STRUGGLE: Gregory and Guillermo, a Gay Bi-National Couple, Chronicle Their Immigration Battle

Gregory and a Guillermo are a gay bi-national couple chronicling the immigration challenges they face, in a project called The Other Half of the Orange.

Here's their first video, which deals with a forced separation in Sweden after Guillermo was denied a visa to come back into the U.S.

Writes Gregory: "He'd been approved for an O-1 by the dept of homeland security here in the states, but the next step is to re-enter the country and have this validated. His lawyer advised he go through a western European country (as the embassy in his home country of Colombia has a bad rep for mistreating Colombians) but this was a huge mistake. They look down on that, and he wasn't gven the visa. Had our partnership been validated federally, considering that hetero Americans can secure a visa for their fiances(!), this would not have been as long and painful as it has".

STRUGGLED: Gay Buffalo Teen Kills Himself After Years of Bullying!

Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old gay teen from the Buffalo, NY area, killed himself last weekend after what his parents say was years of bullying, WIVB reports: Soon after coming home from a family camping trip, Jamey was found dead Sunday. His parents say he was always under pressure because of struggles with his sexuality. Jamey’s mother Tracy Rodemeyer said, "So he hung around with the girls a lot, so then the teasing started happening like 'Oh you're such a girl or you're gay or whatever and that bothered him for many years."

Jamey’s father Tim Rodemeyer said, "To the kids who are bullying they have to realize that words are very powerful and what you think is just fun and games isn't to some people, and you are destroying a lot of lives."

ESCAPE from OZ: Iran Releases US Hikers!

After being jailed for more than two years, American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal walked out of Evin prison free men this morning, confirms Iranian state television. Their lawyer had said earlier that they would be released within hours, after a vacationing judge returned and the second signature needed to free them on $1 million bail was secured. In a statement quoted on a semi-official Iranian news agency, the country’s judiciary confirmed the bail request had been “accepted,” reports the Washington Post.

BULLIED: Montana High School Coach Resigns as (6) Football Players are Suspended for Bullying!

The coach of Kalispell, Montana's Glacier High School football team has resigned and six freshman football players have been suspended over a post-game  bullying incident on a bus that the coach was driving. Specific details of the incident have not been released.

KCFW reports: School officials say the incident occurred on the team bus as they returned home from an away game in Missoula. All six players allegedly involved were also kicked off the team. The team’s head coach, who administrators say was driving the bus, has resigned from his position. Administrators won't give specific information about what happened on the bus other than to say several students were physically bullied. Kalispell School District Superintendant Darlene Schottle says they've made a big push this year to prevent incidents like this from occurring. She says the students knew better.

DANGER ZONE: D.C. Trans Community 'in Crisis' Over Violence, Series of Shootings!

Two more incidents (a non-fatal shooting, and the homicide of an unidentified individual found in make-up and heels) in Washington D.C. concerning violence against transgender individuals prompted police to call a news conference on Monday afternoon, the Washington Blade reports: A transgender woman suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to the neck about 2 a.m. Monday on the 2300 block of Savannah Street, S.E., D.C. police said. The incident was the fourth reported shooting of a transgender person in D.C. since July. The latest case prompted police officials to call a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss this and other transgender related cases.

Transgender activists Earline Budd and Ruby Corado, who spoke at the news conference, said the latest shooting was among more than a dozen violent attacks against transgender women in D.C. this year.

“The transgender community is now in crisis,” Corado said.

BLAME BACHMANN: Crane Falls, Smashes Into National Cathedral!

The National Cathedral got a message from on high today: “Run!” A construction crane toppled over there Wednesday, smashing into the Church House and the Herb Cottage, along with five parked cars, the Washington Post reports. 

The area was experiencing high wind at the time, with gusts hitting 40 to 50 miles per hour, but it’s, ahem, unclear if that caused the accident. One person was taken to the hospital as a result of the accident, but his injuries were not believed to be serious. Father Simon Bautista, a glass-half-full kind of guy, sees that as a miracle. “You can see that this was a divine hand that kept something else from happening,” he says. Bautista was at the cathedral when the crane fell. “My office started shaking,” he says, describing a sound that was like “thunder.”

