RECENT STORIES
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by Mark Anthony Dingbaum · Apr 06, 2012 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
Director Lee Hirsch and The Weinstein Company have announced that the documentary “Bully” will receive a “PG-13” rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) after more than 500,000 people, including 35 Members of Congress and celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and Meryl Streep, joined a campaign on Change.org started by a bullied high school student.Katy Butler, a 17 year-old student from Michigan who experienced extensive bullying when she came out as a lesbian in middle school, launched a petition on Change.org after learning that the MPAA had rejected an appeal to change the rating of "Bully" from "R" to "PG-13" so students could see the film.
Following news of the rating change, Butler issued a thank you to those who supported her campaign: “On behalf of the more than half a million supporters who joined me on Change.org in petitioning the MPAA, I want to express how grateful I am not only to the MPAA for lowering the rating without cutting a vital scene, but to all of the people who used their voices to put a national spotlight on this movie and its mission,” said Butler.
Butler’s campaign on Change.org attracted support from major international celebrities, with Ellen DeGeneres and Anderson Cooper inviting Butler to appear on their shows and urging their viewers to support her petition. In addition, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Demi Lovato, Randy Jackson, Kelly Ripa, Justin Bieber, Drew Brees, and several other celebrities all encouraged their fans to sign Katy’s petition or show support to “Bully."
Butler’s petition also gained support from 35 Members of Congress, who endorsed a congressional sign-on letter issued by Rep. Mike Honda (D-California) urging the MPAA to change “Bully’s” rating from “R” to “PG-13.” Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also tweeted their support for Katy's campaign to their followers on Twitter.
Butler started her petition on Change.org because she thought it was ridiculous that the "R" rating -- given for coarse, but real words used by bullies in the film -- was keeping the target audience from seeing this film: bullies and bully victims.
“The brief usage of language in this film reflects what so many kids hear each day in school when they’re being bullied," said Butler.
To view Katy Butler's Change.org petition, click here.
To view a Washington Post profile of Katy Butler, click here.
To view Katy Butler’s appearance on CBS This Morning, click here.
To view Katy Butler’s appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, click here.
To view Katy Butler’s appearance on FOX & Friends, click here.
Photo credit: Change.org
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by Michael Jones · Mar 26, 2012 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »The Weinstein Company has announced that “Bully,” the award-winning documentary about the epidemic of school bullying in the United States, will open in theaters on March 30 as “unrated” after nearly 500,000 people signed an extraordinarily popular online petition at Change.org demanding that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) remove the “R” rating initially given to the movie by the MPAA’s ratings board.
“I am happy ‘Bully’ will maintain its authenticity and will be an accurate portrayal of what thousands of kids experience every day,” said Katy Butler, a bullied high school student from Michigan who was outraged that the MPAA gave “Bully” an “R” rating by just one vote because of brief language. Butler, who had her finger broken by bullies in middle school, urged the MPAA to remove the “R” rating from “Bully” so that middle school and high school students would have a chance to see a movie that could potentially save their lives.
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by Katharine Segal · Mar 20, 2012 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
Phillip Dawson is calling on 16 MPs to sever links with the charity CARE (Christian Action Research and Education***) which co-sponsored a 'gay cure' conference in April 2009. Thanks to over 8,000 people who’ve joined Philip’s campaign, Liz Kendall MP and David Lammy MP have officially severed links with the charity.
Now Philip is asking supporters to increase the pressure on the remaining 16 MPs to break links permanently.
Tweet at MPs
Tweet at the MPs which have Twitter accounts -- click one of the messages below to tweet the message and show the MPs involved that this is an issue that people care about!
Tweet at David Burrowes MP
Tweet at Steve Webb MP
Tweet at Tim Farron MP
Tweet at John Glen MP
Tweet at Sharon Hodgsom MP
Tweet at Catherine McKinell MP
Take action on Facebook
Like Phillip’s "There is no cure for Love" image on Facebook -- Phillip has tagged all of the political parties in the post, so every time someone "Likes" or comments on the image, the parties will be notified via their Facebook pages.
Share the petition via email
All 16 MPs receive a notification every time an extra person signs Phillip’s petition, so ask more people to join the campaign and keep up the pressure.
***Please note that the charity involved is the Christian charity CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) which is not associated in any way with the charity CARE International***
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by Michael Jones · Feb 08, 2012 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
Aeroflot, Russia's national airline, celebrates its 89th birthday this week. But don't expect many Russian activists to mark the occasion with cake and candles. Instead, Russian activists are taking the opportunity to draw attention to what they say is Aeroflot's extremely anti-gay record -- including the company's refusal to recognize an LGBT group for employees, as well as reports that Aeroflot forced a 25-year-old gay flight attendant, Maxim Kupreev, to marry a woman if he wanted to keep his job.
And now these Russian activists are asking for your help. They want to hold Aeroflot accountable for its record on LGBT issues, so they're holding an all-day online action on Thursday, February 9, to pressure Sky Team -- a global alliance of airline carriers, of which Aeroflot is a member. They want Sky Team to remove Aeroflot from the alliance unless it commits to improving its LGBT record.
