If American politicians keep doing boneheaded things, SNL will have an amazing season next year, too.

This past weekend, SNL did an on point fake movie trailer about bigoted bakers and politicians in America. Watch the hilarious spoof below.

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What can we say about this young, talented and courageous man that hasn’t been said already? The first openly gay NFL player, Michael Sam, will bring you to a flood of tears in this ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award speech. Just incredible.

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In just more than a week, the entire world will turn its attention to the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. While most countries are on their best behavior while hosting the Games, the international spotlight has done little to rebuff Russia’s barbaric anti-gay policies.

When speaking with the BBC about how his city is preparing for the winter Olympics, Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov reiterated that visiting homosexuals have nothing to fear in Sochi (provided they keep their hands off the kiddos). He then proudly declared that “…we just say that it is your business, it’s your life. It’s not accepted here in the Caucasus where we live. We do not have them in our city.”

Well, how incredibly convenient. A complete lack of gay or lesbian individuals makes it much easier to enforce Russia’s recent “gay propaganda law” which makes it illegal to so much as mention homosexuality around minors.

It’s also a lie. “There are at least two gay clubs in the city,” Russia’s RT noted. Russian social networks also point to multiple lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in the area.

When pressed, Pakhomov later admitted that he isn’t absolutely certain there are no gay people in Sochi. “I am not sure, but I don’t bloody know them,” he told the BBC.

Even more convenient. It’s much easier to hate something you don’t know or understand.

This episode of discriminatory speech is just the latest for Russia, leading some to question, yet again, why the Olympic Committee would have chosen Sochi as the site of the winter Olympics. After all, the games are supposed to be an event where all are welcome and have a chance to compete as equals on an international stage. Isn’t it hypocritical to allow a country with such a dramatic flair for homophobia to play host?

Many say yes, including the 27 Nobel laureates who joined Sir Ian McKellen in protest of Russia’s gay ‘propaganda’ ban, and multiple celebrities who’ve spoken out against the law. In a major move, the Obama Administration announced that no member of the Obama or Biden families would travel to attend the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as a showing of solidarity with the homosexual community.

Calls for athlete boycotts of the winter Olympics in Sochi have met with mixed reviews, with people on both sides making compelling arguments. Ultimately, not much came of it, as this will be the biggest team the U.S. has ever sent to the winter Olympics.

Image: On September 7, 2013, a group of activists painted the pedestrian crossing stripes with rainbow colors in front of the Russian Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. The colors were meant to protest the Russian anti-LGBT sentimentality and legislation, notably the bans on “homosexual propaganda.” Credit: Murrur/Wikimedia Commons

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Gay rights may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Walmart, but it’s sure on the mind of the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer.

While Wal Mart is battling employees demanding union rights and higher wages for full time workers, the company says its upgrading its healthcare benefits programs to employees in all 50 states to include coverage for same-sex domestic partnerships.

Just doing business rather than offering a full-on show of support for gay rights, the world’s largest retail chain said of the move in a company-wide memo: “It’s a business decision, not a moral or political decision. We operate in 50 states, hundreds of municipalities and Puerto Rico, and as clarified under the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), each of these states are developing different definitions of marriage, domestic partner, civil union, etc. By developing a single definition for all Walmart associates in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, we are able to ensure consistency for associates across our markets.”

The memo went on to remind Walmart employees about etiquette: “Your behavior matters. The words you use also matter. We are counting on you to be thoughtful, supportive and understanding of multiple viewpoints. Your visibility can make a big difference to how associates feel.”

The retail chain may be following the letter of the law on the recent DOMA ruling, which is certainly good news for gay rights, but it’s still trying to avoid labor discussions with employees. According to CBS, employees say the average $12.83 per hour for full time Walmart workers is unlivable—and becoming increasingly rare. “Factor in that the company won’t say what the overall average wage is nor how many of its employees can’t get fulltime work, and the real average likely drops even lower. Low-paying part-time work has become a national trend and problem.”

In the wake of the fast food strikes that have been occurring around the country over wage increases, a group calling itself OUR Walmart says that its organizing strikes in order to encourage the retailer to discuss higher wages and a stronger union presence in its stores. But like the fast food chains, Walmart may be taking the position that it’s doing its best, CBS reports that corporate interests fund PR campaigns opposing wage increases and unions. “Issues of wages and economic disparities are important and need to be discussed. However, much of the conversation is being directed by the actions and PR campaigns of large opponents with their own interests and resources far beyond what average people have available.”

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: walmart

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What does marriage even mean anymore?

When I tell people I’m having a baby in September, I notice a lot of them glance almost automatically at my left-hand, presumably looking for a wedding ring. Some have even outright asked me if I am- or going to be- getting married. My answer is always the same: “No. Not yet, anyway.”

It’s not that I don’t believe in the commitment. I love my partner dearly. After all, I’m having his child. When I was a young girl, I dreamed of that handsome prince from just about every Disney movie that I was told I was entitled to. Even though I wasn’t technically a princess, I couldn’t escape the belief that I deserved a knight in shining armor just as much as Snow White.

Modern men are many things wonderful. But most of them aren’t princes. It was easy to let relationships fail, citing the lack of true fairy tale love. But mostly, it was probably my fear. Or, like they say, the timing just wasn’t right. The glass slipper didn’t fit.

After I spent a lot of time alone, and a good bit of that relationshipless time with a male friend, we soon found ourselves falling in love. It’s hard now to even remember us just as friends, but it is that friendship that lies at the core of our love, and why we are starting a family together.

