Yelena Goltsman is founder and co-president of RUSA LGBT, the association for Russian-speaking LGBT people in the U.S., and a leading voice speaking out for LGBT Russians. She didn’t plan to be an LGBT activist, though — and in fact came to the U.S. in 1990 because of anti-Jewish, not anti-LGBT, persecution, when she was still married to a man.
Here’s a sneak peek of Chevrolet’s ad that will run tonight during the Olympic opening ceremonies, featuring two-mom and two-dad families.
Google lit up the Internet last night with its not-so-subtle rainbow-colored Olympic doodle, quoting the non-discrimination section of the Olympic Charter below it. From what I can tell, based on reports from friends of friends, the doodle is visible by Google users in Russia, too. I’ve been working in social media and social justice for a long time, and I think Google’s move was one of the best-timed, best planned examples of how to use the former for the latter. Other companies are planning to air LGBT-inclusive commercials during the Games as well. But what will the impact of this be?
The Olympics start tonight, and I am going to be watching with mixed feelings: the love of a sports fan, and the concern of a member of the LGBT community. I shudder when I think that Russia may soon pass a bill that would allow the state to take children from parents for no reason other than that the parents are LGBT. The Family Equality Council is taking action, however, and asking people to send a message of love and support to LGBT people in Russia through the “To Sochi With Love” campaign.
If you blinked, you might have missed them. But there, at 44 seconds in, two gay dads and their daughter roller skate across our screens in Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl commercial. A sign of progress and inclusion? Or a token gesture from a company sponsoring the Olympics in an LGBT-hostile country? My opinion is that for
Heading to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference in Houston, Texas brought with it a host of questions.
Never underestimate the importance of role models. I had the pleasure yesterday of hearing Mayor (and lesbian mom) Annise Parker of Houston, Texas, and Laverne Cox, one of the stars of Orange is the New Black, speak at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference. It’s Friday, so put your feet up and watch. You’ll be glad you did.
Right after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that the federal government must recognize marriages of same-sex couples, I warned that this was not a reason for us to stop getting second-parent adoptions. Now, a New York judge has shown she just doesn’t understand that. Moms Amalia and Melissa had their son in New York,
Florida on Tuesday became the latest state where same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit for marriage equality. Meet some of the same-sex parent couples helping to make that happen.
Not one, but two videos have surfaced in the past few days showing children of same-sex parents standing up for their families in Utah. Yesterday, 26-year-old Griffin Fearonce spoke with Utah’s KUTV about his lesbian moms. This followed Friday’s inspiring speech by 12-year-old Riley Hackford-Peer at a marriage equality rally. Marriage equality opponents are trotting out the old and unsubstantiated argument that children do best when raised by a mother and a father. First-person stories from those with same-sex parents are a good antidote.
