Transparent - the movie

At a conference last week, I met a woman who highly recommended a film called "transparent." I haven't had a chance to track down a copy yet, but it sounds fascinating and I look forward to watching it. The synopsis from their website is below:

Pink or blue. Male or Female. Mommy or Daddy. Categories that we all take for granted are blown wide open in “transparent,” a new documentary film about 19 female-to-male transsexuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, gone on to raise their biological children.

“transparent” focuses on its subjects’ lives as parents – revealing the diverse ways in which each person reconciles this part of their history - giving birth and being biological mothers - now that they identify as male and are perceived by the world, but only sometimes by their children, as men. The first-person stories in "transparent" explain how changing genders is dealt with and impacts the relationships, if at all, within these families.

Please, Do Not Vote

Rock the Vote. MTV's Chose or Lose. P. Diddy's Vote or Die. By using the faces and personalities of celebrities and music artists, these campaigns urge the youth to vote commanding the importance of the upcoming election. They’re glamorous, they’re sexy, they’re entertaining.

Well, beautiful people may be successful in convincing youth to vote, but what about some reverse psychology? If it does not work coming from the mouths of parents or teachers, let the actors give it a try.

Some genius attached the celebrities of Hollywood to the wild phenomenon of YouTube using this handy tactic.

Hollywood stars get annoyed about popular excuses people and youth use to avoid voting, with the “don’t vote, then” attitude. Then, the celebrity cast irritates the viewer into registering to vote, and sharing the video with friends.



If the popularity of that "Numa, numa" video can be any indication, why not put this YouTube mania to some good use for something important, like voting?

The Importance of Looking Back as We Move Forward

Our latest posting on The Advocate GenQ discusses "The Importance of Looking Back as We Move Forward"

Here's an excerpt:

As our movement makes important strides forward, it’s important that all of us, especially those of us haven’t been around as long, look back at the important accomplishments that brought us here. It’s up to all of us to remind each other to occasionally take the time to do this. It’s also very important for folks who have any piece of this valuable historical knowledge to share it.

Click here to see more...

Fundamentalists blame Wall Street's woes on LGBT community

I know that it almost sounds too hard to believe...but yes...Christian fundamentalists are blaming the LGBT community for the recent economic crisis. Considering they blamed Hurricane Katrina on us...I can't wait to see what problems they want to blame us for next...

Fundamentalists blame Wall Street's woes on gays

by On Top Magazine


Christian fundamentalists are suggesting gays and lesbians are to blame for Wall Street's woes, a frequently made charge in the wake of national calamities.

In a September 25th blog post titled 'The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex', Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath writes that the financial crisis facing Wall Street is a symptom of America's sinful sexual culture, including the acceptance of gay unions.

"Our crisis is a symptom, not the cause," writes Michael Heath. "I am not saying I know whether this financial crisis is God's judgment or not. It is not for me to know that definitively."

Heath goes on to list policy changes that would make God "crack a smile," including: End abortion rights and defund non-profit groups supporting it, amend state constitutions to ban gay marriage and eliminate domestic partnerships and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and end discrimination against private religious schools and homeschools.

A related post by Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian at the National Review's website pushes a similar theme, this time focusing on Friday's failure of WaMu.

Krikorian suggests the big bank failed because it was too accommodating to minorities, including gays, African-Americans and Hispanics.

In his September 26th post titled 'Cause and Effect?', Krikorian writes, "I really thought this was a joke, but it's not. WaMu's final press release, before it sank beneath the waves."

The press release lists the general accomplishments of WaMu in diversifying its workforce, including earning a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index – a rating indicative of the gay-friendliness of a company's official policies.

"Diversity is an integral part of cultivating a welcoming, innovative and dynamic workplace here at WaMu," the release reads. "We are proud to be recognized for the opportunities and benefits we offer to all our employees, including the specific efforts we have made to engage Hispanics and the GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] community."

Blaming gays and lesbians for disasters big and small is nothing new.

Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, blamed gays and lesbians for hurricane Katrina, the deadliest and costliest hurricane in U.S. history that led to years of dystopia in New Orleans. "New Orleans, symbol of America, seen for what it is: a putrid, toxic, stinking cesspool of fag fecal matter. ... Pray for more dead bodies floating on the fag-semen-rancid waters of New Orleans."

And in 2001 televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed terrorists attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon (the 9/11 attacks) at least in part on gays and lesbians.

Source: http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/Fundamentalists_blame_Wall_Street_0930.html

Google opposes California's Prop 8

Kudos to Google who has officially come out against the discriminatory Proposition 8 in California.

Here's their official statement from Sergey Brin, Co-Founder and President, Technology:

As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.

However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.

The irony of supporters of Prop 8 using Google owned YouTube to promote their first TV ad is not lost on me...

Why do we leave our youth out of our youth work?

Our latest posting on The Bilerico Project discusses "Why do we leave our youth out of our youth work?"

Here's an excerpt:

One of the root causes behind several failed youth initiatives has been the lack of youth involvement in the actual planning of the initiative. It's disappointing to me to see the amount of resources that are put into wonderful ideas to support and engage LGBTQ youth that are essentially wasted when the organizers don't get the response they were hoping for. Sometimes the missing piece is something rather small, could have been easily addressed and jumps right out at a young person. Often times when I'm told that engaging young people is a waste of time or too unmanageable to do, I discover that the person's experience has mostly been with these types of "doing work on behalf of youth" projects.

Click here to see more...

Out of the closet for Clay Aiken

It's about time! American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken has revealed to People Magazine that he is gay. Color me not surprised, but extremely excited about this news.

Whenever a "famous" person publicly acknowledges that they are gay, it presents an opportunity to drive home the point that gay people are everyone, leading inspirational lives. By disclosing his sexual orientation, Clay Aiken will be able to use his fame to help ensure that the next generation of queer youth grow up in a more tolerant society. The fact that Clay Aiken is also a new father is icing on the cake. Again, by example, he will demonstrate that gay people are parents and put a great value on family.

I commend Clay for having the courage to leave his closet and join the rest of us who choose to lead lives as openly gay Americans. He must feel so liberated -- as we all do on days like today.

Now we can work on making his music better!