Quote Of The Day - Henry Rollins

"I am hoping that, in time, Obergefell v. Hodges will be seen in the same way as Loving v. Virginia - inevitable and a sign of social evolution in America. I bet two people of the same sex who want to get married don’t think they are going to have a 'gay wedding.' By wanting to get married in the first place, they show their dedication both to each other and to tradition. Wanting to get married is a freakin’ billboard for normality and inclusion. I wish the 'You lost! Deal with it!' talk would stop. I can understand where it comes from but it doesn’t make anything better. There were no losers, in my opinion. To those who disagree with same-sex marriage because it offends their faith, I would say your beliefs are still yours to have. The wisdom, peace and clarity that faith has allowed you to have are still intact. No word of any religious text has been changed or its power reduced. There is a lot of room in America; it allows all to move freely. All the wedding photographs popping up on the Internet should be enough to convince anyone that this was a great decision. Take Jack Evans and George Harris, for example — together for 54 years, in Texas of all places, finally able to get hitched. I am looking at them now. The skies have not darkened with locusts and tomorrow there will be traffic. I do believe we will be OK." - Henry Rollins, writing for LA Weekly.

A Kind Offer

RELATED: From earlier today.

AUSTRALIA: Straight Allies Cover Their Ears During State-Mandated Anti-Gay Section Of Marriage Ceremony

In a gorgeous show of solidarity, some straight allies in Australia have taken to covering their ears during the state-mandated portion of wedding vows that explicitly note that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Celebrants must tell the gathering: "Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life" - or words to that effect. Increasingly, couples and officiators are joining forces to register their displeasure at the law and its requirements. At Abbey and Mitchell Johnston's wedding in February, guests were asked to cover their ears when celebrant Alison Bartlett read out the offending passage. Mrs Johnston came up with the idea after being informed over Skype that Ms Bartlett would be legally required to make the pronouncement. "That just did not sit easy with me," she told Fairfax Media. "It's a matter of equality. I just can't believe we live in a country where it's OK not to have equal rights for everyone." All attendees at the intimate ceremony enthusiastically blocked their ears, Mrs Johnston said, although they were technically still able to hear the all-important dictum. And Ms Bartlett fulfilled all her statutory duties as a celebrant.

The anti-gay portion was added to the ceremony in 2004. According to the above-linked report, other demonstrations of support have included turning off microphones during that portion of the ceremony or coughing loudly to drown out the line. Some couples have opted to add a statement of support after the required portion has been recited. (Tipped by JMG reader Brenton)

Colin Farrell Celebrates Ireland Marriage

Colin Farrell appeared on the Tonight Show on Thursday where he celebrated Ireland's marriage referendum and mocked the response of the Catholic Church. At the end of the clip below, he mentions the photo of Gerry Adams and Panti Bliss that was brought up in the JMG interview published today.

Smell Like Ben Cohen

The Herald & Post reports:

Ben Cohen was greeted by excited fans at his fragrance signing event at Northampton's Grosvenor Shopping Centre today. On one of the hottest days of the year, Cohen took to the Superdrug store to celebrate the launch of his first fragrance, Ben Cohen for Men. The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant met dozens of fans, posed for pictures with them and signed bottles of his fresh scented eau de toilette. Speaking to the Northants Herald and Post before the event, which took place from 4pm - 5pm, Cohen said: "I never thought I'd be one day launching a fragrance, but here I am! And I'm glad I am. "It has been a great journey doing this - from being approached by a company to launch my own fragrance, through to choosing a scent and then seeing the finished product. "I really like the fragrance because the company that created it have delivered what I want - which is a fresh, woody and citrusy smell. "In fact, I am using it all the time now - like water! Well, maybe not like water, but I do use it a lot."

Get it here.

Two Minutes From A Straight Irish Ally

You'll really like this.

IRELAND: Straight Family Canvasses Door To Door For Yes Equality Campaign

"There's a whole world out there who aren't tuned into social media. They're the people we need to reach."

