LoginDisney Movies’ First Ever ‘Exclusively Gay Moment’ In New ‘Beauty and the Beast’ - The film is set for release in theaters on St Patty's Day!!
Thanks for checking out our Blog! We're the team of RainbowWeddingNetwork (Marianne, Cindy, Kendra & Ira) - Enjoy the posts, and always feel free to message us with any feedback through Facebook or email us directly. If you do reach out, be sure to request a copy of our latest e-newsletter! ...and remember to check your spam filter for any reply from us, if you don't see a response in your inbox.
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Found this fun lesbian-friendly card and wanted to share! More choices available on their website... Kudos, Love Pop!
https://www.lovepopcards.com/products/willow-love-scene-same-sex-female-3d-card
It's official: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are a couple!
Article by Marissa Higgins, DailyDot.com
If you’ve been holding out for iconic villains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy to finally cement their relationship, you’ll be excited to know the wait is over. That’s right: After decades of the women’s same-sex relationship being hinted at, their relationship is finally discussed in the open in the new DC Comics: Bombshells issue
Of course, as die-hard fans of the couple already know, the two have actually already shared a kiss in Bombshells #42, out last year. In the latest rendition of the series, Bombshells #79, however, their relationship is a central plot point.
Dad Of First Male Maybelline Model Has Perfect Response To Bigoted Blogger - MUST READ!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/manny-gutierrez-homophobic-tweet_us_587e3c90e4b0aaa369429054
2016 was a tumultuous year. It brought us a divisive election, an unthinkable massacre in a Florida nightclub, an absurd bathroom bill in the state of North Carolina, an unfilled seat on the US Supreme Court, and much more. There are hundreds of pieces of legislation in states all across America, whose sole purpose is to limit LGBT equality: LGBT parents, spouses, families, employees, youth... people.It's true: we're feeling unsettled. Baffled. Angry.
Yet it's important to remember that, as all years do, 2016 also brought us amazing gifts: The opportunity to see a woman (one who believes openly in LGBT equality) have a real chance at the White House... the opportunity to hear our attorney general stand before us time and again with inspirational words of support for the LGBT minority... growing visibility for the trans- community in our nation... the naming of Stonewall Inn, by President Obama, as the first national monument honoring LGBT history... the reality that speaker after speaker at the RNC attempted to mouth the words "LGBT" to begin showing that they, too, are beginning to frame an understanding of inclusion.
And it's also important to remember that the extreme divisiveness we witnessed this year inherently brings its own gifts, as long as we are willing to muscle through the effort of searching for them. Clamoring to point out the differences between people is a sure way to also point out the similarities. And those similarities can mark paths in the road ahead, toward a stronger and more inclusive sense of equality for everyone.
2017 will undoubtedly present rigorous challenges of its own. Perhaps it will be our job to see through those challenges for the clarity and opportunities they'll bring to light. Let's look for those, let's quest for them, let's explore them. And with that clearer vision, claim what it is we want for our future.
2017 will undoubtedly present rigorous challenges of its own. Perhaps it will be our job to see through those challenges for the clarity and opportunities they'll bring to light. Let's look for those, let's quest for them, let's explore them. And with that clearer vision, claim what it is we want for our future.
-Marianne Puechl, co-founder & author / RainbowWeddingNetwork.com
www.MariannePuechl.com
www.MariannePuechl.com
Image courtesy Marian HaleGiven the nervousness LGBTQ couples are feeling in response to the outcome of the Presidential election here in the USA, many of the wedding professionals who are members of Rainbow Wedding Network are finding pro-active ways to offer support.
One of our longtime allies, Rev. Marian Hale with All Ceremonies Beautifully Done! has come forward with the following announcement:
"During 2017, I have several same sex weddings booked -- and I have made this offer to all of them as I will to any couple who wishes me to officiate their upcoming wedding...
To get your license paperwork taken care of, I will marry an LGBTQ couple any time NOW -- at a Starbucks, or in your home, or in my home. Then we will celebrate together with your big ceremony next year for family and friends. No fee for this, it's just part of your wedding! Let's not take a chance on whatever actions Pence and his like might be planning! Just do it!!!
Blessings to all."
