Gays in the Holocaust - Christine Thomas

As morbid as it sounds, the Holocaust is my favorite historical period to study. Ever since reading The Diary of Anne Frank when I was in middle school, I've been fascinated by the plight of those oppressed by the Nazi regime. Since I was in Washington, D.C., last weekend for an Honors conference, I decided to stop by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum--said to be one of the greatest in the world. Going through this museum and looking at each of the powerful exhibitions, I realized that, although many groups suffered at the hands of Hitler's army, the only people being featured in the museum were the Jewish victims. Being such an activist for LGBT awareness, I was frustrated and offended that those who wore the pink triangles and the black triangles were not being represented. In the gift shop, I did find one bookshelf primarily dedicated to the suffering of the homosexual males in concentration camps during World War II, but that was about it. What is it that makes the yellow star so much more important? Understandably, the Jews did make up the majority of the victims of the Holocaust, but the Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, communists, the disabled, the mentally ill, and so many others suffered greatly. We don't really get to hear much about that in the history books or, regrettably, in respectable historical museums.

Holocaust education isn't the only area in which Jewish oppression is seen as the only struggle worth noticing. When concentration camps were liberated in 1945 at the end of World War II, the only group not to be freed was comprised of homosexual males. Paragraph 175, anti-gay legislation in Germany, was still in effect during this time. Therefore, those who wore the pink triangle were forced to serve their full sentence for a "crime" they were accused of by Adolf Hitler. Seems logical, right? Although antisemitist attitudes began to change at the end of Hitler's reign, homophobic tendencies have only recently begun to possess the same taboo--and we still make excuses for or accept the opinions of those who express anti-gay sentiment. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

I encourage everyone to learn more about the forgotten victims of the Holocaust--including the "antisocial" lesbian bearers of the black triangle, and the gay men who were forced to wear the pink triangle. Here are a few resources you might wish to browse that will give you more information on LGBT suffering during World War II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_homosexuals_in_Nazi_Germany_and_the_Holocaust
http://www.ilga-europe.org/europe/issues/holocaust
http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm
http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/herstory/f/BlackTriangle.htm
(Google related keywords... there are so many resources that I'd love to share!)

Gays in the Holocaust - James Goodson

Safe Sex - Christine Thomas

Homosexuality isn't all about sex. The LGBT community works hard to shatter the stereotype that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals only care about the coital aspects of their sexual identities. Sometimes, however, in our attempts to be seen for more than our sexual desires, we lose sight of the fact that sexual education is important. In public school sex ed classrooms, students are lucky of they learn the details of safe heterosexual sex and the prevention of STDs--avoiding pregnancy seems to be the only concern in most cases. There is pretty much a zero chance of students learning that STD prevention in the gay and lesbian community is just as important as preventing babies.

Every day, there are 7,400 new infections of HIV. Even though we've come a long way since the days of referring to this disease as GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency), and we know that HIV/AIDS is not the "gay plague," it is still a very real danger to the gay community. The spread of other less-lethal sexually-transmitted diseases is a concern, as well. Condoms remain the most importnat and effective tool in safe sex practices. To put it eloquently, wrap it before you tap it. It may seem like a hassle in the heat of the moment, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term annoyances.

Lesbians need to worry about sexual health, as well. Even without genital penetration, the spread of contact-contagent STDs is still possible. Dental dams and condom-covered fingers are useful to women who wish to practice safe sex with one another. Once again, it might sound silly or seem like an inconvenience, but there are several infections that may be spread through oral sex and mutual masturbation, and these may be prevented with proper precautions.

Finally, everyone--regardless of their sexual orientation--should be tested for sexually transmitted diseases on a regular basis: between each sexual partner if not more often. It might not be a bad idea to go with your sexual partner to be tested, just to make sure you are being honest, open, and safe with one another.

I have been in the waiting room with too many friends as they waited for the results of their HIV tests. I have heard too many friends talk about their medication and treatment of chlamydia, gonnorhea, and herpes. Sexually transmitted diseases can be annoying, permanent, and even life-threatening. Know your status, and take appropriate precautions to keep yourself and your partner safe.