VIDEO: At The Gay/Str8 Prom Date

Those gay/straight high school boys had their prom this weekend and Teen Vogue went along to document the evening.

(Tipped by JMG reader Mike)

Ellen Meets Gay/Straight Prom Couple

Buzzfeed Profiles Lawyer To Argue Before SCOTUS On Marriage Recognition Issue

Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner has profiled Doug Hallward-Driemeier, who will argue the issue of marriage recognition before the Supreme Court. An excerpt:

As to his plan for April 28, he said he hopes to “be able to go to where the justices’ concerns or questions or comments suggest” — a chance he will have since he will take to the podium 90 minutes into the two-and-a-half hours of arguments. While he said that the recognition question presents “a distinctive harm” to his clients because it amounts to Tennessee “destroy[ing], as a legal matter, families and marriages that have already been created,” he also said he does not expect the court to reach different answers on the two issues because “the arguments that the states have made are the same on both” questions. “One of the things that I hope the justices appreciate is that this is not an issue that only affects — we are very clear in our brief that this is not about ‘gay marriage’ … it’s not a different kind of marriage, it’s about marriage and about allowing people who love each other to join in that institution,” he said. “It’s about my family members, my friends, my children. It affects me as it affects others.”

Hit the link for much more.

On Chick-Fil-A & Straight Allies

From Steven Petrow's advice column Civilities in the Washington Post:

Dear Civilities: I was wondering whether you could help my husband and me resolve a marital dispute. We are a liberal Virginia couple in our 30s with a wonderful circle of friends, both gay and straight. The issue is that my husband loves a certain purveyor of chicken sandwiches and waffle fries that has an anti-gay stance. Watching my gay friends have to travel to different states to be legally married, struggle through finding “friendly” judges to approve their adoptions, and generally not have the same marital rights as I have for the past 15 years is enough to make me never step foot into one of the franchises again. My husband, however, loves this place — not for its values, but for the food. Is there any way he can enjoy this particular establishment without feeling guilty? For example, what if he donated an amount equal to what he spends there to a gay rights organization such as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) every time he patronized this place? Would that be an appropriate offset? — Anonymous

Give us your answer and hit the link to see how Petrow responded.

CALIFORNIA: AG Kamala Harris To Make 2016 Bid For Barbara Boxer's Senate Seat

Via USA Today:

California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate and immediately pushed the nascent 2016 race to a new level. "I want to be a voice for Californians," Harris said in an message to supporters posted on her website. "I will be a fighter for the next generation on the critical issues facing our country." Harris is the first major candidate to officially declare she wants to succeed Sen. Barbara Boxer, a liberal who is retiring after four terms. The California attorney general is a charismatic Democratic who also happens to be multi-ethnic — her father is from Jamaica and her mother is of South Asian descent — and who has already won two statewide races.

Harris is an ardent LGBT ally and personally officiated for two of the Prop 8 plaintiffs immediately after the 2013 Supreme Court ruling.

Cyndi Lauper Advocates For Homeless LGBT Youth At National Press Club Event

From an unusually even-handed report by the Christian site CNS News:

Pop singer and LGBT activist Cyndi Lauper said on Wednesday that homosexual children are “being thrown away because of who they are.” Lauper was speaking at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to mark the 40th anniversary of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and to advocate for a new authorization of the bill introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to include language for LGBT youth “protections.” Lauper said that LGBT youth make up to as much as 40 percent of homeless youth in the United States while only seven percent of youth “identify as gay or transgender.” “That, to me is alarming, because that means to me that kids are being thrown away because of who they are,” she said. “I think we need these kids.

Commenters at the above-linked site are, of course, viciously attacking Lauper and LGBT kids. They use Disqus, so feel free to show your support.

RELATED: Tickets went on sale today for Lauper's star-studded benefit concert at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre.