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Rev. Marian is based in the Chicago area, and she invites any couple who is seeking an officiant to reach out to her with questions. She has actively supported the LGBTQ community for decades!
Rev. Marian, All Ceremonies Beautifully Done phone 847-491-0603 www.RevMarian.com
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Other wedding professionals and LGBTQ advocates are finding similar ways to support the community. It is heartening, and I invite us all to extend thanks whenever possible: Throughout the next few years, it will become that much more important for those of us who are like-minded, with regard to true equality, to uplift and inspire one another!
28 of History’s Most Influential Leaders You Had No Idea Were Gay
I have no doubt we'll be adding many more posts to our blog in the upcoming months regarding concerns we have for the LGBT community, now that Mr. Trump has been elected as President. It is a sobering time, to say the least.
As we all reel from this election outcome, I encourage you to give yourself time to process what's happened, grieve, gather with others who are safe and likeminded, and breathe. After that, I encourage you to find ways that are meaningful to you in which you feel you can remain active and vigilant: If we all work together, uplift one another, and find ways to continue to forward our rights as a minority in America, we will get through this period more easily and more successfully.
Take heart, you are not alone.
However... it is important to remain informed. Here is one tidbit of information. Again, it is sobering:
Trump picks anti-LGBT hate group to run domestic policy transition:
http://americablog.com/2016/11/trump-picks-anti-lgbt-hate-group-run-domestic-policy-transition.html
Marianne & Cindy, the founders of RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, adopted their daughter ten years ago, and are now in the process of adopting once again through open adoption. Marianne recently posted this article to their agency's blog, and we thought it fitting to share here as well.
Enjoy the article! And thank you for spreading the word that these two great moms are searching for their next precious baby :)
http://www.adoptionhelp.org/blog/
12-year-old boy in Mexico stands against 11,000 anti-gay protesters. Such courage!
Image courtesy Manuel Rodriguez
The following letter was written by one of our recent LGBT Wedding Expo exhibitors, Douglass Carr Cunningham, who joined us at our Charleston event in August 2016. He shared this piece with us and expressed this thoughts that it rang true for the LGBT community as well as the African American community. We agree! And thought it well worth sharing. Enjoy, as you savor the insights and uplifting message:
THIS LETTER IS IN RESPONSE TO RON BRINSON’S EXCELLENT
JULY 16 ARTICLE FOR RACIAL HEALING
One Foot In Power, One In Slavery…We Can Heal
By Douglas Carr Cunningham
We Americans continue to live under the dark cloud of racial conflict, when the truth and solution is right in front of us.
Our national concept of multiculturalism and diversity must be discarded as the dialogue in regards to our racial relationships; our commonality and unity as Americans must be stressed, instead. I have long believed we are of the same race, and should not separated into ‘divisions.’ I am frustrated and a bit angry that we are in categories that separate us – white, African-American, Latino, Asian, etc. Our outward appearances are somewhat different, but it is fact that we share the same blood and DNA. Our strength as Americans is our unity as one people, one soul.
I am told that I am naïve in my belief, but to bring us all together our national dialogue must change. We are constantly being manipulated.
‘Diversity’ is a culprit. I abhor the word and how it is used for political purposes. By its very definition, ‘Diversity’ means difference, which sets up separation, which has come to emphasize the separation between all people of color in this country (whites have color, too). We have come too far with this Diversity craze. We should be emphasizing our Unity as a people, our cohesion as a nation of different colored humans. We will survive chaos if we refuse to be divided by Diversity and difference.
The word, multiculturalism, is also stressed more than it needs to be. While we are a nation of many cultures, we must adjust ourselves into an American culture. Together, we must define the American culture, and unify under its banner.
Martin Luther King had a dream, one that this nation once celebrated. His dream is still attainable, but I fear we have forgotten what he stood for.
My label as a boy was “Colored.” I was a colored boy, who was a credit to his race, as I remember. The word, “nigger” was tossed around a lot, when I was a kid, by white and black, and it was never nice. When I was transformed from Colored to “Black”, I admit James Brown made me a little more proud of whom I was. Then came the label “African-American.” Not okay for me, because it is too much of a politically correct moniker, made to give brown Americans a connection to the ‘home’ country, like the Irish, like the Italians, the Chinese, the Mexicans, etc. My ancestors came from Africa. I did not. I was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. We slave descendants have always been manipulated, and we are still being manipulated by forces pro and con. I am brown-skinned, but I reject being labeled. I reject labeling others, and I have good reason to feel as I do.
