I recently wrote about Derrick Martin, the gay teenager from Georgia who sparked a media firestorm when he asked his school if he could bring another boy to prom, has turned his experience into a project to help other LGBT youth in crisis by founding Project LifeVest. Readers may remember that while his prom request was approved by the School Superintendent, due to the intense media coverage Derrick was kicked out of his home by his parents.

After my last report, readers wanted to know how Derrick was doing, what has happened with his parents, and get more information on what he has gone through and his plans for the future. I was lucky enough to be able to interview this amazing young man, who is moving forward and stepping up to be a great leader for the LGBT community and a great advocate for at-risk youth.

Waymon: Many of our readers know you from the extensive media coverage of your decision to take your boyfriend to Prom. Tell us a little about how that came about and what the experience was like.

Derrick Martin: I started to seriously think of bringing a same sex date to prom early in my senior year. I was single, but had two or three gay friends that I had talked to who offered to go with me. Around December, I really started telling everyone that would listen that I was going to take my boyfriend and the school can't stop me. Everyone told me that I needed to stop, that I would end up getting prom canceled if I pushed too hard, or that I would just be told no and that there was nothing that I could do about it. I wouldn't take no for an answer, and in January I went to the principal and told her that she needed to sit down. I told her that I wanted to take my boyfriend to prom, and she told me that Cochran was not ready for "that". I left her with Aaron Fricke's lawsuit coverage, and wrote down Lambda Legal's website for her to look over. She told me that she would take it to the board, but that there were no guarantees. It went on for two more months, each month the board would say that they needed more time to talk, and then needed time to talk with their lawyer.

It wasn't until mid-March that I was finally told that I could go. I walked outside the school, called my boyfriend from my car, and cried on the phone. I was ecstatic. It was all very stressful from the moment I told the principal of my plans until I was actually at prom. The first night that I allowed the local media to interview me, my parents saw the coverage and threw me out of my home.

Continue reading "Interview: Derrick Martin talks Prom, Being Kicked Out, & Helping Other LGBT Youth" »

WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 1865 (FNS)--The Civil War ended yesterday with the surrender of General Lee's Confederate Forces to Ulysses S. Grant, the Union Commander, at Appomattox.

Although most observers are generally happy with the surrender, many of President Obama's most loyal supporters are livid with the Commander-in-Chief because of the concessions he made in order to obtain the future support of the Southern Senators who will rejoin the body when the next Session begins.

At a media event this morning, Press Secretary Dick Timoneous expressed the President's hope that the formerly Confederate Members of Congress are looking forward to changing the political culture and steering the Nation in a better direction:

"It's time for the opposition to realize that what really matters is putting America first. The President is certain that by offering some concessions now, Southern Senators will look beyond their own parochial interests and do their part to move this process forward."

Continue reading "Lee Surrenders To Grant, Obama Retains Slavery" »

It's always good to know that their priorities are so well thought out and consistent...

Continue reading "Tea Party on the Nature of Liberty!" »

A trailer has just been released for a new documentary about Uganda's odious "Anti-Homosexality Bill" that prescribes the death penalty and other harsh punishments for LGBT people and their allies. The film is by Dominique Mesmin and if the trailer is any indication, it will be extremely disturbing and hard to watch, but incredibly enlightening and important as well.

Thanks to our friend Warren Throckmorton for bring the video to out attention! Be sure to check out his exhaustive work on the Uganda situation!

Look what Wayne Besen turned up (trigger warning):

I disagree - honest perversion is a whole lot better than what they're describing in that interview. There's nothing wrong with getting some kink on - where this crosses the line is when it comes to consent. Sure, they're all adults and they agreed to get naked, but when someone posing as an expert and a professional is telling you that if you get naked and touch yourself your wildest dreams will come true, then the concept of consent becomes complicated, to put it mildly.

But these are all closeted homosexuals who have just as strong of a sex drive as anyone else. This is the force that put nearly seven billion people on the planet that occupies a large part of most people's minds, energy, and time. Human beings can't just ignore it. Of course, out-n-proud gay men can get creepy too, but these folks have literally made a science of it. Remember this?

Continue reading "The ex-gay agenda" »

Sometimes these posts really just write themselves. So I'm just going to cut and paste this Associated Press report:

Jail Officers Astonished by Inmate's Contraband

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Police in Wenatchee are surprised at the amount of contraband an inmate was able to smuggle into the jail rectally. The Wenatchee World said the man internally carried a cigarette lighter, rolling papers, a baggie of tobacco the size of a golf ball, a smaller baggie of marijuana, a 1-inch smoking pipe, a bottle of tattoo ink and eight tattoo needles.

