Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks directly to gay and lesbian teenagers in a new video produced at the urging of State Department employees.
Clinton calls recent suicides by gay teenagers "a reminder that all Americans have to work harder to overcome bigotry and hatred."
"Hang in there and ask for help," she says to teens being bullied because of their sexuality. "Your life is so important -- to your family, your friends, and to your country. And there is so much waiting for you, both personally and professionally -- there are so many opportunities for you to develop your talents and make your contributions."
"Here at the State Department, I am grateful every day for the work of our LGBT employees who are serving the United States as foreign service officers and civil servants here and around the world," she says later. "It wasn't long ago that these men and women would not have been able to serve openly, but today they can -- because it has gotten better. And it will get better for you.
"So take heart, and have hope, and please remember that your life is valuable, and that you are not alone. Many people are standing with you and sending you their thoughts, their prayers and their strength. Count me among them. Take care of yourself."
The video was shot and produced quickly after members of the group Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies contacted State Department Counselor
Cheryl Mills asking for the secretary to speak out, said
Michelle Schohn, a spokeswoman for the group.
Schohn noted that Clinton was one of the first public figures to speak publicly about gay teen suicides, raising the issue during a Gay Pride Month speech at the State Department in June:
I think that each and every one of you not only professionally, particularly from State and USAID in every bureau and every embassy and every part of our government, have to do what you can to create that safe space, but also personally to really look for those who might need a helping hand, particularly young people, particularly teenagers who still, today, have such a difficult time and who still, in numbers far beyond what should ever happen, take their own lives rather than live that life. So I would ask you to please think of ways you can be there for everyone who is making this journey to defend not only human rights globally, but to truly defend themselves and their rights. The struggle for equality is never, ever finished. And it is rarely easy, despite how self-evident it should be.
A State Department spokesman did not return requests for comment on the video.
By Ed O'Keefe October 20, 2010; 8:00 AM ET
,Source 
The Senate has confirmed another controversial appointee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and one conservative leader is warning that her new position could present a problem.
He says the appointee taught law at Georgetown University and "was one of the authors of ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is a bill which would federalize homosexual activist rights." But the AFTAH president adds that Feldblum "is honest enough to admit that there is a zero-sum game battle between gay rights, so-called, and people's religious freedom to disagree with homosexuality."
An advocate for America's fighting men and women says the repeal of the ban on homosexuals serving in the military will effectively create a new type of "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military.
"The lesbian, gay, bisexual [and] transgender access to the armed forces with zero tolerance of dissent will be a major reason why some decisions will be made, especially in the mid-career ranks, by families and by individuals to just not re-enlist," warns 
A "classic effort in propaganda" is how an immigration reform activist views a journalism society's push for the use of politically correct language in news stories concerning illegal immigration.
Despite the SPJ's campaign, many mainstream journalists employ the word "illegal," and even Associated Press prefers the phrase "illegal immigrant" to "undocumented worker" in its official stylebook.
A Texas-based Planned Parenthood affiliate is leaving the national federation because it doesn't want to perform abortions.
"What we're seeing in Corpus Christi is a local Planned Parenthood affiliate which has disaffiliated itself from the national organization because of the national organization's commitment to force them to provide abortions -- something they don't want to do," he explains.
A climatologist and former NASA scientist says a recent op-ed claiming global warming is responsible for cold weather isn't true.
While Spencer believes the globe has warmed, he also believes the question of how much and why remains up for debate. And he says that even if warming has continued over the last 50 to 100 years, "we have evidence from temperature data that suggests that almost every century in the last 2,000 years has experienced significant global warming or global cooling."
