Daily Archives: August 17, 2015



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NEWS

9 Things Freshman Orientation Doesn't Tell You About Queer People

9 Things Freshman Orientation Doesn't Tell You About Queer People

Congratulations! You are a high school graduate and will now move on to the awesomeness that is college. One of the best parts about college is meeting people who may not be exactly like you. There’s also a chance you might have a classmate, teammate or fellow dorm-mate that could be queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans. 

Navigating campus as a queer person can sometimes be difficult, too, from expressing your sexual or gender identity to telling others you identify as LGBTQ  

But whether you’re straight, cisgender or somewhere along the queer spectrum, here are some do’s and don’ts regarding sexual orientation and gender that were probably left out of freshman orientation. 

 

Also on HuffPost:

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.



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NEWS

How I Learned To Live Again After The Loss Of My Only Sibling

How I Learned To Live Again After The Loss Of My Only Sibling
rashmee
Original illustration by Jake Reeves.

voices

In July of 2013, at the end of my intern year as a medical resident in Brooklyn, New York, my younger brother and only sibling Ashish was diagnosed with stage 4 soft-tissue sarcoma. He was only 27 and had just been accepted to medical school to follow his dream of becoming a psychiatrist. At the time he was diagnosed, he was having shortness of breath that couldn’t be explained and his chest x-ray showed that he had hundreds of nodules in his lungs. Though doctors who heard his case proposed alternatives to what was most likely metastatic disease, the inevitable reality finally hit our family. It was cancer and it had already spread to not only his lungs but also his brain. We were told that he had less than a year to live at best, leaving little in the way of curative therapy.

Within about a month, he was bed-bound and oxygen-dependent. We searched medical literature for answers and enrolled him in an experimental chemotherapy trial through the National Institutes of Health(NIH) in hopes that we could buy more time. But as time passed and his functional status steadily declined, Ashish finally succumbed to his illness and died in his bed at our home in Texas in March 2014. My parents and I surrounded him as he took his last breath and it comforted us to know that his final moments were pain-free.

Losing my brother was the most painful thing I hope I will ever have to experience.

It turns out that nobody is ever prepared for grief. It doesn’t arrive predictably in time or severity. It can be an overwhelming, moaning, sobbing kind of grief. Or it can ache just enough to remind you it’s there and yet somehow you never want it to go away. Looking back on my experience with loss and tragedy, I wonder how I came back to work and managed to get through the days of sadness and overwhelming feelings of loss. But then I realized that it wasn’t a miracle that I made it through. It was because of the constant support and camaraderie from my colleagues, my friends, my family and my wife that I was able to continue to perform and get through the days. I was never alone in my grief. I recognized that the more I shared my vulnerability with others, the more they mobilized to lift me back up when I couldn’t stand alone.

While my brother was sick, I went home to see him as much as I could. I remember very distinctly the last time that I visited him before he died. He had been told by his oncologist days prior to my arrival that there were no treatments left and that hospice care was the best option for him. As I spent time with my brother — this person who was so debilitated and vulnerable and only a semblance of the person I knew him to be physically — I was so struck by how little our conversations and his spirit had changed. Through the chemotherapy, weight loss, radiation, and quick decline in daily function, the essence of who he was never left our interactions. When he died, the close relationship I maintained with my brother during his illness helped me realize that his departure from our lives and from humanity had no relation to the methodical sequence of events that followed: the zipping of his body into a bag, the funeral, the cremation. His vitality was much bigger than that.

And so I promised myself that I would never forget his vitality, his spirit, his enthusiasm for life and his love of learning. I got through very tough times and continue to cope with his loss by always remembering that though his illness debilitated his physical body, the essence of his spirit never changed. Shortly after he died, with the help of friends and family and those who were touched by his life, we established the Ashish Patil Memorial Prize through his alma mater, Vassar College. Ashish embodied what it meant to be a well-rounded and dedicated student who was devoted to fostering his intellectual growth. This year, we were so happy to see the first student awarded the prize.

Over a year after his death, I’m still learning how to live and be happy without my brother. I am proud to share that I just graduated from my residency training program and will begin my career as a physician! I also recently married my wife, Stephanie, and am excited about our future together. Though Ashish was not there for the wedding and will not physically be there for our upcoming milestones, he is always close to our hearts and will be forever missed.

voices of strength

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.



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NEWS

First gay UK rugby league star Keegan Hirst: ‘It shouldn’t be taboo for sportsmen to come out’

First gay UK rugby league star Keegan Hirst: ‘It shouldn’t be taboo for sportsmen to come out’

The first gay British rugby league star Keegan Hirst has said it shouldn’t be a taboo for sportsmen to come out.

Reflecting on the huge amount of support since he came out yesterday (16 August), the 27-year-old Batley Bulldogs captain has said he is ‘humbled’ and the reaction is ‘overwhelming’.

