They Found Out

Yeah, so I made these. Glad I can wear these all the time now.

Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof and none of the above, you are probably wondering where I've been these past few weeks. You must have been frustrated, enraged, cursing my pretty face as you mash the refresh button, praying for a new post from me. I can hardly forgive myself for keeping you in such a state, dear readers. So let me tell you why I've been so long away.

They found out.

What is Homophobia, Again?

(S)

Recently (and pretty hilariously, to me) Wilfrid Fox Napier, a South African Catholic cardinal told the Mail and the Guardian that “I can’t be accused of homophobia, because I don’t know any homosexuals.” Well, it was hilarious, and then it wasn't, because really? But damn, I didn’t know there were rules and regulations to homophobia. If you don’t know any QUILTBAGs, then you can’t be bigoted – silly me, I thought it was whether anything bigoted is said. It does seem that I need to reevaluate what homophobia actually is, because my definition is very different.

Another Take on the Restroom Thing

Something my husband ran across in Orlando Florida last week caught my eye. Especially after Kal’s post this week:

This was posted in the NASPA Conference in Orlando earlier this month.

I love gender neutral restrooms, so does husband. I would go further to remark that I also prefer gender neutral locker rooms--but that is another post.

Yes, I am cis-gendered, but I am also a mom.  What strictly gendered restrooms mean to me is that I have had to hover outside the men’s room while waiting for my six or seven year old son uses the restroom. Or take him to the ladies room and have said ladies glare at me.

The same thing happened to my husband when he took daughter out.  Worse yet, when she was tiny, he discovered that most men’s rooms didn’t have things like changing tables,so he would be stuck changing daughter on precarious counter or filthy floor.

Turing was the Bombe

(S)

A few weeks ago I wrote about Lynn Conway, a computer scientist without whom we would not have most of the computer technology you use today, or many of the methods that computer scientists are taught to use in university. However, there is a man whose name has become synonymous with computers and computer science, and is probably the first name that everyone supplies when asked, “Are there any QUILTBAG scientists?” 

Alan Mathison Turing is arguably the reason that computers – and especially artificial intelligence – exist at all. 

Stop Complaining so I Can Still Feel Good About Myself

Yes apparently this is a legitimate fear for some (S)

 "It’s all political correctness gone mad! Yes, that’s right, ensuring that minority groups in the community don’t feel alienated by other groups is completely wrong. In fact, it’s infringing on my rights as a person! But I'm not bigoted I promise."

"Well, ok, I'll admit, it's not stopping me from having any rights I had before. And, yes, it's not exactly hard to not say something that offends someone, but I've said it all my life without being told to stop, and since I don't actually mean it the way you're taking it, then you can't get offended."

Ah, yes, do excuse me. I forget that this concept is so difficult for people to understand.

At the Intersection of Race and Orientation

Disillusioned Face? I need you again!

Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof and none of the above, the honeymoon period is over. I say this with a heavy heart, but the inevitable has happened. My bleeding leftist heart is quick to attach itself to various causes and is just as easily disillusioned with every transgression my new comrades commit. I thought I'd learned after Julian Assange was accused of rape that no movement is perfect. Evidently I have not learned well enough. Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof and none of the above, the LGBT movement has a race problem. It's here. It's queer. And we are not going to get used to it.

Holiday Edition!

Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof and none of the above, I come to you refreshed from a strange American ritual celebrating the decimation of native peoples and the national vice of gluttony. Thanksgiving is seen among my people as all of these things and more. It’s a week off of school. It’s passing out from a food coma. It’s giving thanks that Native Americans were the victims of mass genocide by white settlers, allowing the United States of America to be. But above all things, it’s time for the awkward and forced interaction between people who share little more than a few more gene sequences than the mean. Yes, Thanksgiving is family time. But many of us in the LGBT community don’t have family to speak of. How do we celebrate the holidays?

