ONTD Political

Trigger warning for suicide, bullying
( Read more... )
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20120525/NEWS01/205250449/7-year-old-s-suicide-shocks-community

OP Says: Tears. Just... tears. That poor family. That poor girl. That poor boy.

TW: transphobia, mentions of suicide/self harm

If you've never seen the hammer throw up close, especially during a New England winter, the most arresting part of every heave is the conclusion: how hardened earth erupts when the metal comet splits the ground. Weighing nearly nine pounds with a four-foot wire tail, the stainless-steel ball is menacing enough that airports ban it from carry-on luggage. And on a brisk February morning in Williamstown, Mass., every toss by Keelin Godsey offers further proof of its violence.

At 5'9" and 186 pounds, Godsey is tautly muscular. He wears glasses and is dressed in black from his sneakers to his knit cap, which sheathes his blond, spiky hair. Over and over, from in front of a chain-link backstop, he grips the hammer's handle and whirls in accelerating circles until it's no longer clear whether he is spinning the ball or the ball is spinning him. His target distance, 226'4½", is out on a gravel path beyond the frost-covered craters. That's the qualifying standard for the London Games—a mark Godsey finally surpassed last month (with a throw of 227'8") at a meet in Walnut, Calif. With a top three finish at the trials in Eugene, Ore., in June, he will realize his lifelong dream: to make the U.S. women's Olympic team.

For transgender men and women, the physiological traits that distinguish them as male or female don't conform to how they feel about themselves. Some have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy to make their biological and gender identities match. Others, such as the 28-year-old Godsey, have not: He was born as a female and therefore competes as a female, but he identifies as male. Imagine a body, especially one as finely tuned as an elite athlete's, feeling inescapably foreign—as if it were intended for the opposite sex. "I take a lot of pride in the fact that I have a good amount of muscle mass, and I've done it naturally," says Godsey. "But in some ways, this is the last body I would ever want."

A physical therapist who was known as Kelly until his senior year of college, in 2005, Godsey is the first American Olympic contender in any sport to openly identify as transgender. When not competing he dresses and lives as a man, renting a ground-floor duplex in North Adams, Mass., with Melanie Hebert, his fiancée of three years. "I'm a female when I compete," Godsey says. "Every day I have to sweat, stress and freak out. How do I look? What is someone going to think of me? Is someone going to say something at a track meet?"

( Consider something as simple as going to the bathroom. )

Source
NPR

A surprisingly good article from Sports Illustrated.

HOUSTON—A judge threw a 17-year-old 11th grade honor student from Willis High School in jail after she missed school again.

Judge Lanny Moriarty said last month Diane Tran was in his Justice of the Peace court for truancy and he warned her then to stop missing school. But she recently missed classes again so Wednesday he issued a summons and had her arrested in open court when she appeared.

Tran said she works a full-time job, a part-time job and takes advanced placement and dual credit college level courses. She said she is often too exhausted to wake up in time for school. Sometimes she misses the entire day, she said. Sometimes she arrives after attendance has been taken.

The judge ordered Tran to spend 24 hours in jail and pay a $100 fine. Judge Moriarty admitted that he wants to make an example of Tran.

“If you let one (truant student) run loose, what are you gonna’ do with the rest of ‘em? Let them go too?” Judge Moriarty asked.

Tran said she is working so hard because she is helping to support an older brother who attends Texas A&M University and a baby sister who lives with relatives in Houston. Tran said her parents divorced “out of the blue” and both moved away, leaving her in Willis. Her mother lives in Georgia, she said.

“I always thought our family was happy,” the teen said tearfully.

Tran lives with the family of one of her employers. They own a wedding venue. She works at the Vineyard of Waverly Manor on weekends and at a dry cleaners full time.

“She goes from job to job, from school she stays up ‘til 7 o’clock in the morning,” said her friend, co-worker and classmate Devin Hill.

There's also a video at the source

Credit goes to layweed for sharing the article.

A political debate over whether to enshrine Russian as an official language in much of Ukraine brought lawmakers to fisticuffs this week, playing on enduring divisions in the country over cultural identity.

The scuffle, caught on tape Thursday, was followed Friday by lawmakers blocking the podium to prevent the start of a parliament session. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside, and the spat even led the head of the Ukrainian parliament to call for dissolving the body and holding early elections, Ukrainian news reports said as the furor stretched into a second day.

The Russian tongue has been a sensitive subject in Ukraine sincein gained its independence just over two decades ago, said Damon Wilson, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council. For some Ukrainians, the push to protect their language has become enmeshed with protecting the nation.
( more under cut )

Source has video of the fight.

A Dominican dancer who says she was present at Silvio Berlusconi's now-infamous "bunga bunga" sex parties testified in court today that the former Italian prime minster had her dress up as a "burlesque version" of President Barack Obama, and dance around.

Marysthell Garcia Polanco, who is a member of the all-girl group Muñecas con Clase (Dolls with Class), told the court she would also masquerade as a sultry simulacrum of the trial's prosecutor, Ilda "the Red" Boccassini.

"I dressed up as Boccassini with a toga to make him laugh, and also as Obama," the 28-year-old said.

Berlusconi, who is being tried for allegedly paying then-underage Moroccan-born prostitute Karima El Mahroug for sex in 2010 and abusing his power in securing her release from jail, maintains that the parties were "elegant dinners" that involved "burlesque games" as a form of entertainment.

Polanco appeared to agree, testifying that the parties were "innocent fun," and the burlesque was not pornographic.

source: has half naked pictures. probably not work safe

Harley-Davidson motorcycle swept away by Japan tsunami to be preserved in museum

A Japanese man’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle that washed up on the shores of western Canada more than a year after it was swept away by the devastating tsunami will be preserved in a Harley museum in the U.S.

The 2004 FXSTB Softail Night Train motorcycle will be permanently housed in the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., as a memorial to the victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which swamped several coastal towns in northeastern Japan and left more than 15,000 people dead.

“It is truly amazing that my Harley-Davidson motorcycle was recovered in Canada after drifting for more than a year,” said the bike’s owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, in a press release issued Friday by Deeley Harley-Davidson, the Canadian distributor of Harleys. “I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to Peter Mark, the finder of my motorcycle. Due to circumstances caused by the disaster, I have been so far unable to visit him in Canada to convey my gratitude.”

( I would be delighted if it could be preserved in its current condition and exhibited to the many visitors to the Harley Davidson Museum as a memorial to a tragedy that claimed thousands of lives. )

Please exploit these resources:

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MOAR Picture Sources:

• DAYLIFE (click)
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• THE BIG PICTURE (click)
• The White House Flicker photostream

“We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She can’t cut my hair but that’s her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she’s going out with a command that it is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives.” - Will Smith

( Commentary from the source under the cut )

Mods, sorry if this isn't ok to post here -- but I thought after the negativity lately this was kind of cool. Also, couldn't find a body image related tag.

Twice voted the best gay bar in the world, The Abbey in Los Angeles has banned all bachelorette parties until marriage becomes equal for gay couples.

David Cooley, founder and president of the bar, told CBS that he gets flooded with requests for bachelorette parties on Fridays and Saturdays. “I just felt after seeing so many bachelorette parties… having our wonderful straight girlfriends having a special time, a special night, having fun that it’s almost a slap in the face to my clientele,” Mr Cooley said.

“Myself being a gay person a kind of slap in my face that I couldn’t have that same experience,” he added. ““So I thought that I would put a ban on bachelorette parties until every person will have the right to have a marriage and be able to marry their loved one.”

Mr Cooley has also released a press statement, which he says intends to confront an “offensive heterosexual tradition [that] flaunts marriage inequality in the face of gays and lesbians”:

Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married.( Read more... )
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source

I saw one post on a similar topic earlier today, but that post referred to Maryland; this one is for North Carolina and also nationally. If not kosher, let me know.

Signs of Shift Among African-Americans on Same-Sex Marriage

President Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same-sex marriage — from opponent to proponent — appears to be catalyzing a similar shift among some of his most loyal supporters, African-Americans. Although evidence for such a shift is preliminary — there are just a few data points and a number of caveats — Mr. Obama’s announcement may have accelerated the acceptance of gay marriage among blacks.

( An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted May 17-20 found 59 percent of African-Americans in favor of same-sex marriage. )

Source.