Gay Pro Athlete Is Returning To The Sport He Loves

Robbie Rogers, 26, the US Olympic athlete and international footballer/soccer player, who came out and told the world that he’s gay in February 2013, and was retiring from professional sports, had a change of heart, and the world of professional sports will be better for it.

In an interview with USA Today Sports, Robbie announced that after some time away from the sport, and some personal reflection, that he’s returning to the ranks of professional athletes, and will be playing for Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy. He will be the first active openly gay player in Major League Soccer.

When Robbie came out, he made the announcement on his website, and he pondered whether some of his unfulfilled dreams would haunt him. He asked “Dreams of going to a World Cup, dreams of The Olympics, dreams of making my family proud.  What would life be without these dreams? Could I live a life without them?” 

Pro footballer/soccer player Robbie Rogers.

After he spent a few months thinking about his dreams, he came to the realization that his sexuality isn’t a barrier to fulfilling his dreams, and that’s terrific.

As I noted in February, Robbie has played at the highest levels of his sport. He’s been a member of the US National team, and he scored the tying goal against Mexico in the first match under new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He’s an Olympian, and started all three games for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and played for the Columbus Crew when they won the MLS Cup Championship.

USA Today reporters Mike Foss and Erik Brady asked Robbie why he changed his mind. They wrote:

Rogers' epiphany to return to the game came when he spoke to a group of about 500 kids at the Nike Be True LGBT Youth Forum in Portland last month.

"I seriously felt like a coward," he tells USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive interview about his return. "These kids are standing up for themselves and changing the world, and I'm 25, I have a platform and a voice to be a role model. How much of a coward was I to not step up to the plate?"

And so, newly turned 26, he will step onto the pitch again. He couldn't imagine such a thing when he told his secret in February, writing an open letter on his website and linking to it with this pithy tweet: "Just getting some shit off my chest."

He also hopes to play for the U.S. national team in the 2014 World Cup — and to be the role model for gay teens that he wished he'd had.

This is fantastic news, and I’m really glad that Robbie is more comfortable in his skin, and that he can return to the game that he loves. It’s great for him, great for the Galaxy, and great for professional sports. Plus he’ll be a terrific role model for gay and straight kids, and we need more Robbie’s in the world.

Congratulations Robbie - and keep reaching for the stars!

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Boy Scouts of America’s Anti-Gay Policy Is Un-American

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), long known for their homophobic ban on gay scouts and gay scout leaders, reached what they are characterizing as a “compromise.” The 1,400 member Boy Scouts National Council, voted to accept the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee, and they lifted the ban on gay youth in scouting. The vote was 61% (854) to 39% (546).

This is a positive first step, and I’ll acknowledge that, as it’s been a long time coming. Kids should never experience discrimination, for any reason, and I’m glad that their policy has changed for the scouts.

This is JUST a first step, and the Boy Scouts of America didn’t go far enough. They are keeping their ban on gay scout leaders. On what planet is discrimination acceptable? Discrimination is unAmerican, and unacceptable in any shape or form. It sets a bad example for the kids in scouting, and it reflects badly on the BSA organization.

In the Seattle Times, they noted that religious organizations object to this policy change.

Conservatives with the Scouts — including some churches that sponsor Scout units — wanted to continue excluding gay youngsters, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted.

“We are deeply saddened,” Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, said after learning of the vote. “Homosexual behavior is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the Scout oath and Scout law.”

The Assemblies of God, another conservative denomination, said the policy change “will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program.”

The Southern Baptist Convention always trots out the same anti-gay rhetoric to reaffirm their bigotry. I still don’t understand what “homosexual behavior” is, and I’m so tired of alleged religious leaders justifying their anti-gay hatred by citing an oath or a non-existent law, or a passage in scripture that’s been twisted to suit a political agenda.

Leaders of the conservative faction predicted the Boy Scouts will soon be forced by lawsuits to allow openly gay leaders, and they accused the top leaders of ignoring the beliefs of their members.

