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"Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage." ~Anain Nin
Gay peck on the cheek almost diverts international flight Twelve days earlier, British police had foiled a terrorist plot to blow up airliners. Heightened security had delayed the flight by about two hours, and passengers, by the time they boarded, were ready to relax. “I had a José Saramago book I was looking forward to reading,” Leisner said. “And then I was going to take some melatonin and have a little nap.” Shortly after takeoff, Varnier nodded off, leaning his head on Tsikhiseli. A stewardess came over to their row. “The purser wants you to stop that,” she said. “I opened my eyes and was, like, ‘Stop what?’ ” Varnier recalled the other day. “The touching and the kissing,” the stewardess said, before walking away. Tsikhiseli and Varnier were taken aback. “He would rest his head on my shoulder or the other way around. We’d kiss—not kiss kiss, just mwah,” Tsikhiseli recalled, making a smacking sound... The purser asked the men to describe what they’d been doing, and she acknowledged that their behavior had not been inappropriate. Tsikhiseli then asked if the stewardess would have made the request if the kissers had been a man and a woman. Suddenly, Leisner said, the purser “became very rigid.” Contradicting what she’d told them before, she stiffly said, “Kissing is inappropriate behavior on an airplane.” She then said that she was busy with the meal service and promised to come back. jaybird found this for you @ 14:16 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Mixed Picture Emerges of Global Gay Rights While cities around the world hosted upbeat gay pride parades in recent weeks, human-rights activists kept watch on a contrasting set of developments: gays beaten by demonstrators in Moscow, convicted on sodomy charges in Cameroon, targeted by sweeping anti-gay legislation in Nigeria. "It shows there are still dangers in just being gay _ and dangers in speaking out," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "You need people willing to stand up and claim their space, even against tremendous odds _ country by country, city by city." Ettelbrick's commission, along with other human rights groups and some members of Congress, are intensifying their efforts to monitor and protest abuses and oppression of gays and lesbians overseas. Results have been mixed. Regions of concern include Africa, where many politicians engage in anti-gay rhetoric; Islamic countries where gay sex is illegal and sometimes punishable by death; and certain Eastern European countries where gay pride marches have been banned or targeted by harassment and violence. "In a lot of countries, you've got gays and lesbians enjoying new visibility, but at the same time the opposition forces become more angry," said Scott Long of Human Rights Watch. "People need to be aware of the possible backlash." jaybird found this for you @ 20:08 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
I love what you've done with the place: Womb environment 'makes men gay' A man's sexual orientation may be determined by conditions in the womb, according to a study. Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown. But a Canadian study has shown that the effect is most likely due to biological rather than social factors. The research is published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Anthony Bogaert from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, studied 944 heterosexual and homosexual men with either "biological" brothers, in this case those who share the same mother, or "non-biological" brothers, that is, adopted, step or half siblings. He found the link between the number of older brothers and homosexuality only existed when the siblings shared the same mother. The amount of time the individual spent being raised with older brothers did not affect their sexual orientation. jaybird found this for you @ 14:59 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Anti-gay zeal greatest in those fearing own gayness? For some time I’ve been mystified by the obsessive hostility by some in our community toward folks of the same sex who want to marry. I always figured if you don’t want a gay marriage, then don’t have one. But then I happened on a scientific survey on homophobia (the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals according to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary), and the motivation behind at least some of the condemnation became clear to me. At the University of Georgia, researchers conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 non-homophobic men (as measured by the Index of Homophobia). All of the men participating in the experiment considered themselves exclusively heterosexual. This study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Volume 105, No. 3, August 1996, described how each of the participants was shown sexually explicit heterosexual, male homosexual and lesbian videotapes. The level of sexual arousal of each man was determined by a technique that measures arousal. Sexual arousal for the homophobic and non-homophobic men was found to be similar when they viewed both the heterosexual and the lesbian sexual activity. However, when the two groups viewed the video of two men engaging in sexual behavior, a significant statistical difference arose. In this instance, the group of homophobic men showed a considerable increase in sexual arousal while the group of non-homophobic men did not. The implication of this study is that homophobia in men is a reaction to their own repressed homosexual urges. Of course, for some time many therapists have believed that prejudice against homosexuals involves projection — the transfer of fear and repulsion about one’s own homosexuality onto others. In other words, men (and women) who cannot accept their same-sex desires (suppressed or conscious), release their intense feelings of self-hatred through the condemnation of other people’s homosexuality. Some men, confronted with insecurities about their heterosexuality, attempt to appear hypermasculine — highly competitive, sexually aggressive, domineering with women, physically imposing, tough, unfeeling and detached — to mask their self-doubt. [More: Lesbians' brains respond differently from those of heterosexual women. More sensibly, of course.] jaybird found this for you @ 20:03 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Duh: The Science Of Sexual Orientation The bedrooms of 9-year-old twins Adam and Jared couldn't be more different. Jared's room is decked out with camouflage, airplanes, and military toys, while Adam's room sports a pastel canopy, stuffed animals, and white horses... Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe collection. "I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that's where I keep all the guns for 'em," he explained. Adam was also proud to show off his toys. "This is one of my dolls. Bratz baby," he said. Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds. Asked if he went to school like that, Adam says, "Uh-huh. I just showed them my nails, and they were like, 'Why did you do that?'" Adam's behavior is called childhood gender nonconformity, meaning a child whose interests and behaviors are more typical of the opposite sex. Research shows that kids with extreme gender nonconformity usually grow up to be gay. Danielle, Adam and Jared's mom, says she began to notice this difference in Adam when he was about 18 months old and began asking for a Barbie doll. Jared, meanwhile, was asking for fire trucks. Not that much has changed. Jared’s favorite game now is Battlefield 2, Special Forces. As for Adam, he says, "It's called Neopets: The Darkest Faerie." Asked how he would describe himself to a stranger, Jared says, "I'm a kid who likes G.I. Joes and games and TV." "I would say like a girl," Adam replied to the same question. When asked why he thinks that is, Adam shrugged. "To me, cases like that really scream out, 'Hey, it's not out there. It's in here.' There's no indication that this mother is prone to raise very feminine boys because his twin is not that way," says Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern University and a leading researcher in the field of sexual orientation. Bailey says he doesn't think nurture is a plausible explanation. Psychologists used to believe homosexuality was caused by nurture — namely overbearing mothers and distant fathers — but that theory has been disproved. Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than just sexual behavior; it’s physiological. jaybird found this for you @ 20:56 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
