Stunning Photographs Of Couples In Love by Braden Summers

Beautiful portraits by photographer Braden Summers for his “All Love Is Equal” series that was funded through Kickstarter.

“My hope is that not only are my images inspiring romance for the queer community, but inspiring the acceptance of our romance on a global scale.”

The Kickstarter raised enough money so that Braden can photograph LGBT couples in France, Indian, Lebanon, South Africa, Brazil, New York, and California.

via Upworthy via Kenji Nishikawa

Browse more: LGBT Kickstarter Projects

Crowdsourced Website Equaldex Launches, Provides Global View of LGBT Rights

Equaldex, the collaborative LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights knowledge base has launched! The site is aimed at crowdsourcing every LGBT-related law around the world.

The site provides users an accurate and comprehensive global view of the LGBT movement, with the use of maps, LGBT rights timelines, statistics, and historical data in each country and region.

How Equaldex Works

Equaldex is completely collaborative; as LGBT laws change, users update the database, citing reputable sources for accuracy. Other users are encouraged to authenticate the accuracy of each update and the information becomes verified as site usage increases.

The site’s growing database includes a variety of LGBT-related issues for each region: gay marriage, serving in the military, discrimination protection, donating blood, same-sex adoption, the ability to legally change gender, and more.

Visualizing the LGBT Movement

Data on Equaldex is structured in a consistent format, which is displayed in the form of maps, visualizations, and statistics about the LGBT rights movement. Equaldex aims to become an invaluable educational resource and provide a comprehensive insight into how the LGBT rights movement is progressing and which areas of the world are falling behind.

User Contributions & Collaborative Research

Users are credited for contributing information to Equaldex, giving them an extra incentive to continuously update the site. Each user has a profile that shows contributions they’ve made, the amount of “accurate” votes their contributions received, and the regions to which they’ve contributed.

Using a “discussion” page on each region, users can collaborate by sharing resources, discussing the status of the region’s laws, and helping each other research missing or ambiguous information.

Visit Equaldex, The LGBT Knowledge Base

Gay Marriage is Against Nature [Comic]

by Dan Piraro of Bizarro Comics (via Reddit)

Sign up for early access to Equaldex, the collaborative knowledge base for the LGBT movement.

The 50 Most Powerful Coming Outs of 2012

2012 was a great year for influential public figures coming out! Towleroad put together a list of the top 50 coming outs of the year.

The first 10 include:

1. Andrew Ahn
2. Gillian Anderson
3. Paul Babeu
4. Matt Bomer
5. Thomas “Bozzy” Bosworth
6. Anne Burrell
7. Sam Champion
8. Cheryl Chow
9. Anderson Cooper
10. Orlando Cruz

Read the full list

Which of these public figures do you feel had the biggest impact on the LGBT rights movement by making the move to come out?

2012 in LGBT Rights

Chick-fil-A in California vandalized on “National Same-Sex Kiss Day”

From the Los Angeles Times:

“On a day that some gay-rights activists are planning a "National Same Sex Kiss Day,” a Chick-fil-A in Torrance, California was vandalized overnight with hateful graffiti.“ 

Read the full article on Los Angeles Times

(Photo credit: KTLA-TV)

‘Muppets’ sever ties with Chick-Fil-A over anti-gay stance, donates payment from partnership to GLAAD

From The Huffington Post:

“The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chic-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors. Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).”

Read the full Huffington Post article

(Image: The Other 98%)

Oreo posts photo of pride Oreo on Facebook, causes controversy

Oreo posted this image to their official Facebook Page in support of pride weekend, which caused some of their Facebook fans to speak up — both for and against it.

Join in the conversation!

Tumblr adds LGBTQ section to new “Spotlight” directory

Equalitopia and a number of other LGBTQ blogs have received invites to be featured in the LGBTQ section of Tumblr’s new Spotlight directory, which replaces the old directory. Upon its launch, it did not include an “LGBTQ” category.

Aside from the new look and lack of user recommendations, the new directory is very similar to the old. A few categories were removed while a numer of new ones were added.

Currently featured in the LGBTQ directory are: I’m A PFLAG Mom, Art of Transliness, genderqueer, TRANS, KNOW Homo, Gender Magick, You Know You’re Trans* When…, Soffa Support, homohelp, Queer Secrets, the gang’s all QUEER, Fuck Yeah FTMs of Color, HOMOGROUND, LGBTQ GMHA, Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme, and Equalitopia.

Users can recommend categories or blogs to be featured by emailing editors@tumblr.com.

What do you think of the new directory?

(Equalitopia’s directory image resource via SneakyTomato)