DECLINED: Starbucks CEO Cancels Speech at Church Over its Ties to 'Ex-Gay' Org

Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO of Starbucks, has canceled a scheduled talk titled “How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul” at suburban Chicago-based Willow Creek Community Church, one branch of a megachurch formerly tied to "ex-gay" group Exodus International, following pressure from a petition on Change.org.

Said the petition: The church that is sponsoring the event on August 11th and 12th has a long history anti-gay persecution. For decades the church was a member of Exodus International, the organization that seeks to cure homosexuality through dangerous conversion therapy. The church split ways with the group, but in doing so stated that it wasn’t a change in belief but a change in focus. The church also has their own “outreach” programs to the LGBT community to spread their anti-lgbt message.

WRONG: Santa Cara's Great America Sued for Mocking Gay Couple!

Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, California is being sued for sexual harassment for posting a souvenir photo of a gay couple riding a roller coaster on one of its rides, and publicly mocking them with a thought bubble containing an anti-gay slur, the SF Chronicle's John King reports: The two men exited past a counter where park employees were selling photographs taken of patrons during the ride. Person and Yang declined to purchase a shot showing them from overhead, holding hands.

Later in the day, friends discovered the same photograph on display at a different ride's counter - but with a thought bubble added that contained the phase "Were (sic) Fags!"

The 10-count lawsuit asks for damages, saying the men were distressed at the time and have continued to suffer humiliation and discomfort. 

Great America did not respond to the paper's request for comment.

DEFEATED: Gay Couple Married Seven Years Loses Battle , Gets Deportation Order

Bradford Wells and Australian Anthony John Makk, who have lived together for 19 years and were married seven years ago in Massachusetts, have lost their battle with U.S. immigration and DOMA, the SF Chronicle reports. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Makk's application to be considered for permanent residency as a spouse of an American citizen, citing the 1996 law that denies all federal benefits to same-sex couples.

The decision was issued July 26. Immigration Equality, a gay-rights group that is working with the couple, received the notice Friday and made it public Monday. Makk was ordered to depart the United States by Aug. 25. Makk is the sole caregiver for Wells, who has severe health problems.

Despite please to Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama to intervene, the couple has lost their case: The agency's decision cited the Defense of Marriage Act as the reason for the denial of an I-130 visa, or spousal petition that could allow Makk to apply for permanent U.S. residency. "The claimed relationship between the petitioner and the beneficiary is not a petitionable relationship," the decision said. "For a relationship to qualify as a marriage for purposes of federal law, one partner must be a man and the other a woman."

RESEARCH: Psychologists Turn Gay Mormons Into Study!

Gay people have long been poked, prodded and probed by the scientific community. And, yes, that tradition continues.

Via the Daily Herald: A Utah State University psychology professor has launched a research study aimed at better understanding the experiences of gay Mormons and their relationship with the church.

Professor Renee Galliher says she hopes the survey data will dispel myths and promote better understanding about the lives of Mormon gays.

Like many faiths, Mormonism teaches that any sexual relationship outside of traditional marriage is a sin, and in the past, the church preached that homosexual feelings, alone, were a sin. One faith leader last year even suggested gays could be cured through prayer.

Among other questions, the survey asks respondents to describe their commitment to Mormon teachings before and after accepting their sexual orientation.

SPOILER ALERT: Gay Marriage Is Joyous, but Gay Divorce Is ... !

Gay marriage continues to make huge strides in the nation, as is clear across New York state today. Now if only gay divorce could catch up. As NPR explains, same-sex couples who split often run into a world of legal hassles unknown to their hetero counterparts. The problem usually involves two kinds of gay couples: an out-of-state pair who travels to a state where it's legal to marry; or couples who marry legally in their own state, but then move away.

If their new states don't recognize gay marriage, the couples are out of luck if they want a divorce. "It's strange. It puts me in emotional and legal limbo," says a Rhode Island woman who married her partner in Massachusetts but split three years later. They can't just go back to Massachusetts for a quick divorce, either; they'd need to live there a year to get one. Child custody cases can be a mess, and taxes, too: The federal government doesn't recognize gay marriage, which means the IRS doesn't, either.