For more information on sexual health in the LGBT community, check out these resources:

http://www.gannett.cornell.edu/top10Topics/sexualhealth/diseasePrevention/default.html
http://www.lgbthealth.net/resources1.shtml#3
http://qublgbt.wordpress.com/welfare/sexual-health/

Safe Sex - James Goodson

National Equality March - Christine Thomas

Gay Pride & the National Equality March



When the LGBT community gets together, one of the activities we enjoy most is marching. We don’t seem to care much where we do it, it doesn’t matter what time of year it is, and we don’t need any one reason—we just like getting together, making signs, chanting and cheering at the top of our lungs, and causing a big scene no matter where we end up. I mean, sure, it’s most effective when we go somewhere like Tallahassee, FL, to demand our rights from our state’s capitol at the Rally in Tally; or when we go to Washington, D.C., to participate in a nation-wide show of force to demand our rights from our nation’s capitol during the National Equality March. Still, if the LGBT community can get some attention by being a part of a big gay parade anywhere, anytime, for any reason, we’re in.

Why did we start up with this whole “marching” thing, anyway? I think we’ve got the Stonewall Riots of 1969 to thank for this particular tradition in the LGBT movement, as the first gay pride march occurred one year after the riots in order to celebrate their anniversary. “The first marches were both serious and fun, and served to inspire the widening activist movement; they were repeated in the following years, and more and more annual marches started up in other cities throughout the world. In New York and Atlanta the marches were called Gay Liberation Marches, and the day of celebration was called ‘Gay Liberation Day;’ in San Francisco and Los Angeles they became known as Gay Freedom Marches and the day was called ‘Gay Freedom Day.’ As more towns and cities began holding their own celebrations, these names spread.” (Stolen straight from Wikipedia.org.)

Last Friday, several members of UWF’s Gay-Straight Alliance embarked on a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Equality March. Some of these members rode on a bus for over 24 hours, traveling all over Florida to pick up students from other Universities before heading on a course to the nation’s capitol. Unfortunately, yours truly was having her own fun at a leadership retreat and could not participate in the LGBT festivities, but I’ve heard all sorts of magnificent stories. Those in attendance at the National Equality March got to hear from speakers such as Judy Shepard and Lady Gaga… those speakers alone would have made it worth the trip, in my opinion. There was lots of cheering, lots of flag-waving, over 300,000 LGBT individuals and their allies, and best of all… a ton of pride and demands for equality. Words cannot express how very proud I am of my friends and fellow GSA members for participating in this monumental event.

Check out these fabulous videos from the National Equality March!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=national+equality+march&search_type=&aq=f

National Equality March - James Goodson

Pride - Christine Thomas

Pride

There are many models of the “Stages of Coming Out,” but my personal favorite is a six-step model consisting of the following:

1. Identity Confusion
2. Identity Comparison
3. Identity Tolerance
4. Identity Acceptance
5. Identity Pride
6. Identity Synthesis

To sum it up, when a person realizes that he or she (to simplify my typing, let’s just go with “he”) is somehow different (for our purposes, we’ll just use the blanket term “gay”), there is a psychological process that he goes through in coming to terms with this new realization. It starts with confusion: he’s not quite sure why he’s attracted to other guys and tries to deny or fight against these feelings. Next, he begins to compare himself to others, noticing that he is different and trying to figure out what exactly a gay person is comprised of. In the tolerance stage, he begins to admit to himself that maybe he could be gay, and in the acceptance stage, he starts to come out to others. We can refer to the pride stage as the “I’m here, I’m queer” stage. This level is all rainbows and gay paraphernalia all the time. When reaching the level of synthesis, he begins to see himself as a person who happens to be gay, rather than a person who lives and breathes nothing but homosexuality and gay culture.

While Identity Synthesis is the ideal level in coming to terms with one’s sexuality, the stage that seems to bring the LGBT community together is #5: Identity Pride. For one, the word “synthesis” just isn’t as easy to rhyme, say, or tweak as the word “pride.” For another, I think it takes individuals who at least keep a toe in the Identity Pride stage to really make a difference when it comes to LGBT equality. If we were going to make this model a scale, I’d be at about 5.5—halfway between Pride and Synthesis. Most of the time, I don’t go around thinking or talking about being bisexual. Contrary to popular belief, I’ve got a life outside of LGBT activism that doesn’t involve my sexuality whatsoever. I’m pretty well synthesized, if I do say so myself. Really, though, since such a huge part of my life consists of the fight for equal rights, my sexual preference (and the preferences of my friends and activist colleagues) is a consistent topic of conversation. Therefore, I still wiggle around a bit with Identity Pride.

