: "I am an openly, proud gay man." In December 2013, The Associated Press named him the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year. He was also selected as one of ten unanimous first-team all-Americans. He led the SEC in both sacks and tackles-for-loss and resides in the top 10 nationally in Division I in those categories.

He is originally from Hitchcock, Texas. Sports journalist Cyd Zeigler stated to GLAAD: "Every NFL draft expert has Sam being selected in the first to fifth round of this year's NFL draft." Before his announcement, Michael Sam's publicist Howard Bragman introduced to him to athletes including openly gay former NFL players Dave Kopay and Wade Davis Jr., openly gay NBA player Jason Collins, openly gay former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean, as well as outspoken straight allies and former NFL players Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe. This is the fifth professional athlete that Bragman has taken out of the closet, along with more than a dozen celebrities.

UPDATE III: Athlete Ally reacts via press release.

“Michael has shown great courage in taking this step and not only do we support him, we are incredibly grateful. His decision to welcome us all into his world as he embarks upon a professional NFL career is an honorable one. This moment will resonate in a unique and important way for countless people, particularly LGBT youth,” said Super Bowl champion and human rights activist Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is a member of the Athlete Ally Board of Directors. Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally said: “With Michael Sam’s brave step, he emboldens LGBT athletes and straight allies everywhere. We are in the midst of incredible transformation in American professional sports. In a very short period of time, athletics has gone from being known as ‘the last closet in America’ to being in a position to lead on this issue. This is the power of sports.”

UPDATE IV: The NFL has issued a statement: "We admire Michael Sam’s honesty and courage. Michael is a football player. Any player with ability and determination can succeed in the NFL. We look forward to welcoming and supporting Michael Sam in 2014."

First College Football Player Comes Out

Williamette kicker Conner Mertens has become the first active college football play to come out publicly, telling  his coach: "I'm bisexual. I like dudes. I have a boyfriend. And next week, I'm going to tell the world." Via Outsports:

Mertens didn't easily arrive at his decision to come out to his coach or team, let alone publicly. No college football player in the United States at any level has ever come out publicly while still playing. Some have come out to their team, many have come out to friends, but none have said publicly that they are LGBT. Mertens doesn't want any other youth in his hometown to ever feel the way he did, so he took matters into his own hands. Last night he tweeted a lengthy letter to his hometown in hopes of changing hearts and minds and giving local LGBT youth someone they can point to with pride: "You are not alone. You do not need to come out but you do need to know that you do not have to go at this by yourself. The aloneness you're feeling is temporary and it will get better. This place is changing...changing for the better. I made the decision that if I could prevent one person from feeling that self-hatred, loneliness, desperation and a thousand other emotions that I felt, I would. I will be damned if I let anyone tell you that you are wrong or weird or not normal. Love yourself and allow others to love you. Be who you are and know you're not alone."

Hit the link for the full story and to read Mertens' letter. The story has already been picked up by Buzzfeed, ESPN and Yahoo Sports. 

RELATED: Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims came out to his college football team in 2000 while he was their captain.

College For The Deaf Suspends Diversity Head For Signing Anti-Gay Petition

Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner reports that Washington DC's Gallaudet University, which serves deaf and hard of hearing students, has suspended its diversity officer for signing the petition to repeal same-sex marriage in Maryland.

Gallaudet University President T. Alan Hurwitz suspended the school's chief diversity officer Wednesday after he was made aware that the diversity office, Dr. Angela McCaskill, had signed the marriage referendum petition in Maryland. In a statement to staff and students of the D.C. university for the deaf and hard of hearing that was sent about noon today, Hurwitz said: "I want to inform the community that I have placed Dr. Angela McCaskill on paid administrative leave effective immediately. It recently came to my attention that Dr. McCaskill has participated in a legislative initiative that some feel is inappropriate for an individual serving as Chief Diversity Officer; however, other individuals feel differently."

The story apparently broke on the blog Planet DeafQueer, who reported:

A Gallaudet faculty member, who at this time wishes to remain anonymous, noticed Dr. McCaskill’s name, address and signature on the anti-gay marriage petition and inquired about it. When confronted by the faculty member, Dr. McCaskill confirmed that she had in fact signed the petition and explained that she had done so while at church, after her preacher had preached against gay marriage. As she was leaving, her husband pointed to the petition and she signed it without giving it further thought.

Planet DeafQueer says that McKaskill is expected to deliver an apology. You can also expect the howls of "homofascism" to erupt across the anti-gay wingnut-o-sphere.

Gay Denial Of The Day

"Mr. Broughton denies each and every allegation whatsoever that has been inferred that he may have been a gay man. He is a straight man. And he thinks the idea and concept of butt chugging is repulsive." - So says the lawyer for a University of Tennessee frat boy who was rushed unconscious to the hospital with a .40 blood alcohol level allegedly after having taken wine up the butt at a Pi Kappa Alpha party.  Gawker has the video of the press conference and observes: "All the while, the rest of the fraternity stands there in the back, very stoic, as if they were at a funeral or something. How they managed not to laugh at every mention of butt chugging is beyond me."  The lawyer says he's going to sue the media outlets that said his client had been butt chugging.  The fraternity has been suspended.

Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm

Party mode at 3:00.

Born That Way

Allegedly from a college survey form. Some of the comments on Reddit are quite amusing. "I've been Chinese all my life, Mom! You can't change who I am!"

Cain: No Federal Money For College

"I do not believe that it is the responsibility of the federal government to help fund a college education because herein, our resources are limited and I believe that the best solution is the one closest to the problem. The people within the state, the people within the communities, ultimately, I believe, are the ones who have that responsibility. If you want an education, a college education in America, I believe that people can get it if they are determined to get it." - Herman Cain.

