Montana Lawmakers Receive '21st-Century Sodomites' Handbook as Legislature Considers Bill Decriminalizing Homosexuality

Montana Rep. Ellie Boldman Hill (D-Missoula) posted the above photo to her Facebook page, saying:

"Here's what all Montana legislators received in their Capitol mailboxes today. There are no words for what is going on up here."

Hill's post comes as the Montana legislature considers yet again a bil to remove an unconstitutional statue criminalizing homosexuality from its books.

As Mother Jones notes:

Montana is one of four states, along with Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, that still have laws on the books specifically outlawing gay sex. Ten more states—Idaho, Utah, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and (obviously) Florida—maintain a blanket prohibition on sodomy for persons of all sexual orientations.

The state Senate voted on Wednesday by a 38-11 vote to decriminalize it, but the bill, and another anti-discrimination bill, stand little chance of making it through the House Judiciary Committee:

Another bill before the legislature would extend the state's anti-discrimination protections to gays and lesbians for the first time—a more substantive reform that advocates hope would serve as a bulwark against bullying.

But neither proposal stands much chance of becoming law in 2013. As the Billings Gazette notes, a bill to eliminate the sodomy statute passed the Senate in 2011 only to fail in the house. "We are expecting this bill to go to House judiciary, which is a very ideologically driven committee, and we expect it to die in that committee," says Jamee Greer, a lobbyist for the Montana Human Rights Network, an LGBT equality group. "They're not showing a lot of respect to the LGBT community and I don't expect them to pass 107."

Plight of Gays in UAE Highlighted by Dubai Police Officer, Lesbian Teacher in New Video: WATCH

LGBT Rights UAE is a non-governmental organization that strives to raise awareness about the issues that face The LGBT Community in the United Arab Emirates. You may recall their stunning animated clip I posted in September which featured Hillary Clinton and urged the adoption of LGBT rights.

Their latest clip has the same awareness-raising goal and features a Dubai police officer, and a lesbian obstetrician and teacher forced to tell their stories through signage for fear of anti-LGBT discrimination.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Chris Kluwe Bares His Bod and Soul for 'OUT'

OUT features LGBT equality advocate and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe on its latest cover, and Cyd Zeigler offers some insight into Kluwe's well-known online diatribes opposing the haters:

"Your insults can’t be the standard f*ck, sh*t, bitch -- it has to be something that sticks in people’s minds,” says Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Vikings punter, explaining how to craft a devastating letter to someone whose views you hold reprehensible. “Generally the way you do that is to take a swear word—usually a part of someone’s anatomy -- and attach it to something else that it normally wouldn’t go with. When you come up with a good one, you’ll know you have it because you’ll just start giggling to yourself.”

For example, “lustful cockmonster.”

Kluwe says that he actually spewed some of the anti-gay slurs at one point in his life:

But for Kluwe, taking a stand on gay rights is as instinctual as planting his foot into a ball. “It’s all about the Golden Rule,” he says. “Treat other people as you want to be treated. It’s that simple. It’s something that needs to be spoken about, and it’s something I can do while fulfilling my job as a football player.”

Growing up in Los Alamitos, Calif., 20 miles south of Los Angeles, Kluwe’s parents preached to their son a mantra of tolerance with a profanity-free lexicon. Neither stuck at the time. As a tween, gay slurs peppered his speech with the same heedlessness as his peers. “Unfortunately, as kids, sometimes you don’t understand what your words can mean because you’re not emotionally mature enough yet,” he says. “As you grow up and start learning about the world, you realize, Hey, some of this stuff is hurtful; I would not want to be treated that way. That’s part of maturing.”

Read the whole article over at OUT, and check out the gorgeous cover, AFTER THE JUMP...

Gay Rights Activist Destroys Wingnut Victoria Jackson and Random Bigot in Sidewalk Debate: VIDEO

SNL-alum-turned-conservative-crackpot Victoria Jackson posted this video she shot of a 'debate' she had with a gay rights activist wearing an HRC t-shirt on the sidewalk outside the DNC last month.

I guess she's proud of it?

She writes:

A Gay Rights Activist in a yellow Tshirt, (his gay activist group all wore matching yellow Tshirts), approached me on the street at the DNC and said "in 29 states, you can still be fired if you're gay or lesbian," I replied that one can also be fired for being a Christian.

A stranger approached and joined the conversation saying that 13 year olds are being confused and taught to embrace homosexuality, and then he added that his mother had become a lesbian and that it had hurt his family... "My Mom's gay...it hurt my family...you're smiling...it's not even funny...."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

French President François Hollande Tells UN to Decriminalize Homosexuality Around the World: VIDEO

French President François Hollande yesterday made an historic speech to the UN General Assembly, calling on the body to reject the criminalization of homosexuality around the world.

Hollande told those assembled that France would lead the way in an honorable fight for universal human freedoms:

Said Hollande: "France will continue to engage in all these struggles: for the abolition of the death penalty, for women's rights to equality and dignity, for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality, which should not be recognised as a crime but, on the contrary, recognized as a [sexual] orientation.

He added:"'All members countries have the obligation to guarantee the security of their citizens, and if one nation adheres to this obligation, it is then imperative that we, the United Nations, facilitate the necessary means to make that guarantee. These are the issues that France will lead and defend in the United Nations. I say this with seriousness. When there is paralysis... and inaction, then injustice and intolerance can find their place."

Watch an excerpt of Hollande's speech, AFTER THE JUMP...

Looking for a longer version, with translation. If I find it, I'll swap out.

Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, Jailed For A Text

"I'm very much in love w/u." So read the text message that Cameroonian Roger Jean-Claude Mbede sent to another man last year, and which landed him in Kondengui Central Prison, where he remains still. In Cameroon, homosexual acts are punishable with up to five years in prison. For his text message, Mbede has been sentenced to three.

Representatives from Alternatives Cameroon visited Mbede in Kondengui, where they found him in "deplorable" moral and physical health:

Suffering at the time with his left eye and without treatment or medications. He told us he slept on the ground since his imprisonment, and abandoned by most of his family members who regard him as a wizard.

Mbede has an appeals hearing tomorrow, and could be released. Or he could be returned to prison for another two years. There is currently a petition on AllOut.org calling for his emancipation, which has so far been signed by more than 80,000 people. You can sign it here. (Quickly, though. Cameroon is eight hours ahead of the American eastern coast.)