We always love discovering people out there trying to make a difference and make the world a less homophobic place which is exactly what a brand new campaign “Red Card Homophobia” is trying to do.

Describing their mission as being “to increase awareness of and end homophobia in football (soccer) and promote equality, regardless of sexual orientation, in the beautiful game”, their website explains that the campaign was started by a group of devoted football fans who came together via football internet forum and decided that they wanted to do what they could to make the game beautiful not only in terms of game play but also in terms of acceptance, tolerancve and equality.

Committed to making the difference “Red Card Homophobia” are looking to use every online tool they can to do so with Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and Tumblr and Livejournal accounts already in action and the group planning to spread the message offline and globally as well.

You can find out more about the campaign and what you can do to help on the official Red Card Homophobia website.

Think Boy Butter founder Eyal Feldman is a man who is  focused on sex lubricants and nothing else? Well shame on you for being so narrow minded because this fine specimen of a man has proven himself to be far more than that by swimming across across Israel’s six-mile (10km) Sea of Galilee, the largest body of water in the country for two charities!

Choosing two very diverse but equally important charities, the Jewish Home for the Aging and SAGE (Seniors Active in a Gay Environment), after recovering from his amazing feat  Eyal last week presented a check for $1,750 to SAGE’s Executive Director Michael Adams.

Big congrats to Eyal for his achievement. He’s our new hero.

Boy Butter lubricants are available in the UK at LoveHoney.

Leading the campaign for this apology are Jacqui De La Maziere, (ex-Royal Navy), Roger Garford (ex-Royal Air Force) and Jean MacDonald (ex-Army), all dismissed prior to the lifting of the ban of gays serving openly in the military back in 2000, who are looking for it not only for their experiences of being interrogated and dismissed from the armed forces because of their sexual orientation, but also the many others who suffered the same treatment.

Originally writing to the Queen for an apology, the trio were informed that it is not something that she is able to intervene in due to her position as a constitutional sovereign and that she had requested Senior Correspondence Officer to send their letter to Prime Minister David Cameron MP, in order for him to consider their approach and the points raised.

The move to ending the ban on gays in the military in the UK occurred back in 2000 when gay naval officer Duncan Lustig-Praen won a landmark case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning his dismissal from the Navy due to his sexual orientation. Alleging that this and the intrusive manner of the investigation was a violation of his right to privacy, the winning of this case saw the government immediately suspend the ban and then remove it totally.

Speaking about the relevance this case has to their plight for an apology, De La Maziere said:

“…because Duncan and his three colleagues were the first test case they got good settlements, but for many of us who followed the damages were pitiful considering we were being dismissed from what would have been a twenty two year career.”

“It’s not about the money, it’s about recognising the long lasting effects of the dismissals and the interrogations.”

Prior to the ban interrogations focused on discovering whether you were gay or not could last between 2 to 18 hours and would be undertaken by the same trained officers that interrogated terrorists, something which De La Maziere says has unsurprisingly had a long term impact on those involved which included:

“… having to come out to parents prematurely, to self harm, to loss of career and ongoing work prospects, to homelessness. Some people were given electric shock therapy and sent to military prison. Yet, we’ve never been offered any counselling or support.”

Whilst the group are looking to see if there are any other avenues open to them to take the case further, De La Maziere says that it is however a formal apology which is most important to them stating:

“an apology would be a mental healing and a chance for people finally to put it to rest and move on.”

Via The Lesbian & Gay Foundation Photo credit: Theodore Scott

Words on a page can be incredibly powerful, but sometimes there’s nothing more moving, nothing more likely to create that lump in your throat, and create that fire in your heart than seeing those words being taken off the page, wrapped with emotion and passion and delivered as speeches that you’ll remember long after you’ve lost the book or web address of those powerful words you once read.

And there’s no better example of just that than these impassioned LGBT rights speeches:

1. Philip Spooner’s Testimony In Case For Marriage Equality In Maine

Philip Spooner is a hero for what he did for his country in the World War II and is a hero all over again for this impassioned speech in support of gay marriage in Maine. Articulate and emotive, Philip speaks of how he’d always been brought up to treat everyone as equal, something one of his four sons is far from being and for one simple reason only. He’s gay.

2. Jay Bakker On Gay Marriage

As powerful as Jay’s speech is, what is even more powerful is the response to his congregation when he comes out in support of gay marriage. Quoting the words of Martin Luther King “it’s not the words of your enemies that you will remember but the silence of your friends”, if this video clip doesn’t move you nothing will.

3. Lieutenant Dan Choi Speaking At Obama Dinner Protest

Speaking out not against what is being said, but what isn’t allowed to be because of the conditions and restraints policies like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell put on people, this is just one of many powerful speeches by Dan Choi that can’t help but bring out the LGBT activist in you.

