Living: July 2009
Teach What You Learn: The Straight Guy's Primer on Gender Identity
Filed by Don Davis | July 31, 2009 4:00 PM |For today's story, we will travel far afield from the typical domains of politics or science or law that have so often provoked our thinking into an often overlooked area of human relations: To which gender do you belong? It's...Read More
Devastating D.C. Center Budget Cuts Jeopardize Safer Sex Campaign
Filed by Dan O'Neill | July 31, 2009 3:30 PM |My good friend, Terry Gerace, and I began a new HIV prevention campaign in June of this year to help combat the epidemic rate of HIV infection in Washington, D.C. After 8 years of "abstinence-only policies" and steadily rising rates...Read More
A Scorcha
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 31, 2009 8:00 AM |What is this, a summer seminar on race? Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Lou Dobbs, and the cop, the professor and the President have a beer - what a conversation the nation is having!...Read More
David: A Story of Hope, Faith and Love
Filed by Betty Greene Salwak | July 30, 2009 6:00 PM |My brother David was six years older than I. He moved out with our dad when I was nine and I saw him only sporadically thereafter. When we were grown, he stayed away from the family, coming only every few...Read More
Work it
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 30, 2009 3:30 PM |This week I haven't been around as much as I would like or participated in the comments as much as I usually do. I found a temp job that goes to this weekend and, honestly, it's been kicking my ass....Read More
Houston honors their Transgender Center
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 30, 2009 1:30 PM |Here's a heart-warming story: With over 100 people in attendance, Trans activists in Houston had a reason to celebrate as the city's mayor proclaimed last Saturday "Transgender Center Day" in honor of the center's first anniversary. The daylong event included...Read More
Diction Addiction
Filed by Father Tony | July 30, 2009 10:30 AM |In the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette, there is a song entitled Too Many Rings Around Rosie Will Never Get Rosie A Ring. Its wisdom is the brooch of a brief rant I'd like to fasten to your collective bosoms....Read More
"I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization."
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 29, 2009 5:00 PM |Woo-hoo! Reagan's tax revolution has another victory: Today's cuts to HIV/AIDS programs include: an 80% reduction in funding for Education & Prevention, a 70% cut in HIV Counseling and Testing, a 50% cut for Early Intervention (that provides primary medical...Read More
Lifting the Veil off Mental Health: The Art of Negotiation
Filed by David Castillo | July 29, 2009 4:00 PM |I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that negotiation is a part of every romantic relationship. That dynamic changes quite dramatically, however, when one of the parties involved is bipolar. One of the questions both...Read More
Lifting the Veil off Mental Health: The Art of Negotiation
Filed by David Castillo | July 29, 2009 4:00 PM |I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that negotiation is a part of every romantic relationship. That dynamic changes quite dramatically, however, when one of the parties involved is bipolar. One of the questions both...Read More
Open Forum: These are our social workers?
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 29, 2009 3:00 PM |My roommate is presently getting his MSW at an Indianapolis school. In one of the classes he takes, student groups present topics within the world of social work. One class presenter, given the topic of discrimination, focused entirely on race...Read More
Open Forum: These are our social workers?
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 29, 2009 3:00 PM |My roommate is presently getting his MSW at an Indianapolis school. In one of the classes he takes, student groups present topics within the world of social work. One class presenter, given the topic of discrimination, focused entirely on race...Read More
Today in HIV hysteria
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 29, 2009 1:00 PM |Sweeping bans of blood from at-risk populations are usually pretty stupid, but this one's gotta take the cake. Did you know lesbians can't donate blood in China? Li is a lesbian. Healthcare workers rejected her blood because she declared her...Read More
Indy Star runs same-sex marriage announcement
Filed by Bil Browning | July 29, 2009 11:30 AM |Bilerico-Indiana reader Marie Siroky and her lovely wife CJ (Weiss) Siroky were married in Iowa recently and the Indianapolis Star printed a wedding announcement for the blushing brides. I spent some time poking around in the Star's archives since I...Read More
Caption This: Gays Gone Wild
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 28, 2009 4:30 PM |This is what happens when you release a gay back into his natural habitat. The hubby and I had a chance to make a quick vacation this week. We're, uh, hiking an Appalachian trail....Read More
Sun, Family and Lush Greens
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 28, 2009 12:30 PM |I am currently at an undisclosed location in the Berkshires. Jeanine and I have a week, alone, and so far, it's been fabulous. My sister is in great hands, and the boys have been all dropped off at their camps....Read More
Only 4 Days Left
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 28, 2009 10:30 AM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Rick Cook is the co-owner of Mass Ave Video, Indianapolis's only video store catering to the LGBT community. The store has been a community resource for years and is facing closure soon. To our friends. We...Read More
What Does an Inclusive ENDA Really Mean?
Filed by Keri Renault | July 28, 2009 9:30 AM |Who can forget the infamous family feud over the highly touted "inclusive" ENDA of 2007? At the time a carefully negotiated LGBTQ alliance promised an employment non-discrimination act to protect both sexual orientation and gender identity classes. That unified alliance...Read More
Gays smoke more than straights
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 27, 2009 3:30 PM |Yeah, in case you needed another study to convince you: The findings, published in the August issue of the journal, Tobacco Control, show that as many as 37 percent of homosexual women and 33 percent of homosexual men smoke. That...Read More
Boys are to dogs as socks are to...