JON CARROLL: I believe I lost it. I believe I lost it. I believe I yelled. It was in an empty room, so no animals were harmed in the making of that yell, but still. I felt frustrated. And you know what's really good when you're feeling frustrated? Remembering that you have a newspaper column. Last year the Ford Motor Co. started to buy ads in several publications aimed at gay readers. They did so, one presumes, because they realized that gay people buy automobiles, and Ford has, alas, not been selling many automobiles lately. Then the company got assaulted by the American Family Association, a creation of the Rev. Donald Wildmon, a clever right-wing agitator with a hate-based agenda. So Ford announced that it would stop advertising in gay publications. But then, whoops, Ford reversed its reversal and said, never mind, it was going to advertise in gay publications after all. So then a representative of the AFA announced that it was reinstating its boycott. "We cannot, and will not, sit by as Ford supports a social agenda aimed at the destruction of the family." What a vile sentence. What a vile sentiment. What overbusy, underbrained worms these people must be. I am not yelling. jaybird found this for you @ 20:19 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Asheville Run Amok Part II: Screwie Hoolie Nails It "I hate the sinful lifestyle." But, he went on to say, tomorrow's rally is "not about hate." By way of clarification, Dr. Runion said, "If a pedophile or serial killer walks into my house, I don't respect him." But he would share the Bible with them. "I'm a child of God," he went on, "and I can commit any sin you can commit. Sin is by choice." After Runion's comparison of homosexuality to pedophilia and serial murder, I asked about Charles Taylor's "Family Council" of which he is a member, and he told me that the group is made up exclusively of men and that they provide counsel regarding faith and family values to the Congressman. Runion said that many denominations are represented on the Council and that I could get a list of members from John Hilkert in Rep. Taylor's office. Screwy Hoolie: "Does Congressman Taylor agree with you on this issue [homosexuality is an abomination]? Dr. Runion: "Yes sir, he does." jaybird found this for you @ 00:17 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Evil Amok in Asheville! Did anyone else notice the HUGE two-page spread ad in the middle of today's Asheville Citizen-Times Home & Garden section? Was anyone else horrified and offended? Sounds like a mighty good time for a bit of reality infusion. This will be, as we say here in the south, a hoot. In the words of their "leader," bring 'em on. jaybird found this for you @ 19:25 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Busted, LOL: Anti-Gay Baptist Leader Arrested for Soliciting Gay Sex An executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, police said. Charmed, I'm sure. Via metachat. jaybird found this for you @ 13:05 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Pride: The Great Queers of History    For example: Harmodius and Aristogiton (6th cent. BC)... Lovers famous for overthrowing the tyrant Hipparchus in 527 BCE, thereby inaugurating Athenian democracy. Celebrated for their mutual devotion and love of liberty. Many statues of the pair survive. jaybird found this for you @ 20:39 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
...No matter how imperfect these studies are, when you put them all together and examine them closely, the message is clear: While post-birth development may well play a supporting role, the roots of homosexuality, at least in men, appear to be in place by the time a child is born. jaybird found this for you @ 11:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
...and happily ever after 
Boston's beloved pair of swans -- feted by city leaders, residents, and tourists alike as one of the Hub's most celebrated summer attractions -- are a same-sex couple. Yes, scientific tests have shown that the pair, named Romeo and Juliet, are really Juliet and Juliet. The city's Parks and Recreation Department conducted the tests months ago, but didn't announce the results for fear of destroying the image of a Shakespearean love story unfolding each year in the Public Garden. Um, nothing's spoiled. In fact, the story just got much sweeter. Finally, people can understand that homosexuality is just plain natural. Unless, of course, the righteous flag wavers condemn these creatures to hell. Bah. Nature Rules. jaybird found this for you @ 16:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
save the children (from Dobson) ...Perhaps more interesting, however, is James Dobson's recently published guide for parents to help discover if their child is gay. (Dobson is the leader of the ultra-right-wing group, Focus on Family) jaybird found this for you @ 09:25 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
so long  "It's been really historic. It's one of the first times that gays and lesbians got to see ourselves on TV in something other than the safe-bet friend or the neighbor. We were portrayed with authentic flair as real three-dimensional characters." NOTE: This is usually the last place to come to read up on teevee talk, but I found this show to be very important in a number of ways. While it may not have helped to portray queer people in less stereotypical ways, it put on screen something all of us could identify with. I will miss it. jaybird found this for you @ 11:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Oh, Canada! [The bill] is expected to win Senate approval and become law by July, making Canada the third country after the Netherlands and Belgium to allow gay marriages. Gay marriage is already legal in eight of 10 provinces and one of Canada's three territories... Prime Minister Martin: "We are a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities, it is important that you don't cherry pick rights. A right is a right and that is what this vote tonight is all aboot." jaybird found this for you @ 11:30 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
The Thirty Years War Note: You can't read this without getting just a tish angry. 1981... The Council for National Policy, a highly secretive club of America's most powerful far-right religious activists, begins meeting quarterly at undisclosed locations. Among the members will be R.J. Rushdoony, who calls for death penalty for homosexuals, and anti-gay crusaders James Dobson, Beverly and Tim LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, Tony Perkins and Phyllis Schlafly. George W. Bush will meet with the Council during his first campaign for president. jaybird found this for you @ 11:58 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
really haute couture What we question here is why reported alien episodes from the contactees through the abductees (experiencers) exhibit heterosexual behavior (the seduction of Villas Boas or David Huggins for instance) but the homosexual gestures by “male aliens” in abduction scenarios are played down, even when they are the main ingredient in the reconstruction. Yes, George Adamski’s Venusian friend Orthon was referenced in such a way that one might conclude he was either androgynous or totally effeminate, but since Adamski’s tale is fraudulent, the description of Orthon is, very likely, a projection of Adamski’s sexual preferences. jaybird found this for you @ 16:15 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
i knew there was something to it! Using a brain imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that homosexual and heterosexual men respond differently to two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, and that the gay men respond in the same way as women. The new research may open the way to studying human pheromones, as well as the biological basis of sexual preference. Pheromones, chemicals emitted by one individual to evoke some behavior in another of the same species, are known to govern sexual activity in animals, but experts differ as to what role, if any, they play in making humans sexually attractive to one another. jaybird found this for you @ 12:24 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
modern eugenics To the dismay of gay-rights activists, the Food and Drug Administration is about to implement new rules recommending that any man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor. The FDA has rejected calls to scrap the provision, insisting that gay men collectively pose a higher-than-average risk of carrying the AIDS virus. Critics accuse the FDA of stigmatizing all gay men rather than adopting a screening process that focuses on high-risk sexual behavior by any would-be donor, gay or straight. jaybird found this for you @ 07:48 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
who do we have to thank? ...Data collected in for 2004 confirms that a dramatic rise in anti-LGBT hate incidents noted by the organization in the second half of 2003 continued unabated, and perhaps even worsened in throughout 2004. “This year’s report has to be viewed as a follow-up to our report from a year ago,” said Clarence Patton, NCAVP’s Acting Executive Director. “In the last edition of this report it became all too clear that with respect to violence, the nation's LGBT communities had entered a very new, and very dangerous era in which all of us were under attack at levels not seen in recent years," continued Patton. "The leaders of America's anti-gay industry are directly responsible for the continuing surge in hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. While other forms of crime continued to fall, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has documented a 4% increase in anti-LGBT crime in 2004, coming on the heels of a 26% increase in the last half of 2003. This spike in violence parallels the exact same period since the Right went into demonic, anti-gay hyperdrive following the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision in July of 2003. Since then, church pews and the public airwaves have been awash in ugly, anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering. jaybird found this for you @ 12:33 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
waging respect As the fight over Terri Schiavo's fate played out in court, gay and lesbian organizations watched quietly from the sidelines, aware that any outcome would speak to one of the key motivations in their quest for same-sex marriage: the right to make medical decisions for a partner. It's an issue faced regularly by same-sex couples, and the battle that Michael Schiavo waged with his in-laws as he sought to remove his wife's feeding tube only underscored their difficulties, said David Buckel of the New York-based gay rights group Lambda Legal. "It certainly resonates with us," said [the] director of marriage-related activities for Lambda Legal. "If folks look at this situation and see that a spouse is struggling to carry out the wishes of his loved one, imagine what folks face when they don't even have access to the spousal relationship because they can't get married." jaybird found this for you @ 11:26 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Mapping Gender Gay men employ the same strategies for navigating as women - using landmarks to find their way around - a new study suggests. But they also use the strategies typically used by straight men, such as using compass directions and distances. In contrast, gay women read maps just like straight women, reveals the study of 80 heterosexual and homosexual men and women... The hypothesis is that homosexual people shift in the direction of the opposite sex in other aspects of their psychology other than sexual preference. That is, gay men may take on aspects of female psychology, and lesbians acquire aspects of male psychology. In short: You flyin'? We get you there. jaybird found this for you @ 12:43 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
one year after the winter of love The Democrat who allowed nearly 4,000 gay couples to tie the knot one year ago in defiance of California law is marking the anniversary by holding a reception for them at City Hall this weekend, by making it clear he has no regrets, and by criticizing his own party as too timid. "I can't stand my party right now," he said Tuesday in an address at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "Is it political expediency? Is it accommodation that we're after? Or is it about standing up on principles and values?" jaybird found this for you @ 12:56 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
variations on a theme "That is SO gay!" I've been thinking about that expression a lot lately. What does it mean? I'm hearing it from kids, on television, and even around my office. Did the expression trickle up from the middle schools? Is it a playground epithet that is simply in vogue with the grown-ups? Or is it a sign that gay culture is so integrated into the pop culture that even the hets now see the evidence of homo-style in their everyday lives, and make jokes about it? And IF gay culture is being mainstreamed to this degree, what does that mean to us? I put a call out to some fellow bloggers and asked them this: "What is the GAYEST thing you've EVER done?" The answers I received were at once predictable and surprising. There were mentions of doing drag, of course. And of pervy, slutty sex...of course. As for the other things...well, they're all listed below. You will love it. Feel free to let us know who YOU think is the MOST gay of the gay. Or contribute your own extra faggy moment in gayness. jaybird found this for you @ 08:48 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Again, a scientist has discovered a possible genetic clue to 'the gay.' jaybird found this for you @ 16:19 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay Religion: An Evaluation From “sick” and “perverted” or “sinful” and “broken”, most LGBT persons come to name their desires “healthy” and “natural” or “God-given” and “whole.” This requires not only atomistic re-labeling of the errant hormonal surge or emotional attachment, but a re-telling of your story within family, society, and God’s creation. When this story—which you’ve crafted through self-reflection, study, and the blood, sweat and tears of coming out—collides with an alternate telling, such as the one your family holds on to, there is no objective means of deciding whose is right. Each story heals wounds in the opposing parties (feeling different for one, fear of the different for the other), answers questions which are framed in unique ways (“God, why did you make me like this?” and “God, how could these things exist in the world?”), and cannot simply be stepped into without dramatic re-orientation of assumptions. jaybird found this for you @ 12:26 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
 But They Sure Seem Gay! A compendium of TV Characters often cited as queer due to their sexual ambiguity, rather relevant due to this recent ridiculous hullabaloo .* (go Sponge!). jaybird found this for you @ 19:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Same-sex foster care a success From the cluttered kitchen to his insistence on saying grace before dinner, Medaglia takes pride in his family's average suburban lifestyle. But that "average," Medaglia acknowledges, comes with an asterisk. Medaglia and his partner, Cliff Candida, are gay. Three of the four children who live in their home are in foster care. They have been raising the fourth -- a 6-year-old daughter whose birth family isn't able to care for her -- since infancy. "We're an average household," said Medaglia, 41, who owns a local hair salon. "The only difference is that there's just not a woman here." The existence of same-sex foster parents has come under increased scrutiny following a court ruling in Arkansas last month that struck down that state's ban on gay foster parents. The state plans to appeal. jaybird found this for you @ 07:48 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Hey, Jesus, tell us about your buddies... Prof. Smith points to a fragment of manuscript he found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958 which he says alludes to Jesus having a homosexual relationship with a youth he raised from the dead. The fragment shows that the full text of St. Mark, Chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) includes the following passage: "And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God". jaybird found this for you @ 16:30 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Powerful story, and accompanying slideshow: Coming Out for One of Their Own The fliers arrived three weeks ago. Some came over the fax machines of local churches, and others appeared mysteriously around town. Printed in bold was the heading "Westboro Baptist Church." No seeming cause for alarm. Sand Springs, population 18,500, is a Christian stronghold in the gently rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma. But the message that followed was a rant against a 17-year-old Sand Springs resident named Michael Shackelford and his mother, Janice, the subjects of a recent Washington Post series examining Michael's struggles as a young gay man in the Bible Belt. The fliers posted a photo of Michael, called him a "doomed teenage fag" and announced that followers of Westboro Baptist in Topeka were on their way from Kansas to stage antigay protests in Sand Springs. jaybird found this for you @ 07:53 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay community fears new era of intolerance Some campaign speeches verged on tub-thumping hatred. In Oklahoma Tom Coburn warned of lesbians invading school bathrooms. In South Carolina Jim Demint said openly gay teachers should be banned from schools. In Florida Mel Martinez, the former Bush housing secretary, called his opponent, in reality unsupported of gay rights, a 'darling of the homosexual extremists'. I'd love to meet a homosexual extremist. Someone who is so utterly gay as to be 'extreme.' I hear tell they travel in packs and spontaneously erupt into hour long "Vogue" sessions, frightening the children and making even the most straight man succumb to momentary titillation. Yeah, we're only extreme, as Patrick Henry said it, "in the defense of liberty." And that's not a gay thing, it's a human thing. Get over it. jaybird found this for you @ 10:17 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Steve Silberman: Our Traditional Non-Traditional Wedding As I read through the post-mortems of the 2004 election speculating about whether the gay marriage issue cost John Kerry his presidency -- with many Democrats supporting this view -- I have the disoriented feeling of reading about my sweet, ordinary life with Keith distorted through funhouse mirrors. When writer Bill Bennett places gay marriage in opposition to "ethical values" and a "decent society," as he did in the National Review the day after the election, does he mean us? Apparently so. By now, the concept of marriages like ours has been twisted into such an abstract threat to so many otherwise fine and compassionate people -- and so divorced from the humble blessing of two souls caring deeply for one another -- it's time for a national reality check. jaybird found this for you @ 10:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
So, who's left to do some smiting? Same-sex relationships in the Bible (via MeFi) "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." jaybird found this for you @ 19:33 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
1,049 federal rights depend on marital status, which is nice, unless you're gay... jaybird found this for you @ 23:54 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Hmmm, somehow I don't think it's that easy, but... Scientists say they have shown how male homosexuality could be passed from generation to generation. "It is clear that our findings, if confirmed by further research, are only one piece in a much larger puzzle on the nature of human sexuality," they said. jaybird found this for you @ 07:29 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Judge halts Louisiana same-sex vote Judge halts Louisiana same-sex vote A state judge ruled late Friday that a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages and civil unions is unconstitutional and must be taken off the September 18 ballot. Civil District Court Judge Christopher Bruno said the proposed amendment is unconstitutional because it addresses more than one issue and would appear on a ballot that was not on a statewide election date. jaybird found this for you @ 16:49 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
SCORE! Washington judge rules in SCORE! Washington judge rules in favor of same-sex marriage Gay couples can be married under Washington state law, because denying their right to do so is a violation of their constitutional rights, a judge ruled Wednesday. jaybird found this for you @ 17:24 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Ecce Homo: Ruminations on a Ecce Homo: Ruminations on a Theology of My Queer Body Because of my Queerness, I was profoundly wounded by my family, my religion, my government, my culture, my society. But I have chosen to feel that wounding as a site for rebirth and renewal. Those gaping wounds have become openings, entrances into the mystical Silence that (for me) is "God". And there, in that Silence I have found Voice. In that Silence I have found ways to articulate and speak my body - this body of a Gay, white, bourgeois, able-bodied North American male. In that Silence I have found ways to articulate my difference(s), my queerness(es). And there in that Silence I have found the beauty of other Queer men's bodies. In the past, I referred to these articulations as a "gaialogy". While theology is the study of "theos" (the male god), gaialogy is the study of Gaia, the Greek Earth Goddess. (Some, like Lesbian poet and cultural anthropologist Judy Grahn, have theorized that we Gay people are named after Gaia - a tempting theory but not likely.) For me, gaialogy emphasizes earth, connectedness, bodies, cycles of life and death, fluidity, the lack of opposites, chthonian tensions, and joy. Gaialogy celebrates what is. jaybird found this for you @ 18:24 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay with God The gay The gay community is coming out of the closet again – spiritually. "The movement is in its infancy, but it's just starting to gel," says Steve Kammon, editor of Circuitnoize.com, a website devoted to circuit parties. Kammon attended the first ever gay spiritual summit, held in upstate New York in May – an event that serves as testament to the community's burgeoning shift from cruising to consecration. "New connections are being forged. We're trying to make way for a kind of communal energy that supports and uplifts," he says. jaybird found this for you @ 12:15 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Quite the headline for big Quite the headline for big media: Gay pride message spreads across the world Hundreds of thousands of revelers wearing everything from full Victorian garb and designer gowns to skimpy leather and construction hats celebrated gay pride in cities around the world Saturday. Berlin saw one of Europe's largest parades. To the sound of thumping techno music, the city's openly gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit led floats in the 12th annual celebration of Christopher Street Day, commemorating the start of the gay rights movement in New York's Greenwich Village in 1969. jaybird found this for you @ 07:50 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Vive la France! First gay Vive la France! First gay marriage held in France A French mayor has presided over the country's first gay marriage. Noel Mamere officiated at the civil marriage ceremony of two men in the south-western town of Begles, near Bordeaux. jaybird found this for you @ 10:51 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A mother responds to homophobia: A mother responds to homophobia: In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity. jaybird found this for you @ 18:18 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
granola snorting nixon has pics granola snorting nixon has pics from Cambridge City Hall and the first state sanction gay marriages in the US. [via atrios] jaybird found this for you @ 11:00 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Thank you, Massachusetts! Two 
Two by two they emerged from City Hall, the nation's first gay couples set to legally marry, breaking a barrier many never believed would fall and putting the United States among four countries in the world that recognize same-sex weddings. With the passage of a midnight deadline, Massachusetts became the first state to process marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples Monday. Cambridge was the only city to seize the first possible moment, opening its offices to 260 couples - even supplying a giant wedding cake - as thousands of sign-waving well-wishers cheered into the wee hours. jaybird found this for you @ 07:53 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
An interview with Radical Faerie An interview with Radical Faerie founder Harry Hay I always say to people, "If you share my dream, why don't we walk together?" And that's my only organizing tool. Harry passed away in 2002. jaybird found this for you @ 10:51 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Virginia is having some issues: Virginia is having some issues: We're here to prove than when a U.S. state attacks the fundamental legal rights of gays and lesbians, gays and lesbians know how to fight back. Please join us in boycotting Virginia companies and their products and services. And by all means, don't take your tourism dollars there until they disprove their new slogan, "Virginia is for Haters." jaybird found this for you @ 15:28 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
The two-spirit tradition in Native The two-spirit tradition in Native American experience The first step on the path to a two-spirit life was taken during childhood. The Papago ritual is representative of this early integration: If parents noticed that a son was disinterested in boyish play or manly work they would set up a ceremony to determine which way the boy would be brought up. They would make an enclosure of brush, and place in the center both a man’s bow and a woman’s basket. The boy was told to go inside the circle of brush and to bring something out, and as he entered the brush would be set on fire. “They watched what he took with him as he ran out, and if it was the basketry materials they reconciled [sic] themselves to his being a berdache.” jaybird found this for you @ 13:03 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Sad, but the fight ain't Sad, but the fight ain't over: Oregon judge orders halt to gay marriage licences A judge on Tuesday ordered a halt to same-sex marriage in an Oregon county that for weeks has been the only place in the nation where gays can get married. jaybird found this for you @ 10:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Oh So Natural: Sexual selection, Oh So Natural: Sexual selection, the Good Book and why gay is good... Now, while the rest of the country is grappling with the issue of gay marriage, Stanford evolutionary ecologist Joan Roughgarden is trying to untangle Darwin’s mess by publishing Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender and Sexuality in Nature and People. Roughgarden’s thesis begins with the idea that since homosexuality is not a reproductive strategy, according to Darwin it’s an aberration that should die off. But instead of deciding that homosexuality is wrong from an evolutionary standpoint, Roughgarden arrived at another conclusion: Darwin’s theory of sexual selection must be wrong. Traveling this path and others, her book marks the first time that a scientist has presented a cogent challenge to one of Darwin’s sacred cows. jaybird found this for you @ 17:19 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A Rising Son: Remember Randall A Rising Son: Remember Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue and well known anti-gay speaker? Well, now meet his son... jaybird found this for you @ 14:49 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Brokeback Mountain: A short story Brokeback Mountain: A short story by Annie Proulx of gay cowboy life is being made into a mainstream Hollywood film. Straight men generally tend to exhibit rather (if not overly) lenient responses to on-screen depictions of female queerness. The question is, how will 'they,' and the rest of an tentatively queer-tolerant America react? Links courteously ripped from Monkeyfilter. Crossposted to QueerMeta. jaybird found this for you @ 13:28 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay congressman speaks out against same-sex Gay congressman speaks out against same-sex marriage ban Speaking in highly personal terms, a gay member of Congress on Tuesday challenged supporters of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, asking "who are we hurting" when homosexuals want to express the same emotional commitment as other Americans. jaybird found this for you @ 16:06 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Hilarious: Oregon county bans all Hilarious: Oregon county bans all marriage In a new twist in the battle over same-sex marriage roiling the United States, a county in Oregon has banned all marriages -- gay and heterosexual -- until the state decides who can and who cannot wed. jaybird found this for you @ 10:15 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A Muslim calls for reform A Muslim calls for reform -- and she's a lesbian: It's not hard to see why people react strongly to Irshad Manji. At 35, she's become a ubiquitous fixture on Canadian television, the smartest, hippest, most eloquent lesbian feminist Muslim you could ever hope to meet. jaybird found this for you @ 18:04 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
An Anthropologist from Mars: This An Anthropologist from Mars: This site makes the brave distinction that gender is a social meme while sex is a biological state. Another detailed examination (from an androgyonus perspective) here. jaybird found this for you @ 19:31 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Outrageous, insidious, stupid: N.Y. Ministers Outrageous, insidious, stupid: N.Y. Ministers Charged for Marrying Gays Two ministers were charged with criminal offenses Monday for marrying 13 gay couples in what is believed to be the first time in the United States that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies. jaybird found this for you @ 16:32 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
"The world will end if "The world will end if you don't act." A collection of excellent interviews with playwright Tony Kushner, author of the potent and powerful "Angels in America." [1, 2, 3]
"I don't think there's ever been a community struggling as hard as the [gay community] was at the moment the epidemic first appeared, while also having to deal with devastation and grief on that scale. The world expected us to curl up and die, but what we did was say, "No, this can become part of our struggle, and we'll take care of the people amongst us who need to be taken care of." Posted to QueerMeta jaybird found this for you @ 22:16 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Step by Step: Heartache in Step by Step: Heartache in San Francisco [via across, beoynd, through] The crash of energy and emotion in City Hall was just devastating. Our two members were in line just behind the couple who were stopped in the middle of filling out their license forms. It was almost surreal... for all that we knew that this act of liberation and demand for civil rights could be interrupted at a moment's notice, none of us really believed that it would happen in the midst of a very human moment - and crash down upon very real, very beloved families who had traveled a long way. jaybird found this for you @ 18:19 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Two Steps Back: California and Two Steps Back: California and Massachusetts both dealt blows to non-discriminatory marriage on Thursday. An immediate halt was ordered to stop the SanFran weddings and the legislature in Boston gave initial backing to a state constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriages but allows civil unions. Also posted to QueerMeta jaybird found this for you @ 09:32 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
When marriage between gays was When marriage between gays was by rite [via Gayfilter] While the pairing of saints, particularly in the early Church, was not unusual, the association of these two men was regarded as particularly close. Severus of Antioch in the sixth century explained that "we should not separate in speech [Serge and Bacchus] who were joined in life". More bluntly, in the definitive 10th century Greek account of their lives, St Serge is openly described as the "sweet companion and lover" of St Bacchus. jaybird found this for you @ 17:16 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
WOO-HOO! My new site for WOO-HOO! My new site for the discussion of worldwide queer issues is open for business. It's based on the Metafilter model using the Drupal operating system. Do check it out, sign up, and post away: QueerMeta | Hold on tight, evolution ahead. jaybird found this for you @ 14:29 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Where Is My Gay Apocalypse? Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives? jaybird found this for you @ 16:17 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Tidal wave of love continues:Queer Tidal wave of love continues:Queer couples tying the knot in Portland, Oregon! The line outside the county building snaked around the block, with hundreds of people waiting for their turn, some all night. Still others were on hand to show their support. jaybird found this for you @ 15:45 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Even this won't stop the Even this won't stop the beat: Mayor faces charges for marrying gays Four days after presiding over a slew of same-sex marriages in his quaint Hudson Valley village, the mayor of New Paltz was charged Tuesday with 19 criminal violations and faces a court hearing Wednesday night, injecting the state's debate over gay marriages with increasing drama and urgency. jaybird found this for you @ 07:29 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
