Posts Tagged ‘gay’
How did the leopard get its spots? Alan Turing was right all along
He cracked the Nazi Enigma code, helped end the Second World War and is recognised as the father of computer science.
But for his final challenge, Alan Turing turned his mathematical mind to one of the natural world’s most enduring riddles: how the leopard got its spots. Now, 60 years on, scientists have discovered that Turing’s theory for why repeated patterns occur in nature was absolutely correct.
In his 1952 paper The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis, the code breaker proposed that animals’ stripes and spots are caused by the interaction of a pair of chemicals, dubbed ‘morphogens’.
One of the chemicals, he suggested, triggered cell activity, while the other hindered it. The way in which they interact would dictate where cells grow, creating familiar patterns on the fur of animals.
While scientists have been able to simulate Turing’s theory using computer models, for the first time scientists have identified the exact chemicals in action.
Researchers at King’s College London found the interaction between two morphogens named Fibroblast Growth Factor and Sonic Hedgehog dictated the ridge patterns in the mouths of mice, as predicted by Turing’s models.
The same theory applies to the stripes and spots of big cats, the number of bristles on a fruit fly, or the whorls on a leaf.
Dr Jeremy Green, a reader in Developmental Cell Biology, said the discovery could help progress the next generation of stem cell therapy by indicating how to build complex structures such as organs in a laboratory…“Our study provides the first experimental identification of an activator-inhibitor system at work in the generation of stripes – in this case in the ridges of the mouth palate.”
While biological processes at work are highly complicated, the mathematics behind Turing’s theory was “ingeniously simple”, he said.
“He was a great British genius. He had the confidence to take a completely new field, biology, and ask, ‘What can I add to it?’”
The mathematician, who would have been 100 years old this June, was convicted of being a homosexual the month the paper was completed. He committed suicide two years later…
The reward of a bigoted nation for his efforts at stopping Hitler and winning WW2.
Arizona sheriff quits Romney campaign — where’s the benefit from having to lie about your life?
Pau Babeu at his coming out press conference
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
A local sheriff resigned as a co-chair of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign in Arizona on Saturday after he was accused of threatening a former male lover with deportation to Mexico if he talked about their relationship.
In an embarrassing incident for Romney’s struggling campaign, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denied that he or his lawyer made the deportation threat but stepped down from helping the former Massachusetts governor in the border state.
Babeu acknowledged at a press conference on Saturday that he is gay and that he had a personal relationship with the man making the allegations, whom he identified only as “Jose…”
The Phoenix New Times alternative newspaper reported on Friday that Babeu’s lawyer had asked Jose to sign a legal agreement that would require him to keep quiet about his involvement with the sheriff. According to the newspaper, the lawyer also warned Jose that any talk about their relationship could imperil his immigration status.
“All of these allegations that were in one of these newspapers were absolutely false, except for the issue that referred to me as being gay, and that is the truth. I am gay,” Babeu said at the news conference.
Babeu first came to statewide prominence in 2010 when he appeared in a campaign ad for U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee two years earlier, calling for tough immigration measures.
The sheriff, who is a tough law-and-order advocate, was considered a rising star in state Republican politics and a strong candidate to win the Republican nomination for a congressional seat in Arizona this year.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” — might be the first response among the religious who wander through here. It worked for Woody Guthrie as well.
There are differences from one civil rights struggle to another. When I walked away from White America in 1955 to spend my spiritual, social and political career grounded in Black America and the fight for civil rights, the essential divisions in the struggle couldn’t be more clear. Black folks weren’t especially likely to be disguised as white. Politics, rarely, yes; but, the bigotry and discrimination in everything from employment to schooling to where you could live were easy to define for the miserable bastards in charge.
Not quite as much for Hispanics; but, close enough. You aren’t going to disguise the fact that you’re a woman except in movie scripts. But if you’re gay – passing is easy as pie. Just don’t tell anyone and don’t get caught acting like yourself. So, gay folks who happen to be politically or socially conservative don’t need to invent Black Power which becomes Green Power – needn’t invent the Hispanic Leadership Fund which becomes Green Power – needn’t invent the Eagle Forum which becomes Green Power – they can keep their mouths shut about Log Cabin Republicans and just make noises like Republicans.
When push comes to shove, however, and reality becomes the truth, you’re subject to the same discrimination and bigotry as your peers already living out of the closet. They have the benefit of defending who they naturally are, the ease of only telling the truth instead of remembering last week’s lie about where you were and with whom.
So, Paul Babeu – I wish you well in your new life in the open. Please reflect on your former buddies, political supporters, allies in fighting for the sort of society you thought worthwhile. A lot of them are going to be the first to turn their backs on you.
8-year-old quietly confronts Michele Bachmann
Kid video of the year. Tea Party/GOP Presidential candidate and national-class bigot Michele Bachmann doing her money-making book tour in South Caroline falls into an exchange – and a reminder from this8-year-old child, that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being gay.
If you can’t hear his quiet little voice, he says, “Miss Bachmann, my mommy is gay and she doesn’t need any fixing.”
Rock on, Elijah!
Scottish Tories elect gay leader – well, you knew it wasn’t Texas
An openly gay woman has been elected leader of the Scottish Conservatives after the membership rejected her leading rival’s radical proposals to create a new centre-right party.
Ruth Davidson, 32, widely seen as David Cameron’s favourite, was chosen to lead the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party by a comfortable margin after the most bitterly-fought and divisive leadership campaign in party history.
Officials in London believe that Davidson, a lesbian and the youngest of the four candidates, will be able to freshen up the Tories’ faltering appeal to Scottish voters…
Her victory saves the prime minister from the embarrassment of watching the UK party being split by Davidson’s rival for the leadership, Murdo Fraser.
In a statement released on her election, Davidson said: “With the radical, generational change that I represent, this is a unique opportunity for us to rebuild the party and to once again become a powerful, meaningful and relevant force in Scottish politics and in Scottish life.”
A former Territorial Army officer and kick-boxer, Davidson campaigned vigorously against Fraser’s dramatic proposals to scrap the party and replace it with a new “progressive” organisation which would be independent of David Cameron’s Tories…
Bravo for a gender and sexual orientation victory.
I can’t find my old t-shirt, anyway – that said “don’t blame me I didn’t vote Tory” in Gaelic. But, I’d still nudge my perpetually conservative kin in Scotland to support her achievement.
Terror checks at Heathrow were racist – phonied up to look busy
Heathrow counter-terrorism officers regularly put passengers with Arabic names on a security database to make it appear as though they had been busy, a tribunal was told.
Former Det Con Kevin Maxwell said Metropolitan Police detectives would routinely sift through landing cards of foreign nationals and randomly type their details into a police database, without ever seeing the passengers.
The former officer, who is black and homosexual, was giving evidence at an employment tribunal, where he is suing the force for homophobic attitudes and racial discrimination. The case is expected to last six weeks.
He said colleagues working with him in the counter-terrorism unit at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 would take the landing cards, filled in by visitors, from an unmanned Border Agency desk. They copied the details into the police’s database. It was claimed that the practice was widespread throughout the counter terrorism unit at Heathrow, to keep up the Metropolitan Police stop figures…
He said counter-terrorism officers would target black and Asian people for random stops in a queue at the airport.
To avoid being seen as racist another officer would also talk to a white person directly in front of them. However, the white person’s details would not be entered into the police database, Det Con Maxwell said.
Cripes, I hope this tale hasn’t made it to TSA here in the States. All they need is a suggestion for yet another way to game the system.
Discharged Gay military continue lawsuit over half-pay policy
Daylife/AP PHoto used by permission
The policy is gone, but the lawsuits continue. Two days after the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell“, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union were in United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington Thursday arguing on behalf of service members who say they received only half their separation pay when they were discharged for their sexuality.
The lead plaintiff is a former Air Force staff sergeant, Richard Collins, who served nine years before two civilian co-workers observed him exchanging a kiss with his civilian boyfriend and reported it to his superiors. When he received an honorable discharge under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” his separation pay was half what it should have been…
According to a statement by the A.C.L.U., “Federal law entitles service members to separation pay if they have been involuntarily discharged from the military after completing at least six years of service. But in 1991, the Defense Department adopted an internal policy that automatically cuts a former service member’s separation pay in half if the service member is discharged because of ‘homosexuality.’”
The A.C.L.U. said that the half-pay policy was enacted before “don’t ask, don’t tell” was passed, and so was not changed when that law was repealed. The group said the Defense Department can change the policy on its own, without congressional approval.
The government has asked the court to dismiss the case…proving once again that the Pentagon not only doesn’t give a damn about the Constitution it is supposed to be fighting for – our military executives couldn’t care less about the rights of members of the armed forces who have served loyally and diligently.
Beancounters are the same everywhere. Saving a buck while screwing individuals is OK in their book.
Statement from the US Army – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal
Today marks the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“. The law is repealed. From this day forward Gay and Lesbian soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations and policies reflect the repeal guidance issues by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter.
Click on the link above for the whole statement.
Overdue.
Homophobes and other bigots will keep at it. Some are filing suit to try to overturn the law, They have no understanding of history or comprehension of civil rights under our Constitution.
They are crap spilling over the rim of the overstuffed garbage can of history.
Apple employees in ‘It Gets Better’ video
Several Apple employees have appeared in a video for the It Gets Better project, which is part of The Trevor Project, an organization out to prevent suicides in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youths.
Gay couple ejected from pub – they kissed on their first date
At what point does public intimacy tip over from a touching display of innocent romance into offensive vulgarity? Jonathan Williams and James Bull found themselves on the front line of this moral conflict when when they were thrown out of a London pub for kissing.
Williams, a journalist for a financial magazine, and Bull, a charity volunteer, said they had been ejected from the John Snow in Broadwick Street, Soho, central London, on Wednesday by a woman – claiming to be the landlady – who accused them of being “obscene” while out on their first date.
The event has triggered a public debate on open displays of affection, how much is too much, and whether Williams and Bull were treated differently because they are gay.
The two men deny having behaved in any unseemly way. “We weren’t being over the top; there wasn’t anything that would be deemed unseemly,” Williams said. “I’m not the kind of person to do that kind of thing in public.”
Williams, 26, and Bull, 23, had enjoyed a dinner in Covent Garden before heading for the John Snow to indulge a shared passion – the pub’s cider. “It’s a nice little pub, it’s a nice atmosphere,” Williams said. The pub is near the heart of London’s “gay village” but does not style itself as a gay bar. “The people are friendly, it’s not too expensive considering the area and it’s a decent pub where you can just relax,” Williams added…and they exchanged a wee kiss or two.
The landlord and landlady, later… “said we had to leave because we were being obscene”…
Lucy Clements, a 27-year-old production manager, and Jamie Morton, neither of whom know Bull or Williams, were sitting at the next table and witnessed the events. Clements said: “I was totally shocked. Dumbfounded really. From a pub in the middle of Soho you just don’t expect it.”
She added that “no one seemed to mind apart from this one man“. She said she spoke to bar staff who confirmed the man who raised the first objections was the landlord, before both she and Morton were also asked to leave.
Bull, who said he was physically sick after the confrontation, called police when he got home. They came and took a statement. “I felt so belittled, and to be made to feel so dirty and cheap over something like that – it’s just wrong,” he said…
The John Snow is one of about 300 pubs in the UK operated by the Samuel Smith brewery. Bull and Williams said they had not yet complained to the company, but planned to do so later. When the Guardian called the pub twice, a woman said: “Can you just stop calling this number please, or we’ll have you done for harassment.”
Plans for a kiss-in have proceeded. So far, folks feeling affronted by this sort of invasion of civil liberties number in the hundreds – and intend to visit the pub tonight – and Thursday night next week – to demonstrate same-sex kissing should not be considered an obscene act whether they’re gay or not.
Catholics weigh significance of Pope’s condom flip-flop
The Catholic Church is in a state of some confusion over reports that Pope Benedict XVI has overturned a long-standing church ban on condoms by saying that their use is acceptable in exceptional circumstances.
But it is not clear what those circumstances are. It was widely reported yesterday that the Pope has decreed condoms may be used against Aids, which would be a remarkable U-turn in the history of Catholicism. The church’s hardline stance on that has for years been heavily criticised. But some commentators suggest that the Pope seems only to be saying that the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV infections is only permissible under church teaching when they are being used by gay men…
In a series of interviews the Pope gave earlier this year he gives the example of the use of condoms by male prostitutes as “a first step towards moralisation”.
The problem is that the traditional Catholic disapproval of condoms is rooted in a long-standing teaching that contraception is not acceptable because it means that sexual acts are not “open to the transmission of life” – a law which most Western Catholics, of course, ignore. But since sex between men is not open to the production of children, the use of a condom there would clearly be only for the prevention of disease.
The key question is whether the Pope is also saying that for heterosexual couples the prevention of disease should now have primacy over the ban on contraception. That would indeed herald the start of a sea change in the church’s attitude. So far, the Pope is sending mixed messages…
The message wasn’t mixed when my family left the Catholic Church.
It was early days in WW2, most of the men in my father’s family were preparing to leave for war. The patriarch of our family, my grandfather, died suddenly of a heart attack. The sons and daughters and their spouses were gathered together at St. Charles Church in the East End of the factory town where we lived in the southern reach of industrial New England.
The priest walked down the line of eight brothers and sisters, all married but one. He questioned each about the number of children in each family and then cut loose, castigating all for not being the sort of True Catholic their father had been. They all had obviously been practicing some level of birth control. None had more than two children.
After the funeral, my father stepped forward to the priest and speaking on behalf of a united family he told him he could stick his church where the sun don’t shine. And they all walked out of a church that had not the least perception of human needs, the slightest concept of aiding progress in life for its parishioners.
