Tom Daley Comes Out

Ad Spotlight: Log Cabin Republicans

From yesterday's Politico. From Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo: 

"Make no mistake: as Log Cabin Republicans, we want to win elections, and if the Republican Party wants to do the same it needs to take a stand against anti-gay rhetoric in its ranks and welcome the increasing numbers of Republicans who support the freedom to marry. Our ad today in Politico should be a wake-up call to Republicans and a reminder of the words of President Reagan, who, in describing his ‘big tent’ conservative philosophy, declared, ‘It is not your duty, responsibility or privilege to tear down, or attempt to destroy, others in the tent.’ Let’s make the tent bigger. Let’s get the Republican Party back on a path to victory."

Trending: Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends

This is Awesome

This is exactly the kind of stuff we need to see more of in this world. Amazing. And done in support of Washington Referendum 74, which will legalize access to civil marriage licenses for same sex couples.

How America Evolves on LGBT Issues

From Jeffrey Hartinger's Op-Ed:

Americans may think, I don’t completely understand where gay individuals are coming from or why they feel that way, but I know I don’t think like these people. The closers, of course, are the subtle and tasteful marketing campaigns that showcase gay individuals as regular Americans; a Tylenol ad that features a lesbian couple and their son at the kitchen table, a JCPenney spread that honors LGBT parents for both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and countless others from Ray-Ban, Absolut, Gap, Amtrak, Miller 64, and American Airlines, just to name a few.

No matter in what era or what part of the world we live, humans like to see our lives reflected back to us. We feed off things we connect to,  that we strive for, that we want. 

Worth Watching...

A Call for Digital Activism from Edna Jean Robinson

Oh how I miss seeing her perform at JR's in Dallas. Kudos to her for this inspiring video. 

New Stat on Support for Marriage Equality by Age

No surprises in the pattern here. Again, I'd be curious to see how the question was phrased. As I always caveat when sharing marriage equality data, in my opinion the question should be phrased as, "Do you believe same-sex couples should have the right to access civil marriage licenses?" This is because there is a difference between "favoring something" and believing people should have the right to it. As an example, some redneck American out there might not personally "favor" interracial marriage, but that doesn't necessarily mean he believes interracial couples out there shouldn't have the right to marry. Furthermore, the distinction between the two types of marriage - civil and religious - must always be made clear when it comes to polling on this issue. Language matters. 

The Top Reasons to Ban Marriage Equality in Minnesota

Obviously more of an effort to energize progressive young people than to change minds of those on the other side:

Beyond Better: A Manifesto for Queer Youth

Here's an outstanding video that was made by the students of Margaret Himley's Queer Writing class at Syracuse University last year. The course is part of Syracuse's LGBT Studies minor (which I proudly hold), the first of its kind in the United States.

Target: It Gets Better

General Motors: It Gets Better

Chicago Cubs: It Gets Better

San Francisco Giants to Make "It Gets Better Video"

Giants fan Sean Chapin, pictured here, successfully organized an effort to persuade the SF Giants to become the first professional sports team to participate in the "It Gets Better" project. Read more here. 

Google Interviews Lady Gaga

After watching just the first few minutes of this, I can tell that it will be a very interesting case study on the Lady Gaga brand. Enjoy:

Macy's to Test "Spring Break" Promotion in Chicago This Weekend

In an effort to depart from the outdated traditional department store image, Macy's will test what looks like a pretty interesting promotion targeting college students this weekend in Chicago. The event will happen on Saturday from 2-5pm at their State Street store. It's slated to include sales, giveaways, drinks and live music. They've promoted it across an array of social media and will even be sending vans to all area college campuses on Saturday to bus students to and from the store. In recent months, I've noticed a noticeable change in their men's inventory and now get all my Diesel stuff there when they have sales. I even opened up a Macy's charge... I'm becoming more and more like my mother. Anyways, read more about the promotion here. 

Give a Damn: Homeless Youth

An estimated 20-40% of homeless youth in the United States are LGBT. Cyndi Lauper's latest "Give a Damn" video wants to do something about that. Check out the messages from her and Susan Sarandon, Alan Cumming, Pete Wentz, Rebecca Romijn and Eden Riegel:

Florida Family Association vs. Degrassi

The "Florida Family Association" has falsely claimed that they convinced Kodak to pull its advertising from Degrassi, a show on Teen Nick. The FFA launched an effort to convince advertisers to pull out of the show after it recently introduced Adam, a transgender character. Well, it turns out that last week's absence of Kodak advertising on the show had absolutely nothing to do with the FFA and was just a planned break in their media plan. Kodak's response:

Our new 'So Kodak' advertising campaign, featuring Rihanna, Trey Songz, Pitbull and Drake (who—we know!—started his career on Teen Nick), will continue to run on Degrassi. What you're seeing is a planned pause in our media schedule. We'll be back on next week, so keep an eye out for us!

So yay for Kodak. But it is still unclear how the other 15 advertisers the FFA targeted will respond. Don't these "family" organizations have anything better to do with their time and energy? And always, if you don't like what you're watching, change the damn channel. 

A Message From Cyndi Lauper

For young people, fall is often a time of new beginnings: new school year, new schedules, new adventures yet to happen.

Unfortunately, not every young person has something to look forward to in their life. Many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth struggle to come to terms with their sexual orientation or gender identity, while also seeking the acceptance of their family and friends. Sadly, too often they end up feeling so alone and rejected that ending their life seems like their only escape.

Throughout September, we are calling attention to the alarming epidemic of suicide amongst gay and transgender youth. Suicide is already the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24, and it turns out that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth are actually 4 times more likely to attempt it than their straight peers.

As a parent, I shudder to think of the depths of loneliness and pain that kids must feel to even consider ending their own lives, much less attempt it. Enough is enough. We can’t let this continue.

Today, we release our newest video featuring Lily Tomlin, Judith Light, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”) and Mae Whitman (“Parenthood”) speaking out about this crisis. Please forward it and share it. Help the people in your life get informed, so that they can get involved.

Do You Give a Damn?

If you haven’t checked out Cyndi Lauper’s “Give a Damn Campaign,” you should. With the help of partners like HRC, GLSEN, SAGE, and The Trevor Project, the campaign targets straight and LGBT people in an effort to build support for full LGBT equality.  Here are two of the celebrity-fueled spots the campaign has produced. I'm surprised these haven't gotten more hits on YouTube.