Cheering for LGBT Families
November is a time to be together, for celebration and to be thankful. Unfortunately, for the many youth and young adults who have no family to celebrate with, it can be a time of sadness and loneliness.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/cheering-for-lgbt-families?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
An Ex-Gay Therapist Was No Match For This Amazing Harvard Law School Student
Stories don’t usually start with, “Harvard University outed me.” This one does. When Scott Blair took the LSATs and checked a box on his Harvard application that he was gay, the university gay law student group called his mother’s house. She asked the reason for the call, and they told her, “Well, he’s gay and applied and we’d really like him to come.”
She confronted Scott about the call in the car soon thereafter. “Did you save the contact information?” he appropriately asked her. “No, I was hoping you were lying to them to get into a better law school,” she replied. The time had come to be totally honest, and Scott told her that no, he wasn’t lying.
“I almost want to drive this car into a tree,” said Scott’s mother. “Can you let me out of the car first and then you can go ahead?” he answered like a true lawyer-to-be.
His parents ended up joining a “Parents and Friend of Ex-Gays” group in New Jersey, even though Scott was comfortable with who he is. “That is the opposite of the group you are supposed to be joining right now,” he tried reasoning with them.
But reason rarely matters in the unfortunate world of ex-gays. His parents asked Scott to meet with one of the group’s leaders, to “understand what the homosexual lifestyle is about.” To humor them, he agreed.
By the time Scott met with him, it was the summer of his second year of law school. Harvard Law School. Scott was already a clever young man, but armed with two years of legal argumentative training, the guy didn’t stand a chance.
First, the counselor started with the “there is no gay gene” schtick. “Every study that’s reported to find a gay gene has been authored by gays,” he continued.
Scotts response: “I have no idea what studies you’re talking about, but sexuality is very complex. Everything that humans do is very complex. All a gene does is control the expression of a protein. I would be extremely shocked if one gene could control anything like that.”
The counselor looked at Scott with confused bewilderment, never having received such an answer. His next move was to pry into Scott’s upbringing –specifically his parents’ divorce. He told Scott that many people who are angry at their mothers following a divorce are “turned off” to women.
“So if I was angry at my mother, that would make me gay, but you also asked me how I felt about my father. My guess is what you’re going to say is that if I was angry at my father, that would make me want to seek the company of other men.”
The ex-gay counselor said yes, that can be the case as well.
“Isn’t that sort of contradictory? No matter which one of my parents I hate — which I don’t — that made me gay.”
Next the counselor moved the conversation to the subject of homosexuality leading to the fall of civilizations, referencing the Roman Empire.
Except Scott is a history buff with a special interest in the Romans. “The Roman Empire only fell after it became Christian,” he told the therapist.
“Well they weren’t really Christian in any sense of the word that we would use today.”
“Saint Augustine was one of the most famous Christian theologists ever, and according to what you’re telling me, he wasn’t actually a Christian.”
“Well, you know, they were very Catholic.”
“You realize my mother is Catholic, right?”
“Well, thank you for your time,” he eventually told Scott, leaving the room.
In an interview with I’m From Driftwood, Scott reflects on the experience:
“It’s actually hard not to feel a little sorry for him, because he was gay before he ‘changed,’ and he claims that he realized homosexuality was immoral in the 80’s when he saw a lot of his friends dying from AIDS, and it’s hard to mock somebody for that.
“I would tell any kid who has to go see an ex-gay therapist or somebody that’s telling them that it’s wrong to be gay that they are smarter than somebody who thinks that and they are better than somebody who thinks that. And frankly any argument that somebody uses to support changing who you are is very, very bad. And very dumb. 30 second of thought will show you why it’s wrong.”
If we ever need a lawyer, we’re calling Scott.
See the whole interview here:
Dan Tracer
Beyonce Takes Over a High Rise Hotel in '7/11' Music Video: WATCH
The Queen Bey goes for the low budget “homemade video” route for her latest single “7/11” off the upcoming Platinum Edition of her self-titled album.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2014/11/beyonce-takes-over-a-high-rise-hotel-in-711-music-video-watch.html
Is The World Ready For A Gay Superhero?
