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Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
AN UPDATE ON BLOGGER'S 'PORN' CONTENT POLICY
Hello
everyone,
This week, we
announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy. We’ve had a ton of feedback, in
particular about the introduction of a retroactive change (some people have had
accounts for 10+ years), but also about the negative impact on individuals who
post sexually explicit content to express their identities. So rather than
implement this change, we’ve decided to step up enforcement around our existing
policy prohibiting commercial porn.
Blog owners
should continue to mark any blogs containing sexually explicit content as
“adult” so that they can be placed behind an “adult content” warning page.
Bloggers
whose content is consistent with this and other policies do
not need to make any changes to their blogs.
Thank you for
your continued feedback.
The Blogger
Team
SOURCE: GOOGLE
HOMELESS GAY YOUTH IN NEW YORK ENGAGE IN 'SURVIVAL SEX' FOR FOOD & SHELTER
Homeless LGBTI youth in New York City are engaging in 'survival
sex' to their meet basic needs such as food and shelter, a federally
funded study has found.
Many of the 283 young people interviewed by the Urban Institute
were forced onto the street after being kicked out o
f their homes or aging out
of foster care.
'Without having that social safety net immediately available to
them, then they will find ways, in their resilience, to be able to survive on
their own,' Meredith Dank, the lead author of the study, told Fusion
website.
When engaging in sex work, the youths saw an average three to six
customers a night – 11 to 18 a week – and charged $90 to $230 per encounter,
with a daily income ranging from $355 to $735.
About 90% of the youths said sex work made them feel frustrated,
dirty or endangered, and many carried knives or Mace for protection.
Only 7% of respondents said they had no desire to stop engaging in
sex work.
'I don’t remember it that vividly, all I know is just that I was
starving,' said one 21-year-old male identified as black and gay.
'I was hungry, I was cold, so I did it.'
But more than 80% said there were positive aspects to sex work —
notably helping to meet their basic needs and in some cases fostering a sense
of community.
'It's not as bad as sleeping under the bridge, it's not as bad as
going without food,' said a 19-year-old respondent identified as a Spanish and
black, bisexual female.
LGBTI youth make up an estimated 20% to 40% of the homeless youth
population, but only 5% to 7% of the total young population in the US.
The study was funded by the justice department's office of juvenile
justice and delinquency prevention and focused on youth aged between 15 and 21.
Of the respondents, 47% identified as male, 36% as female and 16%
as transgender. About 90% were black, Latino or multiracial and nearly 60%
lived in shelters or on the street.
SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS
Thursday, February 26, 2015
NO MEANS NO, EVEN BETWEEN TWO BLACK GAY MEN
On a Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C., I decided to go hang out
with the crew at our usual gay club hangout. I was having a great time drinking
and doing a little two step, when nature called. I decided to leave my friends
and go to the bathroom alone, as I have
done since the tender age of 5. While
washing my hands outside the bathroom, I was approached by a man, who I would
consider an associate.
As I gave the official “what’s up” head nod, he responded the same
while also sticking his hand between my legs from behind and squeezing. Although I was startled, I played it cool and
moved his arm away and asked him not to do that. I guess my rejection of his advances was the
first time in history this ever happened because his response was “What? You
don’t like that” as he did it again.
Now, I am pissed.
As my blood pressure started to rise, I slapped his hands away and
yelled, “Chill on all of that”.
As I do this, he is now irate and going off. By the grace of God, a
mutual friend happened to be standing there watching the entire confrontation.
He grabbed his friend by the arm and continuously yelled, “Lets go!”
Finally, he calmed down and exits.
I was left standing there with my hands shaking and confused. For
the first time in my adult life, I felt like I had no control over a situation
dealing with my personal space. Thoughts were running through my head trying to
rationalize what happened.
I asked myself a few questions:
Where my clothes too tight? No, clothes don’t dictate consent. Did I give consent that I wasn’t aware of?
