'Undocumented immigrants, gypsies and other ethnic minorities, older gay people, and residents of rural areas are more likely to experience discrimination, to live in poverty or to suffer violence due to their sexual orientation. Lesbian women are particularly vulnerable.
“It is time to stop thinking about same-sex marriage, and to make a way for other demands and needs,” said LGBT activist Lucas Platero in a recent article, (in Spanish), adding that those “may not be the concerns of the elite LGBT groups, but those of ordinary people.”
In recent years, a faction within the Spanish LGBT activist community called Critic Pride has arisen. This group argues that the original cause has been commodified by brands that sponsor parades, and that the rights of marginalized groups have been neglected or ignored. “A pride that makes dykes and the precarious realities of trans and migrants invisible cannot represent us,” said this year’s manifiesto (in Spanish).'
In the summer of 2005, the socialist Spanish government legalized gay marriage in Spain. My overwhelmingly Catholic country, with a legacy of a 40-year-old fascist dictatorship that even banned divorce, surprisingly became the third European Union member to authorize same-sex unions.
Gay rights activists kiss outside Spain’s parliament in 2005.(Reuters/Susana Vera)
Ten years and around 28,000 couples married later, a whole generation of LGBT people has grown up. We have developed our sexual and family choices in an environment where we are as free to marry as we are to eschew marriage as an old-fashioned and cheesy option.
As many in the US celebrated last week’s Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country, I counted myself lucky to have lived with this freedom for a decade.
Here’s some of what that decade has taught us in Spain’s LGBT community, and some takeaways for our US counterparts:
Equality is a daily, unfinished fight
No sooner had same-sex unions arrived arrived in Spain, as attacks to those newly acquired rights came from various directions. The Popular Party, the Spanish conservative party,gave permission to its members not to marry gay couples, arguing conscientious objection. It also filed a claim that the law was unconstitutional, which was not resolved until 2012 when the Constitutional Court reaffirmed the law.
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Today, the Spanish Roman Catholic Church keeps calling for demonstrations to defend what it calls “the traditional family” while untiringly denouncing gay marriage as a sign of a crisis in Spanish society. Its claim is that these unions should have a name that is not “marriage.”
They don’t approve.(Reuters / Susana Vera)
Likewise, in the US, people and organizations in some states have already started looking for loopholes to get in the way of gay unions.
The focus should be on helping the next generations
We also soon found out that the law does not mean that younger generations are free from the homophobic behaviors and offensive comments that we grew up with.
In Spain, half of young gay people between 15 and 25 years report having suffered bullying in school (link in Spanish). And 43 percent of them have considered suicide, with 17 percent of them saying they have tried to hurt themselves. To teenagers facing discrimination, the knowledge that they can legally marry later may offer little comfort—the law makes it no easier for them to come out.
Coming out is just as tough for young LGBT Americans. According to a Pew Research report, 43 percent of LGBT people were older than 20 when they first came out to a friend or family member.
The first gay wedding of an elected official from the conservative party, in 2006.(AP/Paul White)
Law can help change ingrained attitudes—up to a point
Spanish attitudes to LGBT issues have significantly changed over the decade that gay marriage has been legal. The percentage of people in Spain who support gay marriage increased seven points after the law, reaching a 75 percent in 2005.
And a 2013 Pew Research survey that asked if society should accept homosexuality found that 88 percent of Spaniards answered “yes”—compared with only 60 percent of Americans who replied the same.
It remains to be seen whether American attitudes will undergo a similar evolution. In Spain, policy clearly moved faster than societal attitudes, whereas in the US it has taken a while for the law to recognize an increasingly accepted reality.
Still, the mindsets of older people remain hard to change, on both sides of the Atlantic. Among my young Spanish friends who live openly, many are still to scared to come out to older members of their families.
“These are our aunts and uncles, our mentors, and our teachers,” she said. “It’s also a generation that remembers an era when homosexuality was still something best kept to oneself.”
A woman walks past participants at a gay pride in Bilbao.(Reuters/Vincent West)
And some marginalized groups have fewer changes in their treatment. Undocumented immigrants, gypsies and other ethnic minorities, older gay people, and residents of rural areas are more likely to experience discrimination, to live in poverty or to suffer violence due to their sexual orientation. Lesbian women are particularly vulnerable.
“It is time to stop thinking about same-sex marriage, and to make a way for other demands and needs,” said LGBT activist Lucas Platero in a recent article, (in Spanish), adding that those “may not be the concerns of the elite LGBT groups, but those of ordinary people.”
