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WORLD FOREX:Dollar Slips Back Again As Risk Appetite Returns

2009-11-07T08:03:00.002-08:00

By Nicholas Hastings
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Appetite for risk is returning a little, pushing the dollar lower and higher-yielders, such as the Australian dollar and even the pound, higher in Europe Wednesday.

Optimism about the global economy was also reflected in equities, with most European bourses opening higher.

The rallies mark the end of the downturn that swept through financial markets Tuesday after the Bank of Canada disappointed investors with its decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

The BOC had widely been expected to follow the Reserve Bank of Australia with a rate hike - a move that would have reinforced the view that G10 economies had recovered enough for the unwinding of emergency credit-crunch policies.

Instead, the Canadian central bank warned of the risks that the recent strength of the Canadian dollar posed to the economy and lowered its growth forecast for the next year or two.

After that, a spate of third-quarter earnings results from the U.S. failed to live up to expectations, giving investors more reason to sell equities and preventing the euro from having enough momentum to break resistance at $1.50.

The gloom spread into Asian trading with the Nikkei ending virtually flat and the Shanghai Composite falling 0.5%.

The price of crude oil, which had previously rallied up over $80 a barrel briefly, fell back again to trade as low as $78.46 before rebounding to $78.65.

The euro, meanwhile, lost its upward momentum and failed to make a sustained break over $1.50.

However, as European trading got underway some of the gloom appeared to be lifting with analysts suggesting that the euro - and even the pound - should be bought on dips.

Whether or not risk appetite recovers to former levels remains to be seen.

Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist with RBC Capital Markets, said this could depend on whether the S&P500 can break and hold over the 1100-1200 range. It is now just under 1100.

The currency strategist team at UniCredit Markets and Investment Banking said that firm gross domestic product data out of China later Wednesday could keep risk appetite high.

By 0930 GMT, the dollar was up at Y90.93 from Y90.71, according to EBS, while the euro was up at $1.4945 from $1.4929 and at Y135.85 from Y135.40. The dollar was also down at CHF1.0115 from CHF1.0127.

The pound rose to $1.6569 from $1.6361. At one stage it hit a one-month high of $1.6544 after the Bank of England published bullish minutes from its last meeting that suggested there is little pressure for quantitative easing to be extended next month as many had expected.

WORLD FOREX:Dollar Slips Back Again As Risk Appetite Returns

2009-11-07T08:03:00.001-08:00

WORLD FOREX:Dollar Slips Back Again As Risk Appetite Returns

2009-11-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

what is gay?

2009-11-07T08:01:00.002-08:00

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation - the nation's primary lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media advocacy and anti-defamation organization - applauded Lynch's decision.

"Gov. Lynch's signing of the marriage equality bill grants legal protections for same-sex couples in New Hampshire to take care of and be responsible for each other," said the organization's president, Neil Giuliano.

"As people get to know the loving and committed couples at the heart of marriage equality, our culture is moving to equality."

Both chambers had previously voted to approve same-sex marriage but Lynch said he would sign the bill into law only if the legislature added new language to protect religious institutions that did not want to perform such marriages.

"We can and must treat both same-sex couples and people of certain religious traditions with respect and dignity," Lynch had said. "I believe this proposed language will accomplish both of these goals."

The Democratic governor said that in recent months he had spoken to lawmakers, religious leaders and constituents as he formed his opinion on the bill.

New Hampshire becomes the sixth state in the nation - alongside Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Iowa and Vermont - currently providing or soon to provide marriage benefits to gays and lesbians.

Vermont's law takes effect September 1 and Maine's September 14, unless its citizens collect enough signatures to put the measure on the fall ballot in the state. New Hampshire's new law takes effect on January 1, 2010.

New Hampshire and Maine are the only states in the nation where representatives elected by voters approved same-sex marriage legislation. The others were decided by high court decisions, although legislatures in Vermont and Connecticut subsequently passed measures codifying the court rulings.

Marry Mo Baxley, executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry told CNN, "We're so very proud of our elected officials. We've taken our grievances to our elected officials, and they've responded."

Still, married gay couples do not share federal benefits such as Social Security, tax breaks and immigration benefits that are granted to straight married couples. Baxley is counting on President Barack Obama to make those changes.

"He said he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and we fully expect him to keep that promise," she said.

Even amongst the excitement, GLAAD president Giuliano remained cautious, referring to the topic of gay marriage benefits as one "that will be a future debate and a future conversation that we'll be having in this country for quite a while."More detail from site http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/03/nh-governor-signs-same-sex-marriage-into-law/

what is gay?

2009-11-07T08:01:00.001-08:00

what is gay?

2009-11-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

World Forex welcomes you.

2009-11-02T06:24:00.002-08:00

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World Forex welcomes you.

2009-11-02T06:24:00.001-08:00

World Forex welcomes you.

