Amelia, 03/05/13

Mother, wife, partner and breadwinner

On this day in a second-grade classroom in the Midwest, Harvey Milk was on the same stage as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as an 8-year-old gay boy who has never seen the need for a closet told Milk's story.

Joseph Ward III, 03/05/13

Director, Believe Out Loud

Pope Benedict cited his failing health as the reasons he is unable to appropriately fulfill the ministry that was entrusted to him. But the next pope will be handed the same 300-page report detailing Vatican corruption, including information about this alleged gay Vatican underworld.

JR Tungol, 03/05/13

Intern, HuffPost Gay Voices

When I hit puberty, my homosexuality was something I could not let slip. I did not want to disappoint my traditional Filipino parents, and in that vein, I grew angry toward them and thought that they would never understand my feelings and what I was going through.

Mia Norton, 03/05/13

Flight paramedic, partner, mother, blogger and straight ally

Aside from remarks here and there, I had never directly taken up this issue with my mother. I had never had the provocation to do so until just last month, when a gay relative contacted my sibling to share that my mother had written him with a heavy-handed dose of spiritual advice.

Geoffrey R. Stone, 03/05/13

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Barriers to achieving equal respect, equal dignity and equal rights for gays and lesbians through the political process remain daunting, and this is especially true at the state level, where a substantial majority of jurisdictions still fervently oppose equal rights.

Mark Brennan Rosenberg, 03/05/13

Author, 'Blackouts and Breakdowns'

You know the ones I'm talking about: They're out every weekend, looking like they just walked out of a GQ photo spread. They're stuck-up and pretentious and have no souls, and you not only fear them but want to be them, or at least their new best friend. Here are 10 icebreakers.

Ekene Agu, 03/05/13

Student, Harvard University

Of late, I have experienced a certain recurring sensation, one of dissonance, vulnerability and courage. I am not sure what it is but I think it might be empathy.

Cyd Zeigler and Jim Buzinski, 03/05/13

Never before has a mainstream sports media company acquired a national LGBT website, magazine or newspaper. Heck, we're not sure it's been done outside sports, either. From now on, the stories of LGBT people in sports will be told alongside mainstream sports news without apology.

Deron Dalton, 03/05/13

Journalist

Steel River is the latest urban gay series based on the down-low stereotype. Meanwhile, another Atlanta-based series that's trying to get picked up, Skin Deep, which focuses on the intersecting lives of a diverse group of gay men, promises to be a better show.

Glennisha Morgan, 03/05/13

Intern, HuffPost Gay Voices

I think it is important for school districts to implement sex education that addresses sexual orientation and gender identity starting in kindergarten. Perhaps then children wouldn't be so perplexed when they encounter people who are LGBT or otherwise different from them.

Joe Kort, Ph.D., 03/05/13

Psychotherapist, sexologist, and relationship therapist; founder, Center for Relationship and Sexual Health

It angers me that a heterosexual couple can fly to Las Vegas and get legally married by an Elvis impersonator and then fly back to wherever they are from and still be legally married. If Mike and I decided to fly Vegas and get married by a Cher impersonator, it wouldn't be legal.

Dr. Lawrence M. Schall, 03/05/13

President of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Ga.

While Lloyd Blankfein was the first among CEOs of major companies to speak out for gay marriage, he expected many others to follow in short order. Turns out, Blankfein was a lone wolf for many years.

Jackie Gardina, 03/05/13

Professor, Vermont Law School

Most of society has been working with openly gay and lesbian colleagues for a while now. Even the military has managed to transition to open service. Yet some professional athletes continue to believe that their team will crumble with the addition of an openly gay teammate.

Matthew Vines, 03/05/13

President, The Reformation Project

Careful, persistent arguments about the Bible's allegedly anti-gay passages have the power to change every Christian church, no matter how conservative its theology. The mission of The Reformation Project is to train a new generation of Christians to streamline that process.

Ariel Wengroff, 03/05/13

LGBT advocate, political strategist and poet

Crossing Over, a documentary film directed by Isabel Castro and produced by Katrina Sorrentino, is one of the first films to ever explore the stories of undocumented transgender women seeking political asylum in the United States.

Rev. Mieke Vandersall, 03/05/13

Executive Director, Presbyterian Welcome

Somehow in telling my own story, and for me in being as out and proud of my Christian story as I am of my gay story, it allows others to find their stories too. In that finding, in that telling, I believe we find God, and Jesus at work.

Nico Lang, 03/05/13

Blogger and Correspondent, WBEZ

A prolific visual artist and transqueer poet, H.Melt is a crucial voice in Chicago's queer poetry scene, and, along with Mar Curran, ellie june navidson and Jakob VanLammeren, is rethinking the divides between the public and the private, the visual and the discursive, the page and the stage.