Watch: MTV presents Pedro

The HBCU Program got this alert from the HRC Communications Department:


In 1994, Pedro Zamora captured the hearts of millions on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco as the first-ever openly gay, HIV-positive main character on a national television show. Pedro is an intimate bio pic tracing his humble Cuban immigrant roots to his courageous rise to national prominence as the most recognizable HIV-AIDS activist in the United States. The world premiere of Pedro provides us with a unique opportunity to begin an honest discussion about the realities of sexually transmitted infections.

To carry on Pedro’s fight, we want to encourage all sexually active people to get tested. To make this as easy and fun as possible, we set up an SMS code so all anyone has to do is text their zip code to 49809 and they will get a text back with the location of the nearest testing center. In addition, everyone who texts that SMS code will automatically be registered to win a trip for 2 people to the 2009 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles! Not a bad deal for doing something we should all be doing anyway right?

Watch the trailor here!

Gay student stripped of university student senate seat

Injustice or a matter of procedure?? Lezgetreal.com is reporting that a lesbian student at Valparaiso University was stripped of her senate seat in the student government. The seat was apparently set aside for minority students, and the bylaws do not include LGBT in the definition of minority. Students are saying that the admin used this technicality to minimize LGBT representation on the campus.

In February, Tia Kolasa, an openly gay undergraduate at Northern Indiana’s Valparaiso University, was overwhelming elected by her classmates to fill a student senate seat designated for minority students. Kolasa sought to fill that seat so she could represent the gay community on campus.

Sources at the school say Kolasa is well liked and popular with her peers on the senate. They also say she was doing “a great job” as a senator, that she was bringing a new awareness of LGBT issues to non gay students and had instilled a sense of pride in the members of Valparaiso University LGBT student community.

But a few weeks after Kolasa assumed her new responsibilities as a student senator, questions were raised by some students and school administrators if being gay should be considered a minority and soon after Valparaiso University officials informed the counsel that sexual orientation did not qualifying under the student senate’s bylaws or under school policies for minority status and directed that Kolasa be removed from her seat.

In issuing his ruling, President Mark Heckler said the issue of unseating Kolasa was entirely a matter of procedure. Heckler also said the ground rules were established from the beginning, and that changing those rules in midstream to seat someone was the reason for Kolasa was removed.

Read the rest of this article after the jump...

President Obama Appoints Out Lesbian to the D.C. Superior Court

Shewired.comr is reporting that Prez. Obama has appointed an out lesbian to D.C. Superior Court. Marisa Demeo, who currently serves as a Magistrate Judge, demonstrated understanding and unwavering commitment to civil rights.

The White House Press Office announced President Obama is, ”pleased to put forward two nominees who have served the people of the District of Columbia with such distinction. Marisa Demeo and Florence Pan have dedicated their careers to serving the public good and they will be esteemed and eminent additions to the DC Superior Court.”

The appointment of Demeo, who currently serves as a Magistrate Judge, pleased the Human Rights Campaign.

The HRC applauded the choice noting, “Demeo has a demonstrated understanding and unwavering commitment to civil rights. She has more than 15 years of experience working with LGBT, community, Latino, and civil rights groups such as DOJ Pride and GAYLAW. Judge Demeo is also a former co-chair of GELAAM where she conducted HIV and breast cancer outreach and education to the local Latino community. Demeo clearly possesses the intellectual rigor and experience required of an Associate Judge and we are confident her knowledge and expertise will serve our community well.”

You can read the article after the jump...

Why the African American community should embrace gay rights.

The Bay Area's Contra Costa Times just published an opinion piece by Pastor and syndicated columnist, Byron Williams. Williams makes some pretty good points, check it out:

WHENEVER THERE is a discussion about gay rights and the African-American community, someone can be depended upon to offer the juvenile critique that the cause of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is not the same as the historical Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s.

It's not uncommon to hear African-American pastors suggest "my skin cannot be compared with their sin" as a way to poetically justify their homophobia.

This argument assumes a collective understanding of what the Civil Rights Movement is and what the LGBT movement is not.

If one views the civil rights movement and the current LGBT struggle through the linear paradigm of race and sex, I would agree there is little that connects the two.

If, however, one understands the civil rights movement as something that helped America get closer to the democratic values to which it committed itself in 1776, along with the preamble of the Constitution that reads: "We the people of the United States in order form a more perfect union," then I would suggest the LGBT struggle is very much an extension in the ongoing civil rights struggle.