2009-11-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle

2009-10-28T06:16:00.002-07:00

Walt Whitman, best known as the father of modern poetry and American poetry, was also the longtime lover of Peter Doyle, son of a blacksmith, a former Rebel soldier who worked as a streetcar conductor. They were often affectionate in public; both their families, and all Whitman’s friends,.. knew about their relationship. Doyle was a conspicuous influence on many of Whitman’s works. The couple first met on a Washington, DC streetcar in 1865, on a stormy winter night toward the close of the Civil War. Whitman was 45; Doyle, 21. Doyle thought his bearded only passenger, a blanket over his shoulders, looked “like an old sea captain.” “I thought I would go and talk to him,” Doyle said in an interview. “Something in me made me do it. He used to say there was something in me had the same effect on him…We were familiar at once. I put my hand on his knee …from that time on we were the biggest sort of friends.” Whitman was a burly six feet tall; Doyle, a slender five foot eight. Their differences extended beyond the physical. Whitman was a government clerk, journalist, and a published poet; Doyle, a workingman supporting his widowed mother and younger siblings. Whitman prided himself on patriotism; his brother George was a Union soldier, and he’d spent the last two years nursing the wounded in Washington’s army hospitals. Doyle had been a Confederate artilleryman, who’d obtained release from federal prison by claiming to be a British subject (born in Limerick, Ireland, he and his family emigrated here when he was a child). Pete and Walt were living proof that opposites attract. They were a familiar sight on Washington streetcars and at the bar in Georgetown’s Union Hotel. A favorite pastime was to hike along the Potomac River in Maryland, take the ferry to Virginia, and then hike back along the river on the Virginia side. They were unable to live together due to Pete’s obligations to his dependent family, though Walt wanted to settle down with Pete and brought it up repeatedly. But each man was warmly embraced by the other’s family. Pete would fondly recall dinners at the Whitmans’: “After we had our dinner she (Walt’s mother) would always say, ‘Now take a long walk to aid digestion.’ Mrs. Whitman was a lovely woman.” After Whitman’s first stroke in 1873, his mother wrote to Walt to express her confidence in Pete: “I knew if it was in his power he would cheerfully do everything he could for you.” Pete lived up to her expectations, nursing Walt for months. The Doyles also counted on Walt for whatever help he could offer, including recommending Pete’s brother Edward for a job with the Treasury Department, and lobbying newspapers to protect Pete’s older brother, policeman Francis, from sensationalized accounts of brutality. Walt considered Pete’s mother Catherine, brothers James, Francis — and younger brother Edward, and sister Margaret, who lived with Pete — dear friends. Doyle would have a lasting impact on Whitman’s work. For one thing, Doyle – who was present at Lincoln’s assassination – would shape Whitman’s writings about that tragic event. Doyle had gone to the performance of “My American Cousin” in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, because he’d heard the Lincolns would be there. He heard the shot and saw John Wilkes Booth leap from Lincoln’s box to the stage, but didn’t know Lincoln was dead until he heard Mary Todd Lincoln cry out, “the President has been shot!” He was so stunned that he was one of the last to leave the theater, ordered out by a policeman. Lincoln had been one of Walt’s heroes, though they had never met. Walt, a friend of the President’s former secretary John Hay, had seen Lincoln in person numerous times. He’d written, “I never see the man without feeling that he is one to become personally attached to.” Walt would use Pete’s account in Specimen Days, Memoranda During The War, and lectures. Pete also affected Whitman’s most popular Lincoln poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Doyle came to America with his mother and three brothers on the William Patten in 1852; the ship nearly wrecked in a storm on Good Friday, also the day of Lincoln’s assassination. Whitman knew this. The poem memorializes Lincoln as a ship’s captain, who died while guiding his vessel safely to port through a storm. The poem, unlike most of Whitman’s, is metered and rhymed. During their walks, Doyle would often quote Limericks to Whitman; the poem’s extant first draft is in free verse, so he likely revised it to impress Doyle. Another poem written around the same time, “Come Up From The Fields Father,” is the only time Whitman ever identified a protagonist with a personal name — Pete. Pete could not have inspired “Calamus,” the notorious series of homoerotic poems published in 1860. (The controversial poems had gotten Whitman fired from his Department of the Interior job, but well-connected Walt quickly got a similar job in the Attorney General’s office.) Doyle did, however, affect Whitman’s decision to excise three of these poems from the 1867 edition of “Leaves Of Grass”. The three expressed despair over Whitman’s earlier failed relationship with another Irishman, Fred Vaughan, who married after splitting from him. Pete also figured prominently in Walt’s private notebooks, particularly passages cited by some scholars as the most convincing proof of Whitman’s gay sexuality. In the summer of 1870 Whitman began to suspect that Pete did not return his love. He wrote feverishly, vowing “TO GIVE UP ABSOLUTELY …this …USELESS UNDIGNIFIED PURSUIT OF 16.4.” 16 and four are the numeric locations of the initials P.D. in the alphabet. Walt also obviously later erased the “im” in “him” and replaced it with “er” in these entries. But before Walt left to visit his family later that summer, Pete confessed his love, ending Walt’s ambivalence. In a July 30 letter, Walt enthused, “I never dreamed that you made so much of having me with you, nor that you should feel so downcast at losing me.” Soon afterward, when Pete griped about his job, Walt wrote promising “a good smacking kiss, many of them – taking in return many, many from my dear son – good loving ones too.” Their relationship remained intense during Walt’s years in Washington. But Walt suffered a stroke in 1873, which impaired his left arm and leg. He went to live with his brother George in Camden, N.J., considering the arrangement temporary. Walt’s beloved mother died that same year, taking an emotional toll on him as well. Pete was by now working a dangerous, stressful job—brakeman– for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but would still visit Walt daily before his evening shift, nursing him while there. Walt took the precaution of making out a will, in which Pete was the only non- family member included. In 1874, Walt forfeited his Washington job, and broke the news to Pete that his move to Camden would be permanent. In 1875 another stroke affected Walt’s right side. For the next two decades, Pete and Walt continued to correspond, and Pete continued to visit regularly, but they began to see less of each other. In 1876, Walt met another working class youth, Harry Stafford, a Camden New Republic office clerk in his twenties. Harry became Walt’s new “darling boy.” Stafford’s parents considered Walt a “good influence.” Whitman began to spend time at the family’s farm near Timber Creek, about ten miles from Camden. Walt’s letters told Pete about the farm, but not about Harry. Like Fred Vaughan before him, Harry would marry in 1884, but he and Walt would remain friends. After Pete’s mother Catherine passed away in 1885, Pete relocated to Philadelphia. Though Pete and Walt remained in touch till 1889, no correspondence exists from between 1881 and 1886, as they saw each other frequently. In 1888, Walt suffered another stroke and became severely ill. He would live four more years, during which he would publish “November Boughs,” “Goodbye My Fancy,” and the so-called “Deathbed Edition” of Leaves of Grass. Pete would be mysteriously absent for most of this time. Whitman speculated to friend Horace Traubel that Pete “must have got another lay.” On New Year’s Day, 1892, Walt revised his will to exclude Pete, who he presumed was dead. But before Walt passed, Pete did visit him again, and explained the reasons for his absence. In an interview, Pete recalled “In the old days I had always open doors to Walt – going, coming, staying as I chose. Now, I had to run the gauntlet of Mrs. Davis (Walt’s housekeeper at his own new Mickle Street home) and a nurse and whatnot….Then I had a mad impulse to go over and nurse him. I was his proper nurse – he understood me — I understood him. We loved each other deeply….I should have gone to see him, at least, in spite of everything, I know it now…but it’s all right. Walt realized I never swerved from him – he knows it now. That is enough.” Walt, 73, died of tuberculosis on March 26, 1892. Pete viewed the body, and attended the funeral. He remained part of Walt’s surviving circle of friends until his own passing at 63 in 1907 from uremia (kidney disease.) The most substantial documentation of their relationship is a collection of letters Walt sent to Pete from 1868-1880, published in 1897 by their mutual friend, psychiatrist/author Richard Maurice Bucke, as “The Calamus Letters.” “Calamus” poems are interspersed between letters in the book. The book included Bucke’s revealing interview with Doyle, which Henry James would call “the most charming passage in the volume“ in his 1898 review. From Doyle’s interview with Bucke, conducted after Whitman’s death: “I have Walt’s raglan here. Now and then I put it on, lay down… Then he is with me again… I do not ever for a minute lose the old man. He is always nearby…in a crisis, I ask myself, ‘What would Walt do?’ –and whatever I decide Walt would do, that I do."

Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle

2009-10-28T06:16:00.001-07:00

Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle

2009-10-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

2009-10-27T09:48:00.002-07:00

2009-10-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

2009-10-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

2009-10-27T09:47:00.002-07:00

2009-10-27T09:47:00.001-07:00

2009-10-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Gay News/ Gay blog|

2009-10-26T08:28:00.002-07:00

Marriage Equality on Agenda as Paterson Calls for 'Extraordinary Session' on November 10
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html

Gay News/ Gay blog|

2009-10-26T08:28:00.001-07:00

Gay News/ Gay blog|

2009-10-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Sentenced for insulting gay Pole

2009-10-18T04:38:00.002-07:00

In Poland a 44-year old woman was sentenced to pay a fine of 3.645 euro for offending her homosexual neighbor. Ryszard Giersza (25) was pummeled with bricks and tomatoes after the woman had called him a faggot in public.

In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.

Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”

The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647

Sentenced for insulting gay Pole

2009-10-18T04:38:00.001-07:00

Sentenced for insulting gay Pole

2009-10-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador

2009-10-10T06:37:00.002-07:00

An official from President Obama’s administration has announced the President plans to nominate David Huebner, an openly gay lawyer as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and American Samoa.

If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.

Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador

2009-10-10T06:37:00.001-07:00

Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador

2009-10-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Gay History Project: H.D.

2009-10-10T06:23:00.002-07:00

The bisexual poet H.D., whose full name was Hilda Doolittle, was born on Sept. 10, 1886, in Bethlehem, Pa., to a wealthy upper- middleclass family. A contemporary of the American poet Ezra Pound, with whom she was involved at one point, she became a great Imagist poet, who at the end of her writing career broke with strict Imagism. She received literary awards including the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, later in life, the Brandeis and Longview Awards.

Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.

The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.

H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)

She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.

Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.

The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.

H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.

Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.

The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.

After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).

In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.

H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”

Gay History Project: H.D.

2009-10-10T06:23:00.001-07:00

Gay History Project: H.D.

2009-10-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

TV case tests Russian gay rights

2009-09-26T07:07:00.002-07:00

A former reality show celebrity has become the first person in Russia to go to court over claims that he is gay.

Vasily Pechen has embarked on a test case for Russia

Vasily Pechen, who appeared on Russian reality shows Big Brother and Dom 2, made Russian legal history by bringing the case to a Moscow court this week.

He says that publications in a tabloid newspaper and gay news website, which also claimed he regularly frequented gay clubs and even received money in return for sex, caused irreparable damage to his TV career.

Mr Pechen also said the publications, which were accompanied by revealing pictures of the Z-list celebrity, even contributed to his mother's death due to the stress caused by the claims.

In total, he is seeking up to four million roubles (£76,000) by way of compensation: the sum he claims his career would be worth if not for false claims about his sexual orientation.

Second attempt at fame?

However, legal expert and Moscow gay pride organiser Nikolai Alexeyev said that the case would be baseless if the claims only concerned Mr Pechen's orientation.

Perhaps he just wants to remind the world of his existence
Russian TV company TNT

"Being gay in Russia is no longer a criminal offence and no longer considered a mental illness," Mr Alexeyev told the BBC Russian Service.

"If he tries to take someone to court because they said he was gay, he probably will not get very far.

"The second part of the claim concerning the publication of indecent photos of the claimant and accusations that he worked as a prostitute have a better chance of success."

However, when approached for further information about the reality show participant, Russian TV company TNT said they could barely remember who he was.

"Perhaps he just wants to remind the world of his existence," said the company's press office.

Changing attitudes?

Attitudes towards gay people in Russia remain generally negative, which might explain Mr Pechen's desire to refute the claims over his sexuality so robustly and so publicly.
Nikolai Alexeyev
Mr Alexeyev said the lawsuit would fail if based on sexual orientation

However, human rights activist Edward Murzin - who tried to apply for a same-sex partnership in Russia in 2005, although not gay himself - says reality shows like Big Brother and Dom 2 have gone a long way to break down taboos in Russian society, especially among youngsters.

The website GayRussia.ru, which is also run by Mr Alexeyev, carried out a survey in 2005 with the Levada Center into public attitudes towards sexual minorities in Russia.

