Op-ed: Michfest's Founder Chose to Shut Down Rather Than Change With the Times
When mourning what was good about Michfest, blame its poor leadership for the loss.
Diane Anderson-Minshall
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/04/24/op-ed-michfests-founder-chose-shut-down-rather-change-times
Win An Incredible Vacation To San Francisco For Pride & Much More
To celebrate Pride season, just around the corner, we’re giving away a trip to San Francisco Pride.
GayCities and our friends at San Francisco Travel will fly one lucky winner and a friend to San Francisco and a trifecta of twos: two night stay at Hotel Vertigo, two tickets to “Simply Barbra” and dinner for two. Oh, and did we mention a cruise of the Bay for two?
Enter now and we hope to see you at SF Pride.
Chris Bull
7 Lessons in How (And How Not) to Interview Trans People
We don’t know what Diane Sawyer will discuss with Bruce Jenner, but if it’s about Jenner’s gender identity, she has lots of examples to follow — and avoid.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/politics/media/2015/04/24/7-lessons-how-and-how-not-interview-trans-people
Check out Barefoot Wine's giant sand SOS to 'keep Britain's beaches barefoot-friendly'
150 x 150m sand art in Morecambe Bay took five people ten hours to complete
jamiet
Eric Holder: The Exit interview
Loretta Lynch is finally confirmed by the Senate as Eric Holder’s replacement. The Advocate spoke with the outgoing attorney general on marriage equality, the progressive agenda, and the future of civil rights.
Edward Wyckoff Williams
www.advocate.com/politics/2015/04/24/eric-holder-exit-interview
This Straight Guy Just Asked His Gay BFF To Prom With The Most Adorable Promposal
As a student council member at his high school, Anthony Martinez is often tasked with planning school dances. But the 17-year-old, who is gay, says that he “never [gets] asked.”
Until now, that is.
Martinez, who attends Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, shared on Twitter this week that he was asked to prom by someone entirely unexpected. It was his best friend, Jacob Lescenski — who is straight.
Guess who just got asked to prom by @JacobLescenskii pic.twitter.com/eDrTRkX7fp
— AnthonyseXC (@anthonyseXC) April 21, 2015
For the promposal, Lescenski (wearing camouflage pants in the photo above) created a banner with the words: “You’re hella gay, I’m hella str8. But you’re like my brother. So be my d8?”
Lescenski told New Now Next that he had decided to surprise Martinez with the promposal after seeing his friend tweet about wanting a date for the event.
“I decided on going to prom alone because my original date idea didn’t work out so well,” he said. “Then one night I saw Anthony, who is my best friend, tweeting about wanting a date. So, I came up with the poster idea, asked my friend Mia to make it and asked him that next day … It was a giant surprise to everyone, especially Anthony!”
A thrilled Martinez expressed his gratitude to his BFF on social media.
“He’s my best friend, and a real man given the fact he has the guts to fulfill my gay student council dream of always helping out planning dances, and never getting asked. I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life,” the teen wrote on Tumblr. “Thank you Jacob, can’t wait for May 2nd!”
Lescenski’s promposal has gone viral this week, and netizens everywhere have praised the teen for his awesome gesture of friendship.
“It’s an adorable story — boy meets boy — with a 2015 twist,” wrote Mic.com of the promposal. “As being an ally becomes more and more a part of the high school experience, it’s inspiring to see a pair of bros taking the hetero-homo friendship to new heights.”
These two are my heroes 😉 @JacobLescenskii your true friend everyone whish to have @anthonyseXC have a great prom!! pic.twitter.com/UHt2GV4tSy
— Aurelija (@JulyGirl3) April 23, 2015
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Activist Remembers Those He Met on 6,000-Mile Walk for Equality (VIDEO)
I’m From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit archive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer stories. New stories are posted on the site every Wednesday.
Alan Bounville walked 6,000 miles for gender-identity and sexual-orientation equality. But what happened early on in his walk, at a small grocery store in a rural town, is what led him to one of his most memorable experiences. Alan recalls how it began:
It was actually the customer who asked first. … [A]s I’m pulling up to the register, he’s like, “‘Full Equality Now’? What’s that mean?”
I said, “I’m walking for gender-identity and gender-expression and sexual-orientation equality.”
One of them said, “Well, you came to the right place.”
The customer was referring to Joey Harris, a young queer teen who had recently died by suicide after being bullied in school and in the community. Alan was told where the father works, and after they met, a special relationship began between Alan and Joey’s family, including a vigil at the teen’s grave:
Right towards the end of the vigil, after I said a few words, all of a sudden this flurry of fireworks goes off, and you just hear, “Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!” in the background. And we all just kind of looked at each other, and we were all kind of crying a little bit, and Joey’s mom Sabina says something like, “That couldn’t have been more perfect timing, because Fourth of July was Joey’s favorite holiday.”
Joey’s parents ended up giving Alan a necklace that belonged to Joey. After saying goodbye, Alan continued on his walk, set up his tent a few miles down the road, and reflected:
[I]t got really dark. I set up my tent in this big grass patch and just kind of tamped the grass down, put the tent up and then got inside it, put all my stuff inside. But I was so tired, so I just laid among the curves of the grass, and I held onto the necklace and just kind of cried myself to sleep.
WATCH:
Need help? In the U.S., visit The Trevor Project or call them at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
For more stories, visit I’m From Driftwood, the LGBTQ Story Archive.
— 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.