Davie Street, Vancouver
Booky68 posted a photo:
Grateful & Proud
Grateful & Proud
“Having met in Houston in 1995 , my husband and I were married in Palm Springs, CA on our 13th anniversary in October 2008, which just happened to be within the May – November 2008 window before Proposition 8 was passed. During our week there, we watched all those seemingly innocent, hate-filled Mormon-funded television ads, which I will always remember. Shortly
www.noh8campaign.com/article/grateful-proud
Donald Trump Doesn't Know the Meaning of 'Harassed'
Donald Trump Doesn't Know the Meaning of 'Harassed'
Even on Broadway, standing up for your rights isn’t harassment, it’s the American way.
www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/11/19/donald-trump-doesnt-know-meaning-harassed
Lesbian Double Female Wavy Rainbow Beaded Ceramic Necklace – LGBT Lesbian Pride Jewelry
Lesbian Double Female Wavy Rainbow Beaded Ceramic Necklace – LGBT Lesbian Pride Jewelry
finiarisab posted a photo:
Lesbian Double Female Wavy Rainbow Beaded Ceramic Necklace – LGBT Lesbian Pride Jewelry
Double Lesbian Pride Female Symbols a necklace with beautiful wavy rainbow pride ceramic beads. (Overall length is approx. 18 inches).
Sold by ZZ – Pride Shack
List Price: $ 18.49
Price: $…
tamfitronics.com/shopfinish/lesbian-double-female-wavy-ra…
Is Hollywood Finally Ready To Portray Disabled Gay Characters?
Is Hollywood Finally Ready To Portray Disabled Gay Characters?
Ryan O’Connell, author of “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.”
Is television finally feeling willing and able when it comes to portraying more disabled characters? It certainly appears that way.
According to GLAAD’s 2016 “Where We Are on TV” report, the percentage of series regulars with disabilities this year has risen to 1.7 percent (15 characters), up from last year’s 0.9 percent (eight characters). It is an “amazing” accomplishment, according to Ryan O’Connell, a gay and disabled TV/film writer and author of “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves,” a memoir based on his life as gay and disabled–but still not enough.
“We are limping our way very slowly into the mainstream, honey,” he tells Queerty.
Even still, O’Connell is determined to be part of the solution, no matter how long it takes to limp there.
Related: My Big Fat Disabled Relationship: Finding Love When You Have A Disability
In May 2015, The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons and his partner, Todd, optioned the rights to turn O’Connell’s book into a TV show. After that, O’Connell spent the next 18 months working with Parsons to get TV’s first gay and physically disabled male character on the small screen. Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
“I ended up going to six networks and they all passed,” O’Connell says. “Here’s the thing: Putting a gay disabled character on television is very hard. Hell, putting a gay character as the lead of a TV show is hard. We’ve come a long way in the past few years, especially with shows like Transparent, but the reality is that Hollywood is still living la vida Kevin James.”
It doesn’t help that Hollywood is “very focused” on looks either, he adds. While many shows seem eager to portray hidden disabilities (such as bipolar disorder), the same cannot be said for people with physical disabilities.
“I think Hollywood is largely not interested in disabled people because they don’t view us as ‘sexy’ or ‘cool,’” he says. “To [Hollywood], we are just sad and something to be pitied.”
Of course, the disabled TV landscape is not all sad. O’Connell praises ABC’s Speechless for having an actual disabled person as the lead character.
“I do think [Speechless] is a great sign of what’s to come,” he says.
Related: Five Tips For What Not To Say To Someone Who Is Gay And Disabled
Ray Bradford, GLAAD’s Director of Programs, Entertainment Media, who helped pen the organization’s “Where We Are on TV” report, remains hopeful that the number of people with disabilities on TV will continue to rise, but admits it may require some extra work from showrunners.
“Showrunners and content creators should stop being afraid that including characters with disabilities will automatically draw focus and shift the entire plotline into one about someone’s disability. That premise rarely happens in life,” he says. “Our advice would be to include disabled characters liberally and creatively, and also be mindful that LGBTQ people with disabilities are some of the most creative, fierce and funny people around; the source of good characters and storylines.”
As for O’Connell’s own show, Special: Warner Brothers eventually bought it, and intends to launch it on their online digital channel, Project Mix. The plan is to shoot eight 15-minute episodes in May or June. It is an exciting time, O’Connell says.
Related: What It’s Like To Date Someone Who Is Disabled (According To My Non-Disabled Exes)
“With Special, I mainly want to show a disabled person whose narrative isn’t all tragedy, who has a strong point of view, and loves to laugh,” he notes. “I want people to see themselves in a character they never thought they could identify with. A running theme in my writing is taking things that are considered taboo or weird and putting it through a f-ing mainstream, Top-40 blender.”
