Out in America Features» Family

Airman Tells Dad He Is Gay as DADT Ends

OIA Staff — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:44:03 +0000

The military’s ban on openly gay service officially ended at midnight, and already one member of the Air Force has shared a video of his personal journey out of the closet. A 21-year-old servicemember who had been keeping an anonymous vlog about his quest to come out to his girlfriend, family, and comrades posted a [...]

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The Best Way to Break Up – life beyond therapy

OIA Staff — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:48:31 +0000

Dear Michael: I recently broke up with my boyfriend of 8 years. I can’t believe I was with him that long, he has been so abusive for most of that time. He’s crazy, literally. I think he’s bipolar. He threatens me one day and then begs me to come back the next day. Recently, I [...]

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How to Stay Single and Still Love Yourself – life beyond therapy

OIA Staff — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:09:11 +0000

I like to read foreign newspapers for their different points of view. Recently, in the Sunday (London) Times, reporter Joseph Dunn wrote, “There comes a point in every adult’s life when he or she must check out of Guyland…This is the place in a man’s life when he lives singly and without responsibility. It’s also [...]

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The Sandwich-Generation Lesbian – General Gayety

OIA Staff — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:14:39 +0000

Ever heard of the Lingerie Football League? It’s a women’s football league where the women wear helmets, shoulder pads, bras, panties and garters. Billed as “true fantasy football,” the teams have names like the Los Angeles Temptation and the Dallas Desire. If this league catered any more to men there would be cigars at halftime. [...]

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80-year-old Iowa Grandmother Speaks in favor of Gay Marriage

OIA Staff — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:12:25 +0000

80 year old grandmother speaks about her gay son, his marriage and the effect the gay marriage debate is having on her and her family. via. Read the full article @ 80-year-old Iowa Grandmother Speaks in favor of Gay Marriage Read more articles @ our blogBecome a fan on FacebookFollow us on Twitter

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Cynthia Nixon and Fiancee Christine Marinoni Welcome New Baby Boy

OIA Staff — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:51:26 +0000

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon and fiancee Christine Marinoni just got an addition to the family in the form of son Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni. Marinoni gave birth to their son on February 7, delivering a new baby brother to Nixon’s two children from a previous relationship. via. Read the full article @ Cynthia [...]

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Celebrating Your Sexual Self – life beyond therapy

OIA Staff — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:07:24 +0000

In recent years, I have given workshops with the above title, and these workshops have been extremely popular. In some cities I was asked to come back and do the workshop again because participants wanted their friends to experience it. So, obviously, this is an important topic at this point in time. Why? Here’s my [...]

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Remains Of Mitrice Richardson To Be Exhumed And Examined By FBI

OIA Staff — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:01:42 +0000

It has been over a year now since Mitrice Richardson disappeared. Her remains were found almost a year later. What remains of her, mostly bones and clothing, will be exhumed and sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, VA for further examination according to LA County Sheriff Lee Baca. The LA County Sheriffs Office has [...]

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Florida Gay Couple Found Murdered

OIA Staff — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:59:34 +0000

A South Florida gay couple was found dead in their home by police over the weekend, victims of a double homicide. Police found the bodies of Kevin Mark Powell, 47, and Stephen Duane Adams, 52, in their Wilton Manors home on Sunday. Police entered the home at the request of Adams’ sister who grew concerned [...]

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Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Offers A Message To Bullied LGBT Youth

OIA Staff — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:51:27 +0000

Hillary Clinton reaches out: “First of all, hang in there and ask for help. 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 [...]

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Comprehensive immigration reform legislation introduced in U.S. Senate

OIA Staff — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:09:24 +0000

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010, a bill that includes the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which allows citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners; and the DREAM Act, which would give young people who came to the U.S. as children a chance to achieve citizenship through completing two [...]

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‘Kids Are All Right’ Starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening On DVD Nov. 16

OIA Staff — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:05:18 +0000

The Kids Are All Right is a “generous, nearly note-perfect portrait of a modern family” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times). Directed by Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) from an original screenplay that she wrote with Stuart Blumberg (Keeping the Faith), The Kids Are All Right stars Academy Award® nominees Annette Bening (American Beauty) and Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights). Nic (Bening) and Jules (Moore) are a suburban couple [...]

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Is it OK to Own a Canadian?

OIA Staff — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:24:34 +0000

In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlessinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, written by a US man, and posted on the Internet. It’s funny, as well as informative: Dear Dr. Laura: Thank you [...]

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Pentagon to meet with military gay spouses

OIA Staff — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:07:16 +0000

Members of the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Review Working Group on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will meet with lesbian and gay military partners on Sept. 16, said Servicemember’s United. The meeting will be the first time Pentagon staff are meeting with gay military partners about Don’t Ask. VIA. Read the full article @ Pentagon to meet with [...]

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Military spouse DADT survey send out and with same insensitivity as the first

OIA Staff — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:13:18 +0000

The Pentagon has sent out the second part to its military survey on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, this time to approximately 150,000 military spouses, and it shows much of the same insensitivity that the first survey did. Said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United, regarding the survey: “This survey of military spouses contains many [...]

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Arizona To Appeal Same-Sex Health Benefits Ruling

OIA Staff — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:11:15 +0000

A spokesman for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says that state will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that Arizona cannot deny family health insurance to employees with same-sex partners. According to AZCentral.com, Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said, “We are appealing the preliminary injunction because we disagree with the federal court’s initial injunction ruling and we believe [...]

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Gay Mom Review: ‘The Kids Are All Right’

OIA Staff — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:51:26 +0000

Jen Hitchcock: As a gay mom raising a child with my partner, I went to the movie “The Kids Are All Right” with my combat boots on, prepared to be angered by how Hollywood was going to portray my family. I was already put off by the fact that one of the mom characters (the [...]

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Getting along with difficult people – life beyond therapy

OIA Staff — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:48:34 +0000

No matter how wonderful your life is, it’s impossible to avoid difficult people. These unpleasant folks may be your neighbors, coworkers, family, clients, boss or even your partner. Regardless of who they are, how are you going to get along with them? You can’t just blow them off and run away (they have a way [...]

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NY Senate Democrats Extend Rights to LGBT Couples

OIA Staff — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:39:12 +0000

Legislation grants bereavement leave to employees in same-sex relationships The Senate Democratic Majority passed legislation (S6177A/Montgomery) that allows individuals involved in same-sex relationships to be granted funeral or bereavement leave from their place of employment. The bill, spearheaded by Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn), extends this privilege that was previously granted only to employees that are [...]

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DADT: Truth And Sense Gone AWOL

OIA Staff — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:03:23 +0000

The things they say. Politicians and advocates opposed to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) have provided a chain of ignorant remarks and fantastical claims. I suppose when fear is your main motivator, your lips come out swinging. In May, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chatted on American Family Association (AFA) radio about DADT. [...]

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A well-earned comeuppance – General Gayety

OIA Staff — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:06:15 +0000

Since entering Congress in 1994, Indiana Republican Mark Souder focused on changing America’s moral direction. Now we know whose moral direction got changed. The eight-term congressman, a pillar of family values, recently resigned his seat, saying that he had “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time [...]

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Protecting the sanctity of straight camping

OIA Staff — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:57:55 +0000

The next great threat to straight privilege: Gay couples in Iowa being allowed to erect a second tent at campgrounds just like straight couples can. OMG, no! Gay camping will destroy the sanctity of straight camping! And just look at the “special rights” they’re going to be giving to gay couples: The rates or fees [...]

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Sonoma County CA separates elderly gay couple and sells all their possessions

OIA Staff — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:40:42 +0000

There is nothing more personal than how we wish to spend our final years. After decades with our loved ones there should be no dispute that we should get to spend our final moments together. Unfortunately Sonoma County, CA treated Harold and Clay as if they were strangers. Harold was 88 and Clay was 77 [...]

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President Obama Announces New Health Protections for LGBT Families

OIA Staff — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:50:56 +0000

Tonight President Obama issued a memorandum directing hospitals to allow same-sex couples visitation rights and medical power of attorney. MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SUBJECT: Respecting the Rights of Hospital Patients to Receive Visitors and to Designate Surrogate Decision Makers for Medical Emergencies There are few moments in our lives that [...]

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CONTEST: Enter to win a pair of tickets and a poster autographed by Chris Sieber!

OIA Staff — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:00:29 +0000

The New Group Presents THE KID A NEW MUSICAL Based on the true story of what happens when sex columnist Dan Savage and his boyfriend decide to start a family Book by Michael Zam Directed By Scott Elliot Starring Christopher Sieber (Shrek – Tony® Award nomination) and Lucas Steele (B’way: The Threepenny Opera) Adapted from [...]

Read the full article @ CONTEST: Enter to win a pair of tickets and a poster autographed by Chris Sieber!

Huckabee compares gay parenting to experimentation: ‘Children are not puppies’

OIA Staff — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:19:48 +0000

Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee shared his ignorance and bigotry about same-sex parents with a College of New Jersey student publication. “I think this is not about trying to create statements for people who want to change the basic fundamental definitions of family. Children are not puppies. This is not a time [...]

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Homosexual couples make ‘excellent’ parents according to Spanish study

OIA Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:21:38 +0000

Homosexual couples offer an ‘excellent’ atmosphere to bring up children, according to a new Spanish study on ‘new families’. It looked at the psychological development of children and adolescents in new family structures, and concluded that homosexual couples offered an ‘excellent’ atmosphere for the growth of children because education of values such as tolerance was [...]

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BBC Man Ray Gosling Admits Killing Aids-Suffering Lover

OIA Staff — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:18:42 +0000

Police are investigating after the Nottingham film-maker said he had a pact with the deceased man to act if his suffering increased. During a documentary on death and dying, Ray Gosling, 70, said: “I killed someone once. He’d been my lover and he got Aids. “And maybe this is the time to share a secret [...]

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Therapy Organizations Challenging Prop 8 Agree Quality of Parenting Is What Matters Not Gender

OIA Staff — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:23:34 +0000

A group of leading organizations for marriage and family therapists and other mental health professionals from across the nation have filed an amicus brief challenging Proposition 8 in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The therapy associations agree that what matters is the quality of the parenting, not the [...]

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Anne Hathaway’s Family Left Catholicism To Support Her Gay Brother

OIA Staff — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:00:47 +0000

Anne Hathaway’s family left the Catholic Church because of its intolerance of homosexuality. Anne grew up wanting to become a nun but shunned Catholicism when she learned her older brother, Michael, was gay. Hathaway says, “The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organization that has [...]

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Dr. Phil’s “Modern Families” Show Excludes Queer Families

OIA Staff — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:06:56 +0000

Dr. Phil hosted a show today called “How Do You Define a Modern Family?” which featured different families and issues including childless couples, single parents, cross-cultural adoption, and age differences between couples. The show did nothing to address queer families of any sort and reinforced the myth of the “traditional family” unit. [ Queers United [...]

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Vermont Judge Awards Custody of Child to Non-Biological Lesbian Mom

OIA Staff — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:36:17 +0000

In a stunning decision, Rutland Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ruled Friday that he is awarding sole custody of 7-year-old Isabella Miller to her non-biological lesbian mother, Janet Jenkins. For six years, the case has been jumping between courts in Vermont, where Jenkins lives, and Virginia, where her former lesbian spouse, Lisa Miller, now [...]

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Self-confessed mobster comes out in court

OIA Staff — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:45:48 +0000

A confessed gunman for the Gambino crime family, who is also a government informer, added a surprise personal disclosure to his guilty plea on Monday in a Brooklyn, N.Y., courtroom. Robert Mormando told the court he was gay in the hopes of getting a lesser sentence because he alleged his status as a formerly closeted [...]

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Rosie O’Donnell, partner may be heading toward split

OIA Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:25:03 +0000

Rosie O’Donnell has confirmed to Lifeline Live that she and partner Kelli Carpenter, 42, are on the rocks. In an interview at her Nyack, N.Y., compound Tuesday, USA TODAY’s Ann Oldenburg asked if the two had split — she has been hinting at it in her blog — and O’Donnell didn’t deny it, saying, “We’re [...]

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‘Balloon Boy’ and Brothers Perform Offensive, Anti-Gay Rap

OIA Staff — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:07:54 +0000

The news just keeps getting worse for the Heene family, better known now to the world as the family behind the “balloon boy” scandal. In the video the Heene boys rap about the “pussification” of men and frequently use the word “faggot.” At about the 2 minute and 50 second mark, one of the boys [...]

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Keeping The Young Folks Apart – General Gayety

OIA Staff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:39:33 +0000

In his New York Times Magazine column called “The Ethicist,” Randy Cohen recently tackled a modern dilemma. A mother wrote in to say that her daughter, in her late 20s, has a same-sex partner, a fact known to most of the large Catholic family. But the writer’s in-laws, the lesbian’s grandparents, don’t know, and the rule [...]

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Federal court dismisses lawsuit from lesbian banned from dying partner’s bedside

OIA Staff — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:42:19 +0000

A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit by a lesbian who was banned by a Florida hospital from being with her life partner during her final hours. Lisa Pond, Janice Langbehn and their three adopted children were on a gay “R Family” cruise in February 2007 when Pond, 39, suffered a brain aneurysm that led [...]

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Caught on tape: Anti-gay California assemblyman likes it wet and rough

OIA Staff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:12:41 +0000

Orange County California state assemblyman Michael Duvall was all about the family values during last year campaign to push California’s Prop 8, and he was out there working hard to make sure “the gay” did not have the right to marry in the Golden State, as it would just really screw up families in California [...]

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Statement by the President on the Smelt v. United States Brief

OIA Staff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:09:53 +0000

Today, the Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress. I have long held that DOMA [...]

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Lesbian Moms Participates In New CBS Reality Show

OIA Staff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:38:49 +0000

A new reality show from CBS, There Goes the Neighborhood, premiered on August 9. Eight families in a suburban neighborhood are walled off from the rest of the neighborhood [and all forms of communication with the outside world] in order to compete for upgrades to their homes and lives, and to win the grand prize [...]

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Another One Bites The Dust

OIA Staff — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:22:57 +0000

I think we can call it official. Along with death and taxes, there’s something else we can always count on: socially conservative politicians getting caught with their family values around their ankles. The current headlining hypocrite is Tennessee state Sen. Paul Stanley, 47, a Republican who represents suburban Memphis. Stanley, married with two children, had [...]

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Baby boy for two gay police officers

OIA Staff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:42:13 +0000

Two gay police officers have had a baby boy after one of their sisters agreed to act as a surrogate so they could become fathers, it has been revealed. Lorna Bradley (31) volunteered to have their baby when her brother Steven Ponder (28), a special constable, revealed a desire to start a family with Pc [...]

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The Episcopal Agenda

OIA Staff — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:53:37 +0000

At the recent Episcopal General Convention, Episcopalians effectively lifted their temporary ban on gay bishops. They also chose to begin drafting an official prayer for same-sex unions. In leading with its conscience like that, the Episcopal Church, the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, has given Anglicans abroad, and some at home, another full-body [...]

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Under Pressure

OIA Staff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:46:29 +0000

We all know that the President has a lot on his plate—some very weighty issues, and many of his priorities we support wholeheartedly—but LGBT equality cannot wait to be the dessert course on even the most carefully planned four or eight-year presidential menu. This administration prides itself on being “the most open and accessible administration in [...]

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American Primitive

OIA Staff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:09:00 +0000

1973, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Harry Goodhart, the British widower father, has come to Cape Cod to begin a new business and begin a new life where he can be accepted and live the life he wants. Recently widowed, he struggles to withhold a secret from his two teenage daughters that risks tearing their family apart. [...]

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This Week in HIV/AIDS News

OIA Staff — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:50:22 +0000

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Bill Defines Homosexual Partners As Immediate Family for Immigration Purposes

OIA Staff — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:33:26 +0000

An immigration bill introduced in the House of Representatives last week would allow homosexuals to sponsor their “permanent partners” for residency in the United States in the same way that heterosexual married couples are allowed to do. [ CNSNews.com ] Read the full article @ Bill Defines Homosexual Partners As Immediate Family for Immigration Purposes [...]

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Complete Wedding Basics – 1, 2, 3

OIA Staff — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:13:33 +0000

The engagement was perfect: romance, wonder, laughter, tears and one gorgeous little band of white gold. It had been everything you’d envisioned, and everything your partner had longed for it to be. And now the pressure’s really on – Can the moment be topped? Can the two of you pull together the seemingly endless details [...]

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This Week in HIV/AIDS News

OIA Staff — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:01:26 +0000

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How Hospitals Treat Same-Sex Couples

OIA Staff — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:19:52 +0000

For same-sex couples, a ring and legal papers may not be enough to navigate the health system. During a medical emergency, a patient’s husband, wife, parents or other family members often are close by, overseeing treatment, making medical decisions and keeping vigil at the bedside. But what happens if the hospital won’t allow you to [...]

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