How Latin culture got more gay
By Hector Carillo, New York Times, May 17, 2013
How can we reconcile the advancement of same-sex marriage in much of Latin America with the stereotype of Latin culture as a bastion of religiosity and machismo?

In the Reign of the Gay Magical Elves
By Bret Easton Ellis, Out.com, May 13, 2013
The rush to embrace and console every gay man who comes out is infantilizing and condescending—but it's a script written and promoted by GLAAD and reinforced by a sanctimonious establishment of gay men that rewards those who play by the rules—and punishes those who don't.

Obama scandals threaten progress
Bay Area Reporter, May 16, 2013
The twin scandals that erupted in the Obama administration last week put the president and Democratic lawmakers on the defensive. Revelations that the IRS singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny regarding their applications for tax-exempt status and that the Justice Department secretly examined phone records of Associated Press reporters, combined with the ongoing investigations into the terrorist attack at the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya gives the Republicans the opportunity to hold hearings for months.

HIV quarantines already exist
By Jim Morrison, HIV Plus Magazine, May 16, 2013
Last week, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee re-introduced a bill to repeal HIV criminalization laws across the nation, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Earlier this year, the LGBT community went on red alert when a public health bill in Kansas proposed that people living with HIV should be quarantined.

Has hooking up become boring?
By Michael Kimmel, Gay San Diego, May 14, 2013
For many of my clients, having lots of fast, uncaring, unthinking sex isn’t very exciting. In fact, it can be downright boring.

Diversity and the political right
By Charles Blow, New York Times, May 9, 2013
Many on the political right simply can’t get this diversity thing right — and I deeply doubt that they want to. Theirs is a bone-deep contempt for otherness, a congenital belief in the superiority-inferiority binary, a circle-the-wagons, zero-sum view of progress, prosperity and power.

There's no excuse for discrimination at work
By Congressman Jared Polis, Advocate.com, May 9, 2013
he need for a national Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a critical part of the LGBT community’s struggle for equality. No American should have to live in constant fear that their employer can fire them just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Include Uniting American Families Act in immigration bill
By Camiel Becker, Bay Area Reporter, May 9, 2013
It is tempting not to rock the boat and to accept the existing compromise in order to get such a broad and much-needed bill through Congress. However, this means asking LGBT couples to keep sitting quietly and to continue suffering serious violations of their constitutional rights.

Why are schools the last places to come out?
By David M. Hall, CNN.com, May 8, 2013
Times are changing for being openly gay or lesbian. The president has endorsed same-sex marriage, as are a growing number of politicians. The Boy Scouts are considering allowing Scouts to be out. Even in the world of sports, Jason Collins, an NBA veteran, has come out of the closet. But things don’t seem to have changed that much in some high school gymnasiums as it has on the NBA basketball court.

Why athletes’ coming out matters
By Azadeh Aalai, Psychology Today, May 8, 2013
Recent outings by gay athletes may pave the way for greater tolerance in sports.

Not cool, Secretary Hagel, not cool
By Allyson D. Robinson, Executive Direct OutServe-SLDN
SDGLN.com, April 7, 2013
Why did Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel allow an anti-gay pastor lead the Pentagon's Day of Prayer event?

Gay rights and the religious exemption
Editorial, Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2013
A blanket exemption for religious employers shouldn't be the price paid to enact the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which seeks to protect gays and lesbians from job bias.

Gay marriage opens rift in GOP
By Cokie & Steve Roberts, Amarillo Globe-News, May 3, 2013
A group of rich Republicans is raising money to support same-sex marriage. By doing so, they reveal a fundamental split in conservative ranks between two very different philosophies.

'Transitioning,' both as a doctor and a human being
By Nicole Nisly, Press-Citizen, May 2, 2013
I met my patient whom I will call “Luna” about three years ago. She identified as a transwoman and had transitioned about 10 years earlier — after living most of her adult life identifying as a man, having been married and raising now adult sons and daughters. I feel it necessary to describe my initial sense of discomfort.

San Francisco Pride should reinstate Manning
Editorial, Bay Area Reporter, May 2, 2013
Leaving aside the question of whether Army Private First Class Bradley Manning should be a grand marshal of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade, Pride board President Lisa Williams's clumsy retraction of the honor late last Friday leaves more questions than answers.

