'My Brother’s Keeper': Obama confronts obstacles facing young men of color (+video); Christian Science Monitor, 2/27/14

Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor; 'My Brother’s Keeper': Obama confronts obstacles facing young men of color (+video) :

"On Thursday, he will focus on the challenges of young black and Latino men when he unveils “My Brother’s Keeper” – an initiative named for a biblical phrase he uses regularly, conveying a belief that society must help those facing challenges. It aims to keep young minority men out of what is often called the “school-to-prison pipeline.”...

“Not only does the president personally identify with many of the challenges these young men face – as a man of color himself, whose life was not always on the right track, and the son of a single mom who at times depended on food stamps to get by – but he also, as president, sees the larger picture,” Jarrett said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Obama will sign a memorandum establishing the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, a federal interagency effort to be chaired by Broderick Johnson, assistant to the president and Cabinet secretary. The task force will identify best practices and how to expand upon them; how federal policies and programs can best support these efforts; and how to involve state and local officials, the private sector, and philanthropies more effectively.

The task force will also create an administration-wide “What Works” Web portal to publicize successful programs."

Read The Heartbreaking Online Letters Of Young, LGBT Russians; HuffingtonPost.com, 2/25/14

Betsy Isaacson, HuffingtonPost.com; Read The Heartbreaking Online Letters Of Young, LGBT Russians:

"Some young LGBT Russians have come together for support online, as part of a community called "Deti-404." The name means "Youth-404" in English, a reference to the common online error message "404 Page Not Found" and a comment on Russia's seeming denial of the existence of LGBT youth. The community serves as a social space for Russian-speaking LGBT young people, providing support and publishing anonymous letters from teens and 20-somethings who want to speak about their experiences.

On the group's Facebook page (in Russian), Deti-404 founder, Russian journalist and LGBT activist Lena Klimova, writes that LGBT youth saw their identities erased during the latest wave of legislation: "Our society believes that gay teenagers do not exist in nature, as if gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people arrive from Mars as adults ... Stop, people! Hear them! These are your children. Who knows: Maybe you’ll see the letter of your own child here?"

The community currently exists on two social networks: Facebook and its Russian equivalent, Vkontakte...

But if conservative Russian lawmakers have their way, Deti-404 won't exist for much longer.

Alcoholics Anonymous, Without the Religion; New York Times, 2/21/14

Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times; Alcoholics Anonymous, Without the Religion:

"This meeting, as the parting phrase suggests, is one of a growing number within A.A. that appeal to nonreligious people in recovery, who might variously describe themselves as agnostics, atheists, humanists or freethinkers. While such groups were rare even a decade ago, now they number about 150 nationally. A first-ever convention will be held in November in Santa Monica, Calif.

The boom in nonreligious A.A. represents another manifestation of a more visible and confident humanist movement in the United States, one that has featured public figures such as Bill Maher, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens. Yet this recent trend within A.A. also marks a departure from the organization’s traditional emphasis on religion."

Colorblind Notion Aside, Colleges Grapple With Racial Tension; New York Times, 2/24/14

Tanzina Vega, New York Times; Colorblind Notion Aside, Colleges Grapple With Racial Tension:

"Beyond the immediate provocation of the party, a sharp decline in black undergraduate enrollment — to 4.6 percent of the student body in 2013 from 6.2 percent in 2009 — and a general feeling of isolation among black students on campus have prompted a new wave of student activism, including a social media campaign called “Being Black at the University of Michigan” (or, on Twitter, #BBUM). Members of the university’s Black Student Union have petitioned campus administrators to, among other things, increase enrollment of black students to 10 percent.

Similar episodes and tensions have unsettled colleges including Arizona State; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Mississippi; and Dartmouth.

In the news media and in popular culture, the notion persists that millennials — born after the overt racial debates and divisions that shaped their parents’ lives — are growing up in a colorblind society in which interracial friendships and marriages are commonplace and racism is largely a relic.

But interviews with dozens of students, professors and administrators at the University of Michigan and elsewhere indicate that the reality is far more complicated, and that racial tensions are playing out in new ways among young adults."

Deadly intolerance; Economist, 3/1/14

Economist; Deadly intolerance: "IF UGANDA’S president, Yoweri Museveni, felt any qualms about signing Africa’s most draconian anti-gay legislation on February 24th, he did not show them. The law introduces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for those convicted of homosexuality and requires Ugandans to report anyone they suspect of being gay. Days earlier he had signed the “miniskirt law” banning “indecent” dress, sparking protests...

