Cyndi Lauper announced she is opening a homeless shelter in New York City for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth. The shelter, to be located in Harlem, will house thirty rooms, a library, a computer room, and communal living space and will be a support center for LGBT youth ages 18 to 24 who have been disowned by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. “Kids are coming out in greater number as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies,” said Lauper, “but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets. We need to make sure we’re taking care of them.”
Lady Gaga showed support for 15 year old Cole Goforth via Twitter Wednesday, the White House, Tennessee high school student sent home Monday for wearing a tee shirt that school officials contended would cause a “disruption.” The tee shirt, bought by Cole at a Lady Gaga Monster Ball concert, reads “I Heart Lady Gay Gay,” the Lady herself tweeting “Thank u for wearing your tee-shirt proud at school, you make me so proud, at the monsterball, you are an inspiration to us all. I love you. X.” Soon after she tweeted “it reminds me of my commitment + love for u, and the deep unconditional devotion I feel to write music that will liberate you from prejudice.” On Tuesday, the day after being sent home, Cole tweeted “Individuality, self-expression, and truly being comfortable with yourself is something that runs so deep in me, I could cry talking about it.”
GLAAD – the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – has issued a call to action against CNN, after a segment hosted by Kyra Phillips attempted to discuss efforts by California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal to repeal a sixty year old law in that state which mandates the California Department of Mental Health officials locate causes of and cures for homosexuality. The law, enacted at the height of McCarthy-era hysteria, is a relic from a time when homosexuality was categorized as a mental illness, although given CNN and Phillips handling of the story, the calendar might as well read 1950, instead of 2010. Phillips began the segment by asking, rhetorically, one imagines, “Homosexuality, is it a problem in need of a cure?” Things quite quickly turned worse with the appearance of the unlicensed, unintelligent, unspeakably stupid “ex-gay” Richard Cohen as a guest, paired, inexplicably, with the Assemblywoman. CNN and Phillips presented Cohen as “an expert in the field of sexual reorientation,” which, one, he is not, and two, the field, such as it is, is neither considered by the medical or mental health authorities as having merit or being valid. CNN and in particular Phillips not only compromised any standard of journalistic credibility – they vandalized the very understanding of balance and fairness.
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