No, I was simply washing my hands and said hello. Did I actually allow the
normalcy of grabbing and touching that goes on in these settings devalue my
body to the point that I lost ownership of it?
Umm. No? Yes? Maybe.
As a person who has been to many a gay clubs, the violation of
sexual contact has become way too common. Most often, it occurs in passing or
while standing at the bar. You feel the slight brush of your backside by people
“claiming” they are trying to pass by.
Hands wrapping around your waist as people try to order a drink from
behind you. This occurs so frequently, that I fully allowed it as an acceptable
act. It has become so regular in our culture that people act without fear of
repercussion and dismiss anyone who rejects the unwanted advances based on a
culture of rape and perceived promiscuity in the gay community.
This stigma is further advanced with the portrayal of gay male
characters on primetime television.
Although I appreciate the advancement being taken with gay male
characters having roles on major networks in shows like “Scandal” and “How To
Get Away With Murder”, I am saddened that these characters have been maligned
as being sexually deviant and lacking any depth. Both shows depict gay males
using their bodies rather than their intelligence to get what they want by
using sex as a manipulative tool against one another. These scenes portray us
as people that are willing to perform sexual favors in an office, courthouse
bathroom, or with an escort further the agenda that we don’t take value in our
bodies or sexual spaces.
Consent is the premise of my problem. My body, is mine inherently,
and with that you must have permission to cross that space. Granted, there are
gay men that enjoy the gratification of their sexual space visited often, but
even with that there is consent. To the alternative men who are guarded and
protective of their sexual should be respected if they choose not to engage in
such actions as touching and grabbing. Many of the later are forced to simply
deal with this because of the false belief that sexual promiscuity is the norm
rather than the exception. Having multiple sex partners is viewed as a deviant
behavior rather a person having ownership over their body and consenting to
having relations with multiple people. Regardless of how casual one may have
sex, it never constitutes the fact that
one should gain consent before making sexual contact. It should also not
be used as a determinant of how we in the gay community value our bodies.
The same respect for consent must be applied to sexual contact. The
assumption that a grab or grope is harmless is very dangerous to the sexual
culture we as gay men have to live in. The same rules of consent that apply in
a male-to-female exchange must also apply in male-to-male and female-to-female
exchanges. Grabbing on me cannot be used as a form of “compliment.” I should
not have to be subjected to unwanted touching as form of you showing your
attraction toward me.
With that being said- no means no. The same rules that govern the
heterosexual community when it comes to sexual assault and contact need to be
reciprocated in the homosexual community. Violation of one’s personal space
needs to be respected when it has been determined to be unwanted and
unwarranted. I can only hope that going forward we, as a community, learn that
societal views do not determine the value placed on one’s body. I would rather
you say hello to my face before your hands say hello to my waist.
SOURCE: MUSED MAG
BABIES WITH TWO BIOLOGICAL SAME-SEX PARENTS COULD BECOME A REALITY IN JUST TWO YEARS
Researchers from Cambridge University have found that it is
possible to make a baby using the skin cells of parents of the same sex.
A stem cell research breakthrough has revealed that in just two
years same-sex couples could have their own biological children.
Researchers from Cambridge University have discovered that it is
possible to make a baby using skin cells of parents of the same sex.
The researchers have shown, for the first time, that human egg and
sperm cells can be made from stem cells in the skin of two adults. They have
stated that the technique could mean same-sex couples could have babies in just
two years.
The scientists used stem cell lines from embryos as well as cells
from the skin of five different adults. Ten different donor sources have been
used so far and new germ-cell lines have been created from all of them.
The team, funded by The Wellcome Trust, compared the engineered
stem cells with human cells from foetuses to make sure they had identical
characteristics.
Azim Surani, leader of the project, told The Sunday Times: “We have
succeeded in the first and most important step of this process, which is to
show we can make these very early human stem cells in a dish. We have also
discovered that one of the things that happens in these germ cells is that
epigenetic mutations, the cell mistakes that occur with age, are wiped out.”
