+ On June 26th, 1964, LIFE Magazine published Homosexuality in America. Reading it is pretty intense, and a reminder of how far we’ve come –> “Homosexuals have their own drinking places, their special assignation streets, even their own organizations. And for every obvious homosexual, there are probably nine nearly impossible to detect.” You can read the whole article on Google Books. (via Box Turtle Bulletin) While you’re time traveling, a 1968 article tackles the lesbian problem in the wake of “Sister George,” “the most explicit and sensational of a flock of films about lesbianism.”
+ Gawker said the book Gay in America is “a real picture of what today’s gay world is like” in “all its butch, femme, urban, rural, single, coupled, smiling, and struggling richness.” But GOOD Magazine wants to know Why is Gay in America for Men Only?: “Gay in America features 140 faces from all 50 states… famous and unknown, black and white, masculine and feminine, dolled up and dressed down, and posed with planes and tiaras. But none of them are women… this book is titled Gay in America—not Gay Men in America.”
+ Briefly – Trailblazing: A History of Gay Rights in New York.
+ More and more states are proposing and passing “voter suppression bills” that make the voting process intricate and convoluted, according to Bitch Magazine.
+ Class of 2011: If Social Media Were a High School. It’s an infographic!
+ Some overweight Disney enthusiasts call themselves “Pooh-sized,” and Jezebel says that the people who find that inappropriate are fatphobic.
+ Target, who has previously come under fire for donating to anti-gay politicians and organizations, released an “It Gets Better” video. Queerty comments that “What it lacks in racial diversity it makes up for in teary-eyed closeups.” Hm.
+ 38 Awesome Pictures of People Celebrating Same-Sex Marriage in New York.
+ NPR ran a story about a gay high school teacher who had a positive experience coming out to his class.
+ Queer Fat Femme gets poignant, resonant and heartbreaking in So Much Loss.
+ Grace Helbig of Daily Grace made a video you can send to everyone to let them know how gay you are. It will make you smile.
+ Buzzfeed has a gallery of images from New York pride during the 1970s. Keep in mind that the Stonewall Riots were in 1969, so these are the first pride parades ever.
+ A study from ForbesWomen shows the “most sexist” job in America is a personal finance adviser.
+ Should gravity be taught in schools? The Miss USA contestants weigh in.
+ Living Out Loud with Darian has a video from Don Lemon’s visit to the Outwrite Bookstore in Atlanta, during which he discussed topics such as “black gay men, the black gay community, and the religious bigotry that exists in the church around homosexuality.”
The Buzzfeed gallery made me cry. Equality is taking its sweet ass time but damnit, we’re getting there.
Reading that LIFE article–wow. No matter how much I complain about how much better we could be, I love living in the future.
Some things haven’t changed, at least. I speak of course of LIFE’s affection of sensationalist and deeply slanted articles, replete with scare quotes and loaded adjectives. This is journalism so yellow that it makes bananas hide their eyes in shame.
The scare quotes! Oh my gosh these are killing me:
“There are also the ‘respectable’ homosexuals who pair off and establish a ‘marriage.’ . . . Recently such a ‘couple’ entertained at Sunday brunch in a New York City suburb.”
I also like that they put scare quotes around “gay” every. single. time.
Daily Grace!!! I’ve become obsessed in the past few weeks with Grace after watching a video of her baking a funfetti cake and I thought it was hilarious.
I wanted to share her coming out video on here but I didn’t know how without making it look like spam and I was kinda hoping someone else would and it’s like you guys read my fucking mind.
Anyway, her videos are cute, and she seems awesome, and I liked that coming out one and if you get past all the “gay” she throws at you, the ending is cool.
I was so excited when I saw the title of the video, and then I was slightly disappointed, and then I laughed for like, 10 minutes.
Daily Grace is my life.
stop making me cry with all the happy people pictures!
i’m sobbing all over my keyboard..
Just so you know, Dan Savage said Target was trying to pinkwash a bad PR problem, and refused to put their video on itgetsbetter.org or the main YouTube channel, but invited any/all LGBT employees to make their own videos.
BRB posting Grace’s video on my facebook wall.
Looking at the people celebrating reminds me that every day we are in a struggle, something it is easy to forget in the face of the cloak of relative acceptance in tolerance. As someone who has never experienced a direct negative reaction to my sexual orientation, the elation seen in New York is the core of why I wake up every morning, and seeing it captured in a photo reminds me of that.
…Is it weird that when I read ‘the lesbian problem’ I immediately started singing, “How do we solve a problem like the lesbians?” to the tune of that song from the Sound of Music?
Seriously, though, what a stupid question. That’s like saying how do we solve “the awesome sexy badass intelligent problem”.
I love how, at the end of his article, that Schickel fellow starts doing some math to decide if it’s reasonable to tolerate the boom in major films “dealing with the aberration”( “Nearly 25% of the females and more than 50% of the males reported some sort of homocuriosity, according to Kinsey; we’ve had 12 homocurious films this year, out of something like 300 movies released here annually ―that’s 4%. Hmm, all right, I deem this boom permissible. Rats.” )
+Also: when I publish my incredibly interesting autobiography (never), I want all the blurbs to be pulled from that same article (p.ej., “It is tacky, tawdry, repellent―and true” y “It’s not nice. At best it’s sad-funny, then vicious” y “She wears tweed suits with practical pockets”).
++Also: “So Much Loss” was indeed all those adjectives. I still haven’t been able to organize my thoughts re: “Facebook grieving”, but one thing I know is it makes me feel odd feelings. I mean, to each their own etc., of course; I just personally find it to be the weirdest thing since bread loaves.
How can anyone look at those 38 photos, see the utter joy and love represented in these images, and still be against gay marriage? How can anyone possibly hold that much hate?
I’m so happy for New York. Now let’s spread the love to all the states!
That forbes article is on the most sexist job, not sexiEst. Which I learned when I followed the link, wondering what the hell could be sexy about personal finance. No offense to any personal finance advisors out there…
And that supreme court case happened a year ago. Y’know just fyi. No one should be having to work this weekend, ha.
Both have been fixed. Thanks.
take it from an accountant. finance is not sexy.
I send the video of grace to some friends.. ^^
And i totally felt in love with this photo.
http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2011/6/24/15/enhanced-buzz-25852-1308944865-32.jpg
If it’s possible to be in love with a photograph, then I’m in love with a photograph. She’s gay nodding to the camera!
i loved that daily grace video. it also encouraged me to come out to my brother today. good ending to pride week!
also, make sure you watch the sexy friday positions video
http://youtu.be/3vwLA4RFh6U
Hey, nice! Congratulations!
thanx! today’s like a picture of a sunny day
The LIFE article made me want to retch. Also, I like how they only mention lesbians once, twice tops. And if the book Gay in America is any indicator, some things still haven’t changed.