Boy Scouts Oust Lesbian Leader

Ah family values. Mom, apple pie, the American flag, Boy Scouts.

Ohio resident Jennifer Tyrrell just wanted her seven-year-old son to be in Boy Scouts. She was upfront about her orientation from the beginning, and even though the national organization said no gays allowed, the local leaders told her it would be no problem. Yes, scary gay Tyrrell did activities with the troupe like "took the boys swimming, led them on orienteering hikes and helped them collect food pantry donations and Christmas toys." You know, sex stuff like that.

About her sudden ouster, spokesman for Boy Scouts of America Deron Smith, based in Irving, Texas, said in a statement to The Times: "Her removal from the program was solely for being in violation of national policy and unrelated to any other issue. This policy was understood by her and her fellow volunteers, but not followed, upon her registering in the program," Smith said. "Scouting, and the majority of parents it serves, does not believe it is the right forum for children to become aware of the issue of sexual orientation, or engage in discussions about being gay," the statement said.

Because sexual orientation always gets discussed at meetings when you are doing crafts or learning to conserve the forests. When my son was a Boy Scout, I can't remember how many times we brought up sexual orientation. Oh wait. Now I remember. NEVER. And because a parent or guardian is required to be with the kid, the kid can't be involved either. But she is getting a lot of support. The story is here.

Secretly Video

Sweet and bittersweet little video from GayTwogether.com:

No Bullies--High Schools for LGBT Youth

One can't help but think X-men and Professor Xavier, though this is serious business. When LGBT kids just can't take the harrassment in their schools they dropout or worse. Here is one of many schools throughout the country that cater to kids who just need a place to learn.

Q High is in Arizona, not exactly the place one thinks of as the bastion of protecting the rights of individuals. Nevertheless, it opened with the leadership of an organization called one-n-ten.

From a story in azfamily.com:

"Youth deserve a space that says 'I will let you learn and get your education regardless', and we do that," says Micheal Weakley, one-n-ten's deputy director.

The number of students who struggle to focus on their education because of what they go through in traditional school settings or at home is staggering.

"About one-third of our youth have dropped out of high schools, so we have dropouts and we have about half of our youth are homeless or have been homeless," explained Cado Stewart, program director for One-n-ten.

Fortunately Tyler, who didn't want to give a last name, has a mother who has always been supportive.

But that didn't prevent Tyler from being bullied.

"Kids would just continually bully and harass me," said Tyler. "Kids have threatened to beat me up and harm me just based on the fact that I was an LGBT student. I ended up having straight Fs and school pretty much went down the toilet at that point."

Tyler had been to four different high schools, Q High is the fifth -- and last.

Should Colleges Ask If You are LGBT?

According to an article in the LA Times today, the California state colleges are weighing whether they should ask on applications whether a student is an LGBT person. It's about taking statistics, it's about using the law to protect students...might it also be about scholarships? But for some, it's scary in how this information might be used. Will it be available to future employers? Parents? Your church?

From the LA Times article:

"It would be useful to know if we are underserving the population," said Jesse Bernal, the UC system's interim diversity coordinator. In addition, giving students the opportunity to answer such questions, he added, "sends a positive message of inclusiveness to LGBT students and creates an environment that is inclusive and welcoming of diverse populations."

Experts said it is rare for a college to ask about sexual identity on an application or registration form, although a growing number of schools are studying the possibility. Last fall, Elmhurst College, a private school in Illinois, reportedly became the first in the nation to ask applicants about that part of their lives; the school reports that 85% have volunteered answers, with 3% reporting to be homosexual, bisexual or transgender.

In the past, some colleges have used surveys about interests in clubs and organizations to get a sense of gay populations on campuses. Since 2006, the University of California has asked about sexual orientation on a more informal poll about campus life but those were not linked to a student's name and could not be used to track, for example, dropout rates or housing patterns.

The rest of the story is here.

Miss Universe Canada Says No to Transgender Contestant

Well, whadya gonna do? The rules for Miss Universe Canada state that contestants must be born female, but what happens when you are born female in your mind not your body?

Jenna Talackova was born male but started transgender therapy at 14 and the surgery at 19. What makes a woman? And what about these contests (which I think are pretty horrible anyway, since they do nothing but objectify women with the most blatant of stereotypes. Oh wait. They aren't "beauty" contests, they are scholarship programs. Bitch, please. When was the last time an ugly contestant won? When was the last time there was an ugly contestant? And who judges that?)

Should the rules change? And if not, why not? Here's the story from the Huffington Post.

Animals Not Homophobic So Why Are We?

Will Oremus wrote an article on Monday's Slate.com about homophobia or the lack thereof in the animal kingdom. Though, apparently, lifelong bonds with the same sex does not preclude eschewing the biological imperative. You can have your partner but go ahead and have sex with the opposite sex to perpetuate the species. Seems civilized. Doesn't seem to destroy the fabric of civilization.

At any rate, read the article here and for more sciencey stuff on the subject, read here.

LOGO Says B'bye to the Gay

Apparently it's official. Logo, one of the few (two?) cable networks devoted to all gay programming is calling it quits and switching to, well, no gay programming. Well, no wonder when they produced nothing gay-worthy for a while. I mean, all we get are endless incarnations of RuPaul's Drag Race. What happened to promising series like Noah's Arc (though a bit schmalzy on storylines and writing, it at least had decent production values). Rick and Steve was cute and funny, the "best gay Lego characters around," says hubby. He did like that show.

Of course the endless intrusiveness of commercials every five minutes of show airtime gets tiresome, too, but I'm sure that won't end anytime soon. It's too bad. Sounds like they needed a better marketing department to help them figure out what shows to buy or produce. Honestly, there's a world of possibilities, including some decent new shows. Like, um, maybe a cool, funny, sexy mystery featuring a high school English teacher. Hint!

R.I.P. Logo.