Gay Straight Alliance hopes Washington County concert will be 'positive experience'; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/29/15

Janice Crompton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Gay Straight Alliance hopes Washington County concert will be 'positive experience' :

"It hasn’t been the happiest spring for those associated with the LGBT community in Washington County, but one local organization is hoping to begin the healing with a concert next week.

“We feel they deserve a little bit of a positive experience out of all of this,” said Kathy Cameron, chairwoman of the Washington County Gay Straight Alliance Inc. She was referring to students from the McGuffey High School Gay Straight Alliance group and its allies, who were bullied last month during an “Anti-Gay Day” that some students staged at the high school in Buffalo...

On June 6, the county GSA will present a musical performance by the Renaissance City Choir of Pittsburgh to benefit youth programming, a gay/straight prom and other initiatives.

The “Let’s Duet Together” concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Fine Arts Center on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College, 285 E. Wheeling St., Washington."

Marvel Recruits Teen Girl Scientists With "Ant-Man Micro-Tech Challenge"; ComicBookResources.com, 5/29/15

Kiel Phegley, ComicBookResources; Marvel Recruits Teen Girl Scientists With "Ant-Man Micro-Tech Challenge" :

"It looks as though Marvel Studios is looking to inspire more Janet Van Dynes than Scott Langs when "Ant-Man" finally arrives in theaters. That's because the studio is reaching out to teenage girl scientists with a new "Ant-Man Micro-Tech Challenge."

In conjunction with corporate partners Dolby Laboratories and VISA as well as miniature computer-creating and education-focused charity the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Marvel has put out a call for young women to express their love of smaller-than-average science and technology for a chance to win tickets to the "Ant-Man" premier alongside an "Evolution of Technology" workshop at Disneyland in addition to having their tech-based ideas modeled for even younger girls in their home communities.

The details of the STEM-promoting contest are spelled out at Ant-ManChallenge.com where the rules state:..."

Publishing World Gathers This Week for Book Conventions; Associated Press via New York Times, 5/26/15

Associated Press via New York Times; Publishing World Gathers This Week for Book Conventions:

"Diversity will get an extra push at this week's BookCon and BookExpo America.

Last year, a virtually all-white lineup of speakers at publishing's annual national conventions highlighted the whiteness of the industry itself. BookCon's selection of four white, male authors for a discussion of children's books helped lead to the formation of the grassroots advocacy group We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and the hasty assembly of the panel "The World Agrees: We Need Diverse Books."...

"They've heavily invested themselves in it (diversity)," Ellen Oh, a children's author and co-founder of WNDB, said of BookExpo, the industry trade show, and BookCon, a gathering for the general public. "They're not just paying lip service and they're not just having one panel. And we'll have a forum before both the general public and the industry."

Panels include "In Search of Diverse Book Buyers," about the African-American market, and "The Diversity of Success: How Publishers Create Captivating Stories." Oh will be moderating "WNDB Presents: Diversity, Be the Change You Want to See.""

Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote; Guardian, 5/23/15

Henry McDonald, Guardian; Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote:

"Directly addressing Ireland’s gay community, taoiseach Enda Kenny said the result meant that “a majority of people in this republic have stood up for them [those in the gay community]”. He said: “In the privacy of the ballot box, the people made a public statement. With today’s vote we have disclosed who we are. We are a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people who say yes to inclusion, yes to generosity, yes to love, yes to gay marriage.”

Irish deputy prime minister and Labour leader Joan Burton added: “The people of Ireland have struck a massive blow against discrimination.”

And quoting the late American politician and LGBT rights activist Harvey Milk, she said: “Hope will never be silent.”"

The Victory for Same-Sex Marriage in Ireland; New York Times, 5/23/15

Editorial Board, New York Times; The Victory for Same-Sex Marriage in Ireland:

"The Irish path to legalizing same-sex marriage was remarkable because advocates have long seen courts and legislative initiatives as easier paths to prevail on an issue that continues to trouble many people on moral and religious grounds. Lawmakers in the United Kingdom approved same-sex marriage in 2013. In the United States, the expanding recognition of marriage rights in 36 states and the District of Columbia has been achieved through lawsuits and legislatures. The Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on a case that could establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

The outcome in Ireland sends an unmistakable signal to politicians and religious leaders around the world who continue to harbor intolerant views against gays and lesbians. It also should offer hope to sexual minorities in Russia, the Arab world and many African nations where intolerance and discriminatory laws remain widespread.

The tide is shifting quickly. Even in unlikely places, love and justice will continue to prevail."

Ireland Votes to Approve Gay Marriage, Putting Country in Vanguard; New York Times, 5/23/15

Danny Hakim and Douglas Dalby, New York Times; Ireland Votes to Approve Gay Marriage, Putting Country in Vanguard:

"Nick O’Connell, 42, who is from a rural area in County Kilkenny in the Irish Midlands, was cradling a celebratory drink in a Dublin bar, the Back Lounge. He said he had been too afraid to come out as gay until his mid-20s.

“Today I’m thinking of all those young people over the years who were bullied and committed suicide because of their sexuality. This vote was for them, too.”

He added: “This is different from other countries because it was the people who gave it to us, not a legislature.”"