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 27, 2009 2:30 PM |My charming son Zachary came in this morning, sat in my office and let rip an enormous fart. Raising boys can be so... charming sometimes. They get mad when I say boys are like having dogs- but I mean it...Read More
Boys are to dogs as socks are to...
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 27, 2009 2:30 PM |My charming son Zachary came in this morning, sat in my office and let rip an enormous fart. Raising boys can be so... charming sometimes. They get mad when I say boys are like having dogs- but I mean it...Read More
Palin: Exit stage (far) right
Filed by Bil Browning | July 27, 2009 11:00 AM |Sarah Palin has now officially relinquished the Alaskan Governor's office to her Lt Guv, Shawn Parnell. The fiery bobblehead went on the attack, of course, against the media, liberals, her political opponents and the boogeyman of the religious right -...Read More
Church Chat, Beltway Style
Filed by John Shields | July 26, 2009 8:00 AM |Here's what's coming up for the major network morning news shows today. In alphabetical order, that would be ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. Check channels and air times for a station near you. It's all about the Obama administration's...Read More
Novelist E. Lynn Harris dead at 54
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 25, 2009 2:00 PM |As an author, I'm always shocked to read about another author's death -- especially when that author was nearly 20 years my junior. E. Lynn Harris had been on tour with his new book, Basketball Jones, and fell ill while...Read More
Mass Ave Video: Only 8 Days Left
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 24, 2009 2:00 PM |Editor's Note: Guest blogger Rick Cook is the co-owner of Mass Ave Video, Indianapolis's only video store catering to the LGBT community. The store has been a community resource for years and is facing closure soon. As I sit here...Read More
A "New Era" for the White Attire Affair
Filed by Dan O'Neill | July 24, 2009 12:30 PM |What a night to remember! Decked out from head-to-toe in full white regalia, I ventured to the Southeast on Saturday evening to attend the 10th Annual White Attire Affair, produced by the newly formed non-profit, the Al Sura Foundation. Of...Read More
What's it like to be gay?
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 24, 2009 10:00 AM |A friend of mine passed this video along to me. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best visualization experiment I have ever seen for straight people trying to understand what it's like to be gay. I'm keeping...Read More
AAA South Pledges Family Memberships to Same-Gender Spouses
Filed by Nadine Smith | July 24, 2009 9:30 AM |During a face-to-face meeting yesterday between Equality Florida and AAA South, top management at the 4th largest AAA affiliate in the country committed to recognizing all spouses, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The policy allows gay married couples to...Read More
Pumping Parties in the Heartland
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 23, 2009 6:00 PM |Let's talk about pumping for a moment, shall we? Imagine it this way: your neighbor Ted buys a tube of silicone caulk, squeezes it into a dirty coffee cup, pulls a smidge of it into a dirty needle, and jabs...Read More
Pumping Parties in the Heartland
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 23, 2009 6:00 PM |Let's talk about pumping for a moment, shall we? Imagine it this way: your neighbor Ted buys a tube of silicone caulk, squeezes it into a dirty coffee cup, pulls a smidge of it into a dirty needle, and jabs...Read More
NYU Human Right's Professor Dr. Thio is a No-Go
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 23, 2009 4:00 PM |Dr. Li-ann "Anal sex is like shoving a straw up your nose to drink" Thio, a professor at the National University of Singapore and Global Visiting Professor of Law set to teach human rights at NYU, according to the administration,...Read More
Anita Bryant 2.0: Carrie Prejean Brings "Opposite Marriage" Platform to Florida
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 23, 2009 1:30 PM |Disgraced, nationally lampooned former Miss California Carrie Prejean, who became the bumbling spokesmodel for the National Organization for Marriage, is bringing the sideshow to Florida. She is coming as part of the GOP "Drive the Discussion Exchange '09" event designed...Read More
Another LGBT Community Center in Distress: Arizona's Wingspan
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 23, 2009 11:30 AM |The economic crisis is hitting everyone hard. Especially under stress are the charities and other organizations that run off grants and donations. One of these groups in dire straights is the LGBT Community Center of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Wingspan....Read More
Another LGBT Community Center in Distress: Arizona's Wingspan
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 23, 2009 11:30 AM |The economic crisis is hitting everyone hard. Especially under stress are the charities and other organizations that run off grants and donations. One of these groups in dire straights is the LGBT Community Center of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Wingspan....Read More
Figleafing
Filed by Father Tony | July 23, 2009 10:30 AM |Dear Father T, My partner runs around the house taking all our "gay" artwork off the walls when his parents, brothers or sisters (all of whom are over 30) come to visit and he does the same when my...Read More
South Bend Councilman Oliver Davis Responds to Bilerico-Indiana
Filed by Donna Pandori | July 23, 2009 10:00 AM |South Bend Councilman Oliver Davis recently contacted me about a Bilerico post in which I questioned his support of equal rights for the GLBT community. My post was in reflection to a WSBT story, Council members divided over Luecke's first...Read More
Ethel Mermaid
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 23, 2009 8:00 AM |You guessed it! It's Girl Splash Week in Provincetown! Which, of course, leads me to health care......Read More
Why isn't Bryce Faulkner speaking for himself?
