Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matter) I’d never heard of them. Evidently they are a big deal – a boy band from the Ukraine. NYTimes review

Hat Tip: Towleroad

(Community Matters) “As you go through life, you should pass through different phases in thinking about how much credit you deserve.”

I’m folding David Brook’s article into my story of who one is by decade – currently a mix up of stories from Will Spong, Lee Walker, me & Steven Tomlinson (& now David Brooks too)

(Community Matters) CMI’s 6th Annual LGBT Community Survey. Over 45,000 total respondents living in 148 countries.  Summary focuses on US respondents.

• “LGBT”  is the preferred moniker by LGBT consumers
• 73-88% of gay men and lesbians say that whether or not a company sponsors LGBT charities influences their purchasing decisions
• 37% of gay men and 12% of lesbians say that “LGBT outreach” was significantly influential in their purchasing decision of a hotel room.
• About 17% of gay men  and 12-16% of lesbians over 30 have attended a ticketed LGBT fundraising event with a ticket price over $100 in the last 12 months.
• 56 % of gay men and 53% of lesbians say they gave to an LGBT focused non-profit in the last 12 months (graph below)
• 27% of gay men and 22% of lesbians say they gave more than $1000 to LGBT focused non-profits in the last 12 months.
• The top reasons why LGBT didn’t give to LGBT focused non-profits: Nobody asked me or I’m not familiar enough with the nonprofits.
• Gay men drink much less beer and more spirits & cocktails
• 77% of gay men support Pres Obama, 5% Mitt Romney, 18% other or not voting; lesbians, 84%, 2% and 14%, respectively

(Community Matters) Aside from sometimes over zealous politicians expressing their solidarity with the LGBT community, I don’t think most are arguing that Chick-Fil-A’s president shouldn’t be allowed to express his opinion nor that the company can’t give their money to whom they want. Even most of those politicians have walked back their initial statements, now rather expressing their support for LGBT equality.

What you’re seeing is the LGBT community & friends urging others to boycott Chick-Fil-A too. Less sales, less profits to channel to organizations established to deny me and others equal constitutional rights.

I would argue against my city/county giving any subsidies for the building of one of their sites. But, if there are no zoning and development restrictions and they need no entitlements, I don’t believe governments ought to be able to prohibit their stores.

Our friend Steve Salbu’s NYTimes guest editorial

(Community Matters) I don’t even have to order Austin Kleon’s new book – Steal Like an Artist, I’m sure Steven already has it. In Culture Map

Update: ha! I just now read Steven’s last tweet (4 days ago): @austinkleon at Powell’s Portland. http://t.co/neBCwg9g

(Community Matters) ” . . .lines are stretching out the front door and the parking lot is packed” . . . . as customers demonstrate their support for discrimination against LGBT Americans. Rather than being threatened by this, I believe it will speed up our recognition and equality. Most Americans will be surprised to learn there are still so many willing to publicly support discrimination*. Every poll now shows the majority of Americans support full constitutional equality for LGBT citizens.

NYTimes Story

*admittedly, there might be some showing up today as an expression of support for freedom of expression – though, I doubt that constitutes much of the crowds. LGBT Americans know there is a very vocal, sometimes dangerous, minority of Americans who explicitly oppose rights for LGBT citizens. Hell, in Texas it’s still legal to be fired from your job for being gay. In some states, gay parents are still threatened by the loss of parental rights.

(Community Matters) I’m an F1 Austin race supporter. And, I think an Auditorium Shores concert at the same time as the Junior League’s million-dollar-raising Christmas Affair is a bad idea. Ought to find another venue guys.

(Community Matters) What drives sustainability: 74% cost reduction, 68% stakeholder expectations, 61% managing risks, 56% revenue generation, and 37% government regulation. E&Y survey – What’s Going on in Corporate Sustainability. From 272 sustainability execs in 24 industries.

(Community Matters) Frightening . . . . a return to neoconservative foreign policy? . . . . fear this would lead to another war(s)

Playbook: “So Mr Romney has the beginnings of a case to make. The trouble is that the implication of his argument is a promise to return to the Manichean world view of George W. Bush – in which nations are divided firmly into friends and enemies of the US and policy is set accordingly. … Those who yearn for a US foreign policy based on a Bush-style ‘moral clarity’ and the confrontation of autocracies might thrill to all this. The implications are alarming, however: war with Iran, trade war with China, confrontation with Russia.” http://on.ft.com/OFPqc1

(Community Matters) surprised a former colleague defriended me on FB today when I replied to his posting expressing his frustration with the Chick-Fil-A controversy. Our comments veered to his argument that white males were the most discriminated demographic today. Perhaps I should have left that unchallenged or even better, perhaps I should have acknowledged the economic backslide in today’s economy is greatest for non-college educated white males. They have the furthest to go in terms of the recalibration of wages in today’s economy where all America’s middle class is threatened.

I find it interesting that he perceives a job requirement to speak Spanish as discrimination (I know, I know, neither do I but he (& maybe others) do, so we should simply know this).  This former colleague, who’s never been religious and in fact is quite a heathen, now cites religious freedom in defense of Chick-Fil-A.

For the record, I don’t think municipalities should be able to prevent Chick-Fil-A from opening in their borders. I do believe, however, that we have every right to boycott & picket, persuade elected leaders to bully pulpit against, and to prevent them from accessing any public entitlements. It’s politics. We’re winning – sure we suffer setbacks. We could suffer huge setbacks if Pres O loses reelection. But, the trend is there. Over time, LGBT Americans will win full equality. We’ve gained lots of ground in 20 years – much more than was imaginable to those of us sitting around the HRC, GLADD, LGRL and NGLTF board tables 20 years ago. And, we know our fiercest opponents are aging out.

Anyhow . . . back to the non-college educated, white male thing. There’s a real threat that more and more under-educated, under-employed and under-compensated Americans will find scape goats for their threatening economic situation. It should concern us all.

(Community Matters)

(Community Matters)  Review of Prof Regnerus’ study was concise: “It’s bullshit.” The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that University of Texas Professor Mark Regnerus’ study of gay families and the impact on children did not meet professional standards and never should have been published.

The peer-review process failed to identify significant, disqualifying problems.

The Social Science Research journal assigned Prof. Darren E. Sherkat, sociology at Southern Illinois University, to examine how the paper was handled. According to Sherkat, Regnerus’ paper should never have been published. His assessment of it, in an interview, was concise: “It’s bullshit,” he said.

I haven’t heard anything about UT’s internal review of Assoc. Prof Regnerus’ work but hope to learn more.

first posted on 6/12

follow up post about investigation

latest Statesman article – the study’s framing was “wackadoo,” Sherkat told the Statesman, later adding, “It was just a crappy study.”