It’s not because both of us endured our parents’ ugly divorces that we’re choosing not to get married. It’s not that we’re scared, or don’t love each other enough to make that kind of commitment. We love a good gathering. And lord knows, we could use a new toaster. It’s our discomfort in the way our country now views marriage that has us feeling so disenchanted by one of the world’s oldest, and most beautiful rituals.

How could we have a wedding and invite our friends—many of whom are homosexuals and lesbians—to celebrate our heterosexual right to marry while they’re denied that same right just because of who they love?

A baby is certainly an incentive for us to get married, but the injustice for people whom we already know and love dearly is an even bigger reason for us not to, no matter the difficulties we’ll be faced with as unmarried parents. We have friends who’ve been in much longer relationships than ours who are unable to marry. And even though ten eleven states (go Delaware!) now allow gay marriage, the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue. More than that, there are those narrow-minded individuals who somehow feel threatened by same-sex couples. We allow these people their first amendment right to speak their shallow minds, of course, and they throw our Constitution right back at us, saying our forefathers would have never approved of same-sex marriage. (I won’t even go into the religious hypocrisy of the we’re-not-gay-we’re-just-serial-pedophiliac-sex-offenders aka the Catholic Church.)

It’s not like we won the lottery, and our unrich friends have to adjust to us now being millionaires. And it’s nowhere near the unbelievable comparisons homophobes make suggesting gay marriage is the same as marrying a relative or (sigh) a dog. I didn’t live through the Civil Rights movement. My parents weren’t even born when Hitler was rounding up our relatives and executing them by the trainload. So I can only look back at the mistakes my fellow Earthlings have made with hindsight and melancholy. It hurts to think about those millions of people who suffered at the hands of fear and entitlement. It hurts to know that it took so long to correct, and in some cases, we’re still battling those same issues. Gay people aren’t slaves. They’re not forced to live in the ghetto wearing yellow stars before their families are ripped apart, tortured and murdered. But they’ve certainly been unjustly treated. They’ve been demoralized, attacked, ridiculed. Before anyone is a homosexual, a lesbian or a heterosexual, we’re all human beings first.

The real issue here is we have a lot of issues around sexuality. We allow abuse and objectification to proliferate. We don’t stand up for victims of sexual abuse–regardless of their gender. We suppress our own feelings for fear of what others will say or do. That’s what this issue is about. It’s not about what our forefathers envisioned for America. It’s obvious they envisioned progressive leadership, compassion and an ability to grow as a nation as our needs and wants changed with the times.

I don’t believe that any of our gay friends would criticize us for marrying. They are friends, after all, and want to see us happy, just as much as we want the same for them. And many of them are probably going to be shocked to read this. But until we can all enjoy the same recognition of our love—regardless of our sexual orientation—I can’t possibly see marriage as an option anymore. And I know my daughter will understand. Perhaps one day, she’ll even get to attend her parents wedding.

Image: CarbonNYC

The post Until We All Can: Why I Won’t Marry My Baby’s Daddy appeared first on EcoSalon.

A North Carolina pastor’s plan for the gays.

After a great month of progress in gay rights, the backlash is heating up. Hate speech is starting in southern churches and making its way across the internet.

First, there’s Charles L. Worley’s rant from the pulpit. Taking a page from the recent Women as Livestock bill, the pastor of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina, has a great idea: Put all gays and lesbians in an electrified pen, throw down food occasionally and wait for them to die. His theory? Without the ability to reproduce with one another, all gay and lesbian people will all die off.

Only, there are a few loose nails in this fence (not the least of which is that the plan evokes images of Nazi Germany). What about the bisexuals? Do the bisexual men go with the gay men? What if a really butch woman gets in there and, for survival’s sake, makes a bunch more gay babies? What about the gender-benders, trannies and cross-dressers? Does a man dressed in lady gear go with the girls? (If so, see earlier problem.) But wait. This still won’t solve the gay problem long-term because most gay people were made by straight people. I think he’s gonna need a bigger pen because gay isn’t going away.

And neither are the homophobes. The next generation is being trained in Indiana. Check out this video of a kid singing, Ain’t No Homos Gonna Make it to Heaven to a cheering congregation. Ain’t no kids gonna make it to high school unless the adults in their lives stop focusing on teaching their kids to hate people and start focusing on teaching them grammar. But seriously, isn’t religion supposed to be about love? Where is the love in this?

Then there’s Ron Baity, founding pastor of Winston-Salem’s Berean Baptist Church and head of the anti-marriage equality organization Return America. He suggests that we legally prosecute all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. So, kind of the same idea as the electric fence but with more cost to the taxpayer — clearly, he could have innovated more like his pal Charles if he really wanted to woo his base.

And let’s not forget Sean Harris, another North Carolina pastor. He’s also concerned about the children. In a sermon, he suggested that parents “punch” effeminate boys and “crack that [limp] wrist.” That’s right, a less subtle form of child abuse than the one displayed by the adults who stood and applauded a child’s hateful song —a song that it’s likely he didn’t understand because, I assume, his parents aren’t cool with him learning anything about homosexuality (0r evolution) in school. Oh, and Harris now says he was joking. Not sure I get it.

Despite the volume of these hateful voices, I feel fairly confident that these people do not represent the majority. But just knowing that they are out there — to quote pastor Worley himself — “makes me pukin’ sick to think about.”

Photo: FredoAlvarez

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