'Manning Up' Examines The Lives Of 27 Transgender Men In Their Own Words
A new book takes an inquisitive and inspired look at the journey of 27 “complex, diverse, loving and lovable” transgender men, as told in their own words.

Released by Transgress Press, Manning Up: Transsexual Men on Finding Brotherhood, Family & Themselves will recall stories of falling in love, fatherhood and finding spirituality through the decision to transition. Also included are stories of transgender men of color who have had to face, and ultimately push back against, intense racism.

Mitch Kellaway, who co-edited the independently-published book with Zander Keig, told The Huffington Post that the timing for Manning Up couldn’t have been better.

Take a look at the book cover below:

“2014 was an incredible year in which American pop culture, through icons like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock, as well as televised stories of trans people on shows like ‘Orange is the New Black‘ and ‘The Fosters,’ began waking up to the fact that trans people have complex life narratives beyond tragedy and beyond medical transition,” Kellaway said, adding that the team hopes the book will prompt “more and more positive reflections for trans men in our culture.”

For mire information on Manning Up and other releases from Transgress Press, head here.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/manning-up-transgender-men-book-_n_6654244.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Microsoft Makes the Case for LGBT Equality in the Workplace and Worldwide

On Friday, Microsoft’s blog made the case for marriage equality globally and equality in the workplace.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/microsoft-makes-the-case-for-lgbt-equality-in-the-workplace-and-worldwide?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

From “Penis Fencing” To “Sperm Transference”: A Look At Homosexuality In The Animal Kingdom

There are plenty of documented examples of same-sex relations in the animal kingdom, but is it fair to call them gay? And if this behavior does reflect a genetic abnormality, what does that mean for Darwin’s Theory of Evolution? If the goal for a species is to mate, why would a gay gene get passed on, lowering the rate of reproduction?

Those are the questions posed by the BBC Earth in a fascinating exploration of homosexual tendencies in species other than humans.

Here’s a look at what they observed:

Japanese macaques

It is common among the females to bump and grind on each other, which scientists understand as a form of pleasure-seeking. The females enjoy more positions than the males — from the “double foot clasp mount” to the “jockey position” — so are they simply seeking out what makes them feel good? They’ll stare into each others eyes, which from our perspective looks rather intimate. Still, they’ll also mate with the males, so it isn’t quite proper to think of them as “lesbian macaques.”

Fruit flies

For the first 30 minutes of a male fruit fly’s life, he will try to mate with any other fruit fly he can find — male or female. Eventually he’ll learn the smell of the female and focus his attention on them. So as far as evolution goes, the trial and error approach favors homosexuality until the males can distinguish the two sexes better.

Flour beetles

Male flour beetles use an even stranger technique that can still be explained with evolution. They’ll go so far as to deposit sperm in other males, but when those receiving males then mate with a female, there is the possibility for sperm transference. So more homosexual mating, more offspring.

Laysan albatross

These birds typically mate for life, and on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, the population includes 31% of pairings of two unrelated females. They’ll still produce offspring — a male albatross will sneak off from his mate and fertilize the egg of one of the other females (which never happens in humans), and the female pair will raise the chick. Even here, researches note a subtle evolutionary advantage for the practice. The male albatrosses that mate outside their pairing are typically the strongest of the males, so their genes get passed down through the female/female pairings. Still, the albatrosses can’t be called “gay.” In populations where the male/female ratio is more even, females don’t choose to pair with other females.

Bonobos

Did you know that our distant cousins, the bonobos, really like sex? Sexual activity between bonobos is referred to as the “bonobo handshake” (we’re pretty sure we’ve heard a similar term — “gay handshake” — thrown around after a few vodka sodas), and they take it any way they can get it: male/female, male/male, female/female. In addition to procreation, sex in bonobo communities is used as a way of fortifying social bonds. After two males fight, it’s common for them to engage in genital-to-genital touching called “penis fencing” (which we think would be a hit in the straight human world). But still, at most they can be described as bisexual.

Domestic sheep

But then there are domestic sheep. Even when there are ample and futile females around, about 8% of domestic sheep prefer the sexual company of other males. Neuroscientists in 1994 concluded that the hypothalamus (the part of the brain the controls the release of sex hormones) was smaller in the homosexual sheep. A 1991 study suggests a similar phenomenon in gay male humans. So how to explain this one in terms of Darwin’s Theory? Well, while it doesn’t benefit the homosexual sheep themselves, the relatives of those sheep may be reaping certain advantages. The same gene that results in a smaller hypothalamus in some males might make their female siblings more fertile. Still, this has only been observed in domestic sheep (not wild), and some scientists argue that because sheep have been intentionally bred to foster the most fertile females, the human intervention may have given rise to the “homosexual sheep.”

Conclusion? Humans seem to be the only wild animal population containing our understanding of “homosexual” members. But these studies show that species across the animal kingdom engage in sexual activity for far more reasons than procreation, be that pleasure or social connection. It’s that nuance that shatters (as if it needed any more shattering) the religious right’s view of sex as solely a means to produce offspring.

Turns out, as always, things are a bit more complicated.

Dan Tracer

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3 Years After Mayor Refused To Sign Marriage Pledge, Dallas Drags Feet On Equal Benefits For Gay Employees

John Wright

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/3-years-after-mayor-refused-to-sign-marriage-pledge-dallas-drags-feet-on-equal-benefits-for-gay-empl.html

Pat Robertson Claims Boy May Be Looking At Gay Magazines Because He Was 'Attacked Or Molested'
Televangelist Pat Robertson suggested that a young boy may be reading gay magazines because he was “attacked or molested by an authority figure” in the past.

Robertson, who is no stranger to anti-gay proclamations, made the eyebrow-raising suggestion to a father who wrote into “The 700 Club” looking for advice after finding a gay magazine in his son’s bedroom, Right Wing Watch first reported.

“The chances are your son is not gay, but somebody gave him a book about it,” Robertson said. “A lot of these so-called ‘gay’ people have been either attacked [or] molested by some authority figure, or else a magazine or something has confused them.”

He went on to note that a father-son discussion about sexuality would be better than letting the boy “be exposed to a bunch of pornographic magazines” featuring “naked pictures of naked men doing sex with each other.”

The sentiments aren’t particularly surprising given Robertson’s history. Last year, he advised another “700 Club” viewer to find her 13-year-old stepson some male companions, as “being raised by a single woman” was “skewering his orientation” and causing him to have crushes on boys.

“Before I did anything else, I would get him male companions,” Robertson said at the time. “I’d get him some man to help him, some mentor, someone who cares about young men.”

In 2013, he told another view to pray for her 30-year-old nephew who had come out as gay, because homosexuality is “a delicate situation.”

“A few years ago psychiatrists and psychologists used to say that homosexuality was a mental illness, now the Supreme Court has said that it is a protected right,” Robertson said at the time. “So what’s he going to pray about? Is he going to say something is wrong and he’s unhappy? And if he’s unhappy and realizes he is doing something that makes him miserable, you might help him.”

H/T Gay Star News

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/pat-robertson-gay-teens-molested-_n_6653210.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Watch: Be a Part of History by Signing The People’s Brief

HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/watch-be-a-part-of-history-by-signing-the-peoples-brief?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Russia’s Hottest American Actor Makes Bold Move By Coming Out Publicly

Odin Biron may not be a household name here in the United States, but hop over to Russia and he’s one of the country’s hottest television actors.

The 30-year-old Minnesota man has made a name for himself starring on the popular medical sitcom Interns, the Russian version of Scrubs. The show attracts an average of 3.7 million viewers per episode and is a huge hit among Russian audiences.

The sitcom also stars Ivan Okhlobystin, the awful homophobe who, in 2013, said that all gay people should be put into an oven and burned alive, among other terrible things. Which puts Biron in an especially awkward position because… he’s gay.

But nobody knows it. At least, not yet.

In a new interview published in New York Magazine, Biron speaks candidly about what it’s like to be a closeted gay heartthrob in a notoriously antigay country.

Biron has kept his sexuality a closely-guarded secret since joining the cast of Interns five years ago. His family and close friends in both the United States and Russia know he’s gay. So do a few of his television colleagues. But other than that, he’s never spoken publicly about it.

“I’ve never lied,” he says. “Journalists ask, ‘What do you think of Russian women?’ ‘Well, Russian women are beautiful.’ ‘Do you have a girlfriend right now?’ ‘No, I don’t.’”

Biron first arrived in Russia when he was 20 years old, after enrolling in a study-abroad semester at the legendary Moscow Art Theatre. He quickly found work in the professional theater scene. Then, in 2010, he landed a role on Interns.

After Okhlobystin, who Biron describes as a friend, made those hateful comments about gay people in 2013, Biron says he felt like he’d been “punched in the gut.”

“I wanted to go to the station and make a statement that I would no longer work there if Ivan Okhlobystin’s going to be working at this station,” he says.

But he didn’t. In part, he says, because he didn’t think it would have much of an impact. Also, he’s never been very good at confrontation.

“[That’s] just not the way I want to operate,” he explains. “That’s the way things operate in the States. That’s not what this country needs. This country needs dialogue.”

He also considered quitting Interns and leaving Russia in a show of protest, but ultimately decided that wasn’t the solution either.

Biron realized he was in a unique position, as a beloved public figure, to help change people’s minds. Talking openly about his sexuality, he says, is “forcing my hand, and maybe that’s a good thing.”

So that’s what he’s doing. And he’s starting by speaking to New York Magazine. He says he has no idea what the repercussions will be when the Russian public learns he’s gay, but just to be on the safe side, he has a backup plan.

Last year, he signed a lease on an apartment in Minneapolis and enrolled in culinary school. He says he’s developed a special fondness for making bread. If his acting career in Russia can’t survive his coming out, he says he may open a restaurant, or a theater, or a dinner theater. He’s not sure yet, but he’ll likely have a better idea in a few weeks when he begins shooting the sixth season of Interns.

Until then, his focus is on his bread.

“I love,” he says, “how much thought you can put into one simple loaf.”

h/t: Vulture

Related stories:

Russian “Scrubs” Actor Wants Gays Burned Alive; News Anchor Wants us Burned Dead

A Brief History Of Russian Violence Against LGBTs

Putin Claims Russia Has No Issue With Gay People, You’re Nuts For Thinking So

Graham Gremore

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Eureka Springs Passes LGBT Protections, Tells Arkansas Legislature To 'Bring It On'

John Wright

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/eureka-springs-passes-lgbt-protections-tells-arkansas-legislature-to-bring-it-on.html

Op-ed: A Gay Man’s Voice in the Eating Disorder Conversation

Eating disorders are prevalent among gay, bisexual, and transgender men, but it isn’t always easy to find help.

read more

Joseph Holtom

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/02/10/op-ed-gay-man-s-voice-eating-disorder-conversation

Gay in Alabama
I live in a decent-sized town in eastern-central Alabama and have lived here for the majority of my life. I’m also openly gay. My sexuality and geographic location shouldn’t impact each other, but they do; that’s just how it is when you live in the South.

I came out during my sophomore year of high school, after years of internal conflict and external bullying and harassment. I’ve been bullied since kindergarten, and specifically about sexuality since elementary school. I had people calling me gay before any of us were old enough to even know what being gay is. Coming out was at first a major relief from this pressure and pain; I was very well received by my friends and loved ones, and things were looking up. But I’d seen scary things on TV and online: keyed cars, defaced lockers, physical assaults. There was a very real fear in living somewhere where the majority of people thought you were going to hell for something you couldn’t control.

A photo posted by Ian Oriol (@ianoriol) on Sep 11, 2014 at 9:54am PDT

For a while after I came out, everything was OK. The bullies couldn’t call me gay as an insult, because I was gay, and I was finally opening up. This opening up is what proved to be problematic at times. I began dating my first boyfriend, who ended up being unable to endure being called names and bullied because he was dating me, ending our relationship and crippling me emotionally. I also went to school in drag as Lady Gaga for my school’s celebrity day, much to the ridicule of many boys (and the envy of many girls, since I could walk in four-inch heels). I discovered that the moment I stopped acting straight is when people began getting uncomfortable. Once I stopped acting the way they wanted, they stopped treating me the way I wanted.

I certainly didn’t act straight just to please people. That’s the opposite of what should be done in any event. I shouldn’t have to hide who I am just because of where I am, and it pains me that people, like my ex-boyfriend and many others, have to hide from their loved ones, friends, and everybody that they know just for their own safety and well-being. LGBT teens have one of the highest homeless rates, and it terrifies me. This isn’t just Alabama either; this stretches throughout the South and even beyond. Even though marriage equality is so close that I can taste it, I can still be fired in my home state for my sexuality, and I’m sure that I could find plenty of companies that want none of my business.

I believe that there is hope, though: Recently Alabama’s gay-marriage ban was struck down, Auburn grad Tim Cook is out and has spoken about wanting to see a more accepting Alabama, and HRC has launched a special Alabama division to help improve the very things I worry about. I have a shred of faith that Alabama can someday be on the right side of things, and that I can be proud to call it my home. Don’t disappoint me, Alabama.

(Old photo) I am so so happy that Alabama has struck down its gay marriage ban and everybody can love in my home state. It’s a beautiful day in Sweet Home Alabama.

A photo posted by Ian Oriol (@ianoriol) on Jan 23, 2015 at 3:51pm PST

www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-oriol/gay-in-alabama_b_6633952.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices