marine corps

The U.S. Marine Corps has reportedly blocked the website of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Bea Arthur served 30 months in the Marine Corps during World War II, driving a truck and working as a typist. The beloved late Emmy award-winning star of The Golden Girls and Maude had previously denied serving in the Marines in an interview (see below) conducted on behalf of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, but a newly discovered Marine personnel file indicates that Arthur, then known as Bernice Frankel, began basic training in March 1943 and initially worked as a typist at Marine headquarters in Washington, D.C.

One senior at Hollis University has decided to go big or go home for her final college dance. Super cute college student Kirsten Bledsoe has put together a video invite to invite Black Swan and OZ The Great and Powerful star Mila Kunis to be her lesbian date to the dance in Roanoke, Va. on April 26.

A majority of the military service members surveyed by the Pentagon have indicated they would not leave the military if “don’t ask, don’t tell” was lifted and have few to no concerns about gays and lesbians serving openly, according to NBC and the Associated Press. NBC’s Richard Engel told Rachel Maddow that ending the ban was “not a deal breaker” and “wasn’t that big of deal.”

Four members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have expressed their opposition to the compromise to end "don't ask, don't tell" proposed to members of Congress. Each of the military leaders have expressed their apprehension over rescinding the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed services.

Stand-up comic and all-around Southern gal and lesbian, who married her wife last year, Jen Kober, weighed in on the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold--that nasty little anti-gay marriage measure -- Prop 8 on her Facebook page. All sorts of hell ensued when one of her friends challenged Jen on the term'marriage.' Come on, we all have one of those FB contrarian friends...

New data from the Palm Center shows that the military continued to discharge openly gay mission-critical troops under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 2009, while a disproportionately high number of women and minorities were discharged under the policy.

"Girls play T-ball too"

Welcome to SheWired's weekly round-up of the most infuriating bits of news from the past seven days. We'll be providing a retrospective on the most heinous, crazy-making bits of anti-LGBT news that came across our radar last week. Our hope in doing this isn't only to darken the skies, but also to sound the alarm about the kind of idiocy that passes for "legitimate commentary" these days. Expect a healthy dose of snark in the following paragraphs — sometimes it's the only way we can get through the day.

The following films are screening at LA's Outfest this week and will likely make the rounds to LGBT film fests near you! Be sure to check them out and support lesbian filmmaking at all levels. Check out Bloomington, a Loving Annabelle-esque look at a student / teacher lesbian affair, A Marine Story with Dreya Weber and Paris Pickard, the documentary about singing New Zealand twins The Topp Twins and The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister.

A Rhode Island state representative has received a barrage of criticism since posting comments online last week saying that a high school gay-straight alliance in his district is a venue for students to get “sexed-up” and should cause the school to lose state funding.

In a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Arizona senator John McCain cast doubt on the validity of the Pentagon’s "don't ask, don't tell" repeal study and said that any end to the policy will require further congressional hearings. Gregory pressed McCain on details of the Pentagon Working Group study leaked last week to the Washington Post, which found that more than 70% of service members who responded to a survey believe DADT repeal will have a positive, mixed or negligible effect on the armed forces.

With four debates, and hours worth of questions and answers, the words "gay" or "lesbian" never broke through. The closest anyone ever came to bringing up LGBT issues came during the first debate when President Obama listed repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy among accomplishments he said were made on behalf of the middle class. But DADT wasn't raised during Monday's last debate, which focused on foreign policy, despite its effect on the military.