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 22, 2009 5:00 PM |There's an interesting article up now at Pink News about Bryce Faulkner's parents threatening to sue Bryce's boyfriend for gathering media attention to the fact that Bryce disappeared to an ex-gay camp and no one even knows if he's OK...Read More
The Single Prayer Plan: Please god, don't let me get sick
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 22, 2009 3:30 PM |Let's all pull up our camp chairs around the fire and tell our scariest health care stories: the friend who couldn't afford her thyroid medication and permanently damaged her eyes; the friend who needed a hip replacement and got caught...Read More
Calling Brandon "obsessed with Nazis" seems restrained now
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 22, 2009 1:30 PM |Yesterday I posted about the first day of the trial against the killer of Larry King, Brandon McIrnerney. I wrote about how the trial, unlike the media coverage, was shaping up to be more about Brandon than about Larry. If...Read More
Meet the Anti-Gay NYU Professor of Human Rights: "Diversity is not a License for Perversity"
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 22, 2009 12:30 PM |New York University Law School has found a new visiting Professor of Human Rights. Dr. Li-ann Thio, a professor at the National University of Singapore, will be teaching Human Rights Law during the Fall 2009 semester as a Global Visiting...Read More
Why are white gay men so racist? Why are straight black men so homophobic?
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 22, 2009 11:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Phil Reese began his career of LGBT advocacy in central Michigan and now resides in Champaign, IL where he teaches Middle School and attends graduate school at the University of Illinois. Phil is passionate about news,...Read More
Caption This: And Opossum Makes Five
Filed by Bil Browning | July 22, 2009 9:30 AM |Good Lord, what in the hell were these people thinking? C'mon, Projectors, the jokes - they write themselves with this one. This photo and Sunday's "Caption This" picture both came from awkwardfamilyphotos.com. The blog is hilarious. Check 'em out....Read More
A Day in the Life of a Caretaker
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 21, 2009 5:00 PM |Phew. The FedEx piece was exciting. I do love doing that work, shareholder resolution stuff. I believe corporations will always be way ahead of government policies- and we need them to be in order to get government to respond. It...Read More
(s)EXcapades: to hear or not to hear
Filed by Michele O'Mara | July 21, 2009 2:00 PM |Hi Michele. So my question is what should I do? My gf and I have been together for 4 years, a bit rocky, but ok. One nite she was tipsy and started talking about her past sexual experiences. She...Read More
New Video Game: Shoot Gays Before They Rape You
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 21, 2009 1:00 PM |Wow. Just wow. Stéphane Aguie has created a game called "Watch out behind you, Hunter." As the name might imply, the object is to shoot gay men who pop out of the bushes before they "rape" the player. Sounds like...Read More
Carrie Prejean open thread
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 21, 2009 12:00 PM |Well, anyone could have seen this coming. Carrie Prejean, aka the ex-Miss California-USA, has a book deal. If Joe the Plumber can do it, why can't she? Question of the day: What will the title to her book be? I'm...Read More
What lettuce has Steve Buyer been smoking?
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 21, 2009 10:00 AM |Steve Buyer, who achieved national fame a few weeks ago for warning complacent Americans about the dangers of smoking lettuce, is at it again. He wants people who don't wear condoms to pay more for health care if there's a...Read More
Health care in the U.S. - stop bickering and fix it
Filed by Pam Spaulding | July 20, 2009 5:00 PM |Q of the day: do you have a health care horror story to share? Was it denial of service or meds by your insurance, or hospital bureaucracy, or something even more onerous, like poor quality care? I have to agree...Read More
Episcopal Church moves forward on same-sex unions
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 20, 2009 4:00 PM |Last week the Rev. Irene posted about the Episcopal Church's vote to lift the moratorium on gay clergy, and two pro-trans resolutions passed in this year's conference as well. This last Friday the leaders of the Episcopal Church voted to...Read More
Broward School Board Race Priority for the LGBT Community
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 20, 2009 12:00 PM |Editor's Note: Ryan Terrell is a Senior at Cypress Bay High School where he serves as the President of the Cypress Bay Gay/Straight Alliance. He is also the incoming President of the Broward County GSA Advisory Council. While still more...Read More
Your blog virginity
Filed by Bil Browning | July 20, 2009 10:30 AM |Open thread questions for the day. What was the first blog you started reading regularly? How did you find & start reading Bilerico Project? What's your favorite blog (non-LGBT is perfectly fine!) Answer all or some - or just blogwhore...Read More
Are there any warriors in Charlotte?
Filed by Matt Comer | July 19, 2009 5:30 PM |How thin of a line exists between violent word and thought, and violent action and deed? That is the question I asked in my July 17 InterstateQ.com Special Report and commentary, "On the edge: Religious militancy in the Queen City."...Read More
How On Earth Did I Get Here?
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 19, 2009 1:00 PM |[Editor's Note: Betty Greene Salwak is a transplanted Floridian living in Indiana with her husband of 30 years and their two children. She began her professional life as a Language Arts teacher, became a sales trainer during her corporate period,...Read More
How On Earth Did I Get Here?
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 19, 2009 1:00 PM |[Editor's Note: Betty Greene Salwak is a transplanted Floridian living in Indiana with her husband of 30 years and their two children. She began her professional life as a Language Arts teacher, became a sales trainer during her corporate period,...Read More
Granny never got along with the family
Filed by Bil Browning | July 19, 2009 11:30 AM |Here's a fun "Caption This" for a Sunday morning... Give me the best you've got, Projectors. (Hat tip to awkwardfamilyphotos.com)...Read More
Walter Cronkite and the Player Piano
Filed by Karen Ocamb | July 19, 2009 10:00 AM |Dateline: Christmas season, 1975. A cab left me off in front of Walter Cronkite's Upper Eastside townhouse. Fresh out of college, I had joined CBS News two years earlier as a desk assistant and had become a regular substitute for...Read More
Changing Hearts and Minds One Wedding at a Time
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 18, 2009 2:00 PM |I recently posted about the backwards and hypocritical fact that my husband and I were on our way to a wedding which he was officiating, while our marriage isn't recognized in that state or our home in Florida. The discussion...Read More
Changing Hearts and Minds One Wedding at a Time
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 18, 2009 2:00 PM |I recently posted about the backwards and hypocritical fact that my husband and I were on our way to a wedding which he was officiating, while our marriage isn't recognized in that state or our home in Florida. The discussion...Read More
Miami Beach Bruthaz Conduct A Steamy Discussion Group
Filed by Father Tony | July 18, 2009 1:30 PM |Yesterday, I attended one of two roundtable discussions scheduled for this event. I want to voice my admiration for the 25 men who could have been lounging by the hotel pool or showing off their bodies at the beach or...Read More
Stories from the Helpline
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 18, 2009 12:00 PM |[E ditor's Note: "Stories from the Helpline" is a recurring feature on The Bilerico Project, bringing in the personal accounts of Helpline counselors from The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide...Read More
Midsummer "Victory Garden" Report
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 18, 2009 10:00 AM |As times get tougher, and food gets more expensive, I've been predicting that more and more Americans will plant what used to be called a "victory garden" -- even in small city yards. On my Los Angeles corner lot, I...Read More
Midsummer "Victory Garden" Report
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 18, 2009 10:00 AM |As times get tougher, and food gets more expensive, I've been predicting that more and more Americans will plant what used to be called a "victory garden" -- even in small city yards. On my Los Angeles corner lot, I...Read More
Miami Beach Bruthaz - This Weekend's Go-To Event
Filed by Father Tony | July 17, 2009 11:30 AM |If you are looking for something to do this weekend in Miami Beach that involves a crowd of attractive and intelligent Hispanic and African-American gay men (and a few women) you ought to participate in the events of the annual...Read More
Wiseass White Woman
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 17, 2009 8:30 AM |Thank you, but I am not Jamie Lee Curtis. Anyone else think the Sotomayor confirmation hearing is like a circle jerk for the ethically challenged?...Read More
Indiana newspaper publishes same-sex marriage announcement: Batshittery ensues
Filed by Bil Browning | July 16, 2009 4:30 PM |When the Elkhart Truth published a same-sex wedding announcement for Micheal Berkey and James Chapin earlier this week, Hoosier fundies went bananas. The couple plan to be married July 25th in Iowa. It didn't take long for the American Family...Read More
House, White House back end to federal needle exchange funding ban
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 16, 2009 2:30 PM |During the primaries, one of the policy differences between Obama and Clinton was that Obama supported an end to the federal ban on funding needle exchange programs. That's great; those programs have been proven to reduce HIV infection rates, and...Read More
Where To Find Sex And Love
Filed by Father Tony | July 16, 2009 10:30 AM |Hey there, I'm a teacher is Madison Wisconsin who is ready for a change. I've been vacationing for many years in Fort Lauderdale ever since my partner died. I think that is where I want to be and I...Read More
White Attire Affair Fundraiser Celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Filed by John Shields | July 16, 2009 9:30 AM |Looking for something to do this Saturday night that will help an under-served part of the LGBTQ community, and also be part of an experience that you won't soon forget? Then listen up, as Al Sura has just the *fun*draiser...Read More
Florida Judge Who Struck Down Gay Adoption Ban Demoted
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 15, 2009 7:00 PM |The Miami-Dade Florida circuit court judge who ruled Florida's shameful gay adoption ban unconstitutional in November 2008, a case currently being appealed, has been demoted. For over 15 years, Judge Cindy Lederman served as top administrative judge over Miami-Dade's juvenile...Read More
Let the Episcopal Church say Amen
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | July 15, 2009 4:00 PM |The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly to overturn a three-year moratorium on the election of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queers to the episcopate. While many LGBTQ Episcopalians and their allies are jumping for joy the...Read More
On Gay History, Or, This Is Not A Stonewall Story
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 15, 2009 10:30 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Don Davis is a complex recipe. In a large bowl, add 3 parts curiosity, 1 part "I Wish I Was Sam Clemens", 3 parts geek, 2 parts failed stand-up comic, a dash of photographer, a pinch...Read More
House committees release health care plan
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 15, 2009 9:30 AM |Late yesterday the House released its plan for health care, and it's pretty good. It includes all the popular initiatives: a public option, subsidies for low-income households, a health care exchange for small businesses and people who go it alone,...Read More
In Memory of D.C. Activist Desi Deschaine
Filed by John Shields | July 15, 2009 9:30 AM |Desi Deschaine, a leading voice in D.C. politics and the communications director for D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans, has died. He was 29. Deschaine's body was recovered Tuesday in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, after a weekend boating trip with friends and family....Read More