“The fallout from this is going to be tremendous,” predicted Robert Schwarzwalder, a senior vice president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, and a father of two Scouts in Northern Virginia. “I think there will be a loss of hundreds of thousands of boys and parents.”

“This great institution is going to be vitiated by the intrusion of a political agenda,” he said.

The Scouts could take a hit financially. Many Scout units in conservative areas fear local donors will stop giving.

But the ban also cost the organization. The UPS Foundation, Merck, the Intel Foundation, and many local United Ways and city agencies ended financing for the Scouts because its policies violated their own non-discrimination guidelines.

You can rest assured that I’m not going to ease up on the BSA until they totally lift their ban. Anti-gay discrimination is outrageous.

Shame on the Boy Scouts of America.  

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Gay Florida Teen Facing Prison Sentence Because She Fell In Love

When Dan Savage started the “It Gets Better Project,” targeting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth, I had some reservations about it. I thought about some of the gay people that I know and have known, who took a more circuitous route in life, where it took quite awhile before life got better.

They’re a small minority, and I concluded that positive and uplifting messages directed at LGBTQ kids, even if they might be sugar coated, was a good thing, and far outweighed the alternative. For many LGBTQ kids, the “It Gets Better Project” provides the only gay positive messages and information that adolescent kids hear, and they need to hear those messages.  And for most gay people, life does gets better with time.

As I was watching a television news story last night about the Florida teenager charged with being a lesbian sex offender, I wondered how we could instill hope in her. How can we tell Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, of Sebastian, Florida, who fell in love with a teammate on the Sebastian River High School women’s basketball team, and was charged with 2 felonies as a result, that “it gets better” with time?

Because of her lesbian relationship, Kaitlyn was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery when she turned 18, and expelled from the high school where she was a cheerleader, basketball player, and voted “Miss School Spirit.” She’s facing a possible 15 year prison term, and would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life, if she’s found guilty of the allegations.

When I think of the challenges that young LGBT kids face, I think of how important it is to have adults who love and support them, in their corner.

Kaitlyn’s parents have been rallying the troops, and have been exemplary in standing with their daughter, and have become LGBT activists in their own right. It’s the other adults in Kaitlyn’s life that let her down. From her basketball coach, to her teachers and school administrators, the county State Attorney’s Office, and the parents of her girlfriend, have all responded to this innocent young love with bigotry and anti-gay discrimination.

In a “Free Kate” Facebook page, it says “The law is designed to protect our children, but the law does not serve its purpose when it is applied to consensual behavior between peers." I couldn’t agree more.

According to a petition on change.org (that I signed), Steven Hunt - Kaitlyn’s father - claims that the parents of her daughter’s girlfriend went to the police because they objected to their daughter’s homosexuality.

Older high school students date younger students all the time, and it’s not viewed as criminal behavior that should be punished with a lengthy prison term. This is outrageous, and pure discrimination, since the law is being applied to a lesbian high school student, with no evidence that any other student that’s gay or straight, has been charged with the same offense. Kaitlyn has been singled out, and that's wrong.

According to the Huffington Post, the hacktivist group Anonymous have announced their support for Kaitlyn, and they have launched Operation Justice4Kaitlyn, and have targeted the high school and the Indian River County State Attorney’s Office. 

Anonymous announced:

"While in the course of performing your duties we feel that you've lost perspective. Tsk, tsk. The truth is, Kaitlyn Hunt is a bright young girl who was involved in a consensual, same-sex relationship while both she and her partner were minors.

"She has a big future ahead of her and there are people, thousands of people in fact, that have no intention of allowing you to ruin it with your rotten selective enforcement.

"Intolerance has been the curse of this country since its inception. Frankly, we're sick of it. Specifically, we're sick of paying the salaries of people like you.

"There are quite a few organizations in this country that would prefer that our elected officials not hire bigots that hunt down and file erroneous charges against young women because of their sexual orientation. The fact is, the puritanism you practice doesn't have a place in this world any longer."

I say bravo to Anonymous - I agree with everything they wrote. If this case involved a football player dating a younger cheerleader, there would be no charges, and no arrests, and no criminal case.

