CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield is facing harsh criticism from the LGBT community for saying on-air that being gay is voluntary. Corrections she made to her position don’t seem to have helped very much. 

During a segment on a morning show, Banfield was discussing an antigay pastor’s comparison of homosexuality to incest and pedophilia. She said homosexuality was the only one of these two that’s a choice:

“Pedophilia is not by choice, last I checked,” she said, before elaborating. “Again, we gotta outline here, when he says ‘they punish incest and pedophilia.’ Please. Those things are often not by choice and are crimes. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people. It is voluntary.”

GLAAD and others reached out to CNN immediately to condemn her comments, and she took to Twitter to clarify what she said:

“Need 2 clarify,” tweeted Banfield. “Incest and pedophelia are CRIMES & victims have no choice. Being gay is not. Relatnshps r by choice. Way of life not crime.” She followed that up with, “Being gay is not a choice. Being in consensual relationship is. I support LGBT people.”

Oh boy. People really need to watch what they say - her correction does not convince me in the least. This is a big no-no, especially for someone in media. 

Marquise Brown came out as gay to his aunt when he was 16. She kicked him out immediately - he couldn’t take any of his things, and he wasn’t wearing anything but his underwear. 

This is Marquise’s account of how he overcame being homeless on and off and found support at school to ultimately become valedictorian. Sometimes things get really bad, he says, but if you work for it, you can find a way through.

I knew there were consequences for standing up for your beliefs, but I never thought I’d lose the place I’d known as home since sixth grade because of who I am. Full of anger and despair, I walked a few blocks across our neighborhood to my sister’s house. Despite having two children of her own and another baby on the way, my sister welcomed me into her home. It was a relief to finally be able to be myself, but I also had to grow up fast. …

The support of my teachers, school, and peers also helped me stay on track. GCCP supported me not just as an occasionally homeless LGBTQ teen, but as a person and as a student. The school has always been a safe place where my peers and I don’t have to hide who we are. I’ve been able to focus on my academics, and I’ll proudly graduate as the valedictorian. I’m also a senior class representative for student council, a member of my school’s National Honor Society, and one of my school’s first male cheerleaders. In addition to actively recruiting boys for the cheerleading team, this year I helped create GCCP’s student-led Gay Straight Alliance, which organized our first annual National Day of Silence. Both students and staff members chose to remain silent for the day in recognition of LGBTQ individuals who are continuing to live without the ability to express themselves.

Marquise sounds like a pretty inspiring guy. If anyone will be going to Pomona College in the fall, look him up. 

On May 22, the city of San Diego unveiled the country’s first Harvey Milk Street, named, of course, for the famous gay rights pioneer whose career in public office centered in San Francisco.

The Huffington Post blog above tells us why that’s important. The piece highlights different people’s reactions to the street naming and different perspectives on the significance of Milk’s contributions, including a quote from his nephew, Stuart Milk.

In a speech, longtime LGBT-rights activist and city commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez said:

This day has been a long time in the making. For over eight years community leaders have tried to name a street in honor of Harvey Milk. We have had many roadblocks over the years in trying to honor his legacy. When Mr. Milk stood for up equality, he did so for all people, not just the LGBT community, and he did this at a time when the government or family members could have a person committed to a mental hospital just because they were gay or lesbian. Now look how far we have come, when the two Christian churches on this block do not agree with the LGBT lifestyle, yet neither opposed changing the name of the street. For that we should give them a round of applause.

One Million Moms, our favorite anti-gay anti-JC Penney group, is newly furious over a JC Penney ad that displays a same-sex couple. These people are just becoming less relevant every day. More. 

TW: References to suicide, plus this is generally somewhat depressing - but the end does get uplifting! 

This Mother’s Day, it’s important to reflect on the things our parents teach us as well as the things our children teach us, even if these lessons come in difficult ways. 

You might remember Jamey Rodemeyer, the teenager who was bullied in high school for being gay and who died by suicide last year. For Mother’s Day this year, his mom Tracy wrote a column for the Huffington Post reflecting on what it will be like to spend the day without her son. 

While much of the article truly is heartbreaking, she gets to a crucial point: it’s okay to be different, and your family will stand by you no matter what. Some particularly nice moments:

For all the young people out there who feel that some days the world is against you, that you can do no right, that you can’t please anyone, or that no one loves you, least of all your parents, because they are always telling you what to do and what not to do and that your friends aren’t good enough for you, I will clue you in on a little secret: We parents we don’t have a secret society where we all get together and discuss how we can humiliate our children and how we secretly desire to make our children’s lives harder than they already are. Honestly, everything we do is out of love, and we want to protect and nurture our children and give them the guidance to become responsible, healthy, respectful individuals who will one day have families of their own. Being a parent is a hard job, and we want to be our children’s friends while at the same time teaching them, but sometimes being a parent is way more important than just being a friend.

And from the mouth of Jamey: “Love yourself, hold your head up high, and you will go far.” Don’t worry about the negative things that people may say about you. Be yourself, and love yourself. That is all that matters. We are all different, and we should all embrace those differences, because they make us all unique and special.

Such a tragic story even months after the fact, but I admire her courage for writing this. Happy Mother’s Day, Tracy. 

The cover of next week’s New Yorker. More. 

When certain conservatives denounce marriage equality, they cite their Christian faith. When President Obama announced his support for marriage equality, he cited his Christian faith. See a problem here?

This NPR piece looks at the division in faith communities over how best to interpret the Bible - literally or contextually? As many scholars point out, there are obvious dangers in taking the Bible word for word:

Russell says you take the Bible literally at your folly.

“When you read the Bible, you can find justification for almost anything,” she says, “including slavery, the subjection of women and an argument that the sun actually revolves around the earth.”

For many, the most prominent guiding principle of the Bible is to love thy neighbor, a basic rule taken by some to mean “love your gay neighbors and let them marry.” But others see the Bible’s condemnation of relationships beside one-man-one-woman-one-marriage (except for that whole polygamy thing) as reason enough to say no to marriage equality.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially those of you who identify with a Christian religion. What do you make of all this?

Leave it to U.K. media to create the coolest possible graphic explaining gay rights across the U.S.

No, but really. This interactive chart breaks down pretty much every valid gay rights issue and looks at how every state addresses it. Using different shadings of colors to signify progress on each issue, the chart looks at how each state handles marriage/unions, hospital visitation, adoption, employment, housing, hate crimes and education.

A quick glance at this chart shows that some regions are doing much, much better than others (get your act together, Southeast). If you ever have the freedom to move anywhere in the U.S., consider using this as a guide to what kind of rights you’ll have there!

Thanks to everyone who recommended I post this - there were a lot of you!