FYI
Latest community newsletters

  • LAMBDA HERE.
  • PFLAG HERE.
  • Back Country Bettys HERE.
  • OGLBT City Programs HERE.



    "Home for the Holidays"?
          —thoughts from PFLAG

    Tips for the GLBTQ persons
    Tips for family members and friends



    HRC's Buying for Equality 2009 is now available—a way to vote with your business and purchasing practices.
          Also note HRC's Corporate Equality Index and the accompanying searchable Employer Database.
          And check HRC's new database of scholarships for LGBT & Allied Students which can be searched by state.
  • Announcements
    Thursday, January 15
    Tuition scholarship applications must be postmarked by Januray 15th for the White Rose Scholarship Foundation. Info YouTube video and email for more information
    Want to add your own announcement for an anniversary, marriage, union, birthday, congratulations, or remembrance?

    Quotables
    As a kid I would sometimes dress as a girl. You play house, you play doctor--everybody does that, but some people like it more than others. I used to go through the whole routine--dress up, wear makeup, act like a girl.

    — basketball great Dennis Rodman, "out" cross-dresser
    Savage Love
    I am a woman in my late 60s, and my "boyfriend" is five years older. We were lovers long ago. He came looking for me a few years ago and we reunited. We live on opposite sides of the country, so we only see each other for a few weeks every year... I love this man very much. Our sex life is great... I have known for a couple of years that he was interested in BDSM. He sees himself as a sub...

    —Subless In Seattle



    I've been messing around with a dominant guy for about a year now. It is by far the most unhealthy "relationship" I've ever been in. First, I have no desire to be with this guy in any way besides fucking around with him. I do not respect him or like him. Our fucking around consists of me giving him head and him slapping me around. Pathetic, huh? I've tried to quit seeing him many times. I changed my phone number, but he just started showing up... at my house. When I started dating someone, he refused to quit seeing me. Prior to the relationship, I let him use my house keys one night. He made copies of them without my knowing, and while I was in a relationship, he came to my house one day... and his stalking has escalated. The few people who know the details about our "relationship" have begged me to get a restraining order. The problem? What he does (the dominating, not the stalking) still turns me on. Even after the "attack," even during my relationship, when I masturbate, I think of him. I'm scared of him and turned on by him...

    —Anonymous


    Dan Savage's response
    Links ‘n’ Stuff
    Google's GLBT News
    Fort Collins Weather Forecast
    Movies at Fandango & MovieFone
    press at ColoradoConfidential.com
    GLAAD's What's LGBT on TV
    Queery.com's TV Gay Guide Pick
    Google Mail and Maps
    Life.com's Sudoku
    movies at youtube.com
    fun from CaféPress.com
    search amazon.com
    explore 10percent.com
    visit 10percentGIRL.com
    + FortPride to your IE Favorites
    FortPride your IE home page
    Appreciation and credit
       for news to The Advocate, 365gay.com, NPR.org, CNN.com, CBS News.com, Coloradoan.com, People.com, Time.com, ACLU.org, USA Today.com, FakeGayNews.com, Topix.net and uk.gay.com; and
       for history to glbtq.com and WikipediA and the Yahoo groups at --gayhistory and Pridelets; and
       for movies we mostly thank the posters at youtube.com
    Videos
    Buddy Cole on gay marriage
    the fictional character in the Canadian sketch comedy group (played by Scott Thompson) is irreverently described as somewhere between "butch queen" and an "alpha fag," here a bit of his quirky, foppish sarcasm.

