Rob Lowe is Meeting Men on Grindr: WATCH
Rob Lowe has discovered the gay hook-up app Grindr and he’s using it to meet men for anonymous activities, although it’s unclear if the men he’s meeting are on the same page.
Watch:
The post Rob Lowe is Meeting Men on Grindr: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Andy Towle
antwerpenR posted a photo:
Why Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Was My Heroine
I first read Eve’s work in grad school in the mid-’90s. By 1998, I had left grad school and was working in an entry-level job at HarperCollins in New York. There, my supervisor told me she was auditing a course with Eve Kofosky Sedgwick at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.
Eve was teaching a yearlong Proust course, in which students read Remembrance of Things Past throughout the entire year. I dashed to the Graduate Center and begged my way into the course as an auditor. I ended up matriculating as a Ph.D. candidate one semester later. In the five years I spent as a Ph.D. student, I took every course that Eve taught — I think it was seven different classes. I joked that I majored in “Eve Studies.”
To say her impact on me was world-changing would not be an understatement. I am not alone in feeling this way.
My involvement with Eve’s prodigious and curious intellect came during her CUNY years, from 1998 onward. While issues of queer identity and queer politics were still central to her being, she had also taken on new intellectual engagements, some of which were related to her long-term cancer diagnosis.
Her CUNY classes engaged with fun, varied topics, among them Buddhism, chaos theory, textiles, performativity, and shame theory. Additionally she taught some studio arts classes: one about crafts, one about bookmaking.
Despite this ever-changing curriculum, there was always the sense that one was following threads that touched other threads, and together created a canon of thought. It was like listening to a legacy artist like the Beatles. A Hard Day’s Night may sound very different from The White Album, but when you study the whole canon, later parts will reflect earlier parts, making the entire experience all the richer.
It was Eve who lovingly suggested I drop out of my Ph.D. program in 2003. I wasn’t really progressing with my own body of work, although I was certainly having a great time. She promised she wouldn’t abandon me as a friend, and after I left the program I grew to develop a friendship with Eve and [her husband] Hal and many of their friends, colleagues, and other students. Eve and Hal liked the Magnetic Fields, and when I would go on tour, Eve would make sure to send former students or colleagues to the show. In this Buddhist way, she actively worked to connect her community, to make us into a web with no center, rather than centering on her. I really believe she did this to lessen the pain of her loss from our lives. And, while I miss her intensely, it is comforting to have the web of Eve’s community around me, whether it be social, or to read and watch academic lectures about her work.
Eve passed away in April 2009, and that December I became pregnant. I decided to name my daughter Eve. It worried me somewhat to do it. But she was always so gracious about sharing everything she had with everyone around her, I had a feeling she wouldn’t mind.
Claudia Gonson
www.advocate.com/current-issue/2015/11/12/why-eve-kosofsky-sedgwick-was-my-heroine
Hillary Clinton: ‘Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation’
Hillary Clinton has tweeted in support of LGBTI parenting following news that a Utah judge removed a child from the care of foster parents because they are gay.
Last night, the Democratic Party presidential hopeful wrote in response to the story, saying: ‘Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation—thousands of families prove that.’
Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation—thousands of families prove that. t.co/xQLh25RAYR
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 12, 2015
April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce of Carbon County, who are married with two children, hoped to adopt the one-year-old girl they had been fostering for three months.
However, in a routine hearing earlier this week a judge ordered the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to remove the child from their care within seven days.
The judge cited research claiming children do better in life when raised by heterosexual parents; Hoagland has speculated that the judge’s ruling was religiously motivated.
However, the ruling is now under review by the DCFS following concerns.
The post Hillary Clinton: ‘Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jamie Tabberer
antwerpenR posted a photo:
The L.A. LGBT Center Asks, 'What R U Into?'
Christopher Harrity
www.advocate.com/media/2015/11/12/la-lgbt-center-asks-what-r-u
Thousands plan mass exodus from Mormon church over anti-gay policy
Thousands plan a mass exodus from the Mormon church this weekend over its decision to no longer baptize the children of gay parents.
More than 1,000 people have indicated on Facebook their intention to attend the LDS Church Mass Resignation event in Salt Lake City on Saturday (14 November).
They will meet at City Creek Park to finalize paperwork, then march together to the Salt Lake Temple and post their resignation letters – which are required to have their names removed from church records – in a mailbox near the church.
One of the event organizers, Lauren Elise McNamara, said the new policy was ‘pitting child against parent.’
‘I just can’t have my name on this organization any longer,’ she said. ‘Not in the tiniest of ways will I support this church.’
Last week, the Church of Latter Day Saints announced it would no longer bless or baptize the natural or adopted children of gay parents – a policy it said would protect children.
These children can only be baptized once they reach the age of 18 and have disavowed gay marriage and stop living with their parents.
Mark Naugle, an attorney who has offered to represent Mormons who want to leave the church, said he had received a flood of emails.
‘There will be fourteen hundred people who won’t be on the record, coming in the next five to 15 days, just from my end,’ he told KIVI-TV.
‘I’m also attending a mass resignation event on Saturday, they’re starting at City Creek Park, and I’ll be going there with blank forms for everyone to fill out, and I think according to Facebook, there are over 1,000 people that plan to attend.’
The post Thousands plan mass exodus from Mormon church over anti-gay policy appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/thousands-plan-mass-exodus-from-mormon-church-over-anti-gay-policy/
Veterans Affairs Opens First Clinic For Transgender Service Members
The Department of Veterans Affairs opened its first health care clinic dedicated to transgender service members on Wednesday.
Housed within the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Ohio, the clinic will offer primary care services alongside hormonal therapy and mental health care. The VA center, which provides care to more than 112,000 people, is currently treating around two dozen transgender patients.
The clinic will be officially opened on Thursday with a ceremony.
The Human Rights Campaign noted there are an estimated 15,500 transgender service members in active duty, and 134,000 trans veterans.
The Pentagon continues to ban transgender troops from serving openly, but that policy is expected to be lifted sometime next year. Vice President Joe Biden announced his support for an end to the ban last month during the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner.
“No longer is there any question transgender people are able to serve in the United States military,” Biden said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also announced her strong support for transgender troops and veterans.
“We need to say with one voice that transgender people are valued,” Clinton told a group at the Human Rights Campaign. “They are loved, and they are us.”
Calls to the Louis Stokes Medical Center and the VA were not immediately returned.
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Thai police are probing an online gay Buddhist monk fetish group
Thai authorities have launched an investigation into a Facebook group for gay men who have fantasies about having sex with Buddhist monks and novices and for men who have a fetish for dressing up as monks.
Thailand has laws criminalizing insults against religion and the group was reported to the authorities by nationalist group Network Against Acts that Destroy the Nation, Religion and the Royal Institution.
According to the group’s leader Songkran Atchariyasap the page is a forum and meeting place for gay men with monk fetishes and contains a pornographic video which appears to show a monk having sex with a novice.
The Thai Police Crime Suppression Division opened an investigation based on Atchariyasap’s complaint after he showed them the pornographic video.
Atchariyasap claims to have tracked down the identity of the men in the video and believes the man dressed as a monk lives in Northern Thailand and that the man who dressed as a novice lives in Bangkok.
Around 800 people have joined the group according to Atchariyasap’s investigations and he fears that if nothing is done it could cause serious damage to the reputation of Buddhist monks in Thailand.
Although Thailand has a reputation for being an LGBTI friendly travel destination, gay and transgender people are still seen as a disappointment by many Thai parents who will sometimes pressure them to become monks against their will rather than live openly as who they are.
In May of 2013 it was considered a scandal when a series of photos of young monks who had arranged their robes like women’s dresses went viral on social media.
The post Thai police are probing an online gay Buddhist monk fetish group appeared first on Gay Star News.
Andrew Potts
www.gaystarnews.com/article/thai-police-are-probing-an-online-gay-buddhist-monk-fetish-group/
Why We're Adding the Q to LGBT
I am proud to announce that Equality Federation’s staff and board, several of whom identify as queer, have decided to add the letter Q to our mission and begin using the full acronym LGBTQ. To some this decision may seem like we are late to the party and to others it may be a challenge. I remember when the word queer was near ubiquitously used as an anti-gay epithet outside of “queer theory” courses in liberal arts schools. Through a process of reclaiming, the word queer, like many other words, has evolved to represent something more meaningful.
For Equality Federation, adding the Q is about more than a letter. It’s about our values. We recognize that a growing number of people in our community identify as queer to best reflect their gender, sexuality, and/or politics. At this turning point, when we are examining and improving upon our commitments to racial, economic, and social justice, we are also doubling down on our commitment to people who identify as queer so that they will be fully embraced and empowered in our organization. Adding the Q goes hand-in-hand with our deeper understanding of intersectionality.
At least eleven of our state-based partners have already added the Q, including Equality New Mexico and Equality Alabama. This is the right decision at the right time.
Not long ago the primary definition of the word queer was “deviant from the norm.” Sadly, discrimination is still the norm in America. LGBTQ people are not fully protected from discrimination by statewide laws in 31 states. In 2015, we understand there is no such thing as a “normal” person: we are all unique and we should all be celebrated. Our society’s rigid gender rules create a dangerous situation for people who do not conform, many of whom identify as genderqueer.
According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey gender nonconforming/genderqueer people face shockingly high rates of violence and discrimination. This is especially concerning for our youth. Those who expressed a transgender identity or gender non-conformity while in grades K-12 reported high rates of harassment (78 percent), physical assault (35 percent) and sexual violence (12%). We know that for youth of color, anti-LGBTQ discrimination is often compounded with institutional racism. This propels school pushout and the school-to-prison pipeline. Equality Federation recently released a report with GSA Network and Advancement Project encouraging LGBTQ organizations to collaborate to address this crisis.
While discrimination and violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people is alarmingly high, hope looms on the horizon. In the coming months, Equality Federation will be lifting up the Q in LGBTQ in our words, our work, and our annual planning. We encourage individuals and organizations alike to help us create the most inclusive movement possible.
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