I wonder how the folks at Dead Jerry Falwell's Liberty University feel about that.

MICHIGAN: Assistant Attorney General Harasses Gay College Student

This is just too bizarre.

Most Gay-Friendly Colleges

An outfit called Campus Pride has issued their annual Campus Climate Index rating over 200 colleges for their friendliness to LGBT students. This year 19 schools received full five-star ratings. Note that only the schools that voluntarily returned their surveys were rated.

In development since 2001, the Index has become a staple in student and faculty research, campus organizing efforts and benchmarking for LGBT student safety and inclusion on campus. Each summer, university officials are encouraged to fill out new questionnaires and update their Index profiles. This year, the Campus Climate Index is proud to announce five-star rankings for 19 colleges and universities – the most ever achieving the Index’s highest ranking since the its inception in 2007-08. The 19 five-star-ranked campuses include: Carleton College; Humboldt State University; Ithaca College; Oberlin College; Oregon State University; Princeton University; San Diego State University; Syracuse University; The Ohio State University; The Pennsylvania State University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Riverside; University of Maine, Farmington; University of Oregon; University of Pennsylvania; University of Southern California; University of Vermont; and Washington University in St. Louis.

Hit the above link to search for your own school's rating.

50 Most Stressful Colleges

The Daily Beast has ranked the 50 most stressful colleges using a weighted system examining tuition costs, campus crimes, acceptance rates and other factors. Stanford tops the list.

1. Stanford
2. Columbia
3. MIT
4. University of Pennsylvania
5. Harvard
6. Princeton
7. Vanderbilt
8. Carnegie Mellon
9. California Institute of Technology
10. Northwestern

Hit the link for the rest of the list, which includes much of the University of California system and bottoms out with the University of Florida at #50. The University of Central Florida, my massive alma mater, didn't make the list. UCF has the third-highest enrollment in the country, but has the rep of being relatively laid back.

Stanford Football Coach Caught On Camera Calling Referee A "Faggot"

Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh was caught on network television calling a referee a "fucking asshole faggot" during a game against Notre Dame on Saturday. The referee was on the field and may not have heard the epithet.

One Take

Several of you have written to point us to this amazing lip-sync video made by students at L'Université du Québec à Montréal. It's all done in just one take and according to the YouTube notes, the entire production took just over two hours.

But Still Better Than Poetry

For my pal Allen, who graduates tomorrow.

Study: Gay College Students Do Better

According to a new study, gay male college students are better motivated, get better grades, and are more likely to seek out a mentor to aide in their education.

"The thing that really comes out (in the data) is that gay men see academic work as more important than heterosexual men," said study author Christopher Carpenter, an assistant professor of economics and public policy at the University of California, Irvine. "They were 1.41 times more likely to say their academic work was important. "That could explain the GPA effect," he added. "It's plausible that if gay men perceive their academic work as more important, then they're trying harder." Gay men also spend 40 to 50 percent more time doing volunteer work or participating in student organizations, according to Carpenter's findings. "It's possible that these organizations they belong to could include fraternities," he said. "But I doubt that, because gay men were less likely to say participating in parties was important to them." Another possible factor in their success rate: Gay male students were about 13 percent more likely than straight male students to report they had a faculty member or administrator they could talk to about a problem.

The report states that lesbians do about the same as their straight counterparts, but that bisexual women study much less and get lower grades. Must be all that play they get from both sides.

Α Δ Φ vs. Westboro Baptist Church

Wait until the music starts.

(Via - The Chaser Blog)

Name Clash For Gay Student Groups At San Diego Community Colleges

This should provoke some interesting discussion. In San Diego, gay student associations at two community colleges are clashing with administrators over the acronym for their name: FAGS.

Members of gay and lesbian clubs at two San Diego community colleges say campus administrators have violated their free speech rights by repeatedly blocking attempts to advertise their shared acronym: FAGS. Frye stands by the use of the acronym for the club, whose full name is The Fellowship of Associated Gay Students & Straight Allies.

“We wanted something with a little pop to it, and we wanted to neutralize an epithet like a lot of groups have done with the word 'queer,' ” Frye said. The conflict has forced the schools to weigh students' free speech rights against the rights of offended employees and other students.

Richard Dittbenner, spokesman for the San Diego Community College District, which oversees both schools, said the acronym generated complaints from some staff members and students at City College.

FAGS vice president Brande Faris: “I thought it was a fabulous name. I think anything that challenges people's paradigm and gets them to think outside the box, and at the same time reclaims what has been used as a hate word, is a positive thing.”

Last year's posters included the proclamation: "The FAGS Are Back."

Opinions?

Fake Wedding Announcement = $1.5M

Two New York men have filed a $1.5M defamation lawsuit against American University after their alumni paper published a fake wedding announcement stating that the two "life partners" had married in Boston. American Magazine published the announcement apparently without fact-checking with the two men, who are not gay. The announcement also noted that one of the men was a founder of the non-existent Gay Rights Brigade. Saying they are not anti-gay and that their lawsuit "has nothing to do with homophobia", the men are nevertheless claiming they have been harmed by the "gross negligence" of the publication.

It will be interesting to see how this suit fares.

Truthiness

Union Square, outside NYU dorms, Tuesday, 11:30PM

Girl 1 (on cell): Fuck you. Go fuck yourself. You ain't got no dick anyway.

She hangs up....

Girl 2: Dude, I thought you said he has a nice cock?

Girl 1: Shut up!
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