SOURCE: PINK NEWS
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
ALAN CUMMING CALLS ON GAY ME TO REMAIN CELIBATE TO SAVE LIVES
Out actor Alan Cumming stars in a
hilarious PSA mocking an FDA policy prohibiting sexually active gay and
bisexual men from donating blood.
A coalition of groups, including GLAAD
and Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), are behind the #CelibacyChallenge campaign,
which calls on the FDA to implement a blood donation system that screens all
donors based on risk for HIV transmission, regardless of sexual orientation.
The FDA currently prohibits men who
have sex with men from donating blood unless they have been celibate for one
year.
|
Cumming presents himself as head of
the Department of Sexual Abstinence in the nearly 2-minute video, where he
challenges gay and bisexual men to remain celibate for a year to save lives.
“Introducing the Celibacy Challenge,”
Cumming's character boldly declares. “So, let's get to it. Let's start saving
some lives.”
Among the “authorized” activities
that will make the year “fly by” are pottery making, carpentry and
housecleaning – all of which are illustrated to great comedic effect with
sexual references.
“Or there's another option,” the
official says. “Sign our petition, then share this video to pressure the FDA
to change its questionnaire so donors are screened based on their exposure to
risk and not their sexual orientation.”
Click here to sign the petition.
|
SOURCE: ON TOP MAG
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
I CHOOSE TO LOVE BLACK GAY MEN
Using the media as a litmus test, one would think romantic love
among black gay men is in dire straits. Prominent black gay men like Michael Sam and Derrick Gordon both have white lovers, and recently,
the key black gay character in Lee Daniels’ “Empire” has a Mexican boyfriend who ostensibly is white.
Quite honestly, when the only highly visible models of successful black gay men
seem tethered to white lovers, the implicit message becomes that love between black
gay men is non-existent. And irritatingly, the broader conversation
around love between black gay men becomes centered around whiteness, rather
than love among ourselves.
And we need to talk about love between ourselves, because
unfortunately, the implausibility of black gay love is an idea not just held by
the media but among black gay men ourselves. One need look no further than the
social media app Jack’d, which features a large contingent of black gay men
with profiles full of self-hate. Profiles that sound more like treatises of
self-defense rather than pitches for love. Phrases like “no fats no fems,” or
“I only fuck with real masculine niggas.” These ubiquitous
stamps upon dating and sex profiles make romantic love between black gay men
feel unattainable.
However, while the media seems to suggest that black gay
men—particularly wealthy and educated—run into the arms of white lovers for
safety and comfort, I can scarcely think of any relationship—outside of a
physically violent one—that would cause me more consternation and confusion. My
relationship should not be the space where I worry about being someone’s
fetish, or where I have to explain the nuances of my culture, or the
generational traumas I was born of and embody on a daily basis. This is not to
say that loving relationships between black and white men should be avoided. I
am not anti-interracial, but rather I am pro-black love. As black gay men, we
have to be diligent about choosing to love each other in society that devalues
both how we love and who we choose to love.
Being a black gay man and choosing to love other black gay men is
an act of self-love and political resistance. Sure, as Joseph Beam offers us,
it is the revolutionary act – but while it is revolutionary, it is also
difficult. Because to be a black gay man who chooses to love other black gay
men means that we have to love through the psychological and emotional trauma
that this world affords us.
In my life, the type of love that has always been the most
nourishing for me has been black love. As a young boy in inner-city Detroit,
the models of love that were most salient and recognizable to me were also
black. The at-times harsh, but honest and magnanimous affection from black
women, the problematic and boisterous showboating love of black men, and the
sharp, vibrant, and energetic love from my peers. While there is no single
notion of black love that is pure and wholly fulfilling, when I have
experienced love at its most radical and nourishing, it has always been from
blackness. A type of love that understands what it means to be born from
slavery, subject to past and present trauma and societal disenfranchisement,
but still all-encompassing enough to hold all of this pain and still persist in
this life—with “some passion, some compassion, some humor, and
some style.”
But I must also be honest, much of the most empowering black love
I’ve experienced has come from black women. When the black male elders in
my life tried to show me love it always felt challenging,
shaming, and aggressive. And even as an adult, the black gay community
still often thrives on shade, patriarchal notions of manhood and insecurity.
But I’ve also experienced great love, both romantic and platonic, from
black gay men. From men who have taken me to get my first HIV test, who have
consoled me in times of familial strife, who have danced with me in clubs, and
have shown me selfless adoration, even if those relationships did not last.
So rather than seeing the difficulties of loving black gay men as
endemic to who we are, it is time we radically reorganize how we might think of
love between black gay men. We can first do so by asking the right questions,
such as what does it mean for two men to love each other in a society where men
are not socialized to show love and care for each other? What does it mean to choose to
love another black gay man when the bodies we love are subject to
disproportionate levels of violence, poverty, and health disparities? What does
it mean to choose to love another black gay man, when love between black
people is already fraught with systemic strife? A love that has
virtually been declared nonexistent, a love that has had no models–after all,
we are told that it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
Despite the self-hatred, despite the perhaps slim-pickings, I am
choosing to love black gay men romantically or otherwise. I do so because I
believe that love is political, and if we are to truly love ourselves, and
change our community, we must first see our community for who we really are.
Loving beings that persist in a country that still denies us our reflections.
If I am ever to be in that mainstream, long-term monogamous relationship, I
very unapologetically intend for it be with a black man. And this intention is
not merely about love and affection, but a political choice. In a society that
renders black gay love nonexistent, and has a very peculiar investment in
making sure that black gay men are only seen with white lovers, I am choosing
to love black.
SOURCE: MUSED MAG
WILL ATLANTA OPEN ITS FIRST LGBT SCHOOL?
Teachers in Atlanta are trying to raise funds to set up a school
for LGBT students and their families.
Atlantan teachers are trying to set up a private school for LGBT
students and those from LGBT families in the city.
The school, which will be called Pride School Atlanta, already has
a location but organisers are still trying to find funding.
The mission is to provide a safe space for the school’s students
while allowing them to be open about who they are. It will take students from
ages 3 to 14 years old.
Organisers hope to keep tuition down to £7800 a year per student.
The school already has a location in the city, it will be running from a local
Presbyterian Church.
Christian Zsilavetz, who is one of the organisers, said: “I want a
place where queer and trans families can bring their kids and not have to worry
about being the token lesbian family or the token gay family.”
The school is planned to open this autumn. Organisers say they have
joined the fight for the school because they have seen LGBT students struggle
with schoolwork after facing homophobic bullying.
“It’s an intentional safe space for kids for youth who want to
learn and not have to worry about homophobic remarks every day.”
SOURCE: PINK NEWS
Monday, February 23, 2015
JUS' E-MAIL ME: THE HARD KNOCK LIFE
Is there something wrong
and should I see a doctor?
What are your thoughts?
Has this ever happen to you?
What advice would you give this person?
ELLEN PAGE ON COMING OUT GAY: BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE
Actress Ellen Page recently said that coming out gay was the best
decision of her life.
The 27-year-old Page announced she's gay last year on Valentine's
Day during a speech delivered at Time to THRIVE, an LGBT youth conference
hosted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and held at Bally's Hotel and Casino
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Page (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Juno), who is in Rio to
celebrate Carnaval, was asked about coming out by a Brazilian reporter.
“[I decided to come out] because I was sad,” Page said. “I felt
uninspired. I was uncomfortable. It hurt relationships. I felt guilty for not
being out. And it was just time. It's the best decision I ever made. I
immediately felt like a new person.”
“You just feel lighter in your life,” she added.
When asked if she was dating, Page answered, “No comment.”
SOURCE: ON TOP MAG
Sunday, February 22, 2015
ACTUAL VERSUS IMPLIED
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"The fact that you have gone near the battlefield does not
mean that you fought."
Kikuyu (Afrikan) proverb
Saturday, February 21, 2015
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