The Real L Word stars Jill Goldstein and Nikki Weiss-Goldstein’s open letter to Kim Kardashian.
Hollywood power couple Jill Goldstein and Nikki Weiss-Goldstein (former stars of The Real L Word) have something to say to another woman on reality TV — Kim Kardashian — on the news that Kardashian’s million dollar marriage has ended after 72 days.
Dear Kim Kardashian,
Like much of the world, we were made aware of the news of your impending divorce from Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage. We are sorry for any personal anguish this is causing you. No one likes to hear about hardships when it comes to matters of the heart.
That said Kim, we can’t help but wonder if your “sacred union” was indeed a ploy to boost the ratings of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, while earning millions of dollars from the media in the process.
That thought greatly disturbs us.
As businesswomen, we respect your entrepreneurial spirit. But using a wedding/marriage as a catalyst to further your brand recognition, your celebrity, and your wallet is truly hurtful to those of us who so deeply value the union and yet are unjustly denied the right.
Did you know that gays are denied more than 1,000 federal protections as a result of not being allowed to legally marry? Are you able to understand how devastating it is to love someone dearly, want to spend your life with them through a legally recognized and respected union, only to be denied that civil right because people in position of political power don’t think it’s “right”?
We were unlawfully wed in the State of California on October 9, 2010, where amongst dear family and friends, we vowed to love, honor, cherish, and respect one another. It was truly the most magical day of our lives. Yet despite how meaningful and genuine our commitment to one another was, that “I Do” was not enough to protect our relationship. We had to take countless measures to ensure that our honorable bond was guarded, in areas of healthcare, parenting, benefits, and taxes—just to name a few. We wonder if you appreciated just how many rights your marriage with Kris was afforded when you collected all those profits.
Kim, we have no doubt that a woman as smart, savvy, and beautiful as you will find love and marriage again. But for the respect of the millions of people who hear about it at every turn (many of whom you rely on to build your brand) please do take into consideration the uphill battle that so many of us have to fight for marriage equality. Perhaps you can demonstrate a bit more respect for the union next time around, instead of using it as a business gain.
We leave you with this idea: Why not take a portion of the millions of dollars you earned on your wedding and donate it to the Human Rights Campaign to help fight for marriage equality? It would speak very loudly.
Reposted from The Advocate http://news.advocate.com/post/12173041787/lesbian-outrage-over-kim-kardashian
Reprinted at keystothecloset.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label Gay and Lesbian Quitters of Steel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gay and Lesbian Quitters of Steel. Show all posts
Friday, November 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Op-ed: If Lesbians Are More at Risk for Cancer, Do Something
The number of lesbians dying from cancer is both unacceptable and suspicious of a larger problem, argues the director for the National LGBT Cancer Network.
By Liz Margolies, op-ed contributor
Paula Ettlebrick died of ovarian cancer last week and a whole movement grieves her loss. Her beauty, passion, and intelligence do not come around very often. My close friend Adria died six years ago after a losing struggle with ovarian cancer and she was mourned by her lover, her son, an entire caseload of psychotherapy clients, and me. We played tennis together every Thursday at 1 p.m. for 15 years. Ruth, one of my best friends since college, died of ovarian cancer three years ago. I have not yet recovered.
I will skim over the story of Shirley — my friend of 30 years with two young children, a partner, and ovarian cancer — as well as the dozen women I love who are breast cancer survivors. Oh, yes, I have a friend with lung cancer, too.
This is an epidemic. Our leaders, our friends, our lovers are getting cancer at a disproportionate rate and no one seems to be up in arms about it. Yet.
There are no T-shirts, no slogans. We view each lesbian who gets diagnosed with cancer as a personal tragedy, not a national scourge. When we learn about Cynthia Nixon or Wanda Sykes getting breast cancer, we are upset, of course, but we think of them as unlucky individuals.
It is a plague, I tell you, and the cause is found not in differences between our bodies and those of our heterosexual sisters, but in the social conditions in which we live. We need to do something. Be loud. Angry. Big.
Only 5% to 10% of all cancers can be traced to heredity, like a broken BRCA gene. Most causes are unknown, but many are linked to behaviors that are more prevalent in the lesbian community. The stress and stigma of living as sexual minorities takes its toll on our bodies. More and more research supports the idea that experiencing prejudice leads directly to health problems. As a group, we also smoke more, drink more, and eat a less healthy diet — all of which increases our cancer risks.
