Congrats to the Mass Trans Political Coalition for securing financial support from HRC ($25,000) and others. Typically I would be concerned about the influence of receiving money from organizations such as HRC, but knowing the fabulously queer Gunner Scott heads MTPC gives me assurance that the blood of innocent Iraqis and neglected trans and queer homeless youth will be thoroughly rinsed from the checks before they are deposited.
MTPC still needs our help. Continue to donate and get involved at their facebook page here.
Laura Kiritsy New Bay Windows Editor
Bay Windows has announced that Susan Ryan-Vollmar has stepped down as editor and will be replaced by Laura Kiritsy.
Though in recent weeks her editorials took a turn for the better on trans issues, Ryan-Vollmar had long been a target of criticism from the QueerToday.com community for her often centrist and conservative views. Ryan-Vollmar was on the wrong side of the One ENDA fight, and a vocal critic of queertoday.com for spearheading the Ask Tell Act Coalition during Boston Pride this year.
Hopefully Kiritsy will keep social justice principles at the forefront of her editorial control and involve the most marginalized of our communities as much as possible in the content of Bay Windows so that once again we can be proud of our community's paper.
Good luck Laura!
Though in recent weeks her editorials took a turn for the better on trans issues, Ryan-Vollmar had long been a target of criticism from the QueerToday.com community for her often centrist and conservative views. Ryan-Vollmar was on the wrong side of the One ENDA fight, and a vocal critic of queertoday.com for spearheading the Ask Tell Act Coalition during Boston Pride this year.
Hopefully Kiritsy will keep social justice principles at the forefront of her editorial control and involve the most marginalized of our communities as much as possible in the content of Bay Windows so that once again we can be proud of our community's paper.
Good luck Laura!
New bacteria infecting gay men in San Francisco and Boston
Updated (by Mark): Don't panic. Fenway Community Health has an informative web site about this alert and how to reduce your risk here.
This is frightening.
The New York Times is reporting that a new, highly drug-resistant strain of bacteria is spreading rapidly among gay communities in San Francisco and Boston.
According to researchers, this new strain of the "flesh-eating" MRSA bacteria "seemed to be spread most easily through anal intercourse but also through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces."
Read more.
This is frightening.
The New York Times is reporting that a new, highly drug-resistant strain of bacteria is spreading rapidly among gay communities in San Francisco and Boston.
According to researchers, this new strain of the "flesh-eating" MRSA bacteria "seemed to be spread most easily through anal intercourse but also through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces."
Read more.
Judge Rules: MSNBC Must Include Kucinich
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada.
Senior Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson said if Kucinich is excluded, he'll issue an injunction stopping the televised debate.
The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first invited Kucinich to take part and then told him last week he couldn't. - huffingtonpost.com
Kucinich Banned Again
Dennis Kucinich was congratulated and invited to the next Democratic debate on NBC, but a few days later he received a letter saying that NBC had "changed their criteria." This comes on the heels of his ban from the ABC/facebook debates although he met their criteria as well, and polls #1 on the facebook surveys.
Kucinich is also leading the fight for a recount in New Hampshire because as we've seen in the past, the electronic voting machines are showing different results than hand counted votes.
Regardless of your support for Kucinich the candidate, we must join him in fighting corporate control of our public airwaves and ensuring that every vote is counted.
Kucinich is also leading the fight for a recount in New Hampshire because as we've seen in the past, the electronic voting machines are showing different results than hand counted votes.
Regardless of your support for Kucinich the candidate, we must join him in fighting corporate control of our public airwaves and ensuring that every vote is counted.
Boston's First Transgender Legal Clinic Opens Soon
We invite you to join our stride towards justice
Beginning with our January 16th kick-off celebration of
Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates,
a new legal clinic serving transgender people in Massachusetts.
WHAT: Kick-off celebration for Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates with guest speaker Mara Kiesling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality
WHEN: Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 6-8pm.
WHERE: JRI Health, 25 West Street, Boston. Take the Orange or Red line to Downtown Crossing stop or the Green Line Park Street stop.
Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates is a joint project between Cambridge Cares about AIDS, AIDS Action Committee, and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.
For more information about the kick-off event or the legal clinic, please contact: 617.450.1353 or
TransgenderLegalAdvocates
Log Cabin Republican$ Love Big Pharma
The Log Cabin Republicans, who last year had less active members in Massachusetts than QueerToday, are funded by the elite men who run the country's largest pharmaceutical companies. When you visit their web site you'll see the logos of Pfizer and Astra Zeneca flash on your screen (as well as the HRC logo! SHAME ON THEM). Make no mistake about it. The Log Cabins have a vested interest in allowing big companies to take advantage of the queer community and keeping republicans in power who will continue to launch war and prevent good health care from becoming a reality.