Proof: The Gay Marriage Movement Is Draining Resources from Queer Activism
Filed by Yasmin Nair | July 14, 2009 4:30 PM |As anyone who's been reading my posts on gay marriage knows by now, I've been critical of the "movement" for taking away much-needed resources and energy from far more important queer issues. I'll discuss that issue in greater detail in...Read More
Stonewall Democrats put the LGBT Money Where the Leadership Is
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 14, 2009 2:00 PM |The folks over at the National Stonewall Democrats, the LGBT Democratic organization, have decided to put their support and money behind the politicians that support our community after what is seen by many as the frustratingly slow movement on LGBT...Read More
Listen: ENDA & Indiana Equality's opposition on bOUT2
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 14, 2009 10:30 AM |I was just on bOUT2, an LGBT podcast based around BloomingOUT, a radio show that broadcasts in southern Indiana, to discuss ENDA and Indiana Equality's opposition to that bill. It turned out pretty well, although I think I said the...Read More
What Does Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and the DNC Have in Common with "Gay Rights" Groups? Not Our Interests.
Filed by Michael Hamar | July 14, 2009 9:30 AM |I have written about the recent Virginia Court decision involving Michael W. Moore - a former resident of Martinsville, Virginia, who was forced to resign from the Virginia Museum of Natural History because he is gay - in numerous places,...Read More
NBC's The Listener: Taking on Trans Youth
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 13, 2009 2:30 PM |I've been watching a show on NBC that I haven't heard too much buzz about. The Listener is about a paramedic who can read people's thoughts and uses it to help others. Think "Heroes" without the giant cast and a...Read More
Updates on the swimming campers in Philadelphia
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 13, 2009 1:30 PM |The day campers that got kicked out of a private pool in Philadelphia because they were black are now swimming at a local private boarding school's pool. Ironically enough, Girard College was a school for white orphans set up by...Read More
Lifting the Veil off Mental Health: Life with a Bipolar Partner
Filed by David Castillo | July 12, 2009 11:30 AM |Bil announced a couple of weeks ago that I was going to be blogging here about my experience living with my partner, Jim, who suffers from bipolar disorder. Since Jim's first hospitalization, I've been on a personal journey to better...Read More
Who Will Be the Bride at our Gay Wedding?
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 12, 2009 10:00 AM |[E ditor's Note: Loren A. Olson MD is a board certified psychiatrist and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He has received the "Exemplary Psychiatrist Award" from the National Alliance for Mentally Illness, and has received recognition...Read More
What's In a Handshake?
Filed by Guest Blogger | July 11, 2009 10:00 AM |[Editors' Note:] Steve Publicover is a middle-aged gay man living with his partner of nine years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia, with three cats, four ducks and a pond. Steve worked for eleven years in the non-profit...Read More
Indiana Sup of Public Instruction Tony Bennett doesn't believe in dinosaurs?
Filed by Bil Browning | July 10, 2009 5:30 PM |Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the "Creation Evidence Expo?" The Expo thinks that our public school books are "inaccurate" and the Superintendent of Public Instruction is the featured guest? WTF?!...Read More
Didn't you hear? Kissing has been banned!
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 10, 2009 3:00 PM |In El Paso, a gay couple was kicked out of a restaurant for kissing. If that wasn't bad enough, the police who showed up apparently didn't know the law: The officer informed the group it was illegal for two men...Read More
The Final Exit
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 10, 2009 10:30 AM |Editors' Note: Sara's story started with "Manfriend, Mania and the Dead Puppy" and continued with "A Surprise and Getaway Plan." You'll want to read them too to catch up before this episode begins. This is the hard part. On Tuesday...Read More
O'Malley, Favorable Opinion May Pave Way for Civil Marriage
Filed by Keri Renault | July 10, 2009 9:30 AM |Legislation in support of same-sex marriage in Maryland has hit political roadblocks time and again. Apathetic sub-committees have proven a common dead-end. The road ahead, however, may be clearing. In June, Maryland State Senator Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), sponsor of...Read More
The Questions About Michael Jackson and Lupus
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 10, 2009 9:30 AM |The news media are mentioning lupus in an update on Jackson's medical investigation. It came in connection with information from an unnamed source, that Jackson's body was found to be in poor condition -- emaciated, no hair on his scalp,...Read More
A Surprise and Getaway Plan
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 09, 2009 6:30 PM |Editors' Note: Sara's story started with "Manfriend, Mania and the Dead Puppy." You'll want to read it first to catch up before this episode begins. I'm sorry if this story is upsetting. As I said, it was beyond anything I,...Read More
AIDS Activist Shut Down Rotunda After Obama Breaks AIDS Policy Campaign Pledge
Filed by Donna Pandori | July 09, 2009 4:30 PM |Geez, here we go again. AIDS activists shut down US Capitol rotunda over Obama reversal on AIDS policy. A group of 26 AIDS activists chained themselves to each other in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday morning, startling visitors, shutting down...Read More
Going to the Chapel: We Can Officiate, but Not Get Married
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 09, 2009 3:30 PM |As you read this, I assume the hubby and I are smashed into an airplane with a crying child and some sassy flight attendants hurling towards Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What brings us to the land of cheese, you may ask? A...Read More
A Wild Night, Secret Photos and the Real Problem
Filed by Father Tony | July 09, 2009 10:30 AM |Dear Father Tony, Here's my story. I was on a business trip a year ago. The day is done and I go down to the hotel bar for a drink before going to bed. Alone. I am in a...Read More
All clear!
