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thisbigcity:

Coffee is the fuel of cities! 

Available in HQ here.

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thisbigcity:

springwise:

In London, sewer fat will power world’s largest grease-powered electricity plant

Stay Green Oil has already offered those with waste oil the opportunity to re-use it, rather than throwing it away. In the UK, discarded oil and fat is causing problems in the capital’s sewer systems, and now 2OC aims to tackle the problem with the world’s largest fat-powered renewable electricity plant. READ MORE…

Interesting development. Turning a previously unwanted urban byproduct into a source of energy for the city. 

So COOL!!

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unconsumption:

With some hesitation, I pass along this story of reusing, um, urine. The “Electric Pee” project:

Public urination can be a problem during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Festival-goers mostly take to the streets to relieve themselves and it has become serious that local authorities have detained people found urinating in public. As a way of combating the problem, Brazilian nonprofit organization Afroreggae, in partnership with agency JWT Brazil, came up with the Electric Pee project.

Afroreggae placed special urinals that convert urine into electricity in crowded areas of the city. The special urinal uses a process similar to that of a hydroelectric plant. The flow of urine is used to generate energy that is then stored in a battery. The energy produced was then used to power Afroreggae’s Carnival truck.

(via Urinals Generate Electricity To Power Carnival Floats [Video] - PSFK)

Odd but innovative

gaywrites:

2012 saw the 4^th highest murder rate of LGBTQ and HIV-affected people (LGBTQH) in history, according to the annual Hate Violence Report released by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP).  

People of color, transgender people, and gender non-conforming people continued to experience higher rates of homicide in 2012. LGBTQH people of color represented 53% of total reported survivors and victims of all hate crimes, but 73.1% of homicide victims. Black and African-American people were particularly overrepresented in the homicide rates: over half of reported hate murders had Black or African-American victims, even though Black and African American people made up only 15% of total survivors and victims of hate crimes overall.

More info at GLAAD. Something needs to change. 

Outcast's Ramblings: Asexual myths I’m tired of hearing: Sexual abuse causes... →

retibutionpaladin:

Asexual myths I’m tired of hearing:

1. Sexual abuse causes asexuality
2. Asexuals don’t masturbate
3. If you’re heteromantic asexual, it’s the same as being heterosexual
4. Demisexuals and grey asexuals are just “special snowflakes” who are celibate but want a special title
5. Asexuals can’t enjoy…

House Republican says insurance shouldn't cover transition care because "he likes being a boy" →

gaywrites:

You read it right.

Rep. Paul Broun, a House Republican from Georgia, said at a recent town hall meeting that he doesn’t think the Affordable Care Act should cover gender confirmation surgery because, and I quote: “I don’t want to pay for a sex change operation. I’m not interested. I like being a boy.”

Broun, who is a medical doctor, was likely referring to a proposal by the Obama Administration to provide gender transition therapy to transgender people, as prescribed by a doctor. The Affordable Care Act currently does not cover transition surgery, as stated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The statement is similar to Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, also of Georgia, who rationalized his opposition to marriage equality with this statement: “I’m not gay. So I’m not going to marry one.”

I feel ill. This man is a doctor, and he has the audacity to make statements like this. I don’t even know how to respond to this level of ignorance. 

Read this now: "I'm A Bisexual Man: Why Is That So Hard For Me To Say?" →

gaywrites:

One of my very best friends, a bisexual man, passed on this article written by another bi guy living in San Francisco. It’s short, easy to read, and not exactly optimistic, but it captures a valid snapshot of what LGBT communities can look like from the B perspective.

Speaking as a bi woman, I can safely say that bi invisibility and erasure are very real things. I’m even guilty of them myself, like when I refer to myself as “gay” because I’m worried people won’t take my bi identity seriously. The friend who shared this article has reached a crossroads in his own life where he’s working on embracing his bi-ness more fully, though he’s only ever dated women and, as a result, deals with friends and peers who condescendingly tell him they “just forget” that he’s bi.