YOU GUYS THEY'RE ON TO US

Pictured: The author with the Gay Illuminati

Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof and none of the above, I am writing to you in dire circumstances. Our candidate, the puppet president Barack Obama may have won (or stolen) this election from the righteous god-fearing challenger Mitt Romney, but I tell you that our people are in danger. The breeders are getting wise, my friends, and if we don't do something, our plan to subvert the Constitution and bring about the reign of the Antichrist may be brought to nothing yet. It's almost too horrible to say, yet it is my duty to inform you that...they know. They know everyone's born straight and that we turn them gay. What's more, they have discovered our sleeper cells in their schools, slowly turning their children gay. We could yet lose the Culture War.

Pray Away the Gay, French Style

For over three decades, clinics claiming to be able to "cure" homosexuality have done more harm than good to the psyche of countless gay men and women.

The different courses include shock therapy and many other traumatizing procedures to try and "make someone straight". However, although most of these more violent methods have been phased out in these clinics, their treatments remain just as damaging.

Recently, a "Christian" organisation in the U.S claiming to be able to "liberate those bound by sexual and relational brokenness", Desert Stream, announced it would be extending "gay cure" treatments to its branches in 10 countries worldwide, including France, Australia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and all over the US.

Living in France, one of the countries threatened by these phony cure clinics, I did more research into the work Desert Stream's French branch, Torrents de Vie (Waterfalls of Life). This involved me going undercover as a gay Christian to converse with a man who has been through the clinics.

"His Very Act of Protest Confers Dignity on Him"

Ladies, gentlemen, variations thereof, and none of the above, I'd like to start us out with some Ancient Gay History before delving into into the Introduction to Paleolithic Gay History that will be the subject of this article. Because I am a member of Generation Z, by "Ancient" I mean "one year ago" and by "Paleolithic" I mean "like, fifty or sixty years ago, like, you know?". Anyway, about a year ago in the San Antonio area, Democratic Party county chairman Dan Ramos stirred up some trouble by comparing gays to termites, the Tea Party (okay, that one hurt), and the Nazi Party. Yes. The ones that slaughtered gays, lesbians, and other gender nonconformists. Those Nazis. Well, I'd like to spend this article making good ol' Dan look like more of an idiot than he already does, a herculean task no doubt, but we'll give it the old college try, shall we?

On False News and Todd Akin

That's a worrying smile, I think (S)

Todd Akin – already well known for his exemplary knowledge of how science (and in particular pregnancy) works – has now claimed that breast milk can “cure” homosexuality. Criticised by many for saying that in the case of “legitimate rape”, women’s bodies “have a way of shutting that whole thing down”. The Republican Senate candidate for Missouri has had calls from his party to step down so they can replace him. Rather amusingly, he has refused to do this (fully supported, of course, by the Democratic candidate Claire McCaskil).

(Not So) Asexy Media

David Jay and student Mary Kame Ginoza (S)

Asexuality is edging into the media spotlight. More and more newspapers, magazines, and televised news programs are running stories about the elusive fourth orientation, and it’s all quite exciting to be recognised in media for once. The picture to the left, for example, comes from the British newspaper the Guardian's article on asexuality. Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and it seems to be so in this case as well.

Dictionary calls Gay a "Perversion" and a Transphobic slur "Popular"

Recently there has been scandal and uproar in the French LGBT blogosphere after the online version of the Larousse dictionary defined homosexuality as "a perversion" and "a deviation", and called a transphobic slur "popular".

Larousse is one of the top online dictionaries in France. It is the French equivalent of Webster's dictionary and is used by thousands of French internet surfers every day since its launch in May 2008.

Making Me Illegal Won't Make Me Go Away

Over here in Lithuania, transgender healthcare and medical transitioning is a bit of a hot topic. The European Union is pushing our government to fix the laws that prevent trans people from having access to trans healthcare, but most politicians aren’t too enthusiastic about it. Local politician, Vida M. Cigriejiene, even proposed to make transitioning illegal in order to “save the money” we need to make it legal and accessible, perfectly illustrating how completely clueless a lot of politicians are about transgender healthcare. Several other conservative politicians, such as Antanas Matulas, teamed up with her, and now this is pretty much the moment of truth for transgender people in Lithuania. Both of the politicians are doctors, which makes it even more depressing. Since I have seen some of the most ridiculous and dehumanizing transphobia from our politicians, my hopes aren’t very high for this law. That's why I decided to write this article/open letter, about why it's a bad idea.

The Gayest Cereal You'll Ever See

Fruit Loops are just fabulous Cheerios... (S)

“One out of every eight boxes of cereal in this country is Cheerios. This is really the treat now for the homosexuals.”

If you looked at this with a sad frown, unable to understand why some people are unable to accept that QUILTBAGs are not lesser people, you have obviously not seen the video that this quote comes from. You see, while some people still feel the need to protest against gay marriage, not many are able to do it successfully...

"I feel sorry for Tyson Gay"

"I feel sorry for Tyson Gay". A lot of us have heard this over the last few days, and you don't have to be on the internet to hear it... Oh, and they're not talking about the fact he came 4th in the 100m men's finals of the Olympics yesterday, oh no.

People say they feel sorry for Tyson Gay because of his name; my mother included. I mean, after all, what could be more embarrassing than having to run in front of 80,000 people in the Olympic stadium, plus the millions watching at home with the word "GAY" slapped across your chest in big capital letters? Running with the word "BLACK"?

Do people say they feel sorry for Jack Black every time his name appears on an album cover or in movie credits?

Think about it, people might have said that 50 or 60 years ago. But not today. Nobody thinks twice about Jack Black's name.

A Mother, a Son, and a T-Shirt: the Importance of Mutual Empathy

"Mom, can you pick me up a blank shirt and some T-Shirt transfers?"
"Sure, what for?"

"I want to make a shirt."
"What kind of shirt?"
"Just... a shirt."
"I know that. What kind?"
"A... a pride shirt."
"Pride?"

"...for coming out."
"As... gay?"
"...yyyyes."

That was the first time I ever came out to anyone. And thus began what was possibly the most uncomfortable conversation of my life.

Wrong assumptions about bisexuality

“He is bi, and I don’t really feel like a man”. Those were the words a girl called Kelly used when telling my friend Squeaky why she didn’t like me anymore. My friends and I trust each other, so like any loyal friend would do, Squeaky reported back to me. I felt angry, how dare she make assumptions about me?


In this blog I will tell two stories about wrong assumptions that have recently been made about me. Two people who are pretty close to me have made assumptions about me lately, the first one is highly offensive, the second one isn’t offensive but is still pretty dumb. In addition I will talk about wrong assumptions in general, because they represent a human trait, one the human traits I hate the most in the world: ignorance.

Ending "Gay Cures" - How you can help and why you should

"Gay conversion therapy", sometimes called "reparative therapy" or "gay cures" as they're more commonly known, started back in the 1920s right back at the beginning of psychoanalytic therapy; the era of the world's first psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

In the 1920s, homosexuality was seen to be pathological and attempts to "treat" gays were seen as appropriate, however the vast majority of psychotherapists believed that it was virtually impossible to change a person's sexual orientation.

Views such as these began to dissipate after the Stonewall riots in 1969, but remain in society today, largely amongst the strongly religious communities even though "gay cures" have been proven to be useless. Now, there's a movement underway to stop them.

Google Is So Much Gayer Than You Thought

Some of you may remember this from last summer when
a rainbow appeared when searching for LGBT topics (S)

Google is so gay! That's why the American Family Association, or Buster Wilson in particular, along with all the other homophobic bigots, currently have their garments in a twist.

Since Google announced its 'Legalize Love' campaign a few days ago, homophobes all over the internet have been threatening to boycott Google for supporting gay rights.

But they obviously haven't been too observant over the last year or so, pictured left is a screenshot of the Google search bar from last summer for instance.