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 09, 2009 8:00 AM |Don't worry, everything is fine now. But what do you do on a rainy day? Do you organize a film festival too or am I the only one?...Read More
Manfriend, Mania and the Dead Puppy
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 08, 2009 7:00 PM |I'm not sure where to begin... this is a story you won't believe. I will tell it as plainly as I can but still... you won't believe it. I wouldn't if I hadn't lived it. Wednesday, the 17th, my sister...Read More
Healthcare Reform for LGBT Americans
Filed by Dan O'Neill | July 08, 2009 2:00 PM |The healthcare reform debate has become so fluid and has moved so quickly as of late, that trying to follow along is akin to taking a proverbial drink from a fire-hose of health policy. Currently, there are five committees in...Read More
What's really scary is the deductible
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 08, 2009 1:00 PM |There are so many layers of possible, subtle, and overt homophobia, misogyny, racism, sodomy anxiety, Nixonian resentment, and sexophobia cynically in use to turn conservatives off to health care reform in the new National Review cover that it isn't possible...Read More
Hiding Pills in Brownies; or: Combating Homophobia in California's Heartland (Finally)
Filed by Prince Gomolvilas | July 08, 2009 12:00 PM |When the New Conservatory Theatre Center's YouthAware Educational Theatre program began touring Ed Roy's The Other Side of the Closet in 2000, the play - with its gritty and direct handling of homophobia and youth violence - was welcomed by...Read More
What cat? I'm not hiding anything!
Filed by Bil Browning | July 08, 2009 11:30 AM |What's your best caption for this photo? You guys always have the funniest one-liners so I can't wait to see what you come up with for this one. (Hat tip to Projector Dawn for sending in the photo.) I love...Read More
The Queerness of Michael Jackson
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | July 08, 2009 10:30 AM |At Michael Jackson's memorial service the Rev. Al Sharpton gave a rousing speech that had the congregation at the Staples Center rise to their feet at times with shouts of "Amen!" Sharpton made one particular statement in his speech to...Read More
Is the Queen of the UK homophobic?
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 07, 2009 7:00 PM |It's a question I never really thought of before, even though she is one of the most powerful women in the world. She's the queen regnant of 16 independent nations and the Supreme Governor of the central Church in the...Read More
Indiana Equality, Lambda Consulting, The Word and my work history
Filed by Bil Browning | July 07, 2009 6:00 PM |I was dismayed to read Alex's post yesterday about The Indiana Word's scurrilous references to me in three different columns of this month's issue. Especially disturbing was the official editorial from publisher Ted Fleischaker. While two-thirds of the editorial was...Read More
Indiana Equality, Lambda Consulting, The Word and my work history
Filed by Bil Browning | July 07, 2009 6:00 PM |I was dismayed to read Alex's post yesterday about The Indiana Word's scurrilous references to me in three different columns of this month's issue. Especially disturbing was the official editorial from publisher Ted Fleischaker. While two-thirds of the editorial was...Read More
Raising Money on the Backs of Crumbling Marriages: Stay Classy, John Stemberger
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 07, 2009 3:00 PM |He's back and ready to raise some cash to "protect marriage." John Stemberger, the raging homophobe who brought us Florida's Amendment 2 (the state's far reaching marriage equality and civil union ban) and the head of the state chapter of...Read More
For Michael Jackson
Filed by Terrance Heath | July 07, 2009 1:00 PM |Editors' Note: We're republishing Terrance's post about Michael Jackson's death in honor of Jackson's memorial service today. Feel free to use it as your open thread to remember the King of Pop. We all have a few of them. Those...Read More
An "insignificant" truth about common LGBT suicide
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 07, 2009 12:00 PM |A trans person committed suicide in June. Nobody reported it, and her death went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. The death did not end in a sensational court case, or in some bloody mess that news cameras...Read More
An "insignificant" truth about common LGBT suicide
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 07, 2009 12:00 PM |A trans person committed suicide in June. Nobody reported it, and her death went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. The death did not end in a sensational court case, or in some bloody mess that news cameras...Read More
An "insignificant" truth about common LGBT suicide
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 07, 2009 12:00 PM |A trans person committed suicide in June. Nobody reported it, and her death went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. The death did not end in a sensational court case, or in some bloody mess that news cameras...Read More
An "insignificant" truth about common LGBT suicide
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 07, 2009 12:00 PM |A trans person committed suicide in June. Nobody reported it, and her death went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. The death did not end in a sensational court case, or in some bloody mess that news cameras...Read More
Finding Space Again
Filed by Sara Whitman | July 07, 2009 11:00 AM |I've been a little remiss in posting and I'm sorry. I've been adjusting to having my sister here, full time and not well, adding in three boys on vacation with no camp, a new dog, and way too much rain...Read More
Another Horrific Tale of "Ex-Gay" Conversion... and How the Internet is Helping Fight Back
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 06, 2009 6:30 PM |The request to join a new group came through my Facebook page. The group was called "Friends of Bryce", which could have been anything, but had a note attached that said "Please Help." When I clicked over to the group,...Read More
Another Horrific Tale of "Ex-Gay" Conversion... and How the Internet is Helping Fight Back
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 06, 2009 6:30 PM |The request to join a new group came through my Facebook page. The group was called "Friends of Bryce", which could have been anything, but had a note attached that said "Please Help." When I clicked over to the group,...Read More
Another Horrific Tale of "Ex-Gay" Conversion... and How the Internet is Helping Fight Back
Filed by Waymon Hudson | July 06, 2009 6:30 PM |The request to join a new group came through my Facebook page. The group was called "Friends of Bryce", which could have been anything, but had a note attached that said "Please Help." When I clicked over to the group,...Read More
Why are LGBT people less healthy?
