Showing posts with label LGBT activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LGBT activists. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

GMHC CEO search committee diversity controversy triggers protest

GMHC's search for a new CEO is clouded in secrecy with no input from the agency's clients, activists say

Roberta Kaplan Paul Weiss GMHC Diversity Scandal photo Roberta-Kaplan-Paul-Weiss-GMHC-scandal_zpsdbc92bba.jpg

Members of the Consumer Advisory Board, a committee representing clients served by Gay Men's Health Crisis, made an appeal to GMHC's CEO search committee's leader, Paul Weiss partner Roberta Kaplan, "to include black and Latino voices" on the search committee, DNAinfo New York reported, but Ms. Kaplan "brushed them off."

Activists and clients plan to protest outside GMHC offices on Thursday at 1:30 p.m., demanding justice and transparency by GMHC's CEO search committee and by the agency's Board of Directors.

Over a year ago, leaders from New York City's Ballroom community and other activists launched a protest campaign against the agency's former GMHC CEO, Marjorie Hill, for exploiting New York's Ballroom community and for leaving the agency in a financial mess.

Ms. Hill was fired from GMHC the same year that New York City voters rejected former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign. After a recent press article reported that former Speaker Quinn, who never delivered any transformative reform for people with AIDS, much less never established a comprehensive city agenda on HIV/AIDS, was being considered for the CEO position, the report triggered a swift backlash of outrage amongst activists. Some activists alleged that Ms. Kaplan, a leading QUILTBAG civil rights attorney and close political ally of Ms. Quinn, was trying to rescue Ms. Quinn's public career at the expense of the agency's critical mission. In the last year, New York QUILTBAG activists have become emboldened to demand real change everywhere from city government to leading HIV/AIDS service organizations, and activists are not going to take anymore empty rhetoric or false promises for change, not even from fake leaders from within the GUILTBAG community. There's no more patience for that.

Friday, February 14, 2014

In Twitter exchange, NYTimes reporter admits he looks the other way on human rights abuses

LGBT rights activists upset with NYTimes reporter over incomplete article

Sam Borden, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote an article about some American Olympic athletes being upset with LGBT activists, who are calling attention to the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia under President Vladimir Putin ("American Lugers Annoyed by Group’s Gay Rights Video," 11 Feb 2014).

Christian Niccum and Preston Griffall, both American Olympic athletes competing in Sochi, said they were ruffled by some of the social media activism of LGBT supporters and allies. In particular, the pair of athletes objected to a YouTube video by Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion lampooning the savage heterosexism now sweeping Russia.

In the article, the American athletes bemoaned stereotypes that they now felt that they must endure because of the CIDI video, but The New York Times reporter never asked the athletes what they thought about the violence that LGBT Russians must face in the current oppressive crackdown atmosphere in Russia.

Sam Borden The New York Times Sochi Olympics Luge Article violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia Twitter - See more at: http://s203.photobucket.com/user/maslow25/media/ScreenShot2014-02-14at173101_zpse18d7bb5.png.html#sthash.9zUlhY4v.dpuf

Perhaps if Mr. Niccum and Mr. Griffall had been able to have empathy for the plight of LGBT Russians, the Sochi Olympics might garner them some additional fans. But the silence from American Olympic champions and even from reporters from The New York Times seems to suggest that there's an unofficial attitude of appeasement toward President Putin's violent crackdown.

Here is the CIDI video, which ridicule only scratches the surface of the brutal heterosexism in Russia. Even this small amount of humorous criticism triggers painful cognitive dissonance for athletes and media, who'd apparently want to keep the extreme violence locked up in a closet. This video has now been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube :

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Vladimir Putin Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown Mockumentary Facebook Movie Going Viral

The parody video, styled on the recent spree of data-mining movies that Facebook has been pushing to promote its 10 year anniversary, shows dramatic images of anti-LGBT violence in Russia under its president, Vladimir Putin.