In his match yesterday, he said he received nothing but a positive response from his teammates, the opposition, the club and the fans.

Speaking to the BBC, Hirst said Batley is a little town not far from Leeds where ‘everybody knows everybody and everybody knows everybody else’s business’.

‘There’s not any gay people in Batley. Well, not that I know of! I thought it would be a bit of a taboo, bit of an issue, but I’ve got nothing but support and well wishes from the players and the club. Social media has gone mad. It’s really overwhelming and quite humbling.’

When asked how his teammates reacted, he said he told two of his closest friends on the team first. One, Hirst said, told him he had ‘known all along’.

Hirst said by coming out, he hopes to break down stereotypes.

‘[I came out because] I had a change of outlook. It was how I perceived myself and how I perceived being gay,’ he added.

‘We’re living in a society where it’s no longer a problem. In sport it’s still a bit of a taboo but judging by the feedback I’ve had it’s not that big of a taboo anymore. I don’t want to go on a crusade but I hope to pave the way for others to feel comfortable in their own skin, and by doing this, hopefully make others feel better about being open about who they are.’

The post First gay UK rugby league star Keegan Hirst: ‘It shouldn’t be taboo for sportsmen to come out’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

Joe Morgan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/first-gay-uk-rugby-league-star-keegan-hirst-it-shouldnt-be-taboo-for-sportsmen-to-come-out/

MISC

Jim Beaned: Brb Going for a Walk

I am going to do some cardio and I will be back in like 30 minutes or so. I love to do cardio after it rains. Its so nice out I can’t pass it up and when I get back we can do an awesome group show and maybe a party chat. I will be on after midnight for that late night jerk show so I can go to bed and sleep like a ton of bricks. I hope you guys are ready for an awesome late night show. I am going to be on all tomorrow and I know its going to rain so I wont be able to go anywhere. If you need anything special before I head off to get in shape just send me a tell or a message and I will get right back to you. I just need to burn all this energy off and then jerk it out in a show with you guys. I hope you are ready for a huge load because I am ready to give you guys one. I feel like its going to be a giant one, since I didn’t bust all day. I will try a party,but I think its too late in the night to pull one off as everyone is already in bed sleeping it off. I just need you guys to come jerk with me one more time and the we can go cuddle somewhere together. I hope you are ready to party in 30 minutes cause I am getting pumped up and ready just thinking about it. I am off now and I will be right back so please wait up with me and we can party together before bed.

Visit Jim Beaned’s Chat Room

NEWS

Donald Trump: People shouldn’t be sacked for being gay

Donald Trump: People shouldn’t be sacked for being gay

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said employees should not be sacked simply for being gay.

The billionaire, who famously fired contestants on The Apprentice, also said he was ‘fine with affirmative action’ during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.

‘Should private companies be able to fire people because they’re gay?’ asked host Chuck Todd.

Trump replied: ‘Well, it’s a big discussion and I guess it’s getting a lot of negative rulings right now… and I’m willing courts to go with what the courts are saying.

Asked the question a second time, he said: ‘I don’t think it should be a reason, no.’

Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that LGBTI people were protected from workplace discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Despite his latests remarks, Trump –who has been married three times – previously said he was only ‘for traditional marriage.’

After the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in June, he tweeted:

Once again the Bush appointed Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has let us down. Jeb pushed him hard! Remember!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2015

Watch the interview in full below:

The post Donald Trump: People shouldn’t be sacked for being gay appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/donald-trump-people-shouldnt-be-sacked-for-being-gay/

NEWS

KKK fliers call on recruits to kill gays to ‘stop AIDS’

KKK fliers call on recruits to kill gays to ‘stop AIDS’

The Ku Klux Klan is distributing recruitment fliers in Louisiana calling for violence against gay people to ‘stop AIDS.’

Residents of Mandeville found plastic bags containing rocks or candy and the leaflets in their driveways last week.

‘Stop Aids: Support Gay Bashing,’ they read.

‘Homosexual men and their sexual acts are disgusting and inhuman.’

The fliers also call for ‘non-white immigration’ to be banned, Haitians to be outlawed and ‘mud people’ to be deported.

Similar leaflets have been been found across the South this summer in a reported recruitment drive.

One resident, who did not want to be identified, said she was ‘extremely hurt by’ the fliers.

‘As a member of the gay community… I think it shows the ignorance of society still,’ she told WWLTV.

Newton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the leaflets.

Raw Story notes that they investigated similar fliers distributed in Covington two years ago, but the anti-gay language appears to have been added recently.

The post KKK fliers call on recruits to kill gays to ‘stop AIDS’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kkk-fliers-call-on-recruits-kill-gays-to-stop-aids/

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