The poll showed that the majority of Russians still oppose gay marriage and the idea of a gay president, but support a ban on sexual orientation discrimination.

Although larger Russian cities do have active gay communities and gay scenes, and attitudes towards gay people are slowly changing, few people in Russia are openly gay and discrimination remains widespread and virtually unchallenged.

All applications for organising a gay pride march in Moscow have been blocked by the Russian authorities, and any attempts to hold the event without permission have ended in violence, with demonstrators being arrested and beaten by the security forces.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993 and was removed from the official list of mental illnesses in 1999.

However, there is equally no legislation protecting people from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

There is also no formal recognition of same-sex relationships.source from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8197735.stm

TV case tests Russian gay rights

2009-09-26T07:07:00.001-07:00

A former reality show celebrity has become the first person in Russia to go to court over claims that he is gay.

Vasily Pechen has embarked on a test case for Russia

Vasily Pechen, who appeared on Russian reality shows Big Brother and Dom 2, made Russian legal history by bringing the case to a Moscow court this week.

TV case tests Russian gay rights

2009-09-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

A former reality show celebrity has become the first person in Russia to go to court over claims that he is gay.

Vasily Pechen has embarked on a test case for Russia

Vasily Pechen, who appeared on Russian reality shows Big Brother and Dom 2, made Russian legal history by bringing the case to a Moscow court this week.

Daily gay News: Gay Tourism Culture and Context

2009-09-25T10:53:00.002-07:00

About the Book
The gay tourism industry—a progressive social force or a pull towards an oppressive status quo?

The pink tourism dollar is now recognized as a highly profitable niche of the tourism market. Gay Tourism: Culture and Context critically investigates the emergence of a commercial gay tourism industry for male clients, the way it is organized, and how the tourism industry promotes cities, resorts, and nations as ’gay’ destinations. This careful examination critically questions the social, political, and cultural implications regarding relationships between gay tourism, Western gay male culture, the erotic, sexual politics, and sexual diversity.

Gay Tourism: Culture and Context begins by detailing how travel often enabled the expression of Western same-sex male desire in the nineteenth century and then charts the
emergence of a Western gay tourism industry in the late twentieth century. A critical analysis is given of gay guidebooks and erotic videos that help to establish and maintain destinations as seemingly gay utopias, including Hawaii and the Greek island Mykonos. Carefull consideration
as to debates about how the gay tourism industry operates in the context of questions regarding the globalization of sexuality, sexual citizenship and place-marketing of (homo)sexualised cities. The text includes an extensive bibliography plus several photographs, charts, and figures to
clearly present concepts and ideas.

Topics in Gay Tourism: Culture and Context include:

* the history of gay travel and tourism
* the effect of HIV/AIDS on gay tourist destinations
* gay travel writing sustaining same-sex fantasies about popular gay tourist destinations
* analysis of the socio-political ramifications of gay tourism
* the sexual politics of a heterosexual nation
* gay tourists as an “invading force” of corruption
* the economic rationale for the (homo)sexualized city
* the concept of “gay villages”
* the role of special events and festivals in gay tourism
* and many more!

Gay Tourism: Culture and Context is enlightening reading for tourism policymakers, tourism planners, tourism managers, and teachers and students in the fields of tourism studies, gay studies, social and cultural geography, and sociology. source from: http://www.routledge.com/books/Gay-Tourism-isbn9780789016034

Daily gay News: Gay Tourism Culture and Context

2009-09-25T10:53:00.001-07:00

Daily gay News: Gay Tourism Culture and Context

2009-09-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Business "booming" as gay travel moves into Brighton

2009-09-25T10:45:00.002-07:00

The Uk’s leading gay travel agent known as Mantrav international Group has released there plans to open a new office in the UK’s Gay capital Brighton, With the business booming and the opening of the new, New York Office on 42nd street there are plans to broaden the horizons of the business in the very popular UK sea side resort of Brighton.

The company, which was founded in California in 1990, but has been based in the UK since 2001, Mantrav international is the leading gay travel agent in the UK which have over 20 years experience in the Gay travel market with all its employees having a good knowledge in gay destinations and travel all over the world.

The group’s Club Mancha resort in Gran Canaria has been running at a 92% capacity all through the current year despite the economy turn down. Mykonos appears to have been this year’s top destination in short haul and Thailand as long haul.

There is an agreement to merge with London and Brighton’s top Gay magazine 3Sixty by opening a shop together on 4 Steine Street just off Marine Parade located in Brighton’s Gay area.

The new owners of the magazine Graeme Austin & Tony Vassallo have become directors of the Mantrav International Group and are looking to expand the companies together With Malcolm and his team.

Malcolm Hardy the director of Mantrav International Group says “With the company going from strength to strength I am now going to be motivating my employees to provide the best service possible and create good value for our customers, the merge with 3Sixty and the opening of the shop has given us the chance to make these promises happen, providing complete customer satisfaction is now my next goal".

The team Including Ben Frankling (Sales and Marketing) and Matthew Cary (Business Development manager) have said that they are extremely excited about the merge and think the new shop opening will give Mantrav the chance to provide are customers with the service they deserve and give the company a more friendly face to face approach.

The 3sixty team are also excited about the merge and think it will expand the magazine; they are all very keen to build a bigger and better company with Mantrav and expand their team.

Plans are set to produce the first gay travel loyalty card for all the customers that have helped make their recent Growth materialise and try to re-pay their frequent travellers.http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/32876-Business-%22booming%22-as-gay-travel-moves-into-Brighton

Business "booming" as gay travel moves into Brighton

2009-09-25T10:45:00.001-07:00

Business "booming" as gay travel moves into Brighton

2009-09-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Daily gay News: Dissenting Gay Marriage

2009-09-25T10:41:00.002-07:00

LA Daily News: Dissenting Gay Marriage
Jurist is a Lesbian
Until my friend Peter Cashman in Southern California tipped me off to this opinion column in yesterday's LA Daily News, I had no inkling that one of the state Supreme Court justices who dissented in the ruling two weeks allowing gay marriages to begin, Carol Corrigan, is a lesbian.

From the column written by Ann Bradley:
Certainly the first line of Associate Justice Carol Corrigan's obituary will be that, as a lesbian, she wrote one of the two dissenting opinions in the landmark California Supreme Court case to ensure her own community's right to marry. Or to be clear, to use the word "marry." Make no mistake, this case is about that word: "marriage."
In her dissent in re Marriage Cases, self-proclaimed centrist Corrigan writes, "Californians should allow our gay and lesbian neighbors to call their unions marriages. But I, and this court, must acknowledge that a majority of Californians hold a different view, and have explicitly said so by their vote. This court can overrule a vote of the people only if the Constitution compels us to do so. Here, the Constitution does not. Therefore, I must dissent."

Hmmm, "as a lesbian" in relation to Justice Corrigan got my Googling juices flowing and, lo and behold, there's plenty out there on the web about her sexual orientation, or, at least plenty of speculation on the matter.

Let's start with an article from the January 5, 2006, edition of the Gay & Lesbian Times of San Diego:

The California Supreme Court will rule this year that the California constitutional guarantee of equal protection requires that the state allow gay and lesbian marriages. Here are my reasons:

Just before the holidays, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Carole Corrigan to the California Supreme Court. While completely ignored by the GLBT media, Corrigan is (perhaps) the first lesbian appointed to the California Supreme Court. As the Los Angeles Times reported, she lives in Oakland with her live-in girlfriend. (You do the math.)

That LA Times story was also referenced in December 2005 by a Sacramento Bee political blogger, because of Corrigan's claim she's moderate in judicial temperament, but note what he says about locating the story that got the lesbian allegation going:

UPDATE: An emailer sends along an LA Times story from Oct. 21, which I can't find a link to online, where Corrigan describes herself as a "centrist" in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor.

Sure enough, the LA Times profile on Corrigan does not turn up either on the paper's web site or through Googling. However, the American Chronicle blog gave more details about the profile and what it actually said about her house-mate:

Carol Corrigan, as the Los Angeles Times, so coyly informs us in a sentence fragment at the end of a biographical sidebar about the soon-to-be Justice of the California Supreme Court, "[i]s unmarried and shares a house in Oakland with a female friend."

Over at the hard-right's Free Republic site, more text from the profile is posted, along with a link to the LA Times piece, but clicking on the link leads to a dead-end.

And the people behind the NNDB.com site, described as "an intelligence aggregator that tracks the activities of people we have determined to be noteworthy, both living and dead," state in sexual orientation line of Corrigan's profile that she's a lesbian. The source? An October 2006 American Family Association newsletter.

Gay activist Peter Cashman in an email to me touches upon how conservatives were all over Corrigan's lesbian orientation, while mainstream gay leaders remained silent on the subject:

She was first outed (that I am aware of) when Arnie nominated for the Supreme Court.

