Major US airlines including Delta, JetBlue, United and American Airlines have agreed to allow passengers to book tickets without specifying a binary gender.
The Airlines for America trade association has agreed a new industry standard which will end the practice of forcing passengers to pick between “male” or “female” on booking forms.
An “unspecified” option will be added, in line with the five US states that already offer a gender X marker on state IDs for non-binary people.
A spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that the airlines had “recently approved a new international standard that will allow for ‘unspecified’ and ‘undisclosed’ as options in addition to ‘male’ or ‘female’.”
The changes will “account for non-binary IDs while ensuring continued compliance with U.S. and foreign government requirements that passenger data match the identification used for travel.”
A statement added: “U.S. airlines value a culture of diversity and inclusion, both in the workplace and for our passengers.
“We work hard each day to accommodate the needs of all travellers while delivering a safe, secure and enjoyable flight experience.”
The change will come into effect from June 1, however it will be up to each airline to update their individual booking platforms.Stop Covering Up Your Dark Spots – (Try This Instead)This breakthrough formula combines cutting-edge ingredients to help minimize the appearance of dark spots and give your skin a revitalized, age-defying look.Ad by Gundry MD
Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are among the companies who form Airlines for America, while Delta Air Lines is not part of the grouping but has confirmed it will also introduce the change.
Delta confirmed: “As part of Delta’s ongoing efforts to accommodate the needs of diverse customers throughout our business, we are planning to offer a non-binary gender option during the booking process.
A spokesperson for United added: “As part of our commitment to inclusion, we want to ensure all of our customers feel comfortable and welcome no matter how they self-identify, which is why we will begin offering our customers the ability to select the gender with which they most closely identify during the booking process.
“Beginning in the coming weeks, customers will be able to identify themselves as M(ale), F(emale), U(undisclosed) or X(unspecified), corresponding to what is indicated on their passports or ID.
“Also, customers who do not identify with a gender will have the option of selecting ‘Mx.’ as a title.
“We are excited to share this next step as we continue to break down barriers to promote inclusion. We have worked with the Human Rights Campaign for our guidelines in enhancing this customer experience and to include all of United’s customers in the booking process.”
The five states that currently offer gender X IDs are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Minnesota and Oregon, plus the District of Columbia.
Do you plan on selling your home this spring? The best way to ensure that your home gets the attention you want it to, is to make sure it is totally ready for when those buyers start looking at the local real estate market. Here are some tips that you can use to make sure your home is ready to get noticed, both inside and out. The more of these things you can get done, the better!
Start by Cleaning Up the Outside
Take a few minutes to check the outside of your home. Since it is spring, no one expects the outside to be perfect. This is especially true if you live in an area where it snows. However, taking the time to trim bushes, rake the yard if you can, and make sure that the landscaping is not covering walkways can go a long way towards making a great first impression. Taking this one step further by cleaning the front door, wiping down the mailbox, and making sure your front porch light works can make your entryway appear even more inviting.
Make the Outside Inviting, If You Can
If it is already warm where you are, then add some nice color to the outside of your home. Add a few small planters with some flowering bulbs or spring flowers. The little splashes of color make your visitors more able to picture themselves living at the house. You do not need to put a lot out there, just a few small planters or a nice window box near the entryway is enough. For those with winter weather, you can opt for fake flowers, or you can use small lights or decorations instead.
Shine All Glass Surfaces
Take the time to wash all of your windows, polish all of your mirrors, and dust off any reflective surface in your home. Windows that are difficult to see out of, or mirrors that are smudged give the impression that the house has not been maintained as well as it should have been. If something as simple as mirrors and dusting is not kept up with, what about the bigger parts of the house? Keep up with the small details because buyers notice these little details.
Dust Off Stationary Materials of Your Home
One area of the home that often gets overlooked is stationary materials within your home. Take the time to vacuum your stationary drapes and get the dust off of them. An even better option is that you can take them to the dry cleaners. Get them clean and fresh smelling. While most people will only look at them, someone who is seriously giving your home buying consideration will go up and move items like these around. Vacuum off any of your furniture that will be there during the open house or walk-through as well, for the same reason. The fresher the area smells and looks, the happier potential buyers will be.
