Queer News

[Kobi]

The Wyoming State Historical Society will honor a controversial book about Matthew Shepard that claims he was killed in a drug deal gone wrong instead of the conventional belief that he was killed because he was gay – a move that’s raising some eyebrows.

“The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard,” by Stephen Jimenez, an investigative journalist who is openly gay, will receive an honorable mention in the nonfiction book category at a luncheon in Gillette on Saturday, said Linda Fabian, the Wyoming State Historical Society’s executive secretary.

“If the award was for a fictional book, I certainly would have no objection to it,” said Albany County Undersheriff Robert DeBree, who was the lead investigator in the 1998 murder of Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student.

Rick Ewig, president of the state historical society, said the nonprofit organization’s goal is to promote study of Wyoming’s history. Shepard’s murder is part of the state’s history.

The book’s publisher nominated the book, he said.

“It doesn’t mean we accept the interpretation of that book,” he said, noting that the historical society has been open to the more conventional belief that the murder was a hate crime, too.

Tom Rea, editor of Wyohistory.org, a project of the historical society, has published two accounts of Shepard’s murder written by Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which was established by Shepard’s parents.

One account is a description of the events in Shepard’s murder. The other is a more personal take on the murder.

Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson both received life sentences for murdering Shepard, who was 21 at the time of his death.

After meeting at a bar and possibly indicating they were gay, the two men drove Shepard outside Laramie, punched and pistol-whipped him, tied him to a cattle fence and left him unconscious. They took Shepard’s wallet, identification and shoes.

In his police confession, McKinney described Shepard in unflattering gay terms.

But “The Book of Matt” claims that McKinney believed Shepard could lead him to a delivery of $10,000 in methamphetamine that he could steal from Shepard. Outside town, McKinney lost control, the book claims.

The book criticizes the media for mythologizing the motives.

Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley, who investigated the murder in 1998, said Jimenez’s book should have been called “The Book of Lies.”

“Those of us who actually lived the situation know what is fact and what is fiction,” he said. “In my opinion, this ‘work’ is fiction with a few factual innuendos thrown in.”

Marsden, the director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, didn’t respond to the news of the state historical society award. But he said the book is an attempt to rewrite history based on untrustworthy sources, factual errors and rumors.

He said the foundation doesn’t react to “innuendo, rumor or conspiracy theories.”

“Instead we remain committed to honoring Matthew’s memory, and refuse to be intimidated by those who seek to tarnish it,” he added.

Jimenez continues to defend his book, which will be released in paperback Sept. 16, the same day as an international edition is published in England, Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan.

Jimenez wrote a new 20-page afterword with new sources who have corroborated the claims made in the book, he said.

The book started with a piece he did for ABC's "20/20" that won two awards. He continued reporting after the piece aired in 2004, and he said he learned more about the drug connection.

On Friday, he said he was traveling to Gillette with his partner to accept the award.

“The fact that this has been labeled as anti-gay is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I have been out since the 1970s.”

Former Albany County Attorney Cal Rerucha, now the Carbon County attorney, said the book is correct. The case Rerucha said he tried was felony murder and the motive was robbery.

He remains adamant that Shepard's death wasn't a hate crime.

"If methamphetamine wouldn’t be in this case, we wouldn’t have had a murder,” he said.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regio...f2917a217.html

[DapperButch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5778050.html

Awesome!

[ProfPacker]

I miss Martina in the Tennis arena

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by ProfPacker

I miss Martina in the Tennis arena

Me too. Used to love to watch her and Chrissie.

[Kobi]

The "How I Met Your Mother" star and his actor-chef groom, David Burtka, were married Saturday in Italy. They'd been dating for 10 years and are parents to 3-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper. The grooms wore custom Tom Ford tuxedos and Elton John performed at the reception.

"Yup, we put the 'n' and 'd' in 'husband,'" Harris tweeted Monday. His publicist later confirmed the news.

Harris, 41, just won a Tony Award for his role in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." He has been in several Broadway productions, including "Assassins," ''Proof" and as the exuberant master of ceremonies in "Cabaret."

Burtka, 39, played Tulsa in the Bernadette Peters-led revival of "Gypsy," was seen off-Broadway in "The Play About the Baby" and is also a chef.

"How I Met Your Mother" producer Pam Fryman officiated at the wedding.

http://news.yahoo.com/neil-patrick-h...174924690.html

[Kobi]

Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage

The public is evenly divided over whether businesses that provide wedding services, like catering or flowers, should be required to provide services to same-sex couples despite religious objections to same-sex marriage. Half (49%) say that wedding-related businesses should be required to provide services to same-sex couples just as they would to all other customers, while 47% say that these businesses should be allowed to refuse services to same-sex couples for religious reasons.

More men than women say that businesses should be allowed to refuse services for same-sex weddings for religious reasons (52% vs. 42%), and whites (52%) are more likely than either blacks (36%) or Hispanics (35%) to say the same. There is also a large generation gap on this issue. Most Americans ages 65 and older (60%) say that wedding-related businesses should be able to decline to provide services for same-sex weddings, while most adults under the age of 30 (62%) take the opposite view, saying that businesses should be required to provide services for same-sex weddings. Those between the ages of 30 and 64 are evenly divided on this question.

Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants express the strongest support for allowing businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings (71%). At the other end of the spectrum, majorities of Hispanic Catholics (64%) and the religiously unaffiliated (61%) say businesses should be required to provide wedding services for same-sex couples, as do 59% of black Protestants. White Catholics and white mainline Protestants are more evenly split on this question.

Is Homosexual Behavior Sinful?

The survey also finds a close link between views of whether homosexual behavior is a sin and requiring businesses to provide services for same-sex weddings. Among those who say homosexual behavior is a sin, six-in-ten say that businesses should not be required to provide services for same-sex weddings. But among those who say homosexual behavior is not a sin, two-thirds say businesses should be required to service same-sex weddings.

The number of people who view homosexual behavior as sinful has ticked up in the past year, from 45% in 2013 to 50% in the current poll.

The view that homosexual behavior is sinful is most common among white evangelical Protestants (82%) and black Protestants (77%). By contrast, nearly three-quarters of religious “nones” (72%) say that homosexual behavior is not sinful. White mainline Protestants and Catholics are more evenly divided about whether homosexual behavior is sinful.

Views on Same-Sex Marriage

The current poll finds 49% of the public expressing support for same-sex marriage and 41% expressing opposition. Three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants oppose same-sex marriage. By contrast, three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated support allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. There is also more support than opposition to same-sex marriage among Catholics and white mainline Protestants.

Support for same-sex marriage in the current poll is on par with Pew Research polls conducted in 2013, when 50% expressed support for same-sex marriage and 43% registered opposition, but down slightly from a February 2014 Pew Research poll that found 54% support for same-sex marriage. It is too early to know whether this is an anomaly or the beginning of a reversal or leveling off of the growth in support for same-sex marriage widely observed in polls over the past decade.

http://www.pewforum.org/2014/09/22/s...itical-issues/

[Kobi]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Television has increased and improved its depiction of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters, with the edge going to cable and the Internet over broadcast networks, according to a study released Wednesday.

Networks are promoting understanding of gay lives with some of the most inclusive programs yet, but should "strive to include significant transgender content," Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement.

Transgender characters are featured on cable and Internet fare such as the online series "Orange Is the New Black" from Netflix and "Transparent" from Amazon, the media advocacy group said.

In this year's Emmy Award nominations, "Orange Is the New Black" co-star Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender actress to receive a nod.

The overall on-screen progress comes as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has made social and political strides that include legalization of same-sex marriage in some U.S. states and the end of a military ban on openly gay service members, GLAAD said.

In the 2014-15 season, GLAAD's study found that 3.9 percent of 813 characters regularly seen on prime-time network scripted series will be lesbian, gay or bisexual, a total of 32 characters.

That represents an increase over last year's 3.3 percent, but is down from the 4.4 percent record high for LGBT depictions on network series in 2012.

Among the networks, Fox again emerged with the highest percentage of lesbian, gay or bisexual regular characters, 6.5 percent, with "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Glee" among the programs contributing to the tally. ABC, which had tied with Fox for first last year at 5.4 percent, dropped to 4.5 percent.

NBC is at 3.8 percent, up a point from last year, while CBS' shows had 3.2 percent gay, lesbian or bisexual characters, up 1.9 percent from last season. The CW has no regular LGBT characters, GLAAD said.

Among cable TV shows, there were 64 regular LGBT characters, up from 42 last season. HBO has the most characters, followed by ABC Family and Showtime. One transgender character, on ABC Family's "The Fosters," was found by the study.

GLAAD also studied other aspects of diversity on network TV and found it wanting.

Despite several new high-profile broadcast series starring women, including Alfre Woodward as the U.S. president in NBC's "State of Affairs" and Tea Leoni as secretary of state in CBS' "Madam Secretary," the percentage of female characters has declined to 40 percent, down 3 points from last year.

Ethnic characters on network shows make up 27 percent of the total, compared with 23 percent last season, with 1.4 percent depicted as people with disabilities, a slight increase from 1 percent in 2013, GLAAD found.

http://news.yahoo.com/glaad-study-ga...110204433.html