So Fred Phelps is dead. Ever since Nate Phelps, his estranged son, broke the news of his imminent demise, there’s been an outpouring of viciousness from our community, delighting in his death. Honestly, it’s a little bit sickening. (more…)
…the backlash is coming.
I’m talking about the battle for LGBT equality, which has picked up dramatically in recent years. Throughout the UK, Europe, and America, it seems there’s legislation and lawsuits being debated all over, and we’ve made incredible leaps and bounds. But sometimes it’s ‘two steps forward, one step back’. There are only the barest handful of US states who haven’t already legislated LGBT equality (same-sex marriage; anti-discrimination laws) or who haven’t got such legislation being tabled right now. There are many reasons for us to celebrate, but it isn’t all plain sailing.
So, just before Christmas a federal judge in Utah ruled the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. It was a bit of a shocker to most people, but couples from all over rushed to take advantage, resulting in startling scenes of queues dozens deep lining up to get married; clerk offices staying open around the clock to deal with the sudden influx of people desperate to get married; and even the Boy Scouts delivering pizza so nobody had to leave their desk while the madness unfurled.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware of the increasingly hostile situation faced by gay men and women in Russia at the moment. It’s never been a good time to be an LGBT Russian, but since the recent passing of an anti-gay propaganda law things have only got worse. (more…)
Some of you may be aware of an incident that occured the other day at Seattle Pride, where a street preacher was attacked by an attendee. While I would never condone resorting to physical violence to solve a problem… Is anyone really surprised that something like this happened? Wasn’t it inevitable? (more…)
So I’m sure by now you’ve probably heard of the latest kerfuffle from JesseWave. A nasty little blog post bitching about mf content in mm romances. What Wave wants, apparently, is a trigger warning for every occurrence of het sex in books sold as mm, in order that she and her ilk can avoid them. Well since when did straight sex become a trigger up there with rape, incest, underage sex and taboo practices? (more…)
Welcome to the hop! Firstly the admin stuff for those new to this. The main purpose of the hop is to generate publicity for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on May 17th. As readers and writers of queer romance to boot, it is also a chance for us to stand together as a community and fight discrimination against our work. Only in its second year, already the hop is garnering a lot of interest and participation and I for one am proud to be a part of it. I’ve got a series of blogs planned to run over the course of the hop, addressing everything from current events to personal experience and literary theory. There’s also some prizes on offer so be sure to read on!
One of my facebook friends shared a link on her feed today from the website United Church of God, offering a ‘respectful discussion’ (read: rejection) of the gay marriage debate, written by their contributor Heather Disher.
Heather, allow me to respectfully disagree with every single word you wrote.
An interesting case came up for sentencing today in Scotland. Chris Wilson was sentenced to three years’ probation and 240 hours community service for the crime of “obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud”. His fraud? Not telling his girlfriend that he was trans. (more…)