iO Tillett Wright thanks her parents for not asking her to define herself as a child. Her experience of growing up without having check boxes like “female,” “male,” “gay” or straight” thoroughly infuses her art.

iO’s photography can be seen regularly in two features in The New York Times: Notes from the Underground and The Lowdown. She is also the creator of Self Evident Truths—an ongoing project to document the wide variety of experiences in LGBTQ America. So far, she has photographed about 2,000 people for the project. Her goal: 10,000 portraits and a nationwide rethinking of discriminatory laws.

iO had her first solo show at Fuse gallery in New York City in 2010, and exhibited her latest work at The Hole Gallery in early summer of 2012. She has published three books of photographs; Lose My Number, KISSER, and Look Ma’, No Hands. She has directed several music videos, and spent nineteen years acting in films.

Boy Scouts of America No Longer Eligible for Grant Funding from The UPS Foundation Previously…

Should Ohio approve gay marriage?

[Update: 30 October at 0446 Education Standards Divided by Race (story first published at 1011 on 24 October.]

Update…

0525: Is religion good for anything?

Daniel Estrin writes: An influential ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbi ordered his followers this week to burn their iPhones, the latest move in a campaign by the insular community to encourage its members to keep the outside world — and specifically the Internet — at bay. The decree by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 84, came ahead of Judaism’s [...]

From WCPN: The United Way of Cleveland says it will stop direct funding to the Boy Scouts of America’s Cleveland chapter. As ideastream’s Brian Bull reports, the decision stems from the BSA’s national policy on sexual orientation. Good on United Way, but it did take a bit of time… Previously…

Previously…

Mano Singham connects two dots: Laws against blasphemy have rarely been about religious dogma. They are, like anti-terrorism statutes, political weapons that are available to intimidate and ensure conformity in the population. The very vagueness of the concepts of terrorism and blasphemy allow them to be interpreted so broadly that almost action can be interpreted [...]

Mano Singham writes: Hence I was startled by this short interview that NPR’s Ari Shapiro had with a woman who attended an American Legion convention. Bobbie Lucier said of the Obamas, I just – I don’t like him. Can’t stand to look at him. I don’t like his wife. She’s far from the first lady. [...]

Your gay friends are not obsessed with the idea of being hated by a few Christian friends, they are rightfully mindful of a group of ignorant, fearful religious bigots who want to do them real harm and until you realize that the problem is not the religious right, but you, the religious light who enable [...]

0803: Paul Ryan was for Ayn Rand before he was against her

Via Eagle Scouts For Equality: Redlands Scout pack to take stand against Boy Scouts of America position on gays After meeting last week for a discussion on the Boy Scouts of America’s stance against homosexuality within its ranks, the Redlands pack plans to take a stand against the greater organization. In a meeting Thursday, Cubmaster [...]

Last evening, while studying America History, particularly the period known as The Second Great Awakening, my student asked me: It always seems like we read about people doing crazy stuff (we were reading about Millerism and Mormonism). What do you think people a hundred years from now will think is the crazy stuff we’re doing [...]

Robert Reich writes: Republican nightmare Monday: Tropical storm Isaac heads into Gulf, gathering hurricane winds. Reminds people (and the media) of Hurricane Katrina, which reminds them of George W. Bush — the last Republican to occupy the White House. But George W. is the last person Romney and Ryan want America to remember, because he [...]

Marcus Brigstocke rants: I know that most religious folk are moderate and nice and reasonable and wear tidy jumpers and eat cheese like real people… But they have to accept that they are the power base for the nutters. Without their passive support the loonies in charge of these faiths would just be loonies safely [...]

Fish meet barrel meet shotgun… Via Mano Singham…

1056: Using ‘gaffes’ to evade accountability