In particular the anti-gay marriage folks and other right-wingers mentioned it widely in opposing her nomination.

In our own community there seems to have been some weird silence in the glowing endorsements from all the usual suspects like EQCA. Was this a conspiracy of silence that we had so often seen before? In so far as prominent queer folks seeking or nominated to public office 'get a pass' to stay in the closet on the basis they will 'do the right thing'.

Jackie Goldberg is an outstanding example of this. In 1994 she ran for LA City Council in the closet until she was 'outed' by the LA Times prior to election day. A group of us had already decided that the days of supporting closet cases was over. We already had a closeted gay man on Council - Joel Wachs. The voters had a right to know.

Gay media and community silence on Corrigan had a notable exception when the Gay & Lesbian Times ran its 2006 article.

Thanks, Peter, for sharing the LA Daily News column with me. It will go a long way toward raising a public discussion on the sexual orientation of Associate Justice Corrigan.source from : http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/05/la-daily-news-dissenting-gay-marriage.html

Daily gay News: Dissenting Gay Marriage

2009-09-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

Daily gay News: Dissenting Gay Marriage

2009-09-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Internal education on gay liberation

2009-09-23T07:26:00.002-07:00

Lavender & red, part 80

By Leslie Feinberg
Published Dec 3, 2006 8:02 PM

Workers World Party’s youth group, Youth Against War & Fascism (YAWF), formed an internal Gay Caucus in 1971—which soon after became the Lesbian and Gay Caucus. Bob McCubbin, who played a key role in its political and organizational formation and development, recalls what led up to and followed the establishment of the caucus.

McCubbin writes that he had been doing gay liberation work and Workers World Party (WWP) organizing on the West Coast. He had told leading members of the Buffalo branch he was gay when he moved to San Francisco, where there was no branch, six months after the Stonewall Rebellion.

And he remembered that one of the founders of the party, Vince Copeland, “had actually used the presence in New York of a large gay community as one of his incentives to get me to move to New York City” to work in the party center.

However, not until 1971 did McCubbin ever take the floor at a party meeting to speak from the political perspective of a gay man. “In the late summer of 1971, I left San Francisco for New York City and a few weeks later, at a party meeting, I took the floor to defend the party during a minor factional struggle. One of the charges being leveled was that the party had no position on the gay liberation movement.”

McCubbin stood up and said, “Well, I’m gay, and I’ve always understood that the party supports the struggles of all oppressed people.” There were a few seconds of absolute silence and then strong applause, recalls McCubbin.

McCubbin explains, “What followed the branch meeting where I came out were several months of preliminary discussions with leading comrades in New York, in particular with Vince and Dottie [Dorothy Ballan, a founder of WWP], and with a few lesbian and gay comrades in party branches.

“At the end of 1971 or the beginning of 1972, the party held a winter conference, and I asked Deirdre [Griswold] if an announcement could be read at the Saturday plenum to the effect that a meeting of lesbian and gay comrades and friends would be held in the evening. Deirdre assured me that would be no problem.

“Well, about 50 people showed up!” Not all of them were LGBT, McCubbin recalls. “It was a wonderful expression of solidarity on the part of many heterosexually oriented comrades, but the 12 or 15 of us who were lesbian and gay had to schedule a further meeting the following morning to get some work done after the evening meeting full of praise for us and solidarity statements.

“This conference,” McCubbin concludes, “marked the beginning of a party-wide effort to educate ourselves and our class on this issue.”

Sam Marcy vs. gay oppression

Workers World Party founder Sam Marcy made a tremendous contribution to the development of the party as a revolutionary communist organization, and to the historic struggle for sexual liberation, when he oriented the party about the gay struggle politically, theoretically and historically in a significant part of a 1972 internal document he wrote as orientation for the party conference.

Marcy said of the oppression of nationalities, women, youth and gay people: “The degeneration of monopoly capitalism into state monopoly capitalism carries to an extreme all the forms of oppression which the capitalist system, in the previous epoch, had engendered and developed. As the crisis of the social system becomes more and more apparent, the need of the ruling class to unload its burden on the most oppressed sections of society becomes more evident. Only by dividing, only by fragmenting and continually pitting different elements of the oppressed masses against each other, can the capitalist establishment maintain its sway over all society, and hope to survive.”

This same sharpening of the persecution and oppression, however, creates the impetus for a genuinely progressive militancy and resurgence of Black and Latin@ peoples, women, youth and gay people.

Marcy characterized the lack of widespread support for the gay struggle in the progressive movement at that time as a legacy of the deep-seated prejudice that emanated from the religious bigotry of the Middle Ages and its reinforcement throughout the entire course of capitalist development.

“It is particularly significant,” he wrote, “that the public change in attitude—such as it is—comes on the heels of a very formidable wave of struggle by gay people, a veritable ‘coming out’ in a most demonstrative way. Gay Pride took a cue from Black Pride. ...

“Without the struggle launched by gay people,” Marcy stressed, “the prejudices which have been ground into the consciousness of the masses by indoctrination would not even have been challenged, let alone shaken to their foundations.

“All this shows how intimate is the connection between the ideas of a particular time—even progressive ideas—and the conditions of the time, in this case, the state of the struggle.”

‘Influence of October Revolution’

Marcy continued, “An important influence in the progressive movement insofar as the gay struggle is concerned, dates back to the victory of the October Revolution in Russia. In early 1917, the Soviet government annulled all laws which restricted the rights of homosexuals. It also, of course, annulled all the reactionary laws pertaining to divorce as well as the feudal-bourgeois family relations.

“What is important about this,” he emphasized, “is that for the first time in history, a workers’ government established equality in law—and to a measurable degree also in fact—between men and women, for heterosexuals and homosexuals.”

Marcy noted that, “Unfortunately this period of very progressive development was short-lived, and was succeeded by a period of reaction with the rise of Stalin to power.” The 1934 move by the bureaucratic grouping at the helm of the workers’ state to reinstate laws against homosexuality, Marcy explained, had a profoundly negative ideological impact on communist parties around the world that looked to the Soviet Union for political leadership.

“Our party,” Marcy stated, “which bases itself on Marxism-Leninism, looks to the early model of the Soviet Union as the embodiment of what our own political position should be in relation to the struggle of gay people.

“Our first, most elementary and fundamental duty as well as objective on this question is to completely eliminate and abolish all forms of persecution and oppression of gay people. It must also fight against all ideological, political and social manifestations of gay oppression which may be reflected in our own ranks.”

Marcy wrote that the demand to end all sexual oppression and persecution “is really an elementary democratic demand which a bourgeois democracy should be able to grant along with all other democratic demands. But imperialist democracy tends to restrict the elementary rights of all people—not only gay, women, youth, Brown and Black. It is only the struggle that can wrest concessions. In the long run, only the abolition of the capitalist system can produce a lasting, free and equal treatment of all peoples.”

Marcy concluded that although regression in the Soviet Union had bequeathed a backward ideological legacy on the question of homosexuality, “The socialist revolution is a permanent revolution, one of continuous change. Along with many other changes that need to be made in the socialist countries, the gay question is surely one of them.

“In the meantime, we ought to concentrate on preparing our own revolution, of which the struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people, including gay people, is an indispensable condition for victory of the revolution.”

Next: Historic WWP contribution: Publication of “The Gay Question” by Bob McCubbin
source from : http://www.workers.org/2006/us/lavender-red-80/

Internal education on gay liberation

2009-09-23T07:26:00.001-07:00

Internal education on gay liberation

2009-09-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

2009-09-23T07:24:00.004-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is a national organization comprising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied individuals who wish to put an end to discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in K-12 schools in the United States. There are nearly 40 chapters of the organization around the United States.

The organization supports Gay-Straight Alliances along with sponsoring the annual National Day of Silence and No Name-Calling Week and providing resources for teachers on how to support LGBT students. It also sponsors and participates in a host of other "Days of Action," including TransAction!, Ally Week and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend.
Mission

The organization's mission statement reads,
“ The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. We believe that such an atmosphere engenders a positive sense of self, which is the basis of educational achievement and personal growth. Since homophobia and heterosexism undermine a healthy school climate, we work to educate teachers, students and the public at large about the damaging effects these forces have on youth and adults alike. We recognize that forces such as racism and sexism have similarly adverse impacts on communities and we support schools in seeking to redress all such inequities. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes in creating a more vibrant and diverse community. We welcome as members any and all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or occupation, who are committed to seeing this philosophy realized in K-12 schools.
History
Founded as the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teachers Network (GLSTN) in 1990, the organization began as a local volunteer group of 70 gay and lesbian educators. At that time, there were two Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in the nation, only one state with policy in place to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, and a general lack of awareness of the needs of LGBT students. LGBT youth did not have a voice in the education community or in the LGBT movement. There were few, if any, resources available for teachers to discuss LGBT issues.