4. Billie Myers At The National Equality March In Washington

Speaking at the National Equality March in Washington, this speech by biusexual singer / songwriter Billie Myers is powerful not just for it’s words, but how this isn’t just another speech. This is about her and her life and how it, like so many lives of the LGBT community, is filled with obstacles and difficulties that she is forced to face based purely on one thing – her sexuality. Watch then read the equally extraordinary blog post she wrote to accompany it on her blog.

5. New York Senator Diane Savino On Marriage Equality Bill

Speaking before the vote for Marriage Equality in New York, Senator Savino dismantles the arguments against gay marriage in style, with perhaps her most important, yet at the same time most simple point of all being “We have nothing to fear from love and commitment”.

If there’s something strange in the neighbourhood then you’re going to call the Ghostbusters. If  however there’s something wrong with your business Ghostbusters don’t have anything on Mary Portas. Super talented businesswoman who doesn’t mince her words, the lessons Mary teaches the businesses she works with are true lifesavers, and their lessons that are just as usual to the LGBT movement and it’s fight for true equality as these five prove:

1. Focus On The Why

The reason so many of the businesses that Mary deals with are failing is because they’ve lost focus on the “Why”.  These businesses know what they want to do, which is sell their goods, but have lost the vision, the “why” that gave them the passion to start in the beginning, and the “why” which makes them stand out from the rest.

And it’s that same “why” which cause many gay rights campaigns fail to have an impact. It is all too easy to get focused on what we want – equality, gay marriage, protection from discrimination – but forget to let everyone know the why. And that why is the most important bit. Why is what creates the passion, the sense of community. The desire to act.

Tell people that you want gay marriagem and  they might sign your petition. Tell people the whys, like you being able to take your partner’s hand and walk out of the church in front of friends and family together like you’ve always dreamt of, but at the moment can’t, and you’ll find you not only have signature, but a fellow marcher at the next protest.

2.  Don’t Lose Yourself In Vagueness

Mary only needed to step inside village store Clealls to know what was wrong. It was trying to do too much. Buying in 4000 different lines meant this store was packed full of anything you could think of, not  because everyone wanted them all, but instead in the hope that by having so much that people would at least find one thing to buy. The reality though is it left them bewildered and confused.

Mary’s solution was to refine the stock and provide a much clearer message about what Clealls were offering, and it’s a lesson we as a community fighting for more equal rights can also learn from. Yes we do want equality on all levels, but to push for them all at the same time only does one thing. It dilutes the message. Shout about gay marriage one day and homophobic bullying the next, and you’re going to end up either dividing your supporters into two very different groups.. either that or just end up confusing everyone so much they give up.

3.  Don’t Try To Be Everything, Focus On What You’re Best At

Few of us are blessed at being amazing at everything (though we’re sure Mary Portas is the exception to this) and it’s important to recognise this. Personally I  know I can do two things. I can write  passionately and emotively and I can stand up, fool about and make people laugh. What I can’t do is stand up and make a passionate and emotive speech.  For me it’s too much pressure on my broad gay shoulders, and  instead of giving me the buzz I get when I fool around in front of people and make them laugh, it makes me VERY VERY nervous, which in turn makes me VERY VERY poor at speaking.

And so that means I don’t do the serious stuff. I stick to (trying to) be funny and instead of making the speeches, I write the speeches for people who can pull the serious, emotive stuff  off but would readily admit they’d struggle to come up with five words by themselves.

And both of us admitting that isn’t a bad thing. It’s important we all recognise our limitations. Angela from the bakery Maher & Sons couldn’t. She felt that the only way she could achieve success in her business was for her to stay in charge of  everything. The end result was Mary and her couldn’t work together. To move forward and achieve, you have to be able to recognise that you’re not good at everything and that’s alright. Let everyone play to their strengths. Don’t try and be everything.

4. The Faces Behind The Cause Are Just As Important As The Cause Itself

The problem with many of the businesses that Mary dealt with was that they didn’t see themselves as part of the brand. They saw their business as a very separate thing from them and something that should thrive on it’s own. The reality though is people don’t connect with business structures they connect with people, so just like Mary made the Fosters sisters central to their brand with their promotional shots that now hand in their greengrocers, it’s important that our fights have faces too.

Don’t believe me? Take the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal fight. Think about that and it’s likely you don’t picture random soldiers, you picture Lieutenant Dan Choi. Whether he likes it or not, Choi has become what people connect with, not the cause. He encompasses all that the fight is about and why it must be won. Without him yes there would still be support, but would it be so passionate? I don’t think so.

