Queer Corner Quickie #12: Day of Silence v. Day of Dialogue, Apple, The Bully Porject, gay caveman, J.Crew ad

A quick roundup of this week’s gay happenings…

Video of the Week: This week the It Gets Better Project released an video by employees at Apple. This is definitely the most emotional composite IGB video I’ve seen. The vid is below, but you may want to have some tissues on hand before pressing play.

Gays allies around the country are observing the National Day of Silence today in support of LGBT individuals who are silenced everyday by bigoted communities. Since the religious right can’t handle anything gay happening without a counterattack, they’ve initiated the National Day of Dialogue that will take place on Monday. Give me a break.

There were two big gay awards shows this week. The second part of the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards was Sunday in Hollywood. (There are three parts. The first part was in NYC last month and the last part will be in San Francisco next month.) Glee and Modern Family were the big winners and even Dolly Parton made a surprise appearance. (Lots of videos and photos from the GLAAD Awards here.) The other was Logo’s annual New Now Next Awards, which was hosted by James Van der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) and featured Adam Lambert, Paula Abdul and a gaggle of other celebrities. (You can watch the full NNN Awards here.)

The California Senate passed a bill yesterday that mandates schools in the state teach LGBT history.

Earlier this week the gay blogosphere exploded when Louis Marinelli, anti-gay NOM’s (National Organization for Marriage) right hand man completely did a 180 and came out FOR marriage equality. Marinelli basically controlled the hate group’s online presence and organized NOM’s extremely unpopular “Summer of Marriage” Tour last year. Now he’s releasing details about the inner workings of the organization (it’s much smaller than many may think) and he’s now dedicated to fighting for gay rights. Of course, NOM has been backpedaling a mile a minute and claiming they had no ties with Marinelli to begin with.

ACLU “Don’t Filter Me” Initiative finds schools in four more states unconstitutionally censoring LGBT websites.

Lady Gaga releases new single “Judas” early. Her new album, “Born This Way,” is set for a May 23rd release.

“The Bully Project” is a new film directed by Sundance and Emmy award-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch that’s getting a big premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival April 23. The documentary follows a year-in-the-life of various kids from around the country as they deal with bullying, and one of the kids featured is gay. Here’s the emotionally gut-wrenching  trailer.

A professional volleyball player in Brazil, who recently came out publicly, was viciously ridiculed by fans during an away game. However, when they returned home his teammates showed their support by wearing pink jerseys and the fans even joined in by waving pink thundersticks and waving a massive rainbow flag. Sadly, this would never happen at an American sports game. Check out the inspirational photos and video from the game here.

Gay Bashing Report: Jury convicts ex-Marine in gay Indiana University professor slaying | Police in Missouri investigate property damage as possible hate crime

Yesterday in Washington D.C. Rep. Jerrold Nadler reintroduced the Uniting American Families Act to secure LGBT immigration equality.

Comedian Bryan Safi breaks down the gay caveman controversy.

Universal Pictures may turn “American Idiot” musical into a movie to be penned by Dustin Lance Black.

Kobe Bryant is in the middle of a firestorm of controversy because he called a ref a “f***ing faggot” during a game recently. Here’s out gay ex-NBA player John Amaechi’s eloquent and pertinent response.

White House bars gay groups from military families event. They claim the reason was becasue, though in the final stages of repeal, DADT is still the law. I call B.S. on this one.

In Britain, gay blood donation ban to be lifted for men who haven’t had sex for 10 years. Really? This is their solution. I guess it’s better than nothing, like here in the U.S. where gay men STILL can’t give blood.

Check out this amazingly poignant and heartbreaking short film called Void, made in honor of Tyler Clementi (the 18-year-old who committed suicide after his roommate secretly broadcast his sexual encounter with a man on the internet) by some students at Rutgers University.

A discrimination lawsuit aims to define sex beyond gender. A transgender man was fired from a job that the company’s policy said had to be filled by a man.

Illinois may be making strides with their civil unions bill, but Senate Bill 1123, now being considered by the state’s Congress, allows religious institutions the right to not service LGBT couples who are adopting or becoming foster parents if they don’t feel it fits within their “deeply held beliefs.”

Chelsea Clinton, Ken Mehlman and David Mixner to team up for Friendfactor, a new initiative to get more straight allies involved with pushing for  LGBT equality.

Photo of the Week: This ad by J.Crew had conservatives all in a tizzy this week because it featured a mother painting her son’s toenails pink. Then once the main stream media picked it up, all hell broke loose. (Here’s more from The View, The Talk and The Daily Show.) I have no idea what the big deal is. Like some have said, if this was a girl playing in the mud with her father no one would have bat an eye.