As most of you know these companies break the law every day in their efforts to keep demand and price high for their products. They launch fraudulent lawsuits against generic drug manufacturers to keep lower cost drugs off the market. They lie to the FDA to obtain and retain their patent rights. They launch misleading advertisements on television and in print. They have over 100,000 sales people in the United States to promote their brand name prescriptions to doctors and medical journals. They donate insane amounts of money to candidates for congress and president. Hillary Clinton has taken the most pharmaceutical industry money so far this year. Donald Rumsfeld continues to make millions from Big Pharma.
The Log Cabin Republicans must be stopped, but more importantly the way drug companies take advantage of us must be publicized and fought against with all our strength.
Earlier this year we reported on how an AIDS Drug company collected the personal information of attendees to Latino Pride in Boston. Said company is currently being sued, as are most of the other drug companies out there. Unfortunately these companies are bribing the LGBT media and some of our finest non-profit organizations with their money and influence.
The good news is that you can help hold drug companies accountable by suing them! Using the courts to hold these companies accountable helps to level the playing field between the big corporations and consumers.
Please take a moment to visit the web site of my employer, Prescription Access Litigation, and fill out our Tell Us Your Story form so that you can be apart of this important work.
As most of you know these companies break the law every day in their efforts to keep demand and price high for their products. They launch fraudulent lawsuits against generic drug manufacturers to keep lower cost drugs off the market. They lie to the FDA to obtain and retain their patent rights. They launch misleading advertisements on television and in print. They have over 100,000 sales people in the United States to promote their brand name prescriptions to doctors and medical journals. They donate insane amounts of money to candidates for congress and president. Hillary Clinton has taken the most pharmaceutical industry money so far this year. Donald Rumsfeld continues to make millions from Big Pharma.
The Log Cabin Republicans must be stopped, but more importantly the way drug companies take advantage of us must be publicized and fought against with all our strength.
Earlier this year we reported on how an AIDS Drug company collected the personal information of attendees to Latino Pride in Boston. Said company is currently being sued, as are most of the other drug companies out there. Unfortunately these companies are bribing the LGBT media and some of our finest non-profit organizations with their money and influence.
The good news is that you can help hold drug companies accountable by suing them! Using the courts to hold these companies accountable helps to level the playing field between the big corporations and consumers.
Please take a moment to visit the web site of my employer, Prescription Access Litigation, and fill out our Tell Us Your Story form so that you can be apart of this important work.
Happy 2008!
Happy New Year to all of our activists, readers, and supporters. QueerToday is here to stay, so bookmark us and subscribe to us. Want to be even better connected to our group? Join us on facebook!
QueerToday mentioned in InNewsWeekly Year in Review...
In 2008 we will continue to push for issues surrounding queer youth and gender identity/expression to be at the forefront of of everyone's attention through our unique style of blogging, protesting, and campaigning.
Interested in blogging for QueerToday in 2008? Contact us!
QueerToday mentioned in InNewsWeekly Year in Review...
"The Bay State this year marked the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the first Gay-Straight Alliance in the commonwealth at Brookline High School in 1987. Since then, 3,577 GSAs have registered with the Boston-based Gay Straight Education Network, at least one from every state, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Massachusetts ranks third in the nation with 242 GSAs. The Impendent Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, formed in 2006 after Gov. Romney's attempted pre-pride disbanding of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, began working in January.2007 was another amazing year for QueerToday. We succeeded in drawing attention to the most pressing issues facing the LGBTQIP... community today. We sparked outrage about the theme chosen for Boston Pride which turned into a broad coalition of human rights and social justice groups, the Ask Tell Act Coalition. The coalition went on to make a huge splash at pride, forming the largest contingent and encouraging hundreds of people to wear pink. This year we attended and promoted several anti-war protests, fought for One ENDA, spoke out against Shirly Q. Liqour, created a petition against MARS Inc. for their homophobic advertising, attended and supported Immigrant Rights Marches & Rallies, stood up loud and clear for Trans rights and the Mass Trans Political Coalition, and of course we provided timely insight and commentary on the latest issues facing the queer community and the world.
Still, the issue of GLBT Youth remained very much in the news, in large part because of the controversy generated by anti-gay-rights group Mass Resistance. In November, the Queer Today blog reported the group co-founder Amy Contrda's 17-year-old daughter Claudia was a lesbian. The younger Contrada had held a star role in the Action-Boxborough high school's controversial production of "The Laramie Project." MassResistance later said that as a result of all of this, Claudia Contrada's parents were forced to withdraw her from school....