5. Don’t Just Try To Get The Support Of The Community, Become Part Of It

One of the biggest problems with the village shop Clealls was that it’s owners had moved from South London, opened up the store then expected everyone to come. Expected everyone to go “Wow a friendly village store I must go in”.

It doesn’t work like that. The owners Chris and Juliet didn’t make any real effort to bond with the locals so the locals had no real feeling of connection to the store. There was nothing to pull them in apart from the 4000 very confusing product choices. Seeing that this was as much of a problem as what they were selling, Mary set about to get them working within the community and getting to know people. The result? People warmed to them, got to know them, and in turn felt a pull to the store.

And this is something that’s just as crucial in the fight for LGBT equality. We all walk past people asking us to do this or that for charity because we don’t know them. There’s no connection. Would you walk past that person if they were a friend or neighbour you say high to every morning? No, you’d stop, talk and probably sign up because you trust them. There’s a connection, and that’s important in getting people on board.

Add the personal element to your campaign and people find it very hard to say no.

Want to learn more about Mary? Check out her brand new website at MaryPortas.com

Not sure who Mary Portas is? Well shame on you… now quickly catch up by checking her out in action below:

Telling the PinkNews that a strategy put in place to improve income that had fallen due to the recession had failed, Jordan Hays, the chief executive said he did not know the future for the staff would be, though the Crusaid name will continue as an operating unit within THT .

Debbie Holmes, the executive director of fundraising at the Terrence Higgins Trust said it would be impossible to say what would happen at this point in the merger but there many be redundancies.

Releasing a press statement about the merger, Sir Nick Partridge, the chief executive of THT said:

“I’m delighted to confirm that Crusaid and Terrence Higgins Trust have merged.

“The merger will preserve the Crusaid Hardship Fund in a very challenging economic climate and help ensure that people with HIV have the ongoing support that they so vitally need.

“We are also looking forward to combining our experience and research for a renewed anti-poverty strategy in support of people living with HIV in the UK.”

via Pink News.

If there’s one that’s going to make singer songwriter Billie Myers uncomfortable it’s people praising her for her LGBT activism work and dedication to raising public awareness on depression and suicide prevention. Well if you’re reading this whilst sipping cocktails by your pool Ms Myers prepare to feel very awkward as Queeried is about to gush…

Returning to mainstream public attention with the release of new third album, Tea and Sympathy, Billie Myers has not only shown the power of social media networks like Twitter and Facebook for promotional purposes, but also for selflessly raising awareness of the issues most close to her heart, and this September she will be going even further by launching, as part of “Back to school” month, her Pepsi Refresh Challenge project.

Acting as a spokesperson for the JED Foundation - the leading nonprofit organization addressing issues related to mental health and suicide in the college population. Billie will be joining the likes of Pete Wentz and Mary J. Blige in helping JED’s ongoing fight against depression and suicide prevention, and you’re going to find it hard to find someone more committed to this issue than Billie.

Why? Because Billie Myers is a woman who knows all too well about these issues, having been diagnosed with depression herself . Incredibly lucky to have such supportive people around her, Myers is now determined that others have the information they need to help others, with the Pepis Refresh Challenge project acting to educate people about what depression is, how to recognize the warning signs, how to overcome it, shed light on how to help people suffering from depression – and overall, promote suicide prevention among young people.

And she’s focusing her efforts on one group that is most at risk, the LGBT community, a group that according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services equals “as many as 30% of completed youth suicides each year” because they feel they are “better off dead than gay”.

A woman who has faced many difficulties in her life that include being abandoned by her mother at an orphange at ages four, being the victim of racial and reverse discrimination for being a mixed race child and having to contend, like so many artists these days, with being an international superstar one day then falling into anonymity the next, Billie Myers has proven herself to be an extraordinary brave and courageous woman and this September it’s time for all of us to give that little bit back by making sure her Pepsi Refresh Project for the Jed Foundation is the huge success it deserves to be.

Imagine this. You’re just starting to get somewhere in your career. People are starting to recognise your acting talent and film-making skills, and on top of that you’re making an impact in terms of gay rights. It must feel really good.

It should be how Kiana Firouz is feeling, but she’s not. She is instead is living in fear of being returned home to a home land that won’t welcome her with open arms, but brutal punishments that could be as severe as death.

And that’s because Kiana Firouz is from Iran, a country she escaped from looking to the United Kingdom for refugee, something that now seems like the last thing she’ll get after having her application first rejected by the Home Office, even though the Ministry recognised she was being persecuted for her sexuality, then having her appeal overturned by the courts. All that now that stands between her and deportation is to appeal against this last decision.