Red Pepper, a local tabloid, began a witch hunt the morning after the bill’s signing. Next to praise for the new law, it published a list of Uganda’s “top 200” gays. Three years ago a similar list prompted the murder of David Kato, a gay-rights activist."

Nets sign Jason Collins; ESPN, 2/24/14

Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN; Nets sign Jason Collins:

"Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete in North America's four major professional sports Sunday, signing a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets."...

Collins will wear No. 98 for the Nets, but was unable to wear it Sunday because it was not available in time for the game against the Lakers, so he wore No. 46 instead.

Collins' choice of the No. 98 is in honor of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who died in a notorious anti-gay hate crime in 1998. Collins has worn the jersey number with both the Celtics and Wizards...

Collins hasn't played in an NBA game since April 2013 with the Washington Wizards. Collins, who has a house in the Los Angeles area, said it was "pretty easy" to get to downtown for the game. He's been working out on his own for months in the L.A. area after failing to earn an invite to training camp from any of the league's 30 teams in the wake of revealing his sexual orientation to Sports Illustrated in April of last year.

"Life is so much better for me. I don't have to hide who I am. Just be my normal self," Collins said."

Actress Ellen Page comes out in speech to Human Rights Campaign event; Guardian, 2/15/14

Martin Pengelly, Guardian; Actress Ellen Page comes out in speech to Human Rights Campaign event:

"Ellen Page, the Canadian actress who made her name in the 2007 indie hit Juno and has gone on to star in films including X-Men: The Last Stand and Inception, has announced that she is gay.

Speaking in Las Vegas on Friday, at a Human Rights Campaign-organised Time to Thrive conference of counsellors who work with teenagers who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual or queer, she said: “I’m here today because I’m gay, and because maybe I can make a difference.”

She added: ““I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.”"

National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP)

National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP):

"Welcome to the website of National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals. We realize those are a lot of words to say in one breath, so feel free to refer to us by our acronym, NOGLSTP. Pronounce it like this: “nah’-goal-step”.

Who are we? We are scientific and technical professionals who earn our livings in the fields of: materials science biomedical engineering geography archeology neurobiology meteorology oceanography medical technology physics electrical engineering biochemistry zoology psychobiology computer science epidemiology microbiology environmental science linguistics chemistry mechanical engineering science education sociology astronomy botany molecular biology anthropology law aerospace engineering science policy physiology ecology patent law geology health professions mathematics and more!

We are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and allies. Those of us who are able, are out and proud. We advocate equal employment opportunity, professional networking, role modeling, science education, and scientific freedom/responsibility. We practice science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with PRIDE.

NOGLSTP Mission Statement:

We empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by providing education, advocacy, professional development, networking, and peer support.

We educate all communities regarding scientific, technological, and medical concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

NOGLSTP Core Values:

Authenticity

Credibility

Community

Equal Opportunity

Professionalism

Truth, Fairness and Safety"

Jack Andraka, Maryland’s boy wonder, on mean scientists, homecoming and tricorders; Washington Post, 12/2/13

Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post; Jack Andraka, Maryland’s boy wonder, on mean scientists, homecoming and tricorders:

"While on summer break in 2011 at age 15, Jack Andraka made a breakthrough in cancer detection that had eluded pharmaceutical companies and legions of PhDs.

Using information he found on Google and Wikipedia (which he calls “a teenager’s best friend”), Andraka, who lives in Anne Arundel County, came up with an idea for a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer that he says is 168 times faster, 400 times more sensitive and 26,000 times more economical than the medical standard...

You came out to your family and friends when you were 13. Was it a hard decision?

I was really afraid of coming out as gay because there are no gay scientists. At all. It is somewhat terrifying. I was at all these science fairs and I’m like, ‘Where are the gays?’ I couldn’t see any role models. Well, there’s, like, Alan Turing [the computer scientist], but he’s dead. After I got the Intel prize, a lot of other gay teenagers messaged me on Facebook telling me how inspiring it was and so it’s been really great. . . . But I still have yet to find another gay scientist...

[A 12/3/13 commenter, proudgovtemployee, posted: "Jack, there are many of LGBT scientists who are leaders in their field including Tim Gill, software pioneer, philanthropist and Quark, Inc founder; Lynn Conway, pioneering computer scientist who developed VLSI and multiple-issue dynamic instruction scheduling; Anthony Gingiss, aerospace engineer and GPS IIF developer and tester; and James Nowick, protein biologist and disease researcher. For more, check out www.noglstp.org (national organization of gay and lesbian scientists and technical professionals) engineers of the year and scientists of the year."]

Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart: X-Men echoes struggles of gay rights movement; Metro, 2/24/14

Metro; Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart: X-Men echoes struggles of gay rights movement:

"Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart have compared the themes of the the X-Men film series to the gay rights movement.

The esteemed actors portray Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier in the movie franchise and say the persecution of ‘mutants’ in the film reflects the struggles of the LGBT community.

‘Mutants are like gays, they’re cast out by society for no good reason,’ McKellen, 74, said.

‘They, as in all civil rights movements, have to decide: Are they going to take the Xavier line, which is to somehow assimilate and stand up for yourself and be proud of what you are but get on with everybody, or are you going to take the alternative view, which is, if necessary, use violence to stand up for your own rights,’ the openly gay actor told BuzzFeed."

Report: Pittsburgh's creative class is hampered by a lack of diversity; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/19/14

Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Report: Pittsburgh's creative class is hampered by a lack of diversity:

"A new economy of innovators could make the Pittsburgh region a magnet for the creative class if stakeholders make diversity and inclusion a priority, according to a new report. "Pittsburgh has almost all of the essential components to build a 21st century economy, but the one notable exception is its inclusiveness of people of color, of foreign-born descent and same-sex partnerships," reads a portion of the report's summary. One of the researchers, Kevin Stolarick of the University of Toronto's Martin Prosperity Institute, called the issue of diversity and inclusion a "huge" factor in regional economic progress...

"Inclusion, Innovation and Integrative Design: Pittsburgh Creative Clusters," examined more than 170,000 workers in more than 11,000 businesses employing people in creative positions across seven counties. Regional statistics are stacked against 19 other regions with strong creative industries and geographic diversity."

If your Sonos system doesn't work, don't blame the 1920s wiring; OutSports.com, 2/13/14

Jared Max, OutSports.com; If your Sonos system doesn't work, don't blame the 1920s wiring:

"Like a younger generation responsible to teach seemingly unwilling grandparents how to navigate Facebook, we have to show compassion and tolerance for those who do not understand what it means to be gay. Whether it is dealing with a man of generations past who owns an NFL team, or a player who seems out of touch with a progressive, equal society, we must recognize that we are no better than them, but that we have an opportunity to bring them on board. We should not blame Terrell Thomas for feeling as he does; these are his beliefs. We must recognize that our way of thought is not the only way. No man is immune to a need for tolerance. If we expect others to listen to us, we must be willing to hear them...

We must understand that great change, a paradigm shift in thought takes considerable time. When I came out, I wanted everybody to be on board, happy for me and accepting of who I am. While it was frustrating at first, in time I learned that we cannot force our beliefs on others, expecting them to see the light, immediately.

Jackie Robinson is one of our great American heroes. Branch Rickey, too. Question: Were they celebrated at first? Did fans in Boston who cheered Bill Russell through one NBA title after another feel so rosy about this player who looked different -- when he first arrived? Some say that winning cures all. I believe that winning makes it easy to forget what was believed to be previous problems. Should it take Michael Sam making a game winning play that sends his team to the Super Bowl for skeptical or homophobic players, owners and management to accept him as an equal?

The next time you are bothered by a quote or soundbite from somebody rationalizing why the NFL isn't ready for a gay player, ask yourself how you could educate this person. How could you rewire an antiquated system to be compatible with today's world? What would you say that would make a detractor understand your point, without firing shots at his beliefs? It is all about education.

One society. One family. One team."

The Fifth Color | Representation in ‘Ms. Marvel’; ComicBookResources.com, 2/7/14

Carla Hoffman, ComicBookResources.com; The Fifth Color | Representation in ‘Ms. Marvel’ :

"Since this title’s announcement in November, there’s been a lot of support for the new character and her unique point of view. The letters page in this first issue is full of love for a girl readers haven’t even met yet because, in a way, a lot of them already have. This is a hero just like them, who looks like them, who shares an experience like them and represents them in the four color world. It might not seem like a big deal to some, but for others, seeing a face that looks like theirs reflected in the pages of a comic book is monumental.