Sharpen the Look of Any Room You Can
Taking $20 or $30 to update a room’s look is well worth it when it comes to making your home look and feel more inviting. Add a fresh coat of neutral colored paint, and make sure the flooring of the room is as clean and nice looking as you can make it. Get the carpet steam-cleaned if it hasn’t been done recently, or have your wood floors polished. Those simple changes can give your room a welcoming feel that invites potential buyers in.
Make Any Simple Repairs That Stand Out
You may have gotten used to not opening a window in that back room because there is a hole in the screen and you do not want bugs to come in, but a potential buyer does not know that. They are only going to see that you didn’t take care of a small detail. It takes a few minutes and very little money to replace a screen. Check all windows for these types of problems, and fix any you find.
The same goes with other areas of your home. If you are so used to the imperfections of your home that you don’t notice them, ask a close friend or family member to look at your home objectively and point out any issues it may have. Make a list of the things they point out, and fix the things you have the ability to fix. This way, it shows that you gave your home a lot of TLC while living there, which boosts buyer confidence in your home.
Having a real estate agent can also help you sell your home. They will point out things they know buyers will notice so that you can make changes before your home gets listed. If you identify as part of the LGBTQ community, you can also seek the help of an LGBTQ-friendly real estate agent. Reach out to us here at www.GayRealEstate.com today to find out more!
Nashville on Monday became the first city in the South to recognize LGBT-owned businesses.
Nashville Mayor David Briley signed an executive order including LGBT Business Enterprises certified by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce in contracting and procurement opportunities throughout the city.
The new policy will give NGLCC-certified businesses in Nashville the same access to contracts and economic development opportunities as businesses owned by women and ethnic minorities.
“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Briley and of our local affiliate chamber, the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, LGBT entrepreneurs in the Nashville region will now have the opportunity to create jobs and develop innovations that benefit all who live there,” NGLCC Co-Founder and President Justin Nelson wrote in a press release.
“We hope this executive order in Nashville will encourage more mayors to proactively include the LGBT community for the optimum social and economic health of their cities,” NGLCC Co-Founder and CEO Chance Mitchell added.
Nashville is the first new city in 2019 to recognize LGBT-owned businesses. 2018 saw Baltimore and Jersey City and Hoboken, N.J., added to the list of cities that track and include NGLCC-certified businesses.
NGLCC says certified LGBT-owned businesses add $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy each year.
“We are excited to see LGBTBEs (NGLCC-certified businesses) in every field, from construction to catering and everything in between, help grow the economy of Nashville and beyond,” Nelson wrote.
Google is under fire for allowing users to download a LGBTI ‘conversion therapy’ app.
Religious group Living Hope Ministries offers vulnerable LGBTI teens and adults ‘gay cures’ through prayer and therapy.
Every mainstream health group considers ‘gay cure’ therapy dangerous to a person’s mental and physical health.
The Texas-based group refers to LGBTI people as ‘sexually broken’ individuals.
Living Hope Ministries also encourages people to ‘walk out of false identities’, claiming LGBTI lifestyles are harmful.
The app also falsely portrays homosexuality as an ‘addiction’, ‘sickness’, and a ‘sin’.
Truth Wins Out has already been victorious in seeing the app removed from the Apple store.
‘By any standard, the app is awful,’ they say.
‘It brazenly compares homosexuality to an addiction. It casually trashes LGBT people as living “destructive lifestyles.”
Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, says it is ‘unconscionable’ that Google is still offering the app.
He said: ‘We are hoping this is simply an oversight from a very large company, rather than an objectionable policy decision that would warrant further action.’
A Living Hope Ministries spokesman said: ‘The claims made by Truth Wins Out are inaccurate and are not descriptive of our ministry or the free app that we offer or the other free services we provide individuals.
‘We are a discipleship ministry that holds to a traditional, orthodox, understanding of Scripture.
‘They also added: ‘We journey with individuals who seek out our help and help as they pursue a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
‘We are saddened by the efforts of Truth Wins Out to eliminate our voice in the public arena.’
A Canadian tech company has come under fire for allegedly providing filtering software censoring LGBTI content to anti-LGBTI governments.
LGBTI advocacy group All Out has teamed up with Mexican organization R3D, which defends human rights in the digital world, to shed a light on the issue.
The two have joined forces to urge Canadian company Netsweeper to stop providing LGBTI censorship filters to homophobic governments. Moreover, the LGBTI group wants to ensure that tech companies don’t use such technologies to violate human rights.
