The Visalia Pride Lions Club is hosting an LGBT+ Valentine's dinner and dance. There will be prizes, photo opportunities and more! Please visit their website HERE for more information. Get your tickets early so you don't miss out on this GREAT event for our community! 
Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer
When we launched calling in Gmail back in August, we wanted it to be easy and affordable, so we made calls to the U.S. and Canada free for the rest of 2010. In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we’re extending free calling for all of 2011.
In case you haven’t tried it yet, dialing a phone number works just like a regular phone. Look for “Call phone” at the top of your Gmail chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.
To learn more, visit gmail.com/call. Calling in Gmail is currently only available to U.S. based Gmail users.
Happy New Year and happy calling!
via http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/free-calling-in-gmail-extended-through.html
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Starting in February, passport applications will start to recognize gay and lesbian families:
The State Department has decided to make U.S. passport application forms "gender neutral" by removing references to mother and father, officials said, in favor of language that describes one's parentage somewhat less tenderly. The change is "in recognition of different types of families," according to a statement issued just before Christmas that drew widespread attention Friday after a Fox News report.
The announcement of the change was buried at the end of a Dec. 22 news release, titled "Consular Report of Birth Abroad Certificate Improvements," that highlighted unrelated security changes.
Sounds like progress to me, but the usual suspects have vocally opposed the changes. Wingnut Tony Perkins said the following in a press release:
"Only in the topsy-turvy world of left-wing political correctness could it be considered an 'improvement' for a birth-related document to provide less information about the circumstances of that birth. Yet that is the result of the State Department's decision to remove the words 'mother' and 'father' from Consular Reports of Birth Abroad."
He continued:
"This is clearly designed to advance the causes of same-sex 'marriage' and homosexual parenting without statutory authority, and violates the spirit if not the letter of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). But it does so at the expense of fundamental biological reality - and social reality as well. The State Department's abolition of motherhood and fatherhood would be almost comical, if it did not fly in the face of the mounting social science evidence that children are most likely to thrive when born into a family led by their own married biological mother and father."
via http://www.towleroad.com/2011/01/passport.html
Published January 09, 2011
| Fox News Latino
Chaos erupted with people running and screaming. Daniel Hernandez heard gunshots. Most people would get as far away as possible -- but he ran towards them. And his courageous decision likely saved Rep. Gabrielle Giffords life.
Hernandez, 20, had only been an intern for the congresswoman for five days when a man opened fire outside a "Congress on Your Corner" event.
He moved from person to person checking pulses, according to the Arizona Republic. "First the neck, then the wrist," he told the paper. Then he saw Giffords on the sidewalk. She was bleeding.
Finding congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot, he immediately applied pressure to the entry wound on her forehead while he waited for EMT's to arrive. He pulled her into his lap, holding her upright against him so she wouldn't choke on her own blood. She was conscious, but quiet.
He never let go of his boss.
Hours later Hernandez met with Giffords friends and family. His own family arrived and he told them about the people he knew who had died.
"You just have to be calm and collected," he told the paper. "You do no good to anyone if you have a breakdown. . . . It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help."
For my birthday on January 19th, I'm asking that my friends and family join me in raising $250 for a good cause
Hello, and thanks for checking out my Birthday Wish!
For my birthday on January 19th, I'm asking my friends and family for a special gift: help me raise $250 for Gay Central Valley. It's a great cause that exists to contribute to and enrich the cultural life of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, their families, friends and supporters in California's Central Valley. The organization's goals are to create awareness, educate and develop in the Central Valley the diversity of cultural expression in the LGBT community.
I chose Gay Central Valley because I believe we need to continue to create and educate everyone that being gay is not a choice but a right and to unite everyone as a community.
Please consider giving to my Birthday Wish, and together we can make the world a better place. If you can't give now, I'd really appreciate if you'd share this page with your friends.
Thanks so much,
Joe Sosa
To donate click the following link: http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/182636
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Fresno, CA
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Calling all Central Valley Gay Straight Alliance’s! You are invited to a Valentine’s Mixer brought to you by the Clovis North High School G.S.A! The Valentine’s Mixer will be held at the Downtown Community Arts Collective on February 12, 2011 from 6pm-9pm. Help us bring in the new year with some G.S.A. Pride! This mixer will provide a chance for Central Valley teens to interact with one another during the season of love!