Scalia and Alito: Have You No Sense of Decency, Sirs?; Huffington Post, 5/4/15

Bill Quigley, Huffington Post; Scalia and Alito: Have You No Sense of Decency, Sirs? :

"In the recent marriage equality case, Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia argued that marriage equality opens the door to polygamy, underage sex, and incest between brothers and sisters. This is the modern equivalent of McCarthy red-baiting and deserves the same response.

The cruel, illogical, heartless and hateful arguments of Alito and Scalia give considerable support and inspiration to right-wing groups who literally demonize our sisters and brothers and sons and daughters who seek only to marry their same sex partners just like the rest of us.

Alito and Scalia give comfort to the likes of Rush Limbaugh who stated marriage equality leads to incest. To Rick Santorum who compares same sex relationships to bestiality and pedophilia. To the head of ironically named American Decency Association who claimed that gay rights is a satanic attack on the US. And to legions of other people and groups who practice hostility and violence against our sisters and brothers...

As one wise friend pointed out, our country still has the Ku Klux Klan but we do not take their arguments seriously. And there are no respected people openly espousing their arguments on the Supreme Court. No respected person openly argues that blacks and whites should not marry. Nor do any people argue openly that women do not deserve the right to vote. Yet, there are people on the Supreme Court who continue to openly repeat the brutally crude applause lines of right-wing anti-gay hate groups. It is time that stopped.

It is time all people of good will stand up to the haters, especially those on the Supreme Court, and say, "Until this moment, Justices, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness... You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sirs? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?""

Native American Actors Work to Overcome a Long-Documented Bias; New York Times, 5/4/15

Cara Buckley, New York Times; Native American Actors Work to Overcome a Long-Documented Bias:

"While mainstream portrayals of native peoples have, Mr. Wente said, become “incrementally better” over the decades, he and others say, they remain far from accurate and reflect a lack of opportunities for Native American performers. What’s more, as Native Americans hunger for representation on screen, critics say the absence of three-dimensional portrayals has very real off-screen consequences.

“Our people are still healing from historical trauma,” said Loren Anthony, one of the actors who walked out. “Our youth are still trying to figure out who they are, where they fit in this society. Kids are killing themselves. They’re not proud of who they are.” They also don’t, he added, see themselves on prime time television or the big screen. Netflix noted while about five people walked off the “The Ridiculous Six” set, 100 or so Native American actors and extras stayed.

But in interviews, nearly a dozen Native American actors and film industry experts said that Mr. Sandler’s humor perpetuated decades-old negative stereotypes. Mr. Anthony said such depictions helped feed the despondency many Native Americans feel, with deadly results: Native Americans have the highest suicide rate out of all the country’s ethnicities.

The on-screen problem is twofold, Mr. Anthony and others said: There’s a paucity of roles for Native Americans — according to the Screen Actors Guild in 2008 they accounted for 0.3 percent of all on-screen parts (those figures have yet to be updated), compared to about 2 percent of the general population — and Native American actors are often perceived in a narrow way."

As ‘SNL’ spoofs Black Widow, leaked emails reveal studios’ gender bias; Los Angeles Times, 5/4/15

Los Angeles Times; As ‘SNL’ spoofs Black Widow, leaked emails reveal studios’ gender bias:

"When “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” co-star Johansson hosted “SNL” this weekend, it didn’t take long for her perpetually supporting role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the state of onscreen female superheroes — to be skewered on the episode.

The spoof arrives at a time when Marvel Studios — and the superhero genre at large — has come under fire for the representation of female heroes on the big screen.

A new batch of leaked emails from the Sony hack, posted at Wikileaks.org, indicates that Marvel Studios is still wary of female-driven superhero movies. In a leaked email sent to Sony’s Michael Lynton on Aug. 7, 2014, Marvel Entertainment Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter lists a number of recent (and not-so-recent) box office duds based on female superheroes — including 2004’s “Catwoman,” 2005’s “Elektra” and, bizarrely, “Supergirl” from 1984, a full three decades ago — with commentary about each film’s quality and low grosses."

I read books by only minority authors for a year. It showed me just how white our reading world is; Washington Post, 4/24/15

Sunili Govinnage, Washington Post; I read books by only minority authors for a year. It showed me just how white our reading world is:

"White authors reign in book reviews, bestseller lists, literary awards and Amazon.com recommendations. In a survey of New York Times articles published in 2011, author and cultural commentator Roxane Gay discovered that nearly 90 percent of the reviewed books were authored by white writers. Among Amazon editors’ top 20 picks of 2014, just three authors were minorities...

Research shows that my anecdotal difficulties result from a systemic problem in the literary and publishing world. From MFA programs to publishing houses to critics’ circles, the industry is suffering from a lack of diversity. The problem exists in children’s literature, too, where just 14 percent of books published in 2014 were by or about people of color, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Authors of color encounter agents who dismiss or don’t understand cultural references in their books. Publishing houses whitewash book covers and blame market demands; as author Christopher Myers has pointed out, publishers insist that young white readers won’t buy books with black characters on the covers, “despite millions of music albums that are sold in just that way.” Stores segregate books with nonwhite characters into “ethnic” sections. And the consequences are clear: One review found that just three out of the 124 authors who appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list in 2012 were people of color. On Amazon last week, just two of the top 20 bestsellers were written by minorities. Among bestsellers in literature and fiction, there was just one nonwhite author.

The most frustrating part of my year of reading diversely was not being able to access e-books for works published in other countries...

Reading more diverse literature has the power to convey the universality of human experience and show that we really have more in common with one another than expected."