...But the Boston Pride Committee disagreed. Gays in the military, the importance of gays in the military living out lives, the importance of service in general, was demonstrated in its theme: "Ask. Tell. Proud to Serve Our Community, Our Country, Our World." The theme was not without its detractors, however. In May, a coalition was announced to protests the theme, which, members wrote in an email "feeds into the nationalistic pro-war culture [of] corporate America that still controls U.S. foreign policy and impacts our lives here in Boston, draining resources that we so desperately need." Still, despite a double flag-raising (one, the regular rainbow-colored flag; the other, a pink flag, raised by those opposing the Pride theme), Pride Week came, saw more people in attendance than in previous years, and passed..."
In 2008 we will continue to push for issues surrounding queer youth and gender identity/expression to be at the forefront of of everyone's attention through our unique style of blogging, protesting, and campaigning.
Interested in blogging for QueerToday in 2008? Contact us!
Kucinch: The Airwaves Belong To The People
In his weekly update, Kucinich reminds us that the airwaves belong to the people and the media companies only licence them. Remember when Chavez was accused of shutting down a television station? He was really just discontinuing their licence with the government because they were involved in an illegal coup against him. The issue of media ownership must be brought to the forefront.
disclaimer: Of the capitalists in the race for president, I support Dennis Kucinich in an effort to draw attention to social justice issues.
Nepal Supreme Court grants equal rights
Truth Wins Out Shows Foolishness of "Ex-Gay" Therapy
NEW YORK - Truth Wins Out introduced two new Internet Public Service Announcements today (IPSA) that show the absurdity of the ex-gay myth, while rebutting the blatant fear tactics that these organizations use to recruit new members.
"We urge all bloggers to consider posting these ads, to educate Americans about the harm done by ex-gay therapies," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "These ads use cutting edge humor to address a serious issue that is tearing apart families and ruining lives."
The first ad, "Bald," addresses a lie told by Exodus International's executive director Alan Chambers earlier this year on a national television show.
"What I found was that homosexuality was for the young," said Chambers. "There was a time when I wasn't going to have hair anymore. There was a time when I wasn't going to work out every day, and lay out in the sun, and be as much a commodity as I was when I was eighteen."
In "Bald"(:50), ex-gay survivor Nick Cavnar - a bald man from Washington, DC in his 50's - takes Chambers to task for exploiting the fears of young gay men. "I have wonderful friends," says Cavnar, "and many of them are bald too. And all of us middle age gay bald men, just want to tell you, it's great out here."
The second groundbreaking ad, "Rubber Band" (:30)features Dallas ex-gay survivor Brian Nesbitt, who was urged by his therapist to wear a rubber band on his wrist and snap it whenever he saw an attractive guy.
"You feel terrible that he had to go through this in his desperate efforts to go from gay to straight," said Besen. "But, at the same time, one can only snicker at the thought that this bizarre technique is still used and taken seriously by ex-gay organizations."
Truth Wins Out released these ads in time for the holiday season, because many people return home only to be confronted by sincere, but misguided, family members and friends wielding ex-gay literature like a club.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
Thanks to Wayne Besen for alerting me to this news
"We urge all bloggers to consider posting these ads, to educate Americans about the harm done by ex-gay therapies," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "These ads use cutting edge humor to address a serious issue that is tearing apart families and ruining lives."
The first ad, "Bald," addresses a lie told by Exodus International's executive director Alan Chambers earlier this year on a national television show.
"What I found was that homosexuality was for the young," said Chambers. "There was a time when I wasn't going to have hair anymore. There was a time when I wasn't going to work out every day, and lay out in the sun, and be as much a commodity as I was when I was eighteen."
In "Bald"(:50), ex-gay survivor Nick Cavnar - a bald man from Washington, DC in his 50's - takes Chambers to task for exploiting the fears of young gay men. "I have wonderful friends," says Cavnar, "and many of them are bald too. And all of us middle age gay bald men, just want to tell you, it's great out here."
The second groundbreaking ad, "Rubber Band" (:30)features Dallas ex-gay survivor Brian Nesbitt, who was urged by his therapist to wear a rubber band on his wrist and snap it whenever he saw an attractive guy.
"You feel terrible that he had to go through this in his desperate efforts to go from gay to straight," said Besen. "But, at the same time, one can only snicker at the thought that this bizarre technique is still used and taken seriously by ex-gay organizations."
Truth Wins Out released these ads in time for the holiday season, because many people return home only to be confronted by sincere, but misguided, family members and friends wielding ex-gay literature like a club.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
Thanks to Wayne Besen for alerting me to this news
Turn $10 into $1000 for Trans Rights Today!
