Going Viral: NYC Police Officer's LGBT Pride Facebook Post Inspires Thousands

I commented somewhere recently that while I do sometimes post stories of what seems like bad judgement by a handful of police officers, I don't hate cops. One of my best friends was a police officer for two decades.

I know there are great cops in the world. And just to prove it, here's one now.

A New York City police officers' Facebook post from Sunday, wherein he shares the pic above and the message below, has gone viral.

Going only by "Big Fat Loser," (the officer chronicles his weight loss on the account), he writes:

I'll be out there working at Pridefest today wearing this shirt under my uniform for a lot of reasons.
For my step brother.
For my priest.
For my aunts who died before they could be legally married.
For my cousin.
For all of the cops I have worked with over the years, including one of the best partner's I've ever shared a sector car with.
For my classmate in High School who's parents made him sleep in a tent in his yard.
For the man who cried on my shoulder about losing his partner on 9/11.
For every call I went to where someone got kicked out of their house or who's family just didn't understand.
For anyone who's had to hide who they are.
I've got your back.
Love is Love.
#loveislove #pride #pride🌈 #prideparade #nypd #igotyou #freehugs

(h/t JoeMyGod)

Stand-up Dairy Queen employee refuses to serve woman who stole blind guest's $20

Joey Prusak was working at a Minnesota Dairy Queen when he saw a guest who was blind drop a $20 bill as he stepped away from the counter. What he saw next really surprised him.

An older woman reached down, picked up the bill and put it in her purse. As she reached the counter, Prusak refused to serve her until she returned the money to it's rightful owner:

"I told her ‘Ma’am, you can either return the $20 bill or you can leave the store," Prusak told CBS Minnesota, "because I’m not going to serve someone as disrespectful as you."

After exchanging some angry words with Prusak, the woman eventually decided to leave.

But Prusak wasn't done setting things right just yet.

Once he was finished helping the other customers in line, Prusak approached the blind man, who was still inside the store eating, and pulled a $20 bill out of his own pocket.

"I felt like the right thing to do was to give him the money," Prusak told WCCO. "I said, 'You happened to the drop this.'"

The good deed would have gone unnoticed if not for a second guest at the DQ who saw the entire episode and wrote the national DQ office to praise Prusak.

A photo of the letter was eventually posted to Facebook by an employee, and from there it made its way to Reddit and the rest of the web.

Let's hear it for Joey Prusak!  And his parents who taught him well.

[screengrab via CBS Minnesota, letter via CityPages - click to enlarge]

(source)

New Yorkers make citizen's arrest foiling iPhone thief

See, New Yorkers don't mind stepping in when they see something wrong is happening.

Apparently this guy stole a woman's iPhone and took off running. But he didn't expect these two New Yorkers to jump into the chase. Not only did they catch him, but they held him for the police.

No "not my problem" attitude here.

Go New York!

BSmith ad celebrates gay marriage

For a quarter of a century, B. Smith Enterprises has quietly supported those in need by being the center of the community on Restaurant Row in New York City,  and will now be running an ad playfully supporting gay marriage in Dan’s Papers this weekend and throughout the summer.

Inspired by the six colors of the rainbow that symbolize gay and lesbian community pride (pictured), it says:

According to Dan Gasby, Chairman of B. Smith Enterprises, “B. Smith stands for civil rights and human rights; for people whom, no matter what their political leanings or religious beliefs, should be free to love who they choose unfettered. Coming off of President Obama’s recent support of gay marriage, we wanted to make a statement about how we believe the world should be. Our message: be thankful, be supportive, be expressive, be yourself. We also want to commend the NAACP for their courage and leadership in supporting and recognizing this critical human rights issue: people should be allowed to love whomever they wish.”   

Over 640,000 thank Starbucks for supporting marriage equality

 

From The Advocate: National coffee chain Starbucks Wednesday received a card thanking the company for its continued support of marriage equality in its home state of Washington.

The National Organization for Marriage launched a boycott of Starbucks because the company's leaders supported marriage equality legislation that recently passed in Washington. NOM recruited about 28,000 to "Dump Starbucks."

However, a counterprotest to "Thank Starbucks" grabbed the attention of 640,000 marriage equality supporters.

The pro-Starbucks effort was organized by SumOfUs.org, MoveOn.org, and Washington United for Marriage, which submitted a card with 640,000 signatures at Starbucks' main corporate offices Wednesday.

“We’ve been stunned by the passionate response to 'Thank Starbucks' – our most viral campaign ever,” Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, executive director for SumofUs.org, said in a statement. “We’ve seen in our campaigns that consumers expect corporations to do right by their workers and by their community. We hope that this overwhelming show of support for Starbucks for supporting gay rights will inspire other corporations to keep making similar public statements.”

James Olsen, Starbucks’ vice president of global corporate communications, thanked customers for their support.

“We are long-standing supporters of a culture of diversity, and inclusion and equality for everybody, and I'll share this with our fellow leaders,” he said. “Thank you very much.”