Monday 2 July 2012

Surprise: Anderson Cooper is Gay

Following a host of other out celebs (such as Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, and Zachary Quinto) Anderson Cooper came out as gay today in a published e-mail to Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Beast. You can see the email here. I almost didn’t write anything about it, because even the novelty of coming out quietly is starting to wear off, and that’s really quite encouraging.
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Saturday 30 June 2012

If You’re Into Vanilla Sex, the Kink Community Has a Lesson For You

So I was reading through a bunch of blog articles a few days ago, and ended up at this article on Pervocracy about how the rules of consent in kink culture could translate to “vanilla” sex. It’s about a month old, which in internet years is like a decade, but I still want to discuss it because I think it’s awesome.
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Thursday 17 May 2012

Obama and VAWA

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been a controversial bill since it was first passed in 1994. It has been up for reauthorization multiple times since then, as well as facing a Supreme Court hearing. It’s been modified and changed along the way, including creating more gender-neutral language, including same-sex couples, and even eliminating some parts of it on the grounds that those parts were unconstitutional.
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Monday 14 May 2012

Newsweek Declares Obama First Gay President

Obama Newsweek Cover

Same-sex marriage has been in the news a lot lately. North Carolina voted to ban it, along with civil partnerships, and a day later Obama held an interview where he voiced his personal support for same-sex marriage. Although I am frustrated at the limits of the support Obama gave, I also understand that it is a pretty big symbolic victory, particularly considering the fact that we’re right in the middle of election season. I also understand those people who are heaping praise on Obama and are unwilling to criticize his statement as perhaps not going far enough. I get it.

Matthew Shepard’s Mother Speaks About Romney’s Alleged Bullying

Perhaps the most tragically famous mother of an LGBT individual is Judy Shepherd. She’s been fighting for LGBT rights for the past 14 years, ever since the tragic murder of her son, Matthew Shepherd, because he was gay. If anyone can understand the emotional impact of having one’s personal life thrust into the media, it’s her. And if anyone can understand the tragic impact homophobic and anti-LGBT actions can have, it’s certainly her. Her reaction to the news that Mitt Romney apparently bullied a kid when he was in high school being perceived as gay was understandably strong.
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