The web site Dictionary.com defines marriage asa “social institution under which man and woman establish their decision to live together as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.” But the organizer of an online petition is trying to correct it. 

Mike Raven organized a petition asking Dictionary.com to correct its definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, and more than 90,000 people have already signed on. The definition is currently incorrect, he says, because there are states where legal marriages are between two people of the same sex. 

More from Raven on the definition:

They then brush same-sex marriage off as “a similar institution involving partners of the same sex.” Because why should same-sex marriage get the detail and care that “traditional” marriage gets? They got a blurb right? Isn’t that enough? No. With [its] separate but “equal” styled wording and placement, it is time they hear our voices and correct their definition.

Never would have thought about this in a million years - what a cool way to get our message across. If you feel so inclined, sign the petition! 

A high school student in New York was suspended for creating a video and a Facebook page about a fictional student who was bullied and committed suicide, but upon outcry from the community, her punishment was lifted. 

Jessica Barba, 15, created a video about a fictional 12-year-old character named Hailey who was bullied, became depressed and committed suicide. She also created a Facebook page for Hailey where she posted self-loathing status updates, aiming to illustrate the effects of cyberbullying.

A parent who didn’t know the page was fictional found it and notified police and school officials, and Barba was suspended for five days and the page taken down. But her school rallied behind her, and after a suspension hearing her punishment has been lifted.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I wholeheartedly applaud this girl’s efforts to raise awareness about a serious, dark issue like cyberbullying, and I don’t think she should have been suspended in the first place. But I wonder if creating a faux suicidal persona is taking it too far, clearly disturbing parents and perhaps triggering other students. What do you think?

Beth Darr, founder of the women’s social media site Lezzbook.com, died at home last week in Seattle. She was 34.

A public memorial project is being planned for Darr in June and her family suggests memorial donations to the It Gets Better Project, Pets Are Wonderful Support, or the World Wildlife Fund. From SheWired:

Lezzbook.com, which has 10,000 members, was preparing for a relaunch with a new editor at the time of Darr’s death. “Beth’s work will carry on, following a period of mourning and regrouping,”PQ Monthly notes.

Darr, a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Recording Academy Grammy Association Society, was also the founder of a music company, Illuminati Entertainment.

Thanks for your work, Beth. 

By now you’ve all seen the blog post called “I’m Christian, unless you’re gay.” Though it’s several months old, it recently went re-viral and has accumulated tons of responses online.

Salon.com has one of the more heartfelt ones above. A teenager was assigned by his teacher at [a presumably Christian] school to respond to the post. His mother ranted about how it was only shaming Christians and promoting homosexuality, only to learn later that her son was gay and wrote his response paper on how he wished she would accept him.

A lot of people have had very strong reactions to the piece because it tells the story of tolerance and acceptance in a unique way, framing Christians not as an enemy, as many pieces on the same topic seem to do, but instead advocating for the idea of accepting everyone no matter what.

What did you think of the blog post when you read it? What does it mean to you?

The official title of this post on its original site is “Guy comes out of closet on Facebook to friends who are entirely too geeky to care.” Fits perfectly. More.

Aaaaand this. 

Brandon Morgan, the Marine in this photo, says of its viral popularity:

To everyone who has responded in a positive way. My partner and I want to say thank you. Dalan, the giant in the photo, can’t believe how many shares and likes we have gotten on this. We didn’t do this to get famous,or something like that we did this cause after 3 deployments and four years knowing each other, we finally told each other how we felt. As for the haters, let em hate…to quote Kat Williams, everyone needs haters, so let them hate. We are the happiest we have ever been and as for the whole PDA and kissing slash hugging in uniform…it was a homecoming, if the Sergeants Major, Captains, Majors, and Colonels around us didn’t care…then why do you care what these random people have to say?

Perfection. More. 

Fred Karger, the openly gay man running for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, received surprising news last week when the company managing his campaign website told him it was being shut down. 

The group, Terra Eclipse, informed Karger that his site would be shut down days before the New Hampshire primary. They chose to end their relationship with Karger because of another website he launched, Top10CraziestMormonBeliefs.com, in which Karger listed, well, exactly what the site sounds like (not one of his classier moments). 

This isn’t Karger’s first run-in with the Mormon church; he previously filed complaints pertaining to the church’s spending on Prop 8 which led to the church being found guilty of election fraud. More details from the Advocate:

Terra Eclipse owner Martin Avila could not be reached for comment but Karger released text of a letter he alleges Avila sent to him, in which Avila allegedly wrote, “While your campaign has every right to express views using tactics of your own choosing, our company also has the right to freely associate with our clients. In light of these actions, which not only appear to be completely irrelevant to a campaign for President of the United States, but also constitute an insult to and mockery of individuals of particular faiths, we are exercising our right to terminate your NetBoots account and disassociate with your campaign, as reserved in our Terms of Service.. I invite you to contact our attorneys should you wish to pursue the matter further.”

As much as I like Fred Karger as a person, I’m tempted to agree with Terra Eclipse. I fully believe Karger’s website about Mormon beliefs was out of line and no way to address whatever concerns he had with the church’s behavior. Maybe cutting off his campaign website entirely was a little much, but I don’t think Karger should be let off the hook for his irresponsible behavior and disrespect to the Mormon faith.

What say you?

Seen this one yet? 

In response to recent debates over Mormons baptizing people into their faith post-mortem, a new web site popped up giving people the ability to “convert dead Mormons.”

It’s called All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay, and it lets you either enter the name of a deceased Mormon person or “choose a Mormon” and press a button to “convert” them. A disclaimer at the bottom of the site says that “Holocaust victims are not eligible for conversion.” Some historical background on that from the Advocate:

The denomination, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has long been known to perform what it calls “proxy baptisms” of non-Mormons after death, but it has come under particular criticism recently when it was revealed it had posthumously baptized Rosa Wiesenthal, a Jewish victim of the Holocaust and mother of famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, and her husband, Asher Wiesenthal, who was killed in action in World War I. Proxy baptisms of people who died in the Holocaust are against LDS policy, but a church member nonetheless performed the procedure for the Wiesenthals. LDS officials have apologized and disciplined the member.

Is this in bad taste or is this in bad taste?

Houston Aeros forward Justin Fontaine has been suspended for two games for an antigay slur in a tweet responding to the Grammys. 

He has since apologized for his mistake, saying it was the result of a harmless Twitter battle with his roommate, but news spread quickly anyway and The Wild decided it best to suspend Fontaine.

Prior to the season, the NHL issued a social media policy, which includes a “blackout period” on game days.

Also, “the new policy makes it clear that players and club personnel will be held responsible for their social communications in the same manner in which they are held responsible for other forms of public communications. 

“As a result, discipline is possible for any social media statements that have or are designed to have an effect prejudicial to the welfare of the league, the game of hockey or a member club, or are publicly critical of officiating staff.”

I’m quite impressed at the speed of the decision in this case. Sometimes athletes who mess up are left to vent for days about their bad choices before organizations decide what to do. Props to the officials involved for dealing with this quickly and fairly.