The video says that President Putin joined Facebook in 1975, an impossible feat, but not impossible if the Russian president is advancing propaganda. Interspersed with official-looking photographs, like of the Russian president signing decrees, are depictions of state-sponsored violence of LGBT Russians. Whereas authentic Facebook movies end with the iconic Facebook like button of the "thumbs up" facing upwards, the Putin parody video ends with the "like button" turned upside-down, expressing growing worldwide dissent on Russia's draconian enforcement of its anti-LGBT law.

This latest video adds to the growing digital backlash from LGBT and ally activists playing out on social media now during the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Google Changes Sochi Olympics Home Page To Protest Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown

Google has symbolically changed its home page to draw attention to the controversial enabling of the violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russian by the International Olympic Committee.

Google Sochi Olympics Gay Pride Rainbow Colors Home Page Smacking Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown photo ScreenShot2014-02-06at200958_zpse0490b89.png

Google's Olympics home page cited a section from the Olympic Charter that forbids discrimination :

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." – Olympic Charter

The change of the "doodle" was also made by Google to its Russian homepage.

Google Changes Russian Sochi Olympics Home Page To Protest Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown photo ScreenShot2014-02-06at202044_zps5ae8ec7d.png

Google's digital action came on the day when activists in New York orchestrated their latest protest against the violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia. Activists acting in solidarity with the group Queer Nation NY staged a protest outside the Russian consulate in Manhattan one day before the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics.

Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia, LGBT activists have been staging protests world-wide in the time leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

"Putin" protest song by Dolly Bellefleur adds to global LGBT YouTube campaign against Russia's violent anti-LGBT crackdown

The performer Dolly Bellefleur sang a protest song "Putin" in Amsterdam last year mocking the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia. The song, with lyrics set to the music from the hit song "Rasputin" by the world-famous European band Boney M, substitutes Putin for Rasputin using some clever turns of phrases. Nobody can bring ingenuity and creativity to protest songs like the LGBT community.

Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a violent anti-LGBT crackdown in Russia, LGBT activists have been staging protests world-wide in the time leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Is it time for Greenlight Capital to short stock of Sochi Olympic Sponsors ?

Hedge funds can probably make a killing by shorting stock of Sochi Olympic Sponsors

The marketing setbacks facing Coca-Cola's karmically-doomed sponsorship of the Sochi Olympics seem to be the tip of the iceberg.

Last year, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a highly-visible attack on super-sized sugary drinks, seeking to ban the sale of high-calorie drinks as a way to fight obesity and obesity-related maladies, like diabetes and heart disease. A court blocked Mayor Bloomberg's ban on large sugary-drinks, but Mayor Bloomberg's successor has vowed to fight to restore the ban. Efforts to improve its corporate image have also proved to be problematic for Coca-Cola after the corporation faced allegations that it was depleting ground water and contributing to pollution in India. Coca-Cola's role in creating water shortages in India have led some local authorities to suggest last week that they would take actions to demolish a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Uttar Pradesh.

Coca-Cola is still recovering from the shocking 2009 documentary exposé, The Coca-Cola Case, of its labour violations in Colombia, Guatemala, and Turkey.

Similarly, the damage that McDonald's is doing to its own reputation following it's own deadly silence on the violent Russian LGBT crackdown comes at a time when the world's largest hamburger chain is losing customer loyalty and is facing an embarrassing sales slump. "We've lost some of our customer relevance," CEO Don Thompson told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this week.

Separately, it's unclear how much the credit card issuer VISA stands to lose, if anything, from the recent spree of credit card fraud impacting several large American retailers.

Is it time for Greenlight Capital to create a bespoke basket of Olympic sponsor equities, and then short it ?

2014-01-27 at 21.44.49 Virtual Assistant Greenlight Capital Short Coca-Cola Stock Screen Shot photo 2014-01-27at214449VirtualAssistantGreenlightCapitalShortCoca-ColaStockScreenShot_zpsf71905ed.png

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Coca-Cola Social Media Gimmick Censors "Gay" But Not "Straight"

Enjoy Coke, as long as you're not "gay" ?