Then, instead of being extra vigilant about cancer screenings, we avoid the health care system. A large Harris Interactive poll of primarily white, middle class and educated lesbians found that 75% of them, the more privileged subset of all lesbians, avoided or delayed health care. Imagine what the numbers would be for lesbians of color, those who are poor, less educated, gender non-conforming, undocumented.
In most of my life, 2 + 2 = 4. I count on that. Higher-cancer-risk plus lower-cancer-screening must equal both a higher incidence of the disease and cancer found at a more advanced stage. But because no cancer registries collect information about sexual orientation (or gender identity), we remain hidden in the data. So, I can’t prove we have more cancer. Yet.
Look around you right now. How many lesbians do you know with cancer? More than your heterosexual sister, I am sure.
And what are we doing about it? Helping out with childcare or transportation or food during a friend’s chemotherapy is not enough. After someone we love dies of cancer, mourning is essential but not enough.
When our gay brothers died of AIDS, we organized, we demanded, we shouted. It is time for us to do that for our lesbian sisters today. If Paula Ettlebrick’s work changed your life one tiny bit, do not just weep alone. Do not just write a condolence card. Write the card, but then stand up, be angry, demand that we not lose another lesbian, another lover, another movement leader to cancer.
The last time I spoke to Paula, about a month ago, she wanted to work with me to organize the first conference in this country addressing cancer in the LGBT community.
Here is my preliminary list of demands. Add yours in the comments section below.
1. Demand that all hospitals and all cancer registries collect information on sexual orientation and gender identity, so we can prove our rates are higher. Without this data, we will not get federal recognition and funding.
2. Demand that more research be funded on lesbian cancer risks. We need to know more and have studies with larger samples.
3. Demand that all health care facilities — including cancer screening and treatment services — make LGBT cultural competence training mandatory, making it safer for us to use these services in a timely way.
4. Demand that these services reserve budget money to reach out to our community, showing us it is safe for even gender-nonconforming lesbians and transgender guys to get respectfully screened for cervical cancer and breast cancer.
5. Demand that all oncologists learn about our sexuality so they can answer questions about our sexual practices post cancer treatment. Currently, they cannot.
6. Demand that all places that offer cancer support groups create one for LGBT survivors and caregivers, thereby improving the quality of life currently reported by lesbians and bisexual women after their cancer diagnosis.
7. Demand affordable health care for all, a system that does not require legal marriage to an employed partner to get coverage.
Until our demands are met — until it is safe and affordable to engage with the health care system — you may not want to go alone to the doctor. But, we must go. Go in pairs, go in packs.
If you love her, get her screened. Today.
Liz Margolies is the founder and executive director for the National LGBT Cancer Network.
Posted at http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/Op_ed_How_to_Prove_Lesbians_Are_More_at_Risk_for_Cancer/
Reposted at http://keystothecloset.blogspot.com,
By Liz Margolies, op-ed contributor
Paula Ettlebrick died of ovarian cancer last week and a whole movement grieves her loss. Her beauty, passion, and intelligence do not come around very often. My close friend Adria died six years ago after a losing struggle with ovarian cancer and she was mourned by her lover, her son, an entire caseload of psychotherapy clients, and me. We played tennis together every Thursday at 1 p.m. for 15 years. Ruth, one of my best friends since college, died of ovarian cancer three years ago. I have not yet recovered.
I will skim over the story of Shirley — my friend of 30 years with two young children, a partner, and ovarian cancer — as well as the dozen women I love who are breast cancer survivors. Oh, yes, I have a friend with lung cancer, too.
This is an epidemic. Our leaders, our friends, our lovers are getting cancer at a disproportionate rate and no one seems to be up in arms about it. Yet.
There are no T-shirts, no slogans. We view each lesbian who gets diagnosed with cancer as a personal tragedy, not a national scourge. When we learn about Cynthia Nixon or Wanda Sykes getting breast cancer, we are upset, of course, but we think of them as unlucky individuals.
