The Gaytheist Agenda

If you are an LGB and/or T blogger The LGBT Blogroll , a joint effort of The Gaytheist Agenda and Lavender Newswire is just the thing for you. It’s an excellent way to increase your exposure and bring traffic to your blog.

You may have noticed the Atheist Blogroll in my sidebar. Since joining it my readers have had ready access to the more than 500 blogs on the Atheist Blogroll. What’s more, my traffic increased dramatically since I joined the Atheist Blogroll as every member has the blogroll–including my blog–posted on their blog. People see like-minded sites in a handy list and they click because the site name sounds interesting, because they heard about it from a friend or just out of plain curiosity. It’s amazing how many new readers this type of feature can bring in.

Here are the basic requirements:
1. The blog author(s) must be L,G,B and/or T.
2. The blog should be, but doesn’t have to be, written from an LGBT persepective.
3. Please, no pornography be it printed, pictorial or video format.
4. The blog should be fairly active; at least two posts per month.

 
To apply for membership click “Comment on this entry” below this post. When replying :
1. Indicate that your message is about The LGBT Blogroll .
2. Include a valid e-mail address, the title and URL (http address) of your blog.
3. If you wish, include any other information you feel is relevant.

Once we receive about 10-12 submissions we’ll contact members with important details and launch the LGBT Blogroll!

 

I thought I’d do something a little different now and have a bit of an open forum. Got something on your mind about Atheists, Atheism, LGBT issues or similar topics? Go ahead and ask and I’ll do my best to answer. Please keep questions respectful as I reserve the right to ignore questions that aren’t. To submit a question click on “Comment on this entry” below this post and follow the instructions!

And I invite you to do the same, whether or not you are gay. Here’s the story from My Gayest Look :

The word from Leno: “In talking about Ryan’s first role, I realize that what I said came out wrong. I certainly didn’t mean any malice. I agree it was a dumb thing to say, and I apologize.”

Fantastic. That takes some guts. But will it last until the next easy assumption comes along?

Until then, we’ll hold Jay’s feet to the fire. Our response these past few days has been overwhelming, but we will post each and every pic that was submitted.

……

So, back to the site:

On Thursday, March 20, 2008, Jay Leno welcomed as his guest on The Tonight Show the actor Ryan Phillippe, who, early in his career, played a gay character on the daily soap One Life to Live. During the interview, Leno hounded Phillippe, telling him to look into the camera, pretend it was his “gay lover…Billy Bob,” who “has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming” (still milking the Brokeback jokes), and give it his “gayest look.”

…..

Jeff—who, in 2006, famously penned a letter to Jay Leno about his homophobic humor—completed another missive, in which he included a photographic sign-off (at left) of his “gayest look.” Melissa—who was similarly agitated in 2006—then offered up her “gayest look” (also at left), and soon her readers began to send in their gayest looks—and an avalanche began. Simultaneously, writer Dan Savage suggested to Jeff that he collect people’s “gayest looks,” and that, folks, is called synchronicity. Forces were joined.

And while we’re being a bit cheeky about all this, our message is dead serious: A 2005 study by GLSEN found that 90% of LGBTQ teens had been harassed or assaulted during the previous year. They were three times as likely as non-LGBTQ students to say that they do not feel safe at school and remain at increased risk for bullying, assault, and suicide. That doesn’t happen in a void. Gay jokes are not harmless; they contribute to a culture in which institutionalized homophobia has tragic consequences. We want Jay Leno to know that we, LGBTQ people and their allies, are not amused.

So now it’s your turn! Send us your “gayest look” for Jay
here .

And here is my Gayest Look for Jay Leno. I hope you’ll contribute yours, for it’s a very worthy cause.

The all new Dead Celebrity Alert created by my better-half ! Get obituaries on the famous and the infamous as soon as they hit the newswires. The original Yahoo! group was so popular that it’s now a Blog. Stop by and check it out. For future reference the permanent link is available under Fun and More in my sidebar.

I’ve been tagged by Terrance (Republic of T.) a blogger I very much respect, to participate in a very interesting blog meme.

I’ve been tagged by the talented Harlyn Aizley, who blogs at Are You My Mothers, to write a memoir of my life in six words or fewer, mention my tagger, and then tag five others.

The only way I could think to sum up my life in words is:
Just trying to make a difference.

I’m going to follow Terrance’s example on the tagging. If you’re a blogger and you’re reading this post, consider yourself tagged. Continue the meme on your blog and present your six word memoir!

The annual Blog Against Theocracy is now up. Blog Against Theocracy is a blogswarm dedicated to the separation of church and state. This is a very important topic and many fine bloggers have contributed so stop by and show them some love.

Addendum: Comments are already coming in for my contribution to the Blog Against Theocracy, Move over DADT, Make Room for COE. First up, FranIam said:

As someone who is a Christian, this makes me ill. So many who identify as followers of Christ act like anything but.

I could go off on how there are so many inconsistencies between Jesus Christ and the military, that the two could ever be joined in anyone’s mind but this is not the place.

All I will say is this- every time a so-called Christian forces his or her will upon another, their behavior and choices fly in the face of the Jesus that I know.

Can we all just live peaceably? I know that probably sounds like a stupid question. However, as someone very committed to my faith, married to an agnostic, close friends and related to all manner of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and atheists, I would hope that we could all find our way.

Call me a dreamer I guess.

Your post is brilliant and so well written. It is just another reason I loathe so much about the military.

Peace.

Thank you very much, Fran. I too wish we could all coexist peacefully. It’s a shame some feel the need to force their chosen beliefs on others rather than simply using them as a guide for their own lives. While I am an atheist I do find certain religious ideals noble. In particular I am fond of the Wiccan Rede: An it harm none do what ye will. Then there is always The Golden Rule, which is not exclusive to Christianity.

The next comment is from Barbara:

Even as a Christian, I am appalled and disgusted by this sort of behavior. Discrimination and intolerance are not Christian values, no matter how many fire-and-brimstone preachers try to claim otherwise.

And it’s no wonder the Muslim world is so offended and upset by our continued military presence in their homelands, if our soldiers are being told that it’s part of their mission to serve as evangelists for the radical right.

But I thought they hated us for our freedom… Huh.

I agree. I was a Christian for about 20 years and was always deeply respectful of the rights of others to practice religion (or not) as they wished. I don’t understand the drive some have to force their chosen religion on others by evangelism, legal action and other means. What is even more astounding is the mental disconnect that allows them to see any resistance to these actions as “persecution”, but their actions as righteous and proper.

Hat tip to Too Many Tribbles.

Carnival of the Godless #87 is hosted at Ironwolf. Robert was kind enough to organize the entries into categories and summarize them for your reading pleasure. So stop by and take a look!

This edition is featured at Tangled Up in Blue Guy and while the theme is rather gloomy the reading is still amazing. Be sure to check it out!