It is therefore ironic that Firouz’s film, Cul de Sac, a documentary exploring her difficulties living life as a lesbian in Iran is going to be premiered here in London in just a few days. Already gaining critical acclaim, this film acts to show all that someone shouldn’t have to face, but the sad reality is if the government does not change it’s decision it could be what Firouz has to face all over again, and if rumours of Islamist authorities in Iran playing close attention to Firouz are truly, alongside a whole lot worse.

So what can you do to help? Well one organisation, EveryOne, the Group For International Cooperation On Human Rights Culture, has sent the below letter to the government, pleading with them to do something,  and you can play your own part in making our voices heard by signing the petition against Firouz deportation. It’s only a couple of clicks to do it and you could just save Kiana Firouz’s life.

To U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterre
To U.K. Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
To U.K. Home Office Secretary, Alan Arthur Johnson
To the British Ambassador to Italy, Edward Chaplin
To European Parliament deputies
To the Civil Liberties Commission of the European Parliament
To the members of the LGBT intergroup of the European Parliament
To the members of the European Commission and the European Council
To LGBT and human rights organizations of the European Union

Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, actress and lesbian activist from Teheran, Iran, has long been engaged in the battle against the discrimination and persecution of homosexuals by the Ahmadinejad regime. After photograms of her video documentary on the condition of lesbians and gays fell into the hands of the Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow and intimidate her. Concerned about her safety, Kiana left Teheran and sought refuge in the U.K., where she could continue her work and studies.

She filed for asylum but her application was rejected by the Home Office even though the Ministry recognized her being persecuted for her sexual orientation and despite the fact that the Ministry is well aware that under Islamic law homosexuality is considered a heinous crime punishable by hanging and that gays and lesbians are enemies of Allah. In Iran, punishment for an adult consenting lesbian of healthy mind and is 100 whippings. If the act is repeated three times and punished each time, the death sentence is applied the fourth time (Art. 127, 129, 130).

Kiana filed for a court appeal following the Home Office’s decision to reject her application for asylum, but the judge overruled her appeal According to Kiana’s lawyer, the last remaining chance is to appeal the judge’s decision, but the risk of deportation is imminent.

Kiana recently took part in the film Cul de sac, which focuses on her life and civil rights battles in Iran. “It was important for me to take part in the film,” she stated in a recent interview. “As an Iranian lesbian I think the film is the best way to show how difficult life is for lesbians in my country. This film,” she continued, “contains sex scenes that would be sufficient evidence for receiving a death sentence if I were sent back to Iran. Now, my only hope is to mobilize the international LGBT community.”

Slated for release this month, Cul de sac attracted global media attention after its trailer was shown on YouTube in December 2009. Over 10,000 saw the video in the first four days it was put on line. And the media of the opposition in Iran, under constant watch by regime authorities, received news of its transmission.

Kiana has also launched a petition against the decision to have her deported to Iran.
The EveryOne Group, an international human rights organization, which was involved in the asylum cases of the lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh, who risked being deported from London to Teheran in 2007, and of the Iranian gay, Mehdi Kazemi, appeals to the British government and the democratic forces of the European Union, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, that Kiana Firouz be immediately guaranteed adequate humanitarian protection and that the order for her deportation be repealed, given that on return to Iran she will face a death sentence not only because a lesbian but because of her civil rights activism.

The EveryOne activists invite concerned readers to send protest e-mail messages to the British Home Office (public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) requesting that Kiana receive refugee status as soon as possible, for she is a symbol of the international fight against homophobia and repression of gays and lesbians in Islamic countries.

Used frequently to condemn homosexuality, Leviticus 18:22 states in the King James version that:

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

with the message made even clear in the Living Bible which reads as:

“Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin”

A quotation that is used time and time again by those who say they live by the word of the Bible, there is evidence that this may not be true, especially if they don’t have particularly long hair, as Leviticus 19:27 , just a few passages later states:

“You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.”

Maybe less of a case of living by the Bible and living more by your own prejudices?

Most of us are very happy to moan about the lack of progress concerning LGBT rights, but aren’t quite so keen to get up and do something about it, preferring to well just keep on criticising behind closed doors and believing that will help.

There is however one young American who is putting us to shame. Ethan McNamee i. Only 9 years old when he decided to stand up for gay rights, Denver third grader Ethan last May not only decided to speak out in favor of marriage equality, but also put together a whole rally, lining up speakers and even taking to the stage himself.

Asked why he decided to do it, Ethan put it down to two things – the homophobic slurs he was hearing in the playground, and learning that a same sex couple in his neighbourhood couldn’t get married because of their sexuality.

Telling reporters “Everybody is different in a good way”, he said that no issue apart from whether a couple loved even other was important.

You can check out the speech Ethan gave at this pro gay marriage rally below: