Tim Gunn Rocks!

If you're reading this right now and you're having suicidal thoughts, please call The Trevor Project Lifeline 1-866-4utrevor (1-866-488-7386). It's a toll free, confidential, nationwide lifeline for LGBTQ youth.
They also have a website TheTrevorProject.org

I received this email today from HRC (Human Rights Campaign):

Dear Lola,

Add your name: Mr. Packer, I hope you will cease putting young people in real peril and acknowledge the scientific truth: Sexual orientation cannot be changed, nor should it be.

The recent suicides of several gay teenagers have made national headlines. Yet this is the moment – of all moments – that a top Mormon leader decides to broadcast a verbal rampage against gays to millions of viewers.

I couldn't believe it either. Boyd K. Packer, the second-highest leader in the Mormon Church, said in a sermon broadcast to millions yesterday that same-sex attraction is "impure and unnatural" and can be overcome, and that same-sex unions are morally wrong.

Do we need more proof than the suicides of teens as young as 13 that words like these can do unimaginable damage?

We cannot stay silent. By speaking out together, we can show the Mormon Church hierarchy that it has literally risked the lives of children by inciting their tormentors. And we can ensure that the young people who heard this sermon know that it is scientifically wrong and profoundly misguided.

Add your name to our open letter debunking Boyd Packer's lies.

Speaking before 20,000 people and broadcasting to millions more, Packer said same-sex unions are morally wrong and "against God's law and nature" – and that the church hierarchy would continue to support marriage bans like Proposition 8 (which was funded largely by Mormons).

It makes me physically sick to think how many young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender kids had to sit in those pews and listen to that venom.

Comments like these are exactly what makes young LGBT kids think there's no way out but suicide – that their parents will reject them, that their communities will shun them, and that living openly will bring pain or violence – that even God looks on their very identity as a sin to be "overcome."

And these lies fuel the bullying, harassment, and violence that plague our schools.

Packer's lies have been disproven over and over again by science and by the spiritual experience of Americans who know their LGBT neighbors and care about them. We know sexual orientation cannot and should not be changed and that two people falling in love is beautiful, not evil.

But unless we refute these lies whenever groups like the anti-LGBT National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Mormon Church repeat them – whether through letters like this or projects like HRC's www.NOMexposed.com – we risk another young person hearing them and believing that LGBT people are "defective." And that belief contributes to violence and suicide.

Help us speak out so young people understand the truth – and so that Mormon leaders know that spreading this poison puts lives at risk.

Americans are sick of the Mormon hierarchy trying to dictate what they should believe. They know commitment and love when they see it. That's why they are turning away in droves from limitations on their friends' and neighbors' freedom to marry.

Thank you for helping take a stand for the truth.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
President

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

Trickle Down Homophobia - Gay Teen Suicides

If you're reading this right now and you're having suicidal thoughts, please call The Trevor Project Lifeline 1-866-4utrevor (1-866-488-7386). It's a toll free, confidential, nationwide lifeline for LGBTQ youth.
They also have a website TheTrevorProject.org

I received this email today from HRC (Human Rights Campaign):

Dear Lola,

Add your name: Mr. Packer, I hope you will cease putting young people in real peril and acknowledge the scientific truth: Sexual orientation cannot be changed, nor should it be.

The recent suicides of several gay teenagers have made national headlines. Yet this is the moment – of all moments – that a top Mormon leader decides to broadcast a verbal rampage against gays to millions of viewers.

I couldn't believe it either. Boyd K. Packer, the second-highest leader in the Mormon Church, said in a sermon broadcast to millions yesterday that same-sex attraction is "impure and unnatural" and can be overcome, and that same-sex unions are morally wrong.

Do we need more proof than the suicides of teens as young as 13 that words like these can do unimaginable damage?

We cannot stay silent. By speaking out together, we can show the Mormon Church hierarchy that it has literally risked the lives of children by inciting their tormentors. And we can ensure that the young people who heard this sermon know that it is scientifically wrong and profoundly misguided.

Add your name to our open letter debunking Boyd Packer's lies.

Speaking before 20,000 people and broadcasting to millions more, Packer said same-sex unions are morally wrong and "against God's law and nature" – and that the church hierarchy would continue to support marriage bans like Proposition 8 (which was funded largely by Mormons).

It makes me physically sick to think how many young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender kids had to sit in those pews and listen to that venom.

Comments like these are exactly what makes young LGBT kids think there's no way out but suicide – that their parents will reject them, that their communities will shun them, and that living openly will bring pain or violence – that even God looks on their very identity as a sin to be "overcome."