In other News. Divorce Lawyers as starting to advertise Gay Divorce in New York!

CLUELESS: Maggie Gallagher needs to actually read the First Amendment!

Maggie Gallagher, Chuck Grassley, heck, maybe all conservatives (including Sarah Palin!) and anti-equality fear-mongers need to actually read the First Amendment. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you have, but for Gallagher’s sake, writes David Badash for 365Gay, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

So why is it that Maggie Gallagher – certainly a learned woman – felt the need Thursday to pen, “The Chilling of Our First Amendment Rights,” over at the National Review, in response to Senator Chuck Grassley’s mistaken testimony? 

ODDS: Lutherans split over gays shakes up social service network!

(AP) One of the largest social service networks in the United States, working in areas ranging from adoption to disaster relief, faces a shakeup because of Lutheran divisions over the Bible and homosexuality. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a theologically conservative denomination, said Wednesday that direct work with its larger and more liberal counterpart, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has become “difficult if not impossible,” because of doctrinal conflicts, including the 2009 decision by liberal Lutherans to lift barriers for ordaining gays and lesbians.

Neither denomination would discuss the potential financial impact Wednesday. Many Lutheran-affiliated agencies receive substantial state and federal grants that would not be directly affected by any split. However, similar to Catholic Charities, Lutheran agencies are some of the biggest service providers in their communities.

Just one of the joint Lutheran agencies, Lutheran Services in America, said on its website that it encompasses more than 300 health and human services organizations with a combined annual budget of more than $16 billion.

“We recognize that this is a difficult issue. It’s complicated,” said the Rev. Herb Mueller, first vice president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, based in St. Louis. “We’re trying to take a nuanced and caring approach to all of these situations that’s also faithful to what the Bible teaches on these issues.”

LOOKIN' GOOD: TSA Scanner Images: Now, Less Naked!

After six months of testing, the TSA has finally unveiled software to make us look a little less naked to its airport scanners. The software, which works on the millimeter wave machines installed at 41 airports, replaces the blurry image of a passenger’s actual body with a generic gray body image, the Washington Post reports. 

Similar software for backscatter machines is still in the works. “This software upgrade enables us to continue providing a high level of security through advanced imaging technology screening, while improving the passenger experience at checkpoints,” a TSA administrator says. But one part of the “experience” that’s not changing is the aggressive pat-down. If you refuse the scan, or it turns up anything suspicious, you're in for an unpleasant groping.

TWISTED: Champion Gymnast Found Begging on Beijing's Streets!

The fate of one former gymnastics prodigy has sparked outrage in China, following revelations that he has been reduced to begging on the streets of Beijing. Zhang Shangwu, 28, was sent to a gymnastics academy at age 5, made the national team at age 12, and in 2001 won two gold medals at the World University Games, the Telegraph reports. 

He was a shoo-in for the 2004 Olympic team, until an Achilles tendon injury forced him to retire—with a government payout of around $6,000. Zhang had no non-gymnastics education, and thanks to his injury lost even his job as a delivery boy. His grandfather soon had a brain hemorrhage, wiping out Zhang’s savings and forcing him to sell his medals for food. 

Eventually he turned to theft, got arrested, and was released from jail this April. Since then, he’s been begging and sleeping in internet cafes. Critics say his plight is indicative of flaws in China’s national sports system. “With a world champion descending into such a life, who would want to be a gymnast in the future?” one former teammate asks.

SO LONG: NY Town Clerk Quits Over Gay Marriage Law!

A New York town clerk has quit her post so she won’t have to sign same-sex marriage licenses, which she objects to on religious grounds. “The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures,” Laura Fotusky wrote in her letter of resignation. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said she didn’t have much choice given her beliefs, the Buffalo News reports. 

“If you can't enforce the law, then you shouldn't be in that position,” Cuomo said. To enforce laws, they “would have to be paramount ... to your religious beliefs,” he noted. “You can't have a system in this state where people enforce the laws that their religions say are OK to enforce.” Fotusky will leave her post as clerk in the town of Barker three days before the law takes effect July 24, she said.