The Florida law was written to protect children from pedophile predators, and Kaitlyn isn’t a pedophile or a predator. She’s a lesbian teenager who fell in love with her teammate. It’s that simple, and she’s facing a possible 15 year prison sentence because of it.

This can only be characterized for what it is, and that’s abject discrimination, and that’s outrageous.

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Heroic Trans Teen Takes School To Task For Bullying And Discrimination

Issak Wolfe, an 18 year old senior at Red Lion Area Sr. High School, in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, is graduating from high school on June 7th, 2013. Issak made a simple request to his school. He asked that when the names are read at the graduation ceremony, that the person reading the names read “Issak Wolfe.” That’s the name that his classmates and teachers call him, and that’s the name he wanted said aloud on the public address system.

The school district takes issue with the fact that Issak is transgender, and identifies as male. Issak didn’t ask that the school change the legal name on his diploma, he asked that they acknowledge his graduation by reciting Issak Wolfe at the ceremony.

Issak was required to go to the local school board with his request. He presented a petition to the board with 2,000 signatures, and the meeting was packed with Issak’s supporters.

Erik Ortiz at the New York Daily News writes:

“Reading my male name at graduation wouldn’t hurt anyone, but they know that reading my female name only serves to hurt me more,” said Wolfe, who was born a female named Sierra Stambaugh but has identified as a male for more than two years. “Obviously, it’s more important to them to push around an 18-year-old than it is to make the school a safe space for its students.”

Wolfe and his mother, April Billet-Barclay, pointed out that Wolfe is not asking to have his diploma altered with his male name — though he is in the process of legally changing it — but only to be announced by his chosen male name at graduation.

Whatever happens, Wolfe said, he’s at least proud that he took a stand.

“I stood up for other students in the future, and that’s what counts,” he said.

Public schools have a duty to create the optimum space for all students to feel safe. It’s patently unfair and discriminatory for the school to require a public hearing to publicly discuss a private matter. The public hearing serves no purpose but to humiliate Issak, and that’s outrageous.

Issak’s request is so benign, and there’s no rational reason to deny his request, other than to humiliate, discriminate, and embarrass him. As far as I’m concerned, that’s outrageous and completely unacceptable.

I’ve written an email to the Superintendent of the Red Lion Area School District, Dr. Scott A. Deisley, the Supervisor of Pupil Personnel, Mrs. Mary Smith, and Mark Shue the principal, in support of Issak. If you click on their names, you can email them too.

Issak is so brave and courageous for taking a public stand, and I applaud him for that. He stood up for himself, and other transgender students, across the country, and that’s nothing short of heroic.

Hang in there Issak - you're a hero to scores of people across the country - and I salute your bravery and courage. Bravo Issak!

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TV Talk: Joan Rivers New Show "In Bed With Joan" Is Must See TV

Joan Rivers, the gay Icon and comedy legend, is starring in a new talk show called “In Bed With Joan.” Each week Joan interviews a celebrity guest from the comfort of her well appointed full-size bed, in her daughter Melissa’s Malibu home.

In my humble opinion, Joan Rivers is an American treasure. She’s been working as an actress and comedian for over 50 years, and she’ll be celebrating her 80th birthday on June 8th, 2013.

How many 80 year old women work as hard as Joan Rivers? None! Joan travels the world with her stand-up act, hosts “Fashion Police” on E!, stars in “Joan & Melissa - Joan Knows Best?” on We tv, and designs and produces Joan Rivers Classic Collection, her jewelry line, for QVC.

[To read the entire review, see the photos, and learn how you can subscribe to the show, click read more on the lower right.]

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The Watercooler: 3 Gay LGBT News Stories You Need To Know

1. Gay activists from GetEqual interrupted the speech of Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) at the Hillsborough County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in Tampa, Florida on Saturday. The activists screamed “All families matter” and “Include our families in immigration reform!” The Florida Republican has vowed to scuttle any bill that includes a provision for gay married binational couples.

2. An arrest was made in the senseless murder of Mark Carson,  in New York’s West Village, on Friday night. Elliot Morales, 33, was arraigned on Sunday, and was charged with second degree murder as a hate crime. The accused killer taunted the victim and his friend with anti-gay slurs, prior to  pointing a gun at the victim. The New York Police Department has reported a sharp rise in anti-gay incidents this year.

3. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), gay marriage bans and anti-gay laws have a negative effect on the mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Stress-related disorders dropped in states that enacted marriage equality legislation.

NPR reporter Shankar Vedantam writes:

“Mark Hatzenbuehler, a psychologist at Columbia University who studies the health effects of social policies, analyzed the data gathered before and after the bans to determine how the mental health of people who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual had changed in those states.”

"Lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals who lived in the states that banned same sex marriage experienced a significant increase in psychiatric disorders," Hatzenbuehler says.

"There was a 37 percent increase in mood disorders," he says, "a 42 percent increase in alcohol-use disorders, and — I think really strikingly — a 248 percent increase in generalized anxiety disorders."

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Republicans Behaving Badly Imperil The Party’s Future

Amid great fanfare on March 18th, 2013, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the the Republican National Committee released their multi-million dollar research study entitled “Growth and Opportunity Project” to “grow the party and improve Republican campaigns.”

While the report looked back at the failed 2012 Romney Ryan presidential campaign, the primary focus was on the future. The study recommended that Republicans “modernize the Party, and learn once again how to appeal to more people, including those who share some but not all of our conservative principles.”

The study emphasized that the overwhelming public perception that “Republicans don’t care,” was problematic for the party. The report said that the GOP should be there when people need them, so they can quickly get back on their feet. They also said “We should be driven by reform, eliminating, and fixing what is broken, while making sure the government’s safety net is a trampoline, not a trap.”

The research study also addressed social issues, and found that the GOP must be more inclusive and welcoming. The study stated that if the Republican party failed to adapt to our changing times, that women and young voters will continue to reject the party, and imperil their future.

So how is the GOP doing?

Just three and a half weeks after this report was published, the Republican National Committee (RNC) met in Los Angeles, California for their spring meeting. The RNC passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court “to uphold the sanctity of marriage,” and reaffirmed the party platform that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.

I guess their commitment to being a political party that’s more welcoming and inclusive, has been put on hold.

Over the last month, Republicans in the US Senate have managed to scuttle expanded background checks for gun purchases, which is overwhelmingly supported by the American people.

They boycotted the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, to avoid voting on the President Obama’s nominee to head the EPA. They did this after demanding that nominee Gina McCarthy answer over 1,100 written questions about the EPA, which is unprecedented, with 650 questions from Senator David Vitter (R-LA) alone.

Republicans on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee postponed a vote twice on the President’s nominee for Labor Secretary, and then invoked a rarely used procedural rule to delay consideration again.  Thomas Perez, the current chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, was the Secretary of Labor for the state of Maryland. In his current role at the Justice Department, he’s known for his aggressive stance enforcing voting rights, investigating police abuse and brutality, and promoting fair lending practices.

As The Washington Post notes, Democrats are fans of Thomas Perez because he champions the little guys, and Republicans dislike him exactly for that reason.  

At a Senate hearing last week, Republicans affected indignation — and strained credulity — by insisting that Mr. Perez had failed to stick up for a federal contracting program designed mainly to benefit minority and low-income workers. It was novel to hear GOP lawmakers posing as champions of the disadvantaged, but their protests were nothing but a pretext.

Republican members of Congress have been attempting to pin a “scandal” on President Obama, because a couple of rogue staffers in a regional Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office in Cincinnati, Ohio, gave extra scrutiny to conservative tea party applications seeking tax-exempt status. Every political organization that bills itself as a political “social welfare” group, worthy of tax-exempt status, should receive extra scrutiny. Give me a break!

Too many political action committees have been classified as a 501(c)4 tax-exempt social welfare group, when they’re just a front for political action committees. Republicans can cry foul - while the American people should demand that all groups receive the same extra scrutiny.