If you haven’t noticed, pride is a really big deal in the LGBT community. It’s important to not only accept our sexuality, not only to not be ashamed of it, but to announce it loud and proud just to make sure we’re grabbing everyone’s attention. I like to think of pride as more than an excuse to wear lots of loud crazy rainbow accessories… pride is more of a tool in the battle for equality. Think about it. If the LGBT community was guaranteed 100% equal rights and no discrimination, would we have any need to scream and shout about our sexuality? No. We’d be considered (insert gasp here) normal members of society, and would have no need to go any further than accepting and understanding who we are. As it is, however, we face all sorts of hate crimes and the legal inability to marry and denial of employment and housing and… you get the picture. Therefore, we have to show “the man” that we are proud of being members of the LGBT community and that we do not want to change to fit into society’s pre-determined mold of who is and is not worthy of equal rights due to issues of sexual preference. In this way, we use pride to help us achieve our ends.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my rambling on the subject of pride. This was all really very train of thought and I’m just glad you people seem to care enough to read about my random LGBT musings. Thanks a bunch and have a great week. :D

Pride - James Goodson

Matthew Shepard - Christine Thomas

I am an extremely passionate person. When I throw myself into a cause, I dive in head-first and become so involved that you’ll likely never see me again. This is how I am when it comes to the fight for LGBT equality. Every now and then, though, activism gets to be so routine or so enjoyable that I may need a little reminder of why I fight so hard. Each time I reach this point, I think of Matthew Shepard.

Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming in the 1990s. He was really just a regular guy, with a mind for activism and a generally optimistic outlook, as well as some inner struggles with depression and peer pressure. You know, a normal twenty-something, just like the rest of us. Matthew also happened to be gay, and like other young gay males, he faced challenges related to his sexuality and discrimination from the bigots in his town.

On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at a local bar. After offering Matthew a ride, the two strangers robbed and tortured him before tying him to a fence post outside of Laramie, Wyoming, and leaving him with severe brain trauma. It was another eighteen hours before Matthew was found, and life support sustained him for five more days before he succumbed to his inoperable injuries and passed away on October 12, 1998.

Less than a year later, Matthew Shepard’s murderers were brought to as much justice as the court system can provide for such a heinous act. Matthew is now seen as a martyr for the cause of equal rights and ending discrimination against homosexuals. Songs and films have been written in honor of Matthew, as well as a very popular play entitled “The Laramie Project.” The Matthew Shepard Act (officially called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act) has been passed, including sexual orientation as a legally-recognized basis for hate crimes. Matthew’s tragic death has opened many eyes to the plight of the LGBT community, and he is remembered annually on October 12. (This year, the UWF GSA will be holding a candlelight vigil that night on the Cannon Greens.)

While watching the U.S. House of Representatives discuss the Matthew Shepard act on April 29, 2009, via streaming video online, I came to a harsh realization. The speakers spoke at length about Matthew Shepard, as well as of several other young gay men who have been killed in recent years because of their sexual orientation. Each of the cases mentioned featured homosexual victims who were in their late teens or early twenties, male, and generally well-liked. Hearing these cases, I began to draw parallels between the traits of the victims discussed and those of my own friends—the vast majority of whom happen to be young, gay men. Allowing myself to think further on these hard-to-swallow comparisons, I fully realized why I fight so hard to advocate for equal rights and acceptance: I don’t want to live in fear that one day, one of my best friends will be tied to a fence post outside of Laramie, Wyoming.

I’m a bubbly little activist. I put on a smile and use my enthusiasm to educate and advocate in the name of LGBT equality. I fight with compassion and perseverance for the people who make my life worth living. My friends mean the world to me, and the fact that most of them happen to fit into a demographic that has to be protected by hate crimes legislation terrifies me more than they will ever know. I will do whatever is within my power to make sure that Matthew Shepard did not die in vain, and to protect my friends from lethal ignorance and hatred.

For more information on Matthew Shepard and related issues, visit the following websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/shepard1.html

http://www.wiredstrategies.com/shepardx.html

Matthew Shepard - James Goodson

LGBT Community - Christine Thomas

It’s been a long day, so today’s blog is gonna’ be pretty chill. Let’s take a break from the hot issues and have a bit of a history lesson, shall we?

For centuries, homosexuals existed on the fringe of society; the LGBT community as it stands today did not begin to form until June of 1969 with the Stonewall Riots of New York’s Greenwich Village. This significant series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations was the first recorded incidence of homosexuals fighting back against governmental oppression on a unified scale. Stonewall served as the turning point between homosexuality being seen merely as a societal and romantic alternative, and homosexuals coming together to form an alliance in pursuit of recognition and equality.