Betty Salwak Memorial Fund Launches

After a whirlwind week of joy for our movement, on Friday night I closed that day's postings with the heartbreaking news of the passing of devoted LGBT ally and JMG community member Betty "Birdie" Salwak.  A memorial fund to further Birdie's work on your behalf has been established.

Betty’s life was cut short by cancer. When she got the diagnosis of cancer, her first reaction was dismay over the amount of work she had yet to do on behalf of the LGBT community. To honor Betty Salwak and to continue her work as she would have wanted, the “Betty Fund” is established to support initiatives that encourage welcoming, affirming and open churches, that support programs for straight allies who want to fight for LGBT equality, and to support, in memory of her brother, David, programs for those living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to being a wonderful and loving woman, Betty was also an excellent grammarian and editor who freely offered her services to LGBT writers. She would have found some serious errors in this text! Sorry, Betty! We miss you terrifically.

Sad News: Beloved JMG Community Member Betty "Birdie" Salwak Has Died

It's my heartbroken duty to let you know that beloved JMG community member Betty Salwak, known to many of you here as Birdie, passed away today of the breast cancer she battled for the last several years. As some of you know, Betty served as JMG's volunteer behind-the-scenes copy editor, cheerfully correcting my typos, misspellings, and inelegant syntax, for which I thanked her profusely in my New Year's posts every year.

Betty fought her illness with extraordinary candor, optimism, and humor - even in the face of the recent unanticipated setback that surprised everyone. Evidence of that can be found on her Facebook page, where her profile photo today is a bald Mona Lisa. When it became apparent that further hospital treatment would be useless, early this week Betty decided on in-home hospice care after being told she would have 30-60 relatively pain-free days until the end. That end, tragically, came after only two days.

As you can see by the photo above, Betty was a straight Christian, but as rare as our allies in that world seem to be sometimes, Betty was no mere keyboard warrior. She served as the secretary for the Indianapolis PFLAG chapter and as the coordinator of children's ministries at her local LGBT-welcoming Presbyterian Church. In addition, she was an ardent supporter of the Indiana LGBT Youth Group, for whom she battled as anti-gay factions fought to prevent them from issuing a fundraising Indiana state license plate. When that fight was finally won, Betty was ecstatic. And I'm told that she was thrilled on Monday when marriage equality came at last to her home state.

Betty was first directed to JMG about eight years ago while searching for stories about the early years of the plague, as it had taken her own brother many years ago. It was her brother's treatment by some members of her family that initially fueled Betty's activism and she and I shared many stories about those dark, dark years. Five years ago Betty became an occasional writer for the Bilerico Project. Her first post there revealed her passion. An excerpt:

I came to realize that it was time for me to step up and stand against what I knew was a gross injustice. I was seeing people who claimed to be Christians spewing hateful invective in the name of God against people who were gay. Those malevolent tirades are far and away the loudest shouts being heard by the LGBT community. The only other voice nearly as loud says there is no God.

Those people have nothing to do with the loving God I know, the One whose grace and unconditional love is for all people, just as they are, just as he made them to be. Unfortunately, the voices with that message have been a mere whisper in the wind. It was time to stand and be heard. But how could I get anyone to heed me? I had a lot to learn. I needed to know more about the gay community.

About three years ago a gay friend linked me to my first blog; it was by some guy who called himself "Joe.My.God." Well. Joe's blog was (and is) intelligent, moving, funny, informative, and very very angry at Christians. Links from his blog led me to more, and over the past three years I have developed some genuine and important friendships with gay, lesbian, and even a few straight bloggers. Those Internet friends have been wonderful in sharing their wisdom, insights and feelings. I feel privileged to know them and have been lucky enough to meet a few.

I have learned of the anguish of rejection and the stinging betrayal experienced by those raised in churches which call them "objectively disordered," sinners, even abominations. I've read far too many times of self-destructiveness and even suicides by young people who could not reconcile their faith with the person God made them to be. This has to stop.