    thanks to YouTube.com


    submit a comment more videos email FortPride
    News
      
    ACLU files suit challenging ban on gay foster, adoptive parents: Plaintiffs at press conference explain how Act 1 impacts their lives
    Real World: Brooklyn :: The Gayest Yet?: If there was one show responsible for "Reality TV," it is "The Real World," which -- long before "Survivor" - brought together a group of strangers for a communal living experience and filmed it. The new season -- "Real World: Brooklyn" premieres this Wednesday and it promises to be the gayest yet. EDGE's Scott Stiffler explains.
    Transnation :: The 2008 trans year in review: Between the collapse of the economy, California's same-sex marriage flip-flops and Obama's election, it took a pregnant man to capture mainstream press' attention.
    The Queer Year in Sports: From Kisses in the Stands to a Dive to Die For: What a year! Confusion in Seattle over who's on the field and two ladies locking lips in the stands; a gay hero at the Olympics (but not on NBC!); and more, more more!
    Sports Superstar, in a Hurry for Oral Sex, Busted: Former NBA star Charles Barkely had a plausible explanation for running a stop sign in Arizona, but it didn't get him out of a trip to the station.
    UK AIDS Activist Knighted: A prominent British advocate of health care for GLBT people and those living with HIV has received a knighthood.
    10 Predictions for 2009: What Will Be Gay News Next Year: With 2008 behind us (thank you, Higher Power!), the new year brings promise, as it always does. Herewith, EDGE's editor-in-chief's predictions for a fine '09.
    The Gay Year in Review: The Top 10 News Stories: What a year! From gay marriage in the Golden State to ... the end of gay marriage in the Golden State. From the death of Ennis Del Mar to the death of Harvey Milk. EDGE's editor-in-chief gives the top 10 news stories of a wild and eventful '08.
    glbtq videos
    from Amazon, 10percent.com & CaféPress
    more fun stuff

    Celebrate Diversity Colorado
    caps, bags, shorts, Ts, sweats, mugs, aprons, stuffed bear

    From the Boys - boxed holiday cards
    Outside: "Holiday Greetings from the boys!"
    Inside: blank

    Merry and Bright
    boxed holiday cards. Inside: "Hope your Christmas is merry and bright."

    Lovers II
    24x36" poster to mount, laminate or frame

    Colorado Diversity
    Ts, hoodies, kids sizes too

    Provocateur: Bedtime Sories 2009 Calendar
    "Fred Goudon’s Bedtime Stories will become the best part of waking up"
    more fun stuff
    Local Events    Monday   Jan 5, 2009
    5:00pm Choice_City_Shots "Happy Hour"
    Editorials & Opinions
    GLBT History
    Oklahoma, 2006: Reverend Lonnie Latham urges fellow members of the Southern Baptist Convention to convince gays and lesgians to turn straight "and reject their sinful, destructive lifestyle." He resigns on this date after being arrested on a lewdness charge, accused of propositioning a male police officer in a hotel parking lot known as a gay cruising spot. Says Jamie McDaniel of the gay religious group Soulforce "It's unconscionable that so many, like Reverend Lathan, have never been told the truth that they can live with dignity and express their God-given sexuality in ways that are open, honest, loving, and life-affirming. Many people of faith think their only option is to live a dark and secretive double life."
    New York, 1994: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Religious Right is livid over a new series of more explicit HIV-prevention commercials, featuring an animated condom jumping into bed with a couple (of "undetermined gender"), and this radio ad for the MTV generation: "I'm Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I've been naked on stage. I've been naked on magazine cover. In fact, I was born naked and, of course, I'm naked whenever I have sex. But now I'm on the radio. So I might as well get naked again. There. I'm naked, see? And what I have here is a condom. A latex condom. I wear one whenever I have sex. Not whenever it's convenient. Or whenever my partner thinks of it. Every time. Look, they're very easy to open. A breeze to put on. And best of all, they stop the spread of HIV. Now, I'm naked. With a condom. But I'm not sayin' you should have sex, and I'm not sayin' you shouldn't have sex. But I'm saying wear a latex condom if you're gonna have sex. Just think of this helpful demonstration and remember: You can be naked without being exposed." (The Keidis ad is later pulled after his past arrests for indecent exposure and sexual battery are brought to light).
    North Carolina, 1988: Raleigh, home of the famous homophobe Jesse Helms, enacts a gay rights ordinance. Helms refers to gays and lesbians as "disgusting people marching in the streets demanding all sorts of things, including the right to marry each other."
    Texas, 1984: Ice dancer and 2006 Olympian Ryan O'Meara is born in Houston. He subsequently retired from the competition to coaching and an interior design business in Scottsdale. He comes out in 2008 at 24 years old in an Arizona gay magazine interview. "The skating world is 50/50 gay to straight. All the straight guys are so accepting already and everyone already knows who's gay and who's straight and everybody is so accepting of everybody."
    Spain, 1931: Gay Spanish writer, author of short and violent and dark works about sex and politics, Juan Goytisolo is born in Barcelona. He now lives in Marrakesh, self-exiled from post-Franco Spain which banned his works and which he criticizes and shuns for its Catholic morality and sexual repression, preferring the Arabs natural acceptance of homosexuality and acknowledgment that it cannot be named. He remained married to novelist Monique Lange in a lifelong open relationship, each accepting the other's affairs until she died in 1996. Some of his translated works are available in the U.S.
    etc.
    The new, highly-recommended FireFox3 browser is available