After this point, the gay rights movement was truly born. In the past four decades, organizations advocating same-sex equality have become common, demonstrations and marches have become regular occurrences, and gays have become increasingly visible in the community and in the media. Gays are no longer denied service in bars; alternatively, “gay bars” are becoming veritable hot spots for people of all sexualities. The United States is making significant strides toward legalizing gay marriage in every state, and several countries have already beaten us to this goal. Now that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals have come together as a unit to fight for their rights, social progress is being made.

On top of the political movements made possible by the LGBT community, the existence of the community itself has become an important feature in the lives of many who do not identify as “straight.” Those who may now claim membership to the LGBT community would, several decades ago, have had a much more difficult time finding such a support group of like-minded individuals who share their lifestyle. Thanks to the coming-together of those with sexualities alternative to heterosexual, the gay rights movement is snowballing toward success.

Those are my two cents for the day. All of the above info has come straight from Wikipedia and my own little brain. Nothing too hardcore this week—I’m just grateful to be a part of such an awesome group of LGBT individuals (and allies!) as the UWF Gay-Straight Alliance and felt like saying so.

LGBT Community - James Goodson

Bisexuality - Christine Thomas

As a bisexual girl, I like to think I’ve got the best of both worlds. I am very happy with my philosophy that people love people, regardless of gender. The way I see it, some people have a “type.” You know, brown hair, nice teeth, sense of humor, love of video games… in my totally unscientific and unsupported-by-any-evidence-at-all kind-of world, a specific gender might just be one such quality. Someone’s “type” happens to always be male or female, for whatever reason, on top of blue eyes and athletic talent. Well, I’ve just never been too picky about those kinds of things.

I’ve been told that I have an unfair advantage as a bisexual. I can pass as a heterosexual when it’s convenient and theoretically avoid the discrimination faced by the LGBT community as a whole. On the other hand, I can fit in with the LGBT crowd and fully immerse myself in the culture. Unfortunately, the fact that I can float freely between the dichotomous categories of “gay” and “straight” means that I face animosity and even discrimination from both sides of the fence.

Bisexuals, like the rest of the LGBT community, undergo a “coming out” process. From some heterosexuals, I face the typical “liking girls is wrong/gross” attitude, and I can legally be denied housing and visitation and adoption in the state of Florida should I end up with a woman in the long run. From both the heterosexual and homosexual demographics, a new slew of unique criticisms arise:

• One of my personal favorites is the opinion that bisexuality doesn’t exist—that someone has to “pick a side.” I can either be “with” the LGBT community and fight for equality as a minority in our heterosexual society, or I can be a part of the straight community and exist as an ally, but never quite be a part of the “in” group.
• I also enjoy being told that I only claim bisexuality for the attention; apparently, I’m really only attracted to guys, but guys think lesbians are hot, so I make out with girls to get guys to like me. Right. I’ve been attracted to both sexes pretty much equally since the age of six. I seriously doubt I had this particular ulterior motive in the first grade.
• This one’s more of a myth than an act of discrimination, but it still needs to be cleared up: being bisexual does not mean that I desire being with someone of each sex at the same time. A person can quite easily be bisexual and monogamous. Bisexuality determines attraction, not the difference between faithfulness and polygamy.

Alfred Kinsey developed a scale from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual) to determine subjectively but significantly where the human population lies in terms of sexual attraction. This Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale (or Kinsey Scale, as it is popularly known) helped Kinsey and his research colleagues to determine that very, very few people may accurately claim to be completely at one end of the spectrum or the other. In his Sexual Behavior of the Human Female (1953), Kinsey states:

“It is a characteristic of the human mind that tries to dichotomize in its classification of phenomena….Sexual behavior is either normal or abnormal, socially acceptable or unacceptable, heterosexual or homosexual; and many persons do not want to believe that there are gradations in these matters from one to the other extreme.”

(Click here for more information about Kinsey!)

So, yeah. I’m bisexual. I exist. I don’t do it for the attention. I’m cool with monogamous relationships. For me, my sexual orientation really is a simple concept, and I never think I have to “choose” between men and women, or being straight or gay. Call me greedy if you like, but sometimes it feels like it’s too much to ask for if I request both my rights and some respect. Regardless, I think we’re moving in the right direction toward both equality and understanding, and hopefully my little rant has helped to broaden some horizons when it comes to the enigma that is bisexuality.