As a black citizen, I discovered at a late age that one side of my family was born from the “white” power structure of this nation, the other side from ancestral slavery. The story goes like this. My mother’s biological father was a powerful North Carolina politician. Her mother was his black maid. Mom, a blue-eyed, blond baby, was adopted twice; first to a white family, which gave her up, then to a black couple on the black side of Greensboro, North Carolina. My adoptive Nana was of a mixed color, so it worked. Mom was raised with a black identity, but she was a very “white-looking” girl. My father was black, born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, from a mother who worked the cotton warehouses as a 14-year-old in Blair, South Carolina. My paternal grandmother’s family history is recorded from 1867, and Reconstruction. Most likely, my family was enslaved before then.
Two of my daughters could be members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, if they cared to be. My second wife, their mother, is connected directly to Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, and Col. William Bradford of Plymouth Rock. The lineage has been traced already. My oldest daughter’s mother is from the Philippines. My third wife’s daughters connect directly to Portugal.
One foot in power, and one foot in slavery - that is how I see the origins of my family. Surely, there are others like me in this country.
Some of this I learned very late. Such secrets are similar in America, all over the place (Edward Ball’s book, Slaves In The Family comes to mind). As a nation we suffer from so much secrecy, hate and false truths. I believe with a forward-looking heart it is possible the real truth can set us all free. But it is a hard road. We have shared a terrible history of racial conflict in this country. It is important for “white” Americans to acknowledge and honor people of color. It is important for people of color to try hard to forgive the past, as it is gone. We must overcome difference. The future awaits us.
I grew up somewhat color-blind. This is not to say I have not been angered by unjust incidents in my life. Oh, yes, I have, but the memory of my mother’s angst, and my father’s suppressed opportunities, however, has served to push me forward. I am not a group. I am who I am.
Let us not be manipulated. Our commonality as a people can bring us together as Americans. Disperse the racial and multicultural cloud. Change the dialogue to one of Unity.
Douglas Carr Cunningham, SC
Lead Photographer, Charleston CameraWork
Article courtesy Associated PressATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — After competing in pageants for generations in the closet or working behind the scenes, gays and lesbians finally get to see one of their own take one of pageantry's biggest stages.
Miss Missouri, Erin O' Flaherty, will compete for the Miss America crown this weekend as the first openly lesbian contestant.
A vendor shares her thoughts...
"I was a little ambivalent about renewing my ad, since over the last year it had drawn in only a very modest amount of business. But it suddenly dawned on me that placing an ad on a site dedicated to LGBT weddings is much more than a sales-and-marketing opportunity ~ it's a political statement. Especially in the face of the upcoming presidential election, and the stunning intolerance it has helped foment, it's a way to say I stand unequivocally with my LGBT sisters and brothers. Regardless of how much business the ad may or may not bring in, it's money well spent."
REV. LESLIE BOCKIAN
"Exquisite Celebrations to Touch Your Heart and Spirit"™
Post Office Box 16477
Encino, California 91416
(818) 776-8185 ♥ (877) 237-9485 toll-free
email:
Vice President Joe Biden Officiated His First Wedding for Same-Sex Couple This Week
Eight years ago our staff here at http://www.RainbowWeddingNetwork.com had the pleasure of attending a Clinton rally in Asheville, meeting her briefly, asking her about her stance of LGBT marriage rights, and we gave her a gift: one of our signature 'Same Love, Same Rights'® lapel pins. Such an honor!
Just this year, we had the chance to attend another rally - in Charlotte, this time, just last month, when President Obama officially endorsed Secretary Clinton in her bid for the presidency.
None of our staff has had the pleasure of seeing or meeting Vice President Biden, but his leadership and down-to-earth style have continued to captivate and inspire us. He's continued to be an advocate for the common person, and that, for quite some time, has included the LGBT minority. Kudos, Joe! We appreciate your service and your integrity. And congratulations on taking this beautiful opportunity to officiate at the marriage of these lucky grooms earlier this week!