Homo - A Troubled Gay Teen "At Odds with Gay Culture" Tries to Figure Out Where He Fits

Homo by Michael Harris

"I don't see why I have to become this new person just because I like guys. Most of who I am has nothing to do with who I hump.

Will's never been obvious about being gay. Not like Daniel, who takes the heat -- and the beatings -- at Spencer High. But then Will's best friend outs him on Facebook, and his small-town life starts to spin out of control. If he's not like everyone else, and he's not like Daniel, then who is he?"

You can read about the author's inspiration for the novel here. Add your review of "Homo" in comments!

Inside the lives of LGBTQ Teens Today: "My Queer Testimony"

This Tumblr site, My Queer Testimony, has some great stuff!

The "My Queer Testimony" Tumblr page

I really liked this testimony by Patrick,

who writes on the difference to him between identifying as gay versus identifying as queer:

"‘Gay’ is really nice and friendly and, you know, you’re friends with all the really nice girls and you look pretty and wear your v-neck sweaters and you want to maintain your privilege. You don’t want to step on anyone’s toes and you don’t want to be in-your-face. ‘Queer’ is in-your-face and calling people out and not being afraid to speak your mind and that’s more me, more of what I’m about. I like ‘queer.’ I am ‘queer.’"

And Janet Mock's story of growing up as a transgender teen is powerful.  And you have to read this poem by Rex.

The site includes photos, videos, essays, heartfelt birthday wishes and organizations fighting for LGBTQ equality.  Be aware, it does include some adult content (like the bisexual rapper Imani's lyrics.) 

Awesome and diverse, My Queer Testimony is well worth checking out.

Namaste,
Lee

GSA Monday Topic: Mattel's newest doll is "Sugar Daddy Ken!"

So it turns out that Barbie, the iconic toy, has a new Palm Beach edition coming OUT (get it?) and among them is her friend Ken. Sugar Daddy Ken. Here he is, in his

"dashing jacquard-patterned jacket with a light pink polo shirt and crisp white pants."

Okay, technically, Mattel has called the new doll "Sugar's Daddy Ken" (Sugar being, I suppose, the dog.)

The doll is sold for $81.99 which means it's pretty much for collectors. And while I have to admit that it's pretty GAY GAY GAY, it does make me think.

Why not? Why shouldn't there be the "Gay" Ken doll? Just like kids have always been able to pretend that their leather jacketed, two-toned hair Ken and their muscle-bound G.I. Joe doll were having a Happily-Ever-After romance, I suppose kids could pretend that Sugar's Daddy Ken is... um... a meterosexual. A very swankily dressed, tanned straight guy, in love with Barbie. Not with her wardrobe. Or with her hair. With Barbie.

Yeah. Sure.

While it's fun to come up with ideas for what the next Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender and Queer Ken and Barbie dolls might be, (Dykes On Bikes Barbie, anyone?) I wonder if these kinds of iconic pieces of plastic reinforce stereotypes that we might be better off without.

At least Sugar's Daddy Ken doesn't have custom bendable wrists.

Does being "included" in this way - as an iconic child's toy that screams "GAY!" - move us forward, or backwards? What do you think?

Namaste,
Lee

Anti-Gay Terrorist Attack against Teenagers in Israel... What It Means, and What Can We Do?

Saturday night.

A Big City's LGBT community center. Teenagers, counselors, people doing their best to live their lives, believing they're in a safe place. It's 11pm. There's a support group meeting happening in the basement.

A masked gunman walks in, opens fire, and flees.

2 young people are killed. 11 are injured.

Families get calls to go to the hospital, and that's how they find out their kids are gay.

This all happened Saturday night, in Tel Aviv.

In the aftermath of the shooting.

Tel Aviv Rally

Mourners in Jerusalem on Sunday

(Read the LA Times article on the attack here. More photos here at the afterelton site. And this article here includes what the Israeli Government and Gay leaders said in reaction.)

Israelis already live under the shadow of "threat" more so than anyone here in America can really process. Bags are checked everywhere, almost every restaurant has a guard that checks you and your stuff before you can enter, and everyone seems to know someone who has been killed or hurt in a terror attack... Or just had coffee in the cafe moments before it was blown up.

And with pretty much every Israeli going into the army right after high school, the entire country seems to "get" that you have to - always - watch out for your own safety and the safety of those you care about. It's a country where young kids (I'm talking REALLY young) get cell phones, so their parents can know they're okay in case of an attack.

And in the midst of this intense pressure, Israelis are living their lives, raising their kids, and thriving in the only democracy in that part of the world. Because if they crumbled, if they just locked themselves in their houses and gave over to fear... then they would let the terrorists win - and they would lose the joys of being alive!

Israel has a thriving Gay community. You see it in the Big City of Tel Aviv, but it's there in Jerusalem, and elsewhere, too.

But with this terrorist attack on the GLBT Center in Tel Aviv, there's all this talk about Gay Israelis going back into the closet.

As if somehow, being Gay would make them less resilient. Like being Gay would make them less able to stand up and say "NO! We will not be scared into hiding. We WILL live our lives!"

If, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks here in the U.S.A., if we'd all just stopped flying in planes all together - and from then on only taken trains, because we were scared, then the terrorists would have won.

We didn't do that. We get our shoes scanned. We endure more security. And we keep flying.

Similarly, Gay people in Israel won't go back into the closet. They should be careful - absolutely. But they won't let the terrorists win.