Sounds special, indeed.
Fifth Harmony Member Comes Out in Letter to Trump Voters: ‘I am a Bisexual Cuban-American Woman’
Fifth Harmony Member Comes Out in Letter to Trump Voters: ‘I am a Bisexual Cuban-American Woman’
Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui has come out as bisexual in a blistering letter to Donald Trump published by Billboard.com.
Our “political correctness” that your champion, Donald Trump, so pointedly disregarded throughout his entire campaign and now with the appointment of his advisors and other government officials, is the language we have worked tirelessly to establish to feel safe in a world that never stops reminding us we are minorities. I am a bisexual Cuban-American woman and I am so proud of it. I am proud to be part of a community that only projects love and education and the support of one another. I am proud to be the granddaughter and daughter of immigrants who were brave enough to leave their homes and come to a whole new world with a different language and culture and immerse themselves fearlessly to start a better life for themselves and their families.
I am proud to be a woman. Proud that the sex between my thighs provides a strength and resilience in me that only other women can feel, that my body curves in ways that allow me to create life within me, that my entire life is filled with adversity and doubt and people questioning my intelligence and my artistic potential and my expression of myself and my virtue and honor because I am too much woman. I am proud that I get to prove them all wrong. I am proud that I have to work even harder for it. I was raised to feel that I can do ANYTHING, and I will always believe that. I am proud to feel the whole spectrum of my feelings and I will gladly take the label of “bitch” and “problematic” for speaking my mind the same way any man would be admired and respected for doing. But, I will also extend the fullest hand of compassion and empathy for anyone labeling me as such.
Read the full letter HERE.
The post Fifth Harmony Member Comes Out in Letter to Trump Voters: ‘I am a Bisexual Cuban-American Woman’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Fifth Harmony Member Comes Out in Letter to Trump Voters: ‘I am a Bisexual Cuban-American Woman’
Men's Health
Did You Know About San Francisco’s Secret Underground Tunnels Gay Men Used To Escape Raids?
Did You Know About San Francisco’s Secret Underground Tunnels Gay Men Used To Escape Raids?
This is truly amazing, and we had no earthly idea.
A fascinating story published this week in 48 Hills sheds light on a labyrinthine network of underground tunnels beneath San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.
Related: 10 Wild Milestones In The Twisted History Of San Francisco’s Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence
Connected to watering holes from the ’30s and ’40s like The Old Crow, The Silver Rail, The Pirates Den, and the College Inn, the tunnels were used by gay men to escape police raids back in the day. (For true Goonies realness, there’s even Prohibition-era bottles lying in disused corners of the tunnel.)
Sadly, The Planning Commission is considering demolishing the tunnels to make way for a monstrous hotel and housing project.
Compton’s Cafeteria, fondly dubbed “the Stonewall of the West” because of drag queens’ ongoing battles with police raids, also runs the risk of being torn down. Community activists are vying to turn the area into a historic district while the project moves forward. Impossible to say what happens next.
Related: Why San Francisco Is The World’s Gay Mecca
The excellent article, worth reading in its entirely, can be seen here.
Donald Trump Rips ‘Hamilton’ Cast for ‘Harassing’ Mike Pence, Demands Apology
Donald Trump Rips ‘Hamilton’ Cast for ‘Harassing’ Mike Pence, Demands Apology
Following a campaign in which he insulted and harassed millions of Americans, President-Elect Donald Trump is suddenly a fan of “safe spaces” and called out the cast of Broadway’s Hamilton for their message to VP-Elect Mike Pence in a series of tweets on Saturday morning.
As we reported last night, Pence was booed by the audience at a performance of the hit musical and received a special message from the cast as he left, asking him to respect diversity and the rights of all Americans.
READ THIS NEXT: VP-Elect Mike Pence Attends ‘Hamilton’, Gets Special Message from Cast at Curtain Call: Watch
Said Trump:
“Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen! The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!”
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2016
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2016
This was the “rude” message delivered to Pence, read by cast member Brandon Dixon:
“We have a message for you sir. We hope that you will hear us out.
“Vice President.elect Pence we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton, An American Musical, we really do. We sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us – our planet, our parents, our children – or defend us or uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again we truly thank you for sharing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women, of different colors, creeds, and orientations.”