And the Republican old men in the US Senate continue to make hay with the Benghazi mess, after slashing funding for embassy security around the world,  instead of tending to the business of the Senate, which includes getting people back to work.

The coup de grace was the fact that the Republicans in the US House of Representatives voted to repeal Obamacare for the 37th time last week. The GOP has no alternative proposals to replace Obamacare - they just want to get rid of it - despite the fact that it reduces future budget deficits, while extending health insurance coverage to millions. 

Amid all of this chaos created by Republicans - we're supposed to believe they care?     

Will the bipartisan immigration bill get anywhere in this toxic climate? Excluding gay binational couples from the immigration bill will be more evidence that the millions of dollars spent on the Growth and Opportunity Project study was like flushing the money down the toilet. Then again, Republicans in Congress have been flushing taxpayers money down the toilet for years, starting with the Iraq war.

Republicans have been acting to reinforce that they don’t care, they aren’t welcoming and inclusive, and if they were in charge there’d be no growth and no opportunities for anyone.  

It’s the same Grumpy Old Party of old white men, and I see no evidence that Republicans will stop behaving badly in the near future. They’ll certainly pay for their transgressions in public opinion polls, and at the ballot box. Since they keep failing to adapt to our changing times, gay voters, women, the youth vote, Hispanics and people of color, will continue to reject the Republican  party.....now and into the future.

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Millions Of U.S. Children Afflicted With Untreated Mental Health Disorders

In a new study entitled “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children” which was published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), they examined federal data and research related to the mental health of our nation’s youth from 2005 to 2011.  The report estimates that up to 1 in 5 American kids experience a mental health challenge each year, while only 21% of those afflicted receive treatment.

The study found that millions of kids live with major depressive disorders, ADHD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, Tourette’s syndrome, and many other mental health maladies. The CDC reports that this study “is an important step to better understand childhood mental disorders and help children reach their full potential in life.”

Ruth Perou, PhD of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities stated “ Children of all ethnic backgrounds, races, genders and ages, in every area of the United States live with a mental disorder. We need surveys and data systems that provide the necessary mental health information to improve children’s health and wellbeing at home and in school. This will help children reach their full potential while reducing societal costs.”

In The Washington Post, Tony Pugh writes:

Childhood mental disorders that alter the way children learn, behave and cope with their emotions affect 13 percent to 20 percent of youths under age 18, the CDC said Thursday. They also cost families and society at large an estimated $247 billion a year in treatment, special education, juvenile justice and decreased productivity, it stated.

Although the prevalence, early onset and effect on society make childhood mental problems a major public health issue, only 21 percent of affected children get treatment because of a shortage of pediatric sub-specialists and child and adolescent psychiatrists, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

“Our current healthcare system does not meet the needs of these children,” Martin J. Drell, the group’s president, said last week in a statement about the problem.

Making matters worse, fewer medical students are opting for careers in children’s mental health, while the current crop of professionals is aging out of the workforce. The dearth of providers means troubled youngsters in underserved rural and urban areas are less likely to get timely care.

“Children with serious medical conditions should not have where they live determine what kind of health care services they receive,” said Thomas K. McInerny, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

It  breaks my heart to learn that there are millions of kids across this country who face mental health challenges, with little to no help in understanding the challenges, or receiving the proper treatment and advice to cope with the adversity.  Every mental health disorder is treatable, and some can be cured.

We have to equip our children with the tools to succeed in the future, and tending to their mental health needs is integral to ensuring their overall success in life. Hopefully a study like this will have an effect on our nation’s psyche, and it will force change.

The future of our country and our planet lies in the hands of our children. I feel strongly that it’s our responsibility as adults, to love our children unconditionally, and do everything in our power to ensure that we provide a solid education to every kid, with the best healthcare we can possibly provide.  A good education and access to healthcare, isn’t a privilege. It’s a right, particularly for our children.

I hope that one day our nation’s laws will comport with the moral values I feel so strongly about.  I’ve always believed that it is our responsibility to make the world a better place,  so that we leave an enduring legacy for the generations that  follow. Making a commitment to the mental health needs of our children would be a great place to start.

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