However, groups of concerned individuals began to establish chapters across the country, advocating locally and regionally for safe schools for students who were, or were perceived to be, LGBT.

In 1995 GLSTN became a national organization and hired its first full time staff person, GLSEN’s founder and Executive Director Kevin Jennings, (who is now Assistant Deputy heading the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education). In 1997, GLSTN staged its first national conference in Salt Lake City, UT, in order to respond to the legislature’s move to ban all student groups in an effort to prevent the formation of GSAs in the state. It is also this year that GLSTN changed its name to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, in order to attract new members to the struggle for safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

Currently, more than 3,600 GSAs have registered with GLSEN, which has approximately 40 full time staff, a governing board of 20 members and two advisory committees at the national level. In addition, nearly 40 Chapters are affiliated with GLSEN on local levels. At this point, GLSEN has successfully hosted more than 8 national conferences to bring together student leaders, educators, chapter leaders and activists. GLSEN also sponsors the National Day of Silence, in which hundreds of thousands of students participate each year. Students from more than 5,000 middle and high schools registered with GLSEN as 2007 Day of Silence participants.
more source from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay,_Lesbian_and_Straight_Education_Network

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

2009-09-23T07:24:00.002-07:00

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

2009-09-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

Sex education before safe sex education for gay men.

2009-09-23T07:21:00.002-07:00

Maguire B; International Conference on AIDS.

ISSUE: Sex plays a major role for gay men who are just becoming sexually aware or active, in gaining peer approval and developing a place in the gay community. It is not enough to know about safe sex in order to avoid HIV or AIDS--skills are needed. Most gay men are too embarrassed to actively seek out gay sex information. Strategies in HIV prevention encouraging safer non-penetrative alternatives mistakenly assume that gay men automatically have the skills and techniques to perform these activities comfortably. De-stigmatisation of gay love-making and increased community discourse about gay sex can serve to counter a lack of access to gay sex information. PROJECT: Nitty Gritties is a free five session course offered to gay men of all ages. The course covers anatomy; physiology; self examination and sexual maintenance; sexual negotiation; safe sex; HIV, STD and opportunistic infection avoidance; unsafe sex and risk assessment, sexual techniques and other issues participants may wish to discuss. RESULTS: Men who have the sexual confidence to successfully negotiate sex itself find less difficulty in negotiating safe sex. Sexual risk assessment often involves sophisticated cognitive processes, which may be ill-informed, HIV-phobic or inconsistent. Gay male knowledge of anatomy, physiology and sex technique is very poor. CONCLUSION: Participants report increased skills and comfort in all stated course objectives.
Publication Types:

* Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

* Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
* HIV Infections
* HIV Seropositivity
* Homosexuality
* Homosexuality, Male
* Humans
* Interpersonal Relations
* Male
* Patient Education as Topic
* Peer Group
* Safe Sex
* Sex Education
* Social Behavior

Other ID:

* 98399212

UI: 102230393

From Meeting Abstracts
more detail from : http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102230393.html

Sex education before safe sex education for gay men.

2009-09-23T07:21:00.001-07:00

Sex education before safe sex education for gay men.

2009-09-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

How Abstinence Education Leaves Out Gay Teens

2009-09-23T07:16:00.002-07:00

What is Abstinence-Only Education

Abstinence education is a federally funded program that runs in schools around the country. In addition to ignoring information about condoms, birth control and sexual expression, it excludes gay teens and teaches that the only place to have sex is in a heterosexual marriage.
The History of Abstinence Education

Sometimes called abstinence-only education, abstinence education was introduced 10 years ago under the Clinton administration.

When George Bush came into office a few years later, he dramatically increased the funding for the program.

In the first few years of the program, only California rejected the funding. However, by 2005 two other states had also decided to turn it down. By 2008 fewer than half the states were still accepting it!

But that still means that plenty of teens are getting some pretty skewed information.
What Does Abstinence Education Teach?

Federally funded abstinence programs require schools to follow a very rigid curriculum which:

* has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
* teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children;
* teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and other associated health problems;
* teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity
* teaches that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects; teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents and society.

How Abstinence Education Excludes Gay Teens

The last time I checked, same sex marriage was only legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, Maine, Vermont and Connecticut. So teaching that sex outside of marriage is unacceptable is basically telling gay teens that unless they happen to live in those five states, they should never, in their lives, have sex!

Additionally, any of the programs have been found to perpetuate negative stereotypes about the GLBT community.For example, in 2004, California senator, Henry Waxman found abstinence education programs were teaching that half of all gay teens in America had AIDS!

In many programs, teachers are not allowed to discuss GLBT issues or sexual orientation at all.
What Gay Teens Can Do in an Abstinence Education Class
If you find yourself stuck in an abstinence education class you have a few options. You can educate yourself using reliable sources. If you are feeling brave, you can challenge some of what you are learning. But you can also think about taking action towards getting comprehensive sex education implemented in your school. This is a style of sex education which teaches about everything from sexual orientation, to condoms, sexual expression and the decision not to have sex.

Here are three resources that can help you do that:

* Planned Parenthood Federation of America: R.E.A.L. Kit
* SIECUS: Community Action Kit
* The ACLU: Take Issue, Take Charge

Being a GLBT teen can be hard enough. The last thing you need is a sex ed class that not only deprives you of life saving information, but which also ignores your existence or acts as if there is something wrong with you!
more detail from : http://gayteens.about.com/od/school/qt/abstinence.htm

How Abstinence Education Leaves Out Gay Teens

2009-09-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

How Abstinence Education Leaves Out Gay Teens

2009-09-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Gay Teens Experiences with School Life

2009-09-23T07:15:00.002-07:00

School is a big part of teens' lives. Some GLBT youth have really positive experiences, but sadly, others do not. In fact, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network did a school climate survey which found that almost 9 out of 10 GLBT students experienced harassment at school in the past year.

Here gay teens share some personal reflections on school that cover everything from coming out, to being involved with a GSA and getting bullied.soucre from : http://gayteens.about.com/od/school/ss/school_exps.htm

Gay Teens Experiences with School Life

2009-09-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

Gay Teens Experiences with School Life

2009-09-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

What Gay Youth Need to Know About Teens Teaching Teens

2009-09-23T07:12:00.002-07:00

Peer Education

When I was in college, I volunteered as a peer sexual health educator. This meant that after completing a semester long training program, I ran workshops for other students on things like safer sex, sexual orientation and HIV /AIDS. And while I wasn’t as polished as a professional, the experience was a really positive one, both for me, and I hope, for my classmates.
So why the need for peer education? The organization Advocates for Youth explains that,

“Research suggests that people are more likely to hear and personalize messages, and thus to change their attitudes and behaviors, if they believe the messenger is similar to them and faces the same concerns and pressures. Numerous studies have demonstrated that their peers influence youth's health behaviors—not only in regard to sexuality but also in regard to violence and substance use. Peer education draws on the credibility that young people have with their peers, leverages the power of role modeling, and provides flexibility in meeting the diverse needs of today's youth. Peer education can support young people in developing positive group norms and in making healthy decisions about sex."

So for example, if an adult stands up and begins to lecture a groups of teens on the importance of using a condom, they are more likely to tune out than if another kid tells them the same thing. Similarly, if a 45-year-old gay man comes to talk with teens about his experiences with sexual orientation, the kids are less likely to relate than if they were addressed by someone their own age.

A lot of different organizations run peer education training programs. Two good ones are, Planned Parenthood and Advocates for Youth.from site http://gayteens.about.com/od/school/a/peer_education.htm

What Gay Youth Need to Know About Teens Teaching Teens

2009-09-23T07:12:00.001-07:00

Peer Education

What Gay Youth Need to Know About Teens Teaching Teens

2009-09-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Peer Education

Gay, Bisexual Teens at Risk for Eating Disorders

2009-09-20T09:56:00.002-07:00

Gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers may be at higher risk of binge-eating and purging than their heterosexual peers, starting as early as age 12, a new study finds. Past research has found connections between sexual orientation and the risk of eating disorders in adults — showing, for instance, that gay men have higher rates of symptoms than their heterosexual counterparts. Less has been known about how sexual orientation affects teenagers’ risks of various eating disorders. For the new study, researchers at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston used data from a U.S. survey of nearly 14,000 12- to 23-year-olds to look at the relationship between sexual orientation and binge-eating and purging. They found heightened rates of binge-eating among both males and females who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or “mostly heterosexual.” Purging, by vomiting or abusing laxatives, was also more common among these teens, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Read the full story from ABCNews.
source from: http://biggaynews.com/gay-bisexual-teens-at-risk-for-eating-disorders/3346

Gay, Bisexual Teens at Risk for Eating Disorders

2009-09-20T09:56:00.001-07:00

Gay, Bisexual Teens at Risk for Eating Disorders

2009-09-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Why girls flaunt their gay friends?

