this photo represents happiness & equality
BIG GAY IMPROVEMENTS: New Report Documents ‘Decade of Progress’ on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality in America – Two-thirds of the 36 statistical indicators compiled in A Decade of Progress on LGBT Rights showed significant advances, including sharp increases in the number of LGBT Americans protected by nondiscrimination and family recognition legislation at the state level. Just over a quarter of the indicators were negative, and two showed mixed results.
The Movement Advancement Project reports:
+ The number of states outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation increased 83 percent, from 12 to 22, between 2000 and 2009.
+ The number of Americans living in a state that offers some protections to same-sex couples nearly tripled, from 12.7 percent to 37.2 percent.
+ The number of openly LGBT elected officials in America rose 73 percent between 2000 and 2009, from 257 to 445.
+ The percentage of the public supporting the right of openly gay and lesbian people to serve in the military grew from 62 percent to 75 percent.
+ Support for marriage equality has grown from 35 percent in 2000 to 39 percent today; a larger increase in support for relationship recognition that involves many of the rights of marriage, from 45 to 57 percent.*
+ BAD NEWS INCLUDES: The percentage of LGBT students reporting hearing homophobic remarks in school has remained above 99 percent and LGBT students who report experiencing harassment in school edged up (up from 83.2 percent to 86.2 percent.)
* 35 PERCENT TO 39 PERCENT? REALLY? THAT’S IT? WTF IS GOING ON? Also they point out that now a ton of states have outlawed gay marriage, which was not happening 10 years ago. Of course we had nowhere to go but up this decade, but what do you think? Has progress kept pace with your expectations?
VOTE: Vote for SheWired’s Favorite Gay Woman of 2009! Looking through the (eight pages of) nominees is sort of inspiring ’cause you’re like, hai 8 pages, hai there’s a lot of gay ladies on here, and they’re so cute, Nicole Pacent hi!! and hai there’s a photo of Kim Stolz from the Autostraddle Photoshoot with Kim Stolz! Go vote, obvs I voted for Jane Lynch because I have to follow number one life rule, “The Lynch Can Do No Wrong.” (@shewired)
KIDS THESE DAYS!
SEXTING: 1 in 6 teens have participated in “sexting,“ which is defined by this new study as sending nude or nearly nude photos of themselves to others via text or receiving these these photos. I thought “sexting” meant dirty talk via text message, in which case I was gonna say that 4 out of 6 kids lied to the survey taker. Anyhow, it’s sort of upsetting – “Teens explained to us how sexually suggestive images have become a form of relationship currency.” WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?(@mashable)
GOOD NEWS: John Mayer has given up dating.
SEX ED (OR LACK THEREOF): According to a new study, most teens have already had sex by the time parents get around to talking about it. Hopefully your children will be lesbians and therefore will not already be pregnant by the time you get around to talking about it. Unless they’re lesbians who are dating men. So you should probs just put them on a bus and send them to Planned Parenthood. Luckily we had Sex Ed. Also most sexually active unmarried young adults believe pregnancy should be planned, but about half do not use contraception regularly.
ON A HAPPIER NOTE: For Improv Everywhere‘s latest public spectacle, its agents recruited a 13-member handbell choir to “provided some unexpected accompaniment for a Salvation Army bell ringer on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.” Take a look at the video after the jump.
wow, i heard about ‘sexting’ on snatches of NPR all things considered today and didn’t understand what they were on about, almost thought the reporter had a lisp. i am saddened to discover the truth.
hahahahaha, snatches of NPR. Get it? No? Just me that finds that funny? I need more coffee.
Yeah I totally thought sexting was dirty talk, too. WHY in the name of all that is good would you ever send a suggestive picture to another teenager? WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN YOU BREAK UP??
hahah NPR
Sexting was the headline story on the 11 o’clock news last night and I just started laughing.
hmm, it was inadvertent so i don’t get it.. but i might be dumb and/or live in the wrong hemisphere
I get the “snatches” bit, and it made me laugh as well. It also reminded me of the time a few years back when on a bus full of fellow students in Europe a classmate said to me, “Do you have Snatch?” Obviously, everyone thought he was talking about snatch the slang word, which gathered a collective gasp, group smirk, and random laughter. In actuality he was asking if I had “Snatch” the movie starring Brad Pitt in the collection of DVDs I brought on the trip. The hilarious part is that I did have Snatch and said so without realizing the double entendre at first.
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Oh, them I’m not a sexter!
I feel a little more clean.
I know right? I was like HAVEN’T WE ALL? And then I was like, Oh nude photos. BAD IDEA KIDS DON’T DO IT.
Lol, yeah in this case I’m like an avid de-sexter.
I’m like sextually abstinent.
I hate when people ask me for pics.
Pervs.
Sextually abstinent. OMG. Win.
=]
If only people would stop using “gay” as a synonym for “stupid” it wouldn’t be so bad. Half the kids don’t mean “gay” as a serious homophobic remark, they actually mean “stupid” but don’t know what they’re really saying. I think what we need to do is buy people dictionaries or get them to read a f*cking book.
Yeah, and then some kids know it’s offensive, or not exactly okay, but are too lazy to change. Especially because everyone around them is still doing it. And also especially if there are no lgbt members/allies around to care whether they do or not.
That’s how I was about the n-word when I used to say it, years ago. Now I cringe at it.
All one person has to say is “don’t use gay as a synonym for stupid”. Sometimes my friends say it and as soon as I say that they realize they didn’t mean it like that. It’s true, if they don’t have a gay friend or whatever there’s no one to tell them off. That’s why it’s important for us to tell people it’s not okay when they say things like that, even when they don’t mean it. Actually, especially if they don’t mean it. People need to stop saying things they don’t mean.
I agree with you completely, but there will be those people that will look at you like you’re crazy, or some type of loser (this is one of the worst parts of being in this teen age group.) Or the very worst to me, there will be the ones who pretend to care and disregard you. This happened to me a lot in high school with the n-word, which especially bugged me because most of the school threw it around, and frankly I knew a lot of people had done it because there were never any African-American students around to tell them that it’s not okay. (Out of the nearly 4000 students my high school had, 1.97 percent were black, as reported my senior year.) Anyway, so someone would spew the n-bomb and I’d say something or give a disapproving look and they’d say “oh, I’m sorry” in a hurry or wave it off. Not really caring at all. And I’d hear them say it again within the next five minutes or when I’m walking away.
Of course, still, the worst case scenario is that they won’t listen. So you should always say something. What’s the worst that could happen, you know?
That’s why Wanda can do no wrong. Nuff said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS0GVOQPs0
Improve Everywhere is amazing!!
I Love Lunch!