Coming Out in Middle School By BENOIT DENIZET-LEWIS

original post at NYTIMES

Austin didn’t know what to wear to his first gay dance last spring. It was bad enough that the gangly 13-year-old from Sand Springs, Okla., had to go without his boyfriend at the time, a 14-year-old star athlete at another middle school, but there were also laundry issues. “I don’t have any clean clothes!” he complained to me by text message, his favored method of communication..

When I met up with him an hour later, he had weathered his wardrobe crisis (he was in jeans and a beige T-shirt with musical instruments on it) but was still a nervous wreck. “I’m kind of scared,” he confessed. “Who am I going to talk to? I wish my boyfriend could come.


” But his boyfriend couldn’t find anyone to give him a ride nor, Austin explained, could his boyfriend ask his father for one. “His dad would give him up for adoption if he knew he was gay,” Austin told me. “I’m serious. He has the strictest, scariest dad ever. He has to date girls and act all tough so that people won’t suspect.”

Love Makes a Family

from the blog of ACLU

Martin called the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) when John and James, who had become bonded with Martin and his partner after years in their care, were about to become free for adoption. That meant, under Florida law, the state would have to seek a new family that would be eligible to adopt the boys. James was an infant when placed in Martin’s home and this is the only family he has ever known. John was four at the time and had already suffered the loss of being separated from his biological family. He was so traumatized when he arrived in Martin’s home that he didn’t speak at all. Just when he was finally overcoming that loss and beginning to bond with his new family, he could have to be uprooted once again. The thought that John would have to be put through the loss of another family was unbearable to Martin and his partner. Martin asked the ACLU if there was anything we could do.

We were committed to doing everything possible to do away with this destructive law, and of course we were moved by Martin’s story. So we filed a petition to adopt on his behalf in Florida juvenile court. We argued that the gay exclusion cannot be a basis to deny Martin’s petition because that law is unconstitutional. John and James were represented by separate counsel who argued that the law violates their constitutional rights as well.

to read thw whole story get the complete article at
http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/gen/40464res20090717.html

The Nazis and the Gays

At one time it was fashionable to claim that the Nazis accepted homosexuality. Partly this was a way to slur the Nazis [as if they need slurring], and partly a reflection of the suppressed homoeroticism of Nazi visual expression. What was overlooked until the 1970s, and the publication of a series of articles by James Steakley in the Toronto Body Politic (quite possibly the best bi-weekly ever.

In recent years this forgetting has been overcome. Thanks to the efforts of Steakley, Richard Plant and Burchhard Jellonek, as well as the publication by Hans Heger [pseud.] of his memoirs, and the play Bent by Martin Shaw, the suffering of gays under the Third Reich has become well known. Now the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC makes sure to explicate the issues involved.

The total number of gays killed seems to have been about 15,000 [figures from Jellonek], mostly by being worked to death. Gays were not sent as gays to extermination camps. This is massively smaller than the devastation visited on Jewish, Gypsy and Serbian populations. But documenting the Nazi attacks on homosexuals is not part of a "catch-up" game with Jews, or other groups. It is rather an exposing of the possible effects of dehumanizing any group.

Recently some members of the American Religious Right [a diverse group that should no more be demonized than any other], have taken to denying the gay holocaust, and in fact asserting that the Nazi part was essentially homosexual. This is nonsense, and not one serious historian countenances the charge. Nevertheless the book - The Pink Swastika - which makes this charge has been subjected to a line by line refutation, available via here.

Visit people with a History at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index-eur2.html#c12

Lesbian Fiction Literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lesbian fiction is a subgenre of fiction that involves one or more primary female homosexuallesbian themes. Novels that fall into this category may be of any genres, such as, but not limited to, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance. character(s) and

The first novel in the English language recognised as having a lesbian theme is Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness (1928), which a British court found obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women".^[1] The book was banned in Britain for decades; this is in the context of the similar censorship of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which also had a theme of transgressive female sexuality, albeit heterosexual. In the United States The Well of LonelinessNew York and the Customs Court. A deeper examination of many classic novels and texts reveals lesbian-focused characters^[2]. survived legal challenges in

Lesbian fiction saw a huge explosion in interest with the advent of the dime-store or pulp fictionLesbian pulp fiction became its own category of fiction^[3], although a significant number of authors of this genre were men using either a male or female pen name.^[4] The feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s saw a more accepted entry of lesbian-themed literature. novel.

For more Contemporary Lesbian Literature you can visit

www.sapphicvoices.com/

http://www.kodiwolf.com

http://www.orgullolesbico.com/literatura.htm

http://www.editorialegales.com/

The Beautiful way of the Samurai

During the research for the Universal Love Time Line that is exhibited together with the artworks I have found the most interesting, thrilling and sweet love stories. Tales and biographies about samurai homosexuality confirm for me, that sex is one of the greatest expressions of affection, courage and partnership. Something very far from just the oversold pleasure or guilt promises we daily consume in the western world.

