What Scientists Just Discovered About ‘Gaydar'

Does it exist?

“Gaydar” is commonly defined as the ability to detect homosexuality based on appearance. In 2008, a study came out claiming the phenomenon had some scientific weight to it. Three years later, a group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison sought out to debunk those claims.

“Most people think of stereotyping as inappropriate,” lead author of the study, psychologist William Cox, said in a statement, adding “But if you’re not calling it ‘stereotyping,’ if you’re giving it this other label and camouflaging it as ‘gaydar,’ it appears to be more socially and personally acceptable.”

How the Fight for Gay Rights Changed America

"I covered Obama for nearly five years. What I witnessed during that time were the contortions of a shrewd and cautious politician grappling with his conscience."

The following is an excerpt from the new book Don't Tell Me To Wait by Kerry Eleveld (Basic Books, 2015): 

President Obama presided over a tipping point in the history of LGBT rights—a time when Congress passed its first-ever pieces of pro-gay legislation, when government-sanctioned discrimination against gays in the military and same-sex couples began to crumble, when a sitting president declared all love equally sacred and the voters went from rejecting marriage equality at the ballot box some thirty times prior to 2012 to ratifying it by popular vote in three consecutive states that same year.

But the president did not do it alone. The forces that helped move him and his administration in the direction of progress contained the classic elements of every struggle for freedom and equality: societal pressure, a moral dilemma, and a group of people who were deemed unreasonable because they refused to engage the political system in accepted and ordinary ways.

Oklahoma Republican Wants to Forbid Suicidal LGBT Kids From Meeting Gay-Friendly Therapists

Proposed by Republican Sally Kern, the state House bill is part of a slew of anti-gay legislation she wants to pass.

Oklahoma legislators are trying to pass an expressively cruel bill that would bar depressed LGBT youngsters from seeking gay-affirming counseling at school, Slate reports.

The state House bill, proposed by Republican Sally Kern, is part of a slew of anti-gay legislation she wants to pass, which would sanction discredited gay “conversion” therapy and prevent HIV-positive people from getting married.

As Slate points out, LGBT kids raised in homophobic households have higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide, and public school counselors who can connect them with the right LGBT-friendly groups and gay-affirming therapists provide a critical lifeline.

The bill states that no public school “counselor, therapist, social worker, administrator, teacher or other individual” will be allowed to refer anyone under 18 to any person or organization if the referral “pertain[s] to human sexuality.”

While the restriction would end when a person turns 18, Slate points out Oklahoma lawmakers have ensured anti-gay harassment and discrimination will continue to torment young people in college by making it legal for student groups on college campuses to openly discriminate.

Fonte: Alternet