(Photo: Getty Images)

BY KONRAD JUENGLING, Guest Blogger
Washington Blade

The Salvation Army is one of the most recognized charities in the United States. What a lot of people, myself included until recently, do not realize is that the SA actively and institutionally works against people in the LGBTQ community. For this self styled “evangelical part of the universal Christian Church,” the homophobia is literally written into its handbook. For its position statement on LGBTQ individuals, “The Salvation Army believes […] that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life.”

Mark Oppenheimer wrote a 2011 story for the New York Times about the SA turning away people because they are gay. While the SA has denied this, we’ve also seen them threatening to leave New York City altogether in 2004 if they were “forced” to abide by the law of requiring health benefits for employees’ same-sex partners. In 2012, we heard SA media relations official Major Andrew Craibe imply on national radio that gays should be put to death. When shopping, remember how you choose to spend (and donate) your money shows support for that organization; just make sure you’re supporting the right cause. Skip the red buckets and support an inclusive, non-discriminatory organization that truly wants to help everyone that comes through its doors.

Read more at Washington Blade

The post Opinion: Boycott the red buckets this season first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY LATEEFAH WILLIAMS

It’s holiday season — that time of year when people from all walks of life spread holiday cheer and warm and fuzzy Christmas-themed movies fill the big screen. If you are black and LGBT, you are probably already accustomed to not seeing yourself or your family depicted in films. While there is a dearth of black LGBT characters in movies yearlong, the absence is particularly notable during the holiday season.

During the year, when the occasional black LGBT character makes his or her appearance in a mainstream film, that character is often the butt of jokes or depicted in a comedic role. It is rare to see loving black LGBT families depicted in mainstream movies. Thus, when holiday season rolls around and family-oriented movies dominate the box office, it’s hard not to notice the glaring omission of black LGBT characters as a message that such characters are either deemed to be inappropriate in family-friendly films or that Hollywood is completely out of touch and doesn’t realize that it has erased black LGBT individuals from black families in holiday movies, despite the fact that most black families I know have a gay relative in their extended or immediate families.

Read more at Washington Blade

Washington Blade is American’s leading gay news source

The post Where are the black LGBT characters in holiday films? first appeared on Lesbian.com.

We are 27 days from the election, and the political posts are flying. Everyone has an opinion, and is entitled to it — this is America after all, and I support your right to express yourself. However, please understand that I may take it personally. Very personally. And I will lay out why in a minute.

This whole thing began after reading a post on my good friend (and amazing actress to boot) Maeve Quinlan’s Facebook wall. An actress friend of hers, Stacey Dash, came out in support of Mitt Romney and was promptly attacked online. Horribly attacked. The comments were mostly racially motivated, there were even death threats. The ladies of “The View” discussed the whole incident as well. Some (including Maeve) framed their argument around Stacey’s right to free speech. But for the most part, no one was arguing that she didn’t have the right to express her views, they were responding to her choice. And yes, the response wasn’t civilized, nor was it constructive … but it was a response.

Read more at Jill Bennett Online

Jill Bennett is an actress, blogger, activist, and darned good poker player. Learn more about Jill and her work at www.jillbennett.com.

The post Election 2012: That’s right; it’s personal first appeared on Lesbian.com.

The LGBT movement is by definition conservative. The two issues that have been at the fore of our movement — for which we and our hetero-allies have contributed our money and our time — over the past twenty years have been “same-sex marriage” (“marriage equality”) and the repeal of DADT. While the repeal of DADT celebrated its one year anniversary this week, there have been marginal gains on the same-sex marriage front; DOMA has yet to be repealed on a federal level even though the President has voiced his support for this action and the Democrats included a marriage equality plank in their 2012 platform.

Read more at After Ellen.com

AfterEllen is the pop culture site that plays for your team.

The post Can the LGBT movement move beyond sexuality? first appeared on Lesbian.com.