04 Mar 2011
Adam Chanler-Berat
Brielle Silvestri and Ray DeJohn will present Love Me Like This: The Parachute Plays, an evening of theatre in support of of LGBTQ youth, March 14 at 7:30 PM at St. Luke’s Theatre.
The evening, which will consist of original LGBTQ-themed works,…
(via madmanwitha-box)
Kristin Says:
Usually, Dannielle and I give advice. Usually, Dannielle responds first.
Today, however, I have decided that we are not giving advice, and that I want to speak first. Let me tell you why.
Yesterday I saw a response to Lady Gaga’s new song, ‘Born This Way,’ that made me, quite…
(Source: everyoneisgay)
Paul Cadmus, Bicyclists, 1933
I’ll admit that I am no Cadmus fan by any means, but these two paintings of cyclists are really great. I wish there was a queer cyclist community.
Queer bike gang anyone?
(Source: dirtylibrarianthoughts)
Stonewall Uprising
Check out the Feminist Coming Out Day street team at the February 26th Planned Parenthood rally in New York City. We raised $1,500 and met feminists of all ages and backgrounds! Looking forward to seeing you guys submit photos in your tees. Wear it with pride :)
Photo Credit: Stephen Yang
Following last year’s scandal involving a gay artist’s video being pulled from the “Hide/Seek” exhibition (pictured) at the Smithsonian, a group is calling for reforms at the government-funded institution.
Responding to complaints from Catholic groups and House speaker John Boehner, the Smithsonian pulled A Fire in My Belly, a video from late gay artist David Wojnarowicz, from “Hide/Seek.” Wojnarowicz’s video depicted ants crawling on a crucifix and was a tribute to a former lover who died from AIDS complications.
Led by the National Coalition Against Censorship, numerous arts and civil rights groups, including the ACLU, sent a letter to the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents “asking them to adopt explicit policies that uphold First Amendment principles, as well as an open procedure for responding to complaints, whether coming from the general public or from elected politicians,” according to a press release.
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents meets on Monday to discuss the “Hide/Seek” controversy.
I recently read “The Hairdresser of Harare” by Tendai Huchu for an HBGC book club (Boston, get on that). Set in current day Harare, this contemporary novel tells the story of Vimbai, a hairdresser whose dominance as Khumalo Hair and Beauty Treatment Salon’s finest is challenged by the arrival of the enigmatic character, Dumi - the male hairdresser who seems to be able to outshine everyone he comes into contact with.
What I found most interesting about the novel is its perspective. Huchu takes on the voice of Vimbai as the main character who doesn’t shy away from telling it as she sees it. Sometimes this perspective is convincing - sometimes not - but the novel never shies away from the realities of homophobia, tragedy, class issues and family struggles in Zimbabwe. He doesn’t shy away from describing the good either - Huchu’s descriptions of the surroundings, the food and people make the characters come vividly to life.
Described by one of my homies as “E. Lynn Harris meets Africa”, the quick read draws you in with its humor and intrigue, and won’t leave you disappointed. Shout out to the cover artist Joey Hi-Fi too. The illustration & color is SO dope.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) recentlyhonored author Lauren Myracle and school librarian Dee Ann Venuto for their work in fighting censorship of LGBT-inclusive materials. We’ve covered their stories here at Change.org, and it’s good to see them getting wider recognition.
NCAC, an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups, honored them at the organization’s annual “Free Speech Matters” Benefit.
Myracle is the author of Luv Ya Bunches, a book that the Scholastic Book Fair division felt needed alteration because one of the characters has (gasp!) two dads — even though they are a minor part of the tale. They asked Myracle to change the parents to a mom and a dad for the Scholastic version. She refused, and Scholastic said it would not carry the book at its book fairs. Under pressure from over 4000 Change.org readers and others, Scholastic changed its mind.
The lingering disappointment is that Scholastic only agrees to carry the book in its middle school fairs, not the elementary school ones — despite the fact that the protagonists are in fifth grade, i.e., elementary school, and Scholastic carries some books with middle school protagonists in its elementary fairs in any case. Still, the uproar caused Scholastic to issue a statement saying, “We are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.”
NCAC also honored school librarian Dee Ann Venuto of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly, New Jersey, for her work in trying to keep LGBT-themed books on the shelves against pressure from a member of conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck’s 9.12 group. She managed to keep two of three challenged books on the shelves: Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth, ed. Michael Cart, and The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writings about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, ed. David Levithan and Billy Merrell. One book, Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology, ed. Amy Sonnie, was unfortunately removed, an incident I covered back in July.
Another NCAC honoree was student filmmaker Jordan Allen, who won the 2009 NCAC Youth Freedom Expression Project Film Contest for his film Freedom Thieves, in which he “[raps] his way through free-speech history.” It’s not LGBT-specific, but I’m happy to give him a mention, since free speech helps us all.
Congratulations to Myracle, Venuto, and Allen. Keep your words flowing!
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David Gremard Romero, 2005
Portrait of Heather as a Superhero Unmasked,
part of My Friends As Superheroes