In a startling new development, the world's largest sugary-drinks maker Coca-Cola has censored its social media followers from using the word "gay" in the company's new social media gimmick -- but not the word "straight."

The normally proud Sochi Olympics sponsor, Coca-Cola is expressing shame to its social media followers if they try to type the word "gay" into a meme generator that lets users affix brief messages on a blank red Coca-Cola can, but one that still bears the trademark white swoosh, or wave. The censorship is evidenced by a capture video of a computer screen's movements posted to YouTube by a user named Kaleb Sutra.

Social media followers who type the word "gay" are met with the following response : “Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that," the same as if followers had just typed in curse words, like "dick," "pussy," or "bitch."

Coca-Cola's association of "gay" with profanity comes on the heels of the proud Sochi Olympics sponsor trying to disassociate itself from the doomed marketing gimmicks of McDonald's, which launched a karmically-challenged social media campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #CheersToSochi in the face of a violent, seemingly government-sponsored crackdown against LGBT Russians following the passage of an anti-gay propaganda law last year.

That the tinge of censorship has now befallen Coca-Cola's latest social media campaign reveals the adverse advertising conditions the large sugary-drinks maker must confront in connection with this year's controversial Winter Olympics, set to take place in Sochi, a southern Russian coastal resort town across the Black Sea from Turkey. Russia's anti-gay law has sparked global outrage ahead of the Olympics, and many foolish corporations like Coca-Cola, which blindly paid large sums of money to sponsor the Sochi Olympics, must now account to their customers for the sponsorship of the games in a nation that is violently cracking down against its very own LGBT citizens.

Since last summer, Coca-Cola had become the target of protests based on its sponsorship decision, and last week one LGBT activism group released a brilliant YouTube video, mocking Coca-Cola's morally bankrupt brand for having once sponsored multi-cultural dignity and respect but which now supports Russia's violent anti-LGBT crackdown.

No word yet on how Coca-Cola's own Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (LGBTA) Business Resource Group, or its other Diversity Advisory Councils, are able to reconcile the corporation's controversial sponsorship of the Sochi Olympics.

Is it time for Greenlight Capital to short some stock ?

These latest marketing setbacks add to Coca-Cola's growing problems. Last year, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a highly-visible attack on super-sized sugary drinks, seeking to ban the sale of high-calorie drinks as a way to fight obesity and obesity-related maladies, like diabetes and heart disease. A court blocked Mayor Bloomberg's ban on large sugary-drinks, but Mayor Bloomberg's successor has vowed to fight to restore the ban. Efforts to improve its corporate image have also proved to be problematic for Coca-Cola after the corporation faced allegations that it was depleting ground water and contributing to pollution in India. Coca-Cola's role in creating water shortages in India have led some local authorities to suggest last week that they would take actions to demolish a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Uttar Pradesh.

Coca-Cola is still recovering from the shocking 2009 documentary exposé, The Coca-Cola Case, of its labour violations in Colombia, Guatemala, and Turkey.

Similarly, the damage that McDonald's is doing to its own reputation following it's own deadly silence on the violent Russian LGBT crackdown comes at a time when the world's largest hamburger chain is losing customer loyalty and is facing an embarrassing sales slump. "We've lost some of our customer relevance," CEO Don Thompson told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this week.

Separately, it's unclear how much the credit card issuer VISA stands to lose, if anything, from the recent spree of credit card fraud impacting several large American retailers.

Is it time for Greenlight Capital to create a bespoke basket of Olympic sponsor equities, and then short it ?

2014-01-27 at 21.44.49 Virtual Assistant Greenlight Capital Short Coca-Cola Stock Screen Shot photo 2014-01-27at214449VirtualAssistantGreenlightCapitalShortCoca-ColaStockScreenShot_zpsf71905ed.png

Thursday, January 23, 2014

After LGBT Twitter Bombs, Is Sochi Olympics Social Media Marketing Dead ?

LGBT Activists Twitter Bomb McDonald's Olympic Hashtag Campaign Until McDonald's Apparently Gives Up.

The Sochi Olympics corporate sponsors, who have been coldly indifferent to President Vladimir Putin's violent crackdown on LGBT Russians, have become targets of online protests by LGBT activists.

Ever since the fastfood chain McDonald's announced a Twitter hashtag campaign around #CheersToSochi, LGBT activists have been reappropriating that hashtag for messages about McDonald's callous response to the ongoing state-sponsored violence and discrimination against LGBT Russians by their very own government.

LGBT activists have been challenging Olympic sponsors, like McDonald's, to break their silence around the violent crackdown against LGBT Russians. When multiple users coordinate tweets with the same hashtag on Twitter, it's called Twitter bombing, a term used to describe either activism or a form of guerrilla advertising, as a way to increase visibility about connotations surrounding a particular hashtag. In the case of McDonald's, activists were trying to convert the commercial aspect of McDonald's Twitter hashtag into a protest about cold, corporate callousness.

The effort of some LGBT activists to challenge McDonald's gained the attention of one prominent openly gay media figure, Michelangelo Signorile, who has been following the LGBT Twitter bombing.

After about three days of the Twitter bombing campaign, McDonald's has appeared to have ceased using #CheersToSochi on Twitter, leading LGBT activists to believe that the large fastfood giant had seen its online goodwill deteriorate beyond salvation.

The damage that McDonald's is doing to its own reputation following it's deadly silence on the violent Russian LGBT crackdown comes at a time when the world's largest hamburger chain is losing customer loyalty and is facing an embarrassing sales slump. "We've lost some of our customer relevance," CEO Don Thompson told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this week.

Activists from around the world are questioning why the media and people in the media are refusing to acknowledge the human rights abuses taking place against LGBT's in Russia. Last year, the French pop superstar Mylène Farmer was in Russia when anti-LGBT violence broke out in Saint-Pétersbourg. Ms. Farmer, who enjoys a huge LGBT fan base, remained mum about each of the violent attack and the over-all crackdown that claims as victims her very own LGBT Russian fan base.

LGBT activists have also been targeting special NBC Olympics commentator Johnny Weir, the former figure skater. Mr. Weir has been using many media appearances to deny that the violent LGBT crackdown is taking place in Russia -- leading activists to label Mr. Weir as a "Putin apologist."

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Joe's Walk For Change - Arriving at Love Park

Joe Bell set off on foot across the United States after losing his son, Jadin, to suicide. Jadin was bullied relentlessly for being gay, both in school and online. After this terrible loss, Joe set off on a cross-country walk to raise awareness about bullying and to change people's minds. Unfortunately, Joe died after he was run over by a big rig.

Joe's death has inspired many people to take up what's come to be called "Joe's Walk For Change," in an effort for others to complete segments of Joe's walk that he left unfinished. Here's a very inspiring video by Brad Crothers, who walked a 57 mile segment from Quarryville, PA to Philadelphia.

Joe's Walk For Change is a nonprofit organization created by Joe Bell, who was walking across the United States to stop bullying and save lives.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Is Gina Galaviz stalking members of GetEQUAL Texas ?

Gina Galaviz - Stalks GetEQUAL Activists In San Antonio, Texas

Remember this face and look out for her if you're ever in San Antonio. This is the woman who was caught taking photos of the license plates of the automobiles of GetEQUAL Texas members. When asked what she was doing, Gina replied, "If y'all are going to protest, then we have a right to know where you live."

Read more : David Medina's campaign tries to intimidate GetEqual protestors

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Christine Quinn is looking for endorsements and voters in the cemetery

Reality Sets In For Quinn, Isay : Early Poll Numbers Are An Illusion.

More and more, the Christine Quinn mayoral campaign are acting desperate.

Greg David published an editorial in Crain's New York Business giving everybody a reality check : The early polls portraying that Council Speaker Christine Quinn was an early leader in the crowded Democratic primary field are a fallacy !

Because Josh Isay, Matt Tepper, and Speaker Quinn's other campaign advisers know this, they are pulling out all the stops to maintain a public veneer of being in a leadership position, when in reality they could be further from it.

Earlier today, The New York Times published an article about how Speaker Quinn is now trolling through cemeteries and crematoriums for campaign endorsements. Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign is trying to figure out how to milk the endorsement she received from Ed Koch before he died. (An Endorsement Hard to Pass Up, and Harder to Promote)

''The idea that Ms. Quinn is the front-runner is a media fallacy,'' wrote Mr. David.

How low can Speaker Quinn go, for an endorsement ?

“If I were running against her, what do you say? ‘How low will she go, six feet under, or more?’ ” quipped Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College. “The question is, how voters will respond to it, what they will think of a candidate who uses it.”

If Mr. Isay and Mr. Tepper try to push former Mayor Koch's endorsement of Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, then Speaker Quinn risks triggering a major backlash from LGBT political and healthcare activists.

Monday, February 18, 2013

A Gay Man Shuts Down Hateful Urban Preacher on NYC Subway

A man, who identified himself as gay, spoke up for himself and on behalf of all LGBT people, after an urban preacher began to shows hateful religious messages. At one point, the gay man calls the urban preacher a "false prophet." After some back and forth, the other straphangers applauded several times in a show of support to the gay man.

The video was posted on YouTube on Saturday, February 16, and it has begun to go viral.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Paul Ryan Joe Biden Gaydar Internet Meme

Many photo illustrations have been being created since last week's vice presidential debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. Many focused on Vice President Biden's smile and his laughter, and on Mr. Ryan's widow's peak. Leading up to the debate, many LGBT activists made fun of Mr. Ryan's workout photoshoot for Time magazine. Below is an Internet meme of the debate participates in what has become known as the "death stare" by some. In this photo, a political parody of the intensity of the stare between the two men alludes to the blockbuster gay movie, "Brokeback Mountain."

Joe-Biden-Paul-Ryan-Brokeback-Mountain-Debate-Meme, Joe-Biden-Paul-Ryan-Brokeback-Mountain-Debate-Meme

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Dan Choi and other LGBT activists were arrested then later released following attacks by Neo-Nazis during Moscow Pride Day

Newly posted YouTube video : LGBT activist Lt. Dan Choi films inside the police wagon as he and other activists are being taken to jail following their beating by Neo-Nazis and arrest by Moscow police in Moscow.


Video of Beating and Arrests : LGBT activists Lt. Dan Choi and Louis-Georges Tin were beaten by Neo-Nazis in Moscow. Why did Moscow police arrest the LGBT activists, if they were just peacefully assembling ? Join Lt. Choi and others by signing an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, demanding that the United States government ''condemn the anti-LGBT violence in Moscow and to reaffirm the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Russia and around the world.''

U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi (discharged under DADT) has been apparently released from Moscow police custody, after a mass arrest of pro-LGBT equality activists and Neo-Nazi protesters in connection with Moscow Pride Day.

The above video was among the first to be posted on YouTube, to show the breakout of violence.

Joe My God posted an early report of the Moscow Pride Day arrests, reporting that among the other activists, who were arrested, included Andy Thayer, Louis-Georges Tin, and Anna Komarova -- among others. In an e-mail statement issued by Lt. Choi at 5:50 a.m. New York time, Lt. Choi wrote LGBT activists were arrested following attacks by Neo-Nazis : "Right ear ringing small bleeding, 8 in the car including me and Andy Thayer."

A second YouTube video has been posted about the violent turn of events at Moscow Pride Day.