WOOHOO! California gay weddings can WOOHOO! California gay weddings can go on California's Supreme Court has refused a request from the state's attorney general to halt gay weddings... On Friday, 21 gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows at a village hall in New Paltz, New York. jaybird found this for you @ 03:23 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay-tolerant societies prosper economically [via Gay-tolerant societies prosper economically [via MeFi] Research... shows that the big new-ideas and cutting-edge industries that lead to sustained prosperity are more likely to exist where gay people feel welcome. Most centers of tech-based business growth also have the highest concentrations of gay couples. Conversely, major areas with relatively few gay couples tend to be slow- or no-growth places. jaybird found this for you @ 16:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Golden Silence? Two years ago Two years ago it was Afghanistan. Last year it was Iraq. This year? Massachusetts, San Francisco, and Sandoval County, New Mexico -- the all-new "axis of evil." But wait, there's more! Thanks to Christopher Monks at Utter WonderFor a much needed belly laugh: Dungeons and Dragons, The Homophobic Edition! Militant Homosexuals: "Easy to spot by their flamboyant shirts and/or butchy haircuts, Militant Homosexuals are increasing in numbers faster than heterosexual bunnies. With a total disregard for public decency and an insistence on kissing each other in public, MHs will stop at nothing to "marry" one another or hold impromptu Cher impersonation contests." jaybird found this for you @ 18:15 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Rolicking and raucus MeFi  Rolicking and raucus MeFi thread on lil' Georgie's feeble attempt to introduce bias and prejudice into the Constitution for the first time in US history. Way to go, ***hole, jaybird found this for you @ 10:57 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
We All Say 'I Do' Why we should be proud: transforming history, celebrating love, doing our part. As is often the case, words fail and flail in inarticulation when facing the joy and pride I feel right now with this tidal wave of love that's rolling across our collective conscience from the Golden City, San Fransisco. Our movement has finally come of age, as I was telling a friend last night. We're beginning to reach the top of the wheel, a place where our sexual identity will no longer matter. That point may still be a very long way off for us all, but with this last week in history, we've seen glimpses of the promise of that day. The point is for us to realize the original idea of this nation; to become a bastion of universal rights. With that, we are aware of the responsibilities, and accept them with honor, as thousands this week have pledged to their spouses for life, clutching roses sent by strangers from far away. I'm overcome with happiness today. May all those tears of joy shed by the thousands of newlyweds be as a wellspring for transformation of a society too long accustomed to prejudice and fear. The time has come, and may we all say 'I do.' jaybird found this for you @ 12:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Domino effect: Dozens line up Domino effect: Dozens line up for gay weddings in New Mexico county Gay and lesbian couples lined up to tie the knot today in this northern New Mexico town after the county clerk agreed to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, joining San Francisco. Roughly 15 couples had been granted licenses by late morning, the Sandoval County clerk’s office said. A sign-up list for applications had grown to 38 couples. UPDATE: Is Chicago next? jaybird found this for you @ 18:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Cambodian king backs gay marriage Cambodian king backs gay marriage Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has shown that advancing years are no barrier to an open mind and liberal attitude. jaybird found this for you @ 15:07 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
What a great idea: send What a great idea: send flowers to a random couple waiting in line in SF to get married... jaybird found this for you @ 20:33 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
SF to sue California over SF to sue California over gay marriage 'ban' After sanctioning more than 2,700 gay marriages in the past week, the city said Thursday it is suing the state of California, challenging its ban on same-sex marriages on constitutional grounds. jaybird found this for you @ 17:28 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
I cried as I made I cried as I made my way through this photo gallery of the SF Queer weddings. Many of these pictures show the partners with their children by their side. The couples are old and young, audacious and no frills, but all very clearly in love and making history. jaybird found this for you @ 17:55 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Nuances of gay identities reflected Nuances of gay identities reflected in new language With the universe of gender and sexual identities expanding, a gay youth culture emerging, acceptance of gays rising and label loyalty falling, the gay lexicon has exploded with scores of new words and blended phrases that delineate every conceivable stop on the identity spectrum -- at least for this week. jaybird found this for you @ 07:29 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Yes! San Francisco Officials Marry
jaybird found this for you @ 15:42 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Kerry Confronts Gay Marriage and Kerry Confronts Gay Marriage and instantly loses the support of a massive voting block. He would support a Constitutional Amendment ™ banning gay marriage if it contained the 'right language.'
Kerry is just another Poll-O-Crat whose only concern is getting elected. He's doing this to beat the 'Massachusets liberal' smear from the right, to appeal to the centrysts. I've been thinking that, with Dean likely out, I'd get behind Kerry if he could beat Bush. So much for all that. *Whereas two people who've get the licence, sign the dotted line and pay lower taxes is a civil institution. And the problem there is...? jaybird found this for you @ 08:40 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Zoo's gay penguins ignite 
Zoo's gay penguins ignite debate... more detailed article here . Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": That is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. [via digaman at MeFi] jaybird found this for you @ 16:52 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Mass. High Court Rules for Mass. High Court Rules for Gay Marriage! The Massachusetts high court ruled Wednesday that only full, equal marriage rights for gay couples - rather than civil unions - are constitutional, clearing the way for the nation's first same-sex marriages in the state as early as May. jaybird found this for you @ 13:24 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A Love That Dared A Love That Dared To Speak Its Name [via aldaily.com] Historian Graham Robb gathers evidence of a thriving 19th century gay culture jaybird found this for you @ 08:05 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
We saw this coming: Gay We saw this coming: Gay Marriage Poll Gets Annulled jaybird found this for you @ 19:42 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Little Georgie officially opens the Little Georgie officially opens the front for his other war: rolling back the hard won civil rights of lesbians and gays. jaybird found this for you @ 14:23 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
N.J. grants same-sex benefits New New Jersey became the fifth state to recognize same-sex partnerships Monday, but activists said they will not stop the fight until openly gay couples can legally marry. So, when will North Carolina follow suit? Legal strategists say they expect a draft of legislation somewhere around the second half of the fourth millenium. Activists say that no matter how long it takes, they won't give up. jaybird found this for you @ 07:44 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Update on Queermeta.com Oh my golly gee whilickers, it actually works (the beta version, that is). Ain't that sumpin'? Now that I've spent many hours learning how the little booger works, I think this thing might be a lot of fun. This is just the beta, again, so don't sign up yet. Once I include the addon domain, then I'll enable some sneak peaks before the grand opening. jaybird found this for you @ 23:23 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Queermeta.com!  I've just registered "queermeta.com" for the creation of a worldwide, metafilter-type community/group weblog for GLBT issues and commentary. I expect to launch Feb. 1st, with the assistance of several volunteers who are fellow MeFi members. The hard part, obviously, is setting up the program, which will be done whenever there isn't other freetime previously booked (looks like lotsa midnight oil burnt). The other hope is to provide an alternate to those annoying pay-for-content GLBT sites with personals and profiles. Not to say by any means it will be a personals site, but info that you usually have to pay for will be provided free. I'm also going to use PHPchat and such. So, I hope for commercial free connectivity and communication without profiteering. I'll use MeFi style editing guidelines for posts, but one thing will be clear: no smut. Not to be a prude, but one can go elsewhere for such delights... I want to keep the future conversation tame enough to support a dialog where youth and allies can surf without in your face physicality. Anyway, here's to the next crazy web adventure! jaybird found this for you @ 16:22 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