Activists started an online petition to put an end to this LGBTI-related content censorship. They addressed Perry J. Roach, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Netsweeper Inc.
They also reached out to the Canadian government, which agreed to review their recommendations.
‘Helping countries like the UAE censor LGBTI content online, including life-saving information on HIV prevention, is a gross violation of international human rights guidelines,’ Senior Campaigns Manager at All Out Yuri Guaiana told Gay Star News.
‘We are glad the Canadian government agreed to review our recommendation that any additional financial support to Netsweeper will be made conditional on their commitment to human rights.’
Guaiana furthermore said that more than 27,000 people have signed the petition so far. They are asking Netsweeper to stop providing these filters censoring content identified as ‘Alternative Lifestyles’.
‘We’ll keep demanding that,’ Guaiana also added.
This is not the first time Netsweeper has faced criticism.
Last year, Citizen Lab, a security and human rights research group run out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, published a report on the use of Netsweeper in 10 countries cited for systematic human rights problems. They analyzed activities in countries such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, UAE, and Yemen.
‘Netsweeper’s services can easily be abused to help facilitate draconian controls on the public sphere by stifling access to information and freedom of expression,’ said Ronald Deibert, who runs Citizen Lab.
The report also explains how the technology provided by Netsweeper works.
The software blocks Google searches for LGBTI-related keywords and non-pornographic websites by mischaracterizing them as sexually explicit.
Apple has removed a religious app from its online store which portrayed being gay as an ‘addiction’, ‘sickness’ and ‘sin’.
Religious group, Living Hope Ministries created and owns the LHM Men’s Network app . It was pulled after a gay-rights organization petitioned against it.
Truth Wins Out, which says it fights ‘anti-gay religious extremism,’ launched the petition last Thursday, US news site NBC reported.
The Living Hope Ministries is a nonprofit that says it serves ‘those who are seeking sexual and relational wholeness through a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.’
Living Hope Ministries’ executive director Ricky Chelette. Photo YouTube
Executive director Ricky Chelette told NBC that the group developed its app three years ago. He said the group is a ‘discipleship ministry’ and ‘very much like a church.’
We help people understand who they are in Christ,’ Chelette told NBC News on Sunday. ‘We only help those individuals who are seeking us.’
Truth Wins Out alleged that the app sought for LGBTI youth ‘to change from gay-to-straight through prayer and therapy
In 2014, Tim Cook became the first ceo of a Fortune 500 company to come out publicly
The petition had 356 supporters and Truth Wins Out thanked Apple and its ceo Tim Cook for removing the offending app.
‘We thank Apple for exemplifying corporate responsibility and taking swift action to remove a dangerous app that stigmatizes and demeans LGBT people,’ said Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen.
‘Ex-gay programs are consumer fraud and cause significant harm to the people they purport to help.’
Truth Wins Out said it will seek to have the Living Hope Ministries app removed from other platforms, such as amazon.com, that still host it.
An LGBT charity calendar has reportedly been banned on Facebook for containing “sexual activity” despite it not containing any.
The calendar by The Naked Rugby Players, which aims to raise money for the testicular cancer charity Balls To Cancer and LGBT+ inclusive rugby, was banned from the social media platform for containing explicit content.
The calendar reportedly went against Facebook’s community standards on nudity and sexuality activity, which bans content containing nudity (showing genitals), sexual activity, sexually explicit language and female nipples (except in the context of breastfeeding, birth, health and protests).
However, the calendar contained none of the above.
According to The Gay UK, Facebook told the page’s owners that the post went against their community standards and banned the page from commenting or posting for 24 hours.
Facebook’s ban “disappointing”
The description on The Naked Rugby Players website reads: “We’ve photographed six inclusive rugby teams from across the UK, wearing nothing more than some sport socks and boots, to bring a little excitement to 2019 whilst at the same time raising money for each inclusive club involved and for the Balls To Cancer charity who promotes awareness of Testicular Cancer in men.”
It features the teams the Bristol Bisons, Liverpool Tritons, Glasgow Alphas, Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents, Northampton Outlaws and the Sheffield Vulcans.
The creative director behind the calendar, Jake Hook, told The Gay UK: “We take a huge amount of time on photo shoot days to ensure that everybody is comfortable and making absolutely 100 percent sure that nobody’s genitals are on show.
