Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender

Yeah! Bejata is back!

I first wrote about Bejata back in 2006 but Bernard is back from a blog hiatus, so it's time for an update.

Bernard has one of the most corageous, provocative yet heart-warming series written on any blog, Black Gay Men at Midlife.

If it is not easy being a gay black man in America, it can be twice as hard for those reaching middle age. Bernie with this series seeks to expose those stories but what he also does is to expose the misconceptions, hypocrisies and ageism that exist within the black gay community and use that opportunity to start a dialogue about "what's next".

Check out the whole series. Another favorite? His sports archives. You're going to have a hell of a blog ride.

Stonewall Democrats, along with an amazing coalition of gay advocacy organizations and bloggers, are asking people like you and me to support their petition. Their goal was to gather through their No Substitute site 3,000 signatures; and take them to Congress to show the support for an all inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Well .... they're up to 5100+ signatures.

Oh hell yeah.

SPONSORED POST

Discrimination isn't sweet. Congress has the chance to pass HR 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would protect Americans from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Now a substitute bill has been introduced as HR 3685, which would not stop discrimination based on gender identity. Removing gender identity from ENDA would leave an artificial aftertaste. Not only would the substitute bill leave some working Americans behind, it would also create divisions among Democrats and fair-minded advocates.

Please go to their website and sign the petition. They have about a week to go before delivering the signatures to Congres. Take a moment and email this post to your friends and ask them to do the same. I'd love to see that number go from 5 to 10k.

In West Virginia thre is a cohabitation law, which makes it a misdemeanor for unmarried people to "lewdly and lasciviously associate" and live together. This law is being challenged by a lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of an inmate whose parole was delayed because of his plan to cohabit with his fiance.

Well, I have lewdly and lasciviously associated and lived together with women before I was married. And enjoyed it very much, thank you. And I considered it none of the government's business that I did so. However, I always had the option of marrying who ever I wanted to lewdly and lasciviously associate with.

Since gays are not allowed the same right to marry eachother that I have, this cohabitation law seems to clearly discriminate against gays, preventing them from lewdly and lasciviously associating with eachother legally.

But really, the fundamental question here is what business is it of the government to care who lewdly and lasciviously associates with who? When will we get the governmemt out of our bedrooms? Oh, yeah. When we get rid of Republican control over our government.

An Open Letter to Dan Savage:

Dear Dan,

I have read "Savage Love" in the Village Voice for years, have also read the Seattle alternative weekly that you edit, The Stranger for a long time. I know you are an openly gay man, in a long-term relationship with Terry, and that the two of you are raising a child together.

You sex advice column has made me laugh, made me think, pissed me off (especially when you start going on about how you think cunnilingus is icky), but, in general, we've been on the same page about sex, reproductive rights, freedom for gays and lesbians to marry, and the whole "right to privacy" omnibus issue that is of utmost importance to me.

Which is why your column this week has left me flabbergasted.

You and your readers have contributed the term "santorum" to our lexicon, and I can no longer think about the senator who lives just to the south of my state as anything but the frothy mixture of fecal matter and lube that is sometimes the product of anal sex. Serves him right for being such a despicable human being. The Senate cannot get rid of Rick Santorum fast enough.

And now for some personal stuff. I've been lucky enough to be in love for five years, as improbable as that seems. And today, we're celebrating my better half's fiftieth. By custom, we also celebrate the anniversary of our meeting that same day, so it's a big deal in our little world.

Happy Birthday, honey. I love you.

Studies into the "causes of homosexuality" are extremely controversial. They should not be controversial because people don't like what they imply. Rejecting science because you don't like what it tells you is similar to believing in creationism. But, scientific studies of the sort that show a "cause" of a complex behavior are always suspect. Many have later been discredited or found to be flawed. But, as a scientist I do find it surprising how complex behavior DOES seem to be linked to physical aspects of our selves, including to brain structure and genetics.

Some studies claim that homosexual men have a tiny part of their brain that looks more like the equivalent brain region in women than the male version. This work was done quite some time ago and I know that back then people considered it suggestive but flawed.

More recently, studies have linked homosexuality to having older male siblings. On the one hand such studies are very hard to do well and should always be considered with skepticism. On the other hand, a more recent study not only confirms that correlation, but also suggests that the mechainism for it is in mom.

From BBC News:

I have never cared for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). On a superficial level, I really dislike their equal sign logo (modified above for me by Art Fag City) which is designed to be as un-gay as possible. I remember a queer American friend, who lives in Europe, visiting around the time of the NYC GOP convention in 2004. He had no idea what the little blue = stickers were that some protesters where wearing.

Allegedly a gay rights lobbying organization, it has become so entrenched in the DC lobbying mindset that it is not merely ineffectual, it is actually harmful to gay rights in America. I am no fan of Charles Schumer, given his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act. A Jewish New Yorker representing Park Slope making an anti-gay vote? Yeah, that'll get you the Christian Right vote. However, when the HRC endorsed Al D'Amato over Schumer in 1998, I was shocked.

Their newest outrage? They have endorsed Joseph Lieberman for the Senate, even before the primary. Thanks to his snuggling up to the GOP and Bush on matters ranging from the Iraq War to the PATRIOT Act, he actually stands a chance of losing the primary to Ned Lamont. Guess which of the two is more pro-gay? Lamont. Of course, the HRC always argues this about realpolitik, or about preserving access, but ultimately they are working against the interests of the people they supposedly represent.

A Tisket, A Tasket

A Condom or A Casket

This all came back to me last night, while watching the second part of the PBS Frontline special, "The Age of AIDS."

Shame kills. And watching the four hours of excellent television, I was reminded of that fact over and over again. If only someone in the Bush administration was willing to learn that lesson.
As part of the series, Frontline interviewed Noerine Kaleeba, whose husband, a Ugandan, died of AIDS. Mobilized by his death, and by the disaster that AIDS was creating in Uganda, Kaleeba founded TASO, an organization that seeks to educate and bring hope to those afflicted.

Uganda created an "ABC" program: Abstain, Be faithful, or Wear a Condom. As Kaleeba explains:

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is an orthodox (modern) Rabbi who has a new show on The Learning Channel called “Shalom in the Home”. It is a cute show where, inspired by his own childhood loneliness due to his parents’ divorce, he travels around the country trying to help families find “Shalom” (peace).

My wife and I have watched a few shows and find it endearing and a cut above the average voyeur show. Reb Boteach is compassionate and insightful and is able to cut through bullshit without angering the people he is counseling.

Last night’s show the Rabbi dove wholeheartedly and intentionally into controversy raising the quality of his show from “cute and endearing” to pretty damned cool.

What we had was an orthodox Rabbi counseling a lesbian couple on how to raise their two daughters in what looked like Park Slope Brooklyn. Rabbi Boteach used this as an opportunity to COMPLETELY demolish the morality of religious attacks on homosexuality.

He came right out and said that they knew this show would be controversial and that was one reason why they wanted to show it. They even had an unusual segment where the crew and the lesbian couple discussed whether the show should even air of if it might be misinterpreted as criticism of the ability of a lesbian couple to raise children. Again, the Rabbi made the point that the message is the exact opposite—that he is helping one of the most compassionate, deep and caring families he has known.