2009-09-19T20:58:00.002-07:00

Not every woman will admit it, but every girl loves having a gay friend. The ones who have’em, love to

Girls and their gay friends (Getty Images)

flaunt them!
Who can forget about the popular TV soap ‘Will and Grace,’ which outlined the life of a girl staying with her gay friend- always happy and gay. They were inseparable and could give any romantic couple a run for their money (sans all the action in the bed), such was their chemistry. Look around you and you will realise that guy friends and girl friends are losing their sheen, rather making way for gay friends. But what could possibly be the reason - after all the biggest flattery for any woman is to see a guy drool over her? We found out five reasons:

Feels attractive : A girl with a gay friend wants to drive home the point that she is so attractive and sexy that even gays are attracted to her. Irrespective of his sexual preference, she basks in the feeling that he prefers to stay by her side. “I feel every girl needs a gay friend. My gay friends are sexier than my other guy friends and I love to have them around me. It's therapeutic and makes me feel in control!” says writer Aindrita Dutta.

Feels cool and progressive : No matter how liberated our society is, when it comes to gay men, eyebrows are raised even today. So when people see a girl coolly walk in with her gay friend, they take notice. "I have noticed my girl pals do this all the time. They love the world to know that they are with their gay friend. It makes them feel one up on the others. He is like a ‘trophy’ friend," says MBA student Kirti Kapoor.

Gives emotional support : Since gay men are in touch with their emotional side, a girl always finds him great company in times of stress. Gay guys would not want to talk about girly bodily functions or want to wear make-up, but they give you a comforting shoulder. Call centre executive Ronita Bose feels, "Unlike other men, my gay pal will hear me out patiently; genuinely advise me if I have boyfriend issues without any malicious intentions. He won't try to take advantage of the situation."

Great partner for shopping : While a woman might get competitive shopping alongside a female friend, she can be rest assured when shopping with her gay friend. Most gay men can be completely honest with you and even be blatant if you are not looking sexy. If the dress is a misfit, he will not mince words. Laughs Shilpi Sinha, "When I go out with my gay friend, I always end up spending more. He encourages me to buy extravagantly, unlike my boyfriend and also compliments me when I need it the most."

Admire guys together : It is kind of necessary for gay men to talk about guys they feel attracted to, but then girls know that they would safely not be competing for the same man. It’s a lot of drama that both parties seem to love! "I enjoy going out to pubs or mall hopping with my gay friend. We admire men together and it's so much fun. It's an open world out there," quips air hostess Deepika Gosain. source from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/LIFE-STYLE/Relationships/Man-Woman/Why-girls-flaunt-their-gay-friends/articleshow/4720053.cms

Why girls flaunt their gay friends?

2009-09-19T20:58:00.001-07:00

Not every woman will admit it, but every girl loves having a gay friend. The ones who have’em, love to

Girls and their gay friends (Getty Images)

Why girls flaunt their gay friends?

2009-09-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Not every woman will admit it, but every girl loves having a gay friend. The ones who have’em, love to

Girls and their gay friends (Getty Images)

Top 10 Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal

2009-09-19T06:05:00.002-07:00

Top Ten Reasons to Make Gay Marriage Illegal

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all like many of the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
from site http://www.stopgeek.com/top-10-reasons-gay-marriage-should-be-illegal.html

Top 10 Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal

2009-09-19T06:05:00.001-07:00

Top 10 Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal

2009-09-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

Alberta Delays Gay Lesson Opt-Out

2009-09-16T07:10:00.002-07:00

Alberta’s strange new law requiring teachers to notify parents before tackling any lessons dealing with sexual orientation has been delayed until next year so that the school boards can prepare formal procedures.

The Alberta Teacher Association as well as several large municipal school boards was against this bill from the start, but the provincial Conservative government has so far been adamant that the law is necessary for parents to be able to pull their children out of classes, preventing them from learning anything about gay issues.

The law was part of a revision to the Human Rights Act, which means that any teachers who violate the new law will see themselves before the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

The whole thing is a bad idea, so sparing an extra year’s worth of children from all this is welcome news. Too bad it’s not delayed indefinitely.

Alberta Delays Gay Lesson Opt-Out

2009-09-16T07:10:00.001-07:00

Alberta Delays Gay Lesson Opt-Out

2009-09-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Gay history of the world

2009-09-13T21:27:00.002-07:00

Written and compiled by Anitra Budd & Angela WaldochPermission to republish
(Originally published on the WWW at
http://suphawut.com/gvb/gayly/gay_history1.htm)

Nearly every month, historians unveil new discoveries about the world's queer past. In fact, history is replete with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who have contributed significantly to world history even though the world's cultures have rarely condoned homosexuality. But going back as far as the dawn of human cultures complex enough to be called "civilizations," you can find references to GLBT people.
Let the Reader Beware

Any piece claiming to be a history of the world naturally invites skepticism and this piece is no different. Creating an accurate account of the world's queer history, one that weaves people and events into a cohesive narrative, can seem insurmountable. For some segments of history, early accounts are scarce and the sources vary widely in type. For other times, world regions and cultures, research into homosexuality has only recently begun.

Homophobia across time has played a significant role in documenting our history. In many parts of the world, homosexuality was a taboo subject, punishable by death. It wasn't until the identity politics of the late 20th century that gays and lesbians had a positive incentive to recognize each other, to unify as groups or to document any gatherings. In reality, they had more reasons for hiding their sexuality at all costs. To counter the misrepresentations of gay people as evil, immoral or perverted throughout history, we must share our stories.

Currently, the history of the world's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people reads like a compilation of vignettes, rather than a novel. Incidents occur and famous gays and lesbians come and go worldwide, but seldom are clear connections made, even when diverse cultures exist concurrently. In addition, many documented accounts of homosexuality bear the stamp of Western bias, especially as we get closer to modern history. This gives queer history a lopsided feel that should be rectified as time passes and as more scholars research cultures of other regions.

Remember these caveats as you travel back in time during this admittedly brief queer history. And enjoy it for what it is a collage of myriad fascinating stories rather than as an unrealistically straight line running from a definitive beginning to the present day. source: http://www.suphawut.com/gvb/gayly/gay_history1.htm

Gay history of the world

2009-09-13T21:27:00.001-07:00

Gay history of the world

2009-09-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Gay College Crush My Gay College Crush Is Driving Me Crazy

2009-09-09T10:13:00.002-07:00

Hi Mona,

I've had strong feelings for a guy for about a year now. The thing is, he doesn't know it. There are clues that tell me he was into me, but can I be wrong?

We are both in college, and last year we lived down the hall from each other. We shared the same bathroom and study lounge, etc. Although we saw each other a lot, we never talked. He is probably the first guy I was into, and whenever I was around him I shut down and closed up. He made me very nervous, but on the inside I was so happy to be around him. I constantly failed to make eye contact with him, which is something I regret now.

There were times when he would try to find an excuse to be around me. For example, he would come in the bathroom and use the sink (but it was obvious he had no need to). Also, while studying in the lounge, he would come in and sit next to me when there was plenty of other seats around. Sometimes when I got out of the shower and walked to my room, he would hurry down the hall to get a drink at the fountain or something. I just got the feeling that he wanted to be around me, but I was so nervous around him.

I am confused because he had pictures of women up in his room, and he would talk about "doing girls" his friends. Although I have never seen him kiss a girl or hold hands or anything, it makes me wonder whether or not I am wasting my time being attracted to this guy. Did he just want friendship or something more?

Confused College Guy

Dear Confused,

First, let's get the pictures of women and the spanking girl talk out of the way. This could have been a complete front, especially if he wasn't out. College is a hot bed for sexual exploration and discovery. His need to be near you could be seen as an innuendo, but the only way you could've been sure was to get to know him.

Given the past tense of your question, I'm assuming your neighbor has moved to another part of campus. It is, however, a very small world and an even smaller campus. You may have missed your room to room possibility this time, but if the opportunity strikes again step beyond the wall of anxiety and return his subtle hints. Don't come on too strong, this may only scare him away. Make him a friend or look for an excuse to talk to him. Play the game. As my best friend always tells me, "You gotta be in it to win it!"

Get the strength and return the glances. If he sits next to you, ask him to study together. I met my first boyfriend the same way. I avoided his glances and innuendos at first, and then started a conversation which later turned into me coyly giving him a kiss on the forehead one night. I clearly recall running home terrified after I did it. To my surprise, instead of making fun of my forwardness, he later called me and told me his crush was mutual. Take a chance and see if your crush can turn into first love.

