From Wikipedia:

Mural by John Baden of Harvey Milk at 575 Castro Street, the former site of Milk’s store, Castro Camera. Emerging from the gun at left is a quote from Milk: “If a bullet should enter my brain, let the bullet destroy every closet door.”

Bills were introduced this week in the House and Senate that would make sure the partners of LGBT people who lose their jobs would have access to COBRA benefits. 

The Equal Access to Cobra Act would apply to companies that already give health benefits to employees with same-sex partners. This is the first time the bill’s been introduced in the House and its second time in the Senate. Washington Blade reports:

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised the introduction of the legislation.

“In these troubled economic times, social safety-net benefits like COBRA continuation coverage are even more important to American families,” Solmonese said. “LGBT people should have the equal ability to maintain those critical benefits for their families during difficult times.”

Everyone deserves access to health care, even when economic times get tough. This could help a lot of people, guys. There will be updates as this develops. 

It’s been a while since my last Glee-centric post, but after last night’s hoopla, this is kind of necessary. If you haven’t seen it yet, DON’T READ THIS. Spoilers ahead. 

So, how was Glee unnecessarily confusing and controversial? Let me count the ways. Metaphorically, that is, because we’re going to leave the obvious one out: clearly, the bulk of the show was about teen drinking, and while that’s a subject we could dote on for hours, it’s not really the angle I’m looking at right now.

Instead, let’s talk about gay things! A quick recap of the non-alcoholic storyline about Kurt and Blaine:

After a night of Glee-style partying, Blaine spends the night at Kurt’s and sleeps in his bed because he was too drunk to drive home. Kurt’s dad sees this, gets freaked out, and later asks Kurt not to do that again because it’s uncomfortable for him - but only because of what they could have been doing, he clarifies. Kurt gets mad. 

Blaine-related storyline #2: Blaine and Rachel drunkenly make out during the party, and they both kind of like it. The next day, Rachel asks Blaine out, and he says yes. He tells Kurt he might actually be bi, and Kurt gets mad again, which offends Blaine. Both need a gay role model who’s stable and secure with himself, and neither seems to find it. Blaine and Rachel have an awesome date, but when they kiss again, Blaine proclaims that he’s “definitely gay.”

So what do we make of all this? I’ll need your help to figure that out. 

Regarding the first scenario. This caught me a little off-guard; Kurt’s dad has historically been crazy supportive of Kurt, if a little insecure, and I expected nothing more than an “ask permission next time” from him. Instead, there was real conflict.

Is this a new, more homophobic side of Burt that we hadn’t seen before, or is it logical and natural for him to be taken aback by the sight of another guy in his son’s bed?

The second scenario is a little more upsetting. It bothered me somewhat that after one drunken kiss with a girl, Blaine claimed the possibility of bisexuality. It bothered me even more that he bounced back from his “confusion” so quickly. This seemed to trivialize bisexuality as a quick phase, something that happens when you’re drunk, or a sort of purgatory where you wait until you figure yourself out. 

FOX intended for Blaine’s bout with bisexuality to be informative for viewers, to show bisexuality as a plausible reality for a lot of people and to open up discussion about it. I’m worried they may have missed the mark on this one.

What do you guys think?

The University of Alaska Board of Regents has voted to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, after realizing the state was the only one without such a policy. 

The law remains unsettled, but it is likely that sexual orientation will become a protected class. According to University spokeswoman Kate Ripley as quoted in the Associated Press article above, students, faculty and staff have been requesting this change for years. 

However, the policy noticeably leaves out gender identity as a protected characteristic. The article reports: 

The policy would not allow the university to silence homosexuality’s critics, he said.

“To the contrary, the university’s discrimination policy exists alongside its formal, and constitutionally required, commitment to free speech,” he said, including n speech many find offensive.

Though it’s not a perfect policy, this is a huge step for Alaska.

For years, the state has been characterized by Sarah Palin’s comical disrespect of all things gay, and it’s nice to see that there are still intelligent people there who don’t buy into her image. Well done, all. 

Today’s controversy comes out of a high school in Michigan. 

Last fall, a transgender student won the title of homecoming king in the school’s annual celebration. The school said that wasn’t okay and took away the crown. 

As a response, the school has instituted a new policy whereby the spring prom court is gender-neutral and the male-female system is basically abolished. 

This reaction piece - granted, by FOX News - seems to show that people are pretty upset about this. Even the ex-homecoming king said the school took extreme measures. The ACLU, however, applauded the school’s decision. 

I can’t help but think this is a band-aid solution to a bigger problem. Students may resent the ex-king for the change in the system, which could perpetuate discrimination further. And does this actually address issues of homophobia or just offer an easy fix by changing the rules a little?

The school definitely tried to address the issue, but I’m not sure if they went about it properly. What do you guys think? 

Dori Spivak was named a judge for Tel Aviv’s Labour court yesterday. He’s the former chairman of Israel’s Association for Civil Rights and the country’s first gay judge. 

The Advocate reports:

Spivak, a Harvard graduate who lectures in Tel Aviv University’s law department, has been involved in several high profile gay rights cases, according to TheJC.com. In 1997, he was involved in landmark case in which the Supreme Court forced a state channel to broadcast a program about gay teenagers.

A lawyer for ACRI, Dan Yakir, told Israeli newspaper Ynet that the appointment would “contribute to developing human rights.”

This is wonderful. Progress can come in small steps, and this is one of them. Congratulations, all. 

If we can make the commitment, why can’t you?