Whether transgender, bi, gay or lesbian it is not as easy a choice as some would say to “come out”. Anyone who has followed any of my blogs, be it the current and popular Focus On The Rainbow at Hearst Newspapers or various LGBT blogs which I have published albeit which are no longer active in favor of concentrating on the Focus On The Rainbow blogs, know that one of my pet peeves in our community is those who fault others for not being out, anti-gay conservatives not withstanding.

More at: Focus On The Rainbow!

To commemorate the 45^th anniversary of the Selma Marches, Equality Forum will unveil Life Magazine photojournalist Dan Budnik’s image of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King in Selma in March 1965.  The reception of African American and GLBT leaders will take place on Monday, March 15 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Equality Forum office, 1420 Locust Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia.

“Dr. King’s dream inspired all Americans and had a profound impact on the gay civil rights movement,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum. “Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King were outspoken advocates of gay equality.”

“We had marched with Martin Luther King, seven of us from the Mattachine Society of Washington in 1963, and from that time on, we’d always had our own dream about a march of similar proportions,” said Gay Pioneer Jack Nichols.

Openly gay Bayard Rustin was the lead organizer of the March on Washington in August 1963.  In October 1963, openly gay James Baldwin and Dick Gregory with his wife were the first nationally prominent blacks to protest for voters rights in Selma

“The Budnik photograph will remain in the Equality Forum office as a reminder of the debt the GLBT civil rights movement owes to Dr. King,” said Temple Professor Debra Blair, Chair of Equality Forum’s Board of Directors.

Equality Forum is a national and international GLBT civil rights organization with an educational focus. Equality Forum coordinates GLBT History Month, produces documentary films, undertakes high-impact initiatives and presents the largest annual national and international GLBT civil rights summit.

For more information, please click here to visit the Equality Forum!

For more on the Marches from Selma to Montgomery, click here!

For several years now, the religious right has been trying to appropriate the moral authority of the Civil Rights Movement. It’s an audacious strategy, given that Christian conservative politics were forged in the white Southern backlash to school integration. But it’s had some successes, particularly in rousing black churches against the gay rights movement. Now, the anti-abortion movement is making a push to enlist African Americans in their cause by framing abortion as a tool of eugenics and genocide.

The campaign is already having an impact. As the New York Times reported late last month, the overwhelmingly white Georgia Right to Life has spent more than $20,000 erecting 80 billboards around Atlanta that proclaim, “Black children are an endangered species.” The group has created a Web site, Too Many Aborted, with excellent production values, designed to portray legal abortion as a plot against the black community. Meanwhile, according to the Times, the new documentary Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America, which purports to “trace connections among slavery, Nazi-style eugenics, birth control and abortion,” is finding an audience among black organizations nationwide. The Times quoted Markita Eddy, a sophomore at the historically black Morris Brown College, who had turned against abortion rights after seeing the film.

More of this great read at: Religion Dispatches!

In the story of the Samaritan woman, John, Chapter 4, Jesus was traveling with His disciples from Judea to Galilee. His disciples were not pleased when they ended up in Samaria and told him, “surely you made a wrong turn” for Samaria was a part of the House of Israel that most Jews wanted to avoid due to “less than honorable” citizens there (Higgs, 2004). What must be understood here is that the Samaritan woman, named Sychar, was what we now call a slut or a tramp. It must also be understood that there was a very well known well in Samaria, Jacob’s Well, and it still stands today in the Middle East. The journey from Judea to Galilee was long and the weather was hot. In Bible times, they didn’t have canteens they could put water in to carry along with them. Travelers depended on wells such as Jacob’s well for survival during long journey which could only be made on donkey, camel, or by foot.

More at: Freeonesoft.com!

In this our third series sexuality is discussed as part of the programme and we are hoping to find models and couples that are gay, straight, lesbian or bisexual. Our aim is to challenge stereotypes and any negative preconceptions the pupils may have about sexuality and to promote equality. I am hoping that you will be able to help me further with this. We have cast our gay and bisexual models; however we are now specifically looking for lesbian models and couples.

Find out more at: Schools Out Blog!

Since 1995 when the US Supreme Court made an ill-fated and improvident decision to preclude the LGBT community from marching in the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade of South Boston, the clock has been turned back on equality for the LGBT community. Back then, the Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston was denied the right to march in the parade and thereby the clock was turned back on legislative progress made to insure full equality in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation under Massachusetts Law enacted in the late 1980’s. Equal isn’t equal if it’s sometimes.

Read the rest of this GREAT post at: Bay Windows!

Months after abruptly dropping his bid to be California’s governor, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he wants to be second in command.

More on the story at: CBS5.com!

The Council for Global Equality applauds this year’s State Department human rights report to Congress for underscoring the clear and growing crisis in human rights abuse directed against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide, and urges the use of diplomacy to counter this trend.

More at: NCLR’s Blog!

According to The Washington Post:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II said Friday that it remains his legal advice that the state’s public colleges and universities should remove language dealing with sexual orientation from campus anti-discrimination policies.

Read more here!