First Transgender Woman Competes in Miss Universe

Although I am not a fan of beauty pageants - because they set unreasonable standards for young girls - I am thrilled that this woman competed.

While she didn’t win the crown, Angela Ponce broke barriers on Monday in the 67th Miss Universe pageant. The 27-year-old Spanish beauty became the first transgender woman to ever participate in the international competition.

“I never imagined (I would make it to Miss Universe) because I lived in a society where everyone said I couldn’t do that,” Ponce told NBC’s "Today" through a translator. “And I didn’t have the information to realize that my dream to be a woman could ever actually be realized.”

Full story

Trans Man Wins Debut Fight as Pro Boxer

I'm not a boxing fan, but congratulations to Patricio Manuel on his win, both as a professional boxer and as a transgender man following his dreams!

If you just happened to be in the crowd at a super featherweight bout in Indio, Calif., on Saturday evening, you might not understand the importance of that particular boxing match.

But for Patricio Manuel, it represented 12 minutes of triumph. With that fight, Manuel, 33, became the first openly trans man to compete in a professional boxing match in the U.S.

It was moment of joy following a long journey after Manuel first stepped into the ring as a high schooler in Gardena, a small city south of Los Angeles.

Full story

152 LGBT elected officials have priorities

The list is short but crucial. Hopefully good things can get done despite the White House Circus.

More than 150 LGBT elected officials penned a letter released this week calling on the incoming Congress to prioritize four LGBT equality initiatives.

Those initiatives include protecting trans constituents from "anti-trans Trump administration policies," passing federal legislation to protect the rights of LGBT people, focusing on HIV/AIDs treatment — particularly in communities of color — and supporting asylum claims from queer people around the world.

The 152 elected officials penned the letter, which [was] delivered to the 116th Congress, during a conference last week. The gathering was hosted by Victory Institute, an advocacy organization focused on training and supporting LGBT political candidates.

Full story

Anatomy Does Not Determine Gender, Experts Say

An important read.

Defining gender as a condition determined strictly by a person’s genitals is based on a notion that doctors and scientists abandoned long ago as oversimplified and often medically meaningless.

Researchers who have studied gender issues and provided health care to people who do not fit the typical M/F pigeonholes said that the Trump administration’s latest plan to define gender goes beyond the limits of scientific knowledge.

“The idea that a person’s sex is determined by their anatomy at birth is not true, and we’ve known that it’s not true for decades,” said Dr. Joshua D. Safer, an endocrinologist and executive director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. He is also president of the United States Professional Association of Transgender Health.

But exactly what does determine gender identity — a person’s powerful, core knowledge of who they are — is not so clear.

Full story

This Indiana School’s Gay-Straight Alliance Can’t Call Itself ‘Gay’

This is just wrong. On so many levels. They're trying to appear to be lgbt compliant without actually being even friendly.

There is a gay-straight alliance at Leo Jr. Sr. High School in Allen County, Indiana.

But according to a new lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, this school’s club for LGBT students and their allies isn’t allowed to call itself a “gay-straight alliance” or even a “GSA,” and is instead only permitted to refer to itself as a “Pride Alliance.”

There’s another catch, too: The GSA can’t use the “Pride” in its name to refer to LGBT Pride. Instead, “Pride” is allegedly required to be used as a reference to an a common school acronym: “Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diligence, and Excellence.”

Full story

 

Lesbian Mom Pulls Son from Preschool

This is a rather bizarre twist on what you might think this story is about. This Christian based preschool allowed this woman's son to put on whatever clothes HE wanted to and yet his Lesbian mother is pulling him out because of this. Because she doesn't want to push him in any direction. How is she doing this? She wasn't there to say, "No son, don't pick that suit, pick that dress over there." He made the decision of his own free will. I think she was wrong to do this. Clearly he's ready NOW to embrace whoever he is. Why wait til the future?

A mother has pulled her son from preschool after she claims the school allowed the boy to wear a dress.