NYT continues to lose credit NYT continues to lose credit as this editor backpedals and attempts to appease readers after last month's infamous gay marriage article debacle. jaybird found this for you @ 20:20 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Young, religious and gay "I "I am observant, but I do not accept that a decent…God could be so cruel as to put gay sexuality in someone and then deny them the right to express it," the postgraduate student at Cambridge University said. He added, "It makes me angry when a rabbi who is married with children denies another person the right to be part of a loving, fulfilling relationship. It is a cruel and hypocritical stance that runs counter to Jewish ethics." jaybird found this for you @ 23:59 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
NYTimes" href="http://www.enbanc.org/archives/000447.html">Bad Reporting on Marriage Bad Reporting on Marriage at the NY Times Another blogger has responded to the ridiculous NYT article that I responded to here. ...it reports only one side of the story: No pro-gay statistics are given in the story, despite the presence of many of import in the poll itself. Second, the numbers are glossed over in favor of misleading phrases suggesting more than the numbers would support. Third, the quotes are selective and overwhelmingly anti-gay. Fourth, its use of language is poor, particularly in light of the reporters' admission that words do matter when discussing lesbian and gay equality. jaybird found this for you @ 16:33 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Dear Editors of the New Dear Editors of the New York Times, Your article of December 21st concerning the poll results finding among 1,057 Americans "widespread support for an amendment to the United States Constitution to ban gay marriage" neglects one little caveat; those individuals do not speak for the nearly 300 million citizens who comprise this nation. Fifty-five per cent is far from "widespread" and in no way indicative of the pulse of civil rights in this country. I won't mince my words here; the article was a pandering shelter for gloating "moralists" rather than an objective interpretation of the numbers. Not until the final paragraph did a voice supportive of gay rights emerge, buried under verbiage of contempt and dismissal. My views of the issue do not enter into the sense of dismay I feel reading this report, which arise instead from encountering such sloppy journalism and opination of a politically sensitive subject. Respectfully, Rev. Theodore "Jay" Joslin PS: A recent internet poll conducted by conservative think tank AFA found that, as of today, over 55% of respondants supported legalizing gay marriage. jaybird found this for you @ 10:52 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
More Women Report That They're More Women Report That They're Homosexual Young women are much more likely than are older women to say they're homosexual or bisexual, a time trend not seen among men, according to an Australian study. jaybird found this for you @ 12:25 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A poll on gay marriage, A poll on gay marriage, run by a conservatibe think-tank, is being saturated with votes from the blogging community, turning it toward a plurality in favor! jaybird found this for you @ 22:07 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay US generals speak out Three retired high-ranking US military personnel have publicly declared themselves as gay in protest at the problems facing homosexuals in the armed forces. jaybird found this for you @ 19:00 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
You Better Watch Out According According to legend, New York lore and two major Hollywood flicks, Macy's Santa is the real deal. And tomorrow, to the delight of millions of little children (not to mention the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court), the Santa in New York's great parade will be half of a same-sex couple. jaybird found this for you @ 23:34 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
VICTORY! Massachusetts court rules ban Massachusetts court rules ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional jaybird found this for you @ 17:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
When gays were 'cured' Those Those who volunteered for such treatments - often in preference to jail terms - were shown pictures of naked men and given a series electric shocks or drugs to make them vomit. jaybird found this for you @ 08:31 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Victory! This signals not only Victory! This signals not only the evolution of gay men in mainstream religion, but hopefully also the evolution of Christianity... from being outwardly an inflexible faith toward acknowledging change and deeper roots to it's original teachings. Episcopal Church consecrates openly gay bishop After months of bitter infighting, the Episcopal Church consecrated Rev. Gene Robinson Sunday as bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese — the first openly gay man to reach that level in the church hierarchy and in the Anglican community worldwide. jaybird found this for you @ 06:34 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Ha ha: Legal threat over Ha ha: Legal threat over transsexual show They say they were duped into kissing, cuddling and holding hands with the woman, Miriam, who is in fact a man. C'mon boys, you're only upset because you liked it. jaybird found this for you @ 06:40 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Study says gay adoptions more Study says gay adoptions more likely Sixty percent of agencies accept applications from lesbians and gay men and 40 percent have placed children with homosexual couples, according to a study by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. jaybird found this for you @ 16:47 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
High school senior came 'out' High school senior came 'out' - and was expelled Jeffrey said the teacher assured him they were having a confidential conversation, and then asked whether it was true that Jeffrey was a homosexual. "I told him, 'Yes, I am gay,' " Jeffrey says. "I was just being totally honest with him because I don't lie." Two days later, he was expelled. jaybird found this for you @ 07:32 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
At a crossroads on gay It is time to say forthrightly that the government's exclusion of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters from civil marriage officially degrades them and their families. It denies them the basic human right to marry the person they love. It denies them numerous legal protections for their families. Written by John Lewis, "a Democratic congressman from Georgia, was one of the original speakers at the 1963 March on Washington..." jaybird found this for you @ 22:11 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Scalia Ridicules Court's Gay Sex Scalia Ridicules Court's Gay Sex Ruling This headline could be rewritten to say: Caveman curses sky, throws rocks at it. Scalia, a 'darling'* of conservative judicial activists, somehow thinks that sodomy laws have something to do with the constitution. I'd say that he's bugs. There's zip, zero, zilch, nada in the constitution about it, and there were just as many closeted poofs in goverment then as now. *By darling, I certainly don't imply that Antonin is a little sweetie, though he mave a little sumpin-sumpin on the side that he's covering for. jaybird found this for you @ 06:50 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