I am convinced that the vast majority of straight Christians are ignorant of the terrible impact of their silence, that they would speak up about their support if they knew it would literally save lives. I am doing everything in my power to tell them that this is the time. It is my fervent hope that the civil victory that is imminent will eventually be shared by most churches during my lifetime.

Betty leaves a husband, two adult children, and hundreds of friends in our community, both in real life and online. Many here on JMG became her Facebook friends, proof of which was clear tonight as so many of you wrote to share your grief at Betty's passing. Please consider dropping by her Facebook page. I will let you know if the Salwak family is directing donations to any of Betty's favorite causes.

Our own Father Tony was particularly close with Betty and I'll close this sad, sad post with the portrait he made during her Fort Lauderdale visit with him in March while enjoying a period of remission. Thank you, Birdie. This world could use a few million more of you.

POLAND: Pro Boxer Backs LGBT Rights

Poland's struggling LGBT rights movement got a boost this week when a "wildly popular" boxer publicly expressed his support. Via New York Times:

Dariusz Michalczewski, a world-famous pugilist who goes by the nickname Tiger, recently made headlines by announcing his support for one of the country’s most prominent gay rights groups, Shoulder to Shoulder on Equality — L.G.B.T. and Friends, by appearing in a photograph with a sign reading, “I am an ally of L.G.B.T. people, because I want to live in a country where my gay friends are not discriminated against.” Tiger, 46, is a former light heavyweight world champion who defended his title for almost 10 years. For a decade he dominated the prestigious World Boxing Organization, whose current champions include Vitali V. Klitschko and Manny Pacquiao. Now the boxer has decided to compete in the super heavyweight division — that is, the fight for minority rights in Poland. Mr. Michalczewski is both a surprising advocate for gay rights and the perfect choice for the role: He is white, heterosexual, Catholic, rich, professionally successful and widely popular, and thus more likely to persuade conservatives than a liberal intellectual or politician.

RELATED: Interestingly, homosexuality was never criminalized in Poland and its legality was codified in law way back in 1932. Gays are allowed to serve openly in the military, gay men are allowed to donate blood, and in 2003 LGBT Poles were protected from employment discrimination. However same-sex marriage is banned in the national constitution and anti-gay sentiment remains widespread. Last year former president (and Nobel Prize winner) Lech Walesa declared that gay members of the parliament should be forced to sit behind a wall.

Kluwe Settles With Minnesota Vikings

We've reached a settlement with the Vikings. Terms I can disclose as follows.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

1. They will donate a substantial amount to five charities, several MN local, over the next five years.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

2. They are implementing enhanced training within the entire organization, and are committed to a zero tolerance policy on homophobia.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

3. The Vikings will be working to create a symposium to bring together sports and LBGTQ leaders in order to address this issue in sports.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

I believe the Vikings are committed to being leaders on the subject of homophobia in sports, and will work to make significant change.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

Also, I get exactly ZERO dollars from this settlement, so if you sent me a nasty message over the past months, go mainline bleach.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) August 19, 2014

Straight UFC Fighter Drops Trou At Weigh-In To Reveal.... Support For Gays

(See more gifs at Towleroad)

Tallahassee's Mayor For Marriage Equality

Maya Angelou Dies At Age 86

Legendary poet, author, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou has died in her North Carolina home at the age of 86.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines confirmed Angelou was found by her caretaker on Wednesday morning. Angelou had been reportedly battling health problems. She recently canceled a scheduled appearance of a special event to be held in her honor. Angelou was set to be honored with the “Beacon of Life Award” at the 2014 MLB Beacon Award Luncheon on May 30 in Houston. Angelou is famous for saying, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

In 1993 Angelou read her now famous poem On The Pulse Of Morning at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. I was overcome with goosebumps when the poem name-checked gay people at such a prestigious event. Pulse remains one of the very few poems I can (mostly) recite from memory.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.
So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African, the Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.


RELATED: Angelou's reading of Pulse was dramatically sampled in Ispirazione's 1996 dance hit Psalm.