“In fact, it is in our agreement with the clubs that take part that we make sure that no one’s genitals will be invisible.
“Facebook’s ban is obviously disappointing,” he added.
“We are so proud of this calendar and the message that it gives. Be proud of your body, be proud of your sexuality and be comfortable in your own skin.”
This week, Tumblr announced that it would ban all adult content from its platform and said any user who was hurt by the decision could simply migrate to another site. But creators and readers alike don’t believe there’s another website that fosters the same kind of sex-positive spaces that Tumblr has. It’s as though Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio has failed to understand his own platform, how unique these communities are to Tumblr, and how unlikely it is for them to survive beyond the shutdown.
“Sex wasn’t this separate, shameful thing. Tumblr allowed it to exist right next to every other facet of our messy, millennial experience,” says Vex Ashley, who runs the blog Vextape that’s inspired by her work as a cam model and making DIY porn. “We shared it, discussed it, debated it, and curated it.” Porn, she says, was as appropriate on Tumblr as song lyrics.
Tumblr is home to a myriad of sex-positive and body-positive blogs, in additional to indie porn blogs and curated archives that provide something not found on Pornhub, YouPorn, or any of the other mainstream adult portals. It’s also been relatively unique among social media sites for allowing nudity and sexually explicit content to be posted. Most sites, like Facebook and Instagram, prohibit nudity and regularly remove posts that are flagged. With Tumblr gone from the equation, creators and readers fear their hubs of sex-positive and body-positive content will vanish.
“There is a lot of value in being able to share images of and information about sexuality. This change will erase years of content from countless Tumblr users,” says the anonymous author behind Bijouworld, which curates photos of vintage gay porn, old magazine covers, and newspaper clippings. They believe that other blogs focused on the history of erotica will also suffer. “This was a good spot for us all to exchange and combine our info and knowledge, so I hope we can find a new way to do that.”
Bijou Classics, the gay adult company behind the blog, also posts regularly to Pornhub and maintains an extensive web presence across multiple platforms that allow adult content. But Tumblr, the blogger says, filled a void when the company wanted to explore the archival and historical aspects of gay porn.
“I do think Tumblr is unique … [it] was one of the few platforms that is broadly open to the public where we could share explicit photos in any sort of organized fashion.” The anonymous person behind the blog says that since 2011, Bijou Classics has “used our Tumblr presence to post images from our archives, written blogs, trivia, and more.” The purpose is to “keep information circulating about the history and evolution of erotica and gay culture.”
Many sexuality blog authors don’t see a way forward without Tumblr. That includes lawyer and journalist Maddie Holden, who runs Critique My Dick Pic, a blog that’s received attention from sites including The Hairpin, Jezebel, and The Daily Dot.
Holden takes a media that’s often considered a nuisance to receive and approaches it satirically as an art form, going in depth about the shadows and positioning of each photo. She ends her reviews with: “thank you for submitting to critique my dick pic” and a grade ranging from A to F. The latest lyrical review of a dick in the shower, posted on November 30th, reads, “your photo is certainly not coy but it avoids being dick-centric, and apart from minor flares of distraction — a green towel in the bottom-left corner and a blue razor in the windowsill — the background is uncluttered and effective.”
Critique My Dick Pic has been described by its followers as “hilarious and useful,” says Holden. She says a trans woman recently told her that the trans-inclusive nature of the blog factored into helping her decide to come out and transition.
The blog has been around since 2013, but Holden says she’s not sure if she’ll move to another platform after Tumblr hides her content from public view on December 17th. Holden tells The Verge, “I mean, it will be the end of the blog as far as I can tell. I receive a portion of my income from CDMP, which will end, and the site has been pretty beloved for years now, so it’s a shame for its followers.”
The operator of another quirky, body-positive blog, called Things My Dick Does, says he plans to keep his Tumblr open after the ban, but only to share safe-for-work posts to keep in touch with his readers.
Started by an anonymous man in 2015, the blog’s creator draws mustaches and smiley faces on his dick, often placing props around it in amusing situations. He tells The Verge, “I know it’s a silly dick blog, but I’ve gotten to know some pretty amazing people through here. (My girlfriend included!)” He says that as he continued to post pics of his dick sipping coffee, dressed as Batman, or just smiling cheerily, he received positive feedback and even had a woman reach out to him because they lived in the same city. She later became his girlfriend. “People say they’ve overcome some serious rough spots in their lives because of the laughs I brought them.”