Between now and Friday at 3pm you have the opportunity to turn a $10 donation into a $1000 award for Trans rights! Your donation will also keep MTPC in the running for a $10,000 grant to be given in February. CLICK HERE!
And be sure to join the QueerToday.com facebook group too: Click Here!
And be sure to join the QueerToday.com facebook group too: Click Here!
Occupation of Iraq Increased Hostility Towards Gays
The New York Times has an interesting article today about how the US invasion of Iraq made it more dangerous for many gays to live openly.
Trans Student Accuses Mass. College Of Discrimination
"(Haverhill, Massachusetts) A transgendered students says he is the victim of discrimination at a small Massachusetts community college because he is biologically female.
Ethan Santiago says that Northern Essex Community College is refusing him to use the men's locker room." - 365gay.com
Act Now! Help MTPC Win A Bunch of $$
The MTPC has issued a challenge! They are on the verge of winning a bunch of money from facebook and they need our help.
Click Here for their cause page on facebook. Even if you just give a dollar, you'll help their chances of winning.
"Facebook is awarding money to organizations with the most unique donors. They are giving away 50 $1000 grants every 24 hours. We are now in 5th place of all the causes on Facebook, with 3 hours to go. We are also in 5th place for the 50-day, $50,000 challenge, and are currently the LEADER in the $10,000 challenge - ahead of many other causes with many more members!"
Act now!
Click Here for their cause page on facebook. Even if you just give a dollar, you'll help their chances of winning.
"Facebook is awarding money to organizations with the most unique donors. They are giving away 50 $1000 grants every 24 hours. We are now in 5th place of all the causes on Facebook, with 3 hours to go. We are also in 5th place for the 50-day, $50,000 challenge, and are currently the LEADER in the $10,000 challenge - ahead of many other causes with many more members!"
Act now!
Victory for Biolab Opponents!
BlueMassGroup is reporting that the SJC made a ruling that will please those of us who oppose the scary BU Biolab.
Death Penalty Banned
Desmond Morris on male homosexuality
Pinknews is reporting that British zoologist, anthropologist, and best-selling author, Desmond Morris, has a new theory on the causes of male homosexuality. In The Naked Man: A Study Of The Male Body, Morris concludes that social rather than genetic reasons make men attracted to men.
Read more.
Question - Does knowing why we are gay alter our self-perceptions or somehow construct our identities in new ways?
Read more.
Question - Does knowing why we are gay alter our self-perceptions or somehow construct our identities in new ways?
Being Anti-Gay is a Drag!
Giuliani begins to run from his "pro-gay" past...
Giuliani in drag:
Giuliani in drag again:
Giuliani saying "it's the acts that are sinful."
Giuliani in drag:
Giuliani in drag again:
Giuliani saying "it's the acts that are sinful."
Presidential Candidate Advocated Quarantine for AIDS Patients
The prospect of this man being our president is terrifying. He now refuses to recant his call for a quarantine on AIDS patients. Watch the video here, if you can stomach it.
Mankind Project Update: We're Not Anti-gay!
Wayne Besen is now reporting that he was wrong about the Mankind Project. The group is not anti-gay and is actually frustrated by its recent endorsement by anti-gay groups. While I still find their organization a bit peculiar, I now trust that they are not an ex-gay group. Many of the activities described seem to have been exagerated or changed. The group says they aim to create a environment where men feel shame free and comfortable with their bodies. Hopefully Besen will be more a more thorough reporter in the future.
Chavez Concedes Defeat: Democracy Alive & Well in Venezuela
Low voter turn-out, confusion, and apathy among Chavez's base gave him a narrow defeat last night. Chavez, who the international media portrays as a dictator, graciously conceded.
"I thank you and I congratulate you," said Hugo Chavez to his opponents. "I recognize the decision a people have made." - Chavez
The constitutional reforms would have made Venezuela the first country in South America to add protections based on sexual orientation. (365gay.com)
"I thank you and I congratulate you," said Hugo Chavez to his opponents. "I recognize the decision a people have made." - Chavez
The constitutional reforms would have made Venezuela the first country in South America to add protections based on sexual orientation. (365gay.com)
Caracas, December 3, 2007 - Venezuela's National Electoral Council Announced at 1:15am that the No vote against the President's constitutional reform proposal lost 49.3% to 50.7%, with 45% abstention. Chavez conceded that the reform proposal lost "for now."
