Gay Former Green Bay Packer Speaks to U of W

Students at the University of Wisconsin are preparing for National Coming Out Week, and former defensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers, Esera Tuaolo, is scheduled to speak to the school’s student body about his life as a closeted gay athlete.

Tuaolo, author of “Alone in the Trenches”, a book released in 2006 highlighs his personal trials and tribulations as a gay athlete, will address his struggles with his own sexuality. Tuaolo came out publicly in 2002.

Tuaolo is the third former NFL player to come out, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons. He has continued to work with the NFL in an attempt to combat homophobia in the league and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

LGBT Community Shares Message with Billboards

Accept your neighbor, no matter what lifestyle they lead. That’s the message of a new campaign targeting Milwaukee area residents.

There will be 30 new billboards going up in southeast Wisconsin. The billboards display smiling, happy, faces. The message is clear, accept your neighbor, gay or straight.

The billboard campaign by local LBGT leaders will be revealed next week and will be along roads in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.

You can watch the news clip here.

Solo Gay Congresswoman Joins Obama Committee

The only openly gay Congresswoman, Tammy Baldwin (Dem. Wisconsin) has joined Barack Obama’s national gay leadership and policy committee. She will co-chair the committee with Tobias Wolff, a University of Pennsylvania law professor. Baldwin’s previous GLBT service includes being the head of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s gay leadership team.

“I am proud to support Barack Obama for president and work hard for his election because we share a commitment to equality for all Americans,” she said in a statement. “This is our quest and our common goal.”

Baldwin also stated she was not supporting Obama only because he is a Democrat but because of the differences between the candidates. She listed issues ranging from the Iraq war to health care to gay issues.

She mentioned Obama’s desire to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” policy which would allow gays and lesbians to serve in the military without discrimination or discharge due to their sexual orientation. Republican John McCain wants the current policy to stay in place.

Obama also supports expanding the federal employment non-discrimination laws and federal hate crime laws to protect the GLBT community. McCain does not, she noted.

Now maybe she can do something with Juliane Appling.

Madison Lack Of Pride Is Not Helpful

According to WIBA, a Wisconsin news station; “This year’s Gay Pride event in Madison yesterday was smaller than in years past, but organizers promise a bigger event next year. Madison Pride announced some financial discrepancies in April in accounts managed by it’s former treasurer, leaving the group in debt and with little to spend on this year’s event. The eight-member Madison Pride Board Inc. will be dissolved after all bills have been paid and a new organization will be formed to put together next year’s 20th gay pride parade.” No date has been set. I find this to be quite disturbing, especially after the recent outburst from Julaine Appling, the CEO of the Wisconsin Family Council, who has made no qualms about her belief that gays and lesbians who wed should all be thrown in prison.  She has also been quoted as saying ”I think we’ve been extremely tolerant in allowing them to live wherever they choose”, speaking of GLBT citizens. Come on Madison…..Step it up!

Go West? There’s A New Sheriff In Town!

If you have any idea of what it is to be a good person, you will probably become ill over this.  Julaine Appling, along with others who claim to be “people of God” are at it again.  She is attempting to resurrect and misconstrue a nearly 100-year-old Wisconsin law that states same-sex couples who leave the state to be married could face fines and jail time if they return.  The law, originally aimed at stopping underage couples from going out-of-state to get married is now being considered by Appling’s group, called the Family Council to be applicable to same-sex marriages.

Offending couples could face $10,000 fines, nine months in prison or both. ”To have a marriage that you know is illegal where you reside, and you have the intent of coming back to that state where its illegal, that’s a defrauding of the government,” said the Family Council Julaine Appling.  This is also a person who has been quoted as saying “I think we’ve been extremely tolerant in allowing [homosexuals] to live wherever they choose.”  You can listen to what else she has to say at CNN.com.

On yet another disturbing note, A lawsuit that seeks to force a vote on Oregon’s domestic partnership law ran into a panel of skeptical federal judges Tuesday. 

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