The White House announced today that San Francisco civil rights leader Harvey Milk will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. From the White House press release:

Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve social equality. Milk, alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor.  Milk is revered nationally and globally as a pioneer of the LGBT civil rights movement for his exceptional leadership and dedication to equal rights.

The Victory Fund which advocates on behalf of LGBT leaders responded to the news:

“We are thrilled President Obama is honoring Harvey Milk with the Medal of Freedom.  He’s an American hero and trailblazer whose election more than 30 years ago triggered a political awakening that inspires us still today.  This recognition sends an important message about how critical political leadership will be in making all Americans equal in the eyes of the law,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund.

Stuart Milk echoed Wolfe’s praise, saying, “The President’s action today touches the core of our very human hearts and my uncle would be so proud of this high honor.  His election was, for him, a beginning–a chance to make real change.  That change is happening, but we still have so far to go.  I hope this recognition inspires LGBT Americans everywhere to heed Harvey’s call to run for office, to serve openly, to live proudly with authenticity and to demand the equality that we all deserve.”

Harvey’s nephew Stuart Milk will be at the White House to accept the honor on August 12. Other recipients include openly lesbian tennis legend Bill Jean King and LGBT ally Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

An Iraqi refugee has accused the U.S. Military of atrocities against gay Iraqis and claims to have the photographic evidence to back it up.

Two gay Iraqi refugees, who declined to use their real names, delivered a presentation at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters July 24 in which they detailed alleged abuses of fellow gay Iraqis while calling on their audience to donate funds to Helem, a Lebanon-based center that works to address the plight of LGBT people in the Middle East.

One of the Iraqis, who goes by the name “Hussam,” showed the audience of about 80 people gruesome images, including shots allegedly of a beheaded man who was gay and another of the victim’s twin brother grieving over the severed head.

While asserting that anti-gay violence in Iraq is often committed by Iraqis, Hussam also said U.S. service members were involved in anti-gay hostility. For example, he said service members displayed signs in front of their barracks with the words “Fuck Off Fags.”

But the reaction from the audience turned from anger to shock when Hussam said U.S. service members had detained Iraqi civilians perceived to be gay and executed them.

He then showed an image of what appeared to be an American soldier standing in front of a small group of four or five kneeling naked men who were chained together. Hussam claimed the men were gay Iraqis and that he possessed images of their execution, which he did not show the audience.

While there have been numerous reports of violence against gays in Iraq, as reported in the USA Today as late as yesterday, this is the first accusation against the U.S. Military.  Defense officials have not yet commented on the allegations.

The SyFy Channel (formerly Sci-Fi)  responded to  GLAAD’s Network Responsibility Index which gave the network a failing grade, promising to try harder to increase diversity in its original programming.

A GLAAD rep told TVGuide.com that Syfy’s grade was based on the fact that there were only two gay characters appearing on the network’s programming during the timetable of the study — Eureka‘s Vincent and Battlestar Galactica‘s Gaeta — and the latter’s sexual orientation was never directly addressed on the show. Instead, it was only referred to in a webisode.

Looking ahead, however, Syfy’s [executive vice-president] Stern touts two new series and the diversity depicted within.

“On Stargate Universe, one of the main female characters, we discover, is a lesbian and has a wife at home. It’s a pretty important facet of who that character is,” he says. ER alum Ming-Na plays intergalactic diplomat Camille Wray, while 24‘s Reiko Aylesworth recurs as her wife.

Similarly the Galactica prequel spin-off Caprica has at least two main characters depicted as being in gay relationships. “[One] is a ‘goodfella’-type, and we discover in a nonchalant way that he is gay, with a husband,” Stern says. “It was very interesting to me to take what is traditionally a very heterosexual role in an organization that we think of as being extremely homophobic, and put a gay character in that world in a very normalized way.”

NBC, CBS, A&E and TBS also received failing grades for lack of diversity but have refused to comment. HBO and Showtime received the highest ratings.

As a longtime science fiction geek, it will be good to see more of us represented in the Final Frontier. J.J. Abrams, are you listening?

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I don’t know what’s more disturbing. The ranting of this bigot or that no one called her out. She should have been ejected from the train. Watch:

Stephanie Chu who shot the video said the following on SFIst:

I filmed this on a MUNI T train this morning on my way to work. I found it appalling that this woman would be so hateful towards a gay/transgender person – so I had no qualms about putting her face on the Internet. At one point, it got physical. The train was held up for about 10 minutes until she calmed down, then the cops came to take their statements. I thought it might be interesting to share how intolerance is still very much alive, even in liberal cities like SF.

Apparently, she works at a hospital (she wore scrubs) off of the T line, I am guessing UCSF Mission Bay.

Anyone know who this lovely person is? Apparently she was wearing a lanyard that said “I love Jesus.” Boy, what a surprise.