And these lies fuel the bullying, harassment, and violence that plague our schools.

Packer's lies have been disproven over and over again by science and by the spiritual experience of Americans who know their LGBT neighbors and care about them. We know sexual orientation cannot and should not be changed and that two people falling in love is beautiful, not evil.

But unless we refute these lies whenever groups like the anti-LGBT National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Mormon Church repeat them – whether through letters like this or projects like HRC's www.NOMexposed.com – we risk another young person hearing them and believing that LGBT people are "defective." And that belief contributes to violence and suicide.

Help us speak out so young people understand the truth – and so that Mormon leaders know that spreading this poison puts lives at risk.

Americans are sick of the Mormon hierarchy trying to dictate what they should believe. They know commitment and love when they see it. That's why they are turning away in droves from limitations on their friends' and neighbors' freedom to marry.

Thank you for helping take a stand for the truth.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
President

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

The Kids Are Alright

Yes, they are. And thank you to Harriet of Harriet And Friends for drawing my attention to this article.

Kids Raised in Lesbian Families Better Adjusted, Study Finds - Yahoo News

"the study's author, Dr. Nanette Gartrell, told U.S. News and World Report that there were no psychological differences between the kids who said they had been stigmatized and those who hadn't. She said that the deliberation involved in the preplanned pregnancies may well account for the well-adjusted nature of kids raised in lesbian families."

My girlfriend pointed out one thing about this report, that wasn't taken into consideration, and that was that many heterosexual couples undergo extensively preplanned pregnancies when they have fertility difficulties. Those couples that go through in-vitro fertilization are in a sense, quite similar to lesbian couples seeking to have children. So, while she was happy to see a positive report about lesbian families, this didn't seem to be an exhaustively researched study, one that compared lesbian families with heterosexual families, created in the same fashion. Not that we should dismiss this study, just that, perhaps the hypothesis was likely not completely thought out.

Ok, I'll give her that and also add that I personally think that children raised by lesbians are perhaps more well adjusted because living in a lesbian household, one is exposed to more liberal ideas (perhaps), and are raised to be more accepting and open-minded and perhaps the end result is being more well adjusted.

I personally think that any article that puts lesbian families in a positive light is a good thing. The more that we can show the world that our raising families is not detrimental to children, and is at least as nurturing or possibly more nurturing than a traditional heterosexual family, only serves to help us achieve our end goal. That is...in a nutshell...that we are no different than anyone else, except in who we love and we deserve the same rights and privileges.

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

Gaga Flashmob Protest in SF For Hotel Workers Rights

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

“She’s basically a short man with boobs,”

Yes, that's exactly how Cynthia Nixon, one of the stars of Sex and The City described her partner of six years in an interview in Cynthia Nixon Is More Than Just Sex - The Advocate.

I have to say when I heard about this on a local Chicago radio station I was shocked. How must her partner, Christine Marinoni feel about having her partner describe her this way? Did she take it in stride? Did she think it was funny? Was she on some level hurt?

I'm sure Ms. Nixon said it in jest, still, it's out there for everyone reading it or hearing about it to interpret it on their own way.

Personally, I consider myself a soft butch and I would have been offended by such a comment, whether it was meant in jest or not.

What do you think?

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

B-bye Entrecard

I will be leaving Entrecard May 5th. Please become a follower and bookmark my site so you don't miss out on anything at Fire Crotch Rocket.

Why am I leaving? Too many of my blog pals have been getting hit with Trojans and Viruses while visiting sites through Entrecard to drop. I don't think I even have that many blog pals, and when I'm hearing it this often amongst a small group, that means the danger is too much to ignore. Entrecard is ignoring the problem, so it's time to leave.

Yes, I will miss the traffic, but it hasn't been that much lately anyway. Time to cut the apron strings and be free.

The other 2 blogs I own will also be leaving Entrecard, so please visit them, follow them and bookmark them so you don't miss out.

Lola's Diner
Lola's Victory Garden


©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket

President Obama Signs Hospital Visitation Memorandum

Presidential Memorandum - Hospital Visitation

The memorandum orders the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. This means that gays and lesbians cannot be prohibited from having visitation by their partner, and basically anyone cannot have a non-family member prohibited from visiting them. Hospitals who accept Medicare and Medicaid are prohibited from violating this memorandum.

Hospital visitation is commons sense and this issue should have been remedied long ago. I applaud President Obama for tackling this issue and signing the memorandum.

©2008-2010 Fire Crotch Rocket