Continue reading "How Much Stuff Can You Sneak Inside Your Man Hole?" »

Almost a year ago the boyfriend and I visited Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous residential projects, while in southwestern Pennsylvania for the boyfriend's family reunion. As I noted in a post last August on my personal blog, one thing that isn't mentioned during the tour of the home is that Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., who inherited the house upon death of his parents, was gay.

The tour guides only note that "he never married." Thanks to a recent comment from a reader, I was provided with some information about "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say. It turns out that in many ways Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., did "marry" - or at least to the extent most of us in the American LGBT community still find ourselves "marrying" our life partners. Kaufmann met Paul Mayén (pictured above) in the early 1950's and the two spent their lives together thereafter until Kaufmann's death more than 30 years later in 1989. What's even crazier is that the visitor center/pavilion at Fallingwater (the cafe is shown in the photo after the jump) was designed by Kaufmann, Jr."s partner, Paul Mayén.

Continue reading "Paul Mayen: Fallingwater's Lesser-Known Architect " »

Sweet early 20th century image of French sailors dancing away some of their boredom while at sea.

Lieutenant Dan Choi's National Guard unit has notified him by mail and phone he has been fully disachrged and is no longer serving as an American solider. According to Gay City News:

Choi lost his battle with the Pentagon on June 29 when his discharge from the Army under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was finalized. While Choi's National Guard unit informed him by registered mail and with phone messages, he has not disclosed the action. He did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Choi, an Arabic Linguist, Iraq Veteran, West Point Graduate, and Infantry Officer, has been an outspoken opponent of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, engaging in not only media and rally speeches, but also acts of civil disobedience and hunger strikes.

Continue reading "Dan Choi Now Officially Discharged Under DADT" »

Hate is hate no matter whose side it's coming from. In fact, I can not see the love from "our side" from this NOM video as their t-shirts ask. Here is a video that the anti-gay group NOM produced. Here's how we fell into their trap.



When we go to anti-gay NOM events and scream in their faces we harm all of us! I sure as heck don't like it when "they" scream in my face. Nor would I want "them" blocking our presentations. We need to respect their free speech rights and be peaceful examples of love.

I ask that you deeply consider what it means to be a love warrior. To me it means not only standing up for love, but standing with love in my heart as Dr. King, Ghandi, and Harvey would have us do.

Continue reading "Hate Is Hate But Love Is The Answer!" »

This seems to be the best result from the whole prom fake-out:

"The agreement ends a precedent-setting lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who suffered humiliation and harassment after parents, students and school officials executed a cruel plan to put on a 'decoy' prom for her while the rest of her classmates were at a private prom 30 miles away," the release states.

"I'm so glad this is all over," McMillen said. "I won't ever get my prom back, but it's worth it if it changes things at my school." Added McMillen, "I hope this means that in the future students at my school will be treated fairly. I know there are students and teachers who want to start a gay-straight alliance club, and they should be able to do that without being treated like I was by the school."

"As set forth in documents filed in court today, school officials agreed to implement a policy banning discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the first policy to do so at a public school in the state of Mississippi," the release read. "The school also agreed to pay McMillen $35,000 in damages and pay for McMillen's attorneys' fees."

Now, what are they planning to do to make things up to Juin Baize?

Editors' Note: Guest blogger Alexia Krause is a lifelong fan of sports and fitness. She is a passionate writer of issues close to her, including mixed martial arts.

It can be extremely difficult for anyone to announce their sexuality in a public forum, much more so when that forum is the historically unfriendly-towards-LGBT sports spotlight. We need to support these decisions to help change the modern climate of sports precisely because it is such a grueling task to come out.

There have been some incredibly courageous athletes over the past few decades. Obviously each sport has its own distinct type of fan-base with varying degrees of acceptance. Tennis, for example, has seen openly gay athletes as far back as 30 years ago, when Martina Navratilova came out as bisexual in 1980.

While this was a groundbreaking decision for her, it was a bittersweet one as well. Martina was dropped by many of her sponsors soon following her announcement, despite being one of the best players to ever grace the courts. Since that announcement, Navratilova has gone on to become one of the most famous and outspoken gay athletes in the world.

Continue reading "What It Means to Be Out In the World of Sports" »