In recent years, a faction within the Spanish LGBT activist community called Critic Pride has arisen. This group argues that the original cause has been commodified by brands that sponsor parades, and that the rights of marginalized groups have been neglected or ignored. “A pride that makes dykes and the precarious realities of trans and migrants invisible cannot represent us,” said this year’s manifiesto (in Spanish).
In the US, some are already pointing out the next issues the LGBT agenda needs to address, particularly in underserved communities: violence, employment discrimination, poverty, and access to healthcare.
So, America: Now is the time to celebrate. But get back to work as soon as you can.
Transgender discrimination remains a problem.(AP/Emilio Morenatti)
'when you meet Hilda Stevens, you understand exactly why over 100 avid soccer fans pack into Bazi Bierbrasserie for Women’s World Cup games – and why over 300 more fill in the beer garden opened for the semifinals. The Guatemala native, whose father was a professional referee, grew up playing street soccer and watching games, so the game has always been in her blood. Now she shares that passion with both her customers and her employees.
Because Bazi is a beer bar in the heart of Beervana, as Portland is affectionately known, its employees must know beer first. The love of soccer is just a bonus. But it’s a bonus the boss encourages. If Major League Soccer’s Timbers or the National Women’s Soccer League’s Thorns are in town and things are slow at the bar, Hilda will throw an employee on the back of her scooter and drive them west across the river, to Providence Park for their first live game. “If they get that first-hand experience at the the stadium, when they come back to the bar and see the fans, they have that new understanding of why the customers have such a passion for the team and for the sport.”
Portland fans certainly are madly, deeply in love with soccer. When Fox Sports chose three bars to feature for the U.S. semifinal against Germany, they picked one in New York, one in Los Angeles, and Bazi. And Bazi was the only one that dedicates itself specifically to women’s soccer. It could very well be the only bar of its type in the world. According to Derek Espinoza of the American Outlaws Portland chapter, it’s certainly the only one known as such in the U.S. ... Kristen, a Thorns fan, remembers most the atmosphere. “It was electric. To me, it felt like being in the stadium.” Bazi became her go-to place from then on, the place she went when the Timbers played away. Now, it’s also the place she goes to watch Thorns matches when she’s not at Providence Park.
That just may be what makes Bazi truly unique. NWSL matches aren’t televised but rather streamed online, via youTube, and few public places go through the trouble of showing them. But Bazi never hesitated. When the Thorns started up in 2013, the women who supported the Timbers decided it was time for a women’s-only amateur soccer team, and invited Hilda to join. The outside-mid jumped right in and established close relationships with that group, including those who were part of the Thorns’ supporters group, Rose City Riveters. The Riveters then made Bazi, a place willing to be kid- and family-friendly, “their” bar. When the Thorns won the first NWSL championship and the Riveters brought back a banner signed by the entire team, they asked Hilda if she’d be willing to display it in the bar.'
There are plenty of bars in Portland near Bazi Bierbrasserie serving up AC alongside craft beer and tasty happy-hour eats. Most of those bars are even showing the Women’s World Cup. So why are hundreds willing to pack into this particular one?
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and secretary general Jerome Valcke aren't at the Women's World Cup final. Partially because they have a lot of work to do in cleaning up FIFA, but also partially because they're scared of getting arrested. The fact that they're not terribly bothered about women's football doesn't help either.
With all of them absent, who will present the trophy to the winner of the final between the United States and Japan? Your guess is as good as ours. FIFA doesn't even know the answer to that question.
FIFA say no confirmation as yet as to who will present the trophy tonight. Issa Hayatou of CAF is the top-ranking FIFA official here.
Idea: Abby Wambach or Homare Sawa walks around to the other side of the trophy and pretends to be a FIFA executive, at which point they present it to a teammate and golf clap.
This month we have an original mocktail that's sure to set a new standard in the speciality coffee world. To start, we've mingled our house-made Tanglewood ginger spiced chai with our coffee rum, infused with Demerara sugar and cold brew. These antioxidant rich ingredients are given a dry shake together with a local organic egg for a rich and refreshing texture. Our Coffee Flip is then chilled, strained, and garnished with hand grated nutmeg and fresh orange peel to create a light, creamy, and decadent drink. With the perfect balance of spice, sweetness and texture, the Coffee Flip will invigorate you. (Permalink)
'For kids under 10, keep the tasks simple, but make them feel important. They make great envelope stuffers'
'You could even hold a mini interview to give them a taste of what it’s like to apply for a job. Teach them to talk about their skills'
'Even if they moan, groan, and complain, your kids are learning valuable lessons in working for you'
not a parody
Never is the work/life balance of a small business owner more challenging than in summer.
If the very mention of summer raises your blood pressure, you might be looking for ways to keep your kids out of your hair during the long weeks of summer break (me too!).
You don’t want your kids plopped in front of the television for three months while you work. But with a little creative ingenuity, you can keep them busy, teach them something, and get your work done on top of all that.
They’re never too young to work
Many small business owners dream about passing on their business to their kids eventually, so what better way is there to get your kids invested in your brand than hiring them to help out? Assign your kids tasks based on their age and abilities.
For kids under 10, keep the tasks simple, but make them feel important. They make great envelope stuffers, sorters, and filers (and get to practice their alphabetizing skills at the same time!). Giving kids work assignments teaches them the value of hard work.
For tweens and teens, find tasks that will maybe pique their interest in what you do (or even help them really understand it for the first time): you can turn them into your administrative assistants, filtering through emails, reading documents, or organizing your mail. Heck, they might even be able to teach you a thing or two about social media!
While you shouldn’t necessarily hand over your social media management to your teens, you may be able to glean valuable tips and tricks from them. They can help you look for relevant tweets, articles, and people to follow, and then you can review any work they do to make sure it resonates with your brand message.
Giving kids work assignments teaches them the value of hard work, as well as the pleasure of doing something they might be surprised they actually enjoy doing. If you’ve struggled to get your kids to sit down to do their homework, you might be surprised at the change you see after a summer of hard work. Understanding the importance (and benefit) of taking work seriously at an early age can set children on the trajectory for success in school, and yes, life. I have met many people who had small jobs as children who now, as adults, have a better appreciation of those valuable life lessons learned early on.
Keep it serious
Create brief job descriptions and detail expectations (as well as offer some kind of compensation or incentive), so that they know you are serious. You could even hold a mini interview to give them a taste of what it’s like to apply for a job. Teach them to talk about their skills: “I have experience reading, and am a great speller, so I could organize your files.”
Let them know that you are relying on them to do a good job. If they understand that they will be compensated at the end of every day or week, they should be motivated to get the job done.
Treating your kids like adults (at least, in their eyes) and putting them through the interview process teaches them invaluable skills about understanding the assets they bring to a job. The interview process, too, will be an experience they can practice as the time comes for an actual interview (even if it’s at Baskin Robbins) draws nearer.
Give them—and you—a break
Hard work deserves a reward. Give them and you a time to play with friends and unwind. That might mean sending them to camp or taking the day off yourself and going to the museum or beach.
It’s important that your children know that adults have fun, too, and balance out their hard work. They may see you as “all work and no play,” so show them that it’s important to you to find equilibrium.
Feel good about the lessons you’re teaching
Even if they moan, groan, and complain, your kids are learning valuable lessons in working for you. They see how hard you work to make your small business thrive, and they want to be a part of that. You’re also instilling in them fantastic work ethic that will carry through their entire lives. Who knows? You might even inspire them to start their own businesses one day!
'US Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said if he had "Christie-type justices" on Supreme Court, then the court would not have legalized same-sex marriage nor pass a key provision in Affordable Care Act.'
'Cuba responded by also offering women early access to prenatal care, HIV and syphilis testing for pregnant women and their partners, and treatment for women and their babies if they tested positive. Cuba’s efforts paid off, and in 2013, only two babies were born with HIV on the Caribbean island, and five were born with congenital syphilis, the WHO said.'
“Cuba has become the first country in the world to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to child. The World Health Organization announced Cuba’s designation on Tuesday, calling it “one of the greatest public health achievements possible.””
I don’t let the dogs on my bed as a general rule, especially the big one. But these fireworks have them both so freaked out I made an exception. Poor things, they are not happy. Our neighbors are jerks. #pdx #dogsofinstagram
fun fact: If you separate the 4 and the 2 making them different numbers. Then translate them into Japanese shi, and ni. Then put the words together, shini, it means death (shini-gami = god of death). So knowing that
The answer to the ultimate question… of life, the universe, and everything is…
death.
That fact is not fun.
“Douglas Adams was asked many times why he chose the number 42. Many theories were proposed, including that 42 is 101010 in binary code, that light refracts off water by 42 degrees to create a rainbow, that light requires 10−42 seconds to cross the diameter of a proton.[7] Adams rejected them all. On 3 November 1993, he gave an answer[8] on alt.fan.douglas-adams:
‘The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ‘42 will do’. I typed it out. End of story.’