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 06, 2009 5:30 PM |Empire State Pride Agenda has put out an interesting study of 3500 LGBT people who live in New York State and their access to health care. LGBT people generally receive less health care, and it's not just because of a...Read More
Wait -- is it my imagination, or is Saks Fifth Avenue satirizing the gay marriage assimilation agenda?
Filed by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore | July 06, 2009 1:00 PM |Left display window: mannequins in Diesel underwear (and one with a hat, one wearing bow tie, and the other sporting a bandana), and the slogan -- EQUALITY IS THE BOTTOM LINE....Read More
Homophobes caught lying about Kevin Jennings
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 06, 2009 12:00 PM |GLSEN has created a web form to thank the Education Department for appointing Kevin Jennings as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for the Department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. I posted about how the FRC started a campaign...Read More
In Memory of Bob -- Or What "the Right to Healthcare" Should Mean for Our Elders
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 05, 2009 5:30 PM |Last week, the four of us laid our friend Bob to rest in the memorial park where three generations of his family are buried. He had just turned 73, and wanted his bones to be buried beside those of a...Read More
In Memory of Bob -- Or What "the Right to Healthcare" Should Mean for Our Elders
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 05, 2009 5:30 PM |Last week, the four of us laid our friend Bob to rest in the memorial park where three generations of his family are buried. He had just turned 73, and wanted his bones to be buried beside those of a...Read More
In Memory of Bob -- Or What "the Right to Healthcare" Should Mean for Our Elders
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | July 05, 2009 5:30 PM |Last week, the four of us laid our friend Bob to rest in the memorial park where three generations of his family are buried. He had just turned 73, and wanted his bones to be buried beside those of a...Read More
Your opinion needed on an issue of vital importance
Filed by Bil Browning | July 05, 2009 1:00 PM |Okay, so maybe that's being a little too... dramatic. (I know, I know. You're all stunned that I'd be overly dramatic... *grins*) After I posted about our upcoming redesign, Alex left a comment saying he hoped I'd finally change my...Read More
Life Is a Highway
Filed by Terrance Heath | July 05, 2009 10:00 AM |var so4_1 = { params : { wmode : "opaque", allowfullscreen : "true"}, flashvars : { file : "http://www.republicoft.com/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/xml/imagerotator.php?gid=4", shuffle : "false", linkfromdisplay : "true", shownavigation : "false", kenburns : "true", overstretch : "fit", transition : "fade", backcolor :...Read More
See Two New Plays at Art Serve This Weekend
Filed by Father Tony | July 04, 2009 10:00 AM |I'm the last of my kind says David Leddick as Mr. Charles, looking like an elongated and cornfed Quentin Crisp working an orange scarf and gazing either at the boards beneath him or over our heads at somewhere far...Read More
July 4th 1910: Valparaiso, Indiana
Filed by Bil Browning | July 04, 2009 9:00 AM |Enjoy the 4th of July holiday with your friends and loved ones. We'll be taking the weekend off here at Bilerico-Indiana, but we'll be back on Monday with more Hoosier queer news and views. But if you get bored cooking...Read More
Happy Independence Day, right?
Filed by Father Tony | July 04, 2009 8:00 AM |Wishing you all the best for the holiday weekend, and wondering how you are feeling. Patriotic? Frustrated? Swindled by President Obama? Satisfied with your status as a citizen of the best country in the world? Satisfied with the progress we...Read More
Fourth of July open thread
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 04, 2009 8:00 AM |Fourth of July, so we're gone fishin'. What are you all getting up to today?...Read More
Freedom
Filed by John Shields | July 03, 2009 3:30 PM |Being the Fourth of July weekend, I thought it important to remind us of part of the Declaration of Independence. After all, it is Independence Day... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...Read More
Shame on NBC! Homophobic Programming During Pride Month
Filed by Nadine Smith | July 03, 2009 2:30 PM |WFLA Homophobic TV Program: Help Decide the Next Steps Click here to take our survey. Protest at the studio? Reach out to advertisers? Boycott? Over the past few days we've gotten tons of email from across Florida suggesting next steps...Read More
Let them attend their own insider salons
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 03, 2009 1:30 PM |I'm sure you've all at least hear about the story Politico broke yesterday about the Washington Post attempting to sell access to Obama officials, newsroom journalists, and editorial staff. For the low price of $25,000, health care lobbyists could secure...Read More
The Relentless Damage of Pope Benedict XVI
Filed by Father Tony | July 03, 2009 12:30 PM |It's not enough that he has set Catholicism back several decades (you should have known that was his objective when he chose the name of the last pope he could actually respect, Benedict XV, 1914-1922, who invented canon law). Having...Read More
Are you one of the Top 100?
Filed by Charles L. Ross | July 03, 2009 12:00 PM |Over the next 100 days, Stonewall Library & Archives needs 100 supporters who will contribute 100 dollars. 100Days x 100People x 100Dollars Everyone who contributes 100 dollars during this drive receives a Stonewall baseball cap! 100Days x 100People x...Read More
A Patriotic Foremother
Filed by Dana Rudolph | July 03, 2009 11:30 AM |Here's a quick historical tidbit in honor of the many patriotic songs played this weekend: Katherine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful," lived for 25 years with fellow Wellesley College professor Katherine Coman, in what is commonly called a...Read More
The Ins and Outs of the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban
Filed by Dan O'Neill | July 03, 2009 10:30 AM |On Friday, June 26, at the behest of the Office of Management and Budget (see announcement), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was asked to proceed with publication in the Federal Register of the long-anticipated rule to lift...Read More
USI will offer domestic partner benefits
Filed by Bil Browning | July 02, 2009 1:30 PM |The last of Indiana's four publicly supported four-year universities will offer domestic partner benefits after January 1st. Kudos to Projector Chad Tew for pushing the University of Southern Indiana to institute partner benefits for LGBT employees; he's been a driving...Read More
USI will offer domestic partner benefits
Filed by Bil Browning | July 02, 2009 1:30 PM |The last of Indiana's four publicly supported four-year universities will offer domestic partner benefits after January 1st. Kudos to Projector Chad Tew for pushing the University of Southern Indiana to institute partner benefits for LGBT employees; he's been a driving...Read More
The Cisgender Everyone Else Standard of Care
Filed by Mercedes Allen | July 02, 2009 11:30 AM |Every so often, I receive an email through the albertatrans website feedback form that challenges me with something I hadn't thought of before. Recently, a query came in from a cisgender male who thought that I might be a good...Read More
Should You Love a Wallflower?
Filed by Father Tony | July 02, 2009 10:30 AM |Dear Father Tony My steady boyfriend is a man who can't dance. He won't even try to learn how to dance. I dragged him onto the floor at our club just once. His face was so sad I gave...Read More
You can do it, Pumpy
Filed by Alex Blaze | July 02, 2009 9:30 AM |Lots of health care odds-n-ends in this post. I can't bring you comprehensive coverage on this site since covering even one topic is hard enough for a blogger (for continuous coverage, I suggest Ezra Klein). But I can pass along...Read More
My Pride Party & the White Elephant
Filed by Keri Renault | July 02, 2009 9:30 AM |Tuesday night over dinner conversation at a friend's home near Capital Hill, my partner and I recalled the memorable highlights of our Maryland housewarming. Our social event the previous Saturday was more a celebration of newfound friendship than a newcomer's...Read More
My Pride Party & the White Elephant
Filed by Keri Renault | July 02, 2009 9:30 AM |Tuesday night over dinner conversation at a friend's home near Capital Hill, my partner and I recalled the memorable highlights of our Maryland housewarming. Our social event the previous Saturday was more a celebration of newfound friendship than a newcomer's...Read More
Comedy pride month
Filed by Kate Clinton | July 02, 2009 8:30 AM |Congratulations to Al Franken, our first openly comic American to serve in the Senate. Larry Craig doesn't count - he had to use props....Read More
I Want Free Stuff
Filed by Paige Schilt | July 01, 2009 5:30 PM |Last week I attended a six-year-old's birthday party. After pizza and ice cream and cake, the kids were working off their sugar highs by running and wrestling and generally acting like maniacs. The parents were huddled around the booze. One...Read More
I Want Free Stuff
Filed by Paige Schilt | July 01, 2009 5:30 PM |Last week I attended a six-year-old's birthday party. After pizza and ice cream and cake, the kids were working off their sugar highs by running and wrestling and generally acting like maniacs. The parents were huddled around the booze. One...Read More
One big win for human rights, one big fail for grandpa
Filed by Austen Crowder | July 01, 2009 10:00 AM |I'll admit that young transition is both a scary and exciting thought to me. Children who know who they are - deep down, at a level of passion few people reach in adult lives, let alone as kids - should...Read More