Some of you might have looked at Ms. Marvel #1 this week and thought, that’s not for me. You might not be a girl, you might not be Pakistani, you might not be a teenager, the surface-level information on this book might have just turned you off. That’s OK; you’re not racist or sexist if, at first glance, you didn’t want to read this story. However, if you take a chance and open up the comic to see the story inside, there’s a lot of the human experience that can connect with anyone."

LeanIn.org and Getty Aim to Change Women’s Portrayal in Stock Photos; New York Times, 2/9/14

Claire Cain Miller, New York Times; LeanIn.org and Getty Aim to Change Women’s Portrayal in Stock Photos:

"These stock images are familiar to anyone who has seen an advertisement or flipped through a magazine or brochure illustrating working women and families. And their ubiquity is hurting girls and women by feeding into old-fashioned stereotypes, says Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook executive who has become an advocate for women achieving leadership roles.

To try to remedy the problem, Ms. Sandberg’s nonprofit organization, LeanIn.org, is to announce on Monday a partnership with Getty Images, one of the biggest providers of stock photography, to offer a special collection of images that it says represent women and families in more empowering ways.

“When we see images of women and girls and men, they often fall into the stereotypes that we’re trying to overcome, and you can’t be what you can’t see,” Ms. Sandberg said in an interview.

The new library of photos shows professional women as surgeons, painters, bakers, soldiers and hunters."

It’s Time for the N.F.L. to Welcome a Gay Player; New York Times, 2/9/14

Juliet Macur, New York Times; It’s Time for the N.F.L. to Welcome a Gay Player:

"It’s time.

Enough of the slow-moving, inch-by-inch steps toward making gay athletes a public part of the fabric of professional sports, as they should be. No more stone-by-stone dismantling of a wall of discrimination by players who announce they are gay only after they have retired from competing in the big leagues.

There is no better moment than now to plow ahead and topple that wall with a bulldozer, and what a relief that Michael Sam, an all-American defensive end from Missouri, is in the driver’s seat, bravely heading full speed ahead...

If Sam had played for Lombardi, he would probably have had a clear, safe chance to shine. Lombardi had a gay brother and preached equal treatment of his players in his locker rooms. He made the rules and punished the dissenters — and that was all his teams needed to fall into line. He showed what could be done to affect locker room culture if coaches just took the lead."

Athletes Offer Support to Michael Sam on Social Media; New York Times, 2/9/14

Daniel Victor, New York Times; Athletes Offer Support to Michael Sam on Social Media:

"Following the news that Michael Sam was poised to become the first publicly gay player in the National Football League, if, as expected, he is chosen in an early round of the N.F.L. draft in May, current and former athletes quickly voiced their support on social media for his decision to come out."

N.F.L. Prospect Proudly Says What Teammates Knew: He’s Gay; New York Times, 2/9/14

John Branch, New York Times; N.F.L. Prospect Proudly Says What Teammates Knew: He’s Gay:

"Coaches at the University of Missouri divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise. One by one, players were asked to talk about themselves — where they grew up, why they chose Missouri and what others might not know about them.

As Michael Sam, a defensive lineman, began to speak, he balled up a piece of paper in his hands. “I’m gay,” he said. With that, Mr. Sam set himself on a path to become the first publicly gay player in the National Football League.

“I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Mr. Sam said Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he spoke publicly about his sexual orientation...

“Michael is a great example of just how important it is to be respectful of others,” Missouri’s football coach, Gary Pinkel, said in a statement released Sunday night. “He’s taught a lot of people here firsthand that it doesn’t matter what your background is, or your personal orientation, we’re all on the same team and we all support each other.” Last April, the Missouri athletic administration held diversity seminars for all athletes, part of the You Can Play project, focused largely on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Mr. Sam was one of several athletes to approach Pat Ivey, the associate athletic director for athletic performance, to compliment him for the lesson."

Where Is My Family on TV?; New York Times, 2/8/14

Jenna Wortham, New York Times; Where Is My Family on TV? :

"According to a 2012 Census Bureau report, mixed-race Americans, while still a small minority, are one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the country, driven by immigration and an uptick in intermarriage. Yet while there are some very public examples of seemingly stable mixed-race families — the de Blasios of New York or even Kim, Kanye and sweet baby Nori come to mind — they are remarkably absent from our screens. (Our biracial president does get his share of screen time, of course.)...

Television is still both a barometer of social change and an evolutionary force that can help change cultural attitudes. So it’s hard not to wonder whether the simple lack of depictions of normal, mixed-race families and well-adjusted biracial offspring in popular culture is in part responsible for the reaction to the Cheerios commercials.