Adams described his choice as ‘a completely ordinary number, a number not just divisible by two but also six and seven. In fact it’s the sort of number that you could without any fear introduce to your parents’.” - source
And one more thing — when the alleged bubble bursts, and all those startups on short-term WeWork memberships go bust, WeWork will be saddled with long-term leases and forced to give away whatever premium it had hoped to charge. That, critics argue, isn’t anything close to a $10 billion company.
…
But it turns out this is not the case, a WeWork spokesperson tells us. Only a tiny fraction of WeWork clients are other tech startups:
Venture capital backed companies only make up mid-single digit of total population of our WeWork member companies. The membership is very diversified across multiple industries and our fastest growing segment is larger, more mature companies who have joined for the value proposition of more affordable space, community, network, and flexibility — as well as services (healthcare, payment processing, etc.).
This is interesting news, because we now know that WeWork is not dependent on tech VC funding. And the WSJ said the company was profitable, which also bodes well.
Fig 1) How to draw involute of circle. Fig 2&3) Move and rotate
the
observing point. Fig 4&5) The curves are tangent. Fig 6)
Involute gears turn smoothly.
The end result of this complex series of gear reduction is that a lot of cranking translates into a small amount of movement in the red ring. Cool, but practically useless.
"Star Fox Zero" is taking advantage of the WiiU controller's screen in different ways. In one level, you can see your Arwing flying craft on the TV screen, but if you look down at the GamePad, you see a first-person cockpit view.
'Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse just played the Heineken-sponsored Open'er music festival in Gdynia, a little Baltic port town in Poland best known for the Heineken-sponsored Open'er music festival, which also featured Mumford & Sons, a band that is the musical equivalent of Heineken.
Anyway, the Poles were super excited to know about Portland.
Via Isaac Brock, this is what the people of Gdynia, Poland, now know about Portland:
- "I didn't mean to live in Portland. It was kind of an accident—I mean, the equivalent of my car breaking down there and me being like, well...I guess this is what I'm doing. I just can't find a better alternate."
- "Portland is weird, but it's kind of a crappy weird. It is the most vagrant-ridden [city]—it's really fuckin' up my liberal mind. I'm just like, what a collection of human turds."
- "Within the one week before I came on this tour, I had to run people out of my house. Twice with axes."
- "Two people died. This is within 300 feet of my house. It's just a constant shitshow of fights. And that's just Portland keeping itself weird."
- "Portland is like the last vestige of the die-hard hippie. Actually, Eugene, Ore., is. But some of them end up moving to Portland to sell crafts and weed."
- "I'm really worried because weed's legal as of now, and so many of my unemployable friends have just lost their job to legal weed. Who's gonna buy their dried-up shit when you can actually get really good weed?...They gotta start a job program for the unemployed. Some of these people have no backup plan. Selling weed, that was it."
- "It's a cool city. But a lot of the keeping itself weird is actually just allowing people to be complete pieces of shit. And that's exhausting." The interviewer was visibly unable to contain her sadness at all of this. And Polish people are pretty sad already, because of the history. (Just ask my grandmother.) But on the bright side? Now no one from Poland will ever come to Portland to drive up apartment prices.
And frankly, the Portland he describes is the Portland we know best—a place of police who shoot beanbags at men with swords and then run away, chronic masturbators trapped in Port-a-Potties by angry vigilantes, and Salt & Straw.'
A Portland police officer was stabbed early this morning in East Portland. His unidentified attacker was shot. Both are expected to survive.
As is the rule with these things, details are in short supply. The Portland Police Bureau says officers "contacted" a man at NE 110th and Sandy, at roughly 1:41 am, and almost immediately an officer had been stabbed and the suspect was shot. No ones been identified, and there's nothing more on why cops were talking to the guy.
It's the second officer-involved shooting in a week. On June 28, two officers shot and killed a Eugene man who was brandishing a starter pistol in their direction.
It's relatively rare for Portland officers to be injured in these types of incidents. The last one that comes to mind is a March 2014 incident, when Portland Officer John Romero was shot when he killed a fugitive named Kelly Vern Mark Swoboda.
The PPB's full release on the shooting is here. We'll update when they do.
Super Opinionated.
![Isaac Brock [Modest Mouse lead singer] On Portland: What a collection of human turds](http://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/BDjyDYiuf7ovug2e1cqqI1N0vU_SKbrvQvDCgSgHo1Y.jpg "Isaac Brock [Modest Mouse lead singer] On Portland: What a collection of human turds")
Tastefully Offensive on Tumblr:
