Hell Houses are “religious alternatives to traditional haunted houses that are designed to scare youth into a ’sin-free life.’”

Instead of spooking youth with ghosts and monsters, Hell House tour guides direct them through rooms where violent scenes of damnation for a variety of “sins” are performed, including scenes where a teenage lesbian is brought to hell after committing suicide and a gay man dying of AIDS is taunted by a demon who screams that the man will be separated from God forever in hell.

…snip…

Hell Houses first appeared in the 1970s at the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, and they have been gaining popularity since 1996, when the Rev. Keenan Roberts, an evangelical Christian pastor in Colorado, began selling “Hell House kits” to churches worldwide. Roberts estimates that these kits, which cost $299 each, have been distributed to 800 churches across the United States and 18 countries. Some churches report that their Hell Houses receive up to 12,000 visitors per year and are run by casts and crews of 300 student volunteers.

Read all of “New Report Reveals How Right Wing Fuels Homophobia With Halloween ‘Hell Houses’” HERE.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

The GenderYOUTH Network will be hosting a series of events, beginning on November 2nd and ending on November 4th, at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, exploring “the intersections of gender with race, class, and human rights.”

“Our research shows that almost four dozen youth of color have been fatally attacked since 1995 - almost all by their peers - simply because they didn’t fit expectations of a ‘real’ man or woman,” said Tyrone Hanley, Youth Program Coordinator for GenderPAC. “Our work in Atlanta is an opportunity to begin challenging some of the distorted images of hyper-masculinity and femininity that media and music are teaching youth today.”

Over the three days, the GenderYOUTH Network will lay the foundation for concrete actions that students and youth can take to combat discrimination and harassment we can be taking – from creating more expansive school policies to encouraging the media and the hip-hop community to eliminate misogynist, hyper-masculine and homophobic images.

Click here for more information.

Thanks for forwarding the news, Jen!

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

The next Carnival of Bent Attractions will be held at Marti Abernathey.com on November 10th. Submissions are due by midnight on Wednesday!

I just submitted a post from a great new blog I recently found, Bisexuality and beyond.

Submit your posts here.

Please post a reminder to submit to the carnival on your blog, too. We need submissions to keep this carnival going!

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

I meant to post about this post over at The Consumerist last week and the link to it got lost in a sea of emails. But is it ever really too late for this stuff?

I don’t think the below email from Garden Guy, Inc., a Houston landscape design company, needs further explanation from me.

I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals.

Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.

All my best,

Sabrina

Todd and Sabrina Farber
Owners, Garden Guy, Inc.
visit us at: www.garden-guy.com

Member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers www.apld.com

Creating beautiful landscaping for Houston homeowners since 1991!

Phone 281-208-4400
Fax 1+801-365-9353
email: sabrina@garden-guy.com
email: todd@garden-guy.com

The Consumerist also posted about the support Todd and Sabrina Farber received from The Houston Chronicle.

Houston Chronicle’s Rick Casey:

Were I posting, I would commend the Farbers for standing by their principles in an age where money trumps all.

They might, however, consider climbing up one more rung on the moral ladder.

They should refuse to do business with all sinners.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

I know that when I think about the FBI, the first thing that comes to my mind is the protection of N Sync star Lance Bass and his boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl.

Reichen says that threats, some serious enough to be forwarded to the FBI, are coming in from people who do not like what he writes about his time in the military in his book _Here’s What We’ll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force Academy_.

Lehmkuhl, 32, says that he and Bass, who revealed he is gay in July, forward the threats to private security personnel who send what they consider the more serious ones to the FBI. “Everything is being covered so we feel safe,” he said.

…snip…

“There was definitely an institionalized acceptance of people being homophobic and telling gay jokes and making homophobic remarks _ really, really mean homophobic remarks to the point of, `Kill gay people,’” Lehmkuhl, who was honorably discharged from the Air Force five years ago, told ABC News earlier this week.

He became a target when people began to suspect his sexuality, he says. One night, he told ABC News, a bag was pulled over his head and he was sexually assaulted. He didn’t report the incident.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

It’s sick that I can’t miss this.

“Am I A Lesbian?”

Is it possible to be a lesbian only part-time? Tyra speaks with women who say, “Yes,” and others who think that women who kiss each other just for fun, or to turn guys on, is an insult to those who have fought for gay rights. Plus, a woman who thinks she might be a lesbian lets the “Tyra Show” cameras follow her as she goes on a date with a woman for the first time! Another young woman wants her mother to accept her lifestyle choice and her girlfriend of three years. And, Lauren Blitzer, the author of “Same Sex in the City,” explains the concept of “part-time lesbianism.”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

UPDATE: “Jerusalem’s orthodox rain on gay parade”

Shlomo Amar, Israel’s Chief Rabbi, joining protests against the pride march scheduled to happen in Jerusalem on November 10, has made the following statement, reported by Ynet News: “I call on all Jews who are concerned with their own and Israel’s existence and on all Israeli rabbis everywhere to rouse a great protest until this evil parade is cancelled.”

The Rabbi’s comments follow remarks by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas political party and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi, who described the event as “filth.”

Last month, the Jerusalem police, State Prosecution, the Jerusalem Municipality and gay rights groups agreed that a gay pride march could take place on November 10, it has been widely opposed by religious groups and right wing conservative politicians.

Last year Jerusalem’s gay and lesbian community headed to court over the cancellation of the Jerusalem Pride Parade. The court ruled that “city officials may not forbid the parade because they hold different beliefs than the marchers.”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

It is the job of New Jersey lawmakers to decide if gay couples will receive equal rights via marriage or another form of civil union.

HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed samesex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.

Read the full pdf of the syllabus prepared by the Office of the Clerk HERE.

The New Jersey Supreme Court opinion page is HERE.

From NJ court stops short of gay marriage OK: “New Jersey’s highest court ruled Wednesday that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but that lawmakers must determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.”

The New York Times and CNN choose to highlight the bright side in their article titles:

NYT: “N.J. Court Backs Rights for Gay Unions”

CNN: “New Jersey court recognizes right to same-sex unions”

ETA: If you only read one other post about this ruling, it should be this one over at AMERICAblog.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Settling Helena Stone’s complaint, trans people now have the right to use any MTA rail station restroom they wish. The MTA has also agreed to pay Helena $2000 in damages and legal fees.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Most of you heard last week that, OMG, T.R. Knight, who plays George O’Malley on Grey’s Anatomy, is gay.

Yesterday CBSnews.com’s Robb Todd posted this article about knowing of T.R. Knight’s sexual orientation from a source of his, who he refers to as his “Deep Throat” in the article, whose cell phone number is T.R. Knight’s old cell phone number. His source received this SO gay (*eyeroll*) text message sent to T.R.:

Then, last month, “Deep Throat,” received a mysterious text message.

“Hey, it’s Brian … in New York, Kevin’s ex. Will be in L.A, for an art auction next week. Wondering what you’re up to.”

Brian is Kevin’s ex? Art auction? Hmmmm …

When Brian got to L.A., he still seemed eager to hook up with Knight and dropped another line to “Deep Throat” about the auction’s reception downtown. Brian said he “wanted to see how you were.”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.