During the same week where Russian lawmakers passed an extremely anti-gay law that could criminalize "the promotion of homosexuality," these activists are looking to draw international attention to the marginalization of LGBT people in Russia.
So how can you help?
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by Mark Anthony Dingbaum · Feb 05, 2012 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
If you're reading this, you've probably noticed that your mayor is not on the current list of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry -- a broad-based and nonpartisan group of mayors who believe that all people should be able to share in the love and commitment of marriage.More than 175 mayors from across the U.S. have signed the Mayors for the Freedom to Marry Statement, because they understand that the strength and health of our cities are enhanced when all families are protected and supported. And they know that many people in loving and committed same-sex relationships are active participants in improving our communities, and they've seen how important marriage has been for them and their families.
Here's how you can launch a powerful petition on Change.org, urging your mayor to join Mayors for the Freedom to Marry:
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by Mark Anthony Dingbaum · Dec 16, 2011 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
In an op-ed featured in the Huffington Post, Jessica Gerson, author of the Change.org petition "Dallas VA Medical Center: Fire Homophobic Nurse for Harassing Lesbian Marine Veteran," questions whether or not the VA hospitals are prepared to care for U.S. gay & lesbian troops.Jessica shares to story of her friend Esther Garatie, a lesbian Marine veteran who alleges that she was harassed for being gay at the Dallas VA Medical Center.
"Fortunately for me, and for all those who know and love Esther, she didn't end her life that afternoon. And though I couldn't repair all the damage done, I could make it my mission to ensure that what happened to Esther never happened again to any gay or lesbian veteran."
After the event, Jessica launched a petition on Change.org calling for the Dallas VA to fire the homophobic nurse. More than 15,000 people have signed her petition in support of Esther.
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by Joe Mirabella · Dec 07, 2011 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
In the past two years, more than two dozen LGBT people in Puerto Rico have been murdered, often in very graphic and violent crimes. Puerto Rico's own police department has been singled out by the Justice Department for failing to deal with the high levels of violence faced by LGBT citizens.Yet at a time when violence toward the LGBT community in Puerto Rico is high, the territory's legislature is poised to remove protections from their existing hate crimes law for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Outraged that the government would consider removing hate crimes protections for a population already facing epic levels of violence, Jorge Supelveda started a petition on Change.org urging the Puerto Rico House of Representatives to keep the country's hate crimes laws intact.
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by Michael Jones · Dec 07, 2011 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
More than 30,000 people have joined a campaign on Change.org calling on the government of Cameroon to release two men sentenced to five years in prison for the “crime” of being gay.The campaign was launched as the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced sweeping efforts to confront global anti-LGBT human rights abuses. Before a speech in Geneva on Tuesday, Secretary Clinton met with human rights activists from Cameroon to discuss how the U.S. can promote the rights of LGBT residents in Cameroon, where ten people have been detained or arrested by police for being gay in the last year.
The Association for the Defense of Homosexuals (ADEFHO), a grassroots Cameroon LGBT group, started the petition on Change.org after a judge sentenced 19-year-old Jonas and 20-year-old Franky to five years in prison for violating Cameroon’s laws against homosexuality, which criminalize same-gender sexual conduct. According to ADEFHO, Franky and Jonas never engaged in any sexual conduct but were merely walking from a bar when they were stopped by police and detained.
“Franky and Jonas should have never been condemned,” said Stéphane Koche of ADEFHO. “If Cameroon had a transparent and fair judiciary system, and if the President and Minister of Justice valued the human rights of all Cameroonians, Franky and Jonas would be free men today.”
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by Mark Anthony Dingbaum · Nov 30, 2011 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
In early November, Katy Butler (pictured left) and Carson Borbely, two bullied LGBT students from Michigan, started a petition urging the Michigan legislature to stop the dangerous “license to bully” bill that had passed in the Michigan state senate. As the campaign grew and this controversial bill garnered national attention, the Michigan state house was forced to pass a new anti-bullying bill that lacked an exemption for religious and moral bullying.On Tuesday, November 29, the Michigan state senate passed the Michigan state house's version of the anti-bullying bill -- which lacked the "license to bully" language -- after more than 50,000 people joined Katy and Carson's popular petition campaign on Change.org.
Unfortunately, the bill also lacked enumeration of the reasons why students are bullied and requirements for schools to report back on how well they're protecting kids -- two provisions that Butler and Borbely assert are necessary to actually protect Michigan students from bullying.
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by Mark Anthony Dingbaum · Nov 28, 2011 · GAY RIGHTSRead More »
This is a personal appeal to the Michigan state senate by Katy Butler, a 16-year-old student and bully victim from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Bullying hurts, it's real, and it can kill. And it's a very serious problem that countless students like me face everyday in schools across Michigan.Right now, legislators in Lansing are faced with a choice. The Michigan state senate can either do what's easy, or do what's right. They can pass a weak bill that won't actually protect students. Or they can pass a strong anti-bullying law that enumerates the reasons why students are bullied, and requires that schools report back on how well they're protecting us.
For students who have endured bullying like me, and for the more than 50,000 people who have signed my petition on Change.org, it's pretty clear what choice we need them to make.