The ni...ght will consist of food, drinks and music all with a splash of a Valentine’s theme. G.S.A members across the California Central Valley will be asked to wear a name tag when they arrive to the event. Your name tag will display what G.S.A campus you are from, as well as if you hold a G.S.A Officer position. If you are willing to partake in even more fun, put your relationship status and your sexual orientation in hopes that when the night ends you will have someone special to spend the true Valentine’s Day with! If you are Single and ready to mingle, Clovis North G.S.A has got you covered! Red roses will be available for purchase throughout the night to give to that special someone that has caught your eye! Taken but still looking for a good time? No worries! Bring your special someone to have a night out! The fun will begin right when you walk through the door! If the party scene is not for you, slip into the lounge area where you can chat with G.S.A. members from across the Valley. Socializing and networking with other individuals that attend the event will provide a new opportunity to hear ideas to bring back to their G.S.A as well as making new friends. Snacks and drinks will be provided to everyone who attends. There will be a live DJ playing your requests for the night from XO Productions, as well as a photo booth to take some fun pictures! All proceeds that the Clovis North G.S.A raises from this event will be going towards Scotti Maldonado’s fund to create an LGBT community center! Volunteers and donations are needed to help make this a great event! Four to five volunteers are needed in the following areas.: set up before the event and cleanup after the event, supervision volunteers to ensure the event is maintained at a controlled level, as well as security volunteers to ensure that students are escorted to their vehicles safely after the event is over. Please contact Justin Kamimoto via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for all donations inquiries and volunteer interests. The Clovis North Gay Straight Alliance hopes to see you and your G.S.A at the Valentine’s Mixer in February! Details for this event are also available on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/clovisnor thgsa located under events. RSVP via Facebook click here |
What is G.S.A? Girl Scouts of America? No wait. it’s Granny Smith Apple! Of course not! It’s a Gay Straight Alliance. Read on to learn more…
A Gay Straight Alliance is a LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) and straight ally-friendly, student-run club mainly in high school, but also on some middle school campuses. G.S.A’s focus is on providing a safe environment for students to meet, support, and to talk about issues related to sexual orientation. The resulting efforts are to end homophobia and transphobia. Although G.S.A’s focus is mainly on implementing LGBT related concepts, we also offer workshops that help create team building and participation in our community.
G.S.A groups throughout California’s Central Valley fall under the guidance of Joey Fernandez, a role model and supporter, promoting educational awareness in an attempt to fight against homophobia and transphobia.
For complete article click here
via KingsRiverlife.com
JANUARY 6, 2011 | BY GABRIAL | CELEBRITY, FEATURED, NEWS, ICANDY |
Nothing beats providing eye candy and for a good cause. Maroon 5′s leading hot man Adam Levine stripped down to nothingness but a few lucky hands covering his jewels for the February issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in support of the charity Everyman to encourage men to get tested for symptoms of prostate & testicular cancer.
If this doesn’t tickle you fancy to get tested, something is obviously malfunctioning down there.
Hot.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO PURE NIGHTCLUB FACEBOOK..LOCATED IN
FRESNO, CA EVERY MONDAY NIGHT STARTING IN THE MONTH OF FEB 2011
PURE IS INVADING THE CITY OF FRESNO WITH THE HOTTEST & BADDEST 18 & OVER GAY NIGHT THE THE CITY HAS EVER EXPERIENCE
WE HAVE THE HOTTEST GOGO BOYZ & GIRLZ, INSANE VIDEO PRODUCTION ALL OVER THE BUILDING, CASH PRIZES, SEDUCTIVE DRAG SHOWS & SO MUCH ELECTRIC ENTERTAINMENT FOR YA. . .
PURE IS ABOUT COMING OUT EVERY MONDAY NIGHT AND GETTING REFRESH FOR THE WEEK & PARTY ALL OVER THE BUILDING
AND YES!!! ITS AN 18 & up VENUE, INCLUDING 21 & UP WITH A FULL BAR. VIP ROOMS AND VIP SECTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO RENT OUT FOR UR BIRTHDAY, ANNIVERSARIES, AND SO FORTH WE ARE THE HOTTEST PARTY TO HIT SACRAMENTO. THE IS NOW TO HAVE FUN ALL OVER AGAIN & LETS IGNITE THE FLAMES ONE MORE TIME!!!!!
SEE YA THERE!!!! MUAH
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Paresh Dave | January 7, 2011
Executive Producer
Tech blog Boy Genius Report confirmed Friday that Apple has turned down requests from employees to take vacation days between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7, a move that suggests the company will launch a much-anticipated iPhone for Verizon Wireless on Thursday the 3rd.
BGR believes the device is coming on that date because Apple stopped employees from taking vacations for four days when it launched the iPhone 4 last year and Verizon typically starts selling new phones on Thursdays. The release date would also allow for a Super Bowl-weekend marketing blitz.
UPDATE 12:30 p.m.: Verizon has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday (Jan. 11) in New York. The content of the announcement is being kept secret, but the company could officially announce the iPhone release date then. This would break from Apple's tradition of announcing new iPhones by itself at its California headquarters.
Reports last year suggested the Verizon device would run on a Qualcomm CDMA chip and be released in early 2011.
Many had hoped Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg would announce the iPhone at the company's keynote event at CES 2011 this week, a technology trade conference in Las Vegas. Instead, Verizon announced 10 other new phones that would run on its LTE network--much faster than its present network. But none of the new Android LTE phones are expected to launch until the summer.
Apple is regularly absent from CES, though the company did release its Mac App Store on Thursday. Apple normally uses the spring to updates its line of laptops and the iPhone. A white iPhone 4 is expected to being selling on AT&T sometime this spring.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Apple was also working on an iPhone 5 that would have totally different shape and size than previous iPhones.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Gina Drioane (Veterans’ Affairs)
January 4, 2011 (202) 224-9126
PRESIDENT OBAMA SIGNS SENATOR AKAKA’S POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE IMPROVEMENTS ACT INTO LAW
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Barack Obama signed into law the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010. The bill was introduced by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) last year to make improvements to the education benefit for veterans:
“The young men and women in the Armed Forces provide an incredible service to our nation,” said Senator Akaka, a World War II veteran who attended college on the original GI Bill. “With the signing of this bill, young veterans will now have an easier time utilizing the education benefits they have earned. I applaud President Obama and my colleagues in Congress for enacting this important legislation.”
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act (S. 3447) provides for a streamlined, less complex, and more equitable program for veterans who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001.
The new law expands the number of eligible veterans by including a group of National Guard/Reserves veterans who were inadvertently omitted from the original legislation in 2008. It increases educational opportunities by paying benefits for on-job and vocational training. It also provides an annual $1,000 book allowance to service members training while on active duty.
S. 3447 was passed by the Senate on December 13, 2010, and approved by the House of Representatives on December 16.
-END-
Authored by Senator Mark Leno, SB 543 will allow LGBT youth to access mental health services without their parents' consent, ensuring they get the care that they need when they need it -- without having to come out to their parents first.
Authored by Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, AB 2199 repeals the reprehensible requirement that California seek the “causes and cures of homosexuality.”
Authored by Assemblymember Fiona Ma, AB 2700 will allow same-sex couples who are both domestic partners and married to dissolve their partnership and their marriage with the same process if they choose to separate.
Authored by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, AB 2055 will grant same-sex couples who are about to enter into a domestic partnership the same unemployment benefits as opposite-sex couples who are about to wed.
Saturday, February 12, 2011 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Downtown Community Art Collective
STR8 dudes take it off so the Homos can get their rights on! What happens when the gay guys atFCKH8.com get their hands on a dozen STR8 guys? The 2011 "STR8 Against H8" Benefit Calendar! They stripped the boys down, oiled them up & took some steamy pics! Go behind the scenes & watch all the action. Calendars are just $10 & $4 from each one goes to fund the fight for equal rights & for queer youth suicide prevention.
Making of Video: FCKH8 "STR8 AGAINST H8" 2011 Calendar from FCKH8.com on Vimeo.
By Amanda Gardner - HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists are reporting early but promising results from a new drug that blocks HIV as it attempts to invade human cells.
The approach differs from most current antiretroviral therapy, which tries to limit the virus only after it has gained entry to cells.
The medication, called VIR-576 for now, is still in the early phases of development. But researchers say that if it is successful, it might also circumvent the drug resistance that can undermine standard therapy, according to a report published Dec. 22 inScience Translational Medicine.
The new approach is an attractive one for a number of reasons, said Dr. Michael Horberg, director of HIV/AIDS for Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, Calif.
