An Oklahoma man was allegedly told to leave a Walmart when a staffer learned he was gay.
Jonathan Pacheco was shopping with his boyfriend at the superstore in Chickasha, Oklahoma, when a janitor stopped them and began asking questions about their sexuality. Declaring “it is Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” the unnamed sweeper then told Pacheco he wasn’t allowed in the store and had to leave immediately.
Pacheco did no such thing—in fact he reported the incident to two different store managers—but is concerned that neither took down any information. ”Out of all the stores I go to, Walmart is the one that is prejudiced against someone’s sexual orientation,” Pacheco told The Express-Star. “I mean, come on.”
A Walmart rep said the company is “in the process of talking to all who were involved.”
The Hetrick-Martin Institute, New York’s LGBT high school, is getting ready to host the 2013 Emery Awards on November 13. Honoring individuals and corporations who foster a supportive environment for LGBT youth, the awards will honor Chelsea Clinton, Super Bowl champ Brendon Ayanbadejo (right), trans MMA fighter Fallon Fox, Athlete Ally director Hudson Taylor, the financial-services company Moody’s and brand consultant Scott Woodward, who will be given a Special Recognition Award for working with One Direction on an anti-bullying video.
For the first time, HMI will also be presenting a lifetime-achievement award, to longtime gay-rights activist David Mixner.
The gala, being held at Cipriani’s in Manhattan, also includes a musical performance by Betty Who and an afterparty with tunes from superstar DJ Samantha Ronson.
Tickets for the 2013 Emery Awards are available here.
AskMen.com has released it’s list of the Top 49 Most Influential Men and gay NBA player Jason Collins landed at Number 2.
Other notable guys on the list include Drake, Peyton Manning, Jimmy Fallon, Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Vladimir Putin and President Obama.
Collins, 34, hasn’t made the grade with the NBA, though—The former Celtic has yet to be signed to a NBA team since coming out as gay in a Sports Illustrated story in May.
A scientific study out of the Czech Republic claims that the faces of gay men are more “masculine” than their heterosexual counterparts.
Researchers in Prague examined the facial characteristics of gay and straight men to see if there was any correlation to sexual orientation. Two studies were conducted: One analyzed whether gay men have noticeably different facial features than straight men; the other examined whether sexual orientation could be extrapolated from certain features.
In the first study, researchers gathered 40 gay and 40 heterosexual men, all Caucasian. Dozens of photos were fed into a computer and more than 11,000 coordinates were mapped out. According to the study, “Gay men showed relatively wider and shorter faces, smaller and shorter noses, and rather massive and more rounded jaws, resulting in a mosaic of both feminine and masculine features.”
A second study involved asking students at Charles University to rate the sexual orientation of 66 male participants, (33 gay and 33 straight men in their early 20s). Interviewees were asked to rate the photos on a scale of one to seven, with one indicating a very “straight look” and seven indicating a very “gay” look. They also rated the men’s masculinity, with one representing very masculine and seen representing very feminine.
All of which is highly subjective, of course.
Overall, the face shapes of the gay men were rated more masculine—but participants were not able to correctly guess the sexuality of the subjects. “This shows that sexual orientation judgment based on stereotyped gender specific traits leads to frequent misjudgment,” researchers explained.
“The fact that we have found some significant morphological differences between homosexual and heterosexual men does not mean that any of the groups is easily recognizable on the street,” scientist Jarka Valentova told Huffington Post. “And our Study 2 actually shows that it’s not that easy to guess anyone’s sexual orientation without knowing it.”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have already hosted several marriage proposals from gays and lesbians at their concerts, but now it’s the kids’ turn: At a recent show in Spokane, Washington, high-school senior McKyna Jacobson got on stage and asked her girlfriend, Chelsie Price, to be her homecoming date.
“I knew I liked girls since I was the age of 4, but you were the first girl I ever fell in love with,” Jacobson told Price before a crowd of 8,000 fans. Price said yes, BTW.
“I was so excited to be going to homecoming as the first ever same-sex couple but this made it even better,” Jacobson tells the Gaily Grind.. “It became something bigger than just my girlfriend and I. Finally we would have a chance to show everyone that there is nothing wrong with being gay and that it is just about love. It was a chance to reach out to the public and share our story. It was an amazing experience that wouldn’t have been possible without advocates such as Macklemore.”
The Hawaii state Legislature may very well vote to legalize marriage equality today, but one of the nay-sayers may surprise you: Democratic Rep. Georgette “Jo” Jordan, an out lesbian.
Jordan, who is believed to be the first openly gay lawmaker to vote against legalizing gay marriage, says she’s concerned that a majority of her constituents don’t support it. “Has anybody been denied before DOMA or after DOMA — what has changed in our state?” she asked. “These are questions that I still have to settle in myself and that’s why I’m undecided.”
Jordan has one more shot at getting on the right side of history during the final vote on Friday, but if her words defending her no vote are any indication, it’s definitely going to be an uphill battle. After hearing testimony from people opposed to marriage equality in Hawaii, she was utterly defiant, stating that “…nobody’s going to beat me up. Nobody’s going to throw me out of [the gay] community — I’m not quite sure of that… I might vote against something that I personally believe in. I personally believe I should have the right. You know how hard it is for me to say no? I have to say no.”
While we haven’t polled folks in Jordan’s district, a majority of Hawaiians do support marriage equality. Ya might want to get on the right side of history, Jo—and your community.
Below, a view from inside the statehouse.
Gallery starts things off singing “Hawaii Pono’i” both #SB1 opponents & supporters stand & sing #HILeg #HINews pic.twitter.com/0XmTuJ18KT
— Mileka Lincoln (@MilekaLincoln) November 8, 2013
Tags:emery awards|hetrick martin institute|jason collins|macklemore
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