    GLBT-friendly Campus Search
    Search the Campus Climate Index at campusclimateindex.org, a resource tool for assessing GLBT programs, policies and practices at many of the nation's campuses.


    The Human Rights Campaign offers its Buying for Equality 2009
    [pdf download]. It's a guide to companies, products and services that support glbt equality, a way to vote with your business and purchasing practices.
    RainbowShoppingNetwork.com also has gay-friendly and gay-owned recommendations as well as discounts and money-saving coupons. Ten percent of the site's revenue goes to GLBT non-profit organizations.


    for HIV information, visit

    [Harry]   Ugol's Law  —
    "You are not alone."
    "For any given kink, either nobody does it or more than one person does it."
    "If you ever ask 'am I the only one who <insert kink here> ?' the answer is always 'no'."


    "This is what perverse really means: to be disobedient to the rule of fear and hatred and shame, to seek one's own definitions and ideals regardless of what others insist are the limits to what you may want or have." —Dorothy Allison's Foreword in "My Dangerous Desires" by Amber Hollibaugh


    Thanks to Jen Lowe for the link to comedian Jon Stewart
    on "The Daily Show"



    Question: "The police are here They want to talk to me. What should I do?"
    Answer: "Make no statement to the police under any circumstances."
    —   Supreme Court Justice Jackson

    Long-winded but valuable videos from BrassCheckTV.com


    From the online furry survey here
    created by furry writer, essayist, and researcher Alex "Klisoura" Osaki, these current poll results are some of the best quality we've seen about the fandom demographics.


    Gay MARRIAGE is now legal in six countries:
    this year Norway joins Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and South Africa


    A New Survey Finds the Most Gay-Friendly Brands
    According to a new consumer survey, one of the largest and most comprehensive of gay and lesbian consumer habits and brand perceptions, gay and lesbian consumers said they have a more favorable impression of companies or products that feature gay imagery in their advertising.
    Friendliest:
    Bravo, Apple, Showtime, HBO, Absolut and Levi's
    Lowest marks:
    WalMart, Dunkin Donuts, Cracker Barrel, Exxon Mobile and Samsung


    Don't Ask, Don't Tell
    22% of high-ranking military officers support eliminating "don't ask, don't tell" as a means of increasing troop recruitment

    58% high-ranking military officers support lowering education standards as a means of increasing troop recruitment

    Under DADT two people every day are dropped from the military for being gay.

    However, increasing numbers of high-ranking military vets are pushing for a repeal of DADT. Read more here.

    Data from the Center for a New American Security, a non-partisan, national security think tank in Washington DC

    In 2007, the U.S. Army issued 511 felony waivers to recruits who were convicted felons... of these, 2 were convicted of making terrorist or bomb threats!

    There are an estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay servicemembers currently in the U.S. military.

    Gays serve openly in the mililary in 23 of the 26 NATO countries. The United States, Turkey and Portugal are the exceptions.

    10,870 gay military personnel have been discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy since it was enacted in 1993.