TIME OUT: Binational Gay Couple Faces Deportation Wednesday!

LGBT groups will rally on Wednesday outside a San Francisco courthouse where a deportation hearing that may decide the fate of a married, gay binational couple will take place, Out4Immigration.org writes, in a press release:

On July 13 in San Francisco, Doug Gentry and Alex Benshimol, a married California couple who have been together for six years, will face every same-sex binational couple’s worst nightmare: a deportation hearing. Doug, a U.S. citizen, filed a marriage-based "green card" petition for Alex in July 2010. It was denied in March in a one-page letter citing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as the only reason. The couple re-filed the petition in June, citing changes in the administration position on DOMA that took place in February, and the Attorney General's intervention in a Board of Immigration Appeals case in April involving a gay binational couple facing deportation which was made public on May 5.

Alex came into the U.S. 12 years ago from Venezuela and overstayed a tourist visa, an immigration violation that straight binational couples can easily remedy once married; as a gay married couple, Doug and Alex do not have that option.

CONFRONTATION: Kerry Eleveld Calls Obama Out On 'Evolving' Marriage Policy!

All-star journalist Kerry Eleveld today published a piece at The Daily Beast in which she dissects and analyzes President Obama's "evolving" stance on marriage equality, and explains why the commander-in-chief should take the lead on an issue he's so far relegated to the states.
 

Here's but a taste of her lucid and compelling argument: The president’s posture has roiled some Americans. But others have made the case that far from hamstringing the marriage-equality movement, Obama is helping it by wisely withholding his endorsement as the issue simmers and stews at the state level.

“The genius of federalism is that it allowed us to prove that marriage equality would not lead to catastrophe, that it has in fact coincided with a strengthening of straight marriage, that in many states now, the sky has not fallen,” Andrew Sullivan wrote in a Newsweek/Daily Beast post last week entitled A President, Not a Governor.  “Obama's defense of federalism in this instance is not a regressive throw-back; it is a pragmatic strategy.”

This logic is founded on two misguided assumptions: 1) that if Obama came out for same-sex marriage, the debate at the state level would somehow grind to a screeching halt; and 2) that Obama’s position exists outside that deliberation, magically affecting neither the content nor the outcome of the debate.

Eleveld also argues that a more progressive position from the president would both help show the Supreme Court, should it hear a case on California's Proposition 8, that the nation's ready for equality, and would raise the bar for other Democratic candidates around the country.

OUTRAGE: Angry Posts Flood Facebook After Anthony Verdict!

Casey Anthony's surprise acquittal today on all the big charges did wonders for the nation's web traffic this afternoon. News site page views surged from 2 million to 3.3 million per minute around the time of the verdict, reports Mashable. Facebook posts from people enraged at the verdict came too fast for All Facebook to count, meaning at least 10 per second. Maybe it's no wonder, then, that jurors issued an "unequivocal no" when asked whether they wanted to speak to the media, notes ABC News.

Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin offers some guesses at their thinking for CNN: "The absence of a cause or time of death must have been very important to the jury," he says. And prosecutors might have gotten too greedy: "I think the prosecution overcharged this case. This was not a first-degree murder case. They should have charged her with more modest crimes and would have had a better chance."

BLAME CANADA: Homosexuality a Western Disease?

India's health minister ruffled feathers yesterday at an HIV/AIDS conference when he referred to homosexuality as a "disease" that came from the West. "Unfortunately this disease has come to our country, too ... where a man has sex with another man, which is completely unnatural and should not happen, but does," said Ghulam Nabi Azad. There was no immediate response from the government, but activists were outraged, the AP reports.

"These comments help no cause. It's definitely not going to help in our fight against HIV," one activist says. Among Asian countries, India has the largest number of people—2.5 million—living with the virus. Experts say that HIV/AIDS awareness messages are hard to get to gay people there because they are marginalized and isolated, and activists are concerned that Azad's comment sets back recent progress in the fight for gay rights.