Perhaps inspired by the casting of openly queer actor Ezra Miller in the title role of The Flash (set to hit the big screen in 2018), TheWrap asked a number of Hollywood’s out and prouds (plus a few allies) to weigh in on Hollywood’s recent LGBT superhero surge — both in terms of the characters themselves and the people who play them.
While the casting of gay, lesbian, or bisexual actors in superhero or villain roles is hardly novel (witness Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold on the TV version of The Flash, John Barrowman as Malcom Merlyn on Arrow, or Ian McKellen, Ellen Page, and Anna Paquin in the various X-Men movies), are audiences ready to accept an actual LGBT superhero?
Yes, says Modern Family‘s Eric Stonestreet. “If you you buy in that it’s possible there is such a thing as a superhero, you also have to buy into the fact that there are gay superheroes.”
NFL player and LGBT ally Chris Kluwe seconds that. “It shouldn’t necessarily even matter what the sexuality is of the superhero,” he says. “It should just be, like, oh, Superman wants to go home to his boyfriend — you know, Louis Lane — then that’s what Superman does.”
But have we been missing something? Have there been gay superheros all along? “Superheros are super gay,” said Queer Eye for the Straight Guy‘s Carson Kressley. “I mean — hello — Aquaman? I have so many Aquaman fantasies. Batman and Robin — the first same sex couple on television.”
As for the issue of acceptance, GLAAD’s director of entertainment media Matt Kane calls sexual and gender heterogeneity “a total non-issue” for the under-30 crowd. “We’re seeing a greater emphasis on diversity from [major comic publishers],” he told TheWrap. “I know Marvel has more female-led titles than they had before, not to mention quite a few LGBT characters.”
But as a lead? While out bi actor Andy Mientus will appear on the small screen version of The Flash as gay villain The Pied Piper, the question of whether or not openly gay good guy can drive a movie or TV remains to be seen. Still, Mientus feels that characters are moving in the right direction. “I feel really proud to take on this role,” he says. “I’m a villain and I’m powerful and I think it would be really cool if there’s some queer kid sitting at home watching me blow up cars and shit, while knowing that I am who I am in my personal life and that the character is out and happy.”
Watch more stars sounding off on the topic:
Winston Gieseke
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/ylicE2KxQQY/is-the-world-ready-for-a-gay-superhero-20141122
SEOUL: Christians Storm Into City Council Meeting, Thwart LGBT Rights Panel
SEOUL: Christians Storm Into City Council Meeting, Thwart LGBT Rights Panel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehiJM6PYgQY&feature=youtube_gdata
PHOTOS: Jesus Days
Greg Reynolds’s photos have a quiet tension. As if something is just about to happen. And then it did.
Christopher Harrity
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/photography/2014/11/22/photos-jesus-days
The Amazing Parents Of Matthew Shepard Are Off To Russia To Win Hearts And Minds
For the past fifteen years, Dennis and Judy Shepard have transformed the senseless tragedy of their son Matthew’s death into fuel for passionate activism promoting gay rights and protections. Now, that journey is leading them to Russia, where they hope to share their story and talk with parents of LGBT youth.
They’ll first attend a screening of Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine at the Side by Side Film Festival in St. Petersburg. The festival stands in defiant opposition to local anti-gay sentiments by promoting LGBT tolerance, and has to skirt around the country’s “anti-propaganda” laws.
The film’s director, Michelle Jouse, said that by screening the film in the United States, “We’ve been preaching to the choir. It’s important to get our film seen by a community that didn’t have access to it.”
“Putin has made it so unhealthy to be LGBT or an ally,” Dennis Shepard told the AP. “It will take at least a generation to clean up the mess he’s made and get some acceptance.”
From St. Petersburg they’ll travel to Moscow and meet with gay youth and their families.
We wish them all a safe and productive trip.
Here’s the trailer for the film:
Dan Tracer
MATTHEW – LET'S TALK ABOUT LGBT SEX AND DRUGS
Let’s Talk About LGBT Sex & Drugs – 03/11/14 Thank you to Timothy Lock and Lock and Key Films for these videos from our Let’s Talk About LGBT Sex & Drugs event at The Joiners Arms. It was part…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRa-0iV_qWU&feature=youtube_gdata
PHOTOS: LGBT Bar business legal conference in London
PHOTOS: LGBT Bar business legal conference in London.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GznMPqc67sY&feature=youtube_gdata
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