    2008 PlanetOut Travel Awards
    • Canada, best country
    • Buenos Aires, international city
    • New York City, domestic city
    • Provincetown, domestic gay resort town
    • Royal Palms, Fort Lauderdale, gay resort
    • Zoom Vacations, small tour operator
    • Atlantis, large tour operator
    • Celebrity and  Norwegian, cruise lines
    • Virgin America/Atlantic, best airline


    Younger Gays Want Long-Term Relationships & Kids
    Penn State and NYU published their urban study in the Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling. More than 90% of young lesbians and more than 80% of gay males expect to be partnered in a monogamous relationship after age 30. Two thirds of females and more than half of males expressed likelihood that they would raise children in the future; of these, 58% of males and 54% of females expect to be raising their own biological children. The mainstreaming of lesbian/gay youth will significantly impact culture and politics.


    Denver PFLAG has worked to compile this list of GLBT-friendly congregations
    If you have any additions or thoughts, please contact Chuck Willis at chuckwillis@comcast.net. Our thanks to him for this enormous effort.


    for HS graduating seniors


    Be aware of a new Larimer County service for businesses and organizations that provides inservices on techniques to let your clients know you are culturally competent in GLBT issues
    For example, it is distressing to realize that thousands of gay people live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities without any staff or other residents knowing critical parts of their lives. These elders are deprived the opportunity to be themselves and to tell their story. They miss out on true inclusion in their own community because they have to be guearded about what they say. As a result, staff and residents never get to truly know them. Finally, they are deprived the life review process necessary for a good death.

    Contact: Tina Barker, Larimer County Long-Term Care Ombudsman at 498-6803 or email tbarker@larimer.org


    the Sylvia Rivera Law Project
    "SRLP works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence."
        The project is named for civil rights pioneer Sylvia Rivera, veteran of the 1969 Stonewall uprising and a tireless advocate for all those who have been marginalized as the "gay rights" movement has mainstreamed.
    Be an ally...
    • As in Boston, NYC, SF and DC, work to push the homeless shelters to place residents according to gender identity and safety rather than birth gender.
    • To prevent harrassment and foster safety, establish gender-neutral bathrooms where you work, shop, go to school, eat or get services.
    • support inclusion of trans health coverage in the benefits package at your job, school, or state Medicaid program.


    Employment Non-Discrimination Act
    ≡≡  13 states have ENDAs that protect sexual orientation as well as gender expression

    ≡≡  7 states have ENDAs that protect sexual orientation but not gender expression

    ≡≡  30 states have no laws to protect GLBT workers


    Human Rights Campaign publishes its 6th Annual Corporate Equality Index showing significant improvement in employers' treatment of glbt employees, consumers and investors.


    Violence and Suicide
    A new study from the Univ of CA at Davis reports that Nearly four in 10 gay men and about one in eight lesbians and bisexuals in the United States have been the target of violence or a property crime because of their sexual orientation.   Survey respondents had an average age of 39. Most had attended some college. Two thirds were white, 16% black and 13% Hispanic. Data collection for the study was supported by a grant from the Gill Foundation.

    The FBI announced that hate crimes against gays make up 16% of total documented hate crimes in the United States in 2006, up from 14% in 2005.

    The American Academy of Pediatrics reported last year that 47 percent of gay and lesbian teenagers have seriously considered suicide and that 36 percent have attempted it.   The National Institute for Mental Health notes that this number may be low, because some teenagers who commit suicide may not be out to their families or friends.


    Transfusion complication risks from Poudre Valley Hospital data
    allergic reaction 1:100
    bacterial contamination 1:38,000
    Hepatitis B 1:137,000
    Malaria 1:250,000
    Hepatitis C 1:250,000
    HIV 1:1,900,000


    "Transgender" & "Transsexual" — from ABC News 20/20 in April 2007


    Gay & Lesbian Medical Association — "GLMA"


    Human Rights Campaign resources
    Weather
    GLBT Census
    World United States Colorado
    Pop. 6,751,917,158 Pop. 305,559,917 Pop. 5,087,427
    GLBT 337,595,858 GLBT 15,277,996 GLBT 254,371
    Note that there are more GLBT persons in the World
    than there are residents in the United States.


    Population statistics are based on U.S. Census Bureau clocks
    for the U.S. and the World.

    Colorado estimates are from the Colorado Health Info Dataset.

    GLBT estimates use the conservative 5% portion of adults
    who self-identify as gay or lesbian. Updated hourly.