14-year-old asks Maryland lawmakers to vote against gay marriage [audio]

In this audio clip, a girl visits the Maryland’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on her 14th birthday and asks lawmakers to vote against same-sex marriage.

“…I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender. They have no idea what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on…”

(via ThinkProgress, Peter Frank)

Michele Bachmann: ‘I don’t judge gays’

Michele Bachmann, fresh from a victory in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, and was again dogged with questions about her anti-gay platform, this time declaring, “I don’t judge gays.”

Read the full story at LGBTQ Nation.

Anonymous hacks Westboro Baptist Church’s website during live interview

A source from the internet group Anonymous was interviewed on a radio show, along with Shirley Phelps-Roper of the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church. During the interview, Anonymous hacked the church’s website.

Earlier this week, a press release aimed at the Westboro Baptist Church was posted around the internet that claimed to be from Anonymous. The Westboro Baptist Church responded to this by publishing their own release stating, “bring it, cowards.”

Anonymous then posted a follow-up press release denying that they did not publish the original press release.

These shenanigans were discussed during the interview on the David Pakman Show. Towards the end of the discussion, the Anonymous source said:

“I was just going to say in the time that Shirley was blabbing her religious preachings I actually did some business and I think if you check downloads.westborobaptistchurch.com right now you’ll see a nice message from Anonymous.”

The WBC’s website was hacked to display a Anonymous press release (see screenshot).

Throughout the interview, the Anonymous source references internet memes, such as claiming he has “over 9,000 sins.”

The family who runs the Westboro Baptist Church has been referred to as “America’s Most Hated Family." Most of their protesting efforts are targeted at gays and soldiers, even though many of those protests get drowned out by counter-protesters.

(via Reddit)

FCK BULLIES: A new PSA by FCKH8

(Video contains explicit language.)

FCKH8 just launched their second PSA, after the success of their first PSA, which launched two months ago. Since then, $200,000 was raised to support the fight for equal marriage rights. They campaign has sold over 40,000 t-shirts.

FCKH8 is a campaign directly supporting the groups leading the fight for equality, including; American Foundation for Equal Rights, Equality California, Courage Campaign, Lambda Legal. $5 from each shirt sold goes towards those groups.

The campaign was launched on October 10 by Luke Montgomery. Back in 1993, Luke changed his last name to “Sissyfag,“ in an effort to make a point about discrimination against gays and lesbians.

"FCKED up Homo H8 has a lot to do with the suicide R8! FCKH8.com is at it again with "FCK BULLIES.” F-bomb dropping kids, drag queens, senior citizens & shirtless hotties take on anti-gay bullies at schools & churches as well as homo H8ing families & voters. T-shirt sales go to benefit queer youth counseling & suicide prevention.“

(via LaurenKitsune)

Teen comes out to anti-gay parents on hidden camera show, public reacts

ABC’s hidden camera show What Would You Do? staged a scene where a teen came out to his anti-gay parents. They captured bystanders’ reactions.

In the middle of a cafe, a son comes out to his dad who reacts by saying things like “my son is not gay!” and “this is a mistake—turn your life around.”

Some bystanders stepped in to defend the teen while others stayed out of it or even left. Some stated that they didn’t want to get involved. One man told them they should take the argument elsewhere.

After a few reactions are captured, they switch the dad out for anti-gay mom, who received similar reactions.

One woman interrupts the dad and voices her opinion:

“I understand completely because it wasn’t my dream to have two autistic children either, but you know what? I’m going to fight for them and I’m going to love them. I’m going to do what I have to do for them. You should do the same for your son, because what you’re doing to him involving everyone around here, is wrong.”

Coincidentally, one bystander was the parent of a student at Rutgers University, where a gay student committed suicide earlier this year.

Previously, What Would You Do? covered anti-gay bullying and gay public displays of affection.

(via Towleroad)

Two men use Skype to have a legal wedding in Texas

Mark Reed and Dante Walkup just got legally married in Texas, where gay marriage is not legal. How did they do it? It’s called “e-marriage.”

They found a creative way around inequality. The two men and their families joined together in Texas. The wedding was officiated by a woman who was in Washington D.C.—where gay marriage is legal—using Skype.

According to the report by Dallas Voice, the couple wanted to have their wedding in Texas to be with their families and friends.

“It was very important that all of our family came. It was the first time they actually met, even though we’ve been together 10 years. If we had to go to D.C., there’s no way we could have had the people there who we wanted to be there.”

The couple were married on October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) at a hotel in Dallas, Texas, with a projection screen behind them.

According to the report, there are no laws against e-weddings in Washington D.C., so the men understand that their marriage could be debated in court.

The couple had to first go to Washington D.C. to register. The marriage license was then mailed to them a few days after their wedding.

ABC stages gay bullying to see how bystanders react

ABC News staged a gay bullying scene with hidden cameras on a busy boardwalk of Long Beach, New York to see how people would react.

Their show, “What Would You Do?” is a hidden camera show that captures people’s reactions to everyday scenarios. In this segment, they hired teenage actors to play bullies picking on another teen for being gay.

In 2008, ABC News did a similar segment on public displays of affection in Birmingham, Alabama and compared people’s reactions to straight couples and gay couples.

The 2008 experiment didn’t have such a positive reaction, causing a few people to make some inappropriate remarks. One woman even called 911 to report that two men were kissing each other.

UPDATE: The video has been updated. Thanks to sun_wyvern for providing a link to the full length segment.