Posts Tagged: LGBTQ
My First Pride Parade
About two weeks ago I attended my first Pride festival in my state’s capital of Austin, Texas. Even though National LGBT Pride Month was declared every June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Austin likes to be weird and have their celebration in September. I’ve been out for a number of years so it was a surprise to may of my friends that this was the first Pride celebration I’d ever been to. It didn’t feel odd to me however because I’ve never been so vocal about my sexuality to where I felt pride was necessary. I know that sentence may come off as strange because Pride is all about celebrating diversity and acceptance and togetherness but for a long time the thought of publicly waving a rainbow flag around… Read more »
Fire Shut Up in My Bones: A Memoir by Charles M. Blow
The past two weeks have been rough to say the least. It was one of these weeks when your world is turned upside down by unsettling news. I had to readjust my life and face new “normals.” I sought help from close friends and family. I deem the past two weeks and exercise in mental health. I often find that we speak of a physical health often unconnected from mental health. While going through my struggles in the last few weeks, I came across an op-ed article entitled “Up from Pain” from one my favorite columnists, Charles M. Blow. Charles M. Blow is an opinion columnist for the New York Times. His article “Up from Pain” in the The New York Times reads like an excerpt from his recently released… Read more »
Dating Violence, LGBTQ Youth, & Reproductive Justice
Responding to dating violence among LGBTQ youth should be a reproductive justice priority. Not only do LGBTQ young people experience higher rates of relationship violence than their peers, they also face unique obstacles in trying to get help. These realities put young people’s sexual and reproductive health at risk. In standing up for youth health and rights, we need demand prevention efforts—including comprehensive sex education—that are LGBTQ-inclusive, respect young people’s relationships, and empower them with the information they need to make healthy and responsible decisions.
Celebrating Resistance and Diversity
I kicked off my pride celebration early in Washington, DC during Memorial Day Weekend. It was DC’s annual Black Pride weekend and I had a great time being in the company of so many other people who identified as black, queer, and female. But even in the relative isolation of those parties and events, our existence was not homogeneous. With the Defense of Marriage Act defeated last year, and states across the country challenging their same-sex marriage bans in a domino effect it’s safe to say that there is definitely a culture shift happening in the United States when it comes to same-sex couples. But many of us know that marriage is not the sole issue facing our community. While movements are carrying on across the country for racial justice,… Read more »
My Journey To Reproductive Rights, Freedom and Justice
I am a bit of a unicorn. Let me explain what I mean by that. I am a 22-year-old multi-racial, Army National Guard veteran, college student, social justice policy nerd and advocate who is a moderate Democrat from a working class background in a fairly red state in the south: North Carolina. A state becoming more and more infamous by the minute for a legislator continuing to try to roll back the clock and time on reproductive rights and freedoms. I am also queer, someone who identifies as Tranmasculine and whose gender can best be summed up with the term “boi” (although I don’t think there is one word that can truly sum up my gender). Additionally I am Catholic, and my faith is something that is important to me… Read more »
Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality in Ohio
Marriage equality seems to be expanding every month, with states like Michigan and Arkansas having court cases and lawsuits against the state. The issue of marriage equality has been dividing several state-wide LGBT organizations in Ohio. While some groups believe that Ohio is ready for marriage equality to be put on the ballots, others argue that not enough of Ohio’s voters would vote in favor in favor of the ballot measure. While 17 other states have made it a reality, the question must be asked: Is Ohio ready for marriage equality? A ban on marriage equality was first voted on in Ohio in 2004, passing with 62% of the voters in favor of instituting the constitutional ban. As recent as April, a federal judge has ruled the ban on recognizing… Read more »
Bureaucracy Busting: LGBTQ Efforts at UT-Austin
Earlier this week, the Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights extended the Title IX clause to protect transgender students from discrimination in schools. The OCR explained, “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity…” This is a monumental step for trans* folks as transgender students face sweeping forms of discrimination, bullying, and violence in the classroom. Though this is a huge step for the LGBTQ movement, when it comes grassroots approaches, how effective is youth advocacy and organizing? At Texas universities, it has become clear that top-down approaches will be the only way to create effective change.
Doing More Than Filling the Gaps in Sex-Ed
One of my younger brothers is in the midst that casual dirtbag period of early tween-dom. You know the one—where he every other joke is about jerking off and his ratio of obnoxiousness to actual humor is 10 to 1. Still, he’s my brother, and I love him, and he’s not a jerk a decent amount of the time. The two of us have a fairly open and honest relationship actually, and we talk about his crushes, about politics, and yes—even about sex. Seeing as he currently attends the same Catholic school I attended for all of grade and middle school—which still calls it’s “sex-ed” program “Adam and Eve” and segregates boys and girls only to give them the same talk about chastity, the evils of the “homosexual lifestyle,” etc…. Read more »
Lost in Translation: API Sex and Sexuality
The United States suffers from an unfortunate epidemic known as abstinence only programs. These sex after marriage talks are a common procedure in awkward health and sex-education classrooms around the country. For LGBT folks, abstinence only programs do us no good because, you know, we can’t really get married, and if we have to wait until after married, we’re going to be on a dry-spell for quite a while. Some advocates of abstinence only programs believe it is the right of the parents to have that conversation with their children, but for the API community, that is never a conversation we ever have. The API community is very private and though I’ve never been a parent myself, I honestly believe our parents don’t want to encourage the ideas of “promiscuity.”… Read more »
Masculinity and Queerness
The thing about “ideal masculinity” is that we will always fall short. I didn’t even stand a chance growing up, playing with my sisters’ Barbie dolls and gossiping with the girls during recess. I was also sexually attracted to other men, and although I wouldn’t claim the word gay until the age of 18, I knew that my attraction didn’t fit what a man should be. This tension between my masculinity and sexuality became the centerfold of a very arbitrary process concerning what I could and couldn’t do. I could think about men, I reasoned, as long as I didn’t date one or admit it out loud. Just as I could watch Disney movies, but not wear the color pink. Internalizing this impossible standard of masculinity, I didn’t have the… Read more »
