Daily Archives: June 2, 2015
Lambda Literary Announces 2015 Winners
Lambda Literary Announces 2015 Winners
Monday’s awards ceremony boasted especially memorable acceptance speeches, from John Waters’s comedy to Casey Plett’s rallying cry for trans writers.
Mitch Kellaway
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2015/06/02/lambda-literary-announces-2015-winners
Why We Should Award Courage
Why We Should Award Courage
It could not be more fitting that Caitlyn Jenner will be receiving the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at this year’s ESPYs, as the internet continues to both praise and debate what it means to have a beloved Olympian come out as a trans woman. I can’t help but smile thinking about how apropos and fitting it is that Caitlyn receives this award.
Growing up as a black person in this country, Arthur Ashe was always a role model for me. An outspoken, talented and smart black man who confronted the inequality in our world. Silence is violence, and those who speak up not only spark change, but go down in history as leaders for future generations to look up to and aspire to be. Black kids, much like trans kids need adult leaders telling them that there is a life meant to be lived.
Camera, Arthur Ashe’s daughter, is my oldest and closest friend. When I came out years ago as gay, she didn’t bat an eye. Years later when I came out as trans, the exact same occurred. Our friendship has not only withstood the test of time, but also been tightly bound by unequivocal acceptance. Knowing now, as a happily out trans person, that Caitlyn is being given an award in her father’s name is truly love and advocacy coming beautifully full circle. As the young black kid who admired her father, words can’t express what it feels, as a young black trans man to see an out and proud trans woman receive an award in his name. We are all truly so much more alike than we will ever know and when we take the time to connect the dots, we are so much closer to those who seemed the farthest.
Arthur Ashe became a tennis megastar, in a time when Apartheid still existed, a time where no black man before him (or after him) had won a Grand Slam, and a time when our country was still reeling from decades of segregation.
The fight for LGBTQ equality has always mirrored in many ways, the movements prompted by racial disparity. As we approach an age where gay rights are no longer being seen as a radical fight but instead a humane and righteous step for our country, transgender folks often find themselves left out of the rally cry.
Slowly the media has begun to embrace those who are transgender as equals. Granted, those we do see are often flawless and gorgeous examples of femininity, the presence of Janet Mock and Laverne Cox in the mainstream is incredibly important for trans visibility.
Caitlyn Jenner was setting world records in the world of track and field whilst Ashe was crushing his competition in the tennis world. We didn’t know then that the former was a trans woman, or that the latter would lose his life to AIDS, another crushing common bond shared with many in the trans community, as black transgender women have the highest percentage of new HIV-positive test results.
Our country has seen the bloodshed of far too many blacks just as our country has seen the bloodshed of far too many trans people. When we put into place systems of hate and continually perpetuate them with wrongful facts in the media what often results is the loss of lives and the erasure of groups of people. This is why we need the Arthur Ashe’s of the world, this is why we need the Caitlyn Jenners.
— 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.
NEWS: Laverne Cox, Chelsea's Heyday, FIFA, Denmark
NEWS: Laverne Cox, Chelsea's Heyday, FIFA, Denmark
Laverne Cox on Caitlyn Jenner’s ‘coming out’ and what she hopes it will mean for the trans community: “Most trans folks don’t have the privileges Caitlyn and I have now have. It is those trans folks we must continue to lift up, get them access to healthcare, jobs, housing, safe streets, safe schools and homes for our young people. We must lift up the stories of those most at risk, statistically trans people of color who are poor and working class. I have hoped over the past few years that the incredible love I have received from the public can translate to the lives of all trans folks. Trans folks of all races, gender expressions, ability, sexual orientations, classes, immigration status, employment status, transition status, genital status etc.. I hope, as I know Caitlyn does, that the love she is receiving can translate into changing hearts and minds about who all trans people are as well as shifting public policies to fully support the lives and well being of all of us. The struggle continues…”
Netflix reassures customers that it will not be adding ads to its streaming content.
‘Run Warren Run” campaign comes to a close.
Kenneth in the 212 provides a photo-essay on the death of Chelsea’s 8th Avenue at the hands of gentrification.
Senate passes the “USA Freedom Act”, a surveillance reform bill lauded by the ACLU and fought by Sen. Rand Paul.
Hunter Parrish contemplates circumcision to survive the apocalypse.
James Franco performance art mashed up with Shia LaBeouf performance art–over a toilet.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter resigns only days after re-election amidst growing investigation into the organization’s corruption and wrong-doing.
Meanwhile, it is unclear whether anti-gay Qatar will be able to hold on to the 2022 World Cup: “Insiders say the leaders of Qatar’s 2022 Supreme Committee (or local organizing committee) have now been told not to set foot on U.S. soil for fear of being arrested by the FBI in its investigation into allegations that FIFA officials turned football into a “criminal enterprise” and presided over a “World Cup of fraud.”
President Obama to deliver eulogy at Beau Biden’s funeral.
Jussie Smollett makes a cameo in Mariah Carey’s new video, “Infinity.”
Scott Eastwood gets shirtless and wet.
Candidate for Danish Prime Minister wants the world to know he is proud of his penis.
Cambodia’s LGBT community finds its voice with Q Magazine: “I’m trying to reach as many people in the community as I can but getting people to talk openly turned out to be a lot more difficult that I’d imagine,” said [Sorel] Thongvan [editor-in-chief of the magazine] 55. “Even those who seemed to live their sexuality openly backed out of interviews as soon as I told them that their name and picture will be printed along with the interviews.”
Sofia Coppola will not direct live-action version of The Little Mermaid as previously announced.
A new report from the AP says the FBI is responsible for a “mysterious fleet of aircraft conducting surveillance over US cities.” Uh, what?
Fox News’ Megyn Kelly is set to interview the Duggars but won’t cross-examine them.
Sean Mandell
Roy Moore: Marriage Equality Will ‘Literally Cause the Destruction of Our Nation’
Roy Moore: Marriage Equality Will ‘Literally Cause the Destruction of Our Nation’
The controversial Alabama judge says a pro-marriage equality ruling by the Supreme Court would amount to ‘toying with something that’s like dynamite and will destroy our country.’
Dawn Ennis
An Open Letter to Caitlyn Jenner
An Open Letter to Caitlyn Jenner
Where do I begin? As the mother of gender non-conforming children, I just do not know where to begin.
Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough. But it’s a start.
Thank you for having the courage to be who you have always felt you were meant to be. Thank you for breaking the gender norms that so many were too afraid to break.
Thank you for paving the way for my children to be who they truly feel they were meant to be. Because of you, my children will not have to live a lie. Because of you, my children will struggle less. Because of you, my children will be happier.
Thank you for showing the world that this is real. It really is possible to be born into the wrong body. It is possible to live an entire life too afraid to be who you feel you were really meant to be.
Thank you for being the world’s most awesome athlete. Thank you for being a sex symbol. Thank you for being such a man’s man. It just makes your transition all the more amazing.
Thank you for giving my children a voice. Thank you for putting my mind at ease. Before you, I was terrified at what the future held for my children. Now I know they will be okay.
Thank you for doing all of this so publicly. It had to be a difficult decision to make. But as I mother I can’t thank you enough for making it.
Thank you to your family for being supportive. Thank you for showing the realness of it all. It’s a very hard thing to come to terms with a family member struggling with gender issues. No matter who you are.
Thank you for starting this conversation.
I now have a person my children can look up to. I have a person my children can look at and think, I can be whoever it is I feel I was meant to be.
Thank you for single-handedly paving the way for my children and children everywhere. Thank you for being a new type of role model. Thank you for having the courage to do all of this.
A man transitioning into a woman is not the end of the world. It’s just the beginning.
Thank you for being Caitlyn.
Eileen O’Connor is an amazingly talented woman, wife, and mother living on the mean streets of Chicago’s south side with her equally adorable family.
Follow her blog No Wire Hangers, Ever
Check her out on Facebook
— 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.
Frankie Valenti (AKA Johnny Hazzard) Makes Indie Debut In Tiger Orange
Frankie Valenti (AKA Johnny Hazzard) Makes Indie Debut In Tiger Orange
As we reported last summer when Tiger Orange world premiered at Outfest, Frankie Valenti (aka Johnny Hazzard) is not the first gay adult star to transition into the gay indie film world (most recently Sean Paul Lockhart/Brent Corrigan comes to mind). Valenti does have the distinction, though, of receiving nearly 100 percent rave reviews for his acting chops (as does his Tiger Orange co-star Mark Strano). The duo have each nabbed Best Actor honors on the gay film fest circuit for their portrayals of Chet and Todd, a pair of small-town brothers who each grapple in different ways with their gay identities in the aftermath of their father’s death. With Valenti playing the out and proud bad-boy to Strano’s uptight closet-case, the tension between them (no, not that kind of tension) builds steadily over the course of the film.
A characteristic dialogue exchange sums up their polar-opposite personalities:
Chet/Strano: “Everything is sex with you, isn’t it?”
Todd/Valenti: “Everything is sex, period, with everybody.”
Co-written by Strano and the film’s director Wade Gasque, Tiger Orange debuts today on VOD across most digital platforms including iTunes and WolfeOnDemand.com.
About WolfeOnDemand.com
WolfeOnDemand.com is the global LGBT digital movie platform from LGBT specialty distributor Wolfe Video. The service showcases more than one hundred titles — features and documentaries — including popular favorites and hits like I Am Divine, The Circle, Getting Go, Undertow and many more. Most titles are available in HD and are priced at US $3.99 for streaming rentals and US $14.99 for digital download to own. Most of the films are available worldwide and are all also available on DVD directly from WolfeVideo.com for viewers in the US and Canada.
Jenni
ABC's 'Brokeback Bachelors' Are Just a Joke: VIDEO
ABC's 'Brokeback Bachelors' Are Just a Joke: VIDEO
Last week, we told you about a promo that baited viewers of the ABC show The Bachelorette with what appeared to be a budding romance between two of the male contestants vying for the love of bachelorette Kaitlyn (with a ‘K’). Now it appears that it was all a rouse orchestrated by the bachelors themselves, JJ and Clint, who apparently “”just think it’s funny” and are straight, according to TMZ.
Bachelor Clint also unleashed a series of offensive tweets including, “If you have to be a #BROKEBACKBACHELOR, Be Heath Ledger. Always be #HeathLedger” — presumably because Heath Ledger’s Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain was more conventionally masculine than Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist — and a link to a story about the upcoming show with the caption, “Whoops. Sorry, dad?” — because apparently, male homosexuality is something we need to apologize to our fathers for.
Whoops. Sorry, dad? #brokebackbachelor t.co/nN3SmPQDwF
— Clint Arlis (@ClintonArlis) May 27, 2015
And then there’s ABC’s use of the term ‘Brokeback Bachelor’, which TIME deftly eviscerates:
The term “Brokeback” isn’t just a word interchangeable with “gay.” It’s a reference to Brokeback Mountain, a 2005 film (and before that, a short story) that outlines the social conditions that keep gay men from ever acknowledging, even to one another, their true feelings. The movie ends with one man dead; the other is a shell of a human being. To use the “Brokeback Bachelor” term knowing its repercussions is grotesque.
Watch a TMZ report on how this romance was all one big joke, AFTER THE JUMP…
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2015/06/abcs-brokeback-bachelors-are-just-a-joke-video.html
No hate speech campain
WATCH: Mike Huckabee Wished He Was a Trans Teenager
WATCH: Mike Huckabee Wished He Was a Trans Teenager
Here’s why everything Mike Huckabee is saying about transgender people is wrong.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/06/02/watch-mike-huckabee-wished-he-was-trans-teenager