A Chinese banned gay ad posted on social media

The CEO of Dangdang, a Chinese e-commerce company, has posted a banned gay advert on social media that has since gone viral. The poster was for the 'Dare to Do, Dare to Be' campaign, which celebrates the company's fifteenth anniversary.

The poster shows two men walking hand in hand above the words: ‘I fear prejudice but I dare to love. The poster did not pass censors but Li Guoqing uploaded the advert to his Weibo account, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Anyway, Dangdang is the first mainland company to support LGBTI people in China and the first firm to openly say LGBTI people should be treated fairly.

 

Same love everywhere

Amnesty International calls EU to Prevent and Prosecute Hate Crime in Europe

Amnesty International is calling on the European Commission to propose new standards to combat discriminatory violence on all grounds, including sexual orientation and gender identity, and on member states to support such an initiative.

Nicolas Beger, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said: “The daily and ongoing violence experienced by LGBTI people in Europe is a serious and heinous form of discrimination”.

He continued: “However, there is a severe lack of adequate standards to tackle homophobic and transphobic violence both at EU and national levels. There is an urgent need for concrete EU action to duly protect the victims and prosecute the perpetrators accordingly”.

 

Mr Beger added: “The EU must step up and strengthen its standards on hate crime. This is key to ensuring that any discriminatory motive is duly taken into account across the whole of the EU”.

No steps back!

Stop hate crime

Fantasy Fest in Key West

Fantasy Fest started in 1979 by a small group of Florida Key West locals.

The party was created to bring visitors to the island in what was a typically quiet, but beautiful season. It worked. Fantasy Fest has grown every year since its inception and is now the wildest extravaganza around.

Fun-loving revelers from around the globe leave their children and inhibitions behind as they descend upon Key West each year in October for 10 days filled with costuming, parades, libations, and excitement!

Each year, Fantasy Fest adopts a theme to help inspire fun costuming and amazing parade floats. The current theme is Animeted Dreams & Adventures. 

Also this year, two fighters for the Florida Keys' same-sex marriage equality led Saturday night's lavish Fantasy Fest Parade. Grand marshals Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones won a landmark court ruling overturning Florida's statewide same-sex marriage ban for Florida Keys residents.

Gay marriage proposal in the Lady Gaga concert

Lady Gaga continued her trend of support by hosting a gay marriage proposal on-stage during her concert in Manchester.

 

After getting her heel un-stuck from her latex outfit, she called her friend Jay up on stage and telling Jay's boyfriend Shaun that he might have a question for him.

 

And then the crowd went berserk. All of them could see the marriage proposal between both guys and enjoyed with that romantic moment.

 

In any case, Lady Gaga has showed herself as a big supporter of the LGBT community one more time.

Jay and Sean celebrate their engagement

backstage at the Lady Gaga concert

 

Kiss me, Kill me... Needs You!

"Kiss Me, Kill Me" is an amazing film project which could be a reality if they can raise a bit more money with Kickstarter.

 

Directed and produced by Casper Andreas (Going Down in LA-LA Land) and written and produced by David Michael Barrett (Such Good People), it is an Alfred Hitchcock/Agatha Christie-style film set in a little town called West Hollywood.

 

The movie starts with Dusty confronting his unfaithful boyfriend. When he comes to, his boyfriend was murdered and he's the prime suspect.

 

With an extraordinary cast: Gale Harold (Queer As Folk); Matthew Ludwinski (Going Down in LA-LA Land); Van Hansis (As the World Turns); Craig Robert Young (NCSI); Brianna Brown (Homeland, Devious Maids, True Blood and Graceland); Allison Lane (Going Down in LA-LA Land)...

 

With your support, there is no challenge too great or risk to large, and KISS ME, KILL ME will then be coming soon to a theater near you!

This project will only be funded if at least $100,000 is pledged
by Thu, Nov 6 2014 5:00 AM CEST.

Visit Kickstarter

I am a backer of this film project

 

 

 

Russian PM wants to ban Tom of Finland's stamps

St Petersburg PM Vitaly Milonov, the co-author of his city’s ban on so-called ‘gay propaganda', one of the first such regional laws in Russia, wants Russia’s postal service to return-to-sender any mail bearing the stamps for breaching national laws banning positive depictions of LGBTI people in the public sphere.

 

Milonov wants all mail bearing erotic Tom of Finland stamps to be returned to sender and for Finns to not use the stamps when mailing Russia.The stamps were released by Finland’s national postal service in September to commemorate Finnish erotic artist Touko Laaksonen, AKA Tom of Finland.

I think I'm going to send to him a card with one of the following Finnish stamps.

Meet the Rhodes Bros

The Rhodes brothers are fraternal twins from Ohio names Austin and Aaron, and they are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. 

 

The Rhodes Bros' YouTube channel started following the twins' adventures as they explore LA, a city they moved to. These guys committed to producing and posting a video every Sunday with some fun and interesting stuff.

 

But you can discover more about these pretty guys through their videos, posts, pictures and more.

 

All their posts are really cool, I enjoy their channel and I hope you enjoy too.

 

 

A New Marriage Proposal at Denver Airport

 

Sean and David were just two boyfriends making their way through Denver Airport, on their way to a Disney vacation in Orlando. That was until Sean proposed to David, following a flash mob performance in the middle of the terminal.

The power of Love!

Young American Catholics Accepting of Homosexuality

While the Vatican vacillates over whether to welcome gays into the church, the new kids in the flock seem to have no qualms about the subject.

Close to 85% of self-identified Catholics between the ages of 18 and 29 believe gays and lesbians should be accepted by society, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

These younger Catholics are also supportive of legalizing same-sex marriages, with 75% throwing their weight behind the concept.

The positive attitudes toward homosexuality are less likely to be found among older adults. About 57% of Catholics aged 65 and older told Pew that they believe homosexuality should be accepted.

A surprising Pope Francis' statements

Mass Kiss-in Protest at a UK Supermarket

Hundreds of students and supporters of equal rights held a mass kiss-in at a UK supermarket after a lesbian couple were told to stop kissing on Coming Out Day.

In response, they held a mass kiss-in in the very same branch of Sainsbury's where a chaste kiss was branded 'inappropriate' by a security guard.

Annabelle Paige, a 22-year-old student at the University of Sussex, said she gave her girlfriend a light kiss and then a security guard came over to say they could either stop showing signs of affection or be thrown out.

Sainsbury's apologized to Paige, donating a reported £100 ($160, €125) to a charity of her choice.

But the University of Sussex Students’ Union were not happy, saying this was not enough to show the supermarket is battling homophobia.

New ABC Comedy Serie Inspired by Robbie Rogers

Robbie Rogers recently closed a deal for "Men In Shorts", a single-camera comedy set to air on ABC, inspired by the openly gay soccer player.

 

The show will follow a young professional soccer player who takes one small step out of the closet and one giant leap into the spotlight.

 

Rogers will be helping with the creation of the comedy, with Jordan Nardino signed on as a writer and executive producer. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the openly gay producers of the last two Academy Awards telecasts and next year's as well, will also help develop the show.

 

Rogers, who came out in 2013, was the first openly gay player in a North American sports league.

Rogers was cover in "attitude" this year

Come Out with Pride in Orlando

Over 150,000 revelers are expected in Orlando next weekend for the Come Out with Pride Parade.

The annual LGBT celebration in Orlando made its way around the Lake Eola and a block party at Lake Ivanhoe.

This year over a hundred organizations, including Disney, Universal and Starbucks, are part of the one of the most crowded gay parades in Florida.

Enjoy it!

 

 

Breaking News: Vatican could change attitude to homosexuality

A Vatican document says that homosexuals have "gifts and qualities to offer" and asks if Catholicism could accept gays and recognize positive aspects of same-sex couples. 

The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops on the family, says the Church should challenge itself to find "a fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.

While the text does not signal any change in the Church's condemnation of homosexual acts or its opposition to gay marriage, it uses language that was less judgmental and more compassionate than past Vatican statements under previous popes.

The document will be the basis for discussion for the second and final week of the assembly, known as a synod, which was called by Pope Francis and focuses on the theme of the family.

It will also serve for further reflection among Catholics around the world ahead of another, definitive synod next year.

Remember last November a Vatican poll asked for parishioners their opinion on same-sex marriage in preparation for a Church' Synod on the family.

The last Catholic Church' Synod on the family was in 1980