It is a plague, I tell you, and the cause is found not in differences between our bodies and those of our heterosexual sisters, but in the social conditions in which we live. We need to do something. Be loud. Angry. Big.
Only 5% to 10% of all cancers can be traced to heredity, like a broken BRCA gene. Most causes are unknown, but many are linked to behaviors that are more prevalent in the lesbian community. The stress and stigma of living as sexual minorities takes its toll on our bodies. More and more research supports the idea that experiencing prejudice leads directly to health problems. As a group, we also smoke more, drink more, and eat a less healthy diet — all of which increases our cancer risks.
Then, instead of being extra vigilant about cancer screenings, we avoid the health care system. A large Harris Interactive poll of primarily white, middle class and educated lesbians found that 75% of them, the more privileged subset of all lesbians, avoided or delayed health care. Imagine what the numbers would be for lesbians of color, those who are poor, less educated, gender non-conforming, undocumented.
In most of my life, 2 + 2 = 4. I count on that. Higher-cancer-risk plus lower-cancer-screening must equal both a higher incidence of the disease and cancer found at a more advanced stage. But because no cancer registries collect information about sexual orientation (or gender identity), we remain hidden in the data. So, I can’t prove we have more cancer. Yet.
Look around you right now. How many lesbians do you know with cancer? More than your heterosexual sister, I am sure.
And what are we doing about it? Helping out with childcare or transportation or food during a friend’s chemotherapy is not enough. After someone we love dies of cancer, mourning is essential but not enough.
When our gay brothers died of AIDS, we organized, we demanded, we shouted. It is time for us to do that for our lesbian sisters today. If Paula Ettlebrick’s work changed your life one tiny bit, do not just weep alone. Do not just write a condolence card. Write the card, but then stand up, be angry, demand that we not lose another lesbian, another lover, another movement leader to cancer.
The last time I spoke to Paula, about a month ago, she wanted to work with me to organize the first conference in this country addressing cancer in the LGBT community.
Here is my preliminary list of demands. Add yours in the comments section below.
1. Demand that all hospitals and all cancer registries collect information on sexual orientation and gender identity, so we can prove our rates are higher. Without this data, we will not get federal recognition and funding.
2. Demand that more research be funded on lesbian cancer risks. We need to know more and have studies with larger samples.
3. Demand that all health care facilities — including cancer screening and treatment services — make LGBT cultural competence training mandatory, making it safer for us to use these services in a timely way.
4. Demand that these services reserve budget money to reach out to our community, showing us it is safe for even gender-nonconforming lesbians and transgender guys to get respectfully screened for cervical cancer and breast cancer.
5. Demand that all oncologists learn about our sexuality so they can answer questions about our sexual practices post cancer treatment. Currently, they cannot.
6. Demand that all places that offer cancer support groups create one for LGBT survivors and caregivers, thereby improving the quality of life currently reported by lesbians and bisexual women after their cancer diagnosis.
7. Demand affordable health care for all, a system that does not require legal marriage to an employed partner to get coverage.
Until our demands are met — until it is safe and affordable to engage with the health care system — you may not want to go alone to the doctor. But, we must go. Go in pairs, go in packs.
If you love her, get her screened. Today.
Liz Margolies is the founder and executive director for the National LGBT Cancer Network.
Posted at http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/Op_ed_How_to_Prove_Lesbians_Are_More_at_Risk_for_Cancer/
Reposted at http://keystothecloset.blogspot.com,
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Father Kills Daughter’s Lesbian Girlfriend and Girlfriend’s Mother
Maria HPosted by Kevin Farrell on April 19, 2011 posted at http://unicornbooty.com/2011/04/father-kills-lesbian-daughters-girlfriend-and-gfs-mother/. Reposted at http://keystothecloset.blogspot.com,
So, so, so completely heartbreaking.
It’s like Romeo and Juliet, except in Texas, and without the poisoning and the Romeo.
Also, Juliet’s father goes crazy at the end and kills nearly everyone. OK, so it’s nothing like Romeo and Juliet. It’s still a horrendous tragedy between two families.
Jose Alfonso Aviles, 45, didn’t take kindly to his daughter being in a lesbian relationship with 24-year-old Norma Hurtado. Last night, Aviles and an unidentified Hispanic man drove to Hurtado’s home while Avile’s daughter was in the home.
