+ Bisexual actress Bai Ling has revealed that she was a sexual abuse survivor on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
Ling, who became a soldier with the People’s Liberation Army when she was just 14, was sexually abused by Chinese army officers. She told the Associated Press that she was “opening a wound that was very secret to myself, that even my parents don’t know.
Ling says she was pressured to have sex with her superiors, as were other women serving with her in Tibet. They were often plied with alcohol and her abuse that led her, on one occasion, to pregnancy and abortion.
+ At OUT Magazine: “Michael Irvin, Ben Cohen, Hudson Taylor, Mike Chabala, and Nick Youngquest star in our salute to the small band of straight sports stars who have stood up for fairness and tolerance, shoulder to shoulder with their LGBT peers.” (Feministing has a bit more on Michael Irvin)
+ A gay guy says he got kicked out of Pizza Hut for wearing a dress. Pizza Hut says they kicked him out because he came in three times and didn’t buy anything.
+ Zack Rosen, the guy who invited Autostraddle Katrina to go to NetRoots this year to represent Politically Progressive Lesbian Website Autostraddle, is stepping down as editor of The New Gay for largely mysterious reasons.
+ This story from The Onion is first-rate [SATIRE ALERT]: “I know what scripture says about homosexuals, but when I stop to think about it, I can’t get past the fact that the Bible is just a book, and Tony and Craig are real people.”
+ Buffalo Republican Sen. Mark Grissanti, our favorite Republican who cast a vote in favor of same-sex marriage despite the fact that his constituents had been lead to believe he would act with the bigotry they hold so dear, is banking some serious bucks from pro-gay-marriage people. He’s raised over $50,000 for his campaign after the vote, which is awesome. It’s really important to throw support in the direction of whomever is standing up for us to encourage them to keep doing it. It’s like a gold star that costs $10,000.
+ The first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. State Legislature, Simone Bell, will be speaking at The Women’s Pride Brunch in San Diego this weekend.
+ A town clerk in Barker, New York (population: less than 3,000) has quit because she would rather quit than have to marry any gay people.
+ Gay pop star Ari Gold and his partner were holding hands on the bus, so the bus driver literally told them to move to the back of the bus. They refused, so the driver fucking called in the state troopers.
+ Are you on Google+ yet? Because now, in addition to being able to select “other” as a gender, Google+ users may now conceal their gender from public viewing.
+ Kansas has been systematically eliminating abortion clinics by enforcing harsh restrictions and making it nearly impossible to maintain a practice in the state. At this time, there is only one abortion doctor in the entire state, but Dr. Mila Means is a complete badass who drives a car with lightning bolts.
+ A long time ago Jamie Leigh Jones had contended in court that she had been raped and defrauded, but recently, a Houston jury rejected all of her claims. According to Jezebel, her alleged rapist “had contended that the sex, which occurred in Iraq while Jones was blacked out, was consensual.” Because that makes sense.
+ A Catholic church in Massachusetts held a controversial mass for LGBT Catholics. Also in Catholic news, the Catholic church returned a donation to a New York politician who voted in favor of marriage equality.
+ Chile might legalize civil unions!
+ A hospital transformed itself from being among the worst in LGBT treatment to being a safe place that “protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender patients and employees from discrimination.”
+ Professional video gaming: it’s a really intense thing.
+ Fiction is sometimes a better way to understand people than real life or non-fiction.
+ A lot of Generation X’s parents are divorced, but Gen X-ers aren’t divorcing at rates that are nearly as high. Instead, they’re getting married later in life and/or living together out of wedlock.
+ Chris Brown said something homophobic again. I don’t recommend reading the comments on that story.
The news on Ball Memorial Hospital going LGBT safe… that sure is some news. At least for me. I lived in Muncie, Indiana during college and grad school (feels like a lifetime ago). I’ve been to that hospital multiple times. I was shocked and not shocked at the same time to hear about the incident involving a transsexual patient. Outside of the university (and occasionally inside the university), I wouldn’t say the community is the most LGBT friendly. Though when my (now ex) girlfriend went in for major surgery, the hospital treated us pretty well and had no issue with me spending nights in her room and helping care for her regardless of our lack of any sort of legal status. But then again, gay and lesbian acceptance is still a bit easier than trans* acceptance, which is utter bullshit, but if BMH is truly taking steps toward change (and not just trying to make a show of it for PR) then I applaud their efforts.
As a fellow BSU grad, I totally agree with you. It’s refreshing to hear that they’ve changed their tune, because it was quite the embarrassment contending with that news story on the Internet while I was a student there.
I’m really glad to hear about the hospital, although it sucks that the trans woman had to go through that to make it happen. I have more than one trans friend who has sat at home with a serious illness or injury because the didn’t want to deal with the hospital.
dr. drew is actually horrible and in no way is real rehab anything like that BUT. BUT. I watch it anyway and Bai is breaking my heart.
that show is really fucking weird to me — I don’t see how Dr. Drew doesn’t lose his license… like the season where they had Tom Sizemore and Heidi Fliess both in rehab together even though they were exes with a bad history? Like what, that’s the worst idea ever and not remotely therapeutic. The prospect of creating an entertaining television show bears nothing n common with rehabilitating addicts. i don’t know why alex and i became obsessed with it last year just the same. some of it seems genuine but in general i’m just confused by how this is set up or why anyone would want to go through that ON CAMERA.
Could be off my rocker, but isn’t Bai Ling also the actress that’s kind of known for bullshitting a lot of her past and/or being generally insane? (not saying she’s lying about the abuse, just curious if it’s the actress I’m thinking of)
As for pro gaming, I was never ‘pro’ but I was on a sponsored team and played in some lower-tier leagues like CAL-i. It was as serious for me as being a player/fan of any sport, and I was one of those nerds that watched live matches and rooted for my favorite teams, too. :3
Also: that Onion story is awesome.
Amazing… I am always in awe of Chris Brown and his teflon career.
AlsoAlsoAlso I have no idea why this comment is here under Torque.
Not that I mind, of course. Torque is cool.
– Argentina: Marriage
– Ecuador: civil unions
– Uruguay: civil unions
– Colombia: domestic partnerships
– Brazil: civil unions that can be converted to marriages if the partners so choose
Not that bad, South America, not bad at all…
That story from the Onion, even though it was satire, warmed my heart. If only…
I love this feature, the essay about fiction was lovely. :)
And alsoalsoalso, Jerry Brown signed the CA “Gay History” bill this morning! http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/07/jerry-brown-schools-gay-history-senate-bill-48.html
Weeee!!!
Yay Jerry Brown! Now I will celebrate but later I’ll be afraid that the NOM people will try to repeal that by ballot measure in the 2012 elections.
YES!!!!! as a gay california high schooler, i want to personally thank jer-bear for taking care of business…he is taking this budget thing really seriously and eliminating my dad’s entire career (redevelopment [it enhances communities greatly]) so it’s refreshing that my entire family won’t be fucked by his admittedly bold approach to getting us out of debt
As a Chilean, I really hope Chile legalizes civil unions, but in all honesty, I’m not going to count on it. It’s quite a conservative country – my friend told me everyone was pretty much going batshit over the proposition. Granted, I haven’t been back in a over a year and a half, but I’m going to guess views haven’t changed that much during that time.