2011: An Extraordary Year For Gay Rights : NPR

Contents:

• 2011: AN EXTRAORDARY YEAR FOR GAY RIGHTS
• 2011: A GOOD YEAR TO BE GAY
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED
• GAY RIGHTS

2011: AN EXTRAORDARY YEAR FOR GAY RIGHTS

After s which gay rights have polarised US opn, the untry barely shgged September when a two- old law prohibg gay men and women om servg openly the ary was fally repealed, promptg thoands of gay soldiers to post g-out vios on YouTube – jt one more example of how the web has transformed gay visibily. To put that ntext, there are more people livg New York than the Netherlands, which 2001 beme the first untry to legalise same-sex stggle for marriage equaly has been one of the most bterly divisive issu Ameri, but after a seri of feats for gay-rights advot, the ti appears to be shiftg irrevobly their directn. In the 2004 electn, unr the keen enuragement of Karl Rove, no fewer than 11 stat passed ballot iativ banng gay marriage — a cynil get-out-the-vote ploy that helped swell Republin ranks at the pollg perceptn that marriage equaly was a poisoned pk chalice persisted up to the 2008 electn, when even Obama was reful to clarify that he wasn't favour of gay marriage, apparently heedg warngs om Bill Clton to give the issue a wi berth.

2011: A GOOD YEAR TO BE GAY

Even Obama, facg prer odds for a send term, has said that he favours repealg the notor Defense of Marriage Act that has prevented feral regnn of gay marriag, even those performed stat where they are changed those few short years?

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

This was a quantum leap on 1990s shows such as Will & Grace, which the gay characters had the whiff of "nfirmed bachelors", to e the archaic phemism of obuary wrers, rarely prented functng relatnships, much ls young gay men and women today the ia that they will be able to marry and raise kids no longer sounds outlandish or ntroversial. Most of all, they munite wh a diverse group of iends on Twter and Facebook, where gay and straight teens revel their shared cultural is all a long way om the wdowls gay bar wh the peephole the door Edburgh, where I first learned to socialise wh other gay people durg my first tentative steps out of the closet. Lookg back 's clear that this dramatic metamorphosis, om poppers to panis, reprented a broar shift gay culture, or – if you believe the mentator Andrew Sullivan – the "exorable evolutn" towards the end of gay culture self.

Sullivan may have been overly optimistic a 2005 article that he wrote for The New Republic, welg the recedg differenc between gay and straight, but he was the first to fully articulate the assiatn of gay inty to the mastream. A year later, when I beme edor of Out, seemed pertent to ask what functn a gay magaze would serve a world that, if not yet post-gay, seemed to be headg that Europe, many of the old prejudic were rapidly fallg away as one untry after another extend equal rights to their gay cizens. It also ma talk of post-gay culture seem crassly then, a rash of teen suicis lked to gay-bag or bullyg has remd many of who live smopolan bubbl such as New York or San Francis that life as a gay teenager n still be prehensibly lonely.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

The popular belief that people are now ee to e out at a younger age was challenged by a major study last year, The 2010 State of Higher Edutn for LGBT People, which found that some stunts were actively gog back to the closet at llege bee of fear of retaliatn for beg gay. And while the ter has enabled young gay men and women to nnect as never before, offerg affirmatn and support at the click of a moe, the web has also given rise to new forms of harassment and yet, as more gays e out, has bee harr for their iends, fai and acquatanc to stand the way of their basic rights.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

In September, the mpaign for marriage equaly found support om an unual quarter when former vice print Dick Cheney, whose dghter is a lbian, appeared on a popular daytime show to announce his support for gay unns, addg the da that "Freedom means eedom for everybody.

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

Realy TV, for all s qutnable ethics, has brought real gay people to the livg rooms of Ameri; 2009, the most popular of those shows, Simon Cowell's Amerin Idol, was seen as a bellwether of changg attus as a young gay nttant, Adam Lambert, eyeler and glter, advanced to the fal. Lambert's flamboyance nflicted wh the show's notor reluctance to field openly gay nttants: he seemed to be tellg he was gay whout spellg out (until after the fale), and the subsequent nversatn the media, and onle, showed how far we had was also a remr of how cril popular entertament has been challengg attus, and remas the sgle most pellg argument for the annual Out 100, a photo portfol of 100 gay men, women and transgenr people om all walks of life who live their liv openly and whout promise.

The androgyno Atralian mol, Andrej Pejic, who met the Queen October wearg a vtage Versace pencil skirt is as much part of the unfoldg gay narrative as the social secretary of the Whe Hoe (and first gay man to hold the posn), or Gareth Thomas, one of the most pped Welsh gby unn players history.

GAY RIGHTS

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar suatns.It's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn."I don't want to feel like I have to thk about anymore," Maxen said the piece published Thursday afternoon.