On Friday, Kayla Bedford, 24, a stay-at-home mother in Wichita, Kan., withdrew her 2-year-old son Zach from the private Christian school Bethany Early Childhood Center after her girlfriend reportedly saw the boy “parading around in a dress” after she dropped him off that morning.

Full story

Having Straight Friends

All of my friends are straight. It's mostly by accident, but some design as well. I have two gay friends, but no Lesbian friends. There is mutual respect between my female friends and I; I know and accept their heterosexuality and they know and accept my homosexuality. However, I noticed something interesting with my friend who I will call Theatre Geek. We were at work together over the weekend and I was chatting with my BFF via Facebook Messenger. BFF shared a photo with me of what happens when you use cheap chocolate to make chocolate drop cookies rather than Hershey Kisses. The result is something that looks like cookies with chocolate nipples on top. I thought this was hilarious, so I shared with Theatre Geek. She refused to acknowledge that they looked anything like a female body part; seeing instead little blobs of shit. In fairness I saw that, too, but I am baffled as to how she couldn't see the female body part. She even made a comment about the fact that she wasn't on my team. I know this. Neither is BFF, but she had no problem pointing out the nipples. I think on some level TG is under the impression that I'm going to try to convert her or something. Never mind that I have a girlfriend that I am completely in love with and devoted to.

Same Sex Marriage Ban in Bermuda Unconstitutional

It's good to see this continue to happen.

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Bermuda’s top court ruled on Friday that legislation banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, rejecting a government bid to overturn an earlier court ruling that reached the same conclusion.

“In the judgment about to be handed down, we dismissed the appeal of the attorney general,” Sir Scott Baker, president of the Bermuda Court of Appeal, told the crowded courtroom, sparking whoops of applause from gay rights supporters.

Baker was referring to an appeal lodged by the government against a June ruling by Bermuda’s Supreme Court striking down the gay marriage ban passed by Bermudian lawmakers last year. The ban was later approved by the British governor.

Full story

Practice Safe Sex, Y'all

Boy Erased

A film that explores a family attempting gay conversion therapy.

President Just Asked SCOTUS to Allow Transgender Military Ban

I will never understand why it's so difficult for anyone to accept LGBT into the military. They are, essentially, willing to lay down their life for your freedom. Maybe it's that you don't want to be indebted to them in that way? What if all the straight men and women quit the military across the board because they didn't want to risk their lives if they were going to reproduce?

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to take up three cases challenging the administration's repeated efforts to bar transgender people from serving in the military. The move is the latest unusual filing at the high court by an administration that appears eager to leapfrog over appeals courts that have sided previously with challengers to the administration's policies.

The effort to reverse Obama-era policies allowing for open transgender military service began when President Donald Trump tweeted out news of the ban in July 2017 and has been met with heavy skepticism from courts around the country since that morning.

Full story

Same Sex Kiss in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

Welcome to my new home! First post at my new home is about a first in the time honored tradition that is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: a same-sex kiss. If you've never sat down on Thanksgiving morning to watch the parade, then you won't know that they feature musical numbers from Broadway shows. This year there's one called The Prom based on what I'm assuming is a true story about two girls wanting to attend their prom together as a couple. The song the cast performed ended with a kiss and everyone watching, got to see.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade just broadcast what is believed to be its first kiss between a same-sex couple.

Amid the big balloons and floats during Thursday’s famous New York City parade, actresses Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla kissed on a live NBC broadcast during a performance of the new Broadway musical “The Prom.” The moment is thought to be the first lesbian kiss to be captured on the holiday’s nationally televised event.

“The Prom” opened on Broadway this month and tells the story of a gay girl in a rural town in Indiana who is barred from taking her girlfriend to prom. When a few famous actors from New York City hear of the trouble, they travel to Indiana to support the young couple.

Full story

New Home

So, this is my new home for the Cafe. We'll see how this goes.