The vote was divided into two blocks, whereby the first block included Chavez's 33 proposed article changes and the second block included changes proposed by the national assembly. The second block lost with a slightly higher margin, with 51.0% for "No" to 49.0% for "Yes". - VenezuelaAnalysis.com
Hands Off Venezuela: Rally Sunday
What: Rally Supporting Venezuelan ReformsWhen: Sunday December 2, 12-2:00pm
Why: The United States CIA and allied forces have been attempting to undermine the will of the vast majority of Venezuelans since Chavez was democratically elected president. The media has been pushing lies to portray Chavez as an evil dictator, using shady polling companies to distort the reality of the will of the people, and executing plans to incite violence in the days following tomorrow's vote. It is up to us to spread the truth because like the lead up to the Iraq war, the mainstream media (mostly owned by right-wingers) is lying.
More Info & Updates:
Why: The United States CIA and allied forces have been attempting to undermine the will of the vast majority of Venezuelans since Chavez was democratically elected president. The media has been pushing lies to portray Chavez as an evil dictator, using shady polling companies to distort the reality of the will of the people, and executing plans to incite violence in the days following tomorrow's vote. It is up to us to spread the truth because like the lead up to the Iraq war, the mainstream media (mostly owned by right-wingers) is lying.
More Info & Updates:
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day (worldaidsday.org)* Special Meeting & Service. State of Emergency! Community Church of Boston, Copley Sq. 6pm.
* AIDS Action Committee Events
Update: AIDS Activists Arrested at Whitehouse
Cruising. We all have so much to learn from it!
This speech was given by Abe Rybeck at this year's Pride Lights celebration after he received an award from AIDS Action Committee. Abe is the Artistic Director of Theater Offensive.
When a trashy Jewish Communist Safe-Sex Porno Street Guerrilla Drag Queen breaks into song at 3:00 AM in a cruising area, it does not occur to him that one day somebody’s gonna give him an award for it!
THANK YOU!
Thank you Rebecca and Dennis and Diego and Paul and the whole gang. Twenty-two years ago I walked down into a crowded basement on Havelind Street to volunteer for the AIDS ACTION Committee.
Nowadays, when someone wants to talk about courage, they mention the military. When they talk about commitment, they refer to marriage.
But those folks I met at AIDS ACTION all those years ago: Speaking truth to power. Being there for sick brothers and sisters. Using common sense prevention when the medical establishment wouldn’t even pay attention. Teaching each other safer sex in backrooms and bushes and beds. That’s commitment. That’s courage.
To receive this honor from the AIDS ACTION Committee makes me so proud... of all of us.
Some say that kind of activism is passé. But I know better. I have witnessed a working model for community building that can resist the sucking vacuum of cooptation! It’s called...
Cruising. We all have so much to learn from it.
Okay, hear me out. I have a simple point. Coming out has taught us each to respect who we really are, to respect our desires, yes, our horniness. And I believe that’s a clue about how to change the world.
For over one hundred years guys have been fooling around in The Fens, despite attacks against them from Fagbashers; Muggers; Gardeners; STDs; HIV/AIDS; the Police; and Politicians.
But cruising in the Fens is utterly unstoppable, the way a political movement should be. 365 days a year guys go there to hook up. (I use the term guys very loosely, since there is a crazy mishmash of genders in the Fens.) You can walk three blocks from your apartment in the projects into a lush green jungle of pleasure. You can cum on your coffee break. You can get blown in a blizzard.
There is no committee that organizes guys in The Fens. There’s no board of directors. There’s no e-blast. And most incredibly, nobody makes a profit off it! For LGBT folks, who are organized more as a market niche than a community, this is downright astounding! Hundreds of guys are getting satisfied every night and no one makes any money off it!
So why do they go? Because it works. They get just what they cum for.
I am part of A Street Theater Named Desire. We do AIDS activist guerrilla theater performances in cruising areas on summer nights, from Midnight to 3:00 AM for the guys who come there to fool around. We lay out picnic blankets for them and share some coffee, water, doughnuts and sex supplies. Sometimes we even make s’mores. We hang out and talk with the guys.
Since we’re trying to learn from the magic of the Fens, we take its simple truth as our motto: “Get just what you cum for.” Like: Get laid but don’t get AIDS; Get vulnerable but don’t get mugged; Get naked but don’t get mosquito bites. So, sure, we give out condoms, but we also share a lot of intimacy... and bug repellent.
We encounter about 300 people per night, a madly diverse group of ages, ethnicities and genders, all there in the Fens to satisfy their desires. And almost everyone gets it.
And there, again, is my simple queer point. Respect who we really are. Respect our desires, yes, our horniness. And I believe that’s a little clue about how to change the world.
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