The man says he can migrate to other platforms, but his presence on YouTube and Instagram is distinctly different. It’s covered up and less NSFW, obscuring the very quality of his blog that disarmed audiences — a charming, dressed-up dick that more resembled a cartoon than graphic porn. “It’s definitely a loss to the adult content creators out there,” the man behind Things My Dick Does says. “Seems like it’s getting more and more difficult to express yourself.”
There just isn’t anywhere else to go. Other than Tumblr, there aren’t many mainstream, well-acknowledged platforms that allow unique adult communities to grow. Facebook and Instagram both prohibit sexual content and nudity; Twitter allows it, but it’s not exactly known for its positive, supportive communities.
Ashley, who runs the curated, often DIY porn blog, explains that Tumblr was a livelihood and a home for people who didn’t necessarily conform to mainstream porn sites’ ideas of what is sexy. “As our lives move increasingly online, spaces that are safe for sex are becoming smaller and smaller,” she says, in words that are now published on Medium. “If we continue to push our depictions of sexuality into the shadows, we allow them to continue to be defined and co-opted by the status quo — whatever is on the first page of a porn tube site.”
Grindr’s director of communications has resigned from his role, seemingly in response to the dating app’s president saying he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Landen Rafe Zumwalt, who is gay, published a post on Medium on December 7, explaining that he was stepping down from his position at Grindr with “great sadness.”
Zumwalt does not name Grindr president Scott Chen in his statement, but his blog post appears to be in response to Chen posting on Facebook that he agrees marriage should be “between a man and a woman.”
Grindr’s head of communications: “I refuse to compromise my own values”
Zumwalt writes: “As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don’t deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe.
“While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you.”
“As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don’t deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am.”
— Landen Rafe Zumwalt
Zumwalt also tweeted with a link to his blog post on December 7: “Today, I submitted my official resignation as @Grindr’s head of communications. My full statement is here.”
PinkNews has contacted Zumwalt .
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A Grindr spokesperson told PinkNews: “As Landen shared in his Medium post, he has resigned from his position at Grindr. We wish him the best in his future endeavors and appreciate his contributions to the company and the Grindr community.”
On November 30, it was reported that Chen posted on Facebook that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman.
The head of the gay dating app, who is married to a woman, wrote on Facebook: “There are people who believe that marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman. I agree, but that’s none of our business.”
In the post—which was reported by Grindr-owned publication INTO—Chen continued: “There are also people who believe that the purpose of marriage is to create children that carry their DNA. That’s also none of our business.
“There are people who are simply different from you, who desperately want to get married. They have their own reasons. Getting married is a personal issue.”
He added that he wished people wouldn’t donate to anti-LGBTQ causes and instead “donate your money to places which are in dire hunger, poverty, or suffering from war,” asking: “Why spend all that money to stop people who love each other from getting married? Aren’t there more important things in life?”
He concluded: “I’ll never buy HTC products ever again, and I’ll never donate a cent to any Christian groups in Taiwan!”
Facebook released a new set of community guidelines this week centered around ‘sexual solicitation’. The guidelines specifically harm LGBTI users, by disallowing them from discussing their identities.
In justifying the new community guidelines, Facebook wrote in its policy rationale that the discussion of drawing ‘attention to sexual violence and exploitation’ is important, but it wants to ‘draw the line’ at content encouraging or coordinating ‘sexual encounters between adults’.
The rationale for the new rules | Photo: Facebook
The community guidelines then go on to detail what kind of content users are no longer allowed to post.
Some of this banned content includes mentioning ‘sexual preference/sexual partner preference’ and ‘commonly sexualised areas of the body such as the breasts, groin or buttocks’.
Further, these standards apply to all of the companies Facebook owns, including Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
‘For example, on Messenger, when you send a photo, our automated systems scan it using photo matching technology to detect known child exploitation imagery or when you send a link, we scan it for malware or viruses,’ a spokesperson told Bloomberg.
What people are saying
People are upset at social media companies’ decision to start censoring such content for numerous reasons. While drawing a hard line on exploitative content is good, blanket censoring harms marginalized groups like LGBTI people.
Users are taking to Twitter and elsewhere to express their discontent. Making rules like these both continue to take away spaces for LGBTI users, as well as equate LGBTI identities with harmful sexual content.