Social media, which erects a two-way mirror into regular lives, also has the power to transform what was once alien and uncomfortable into normal and routine. There are enough online outposts, from photographs on Facebook to Instagram, that can show a variety of diverse families and offer some measure of hope."...

Despite the obvious marketing advantage General Mills hoped to leverage by running a second Cheerios spot, it was still a stirring experience to see my reality presented so positively and naturally on screen.

Later we cheered for the halftime performer Bruno Mars, born in Hawaii, the product of a Filipino mother and a Puerto Rican and Jewish father, and finished our beers, spicy wings and cheese dip."

Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays; New York Times, 2/8/14

Adam Nossiter, New York Times; Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays:

"“This draconian new law makes an already-bad situation much worse,” the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said in a statement. “It purports to ban same-sex marriage ceremonies but in reality does much more,” she added. “Rarely have I seen a piece of legislation that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic, universal human rights.”

Homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 African countries, according to Amnesty International, and carries the death penalty in Mauritania, Sudan and Somalia, as well as Shariah-governed northern Nigeria. Recently Uganda’s president declined to sign a bill that carried a life sentence for gays, though he called them sick. In Senegal, where the press regularly “outs” gays, same-sex relations carry a penalty of five years...

The Nigerian news media have been largely supportive of the law — “Are Gay People Similar to Animals?” was the headline on a recent op-ed article in a leading newspaper, The Guardian — and government officials have reacted angrily to criticism from the United States and Britain.

The acting foreign affairs minister, Viola Onwuliri, recently praised the law as “democracy in action,” and suggested that Western critics were hypocrites to promote democracy and then complain about a law that the populace supports. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted last March, 98 percent of Nigerians said they do not believe society should accept homosexuality."

Pitt Professor Aims for Grads to Pack Core Values for Entrepreneurial Pursuits; Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 2/5/14

Reginald Stuart, Diverse Issues in Higher Education; Pitt Professor Aims for Grads to Pack Core Values for Entrepreneurial Pursuits:

"Today, Harper, 43, is a clinical assistant professor of business administration, organizations and entrepreneurship at the University of Pittsburgh. He is one of less than a handful of Ph.D. academicians of color nationwide stressing ethics and values as an integral part of their teaching of entrepreneurship and feels his role for his generation and the one behind him is to strengthen their appreciation for these concepts while nurturing their interest and grasp of non-traditional business strategies...

Harper explains that entrepreneurship is a way of being innovative and solving problems, but he emphasizes that Black Americans need to start thinking about being more than owners of hair salons or small property management companies.

“[Black Americans are] so caught up defending the old modes of entrepreneurship that we can’t start focusing on tech-backed, high-growth potential business[es],” he says. “The employment market is now demanding [that] programs train students in ethics, strategy and entrepreneurship. Those are your growth areas.”

Ethics and education

Good ethics education goes beyond students and includes administrators and trustees, notes Harper. Such value-driven approaches help business leaders — a group that includes college presidents and administrators — avoid many pitfalls that could derail their larger goals and personal careers."

The Color Barrier: A Series about Diversity in Comics; ComicBookResources.com, 2/6/14

Joseph Phillip Illidge, ComicBookResources.com; The Color Barrier: A Series about Diversity in Comics:

"When Jonah Weiland, the Executive Producer of this site, contacted me to head up a month-long celebration and discussion about diversity during Black History Month, a number of ideas came out of our meetings, but two of the most significant were these:

This is going to be a message of hope.

The discussion of diversity will encompass other groups in addition to Black creators.

Our goal is to provide a space in which we can contribute to the transformation of the discussion, to look at the past but focus on how it helped, and continues to inspire, today’s creators to produce new works, generate new ideas, and prepare for new entrepreneurial endeavors.

The discussion will include people from within and outside of the comic book industry, because comic books are one of the major food groups for global entertainment, touching many people’s lives through licensing and the indelible nature of nostalgia.

Your involvement in the discussion will help determine its impact.

Some of you may think the name of this "section within a site" has a negative connotation. The word "barrier" speaks to keeping something out or keeping something in, so it doesn’t apply to a mass discussion about inclusion and equality.

To which I say, "This is comic books. This is genre fiction. This is pop culture."

The worlds we create and admire, inspiring others to go beyond their self-conceived limitations, are not bound by physics.

We break through barriers of time and space every week.