Find the rest of the article after the jump...

Anonymous E-mail Accuses Diversity Program of Promoting ‘Gay Agenda’

Julie Bolcer at the Advocate is reporting that a mass email has been sent to thousands of parents of a California high school complaining that the school's diversity program is advancing the "gay agenda". It seems like the email didn't illict the response the author had hoped for:

An anonymous e-mail potentially sent to thousands of parents accused the Castro Valley High School in California of promoting a "gay agenda" in its diversity program last week.

The high school near San Francisco is the alma mater of lesbian MSNBC host, Rachel Maddow.

The two-day “Days of Diversity” program, now in its ninth year at the school, teaches students about the history of their community and country, including inter-religious relations and civil rights, according to Principal Pete Alvarez.

Whoever sent the e-mail thinks otherwise, however.

“I find out that the influence of the gay agenda at CVHS is much worse than I had been led to believe,” said the message. “I already knew that most of my child’s teachers were gay.”

Officials are unclear how the sender received the e-mail addresses of parents, many of whom expressed their disgust with the anti-gay sentiments.

Find the original article after the jump...

Human Rights Campaign Applauds Obama Administration for Supporting UN Declaration Affirming Human Rights of LGBT People

Some amazing news is coming off of the HRC wire. This is the change we can believe in:

Human Rights Campaign Applauds Obama Administration for Supporting UN Declaration Affirming Human Rights of LGBT People

Bush administration had previously refused to sign



WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued a statement today on the Obama administration’s announcement that it formally endorsed a United Nations declaration calling for an end to discrimination and other human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The move is a reversal of the Bush administration’s refusal to sign the statement, which made the United States the only western nation not to support the measure when presented by the U.N. General Assembly in December.



“This is a welcome step forward as it signals to the world that, after years of a hostile administration, the United States recognizes the humanity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at home and abroad,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We applaud the Obama administration for joining the other 66 member nations that have officially recognized that basic human rights include the equality of LGBT people.”



“The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement,” the State Department said in a statement released today. “The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora.”



In December, HRC was a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s refusal to sign the declaration. Nearly 2,500 HRC members called the State Department urging it support the declaration. HRC also released a joint statement denouncing the Vatican’s opposition to the declaration. The statement, which was signed by faith program directors from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and National Black Justice Coalition, can be found read online by visiting, http://www.hrc.org/news/11728.htm.

NAACP National Chairman Julian Bond Gives Amazing Speech at HRC LA Dinner

National NAACP Chairman Julian Bond gave an amazing speech in support of LGBT rights at HRC’s Los Angeles Gala Dinner on Saturday, March 14. Check the video out below!!!

South Africa: 'Corrective Rape' Spreads To 'Fix' Lesbians

The Huffington Post is featuring a story by The Guardian on the rise of sexual violence against lesbians in South Africa:

The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs.As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigners and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema.

You can find the rest of the article after the jump...

Human Rights Campaign Recognizes Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

More than 26 years after its discovery, HIV/AIDS continues to change the face of human health like no other modern illness. Today we know that women and female adolescents account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses - and the infection rates among women of color are even more alarming. In 2004, the CDC reported these shocking statistics (.PDF) about HIV/AIDS:

• is the leading cause of death for black women (including African American women) aged 25–34 years.
• the 3rd leading cause of death for black women aged 35–44 years.
• the 4th leading cause of death for Hispanic women aged 35–44 years.

That same year, HIV infection was named the 5th leading cause of death among all women aged 35–44 years and the 6th leading cause of death among all women aged 25–34 years. Only cancer and heart disease caused more deaths among women.

Khadijah Tribble, Executive Director of Pediatic HIV/AIDS Care and member of the HRC Diversity and Inclusion Council, writes about the significance of the day and what it means to all of us working for equality and justice.

Find the article after the jump...

HRC Launches Endthelies.org

The Human Rights Campaign launched a new website this past week. When the right-wing attacks the LGBT community, their messages usually consist of one main ingredient - lies. HRC's EndtheLies.org will help you counter to those lies with the truth. EndtheLies.org has videos, audio, pictures and quotations calling out those who knowingly use lies and misinformation to disrupt the LGBT community's path to equality. Users can add comments on multimedia discussion boards, learn how to fight the far-right's misdeeds and nominate their own candidates for inclusion on the interactive wall of shame.

Click here to find more!