Known also as wakashudo, “the way of the youth”, was a practice engaged in by all members of the samurai class, from lowliest warrior to highest lord. It has been said that it would never have been asked of a daimyo, “lord”, why he took boys as lovers, but why he didn’t. This last is not a question that would have troubled, for example, the three great shoguns who unified Japan, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, or Tokugawa Ieyasu, nor for that matter Miyamoto Musashi, the author of “The Book of Five Rings.” All about it at

http://www.gay-art-history.org/gay-history/gay-customs/japan-samurai-male-love/japan-samurai-homosexual-shudo.html

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Gay Sex with the Priest

By MICHELLE NICOLOSI
from SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Albert Green vividly remembers the first time he saw the home of the Rev. Ed Olszewski, the priest who cared for him when he was 11.

"The first day, I was so excited. I went running through the church. Everything was so pretty -- it was like a mansion. It had 12 bedrooms and six bathrooms. It was humongous," said Green, 46, who lives in Lynnwood.

Green remembers the mysterious chute that dropped dirty clothes right down to the laundry room, the giant bowl filled with silver dollars and the cool stuff in the priest's bedroom: a little fridge with soft drinks in it, a popcorn machine, the soft rug in front of his bed.

He also remembers that Olszewski didn't wait long to establish that their relationship would be sexual.

Green said that first night, they went to Olszewski's bedroom and drank some wine. Then Olszewski took out some Vaseline and "he was rubbing it on me, on my front and my back. He put it up into my rectum. I felt something really weird. I just turned over and felt something else go inside of it."

While the priest had sex with him, Green said, he was looking over at the bowl full of shiny coins, thinking "all this money. He's going to give it to me," Green said.

The complete Article and photos at

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/187183_albert20.html

Amor Universal en degenres-E

Esta exposición de 40 fotografías presenta algunas de las opciones que existen con respecto a nuestra identidad sexual y afectiva. Son obras de 12 artistas colombianos, puertorriqueños, cubanos, estodounideses, entre otros, donde se muestran algunos personajes, videos, libros y expresiones artísticas de identidades lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y transgenéras (LGBT) que han explorado caminos interiores y han dialogado con la sociedad que los rodea.

articulo completo en
http://www.degeneres-e.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=91

Minn tími mun koma!

A former airline attendant who became interested in politics by way of unions, presiding on boards of various airline related trade unions before being elected to the Althing in 1978 as a Social Democrat. Much like in the U.S., Iceland has spent the last 40 years becoming increasingly conservative politically and so Sigurdardóttir found herself in the opposition party again and again. In 1994 she ran to be the leader of the party and lost, leading her to say her equivalent of "Change is coming!", "Minn tími mun koma!" ("My time will come!").

With “Our time (finally) has come!” said Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, the 66 year-old newly elected Prime Minister of Iceland, who just happens to be the world's first openly gay national elected leader.

However, her appointment marks a historic milestone for the gay and lesbian community worldwide. She lives with a journalist, Jonina Leosdottir, with whom she was joined in a 2002 civil partnership, and has two sons from a previous marriage.

It is also a significant personal triumph for a politician who managed to retain, and even increase, her popularity while much of Iceland's political class were pilloried over the financial crisis engulfing the country. A real challenge…

Tintin serait-il gay vraiment gay?

Matthiew Parris le journaliste vedette du quotidien britannique Times a révélé  que l’égérie du célèbre Hergé dans un article intitulé “ Bien sur que Tintin est gay, demandez à Milou”. Il s’appuie en effet sur plusieurs indices des plus convaincants.
En effet, le journaliste en question lui aussi gay d’ailleurs, d’après Matthew l’orientation sexuelle de tintin tape à l’oeil rien que de voir ses amis, sa façon de s’habiller et le fait qu’il ne s’est jamais marié.
Un jeune homme sans expérience, androgyne, avec une houppe blonde, des pantalons bizarres et une écharpe, profession : espion, qui emménage dans le château de son meilleur ami, un marin peu plus age et aussi un solitaire.
Le célèbre personnage d’Hergé la dimension sexuelle est oubliée. Tintin est une créature dont le sexe n’est jamais défini, l’homosexualité, c’est le choix d’une pratique sexuelle explicite.
Nous sommes tous a l’attente de nouveau film de Steve Spielberg pour Noël – « Les aventures de Tintin » – dont tous les personnages sont des enfants avec l’orientation sexuelle est soigneusement cachée jusque la après ses 80 ans.  Nous aimerions savoir l’opinion d’un public averti…
À vos yeux est-il vraiment gay ?

I wanna be a Macho Man!