We break through barriers of other people’s perceptions of us every day.

Barriers challenge and dare us to pierce their membranes and travel to other environments, some welcoming and others dangerous.

So here we go.

This is THE COLOR BARRIER.

Come back, and cross through to the other side.

After all, Luke Cage is leaving Harlem.

We need to talk about that."

Why The End of Communism Didn't End Antigay Hate in Russia; Advocate, 2/7/14

Michael Regula, Advocate; Why The End of Communism Didn't End Antigay Hate in Russia:

"“To the bureaucratic leaders, gay people seem totally bizarre, beyond understanding,” Smakov said in 1977. “Worse, they are viewed as threats to the system. Why? Because homosexuality is considered a sign of one’s intrinsic freedom and that, of course, is dangerous.”...

“There was a time that Russia was better,” says Vakhrushev. “Since the early '90s to middle 2000s, the situation was better than it is today.”

THE POLITICS

Without hesitation, Vakhrushev said Russia is “an antigay society.” While the blame could easily be placed on the government, he lays blame with his fellow countrymen, as well.

“Homophobia is an idea being forwarded by people, not government,” Vakhrushev says. But he does fault the Putin regime for perpetuating the status quo in the interest of — at its most innocuous — political gain. In a severely conservative state, capitalizing on such a collective ideology is undoubtedly a means to capture and retain power. Classifying homosexuals as a direct threat to the family and the survival of the state is a popular political platform for the Kremlin, State Duma, and the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church, and one that echoes dictatorships of the past.

“The government doesn't want to educate people, it wants to sell oil,” says Vakhrushev. “It wants to be popular, and antigay law is very popular.”

Smakov spoke candidly of the Soviet regime’s labeling homosexuals as “threats to the system” and “dangerous” to the state. In the past, such rhetoric has been closely accompanied by a systematic constriction of free speech — one of the many charges consistently leveled against Putin’s United Russia party."

Google doodle swipes at Russia's gay rights clampdown; Associated Press via CBS News, 2/7/14

Associated Press via CBS News; Google doodle swipes at Russia's gay rights clampdown:

"With the Winter Games under way in Sochi, Google Inc. quietly but vibrantly added its voice Thursday to the chorus of U.S. companies speaking out against Russia's law restricting gay-rights activities by updating its iconic search page logo to depict illustrations of athletes skiing, sledding, curling and skating against a rainbow-colored backdrop.

The company declined to comment on the new Google Doodle that appeared on its home pages worldwide, saying it wanted the illustration to speak for itself. But the logo clearly was meant as a show of support for gay rights and a rebuke of the law that bans pro-gay "propaganda" that could be accessible to minors: Below the updated logo appears a two-sentence section of the Olympic charter that reads, in part, "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind.""

With Nominees, Obama Responds to Diversity Concern; Associated Press via New York Times, 2/5/14

Associated Press via New York Times; With Nominees, Obama Responds to Diversity Concern:

"President Obama nominated a diverse group of judicial candidates on Wednesday as the White House tries to address black lawmakers’ concerns about the number of minorities on the federal bench. Only one of the five nominees is a white man, the White House noted."

Bethann Hardison Continues Push For Racial Diversity On The Runway, Sends New Letter; HuffingtonPost.com. 2/5/14

Julee Wilson, HuffingtonPost.com; Bethann Hardison Continues Push For Racial Diversity On The Runway, Sends New Letter:

"Hardison is optimistic about the forthcoming season.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what happens -- I'm hopeful," she told The Huffington Post. "Diversity is just good for the world. And images have much more power than words. When people start putting those colorful images out and people of power start standing behind them, it starts to create a paradigm shift. And I believe it can happen."

Hardison pointed to prominent examples of increased diversity in magazines and advertisements. She praised the designer Prabal Gurung, who just launched his debut ad campaign, featuring the black supermodel Liya Kebede. She also singled out Vogue’s January 2014 issue, calling it a "brilliant example of organic diversity" that featured several fashion editorials with models of color and stories showing celebrities like Idris Elba and Lupita Nyong'o. Hardison said that she met with Vogue staff members in November, after the January issue had been pulled together, to discuss the importance of diversity in the fashion world.

In an effort to provide more guidance for the industry in terms of promoting diversity, Hardison and the Diversity Coalition also submitted a list of best practices to Diane von Furstenberg and Steven Kolb, the president and chief executive officer, respectively, of the Council of Fashion Designers of America."