And neither should we. We need to reach out to help Gay and Questioning Teens. Here and abroad. Let them have safe spaces. Let them feel protected.

Let them know they're not alone. That they can be the heroes of their own stories! And help them find out about and get their hands on the teen books with GLBTQ characters and themes - like the ones in the left column, here! Because Books make a difference.

And Because damn it, Teens are our responsibility, as a society.

Let them read.

Let them love.

Let them live in peace, and thrive!


Stand with me. Stand with them.

Love is stronger than hate.

Namaste,

Lee

President Obama Issues a Gay (GLBT) Month Proclamation - He's talking the talk. But, um... WHERE is the walk?

Would YOU wear this button right now?

We finally have a President who is talking the talk:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

Now we need him to walk the walk.

We're waiting, President Obama. We've been waiting for YEARS. NOW is the time. Do it.

Lincoln didn't wait to sign the Emancipation Proclamation until his second term - he did it in his first, and still got re-elected. (Oh, and the country was at war, then, too. With itself! I guess he could do it even though his plate was full!) He was a man of his convictions. He was right, and history lauds him.

NOW is the time to stand up for what you say you stand for. What we voted you in for.

Change the laws of this nation so we can truly be a GREAT nation with equality for ALL - including us Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender citizens!

A Proclamation (click here for the full text) is nice, but ACTION - repealing DOMA, eliminating "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", federal recognition of same-gender civil marriages - is what changes the world.

And while your "Presidential Memorandum" this week, extending domestic partner benefits to federal employees, is nice, it's only a small step forward. (It's not a new LAW, and will only be in effect while you're in office.)

And we're still angry about last week's Justice Department brief supporting DOMA, which you said you opposed. Comparing our Same-Gender Marriages with Incest? This New York Times editorial summed up our anger well:

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, said, “I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones.”

Come on, President Obama! Give us the change you promised. We bought into your vision of a Country that lives up to its ideals. Show us that vision becoming REALITY!

Come on, Barack! I have a button I want to wear.

RuPaul Crowns the winner of her "Drag Race" (No Spoilers) ...And how it's about more than a reality show: It's about Mentoring.

So last night it all came down to

BEBE ZAHARA BENET

NINA FLOWERS

and REBECCA GLASSC*CK

in the finale of RuPaul's Drag Race.

And I sat there watching this latest iteration of the "reality" TV show, fascinated to see who would win the crown.

As the finale wound to it's ultimate beauty pageant apex, with a rhinestone tiara giving an additional 18" in stature to the winner, I found myself getting goosebumps.

That was unexpected.

And it was because of what RuPaul said at that moment.

...I pass the reins on to you, my dear. It will be your job to spread the love, the message, the beauty of being the next drag superstar.

And suddenly, I understood the show on a mythic level. RuPaul was passing the crown. An Empress selecting her successor as a Drag Diva Super Star of the world.

It wasn't so much RuPaul going into retirement, but acknowledging the facts - she ain't no ingenue anymore.

It's a transition many of us in our youth-obsessed culture, especially in the Gay (GLBTQ) community, fail to make.

There are 40 and 50 year olds still acting like they're 22, still thinking that the be-all and end-all of life is clubbing and how hot you look and landing the next hot conquest.

And I found myself really excited that here, in this world that I really know so little about,

this world of drag queens and divas, of men trying to get at the heart of what is beauty, grace, and poise, of men wielding the magic of gender to make us all pause and think - and entertain us as well -

that here in this world, perhaps, is a better understanding of the role of the tribal elder, and the generational interconnectedness we need as human beings.

And I realized, on this meta level, that it's what works for me (and millions of others) about the show "American Idol," and why I love how gushy and crazy Paula Abdul is as a judge - it's a passing-on of the reins there, too. Paula and Simon and Randy and Kara and the millions of us voting are finding the new generation - and through a grueling initiation - will crown one as the next Queen or King of Pop.

I see now that Reality TV has become the new "initiation" ritual in our ritual-starved culture, an initiation from one stage of life to another that many of us never experience ourselves - we only watch others go through their initiations, their passages. But we're human, and on some deep level inside each of us, we crave this acknowledgment of passing, of growing, of maturing.

What RuPaul did last night was not only crown a new "Queen," but cast herself in a new role, of mentor. She cast herself in the new role of a beautiful and powerful older "woman," passing on her knowledge, and happy to see a younger generation claim their place on the world stage.

And there, in the land of fakeness (for what could be "faker" than a man dressed up in pounds of makeup and fake boobs in a glittering dress, six inch heels, and a gigantic wig?) - there was something true and real: the answer to our botox injected, face peeled, and youth-obsessed adults of today.

It's something I didn't expect to learn from a 6 and a half foot tall drag queen with a wig the size of a Vespa.



As Ru said at the end of this finale:

"My Queen. Remember, If you can't love yourself - how you gonna love somebody else? Now walk!"

Amen, Ru. Amen.

The World IS Changing: Boyzone's Video "Better" includes a Guy as a 'Love Interest' for its openly gay member, Stephen Gately!

Intimate.

Inclusive.

Really exciting that this is OUT there to watch!

Check out the Boyzone video by clicking here!

Now won't it be great when this type of inclusiveness is such a regular, unremarkable thing that it won't even be worth blogging about, and we can talk about the music?

Or the fact that they're, well, kinda grown up to be called "Boyzone?"

But for Today, I'm not going to quibble. Three cheers for Boyzone, for having the courage to be real!


(Of course, it's stirred up some controversy...)

Watch it and come back and tell us - what do YOU think?