The two men shot and killed Hurtado, and her 57-year-old mother, Maria Hurtado before driving away and leaving Avile’s daughter alone with the dead bodies of her girlfriend and her mother.
Statesman reports:Police could not say whether the crime would be considered a hate crime, saying that issue would be up to the district attorney’s office.
Aviles was detained in the Bexar County jail this morning, a U.S. Marshals Service official said, adding that they were working on transferring to Travis County.
UPDATE: The Austin Police Department has released the names of the victims in Monday’s double homicide. Norma Hurtado, 24, and Maria Hurtado, 57, were shot to death at their home in Southeast Austin, officials said.
EARLIER: A suspect in a double homicide in Southeast Austin was arrested early this morning in Bexar County and charged with capital murder, an Austin police official said today.
Jose Alfonso Aviles, 45, was arrested about 4:30 a.m. in San Antonio by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Police say Aviles fired multiple shots into a home at the 7100 block of Dixie Drive near Salt Springs Drive about 6:45 p.m. Monday, killing two adults who opened the front door, police have said. The names of the people who were shot have not been released.
The headline for this story has been changed to reflect that it was a witness, and not police, who said the killings were motivated by a lesbian relationship.
My God. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of Norma and Maria Hurtado, as well as the surviving Aviles daughter, who watched as the family who embraced her were gunned down by the family who rejected her. I can’t remember a story ever giving me chills like this tragedy.
So, so, so completely heartbreaking.
It’s like Romeo and Juliet, except in Texas, and without the poisoning and the Romeo.
Also, Juliet’s father goes crazy at the end and kills nearly everyone. OK, so it’s nothing like Romeo and Juliet. It’s still a horrendous tragedy between two families.
Jose Alfonso Aviles, 45, didn’t take kindly to his daughter being in a lesbian relationship with 24-year-old Norma Hurtado. Last night, Aviles and an unidentified Hispanic man drove to Hurtado’s home while Avile’s daughter was in the home.
The two men shot and killed Hurtado, and her 57-year-old mother, Maria Hurtado before driving away and leaving Avile’s daughter alone with the dead bodies of her girlfriend and her mother.
Statesman reports:Police could not say whether the crime would be considered a hate crime, saying that issue would be up to the district attorney’s office.
Aviles was detained in the Bexar County jail this morning, a U.S. Marshals Service official said, adding that they were working on transferring to Travis County.
UPDATE: The Austin Police Department has released the names of the victims in Monday’s double homicide. Norma Hurtado, 24, and Maria Hurtado, 57, were shot to death at their home in Southeast Austin, officials said.
EARLIER: A suspect in a double homicide in Southeast Austin was arrested early this morning in Bexar County and charged with capital murder, an Austin police official said today.
Jose Alfonso Aviles, 45, was arrested about 4:30 a.m. in San Antonio by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Police say Aviles fired multiple shots into a home at the 7100 block of Dixie Drive near Salt Springs Drive about 6:45 p.m. Monday, killing two adults who opened the front door, police have said. The names of the people who were shot have not been released.
The headline for this story has been changed to reflect that it was a witness, and not police, who said the killings were motivated by a lesbian relationship.
My God. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of Norma and Maria Hurtado, as well as the surviving Aviles daughter, who watched as the family who embraced her were gunned down by the family who rejected her. I can’t remember a story ever giving me chills like this tragedy.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
National LGBTIQ Health Week 2011
In honor of National LGBTIQ health week (March 27-April 1, 2011) I would like to introduce you to some leaders in the community who are making a difference.
Gay and Lesbian Quitters of Steel
Brief description: Gay and Lesbians interested in Kicking Butts Foever thru forming a United Force. 68 members. They can be found at “Become an X: Re-learn Life without Cigarettes Group page.”
"This group is dedicated to gay men and women (and their supporters) who are truly dedicated to kicking the butts forever. I mean, how the hell are we going to be strong enough to fight for the freedoms we deserve if we're killing ourselves by inches by smoking? See what I'm saying? So, if you're interested in getting support and understanding from others who know exactly what you're going through, join the group. Lets keep working together to eliminate as many ills as we possibly can."
Reposted at http://www.keystothecloset.blogspot.com/
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