Yours in love,
Mona
source from http://gaylife.about.com/od/gaysexquestionsanswers/qt/gaycollege.htm

Gay College Crush My Gay College Crush Is Driving Me Crazy

2009-09-09T10:13:00.001-07:00

Gay College Crush My Gay College Crush Is Driving Me Crazy

2009-09-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Gay Student College Fair

2009-09-09T10:10:00.002-07:00

When prospective gay students look for a college or university, location, ranking and programs aren’t the only factors they consider. Often times, the climate towards GLBTQ students on campus and its reputation for safety influence their decision. After all, being accepted into a college or university is like being granted entrance into a scholastic community for four or more years.
This makes it all the more necessary for institutions to provide a safe and welcoming community for its gay students, who themselves seek a comfortable environment at a gay-friendly university.

In response to this growing need, the Youth Pride College Fair was organized to bring together prospective gay students and representatives from a wide selection of institutions from small rural colleges to major state universities.

"Many students experience anti-gay discrimination and harassment in high school," said Nathan DeCarolis, President of Youth Pride Alliance, the organization sponsoring the college fair. "We hope this event helps gay and straight students find colleges that welcome all students."

The college fair is organized by the Maret School, Office of College Counseling; the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education; Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays; Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League; and the Youth Pride Alliance and scheduled to coincide with the Youth Pride Day celebration.

Gay Student College Fair

2009-09-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

Gay Student College Fair

2009-09-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

How To Find a Gay and Lesbian Friendly College

2009-09-09T10:07:00.002-07:00

Looking for a gay-friendly college environment? The climate on a college campus is an important factor when making a choice about a higher learning institution. Whether you are already out or plan on coming out in college, a gay-affirmative campus can foster memorable experiences. Here's how you can find a gay and lesbian friendly college:

Do your research.
Have you decided what you want to study or have a general area of interest? First, research schools based on their academic programs and your interest in their areas of study. Start with directories like Princeton Review's The Best 368 Best Colleges and U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges 2009. They publish annual rankings of colleges and universities based on region, academic programs and other criteria.

Check their discrimination policies.
Once you've narrowed your search, check each university's discrimination policies. Each school should publish their policies online or have them available in their administrative offices. Be weary if the school does not have a published discrimination policy or ones that don't mention sexual orientation or gender expression.

Check for gender neutral housing.
A growing number of colleges and universities are offer gender neutral housing to meet the needs of their diverse student population. A campus with gender neutral housing has demonstrated that they are not only abreast of, but are concerned about their gay lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

Search for LGBT clubs and organizations.
Search on the university web site for LGBT-based organizations. The more clubs and groups that they have, the better potential for a more gay-affirmative experience on campus. Not only do some of these groups lobby the university concerning gay issues, but many are social and support clubs that can assist you on campus. The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals publishes a directory of college and university offices that are run by at least one paid professional staff or graduate assistant directing LGBT resources.

Scan the course bulletin.
Have you spotted any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer study themed courses in the college bulletin? Not only are these courses a good indicator of a campus' openness and diversification, but they may fit perfectly in your academic areas of interest.

Visit the campus and surrounding cities
The best indication of a college's environment is a campus visit. Schedule an appointment with the admissions office or attend an open house. Don't be shy about asking if the university has any of the above things mentioned. Also, cruise through surrounding cities, looking for gay activity in the area. Your college experience may expand outside of campus. Is there a gay center nearby? What about gay bars, clubs or cafes? The gay vibrancy of the surrounding area can often spill over into a more gay-friendly campus and vice versa.

Finding a gay and lesbian-friendly campus takes research, but the pay off comes in a more affirmative experience for you as a gay student on campus.
source : http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayteens/a/friendlycollege.htm

How To Find a Gay and Lesbian Friendly College

2009-09-09T10:07:00.001-07:00

How To Find a Gay and Lesbian Friendly College

2009-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Gay Dating

2009-09-08T01:26:00.002-07:00

Gay Dating: How to find True Love?

You might find that it is difficult being gay and finding love. Here are a few pointers to help you succeed in the gay dating scene. First of all, it is most important to market yourself; you have to consider the image you project. This is a rule not just in gay dating but in all dating, you will attract the type of person who is attracted to the signs you are sending out. If you feel you are stuck in a rut in the gay dating scene and meeting the same type of guys or all the wrong guys perhaps you change your attitude. If you don’t usually smile at people, try giving them a quick grin of if you find yourself too uptight and stuffy, loosen up a bit. If you find yourself failing in the gay dating scene and frustrated because you are unable to find Mr. Right perhaps it is because you are unsure as to what you want. Make a list of qualities that you want in a man, and not just tall, dark, and handsome; think about the personality traits you are looking for in your ideal partner. This will definitely make gay dating a great deal easier if you know what you want; you don’t have to waste time with other men figuring out if they are right for you. Now that you have figured out what you want from a man, you have to go to the right places to find him. An important part aspect to success in gay dating is go where they go. If you are looking for a certain type of guy, you need to go to them. If you want a guy who is intellectual and loves to read, join a local book club or reading group. You are much more likely to find success in the gay dating scene if you know what you want and are able to go get it.

Looking for Love Online

Now, you may have busy lifestyle and the gay dating scene just may not be your friend. There are a plethora of online gay dating sites that will help you find the man of your dreams. Perhaps you don’t really have time to join a book club or aren’t really the bar/club type online gay dating sites could definitely help you get your love life back on track. However, online gay dating sites may not always be legitimate and you need to know for certain that you are on a safe website talking to real people and it’s not just a scam. Don’t be discouraged there are as many legitimate online gay dating sites as there are shady ones. Many online gay dating sites offer free registration, photo, and profile posting. When it comes to responding or writing to somebody you are interested in, many online gay dating sites do charge a fee but they are usually nominal and will not break the bank. If you live in a city, where people are constantly on the go it may be difficult to meet people therefore online gay dating sites could truly benefit you. There is some stigma surround online gay dating sites, about the nature of the people on it and the type of relationships they are looking for. However, that is no longer the case now and the old thought that those who used online gay dating sites were desperate is also no longer the case. It is just an alternative to meeting somebody at the bar or else where. I mentioned it above, safety is definitely a huge issue in online gay dating sites however it is an issue everywhere. Safety is a concern when you are at a bar or walking back home, gay online dating sites at least allow you to screen who you meet so if you find somebody to be shady you don’t have to talk to them or meet them.

If you are having trouble in the gay dating scene follow some of the pointers above, be open, and you are sure to have some success. source http://www.gaylife.org/

Gay Dating

2009-09-08T01:26:00.001-07:00

Gay Dating: How to find True Love?

Looking for Love Online

If you are having trouble in the gay dating scene follow some of the pointers above, be open, and you are sure to have some success. source http://www.gaylife.org/

Gay Dating

2009-09-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

Gay Dating: How to find True Love?

Looking for Love Online

If you are having trouble in the gay dating scene follow some of the pointers above, be open, and you are sure to have some success. source http://www.gaylife.org/

Back To School Gay

2009-09-08T01:23:00.002-07:00

Exploring your sexuality as well as your scholastic interests? I came out in college. Here are are the things I would've done differently and what you can do to better your college experience as a gay man
Tips for Gay College Students
Are you gay and out in college? Or, are you planning on coming out in college? College is much less insular than high school campuses can be. It's a great time to explore your interests and your sexuality.

I didn't come out until I went to college. Here are the things I would've done differently and suggestions on how you can better your college experience as a gay man:

Dorms and Residence Halls
Living in a residence hall as a freshman was the first time I ever lived on my own. It was overwhelming at first, but I was excited to get away from home. I knew I was attracted to guys; but I was way too scared to explore my feelings so I stayed in the closet for a while. I was also somewhat distant from my co-ed hall mates. I feared my secret might ruin my new friendships.

* What I would have done differently: Looking back on the situation, most of the guys and girls around me were also excited about being away from home and exploring their own interests. Months later, when I did come out, I found that most of them didn't care at all. I wasted great bonding time and denied myself some wonderful experiences by not being myself. Of course, you should only come out when you are ready (and I wasn't at the time), but try not to make assumptions about your new suite or hall mates. They are looking to find themselves in their own ways. You are entitled to the same.

Finding Gay Friends
After months of thinking I was the only one, I ran across a guy in one of my classes that I had a feeling was gay. Tired of having no one to talk with about my sexuality, I did everything I could to befriend him. I joined his math group. I asked if he wanted to study together. I made random comments about lecture. We eventually became good friends and came out to each other.

* What I would have done differently: I invested a lot of time trying to figure out if one guy was gay, as if he was my only option. And while it paid off and I had a new gay friend, looking back I would've explored more. There were many gay and gay-friendly groups on campus that I could have joined to meet other gay people. I could have also reached out and befriended more of my dorm friends. I later found out that they knew other gay people and could've made a connection. When looking for gay friends on campus, don't put all of your hopes on one person. Explore and be proactive about your search.