"Theoretically it should have fewer side effects [and indeed had minimal adverse events in this study] and there's probably less of a chance of mutation in developing resistance to medication," said Horberg, who was not involved in the study.
Viruses replicate inside cells and scientists have long known that this is when they tend to mutate -- potentially developing new ways to resist drugs. "It's generally accepted that it's harder for a virus to mutate outside cell walls," Horberg explained.
The new drug focuses on HIV at this pre-invasion stage. "VIR-576 targets a part of the virus that is different from that targeted by all other HIV-1 inhibitors," explained study co-author Frank Kirchhoff, a professor at the Institute of Molecular Virology, University Hospital of Ulm in Ulm, Germany, who, along with several other researchers, holds a patent on the new medication.
The target is the gp41 fusion peptide of HIV, the "sticky" end of the virus's outer membrane, which "shoots like a 'harpoon'" into the body's cells, the authors said. The launch of this peptide is a first step in the virus's bid to inhabit host cells.
Although there are two other drugs on the market, maraviroc and T-20, which also prevent the virus from entering cells, they don't target fusion peptides. That makes this trial the first time that scientists have seen that fusion peptides are a worthwhile target in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
click for complete article
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed a new law Wednesday that will allow gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America's military. And he urged those kicked out under the old law to re-enlist.
Framing the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied, Obama said that "we are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot ... a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal."
Repealing the 17-year-old policy known as "don't ask, don't tell" in a ceremony that was alternately emotional and rousing, the president said "this law I'm about to sign will strengthen our national security and uphold the ideals that our fighting men and women risk their lives to defend."
The new law ends a policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. More than 13,500 people were discharged under the rule since 1993.
"I hope those ... who've been discharged under this discriminatory policy will seek to re-enlist once the repeal is implemented," Obama said.
"I hope so too," agreed Zoe Dunning, a former naval officer now with the advocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund.
"We are in two wars and we need qualified candidates," Dunning said after the ceremony. She said it was unclear how many discharged under the old law might seek to rejoin and whether all "have completely healed ... trust the military is going to treat them fairly."
The question of reinstating those previously discharged was addressed in a months-long study done by the Pentagon earlier this year on how the armed forces might go about implementing a repeal of don't ask don't tell.
The study recommended that the Department of Defense issue guidance to all the service branches permitting those previously separated on the basis of homosexual conduct "to be considered for re-entry, assuming they qualify in all other respects."
For complete story click here
Fresno gay-rights activist Robin McGehee is going back to the White House -- but this time as an invited guest.
McGehee was invited to watch President Barack Obama today sign a bill repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military.
She received the invitation Monday and was on a plane Tuesday morning, said GetEQUAL spokesman Brad Luna. GetEQUAL is a gay-rights organization co-founded by McGehee.
In a brief telephone interview, McGehee said the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is on par with the integration of blacks and whites in the military in the late 1940s. And she called it a watershed moment in moving toward marriage rights for gays and lesbians. She added: "Being in that space [on Wednesday] is going to be hugely humbling."
McGehee wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday that she was taking her young son Sebastian along to witness the historic signing.
"I am only going to the DADT repeal signing to show Sebastian that standing up for what you believe in matters. The time I was away from him and his sister will hopefully lead to a more equal world," she wrote on Facebook.
McGehee has been involved in numerous gay-rights causes and helped organize "Meet in the Middle for Equality" in Fresno.
The statewide rally to protest the passage of Prop. 8 -- California's ban on same-sex marriage -- was held in May 2009 and drew thousands, including celebrities.
She also helped organize the National Equality March in October 2009 in Washington, D.C. The march led her to co-found GetEQUAL with Kip Williams in March.
She has been a vocal supporter of ending the 17-year-old policy that bars uncloseted gays from serving in the military.
McGehee and Lt. Dan Choi were arrested after they chained themselves to the White House fence to protest the ban. Choi also is expected to attend the signing.
The White House invited a number of people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, including those who served in the military under the policy as well as those who advocated for its repeal, Luna said.
Friends of McGehee's wrote of their pride at having her attend the signing and credited her with keeping up the pressure for repeal of the policy.
"Tomorrow when you stand at the White House with President Obama, you are representing all of us," read one of the posts.
The bill signing is expected to take place about 9:15 a.m. Eastern time (6:15 a.m. PST) today