Watch:
Tonight, VP-Elect Mike Pence attended #HamiltonBway. After the show, @BrandonVDixon delivered the following statement on behalf of the show. pic.twitter.com/Jsg9Q1pMZs
— Hamilton (@HamiltonMusical) November 19, 2016
Unreal scene here – Mike Pence walks in and there’s a massive mix of cheers and boos. pic.twitter.com/GVZ5L67mA3
— Noah Coslov (@NoahCoslov) November 19, 2016
The post Donald Trump Rips ‘Hamilton’ Cast for ‘Harassing’ Mike Pence, Demands Apology appeared first on Towleroad.
Donald Trump Rips ‘Hamilton’ Cast for ‘Harassing’ Mike Pence, Demands Apology
Superheroes Can’t Save Us From Villainous Trump. But DC Comics Just Might.
Superheroes Can’t Save Us From Villainous Trump. But DC Comics Just Might.
After decades of attempting to thwart Superman with high tech gadgets and Machiavellian master plans, arch villain Lex Luthor’s most successful gambit against his Kryptonian nemesis was getting elected president of the United States.
Coincidently, the exact week DC Comics resuscitated Young Justice, a series about super powered Millennial proteges to the Justice League, for an unexpected 3rd season, is the same week our country elected its own super villain as most powerful man in the world. Fortunately, the DC multiverse boasts several homocentric heroes ready to fight the good fight, whereas, we have, well, Peter Thiel.
At a moment in our nation’s history when we need a healthy dose of optimism or 100, here are some of the best LGBTQ moments from DC Comics…
1. Super Gayby
One of the sexiest cast members of Young Justice is the angst ridden Connor Kent aka Superboy. This brooding powerhouse is the result of one of Luthor’s more maniacal machinations. In the quest to create his own Kryptonian, the bald baddie mingled Superman’s alien DNA with his own human DNA, resulting in this Super-clone. So, technically Superboy is the gay love child of Superman and Luthor.
2. She Lassos Both Ways
Earlier this year, DC Comics announced that long time super heroine Wonder Woman will now be portrayed as openly bisexual. For a character that originated from ancient Greece, the choice to make the Amazon queer is culturally justifiable. She was raised in the hyper-feminist civilization of Themyscira, which was basically the island of Lesbos. This is a big win for queer comic book culture. Wonder Woman isn’t some second banana in the background. She’s one of DC’s “Big Three,” standing shoulder to shoulder with Superman and Batman. And, as a founding member of the Justice League, the bi heroine contributes some much needed diversity in that predominantly white straight boys club.
3. The Green and The Gay
While on reality series The Real World, comic scribe Judd Winnick formed a deep bond with his roommate, the late AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. Their friendship was chronicled in the graphic novel Pedro and Me, but Zamora’s influence on Winnick permeated the super hero genre as well. While writing for Green Lantern in 2002, Winnick introduced Terry Berg, the openly gay best friend of series’ titular hero Kyle Rainer. Berg was most notable for being the first out character to be featured in a mainstream comic book story arc, earning Winnick a GLAAD award. But, it wasn’t all rainbows and glitter. The storyline culminated with Berg getting brutally gay bashed. At a time where hate crimes are on the rise, this story is more relevant than ever.
4. Put A Ring On It 
The Green Lantern titles continue to prominently feature queer characters. When DC Comics rebooted its entire multiverse in 2011, the Golden Age era Lantern, Alan Scott, was reintroduced as an openly gay man who was about to propose to his boyfriend Sam. Unfortunately, Sam was killed during an alien invasion, and the engagement ring Scott bought for him was fused with otherworldly energy, transforming him into the new Emerald Knight. And just in time, because at this point in our nation’s history, we need as many gay heroes as we can get.
5. They Call Her Fish For a Reason
DC’s queer friendly stances expand into its television series as well. Most prominently, Gotham consistently presents characters from every integer on the Kinsey Scale across its three seasons. Most memorable was when Jada Pinkett’s Fish Mooney taught her nubile young female protege the art of seduction. Fish is quite the hands on teacher.
6. Super Sapphic
Supergirl is taking girl power to a new level. The new season features the Last Daughter of Krypton’s adopted sister Alex Danvers as she explores her sexual orientation after sparking a friendship with openly lesbian police woman Maggie Sawyer. And the good news, Alex, if your relationship turns sexual, Mags already has a pair of handcuffs.
7. Bottoms Up
Apollo and Midnighter began as a satirical take on the Batman and Superman dynamic, if they were gay lovers. Over the decades, this comic book couple evolved beyond parody into fully developed characters in their own right, and reign as the only openly gay headliners of a mainstream comic currently in print. Many fans were surprised by a recent issue that depicted Midnighter, the badass Bat-analogue of the pair, bottoming for his solar powered life partner, citing the character’s aggressive machismo.
Lets be clear, Midnighter isn’t a bottom despite his masculinity; he’s a bottom because of his masculinity.