Dating
I longed for a boyfriend, especially after I started meeting gay friends. I would chat with guys online, but either couldn't get up the nerve to meet them or I just didn't think they were a good fit. I didn't give up my search, though. I knew eventually I would make a connection with a guy I liked. But when I did meet my first boyfriend, it was in the most unlikely of places–a club I joined. It wasn't a gay club, but there were gay guys in it. Me and a few of the guys eventually became friends since we spent so much time together at club meetings. One of the guys and I became especially close. He was my first boyfriend and my first love.

* What I would have done differently: Prior to meeting my first boyfriend, I became more and more eager to find a man. It would have been best if I let the situation happen instead of letting my desperation drive my actions. Usually, the best dating situations happen in the most unlikely of circumstances. When I stopped seeking, I found a great guy. Just like making gay friends, it's best to get out there and explore social or academic options on campus. You and another great single guy will eventually find each other. Another lesson I learned was taking a more active role in my safety, which brings me to the next topic.

Online Hook Ups and Campus Safety
Meeting someone online is a cool way to get to know them–initially. I would chat with guys online during study breaks and off time. I developed an entire network of online buddies. But, after some time I wanted to meet them face-to-face. No online dating questionnaire or number of chat hours can replace an in-person chemistry check.

* What I would have done differently: There were many times when I would meet up with online guys only to discover that we didn't quite connect in person. Also, I didn't take my safety into account enough times. Unfortunately, not everyone online is on the up and up. You should always follow these safety tips before meeting an online buddy in person. Also, if you have a suite mate or close buddy, give them your schedule and keep them up on where you are traveling around campus (especially at night). It's always better to side with safety.

Sex
Some people choose to explore same gender sexual experiences while in college. A first same-sex experience can either be a wowing confirmation of your emotional attractions or not at all what you expect (or a little bit of both).

* Suggestions: Take your time when exploring your the physical aspects of your sexuality. There is no rush, nor does a prize go to the quickest explorer. It's best to be selective about who you experience with. Know the person, get proof of their HIV status, practice safer sex, and always keep your safety in mind.

Back To School Gay

2009-09-08T01:23:00.001-07:00

Back To School Gay

2009-09-08T01:23:00.000-07:00

Gay

2009-09-06T22:06:00.002-07:00

The term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637
The term later began to be used in reference to homosexuality, in particular, from the early 20th century, a usage that may have dated prior to the 19th century
In modern English, gay has come to be used as an adjective, and occasionally as a noun, that refers to the people, practices, and culture associated with homosexuality. By the end of the 20th century the word gay was recommended by major style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex
At about the same time, a new, pejorative use became prevalent in some parts of the world. In the UK, U.S., and Australia, this connotation, among younger generations of speakers, has a derisive meaning equivalent to rubbish or stupid (as in "That's so gay."). In this use the word does not mean "homosexual", so that it can be used, for example, of an inanimate object or abstract concept of which one disapproves, but the extent to which it still retains connotations of homosexuality has been debated.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay

Gay

2009-09-06T22:06:00.001-07:00

Gay

2009-09-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

What is gay culture?

2009-09-06T21:41:00.002-07:00

Illustration: A Richard Allen

When Time Out New York’s queer staffers sat down to figure out what would go into a feature about “gay culture,” we quickly realized it would be no easy task. Did we want to tackle it in the classic, universal sense—as in Judy Garland, campy drag shows and Stone Butch Blues? Did we want to talk about new queer indie films, and why they are often low-budget and unimpressive? Or about the hottest, freshest talents around, and how they’re shaking up media ranging from music and downtown theater to edgy lit and trans burlesque? ...

Maybe it's us, but it seems harder and harder to keep track of who's gay (Lindsay Lohan?) what's gay (Trader Joe's?) and what any of it means. Read on for our humble attempt to make sense of it all.

We thought about trying to figure out why queer women and men are so separate—and why they then separate themselves further, as with the bears and the twinks and the rocker dykes and the lipstick Jersey girls and the genderqueers. Not to mention nightlife’s deep (and oft-unspoken) racial divide that sends some partyers to Splash and Henrietta’s and others to Escuelita or Lover Girl.

Then there is the ever-present generation gap. It can seem particularly wide in our community, with folks over 30 still generally feeling a need to connect with some sort of LGBT culture—whether it’s by catching the latest Paul Rudnick play or ducking into a lively piano bar for the evening—while queers in their twenties and younger may have less of a need to belong to anything other than society at large. They came out in their teens, after all, and find themselves more or less accepted everywhere they go. Why cling to old-fashioned notions of barroom communities and identity art?

These questions and issues tend to hit us with force every year at this time, as June is Gay Pride month (and an especially proud one in 2008, after California’s gay-marriage victory). To mark it, make sure to hit at least one of the marches, parades and festivals that span the five boroughs, beginning Sunday 1 in Jackson Heights. That event, Queens Pride ’08, remains one of the city’s most vibrant, least commercialized and most ethnically diverse festivals. Check it out and you could find yourself thinking—amid Colombian drag queens, gay cops, queer-youth groups and flocks of Indian families applauding on the sidelines—that you’ve just stepped into the very heart of the elusive gay culture.

In the meantime, though, we realize that we don’t have all the answers—but we do know that it’s the questions themselves that really matter. So we decided to continue the discussion outside of our bubble, with local LGBT culture makers, to bring even more expressions of queerness into the mix. To that end, we’ve assembled a panel of writers, artists and performers to bounce our ideas off of, and to add to our already complex image of what gay culture might be. It may be a difficult concept to pin down, but it sure is an exciting one to ponder.

Beth Greenfield, Gay & Lesbian editor

from: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/features/29935/what-is-gay-culture/2.html#ixzz0QOPjajKv

What is gay culture?

2009-09-06T21:41:00.001-07:00

Illustration: A Richard Allen

What is gay culture?

2009-09-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Illustration: A Richard Allen

Floating villages on the Tonle Sap

2009-08-24T23:10:00.002-07:00

Local residents rest on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009. Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, covering an area of 2,500-3,000 square kilometers during the dry season. In recent years, Tonle Sap Lake has become a famous scenic spot for tourists from all over the world, who have interest in the lifestyle of local residents living in floating villages around the lake. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local vendors sell vegetables and fruits on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local residents live on a floating water dwelling on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Foreign tourists take a tour by boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local fishmen return home after a day's work by boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Children play on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)

Floating villages on the Tonle Sap

2009-08-24T23:10:00.001-07:00

Floating villages on the Tonle Sap

2009-08-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

The stport News

2009-08-24T20:30:00.002-07:00

O'Neal takes on dominant athletes in other sports
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Years after dubbing himself as professional basketball's most dominant center, Shaquille O'Neal takes on dominant athletes in other sports in a competition series premiering on Tuesday night on ABC.

In the premiere of "Shaq VS," the 7-foot-1-inch NBA star, who has never played organized football, will quarterback a team in a seven-on-seven game, with two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger quarterbacking the other team.

O'Neal prepared for tonight's episode by training for a week under the tutelage of Charlie Batch, Roethlisberger's backup quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Later episodes will have O'Neal play against the Olympic gold medal-winning beach volleyball team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor; box 10-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya; swim against 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps; play tennis against 11-time grand slam singles champion Serena Williams; and compete against St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols in a home run hitting contest.

O'Neal will be given an advantage in several of the events in an attempt to increase their competitiveness.

O'Neal said he is doing the series because "I represent the male bravado couch potato."

"I don't really consider myself one of those salad-eater, elite athletes," O'Neal said in an interview during ABC's portion of there cent Television Critics Association summer press tour. "I'm just a regular guy with a lot of heart and determination that thinks he can do anything."

O'Neal said if he does win a challenge, it will probably be "because it was handicapped anyway."

"I'm not doing this to show anybody up," said O'Neal, who was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a trade from the Phoenix Suns this summer and said he may retire if the team wins this season's NBA championship.

O'Neal said he has no fear of injury participating in the series.

"Most of the time, I'm just training, so I don't see how I can be hurt training," O'Neal said.

Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry said late last month that he was "looking forward to seeing him do all this stuff."

"We talked through things to make sure no one would get hurt," Ferry said. "It's all in good fun. It's good for the NBA. He enjoys doing this stuff."

When he boxes De La Hoya, who stands 5 feet 10, O'Neal said he will wear headgear and is "not going to go all out."

"I may give it to him once or twice. I know he may give it to me once or twice, but it's not going to be an all-out heavyweight brawl," said O'Neal, whose listed weight of 325 pounds is more than double De La Hoya's final 145-pound fighting weight.