On May 1, Jason Collins, the 7-foot-0 center for the Washington Wizards and a former Boston Celtics, came out. His statement -- "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." -- made the cover story for the May 6 issue of Sports Illustrated. That same day,...

The professional sports world has been waiting for a Jason Collins moment: a gay athlete currently playing in a major league who comes out publicly. What you may not know is that many had hoped that the moment would star an African-American male. The African-American community, not to mention the...

Another former professional athlete came out last month -- 6' 7" Jamaican-born NFL offensive tackle Kwame Harris.

With news of LGBT equality in the news daily, one may wonder why this is news at all. But it is. The world of sports is quickly becoming the last closet, where...

Homophobic epithets are so pervasive across the globe that most heterosexual people are sadly unaware of the psychological and physical toil they have on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. Too often and cavalierly these epithets go either unchecked or unchallenged as hate speech.

Mexico, however, has...

Marco McMillian was a trailblazer and the pride of the Mississippi Delta. In 2004, when he was in his 20s, Ebony hailed him as one of the nation's top "30 up-and-coming African-American leaders" under 30. And when he was in his 30s, the Mississippi Business Journal

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Black Church are rightly lauded for molding young black men into adult leaders. BSA troops have produced distinguished African-American scouts like retired four-star general Colin Powell, six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.

African American participation...

Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his unexpected resignation, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter's Basilica. Many say it's unequivocally a sign from God. If so, I'm hoping it's an "amen" moment signaling the end of an oppressive era of bashing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)...

As I celebrate Black History Month, I'd like to recognize one of my indigenous West African ancestral religions that's not homophobic, even if some of its practitioners are. Perhaps to the disbelief of many, it's Vodun. Haitian Vodou, a descendant of Vodun, is a folk religion whose tenets have always...

President Barack Obama's second inaugural address was the most inclusive inaugural address a president has ever given. It was delivered on the 27th observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the president honored King's legacy when he eloquently spoke of how the many U.S. liberation movements, both current and...

If King were alive today, he would be 84, and he would have seen that a lot has changed in the U.S. since April 4, 1968, that dark day when he was gunned down by an assassin's bullet on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. Since King's death...

This letter is part of our "Letters to Our Ancestors" project. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we've asked members of our community to share their own letters to our forefathers. With these letters, we hope to look back on the progress our community has made...

The editors of the Associated Press Stylebook have announced that they are "discouraging" use of the word "homophobia." (The AP Stylebook is the widely used guide that media use to standardize terms and general usage.) Why should the LGBTQ community be in a kerfuffle about it? Because the editors made...

I'd like to believe that Malawi's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) citizens and tourists had a few days to breathe easier. On Nov. 5 the government suspended all laws criminalizing homosexuality. Three days later, on Nov. 8, homosexuality was illegal again.

Had the moratorium...

The kerfuffles over undocumented immigrants and same-sex marriage are usually competing and unresolved hot-button issues for voters heading toward the ballot box, but immigration advocates and LGBTQ rights groups have long tried to get their constituencies working together. Historically, such efforts have been abysmal, but now CASA de Maryland, a...

October is National Anti-Bullying Awareness Month. With one incident of bullying every seven minutes, sadly, bullying is the most frequent form of violence that school-aged children encounter.

In the 2011 documentary film Bully, film director Lee Hirsch, also a victim of bullying, gives us a window into the...

African Americans have worked hard to get the vote and to get a man of African descent in the White House. In 2008 we came out in unprecedented numbers, with Obama taking 95 percent of the black vote, thanks to the help of his biggest support base: American-American...

Homophobia is part and parcel of male professional sports. Anti-gay epithets are used so pervasively among players that these men are sadly totally unaware of the weight and meaning of the terms.

"It didn't have significance to the way that's being interpreted right now," Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar...

The GOP's anti-abortion platform hasn't changed -- it is identical to that of its 2008 platform, allowing abortions only in cases of rape and incest.

The GOP's anti-gay platform also hasn't changed -- it is identical to that of its platform, allowing marriage only between a man and a...

On paper you'd think a 42-year-old Republican would be up to speed on marriage rights, and that he might even be tolerant, given his age. But to my surprise, not only is Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick, U.S. Congressman Paul D. Ryan from Wisconsin, no ally to our lesbian, gay,...

One of my favorite Olympic sports is synchronized swimming.

I discovered the sport when, as a child, I stumbled upon the black-and-white, 1952 film Million Dollar Mermaid with Hollywood star Esther Williams.

Synchronized swimming (often abbreviated to synchro) was not Williams' Olympic goal or sport of interest. She had...