The Beeb has a decently The Beeb has a decently fair comparison between pro/con camps in the Biblical argument about homosexuality. The camp my paisley tent is pitched in is quite clear, and as someone who is neither necesserily Christian nor militantly proclaiming his sexual ideantity, this side-by-side is balanced, though brief. With each citation I've found apparently condemning the gay, there's another that espouses universal love and people making their own decisions. Meaning that the Bible is full of anachronistic contradictions, and people looking to it to validate their truth will find what they're looking for, no matter their camp. I find the Sacred Books and spiritual practices of the world great and vital bindings of collective meaning, though ultimately what I do on this goofy planet is arbitrated first and foremost by my conscience and experience, with respect to the body of wisdom that's gone before. jaybird found this for you @ 19:13 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
This is the second such This is the second such reoprt in recent memory, politely buried in the headlines. Ask someone in the queer community and they'll tell you they knew all along... Sexual Identity Hard-Wired by Genetics Sexual identity is wired into the genes, which discounts the concept that homosexuality and transgender sexuality are a choice, California researchers reported on Monday. jaybird found this for you @ 06:18 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Today is: National Coming Out Today is: I came out about 12 years ago, and it's amazing how much things have changed for us... the victories and the ongoing work ahead. If you're not out yet, go ahead, come out: closets are for clothes, and it feels so incredible to acknowledge an identity openly that has festereded as a burning secret. Ultimately, sexuality needn't be all that you are, for me it's just a component, an aspect that's crucial to the whole but not paramount. Anyway, COME OUT! jaybird found this for you @ 08:37 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Pardon my lack of better Pardon my lack of better words, but motherfucker!: The [p]Resident signs a proclamation of Marriage Protection Week. On MeFi, fellow member XQUZYPHYR points out: October 12 is also the anniversary of the murder of [Matthew] Shepard. Just as President Bush gave a speech condemning Affirmative Action on Martin Luther King Day and declared the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision "National Sanctity of Life Day," this is, of course, a complete coincidence. Here's the thread. jaybird found this for you @ 23:17 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay In The Blink Of Gay In The Blink Of An Eye jaybird found this for you @ 12:13 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Australia 'world's gayest country' Australia 'world's gayest country' The company said Australians enjoyed a busy love life, having sex on average 125 times per year. jaybird found this for you @ 06:55 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
The glitz, glam and glitter: The glitz, glam and glitter: the history and art of " drag." Crossposted to MeFi, Ms. Thing jaybird found this for you @ 19:21 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
A Queer Notion of History A Queer Notion of History ...revealed the existence of a large and extraordinarily visible gay community in New York in the early years of the 20th century. Well-advertised drag balls, featuring cross-dressers of both sexes, drew huge crowds; and any urban sophisticate, however straight, would have visited a "pansy nightclub." jaybird found this for you @ 10:47 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Lessons from an androgynous mummy Lessons from an androgynous mummy A mummy discovered this summer, thought to be Queen Nefertiti, turned out to be a man instead of a woman, according to Egyptian antiquities director Zahi Hawass. Whether this mummy was a queen, a drag queen or something else, the summer's news has forced us all to confront our issues about sexuality. jaybird found this for you @ 04:10 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Flipper is bisexual, as are Flipper is bisexual, as are many other marine mammals Who hasn't ever dabbled in a little beak-genital orientation? via Blort jaybird found this for you @ 17:53 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Lawmakers OK Domestic Partner Bill Lawmakers OK Domestic Partner Bill Legislation that would give domestic partners many of the same legal rights as married couples was sent to the governor's desk Wednesday following a heated Assembly debate in which opponents claimed the bill amounted to gay marriage. jaybird found this for you @ 21:03 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
'How to be Gay' course 'How to be Gay' course draws fire at Michigan I totally support academic freedom and this class should be taught on the grounds of free speech; but, this is the same thing I was talking about yesterday... being gay, as I understand it, is not something you do but something you are. I am left handed, and did not require any classes to learn how to be more left handed, I just am. Same thing with 'gayness.' IMHO. jaybird found this for you @ 06:48 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
I made this comment on I made this comment on a UPDATE: The originator of the thread meant no harm and wasn't baiting. Hw was hoping to be harmlessly funny. Well intentioned. I think. jaybird found this for you @ 12:07 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Another step ahead: Episcopalians approve Another step ahead: Episcopalians approve gay bishop jaybird found this for you @ 07:39 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Poll indicates increasing intolerance toward Poll indicates increasing intolerance toward being human, researchers say. jaybird found this for you @ 07:44 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Note the key word in Note the key word in this headline: Vatican offensive against gay marriages jaybird found this for you @ 17:45 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Gay Rebels without a Cause Gay Rebels without a Cause "We are using the words privacy, sodomy, even marriage in this debate. But no one wants to use the word that gets to the central issue – love." jaybird found this for you @ 08:22 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
British Columbia ends wait for British Columbia ends wait for same-sex marriages "He says the couple "ran" to get their licence as soon as they heard the news. " jaybird found this for you @ 18:01 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
"Some of the opposition expressed "Some of the opposition expressed to Canon John's appointment has been very unsavoury indeed. A number of the letters I received displayed a shocking level of ignorance and hatred towards homosexual people. Our official policies and resolutions as Anglicans commit us to listening to the experience of homosexuals and recognising that they are full and welcome members of the Church, loved by God. " jaybird found this for you @ 08:06 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Rusty is a homosexual  Rusty is a homosexual "Don't play with yourself, or you'll go blind." jaybird found this for you @ 21:53 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Bigots abuse Constitution: Sentate Majority Bigots abuse Constitution: Sentate Majority Chump Bill Frsit "said on Sunday he supported a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage." Over my dead democracy, beeyatch! jaybird found this for you @ 18:23 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
VICTORY! Supreme Court Strikes Down VICTORY! Supreme Court Strikes Down Gay Sex Ban jaybird found this for you @ 17:22 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
First "Legal" GLBT Couple celebrates First "Legal" GLBT Couple celebrates first "legal" kiss. jaybird found this for you @ 22:36 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Viva Canada! Ontario appeals court Viva Canada! Ontario appeals court rules for same sex marriage. Y'all have room for me up there? jaybird found this for you @ 18:20 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Reversal! Gov't Changes Mind on Reversal! Gov't Changes Mind on Gay Employee Event referencing this earlier post. jaybird found this for you @ 07:40 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Justice Dept. Bans Event by Justice Dept. Bans Event by Gay Staff "This says, `You're not welcome,' " Mr. Smith said. "It says that employees can celebrate Asian-American heritage month, and Hispanic heritage month and so on, but you cannot." jaybird found this for you @ 19:14 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
My feather boa can out My feather boa can out fly your banners, Missy: Christian Group Wants Disney's No-Fly Zone Down For Gay Days jaybird found this for you @ 21:55 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Will America watch Gay Reality Will America watch Gay Reality TV? I dunno. jaybird found this for you @ 17:48 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
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