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128 episodes into the Lavender Hill series and we are going strong. With the recent additional of an extra half hour, Corwin and Phil get to bring you more news, views, interviews, and music from the LGBTQA+ community.

This we the hosts covered several topics ranging from marriage equality issues in the United States and elsewhere, the blood industry and the ban on gay men donating blood, plasma and other blood products, Russia’s continued negative stance towards the LGBTQA+ population and their pledge to enforce their anti-gay laws during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, and some political wrangling from the Conservative end of the spectrum.

Links

• Late in July the Associated Press published an article that indicates that Nebraska lawmakers are looking to reevaluate the state’s “defense of marriage” law. The topic will hopefully come up for debate in the fall session of the legislature.
• Marriage equality seems to be gaining momentum in Pennsylvania.
• Pentagon confirms spousal benefits for same-sex marriages.
• Claiming that the rights of athletes would be respected during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko urged gay rights activists to “calm down”. Even with his assurances of respecting rights, he insists that all athletes, citizens and visitors alike, will be expected to obey established Russian.
• A Southern California man is diagnosed with “chronic homosexual behavior” by his physician.
• Campbell, California Mayor Evan Low refused the honor of donating blood by the Red Cross because he is openly gay.
• Fox contributor Sandy Rios sticks her foot in it again by insisting that gays are incapable of healthy long term relationships, especially gay men.
• Call Me Kuchu is showing at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln, NE from Friday the 16th of August through Thursday the 22nd.
  • In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers follow David Kato – Uganda’s first openly gay man – and his fellow activists as they work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combating vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one, not even the filmmakers, are prepared for the brutal murder that shakes their movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world. CALL ME KUCHU depicts the last year in the life of a courageous, quick-witted and, steadfast man whose wisdom and achievements were not fully recognized until after his death, and whose memory has inspired a new generation of human rights advocates. 

Music

Additional links….

• As a follow up to a story we talked about last week: “Standard Parking, which runs the shuttle bus service at Albuquerque’s International Sunport, issued a formal apology to Ron McCoy and his partner Chris Bowers on Tuesday, but the couple isn’t buying it.”
• A well written list of “how to respect a transgender person” tips.