Bruna Spencer – Pos parada LGBT Sao Gonçalo
Daily Archives: September 4, 2014
Ben Rimalower on Being Gay and 'Bad With Money'
Ben Rimalower on Being Gay and 'Bad With Money'
The Patti Issues star discusses his new NYC solo show about his addiction to overspending.
Brandon Voss
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/theater/2014/09/04/ben-rimalower-being-gay-and-bad-money
A Letter To My Gay Dad From A Caring Teen
A Letter To My Gay Dad From A Caring Teen
By Bianca Y. Dalangin | The Next Family
“I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.” – Confucius
So here I was, sitting on my navy blue leather sofa, thinking aimlessly about what topic to write for my next article, which had been due a month ago. I had nothing to rant about, nothing to laud or obsess over. I am staring at my journal and it is blank, which means I am doomed to eternal writer’s block.
Just as I was about to gently close my journal shut and accept my unfortunate fate, my father came and sat next to me, and for the first few moments we heard silence. Wondering what could pop up at any given moment (school grades, boyfriend talk, my very late The Next Family article), I finally heard him speak.
“So, we have our family reunion on Saturday. Will it be okay with you if I come out and introduce my partner to our extended relatives?”. For everyone’s background, my dad is gay. He came out of a straight relationship with my mom, and now he is happily together with his gay partner. My dad has already come out to my immediate family, but the family fairy-tale ends here. He remains discreet about his sexuality when in front of our mostly conservative extended family.
“Hmmm…”, I heaved a sigh of relief knowing that this is not an awkward conversation after all (guess he didn’t see my grades yet), “Why ask?”
There goes my father’s anxious face again. “Not everyone is accepting of gay families. Their reactions can be judgemental and very hurting to you. I love you and I wanted to make sure you are ready for the consequences.”
Momentarily speechless, not just by the thought of my father’s caring notions but also by the thought of writing my new article, which is a response to the question.
Dear Overly-Anxious Parent,
I am super excited about our family reunion. Grandpa makes the best potato salad and your sister’s dip deserves the blue ribbon. You have already passed the first obstacle in coming out to our immediate family. Although I would have preferred that you make a grand entrance on you being gay (idea: show them your room, go in your closet, then come out of it with Diana’s “I’m Coming Out” song in the background), I guess telling them casually at the dinner table is okay too. Now you are at a standstill over coming out to our extended family. It’s hard, I know. But then again, it’s not that hard.
Dad, I like when you’re you. You always bawl while watching Anne Hathaway dish out “I Dreamed a Dream” in “Les Miserables” (not to mention you have purchased the special Blu-Ray edition and watched it 17 times). You belt hymns out in falsetto second voice at church louder than the priest. You are always the imaginary second guest judge on “Project Runway,” always critiquing people’s sense of style (including mine). You have two walk-in closets (and I only have one, so we should really talk about splitting one later) and dress better than Michael Kors. Maybe there are things that you can work on (and by that, maybe the singing?), but you do those things loudly and proudly. You are different and that is what makes you special to me.
But when you hide yourself for the fear of people judging our family for being gay, that is not okay because that person who they see is not the person who I see. The person they see is not you. After a few family get-togethers, it took me a while to realize that you were doing all this to protect me. You think that those cruel homophobes out there will lash out against our poor family by breaking my bones and shattering my oh-so-fragile heart and send me running away to the dark world with no cookies.
Though very honored with your paternal instincts and wisdom, I would like to share a few words of my seventeen years of wisdom. Yes, there will be people who are not okay with the gay community. Yes, there will be people who will look at our family as something other than a family. But there are also people who are and will be okay with the gay community, and who will look at us as family. Throughout the years, tolerance for LGBTQ people have grown. Though it may not be enough, it is enough for you to be you.
Secondly, I am ready to defend myself against any nasty remarks hurled against our family. Like the wise rapper Drake said, I don’t really mind the people who are not okay with us, because I am too busy loving the people who care for us. I’ve got an army of COLAGErs and other LGBTQ organizations behind me, who are ready to support us with their love.
I am proud of my family. I will not let anyone tell me otherwise what they think of our family because I know my family better than anyone else’s.
So go ahead. During our next family reunion, proudly hold hands with your partner and tell our family members who you were watching the sunset with at Santorini last summer. Throw away that plain floral white tee and hideous brown khaki pants (your walk-in closet does not deserve that!), and wear your shirt and blue leather jacket instead.
Be you, and be only you. In our great big world, there is no hiding. There is only you, your family, good company, and the world that we strive to make a better place to live in.
Bianca is a writer for The Next Family in the Teens with LGBT parents section and work with COLAGE LA. COLAGE unites people with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer parents in a network of peers.
More on The Next Family:
Brands Embracing Gay Families in the Media
Congratulations, You’re Having a Lesbian
Former Senior GOP Spokesman: “I Feel Forced Out”
Former Senior GOP Spokesman: “I Feel Forced Out”
Today James Richardson, a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee and prominent political advisor, came out as gay.
HRC.org
Gay Grandmother, Harassed By Homophobic Landlord, Finds Gay Slurs Painted On Home
Gay Grandmother, Harassed By Homophobic Landlord, Finds Gay Slurs Painted On Home
A grandmother in Oregon believes she is being unfairly targeted and harassed by her mobile home community’s new landlord because she is gay, an allegation that recently received some attention from the local news after vandals spray-painted the words “die dike” on the side of her home.
Melanie Powell tells KOIN6 that she’s been living as an openly gay woman in her Rainier mobile home park for 25 years without incident, and only recently felt discriminated against when a change in management gave her a new, aggressively homophobic landlord.
“I got my gay pride flag hanging out front,” she says. “I’ve kept my business inside my house. I don’t put it in people’s faces.”
But despite being a rather low-key and rule-abiding resident, Powell says new property manager Maureena Schmaing has issued her several absurd violation notices, which she lays out for reporter Chris Holmstrom in the report below. One of the violations is for “using a flashlight,” while another threatens her for “being outside after 10pm.”
Among Powell’s several other notices are an order to repair her porch, her one-year-old roof, and to repaint her entire home. Concerned neighbors tell KOIN6 that they’ve received no such notices since Schmaing took over, and believe Powell is definitely being unfairly harassed due to her sexual orientation.
“I’m tired of being yelled at, screamed at, vulgar language, being accused of doing stuff we are not doing,” Powell added.
William Pierce, Powell’s neighbor, claims he’s intervened several times when Schmaing comes to Powell’s home to verbally assault her.
When confronted, Schmaing delivers a smugly assholish response to the allegations: “I’m a landlord. I follow the Manufacturing Housing Oregon Law, and I follow all the Title 10 Law with any park site I manage.”
But this story will most likely have a happy ending, as the report indicates overwhelming support coming from Powell’s neighbors. “It’s a great deal of support,” she said. “I don’t know what I would do without having all these people on my side.”
Matthew Tharrett
Catholic League's Bill Donohue Is Worried Gays Won't 'Keep Their Pants On' At St. Patrick's Day Parade: AUDIO
Catholic League's Bill Donohue Is Worried Gays Won't 'Keep Their Pants On' At St. Patrick's Day Parade: AUDIO
And on the bigot side of the reactions to St. Patrick’s Day parade organizers allowing a LGBT organization to march under its own banner is Catholic League president Bill Donohue – a longtime supporter of the ban on gay groups in the parade – who is chiefly concerned with whether or not the gays will “behave” come March.
Listen to Donohue’s comments on Michelangelo Signorile’s radio show yesterday, AFTER THE JUMP…
Donohue also said that his support for the rule change is “conditioned on allowing pro-life Catholics to march under their banner just as the gay group can”
Earlier this year, you’ll recall Donohue applying to march in NYC’s LGBT Pride parade carrying a “Straight is Great” banner in a challenge to its inclusiveness following controversy over the St. Patrick’s Day parade’s gay exclusion. Parade organizers said they would welcome Donohue, but the Catholic blowhard later got cold feet about the whole thing and canceled.
And in another anti-gay response to the St. Patrick’s Day parade’s recent decision, Msgr. Charles Pope with the Archdiocese of Washington is calling for an end to the parade because it has now been hijacked by “those who think anal sex is to be celebrated as an expression of love.”
Kyler Geoffroy
LGBT Group Will March in St. Patrick's Day Parade NYC 2015 LIVE BROADCAST
LGBT Group Will March in St. Patrick's Day Parade NYC 2015 LIVE BROADCAST
A gay group will be permitted to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade NYC 2015. This has been in discussion for awhile and the exclusion last year caused withdraw of sponsorship from Guinness…
Pearls Before Swine
PHOTOS: Mt. Holyoke Students Come Out for Trans-Inclusion
PHOTOS: Mt. Holyoke Students Come Out for Trans-Inclusion
These Mt. Holyoke students demanded that their college support all women.
Mitch Kellaway
Benedict Cumberbatch Accepted His GQ Men Of The Year Award While Tipsy
Benedict Cumberbatch Accepted His GQ Men Of The Year Award While Tipsy
Attention, Internet: There’s a charming new Benedict Cumberbatch video out there. That’s probably the only thing you need to know, but if you want more details, it’s a clip of the “Sherlock” actor accepting one of British GQ’s Men of the Year Awards. After rambling on about the industry’s “embarrassment of riches” and thanking James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy for not being available instead, Cumberbatch announces that he imbibed a little more than he expected.
Dan Stevens presented the honor, so look for coy eye contact made in Stevens’ direction outside the frame. “What century am I from? I’m auditioning for ‘Downton Abbey’ or some such shit,” Cumberbatch says when he uses the phrase “motor driver.” “Not that ‘Downton Abbey’ is shit.” Yep, this is charming.
Here’s Cumberbatch and Stevens looking dapper backstage: