How can those opposed to DWOC say that Christianity and Islam are about love, peace and understanding when both doctrines possess a innate belief in Hell and consider all other theologies to be evil, sinful, and worthy of eternal torture post-mortem?
Dove World Outreach has a point about Christianity and Islam…
Being someone who identifies as gay but is hardly acculturated to the lives of gay and bi males in constant close proximity and density compared to those who live in more urbane areas, I can readily admit that most of my day-to-day experience with the gay experience is composed of perusing artistic, fantastical displays on the Web. I’m not as frequent in coming across photographic depictions of m/m and m/solo models, unless fantastical photomanipulations can count as photographic depictions.
Read more of this hackey-sounding rant on skin color in LGBT porn…
The news that Argentina – and Latin America – has just held its first gay marriage ceremony, in addition to the news that Mexico’s Federal District (containing Mexico City) became the first jurisdiction to legalize the recognition of same-sex marriage – comes to me as welcome, but with a shaky, unsettling feeling that such recognitions of marriage equality are granted from the top-down, and can be abrogated within a matter of months if another government institution in Mexico or Argentina decides to strike it down rather than let it be.
This may be an unfounded opinion, but I think a major reason for why Prop 8 was affirmed by a slim majority of the California population is because you don’t have that equal of a distribution of local/municipal LGBT community centers within the state. Continue reading Raising LGBT consciousness and friendliness through community centers
Being in the furry thing for a bit, I think that the idea of the gay werewolf is a perfect androcentric counterpart to the lesbian vampire, which is why I’m surprised that the gay werewolf hasn’t been as fully utilized as an exploitation trope as the lesbian vampire in the 20th century.
Maine repealed state recognition of same-sex marriage equality by popular vote yesterday, becoming the 31st state in the union to legally prohibit marriage equality.
But at this point, as the pro-LGBT equality groups wonder about how to turn this situation around – perhaps through more lobbying, more speeches, more marches, perhaps the most (or least) seasoned veterans in this struggle are realizing what their compatriots in California have observed since Proposition 8 last year: it’s the religious congregations which are at the very heart of ideological opposition to marriage equality in any part of the country, any part of the world.
So why can’t the churches be integrated?
Continue reading After California and Maine, why not go to the churches?
I’m sure that only those who’ve gone to fan conventions have heard of filk music, a (meta-)genre that uses instruments in a folk-ish manner to provide music that lyrically celebrates the exploits of fictional characters which are also celebrated by the overall theme of the fan convention (science fiction, fantasy, furry).
So what if one could infuse filk music with LGBT-oriented lyrics and sentiments? Or, for that matter, what about general erotic content in filk lyrics?
I mean, with the plethora of yaoi-themed "’ships" and fanfics on the web, why can’t fandom music also take advantage of erotic and LGBT-oriented lyrics (and the accompanying liberties)?
I would call it "gayfilk" or "queerfilk", or something like that.
Plus, I ‘m sure that the filk offered at furry conventions could use such interesting interpserings of lyrical liberties as well.
This guy has a point: If hate crimes/hate speech are a form of "thoughtcrime", then why is it that the social conservative demographic (in most nations) has supported the legislation of moralist laws on deviating individuals, and will either protest/legislate/rule/rampage against such individuals?
So while it is true that hate crime/hate speech are a form of thoughtcrime, should the comparison go both ways in the debate over the treatment of LGBT people in more religiously-inclined regions, including those of this nation?
What is to be done? Sure, Obama has won, but since Florida and Arizona have already passed same-sex marriage bans and California seems like it will pass a similar ban/de-recognition, what is to happen now?
Apparently, even though California has one of the highest concentrations of same-sex-identified residents and couples in the world, the state’s general populace has apparently shown that it cannot be trusted to weigh same-sex relationships along same or similar criteria as "traditional", heterosexual relationships.
But now, after California has rejected the recognition of same-sex marriage (and, by extension, the many long-term same-sex relationships in the state), it is time for the LGBT rights organizations to reassess the security of the place of the LGBT demographic in U.S. society, even in such a place as California, and to rethink just how welcome they are within the de-facto democratic process in these states.
Outside of the marriage issue, for example, the movement towards the establishment of the first LGBT-centric high school in the state of Illinois was brought to a halt a few weeks ago by Chicago’s mayor Daley, who "fears" the effects of "segregation" of LGBT students from non-LGBT students. Only two other such schools have already been established in the U.S., one in New York City (which has faced opposition from conservatives) and one in Milwaukee.
The issue of same-sex relationships in prisons has not been resolved at all; neither have LGBT adoption, LGBT migration and asylum provisions, nor standards of municipal provisions for gay/LGBT villages, nor any special assessment of the needs of the LGBT elderly. Even organized self-defense of LGBT individuals, relationships, gatherings or communities has not been considered save by a few LGBT gun rights organizations like the Pink Pistols. Even the homeless and under-poverty-line LGBT demographic (including the LGBT youth) has not been fully considered, nor has empowerment of the LGBT identity in all areas.
But now let’s look at the issue of the seemingly few-and-far-between LGBT population in rural areas, where the movement for "traditional" marriage may draw its highest support and where the stereotypically. Is this demographic as spread out and unconcentrated as we may assume, or is it possible to encourage a better entrenchment of the LGBT population in rural areas?
What can be defined as LGBT values within a rural context in Middle America? How different is the rural LGBT experience compared to the urban LGBT experience, and how should LGBT organizations in these areas be focused and organized towards their empowerment in these areas? And can a full reachout to the LGBT population, closeted and non-closeted, in non-urban areas, including Califiornia, help to redefine how the public views the LGBT demographic?
I think that the answer to all of the above questions is an emphatic "Yes." Rural, Middle American visibility matters in any political situation. Establishing a stronger presence in such areas could potentially push the LGBT rights agenda’s advocacy to new heights of respectability in the political arena.
I think it is time that PFLAG, the HRC, GLAAD and other LGBT-centric organizations begin to assess their rural efforts and outreach if they hope to reverse the tide of same-sex marriage bans that have been passed by most state’s electorates within the last decade. But the only question that remains on such an effort is "How?"
OK, CNN International has a documentary on polygamy around the world while I’m writing.
But reading this was pretty hilarious. The automatic repudiation of the very thought of gays and lesbians sharing the now-publicly-unpopular institution of polygamy with straight polygamists is pretty obvious, particularly in the heavy usage of the word "homosexual" (nowadays more used by conservative anti-LGBT activists) throughout.
But then I wonder, if this repudiation and the accompanying ill-will is unfounded upon reason, then has the idea of gay polyandry or lesbian polygyny been explored yet?
