Family

US: Pansexual college student fundraises tuition after being cut off by family

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Kate Koenig is attempting to crowdfund her college tuition after being cut off by her family for being pansexual Share on WhatsApp 0 reader comments

A pansexual student at the University of Pittsburgh is crowdfunding her tuition expenses after being cut off by her family because of her sexual orientation.

Kate Koenig told HuffPost Live that she was cut off by her family after they found her online blog where she stated she was pansexual and dating a transgender man.

She says her first worry after being cut off was how she was going to pay for school. On her GoFundMe page, Koenig says she has search for loans without co-signers, but could not find one.

Koenig, who plans to study English, German, and history, plans to spend the upcoming fall semester at a community college due to her current inability to cover tuition at the University of Pittsburgh.

She is currently trying to raise $15,000 (

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Brian Doyle’s Story From The Let Love Define Family Series

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installment features an interview with Brian Doyle, age 41, a Los Angeles-based Financial Services Professional and Life Insurance Agent with New York Life. Recently Brian attended a RaiseAChild.US event at the Andaz West Hollywood hotel for prospective foster and adoptive mothers where he was to work at an information table for his employer, which pursues an LGBT customer base. He was in for a surprise! — Corinne Lightweaver, RaiseAChild.US.

Corinne Lightweaver: So, Brian, it was really nice to have you at our Motherhood Celebration. I remember you raising your hand from your table at the back of the room and wanting to share something personal with the room full of guests. I wonder if you could tell me more about it.

Brian Doyle: I was moved by the whole event. I was just coming to help out with our resource table. I didn’t know that I would have such a personal connection with the event!

But during the family panel discussion, when the two moms and their three sons were sitting at the front of the room, I wanted to share with them my own experience growing up with two moms. I just remember as a kid it would have been great if I had heard from somebody that it was okay what was going on — no matter what you hear from many kids at school. As long as somebody is there to love you and to support what you’re doing and care about you, it doesn’t really matter if it’s two moms, two dads, or a mom and a dad. Not that those kids were having any issues, but I wanted to let them know that people grow up all the time with two moms and two dads and become very successful.

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US: Virginia Family Foundation to fast for 40 days over same-sex marriage

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The group will fast for 40 days Share on WhatsApp 6 reader comments

An anti-gay group has announced it will hold a 40-day fast to combat same-sex marriage.

The Virginia-based Family Foundation has announced a coordinated fast, in order to influence the US Supreme Court into rejecting same-sex marriage when it hears the first of a series of appeals cases in October.

The group said: “Jesus has issued a trumpet call and declared a holy fast to gather his people together for a time of consecration, to purify our way of thinking and cleanse our way of living.

“Our state and nation are mired in confusion and post-modern thinking and nowhere is this more evident than in the current debate raging about what constitutes marriage.

“The Supreme Court begins their session on October 6th. We fully expect them to take a marriage case sometime in the next year.

“Join us for 40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance for Marriage from August 27 through October 5, 2014.

“Our 40 Days will culminate on October 5th just before the court begins their session.”

A federal appeals court is expected to rule on Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban soon, after District Judge Arenda Wright Allen first struck down a law banning same-sex marriage in the state in February,

Following the ruling, the ban will head to the Supreme Court.

Watch the group’s creepy movie-style trailer below:

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Can you guess the difference between Iran’s Modern Family remake and the original?

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Iran’s Modern Family – Haft Sang Share on WhatsApp 3 reader comments

Iranians unknowingly love gay-inclusive US comedy series Modern Family.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting TV channel has rewritten US sitcom Modern Family without gay dads Mitch and Cam, whose plot line has been replaced with that of a straight couple.

The network’s new show Haft Sang is a near scene-for-scene remake of Modern Family, but with some character’s genders changed in some circumstances to avoid pre-marital mixing of men and women.

Haft Sang translates to ‘Seven Stones’, a traditional ball game in the Middle East and Asia where two teams compete to build or destroy a pile of stones.

Fans of the US sitcom, who illegally download American shows to get around Iranian state censorship, discovered the similarity between Modern Family and Haft Sang.

One of these fans put together a comparison video to show how blatantly Haft Sang duplicates Modern Family.

Watch a clip below:

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Kentucky Family Foundation: Judge has declared martial law by striking down marriage ban

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The Kentucky Family Foundation claims the judge has declared martial law Share on WhatsApp 8 reader comments

The Family Foundation of Kentucky has claimed that a judge has declared ‘martial law’ by striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Declaring the marriage ban unconstitutional yesterday, US District Judge John Heyburn wrote: “In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted.”

Kent Ostrander, executive director of the Family Foundation of Kentucky – which led the campaign for the original constitutional amendment in 2004 – said today: “For all practical purposes, Judge G. Heyburn has declared martial law on marriage policy in Kentucky.

“This just underscores the fact that we have become a nation of judges rather than a nation of laws. It’s no longer ‘we the people, of the people, by the people and for the people.’ It’s all about the judges and their opinions.”

Martin Cothran, a senior policy analyst with The Family Foundation, said: “The judge cited ‘doctrinal developments’ by other federal judges that ignored judicial precedent in favor of traditional marriage laws as a reason for invalidating our law. This raises the ‘everybody else is doing it’ principle to a judicial doctrine.

“By taking another important area of policy out of the hands of voters, liberal judges have struck another blow against the separation of powers that is an underlying principle of our form of government.”

Despite the group’s claim that ‘liberal judges’ are responsible for the wave in pro-equal marriage rulings, a Bush-appointed judge endorsed by anti-gay Republican Rick Santorum reached the same conclusion in Pennsylvania in May.

The decision will go to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is also set to review federal decisions on same-sex marriage cases in Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

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Phil And Bret’s Story From The Let Love Define Family Series

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series comes from two men raised in the Midwest who entered the journey of parenthood later than most but right on time to reap its rewards! They live with their son in Manhattan, where one of the dads serves as a Lutheran minister.

Who knew that a young Midwestern boy raised in a conservative Lutheran denomination would grow up to make international news as a pastor who announced in 2011 that he was willing to perform same-sex marriages for free for one year? It was a long journey for Phil Trzynka, but one with both professional and personal happy endings.

Phil Trzynka, 55, was raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in a conservative part of the Lutheran Church that does not welcome LGBT people. The denomination does not allow female pastors nor accept LGBT pastors who are openly gay or in a committed relationship. During his coming out process in the 1990s, Phil struggled to reconcile his faith and his sexual orientation. The limitations did not sit well with the young man, who felt a calling from God to serve.

Ultimately, in 2000 he left that type of Lutheranism for a more welcoming church body known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Though the term evangelical has become almost synonymous with anti-gay propaganda in popular usage, Phil says its literal translation is

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UN Council adopts resolution to ‘protect the family’

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The resolution calls on the UN to ‘protect the family’ Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter! Join 2 reader comments

The UN Human Rights Council yesterday adopted a resolution on the “Protection of the Family”, in a move which has been criticised as it could be used as a precedent to oppose LGBT rights.

The resolution, tabled by 13 nations including Uganda, Russia, Egypt and China calls on the High Commissioner for Human Rights go draft a report on the status of the family.

It also asks for a panel discussion on 

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