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The gay rights movement has not been good about dealing with the issue of homeless gay youth, and depending on the study, somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of homeless youths identify as LGBT, reported National Public Radio, this past weekend.

By Michelle Garcia

   

Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha is appealing to Americans for help in fighting antigay laws and sentiment that have led to Ugandan LGBTs to fear for their lives.

Mugisha told The Root  that he has to be extra cautious when stepping out of his home every morning.

“If you are an activist,” he said, “then you have to calculate and decide, ‘Should I take that street, should I go to that shopping mall, should I do this today, even?’ Because you don’t know where the harassment will come from.”

He also said that religious groups, especially evangelical groups, who see an easily impressionable target in Ugandans, who are heavily Christian. Mugisha urged Americans, particularly African Americans to align themselves with organizations that help sexual minorities in Africa like TransAfrica.

“I’ve done amazing work with TransAfrica,” he said. “Other organizations can work directly with us. People can support progressive [nongovernmental organizations] and NGOs that work on human rights. Let people give them support and moral support. It will give us courage.”

A state Supreme Court judge ruled that a lawsuit against New York’s marriage equality law may proceed. 

Judge Robert Wiggins ruled that the group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms could proceed with a lawsuit against the marriage equality law, which they already lobbied against in June, on the grounds of improper activity in the days before the law passed.

The suit filed in July alleged improper activity in the days leading up the vote in the legislature. According to the complaint, among other actions, the Republican senate conference and elected officials including Governor Andrew Cuomo held meetings in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Laws, financial support was promised to win Republican votes, the bill bypassed senate committees, and the governor unjustifiably issued a message of necessity to expedite the vote and avoid the normal three-day waiting period for a bill.

Check the article above for details. Oh boy. If this actually happens, you better believe we’re going to put up a fight. 

By Matt Comer

 

 

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the AIDS Crisis. The 1980s was a turbulent decade for the LGBT community and especially for gay men.

Marking the Crisis’ beginning has been difficult for the many who lived through it and lost friends, family and loved ones to the disease. For younger generations unfamiliar with the tragedy and urgency of the epidemic’s early years, noting the anniversary has been more academic than personal or emotional.

A participant at an HIV/AIDS demonstration. Photo: Marie Ueda.

This year, screenwriter and director David Weissman — whose credits include the 2000 film “The Family Man,” 2001’s “Evolution” and 2010’s “When in Rome” — releases his “We Were Here,” a documentary profiling the earliest days of the Crisis at its epicenter, San Francisco.