SGL Café

XY magazine making a comeback ... and why its a Good Thing.

Yes... XY, the equally loved and reviled gay teen magazine is staging a comeback. Why is it a good thing? There's a reason why I tagged this 'self-help'. It's a wellness issue. But with gay youth in turmoil and in need of affirming imagery, info, and sense of community to know they're not alone (or disordered) .... ... writer/photographer Alan Bennett Iligan answers that question better than I could in Once I Was A Twink Who Wanted To Be A Writer. After telling his story relating to XY he finishes with these two sentences. It is so well stated it should be shouted from rooftops..... "...Somewhere there is a boy hiding in his bedroom, searching for some small way out, some small chance to connect and believe in something better, some small bit of hope. Sometimes the one thing that stands between that boy hanging himself and waiting out one more night is a magazine that puts two boys kissing on its cover." Beautifully said ...

Tyler Clementi's parents plan to sue Rutgers University over his suicide.

Tyler Clementi jumping off the George Washington Bridge and plunging to his death was tragic. In doing so he became the face of the recent rash of gay suicides because his Rutger's roommate spied (via webcam) on his fling with "a dude". Now his parents plan to sue. In the notice, the couple said "it appears Rutgers University failed to act, failed to put in place and/or failed to implement, and enforce policies and practices that would have prevented or deterred such acts, and that Rutgers failed to act timely and appropriately". Yet suing the school seems an extreme reaction by parents in pain, despite the fact that Tyler had complained to school authorities about his roommate. Suicide is never the answer. You'll never reach the light at the end of the tunnel without enduring the darkness for awhile. If only Tyler had lived to see the recent repeal of DADT, our country's most visible symbol of government sanctioned homophobia. This painful situation just keeps getting sadder. ~

Steve Jobs oppresses Christians, says gay oppressor NOM

After Steve Jobs yanked anti-gay apps from Apple, the recently re-dubbed by the Southern Poverty Law Center "Hate Group" NOM [National Organization for Marriage] of course, had to whine, just like the Family Research Council did on Hardball about their own new Hate crown, but with a video only slightly less slimy than FRC's Tony Perkins. Notice how the music changes from the bass-line on gay marriage and "pro-abortion" to the sweet, lilting strings of Christian ideals and pro-life. And notice how they say pro-abortion [instead of what it is, pro-choice] as if to convey we are "salivating to kill babies". Using kids to promote bigotry. These Christian Hate Groups have taught their African counterparts well, because as David Bahati said of Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill - its about protecting the children. Who could be against that, right? Surely only the devil [...and hate groups]. In a word - wow. How terrible of Steve Jobs to censor a group who's sole reason for existence is to: oppress women, malign and subjugate gay people and to actively work to see that their kids are bullied to death 'til the Rapture. What a MONSTER. ~

Rainbow Flag Burning: free speech, hate speech, or a teachable moment?

Free speech, when it incites negativity, is worrisome. [Queerty] I'm not quite sure what "appropriate action" means, but Albion College in Michigan insists it took just that after confirming a rainbow flag was burned by students on campus. Apparently desecrating the fag flag yields no punishment. Albion President Donna Randall won't discuss specifics of the case citing privacy laws, but confirmed in a statement Campus Safety officers investigated the incident. And then …? And then told the three students it found responsible they wouldn't face any punishment. While administrators won't discuss the incident further (that includes Campus Safety director Ken Snyder), the students who burned the flag, interestingly, are speaking. The "college doesn’t condone this action, and they know people will be upset but it wasn’t public, it wasn’t targeting one person and no one saw it happen," explains one about why the trio didn't face punishment... Most of the comments on the above article held free speech as the ultimate in this matter. Free speech rules. We know. We get it. But while advocating some tweaking of "free speech" laws to be more along the lines of 'your rights end at the tip of my nose', we understand that its a slippery slope. It's Bill O'Reilly's free speech right to call Dr. George Tiller "Tiller the Baby Killer" endlessly on his FOX show. But in our fanatical world, is it so unexpected that someone ultimately took it upon his unhinged self to carry a gun into Dr. Tiller's church and blow his brains out in the name of Jesus? Was the resulting murder of Dr. Tiller a stretch of our collective imaginations? The analogy that you can't yell fire in a crowded theater needs to be updated to reflect our current, cyber-connected information age - what Jon Stewart calls our 24hr news cycle "Conflictonator" - when a lone fanatic exercising free speech can illicit actual real-time violence. Of course, where would it end? Would suddenly calling Maggie Gallagher from the rabidly anti-gay org National Organization for Marriage (whose sole purpose is to oppress gay Americans) "a stupid cow who just needs a little dick in her life" end with one defending the statement in court after some loon actually rapes her? Possibly. Should we be willing to let the courts and juries parse intentions and actual consequences? Certainly. Bill O'Reilly should be facing that same jury right now. Back to the students burning the rainbow during Pride. They shouldn't be kicked out of school, let alone arrested. However, the University should do something that implies they understand the gravity of the situation, the consequences of anti-gay sentiment however innocently expressed. That they understand the possible domino-effect of provocative acts, however unexpected. Maybe hold a student assembly where the offending students debate their actions with a local GSA or some such group. This would be a teachable moment for everybody. Something. Anything that says ACTIONS, even free speech protected ones, sometimes have unseemly and unwanted consequences.

The 'Black Church' and crocodile tears: Playing victim is SO old school

Just when we've begun to have hope that the next generation has a newer, clearer vision of what equality should be, just when the Eddie Long scandal has become a dialogue about homo-hatred from the pulpit and the trickle down effect on LGBT youth and its culpability in the rash of suicides, an Arizona State University student run paper publishes this opinion piece titled, Religious Stereotyping brings down society, and joins the ranks of bigot crying bigotry. The accusations around Bishop Eddie Long caused tumult between religious and non-religious people...Many people have declared that this incident should force “Black churches” to deal with their homophobia and negative attitude toward homosexuals. The claims of homophobia and negative perceptions of the gay and lesbian community pertaining to the “Black church” could not be further from the truth. According to the Pew Research Center, 85 percent of African-Americans feel that religion is very important to their daily lives. A large majority of African-Americans are Christians, especially of the Baptist denomination as is Long’s church in Georgia. Christianity, though at times this varies between denominations, is largely grounded in the Bible, which opposes, in many scriptures, homosexuality as well as numerous other acts such as bestiality, drunkenness and covetousness. ...These people are merely practicing their faith and what they believe, as do all other religions. It has nothing to do with fear or a negative mindset; it is simply obedience. Concluding that certain religions are homophobic or express negative attitudes about homosexuality is nothing short of a stereotype. ~ Shala Marks Claiming to be the victim is nothing new, neither is using scripture to justify it. But sadly, it is still just as cold-hearted. Take the following verse used in a Life magazine article calling for Christian justice after a brutal murder: Matthew 18:6 - But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. This was the response rebuttal, also published: “In the Scriptural passage quoted by Life’s editoral writer there is a significant qualification: '…those little ones which believe in Me.' Believers are taught to be respectful toward their elders, and to leave others persons’ wives alone." That is an excerpt from the biblical, snippy, and cold justification for the murder of 14 year old Emmett Till printed in the official paper of The Citizens Council, Jackson Mississippi dated Oct, 1955. "Had Emmett Till followed these precepts he would be alive today.” Everyone, especially apologists for religious bigotry, should take the time to read the article and peruse this full archive of the Citizens Council's publications of the day. It’s an amazing trip back into our Black history in America. Because after pointing out that Emmett Till's murder was clearly his own fault, the writer adopts a posture which always follows the demonization of the victim, claiming the good citizens of Mississippi were the real victims, and alluding to the fact that, like Shala Marks stated above, “these people are just practicing their faith” - the article goes on to say: “Life’s crocodile tears flow on: ‘He went, and was slain. In the dark night of this deed his childish cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.’ And so forth. All this is superb tear-jerking emotionalism which compels a sort of grudging admiration, even if one despises the bias and prejudice which inspired it.” Notice the racist jujitsu. Bias? Prejudice? You see, the “liberal” north and its publications like Life Magazine were the actual bigots, and Mississippians were its victims. And in the case of what's commonly described as the Black Church (with its admitted history of condemning homosexuals to the level of “bestiality, drunkenness and covetousness”), Mormon, Catholic and all churches that preach the millions who happen to be LGBT are disordered and against God should take a peek back at their scripture quoting predecessors before they cry foul, or callously claim to be the injured party. Emmett Till did nothing wrong. The blame lays squarely with the rhetoric of those 50's era Citizens Councils -- which later morphed into the Council of Conservative Citizens,in 1985 and are still openly racist, and not surprisingly, proudly homophobic to this very day. In 1955 Mississippi just being black could suddenly rile good Christians to shoot you in the head. And they, too, were just being "obedient" to their own odious interpretation of the bible. So yes, claiming to be the victim is nothing new, neither is using scripture to justify it. Lost in all of this are the real victims though - you know, the ones who die. John F. Kennedy said, "you're judged by the company you keep". Therefore today's college students should bone up on their history before they align themselves with the oppressors like 2010's conservative "Family" oriented groups -- like Maggie Gallagher's National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Tony Perkin's Family Research Council (FRC)) -- all virulently anti-gay, all cry victim, and all rooted in the same intolerant, racist Citizens Councils of Black America's past. ~