Jason Collins scores for gay rights
By Leonard Pitts Jr., Bellingham Herald, May 1, 2013
Boom. And just like that, history is made. Just that quickly, a barrier becomes rubble. Just that fast, everything changes. "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center," writes Jason Collins in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. "I'm black. And I'm gay." Boom.

Focusing less on being gay
By Frank Bruni, New York Times, May 1, 2013
I heard a lot of talk Monday about how "perfect" Jason Collins, the basketball player who just came out, is. Perfect as in straight from central casting. (Or maybe I should say gay from central casting.)

Everybody’s all gay now
By Frank Morford, San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2013
If you don’t think the cover-story coming out of Jason Collins, the currently active, black, veteran, mostly-unknown NBA player, is still historic and all kinds of pioneering, particularly in light of the fact that both big-league pro sports and its slightly skeezy neighbor, hip-hop culture, remain the most homophobic and dumbly macho of all American industries next to NASCAR and maybe professional bass fishing, you gotta check your Twitter feed.

Can deep pockets change closed GOP minds on marriage equality?
Queery.com, April 30, 2013
The passage of a marriage equality bill in Rhode Island last week marked the debut of a new lobbying group focused solely on helping to drive such bills through state legislatures. American Unity Fund is the creation of some powerful hedge fund managers with a lot of money to spend, which is great news for marriage equality supporters. Oh, and it’s a Republican group.

Is the public more accepting of lesbians than gay men?
Washington Post, April 29, 2013
It may be a man’s world, as the saying goes, but lesbians seem to have an easier time living in it than gay men do. High-profile lesbian athletes have come out while still playing their sports, but not a single gay male athlete in major U.S. professional sports has done the same.

Where is the media on ENDA?
By Jennifer Vanasco, Columbia Journalism Review, April 26, 2013
A bill that is crucial to the civil rights of the LGBT community was reintroduced in both houses of Congress on Thursday, and you probably didn’t hear a thing about it. That’s because the bill isn’t about marriage but about something that is equally important and arguably affects more people: the right to not be discriminated against based on your sexual orientation or gender identity.

Dianne, we need you
Editorial, Bay Area Reporter, April 25, 2013
The LGBT community needs California's senior senator Dianne Feinstein's leadership again. We need Feinstein to become a co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act, which proponents hope to include as an amendment to the immigration reform bill that was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of eight senators.

Boy Scouts: Still wrong on LGBT rights
By Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com, April 24, 2013
It’s not really progress – or even compromise – if your gentle, glacial-paced attempts at moving into the 21st century reek of condescension and open up a whole big can of outright bigotry. So let’s try this again, shall we, Boy Scouts?

Hi, Cardinal Napier. I'm lesbian
By Melanie Judge, Mail & Guardian, April 24, 2013
The Catholic Church's medieval morality marks a desperate attempt to claw back the special privileges of men, heterosexuals and procreative marital sex. This has enormous material consequences for those who are excluded from these social arrangements.

The Gay Old Party
By Achy Obejas, InTheseTimes.com, April 17, 2013
Republicans are waving a white flag in their battle against marriage equality–or is that a rainbow flag?

The locker and the closet
By Frank Bruni, New York Times, April 16, 2013
The predicted coming-out of a gay player in one of the major sports isn’t served by invocations of Jackie Robinson.

Who would have thunk it?
By Peter Rosenstein, Washington Blade, April 12, 12013
For those who have fought for LGBT rights for decades, it’s mindboggling that as of April 5, a majority of the United States Senate now supports same-sex marriage. All but three Democrats along with two Republicans, have joined the list of supporters with more than seven issuing statements of support in the past week alone.

What gay men could learn from the Oprah Winfrey
By Nicolas Didomizio, Advocate.com, April 11, 2013
The topic of gay guys being “mean girls” to each other is old news at this point, I know. But the topic of how to holistically put an end to this tragic phenomenon has, in my opinion, remained disappointingly surface-scratching. And this is where the Almighty Oprah comes in.

Open transgender military service: It's time to get started
By Allyson D. Robinson, Huffington Post, April 10, 2013
As the combat exclusion for women comes to an end and open service for gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans edges closer to truly equal service, it becomes more and more obvious that there is no longer any rational basis on which to bar qualified transgender people from serving in our armed forces.

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