America is a great idea, but it’s hard to love these days. At some point tonight millions and millions of us will find ourselves sitting in a stadium or a park or maybe on a city rooftop or a grassy hill in the country, staring at the sky, celebrating our country’s anniversary by watching the annual fireworks show. I won’t
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A gay man’s assault on a transgender fellow player was stunning. The response by the tribe, the host, the audience, and most importantly the target, gives a little hope to those of us losing faith in our fellow humans. On last night’s episode of Survivor, Jeff Varner, who was fighting for his life in the game, turned to fellow contestant
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The AP says the “bathroom bill” cost North Carolina $3.76 billion. The real damage is likely much, much higher. The AP yesterday released an analysis indicating that reaction to North Carolina’s discriminatory HB2 – the “bathroom bill” – cost the state a staggering $3.76 billion in lost business, projected over 12 years. That’s a remarkable hit to economy, but as I
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At some point the North Carolina legislature is going to capitulate on its “bathroom” law. Will the NCAA’s latest move be the tipping point? Much has been written and said about NC’s discriminatory “bathroom” law. And now even more is going to be written and said, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to yank seven college sports championship events from the
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I love Brian Windhorst, but he needs to get his act together on this one. The NBA is mulling pulling the All-Star Game from Charlotte over the state’s reprehensible HB2 “bathroom law.” Good – this is as it should be. But the ESPN story cited here, penned by NBA reporter Brian Windhorst (whom I really really like), has a little problem.
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Donald Trump, Kim Davis and Cook Out: because the Constitution guarantees redeemed sinners the right to fast food. First, the headline: ‘Hell No!’ Cashier refuses to serve Trump backers Shannon Riggs and her cousins were famished after attending a Donald Trump rally last week in Richmond, Va., so they decided to drop by Cook Out – a regional restaurant chain known for
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For our founding fathers, “people” was a euphemism” that meant “rich white men.” Sadly, the same is true for many of our current leaders.
Read moreWhen he goes to bed tonight, Tony Dungy should offer a prayer of thanks that the US isn’t at the mercy of people like him. Tony Dungy wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam. But not because he’s gay! No, no. Because things will happen. You know … things. Three thoughts. 1: Look! Look! See, Michael Sam is on TV being interviewed about
Read moreNo, Virginia. Intolerance of intolerance isn’t the same as intolerance of human beings. When it became public that recently appointed Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich had donated to the controversial anti-gay rights Prop 8 initiative in California back in 2008, things – as we used to say back home – blowed up. Rarebit yanked an app from the Mozilla marketplace and
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Pussy Riot’s commitment to social justice in the motherland is more than admirable. It perhaps merits a spot in Russia’s artistic canon. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia closed today, and if you set aside the homophobia and generally strong-armed approach to governance by the host, one Vladimir Putin, these games were remarkable in just about every way. The
Read moreMichael Sam has made it easier for current gay players in the NFL. Will they do the same for him? By now you’ve probably heard that Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam has publicly announced that he’s gay. A projected third-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, this decision will (unless all 32 teams simply decide that they’re going to be
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The original plan when we began this project was to offer the amendments individually, invite discussion, then produce a final document. The course of the process, though, has made a couple things clear. First, there needs to be a period to discuss the entire document in context, and second, while the original “Bill of Rights” approach perhaps had a certain
Read moreBack in February I declared V-LGBT Day, saying that “the battle for marriage equality is over.” There had been a lot of significant pro-equity activity, including a huge number of corporations and influential organizations coming down publicly against the Defense of Marriage Act and several prominent GOP defections from the homophobia camp. The last couple of days have seen two
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Earlier today my colleague Otherwise uncorked on sports broadcaster Tim Brando for his reaction to the Jason Collins story. If you somehow missed it, NBA journeyman and free agent Collins publicly acknowledged on Monday that he is gay, making him the first active player in a US major sport to do so. Brando brought a good bit of heat down
Read moreGay marriage will finally get its day before the Supreme Court. The issues are legally and culturally complex and the outcome uncertain in the eyes of many observers. I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I think I know what might happen here. I expect that the Court’s left-leaning justices will vote to strike down gay marriage bans (the Defense of Marriage
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lullaby pit 