All these experiences are probably part of the reason I connected with this piece. An excerpt:

I called someone “honey.” My wrists went a little limper, my voice sang a little more. I started acting like I had at so many gay bars over the years. It felt wrong because I had a girlfriend, but it also didn’t feel dishonest, because this is a part of me that I’d been denying, and I feel natural doing it, just like I feel natural acting straight. I started talking to an older guy and we hit it off. We talked writing and San Francisco. He touched me on the shoulder, just so. I wanted to say, “I really want to keep talking, but I have a girlfriend.” I couldn’t. I didn’t know for sure, but I feared that people would start treating me differently at this party that was turning into a helluva lot of fun, because then I’d be kicked out of this club, out of this club I belonged to a couple years ago but now no longer did.

The man and I talked more, and he touched my elbow. I told him this story about how we used to get together in Syracuse and take over this straight bar every Tuesday night and terrorize straight people. And he laughed and laughed and kept on with the elbow, and finally, I said, “Yes, my boyfriend and I live just a couple blocks away.”

“Oh,” he said, and the elbow touching stopped. I chatted with him and so many others for the rest of the night. I had a great time. I never felt more lonely. I never felt more guilty. It was lovely and pleasant and a relief to be in a community I’d missed so much.

It’s got mixed reactions on Buzzfeed. What do you think? Especially looking at you, fellow bi friends. 

URUGUAY LEGALIZES MARRIAGE EQUALITY →

gaywrites:

Today, more than 75% of lawmakers in Uruguay voted to legalize marriage equality, making the country the second nation in Latin America to do so.

Filling the public seats in the Senate, supporters of the law erupted in celebration when the results were announced, as reported by the Associated Press. “We are living a historic moment,” said Federico Grana, a leader of the Black Sheep Collective, a gay rights group that drafted the bill proposal. “In terms of the steps needed, we calculate that the first gay couples should be getting married 90 days after the promulgation of the law, or in the middle of July.”

Yes!!! 

California bans insurance discrimination against trans people →

gaywrites:

On Tuesday, California became the third state (plus D.C.) to expressly state that insurance companies must provide coverage for necessary transition-related treatment for transgender people. The other states that explicitly ban anti-trans discrimination for insurance matters are Colorado and Oregon. 

The directive, which the Transgender Law Center hails as “groundbreaking,” confirms that California’s Insurance Gender Non-Discrimination Act mandates equal access for all patients to medically necessary treatment, regardless of the patient’s gender identity or expression. 

“This one letter will save lives,” Masen Davis, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center, said in a statement. “For years, transgender Californians have been denied coverage of basic care merely because of who we are. Discriminatory insurance exclusions put transgender people and our families at risk for health problems and financial hardship. Now we can finally get the care we need.”

Fantastic news. This needs to be a national standard. 

Gay man arrested for refusing to leave sick partner's bedside →

gaywrites:

Roger Gorley was arrested at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri on Tuesday for resisting hospital security as they forced him from his sick partner’s bedside. 

Gorley and his partner Allen have been together for five years and have a joint Power of Attorney to recognize their relationship. But when Gorley went to visit his partner at Kansas City’s Research Medical Center hospital, a member of Allen’s family asked him to leave.

When Gorley refused, security forced him off the premises in handcuffs, reportedly placing a restraining order on him so he can’t return. (The hospital denies the restraining order.) 

This hospital clearly messed up on more levels than one: 

Back in 2010, President Barack Obama ordered all hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments to allow patients to determine who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions. This right, extended to gay and lesbian partners, is supposed to give designated persons the same rights as immediate family members.

Research Medical Center responded to the allegations in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon: 

This was an issue of disruptive and belligerent behavior by the visitor that affected patient care. The hospital’s response followed the same policies that would apply to any individual engaged in this behavior in a patient care setting and was not in any way related to the patient’s or the visitor’s sexual orientation or marital status. 

I dare you to read this story and then tell me our relationships aren’t real. This is a textbook case of a medical establishment siding with a homophobic family rather than keeping a patient’s best interests at heart, and it’s vile.

Keeping these two in my thoughts in light of the unjust challenges ahead of them. Damn, this is not fair.