The Supreme CourtFor the conservatives on the court it's a "State's Rights" issue and for the liberals it's a "Civil Rights" issue, but both those points-of-view could spell the end of the Congress-created Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (aka DOMA) as federal law.
The Snob returned to NPR's "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin Wednesday to discuss the recent death of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. A pioneer in promoting women and the sciences, Ride's sexual orientation came up for discussion when in her obituary it was listed she was survived by her partner of many years, who happened to be a woman. Myself, along with Viviana Hurtado, Bridget Johnson and Deepa Iyer of South Asian Americans Leading Together discussed the inner debate of private versus public many well-known gays and lesbians face. We also briefly chatted about the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colo. and what its impact will be.
Audio after the jump.
One of my least favorite news stories is back! You remember it from the Proposition 8 saga. It's the one about black people hating gay people. Unless you're that unfortunate black person who also happens to be gay. I suppose you're involved with some "war within." Wait? You're not? You just live as both a gay and a black American? Well, damn. Who knew?
President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC's Good Morning America, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, May 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)Wednesday, in a historic moment, President Barack Obama came out for gay marriage in an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts. President Obama would always say his views were "evolving" on gay marriage and gay rights, but it always seemed more like he was waiting on the public to "evolve." Under his administration he watched as the political environment became more favorable towards things like ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the military (which Obama did) and fighting the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which under the Obama Administration the Department of Justice does not defend. And for the criticism that has come on the left, that Obama's words could have been stronger, as he's still left marriage up to the states, there's no denying the historic nature of this.
In things that make you go "Wait? What now?" gay and lesbian activist organization GLAAD is calling for CNN to fire Apha Phi Alpha member and ascot-aficionado Roland Martin due to some insensitive tweets he made on his very well-retweeted Twitter page.
As we all know, Twitter is a constant causation of any and all drama these days. Rappers used to put out entire albums beefing with each other. Now folks just spit their insults over Twitter. It's fascinating. Just makes me want to run up and slap the iPhones out of people's hands.
Danielle Belton | 13 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged GLAAD, Super Bowl, gay rights, kanye west, roland martin, twitter ;)
Click to enlarge.Going where few black magazines dare to go, Black Enterprise's July cover tackles the life of African Americans who also happen to be gays and lesbians, working in corporate America. As we all know, just acknowledging that there are A) gay and lesbian black people and B) that they do regular stuff like have jobs and get married, can still be controversial for black publications. Last year Essence Magazine published their first Lesbian couple in their weddings column and while many readers were pleased or didn't care, there was a very vocal "I'm cancelling Essence" contingent who was full of outrage.
Danielle Belton | 48 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged LGBT issues, gay rights, media 
Late Friday night, 33 Democrats and four key Republicans voted to make same-sex marriage legal in New York state, making New York one of the largest states to sanction gay marriage. Backed and signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, insiders say the key to swinging those four crucial GOP votes was wealthy Republican donors who promised those vulnerable they would financially back their re-election campaigns.
Photo from VibeVibe Magazine almost crashed their own site Monday when they published Aliya S. King's latest article about transgender/gay subculture at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. The page with her story even went down temporarily from so many people trying to access it. "The Mean Girls of Morehouse" tells the story of a gaggle of gay and transgender men who are current and former students of the private HCBU, who call themselves "The Plastics" after the uber-popular girl clique from the Lindsay Lohan/Tina Fey film "Mean Girls." While the piece has caused the ire of current Morehouse students and alums, what's lost in the furor is the fact that the story is pretty fascinating.
You've probably heard the new dress code that Morehouse College, an all-male HBCU (Historically Black College/University), has given its students. They've released 11 stipulations that students must follow, or risk being suspended from school. They are more than deserving of this week's sternly-worded letter.
Dear Morehouse,
You know you're kind of full of sh*t, right? When I first saw the new dress code you released for your students, I surely thought it was some kind of random joke or satirical piece. Surely, a place of higher learning did not just make an extensive list of things that are unacceptable to rock on a campus. Is the school so on point that the most pressing matter is its students' way of dress? Yeah, NAW I don't think so. Word on the street is that your enrollment rate is down, as well as your retention and graduation rates. I doubt that this will be helping either. I guess that in whatever struggles you may be having, the most important thing is that the men on your campus maintain their segzy and moisturize their situations in the most conservative way possible.
More after the jump.
Luvvie | 43 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged college, fashion, gay rights, homosexuality, luvvie, morehouse college 
