Gay Voices

Congratulations on the wedding bells, and welcome to the new world of marriage equality -- which, alas, also includes divorce equality.

Chalk it up to progress that some celebrities are now embarrassed to be thought of as having been in the closet, which increasingly seems like a relic from the last century (even as it still endures mightily).

The Dharun Ravi verdict and sentencing represents a dramatic shift in society's view of anti-gay bullying and of bias crimes against LGBT people. Just compare what Ravi did to Tyler Clementi to what Mitt Romney reportedly did to a nonconforming student at his prep school in 1965.

Watching the president sitting in the Oval Office speaking out in support of gay marriage, you couldn't help but notice how comfortable he was. Barack Obama didn't just come out of the closet on gay marriage. He's flaunting it!

Before Obama could even spend a few days basking in the glory of the Romney campaign's hideous gay meltdown last week, another idiotic gay panic has gripped his own campaign. And it really makes you wonder, what are these guys thinking?

Why would a gay man make a homophobic comment about a lesbian? Actually, it's all too common. And much of it (but certainly not all) comes from gay conservatives who seem to be embarrassed by much of the LGBT community.

Obama's closet on gay marriage is about as well-guarded as Liberace's was on being gay. And it's time for Obama to now kick down the closet door. It's no longer a matter of whether he can or should. He must if he wants to win the election.

It really has been six months -- and an incredible six months at that. But not every reaction to Gay Voices has been positive. We've received our fair share of disgruntled emails, Tweets, comments, and Facebook posts, and I'd like to address the four topics that I've heard about the most.

It was about mocking Tyler for being gay. That is bias, and it's part of the hate we all grow up with in a society that hates gays. The crime Ravi committed should not be punished severely or with deportation, but any way you slice it, it was motivated by that bias we all share.

It's beyond outrageous that people like Rick Santorum can even remotely defend the venom spewed by Kirk Cameron, and then twist the uproar into something that ultimately couches them as the victims. But it's not surprising, as it's how they've operated all along.

Newt Gingrich's Tennessee campaign co-chair is none other than Tennessee GOP state Sen. Stacey Campfield, which seems only fitting since Campfield, too, appears to fancy himself a historian -- in addition to a public health expert.

Dharun Ravi grew up in Plainsboro, New Jersey, in a large, modern house with wide expanses of wood flooring and a swimming pool out back. Assertive an...

Self-defense doesn't mean hitting anyone who taunts you, nor promoting violence. It does mean standing up to the bullies and saying, "I'm confident, I'm in control, and I'm not going to take it."

Romney surely gave ammunition to opponents regarding his leadership at Bain Capital when he said during a speech on health insurance yesterday, "I like being able to fire people." But he also unwittingly underscored his position on discrimination against LGBT people.

The same state senate that last year was pushing the "Don't Say Gay" bill is this year pushing what can be called the "Do Say Pervert" bill. I'm talking about Tennessee, where the GOP senate last year became a national laughing stock.

The iconic image of two female Navy petty officers sharing the first same-sex kiss at ship's return represents the future. And Rick Perry represents the ugly and wretched past that we can hopefully move on from after this hideous GOP primary campaign.