La “representación” camp de la masculinidad en la identidad gay-leather

por Alfonso Ceballos Muñoz

Desde los años 50 se venía fraguando la imagen del “macho” promocionada por los medios de comunicación de masas y convirtiéndose así en toda una convención cultural. Dicha convención reside en el cambio cultural respecto al cuerpo masculino producido en los Estados Unidos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y los años de la post-guerra. La exhibición de poder, vigor, fuerza y masculinidad agresiva favorecía una imagen nacional que regresaba al antiguo mito de los conquistadores del oeste: hombres rudos, fornidos y arrojados que con trabajo y sudor consiguen levantar un país. Michael Bronski lo especifica de esta forma:

La presentación del cuerpo masculino en la cultura norteamericana comenzó a cambiar después

de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Los hombres que regresaban de la contienda se sentían más a gusto con su aspecto físico. Las fotos en revistas como Life y Look mostraban soldados y marines (casi todos de raza blanca) informalmente descamisados o haciendo gala de cuerpos musculosos trabajando en la base o en el frente. Después de la guerra, que los hombres cubrieran sus torsos en la playa era una práctica aceptada, moda que cambió cuando las fuerzas armadas, en un intento por conservar su personal, distribuyeron sólo bañadores para sus tropas. (cfr. Bronski 1998:89).

Desde entonces, la publicidad, el cine, las artes figurativas y la música contribuyeron a construir una imagen consciente de la masculinidad, al poner el énfasis sobre todo en códigos heteropatriarcalmente asumidos y al elaborarlos con patrones comportamentales marcados como viriles. La masculinidad se leerá por lo tanto como “no-debilidad” y, así asociada a valores tales como la fuerza, el control, la impasibilidad y la agresividad.

Son los Estados Unidos, que no tienen rival cultural, los que indiscutiblemente han impuesto al resto del mundo su ideal de masculinidad. Como ejemplos significativos nos remontaremos en el tiempo hasta tres iconos culturales norteamericanos que han servido de modelos cooperando en la construcción de esta hipervirilidad y que posteriormente fraguarán en la identidad gay-leather: Marlon Brando en la películaSalvaje, el vaquero de Marlboro y, ya en los años 80, Arnold Schwarznegger como Terminator.

artículo completo en

http://www.hartza.com/machoman.htm

Then merchandising came....

Are Homosexuals Gay?

Absolutely no comment.

This is the type of picture you can interpret in many ways.
It reminds me of the West Side Story song: "I feel pretty"

what´s your opinion?

THE QUEER PEACE

The library of green magazine issues just got bigger. Genre, a US magazine for gay men recently published their very own 'green issue'. Not many people get to say they bought a gay magazine for the articles, but I just did. I have to say, I'm really impressed. The green theme actually shows up throughout the magazine (unlike some of the other green issue contenders in which a couple articles and a page on green styles seems to suffice). For instance, did you know that C-N2 offers a line of bamboo underwear, including briefs, tanks, boxer briefs and trunks? Finally, some cool stuff for guys. Lots of other green products, feature articles, and even some humorous green bashing to round things out a bit. Kudos to the good green gays!

It makes me guess it is the Sustainable Development week what the Queers are doing now to make earth clean?

Gay Muslims another point of view

The Photographic Work of Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk bought his 35mm Nikon rangefinder--a Nippon Kogaku--while serving in the Navy in the 1950's. Although Harvey made few images of his personal life early on, he began photographing more soon after his discharge.

For Harvey, the subject that continued for many years to have the greatest visual appeal was men--men from behind, men close-up, men sleeping, men cruising, men parading, men relaxing. Scott Smith, later Harvey's long-term lover and the executor of his estate, would become Harvey's favorite model, often posing for an entire roll of film in a single setting under his obsessive direction. The many images of Scott to be found in the archive exhibit a heartfelt intimacy, friendship, domesticity, and desire, revealing the photographer's true love for his subject. Although there are a number of sexually explicit photographs in the archive, I have decided not to include them in the exhibition in the belief that some images belong solely in the realm of privacy and legend.
more at http://www.queer-arts.org/archive/9906/milk/

Electronics Alive

I'm very Excited About Electronics Alive 5 ... We have had amazing lectures from very special guests. It is so motivating to see the energy and the variety of works that are being created today. Check the site http://ealive.utarts.com and try come to my carte blanche video selection on Wednesday March 18th in Reeves Theater.

Nowhere without my Parents, ShortFilm by Vicente Bonet Spain

James Asal Jr: Creator of Adam and Andy

By Antonio Capurro - Gay Agenda

I learned about Adam and Andy 6 years ago when I was doing my research about gay comics online. At that time I was working in Lima, the capital of Peru, managing the section called “Lima Gay” for a very open minded web site. When I saw Adam and Andy I fell in love with the likable characters. Since I was a boy, I very much enjoyed reading my favorites such as Superman, Batman or Spiderman. They fulfilled my fantasies of superheroes because even when I would dream, those were the gay males in my mind and I always wished I could have that kind of story. Finally, I found Adam and Andy and thier creator James Asal Jr.

I never imagined that years later I would have the opportunity to interview him. Going into an artist’s world is always to a new opportunity to discover a fascinating and powerful mind. Artist tend to havesensitive souls that carry a huge spectrum of ideas.

James is a skillful, talented and very nice man. A person committed to his ideas and art. He is a cartoonist, an illustrator, a gay artist who got the inspiration and the courage to give us a wonderful gay comic.

Find more of Adam and Andy here: www.adamandandy.com
Interview at . http://www.gayagenda.com/2008/11/meet-james-asal-jr-the-creator-of-adam-and-andy-a-gay-comic/

About LGBT Marriage and the American Society