Turn It Up: Kristen Merlin covers Girl Crush

Kristen Merlin is a past contestant on the U.S. singing competition, The Voice. She was Team Shakira and sings wonderfully in the country genre. Country group Little Big Town have a current single called "Girl Crush" and as an out artist, Merlin covered the song (video above) with a decidedly different twist since it's not meant to be about a same-sex relationship. We'll have a discussion later this week about this song, so please come back!

What do you think of this version? Had you heard the song before?

-Lauren Becker

U.S. Wins + Abby Wambach Runs to Wife

this is an older photo of Wambach, but source

 The U.S. Women's Soccer Team won the World Cup last night against Japan, 5-2. As soon as the game was over, Abby Wambach ran over to the crowd to hug and kiss her wife, Sarah Huffman.

Some people may see this and think "what's the big deal? It's her spouse!" and that's a great attitude to have. At the same time, you have to remember that not everyone feels that way and I still think it's a very brave thing to do in public, regardless of "fame" or anything else.

What do you think?

Congrats to Abby and the rest of the U.S. team!

-Lauren Becker

Happy 4th: Feel Proud

For those of you in the United States, Happy Fourth of July. Whether you're in the U.S. or not -

"What have you done today to make you feel proud?"





-Lauren Becker

Discuss It: Still Fighting for Equality

Discuss It!

Same-sex marriage might have been legalized in the United States, but that doesn't mean the fight has ended. There are still going to be people who oppose these rights, and will do what they can to deny other ones. Religion is also a major factor for most people when it comes to accepting same-sex marriage and other rights.

I found two articles online that I wanted to share and discuss with everyone. Please state your opinion in the comments below. Feel free to be honest, but do not hassle anyone else or we will delete your comment.

First off, the Advocate shares a story about an Arkansas County Clerk that resigned so she didn't have to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses. She has held this job for the past 24 years, and she states in the article that she doesn't hate anyone and it was a difficult decision, but she just doesn't agree with same-sex marriage.

This is a difficult topic, I think, because we need to be respectful of everyone's beliefs. Personally, I see nothing wrong with same-sex couples and they should definitely be allowed to get married. For people that oppose this idea, I simply believe they should kind to people and not try and push their beliefs on others. Besides that, everyone is free to believe what they want and if this woman would rather resign than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, then so be it. Do I personally agree? No, but you can't change everyone's opinions.

What do you think?

The other article was on the Huffington Post and it's about how the Episcopalian Church voted to recognize same-sex marriage. I think this is a fantastic step toward equal rights for everyone. Like I said above, religion and churches are often a huge force in opposing same-sex couples, so it's always great to see when people go against this and welcome all people.

Again, share your thoughts below!

Also, I would love some kind of button for these discussion posts. If you would like to make one for us, please get in touch - lauren51990 AT aol DOT com


-Lauren Becker

Marriage Equality: Musicians Share Their Excitement

images from this post

Alternative Press magazine shared a post where they collected images from many musicians' twitter pages, showing how excited they are for marriage equality in the United States.

As a fan of many of these artists, I thought it was great to see their excitement and thoughts. They can influence a lot of people (especially younger fans) so it's nice to see them supporting something positive and very much important. In the above photo you can see Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, Hayley from Paramore, and Mark Hoppus from Blink182.

Are there any artists you're a fan of that shared their excitement online?

-Lauren

We're Back in Time for Marriage Equality!

image source

We're back and what a great time to be returning. I started this blog (I being Lauren) in order to share LGBTQ news and entertainment that would suit a YA audience. That doesn't mean you have to be a young adult, of course, so everyone is welcome. Running blogs takes a lot of time and effort and as I already handle Shooting Stars Mag, I eventually stopped posting over here. I've been wanting to bring this back though, because I think it's important. Now that Marriage Equality has spread across the United States, I think it's a great time to come back to this blog.

It might now be legal for same-sex couples to get married anywhere in the United States, but that doesn't mean that everyone believes in equal rights. There will still be hatred and hurt feelings, and while I know this, I don't agree with it. I feel that everyone should be free to love who they love - free to marry (and they can in the U.S. and many other countries) but also free from angry words and other forms of discrimination.

So, here at Let's Get Beyond Tolerance, we hope to shed a positive light on LGBTQ issues and entertainment. We don't want just tolerance - we want acceptance. For all.

Thank you for reading, following, and helping us out in the past. We ask that you continue to do so in the future and please spread the word. If you have something you want us to talk about or feature, just get in touch: lauren51990 AT aol DOT com or leave a comment.

If you look at the sidebar of this blog you will see that the official authors of the blog are Catherine Ryan Hyde and Lee Bantle. They are still helping, so you'll see things from them soon! Official authors means that their work will be focused on here and there, and they will share their own thoughts about things, but we are obviously going to focus on a lot more in the LGBTQ entertainment world - so again, get in touch!

Here's to equality, here's to love.

-Lauren Becker

TV Review: Partners

Partners TV Show

Review by Lauren

IMDB Summary: Two lifelong friends, who are both architects, form a business partnership.

Review: The above summary is the shortened version of Partners (which premiered last Monday, so there have been two episodes thus far). The longer story is that Louis (Michael Urie) and Joe (David Krumholtz) have been best friends for years, and now they work together as architects. Louis is gay, Joe is straight. Louis is with Wyatt (Brandon Routh), and Joe is with Ali (Sophia Bush).

Louis and Joe are friends with each other, but they also get along with each other's significant others...sometimes a bit too much in the case of Louis, who is always getting in the middle of Joe and Ali's business (especially in last night's episode where he talks to Ali about sleeping with Joe more, and then cooking Joe dinner at night).

For those that don't know, Partners is created by the same people that created Will and Grace. When you watch the show, you can see the similarities...four friends, the gay/straight duo are partners at work instead of roommates, the humor, etc. And boy, does this have humor, especially when it comes to Louis. He really does make the show, as my mom says. Not that I don't like the other characters but Louis is very interesting...hilarious, selfish, and yet he does have a big heart and wants to take care of his friends (especially Joe).

I'm really excited that Joe is played by David Krumholtz because I see him and think "Bernard!" aka Bernard the Elf from the first two Santa Clause films. Yes, that's him. Fun, eh?

Bernard the Elf, source

Sophia Bush does a great job as Ali. Her interactions with Louis are particularly amusing and fun.

As for Brandon Routh as Wyatt...he's a bit amusing, and seems like a good guy, but we've gotten more about Joe and Ali's relationship so far than Louis/Wyatt, so it will be nice to have that expanded in future episodes. They also seem to make Wyatt a bit of a bumbling fool...moreso in the second episode though. He's a nurse, so he's obviously smart, but he seems to be the "stupid funny" aspect of the show and that's not really fair for Routh as an actor, so I hope we can see him grow more as time goes on.

Besides that little quibble, I really love the show. I think it's fun and humorous and I like the idea of a gay/straight friendship between two guys. I hope this one does well!

What do you think? Have you seen it? Plan to check it out now?