For more information on the history of bisexuality and the struggles of the bisexual community, here are some references I dug up for my Sex Roles from Anthropological Perspective course:

D’Augelli, A.R. & Patterson, C.J. (1995) Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identities Over the Lifespan. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fraser, M. (1999). Identity Without Selfhood : Simone de Beauvoir & Bisexuality. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Reumann, M. (2005). American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity in the Kinsey Reports. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rust, P.C. (2002). Bisexuality and the Challenge to Lesbian Politics. New York: New York University Press.

Storr, M. (1999). Bisexuality: a Critical Reader. London: Routledge.

Weinberg, M.S., Williams, C.J., & Pryor, D.W. (1995). Dual Attraction : Understanding Bisexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bisexuality - James Goodson

Blood Donation - Christine Thomas

In the United States, when someone wishes to donate blood, they must answer a few simple questions in order to determine their eligibility. Some of the questions that are asked of blood donors include the following:

Are you between the ages of 17 and 60?

Do you have any type of blood clotting disorder?

Have you ever tested positive for HIV?

Are you, or have you ever had sex with, a man who has had sex with another man?

… Wait a sec. Something’s wrong with this picture. You would think that by asking if someone has ever tested positive for HIV would cover all of the medical worries that blood donation centers would have concerning allowing homosexual males to donate blood. Apparently, however, the American Association of Blood Banks and the American Red Cross disagree, and this enrages me on so many levels.

First of all, they ask all females if they have ever knowingly had sex with a man who has had sex with another man. They do not, however, ask males if they have had sex with a female who has had sex with a man who has had sex with another man. Nor do they ask females if they have ever had sex with a man who has had sex with a woman who has had sex with a man who has had sex with another man. I’m not sure if anyone has ever thought to inform the people who make the rules at the blood donation centers, but HIV does not somehow lessen in intensity the further you travel from the “source.” Therefore, there is absolutely no point in excluding people from being potential blood donors simply because they happened to have sex with someone of any gender or sexual history. Don’t they test the blood after they receive it, anyway?

As far as I can see on the Blood Donor History Questionnaire, homosexual men and their lovers are the only groups blatantly discriminated against when it comes to blood donation. (The rest make at least a little sense. Have you ever been a drug user? Are you underweight? Have you spent a significant amount of time in a foreign country after which point you could possibly have become a carrier for a disease that we would like to avoid giving to the person who would receive your blood?) It seems that the people who wrote the questionnaire forgot that African Americans are significantly more likely to have HIV than those of Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American descent. Heterosexual intercourse can also be pretty risky when it comes to women contracting HIV. I don’t see the American Association of Blood Banks or the American Red Cross taking any preventative measures in these areas… does that mean that it’s alright to be homophobic in practice as long as we aren’t racist or sexist?

I cannot donate blood without lying on the questionnaire. Neither can a significant majority of my closest friends. One day, it is my hope that the American Association of Blood Banks and the American Red Cross will see just how superfluous their discrimination of homosexual males and their lovers really is, and my demographic will be able to contribute to this life-changing cause.

To learn more, visit:

• http://www.aabb.org/Content/Donate_Blood/Donor_History_Questionnaires/AABB_Blood_Donor_History_Questionnaire/
• http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2004report/default.htm
• http://www.redcross.org/
• http://www.aabb.org/content

Blood - James Goodson

The Gayby Boom - Christine Thomas

First of all, welcome to the Gay-Straight Alliance of the University of West Florida! We are by far one of the most active, involved, and enthusiastic organizations on campus, and I for one cannot wait to swing into high-gear with GSA this semester.

A new element of GSA this year will be our informative and opinionated weblogging series, featuring the splendiferous James Goodson as our resident vlogger and myself, Christine Thomas, providing the text-based blogs. We will have a new informative, controversial, and/or relevant topic for you every Tuesday on our GSA website, so be sure to check out what we've been up to every week!

So, let's get into it. Last Sunday, James gave me a call to see what we'd be weblogging about this week, and he mentioned something called the "Gayby Boom." As we are wont to do, we began giggling about gay babies being born with rainbow hair and over enthusiastically escalating our conversation to include the gaybies learning choreography before they could walk. After our ruckus quieted down a bit, I realized that James was serious about this topic. There really is a phenomenon known as the Gayby Boom. Whodathunk?

In sociopolitical jargon, a "gayby" is a child of a homosexual couple, either born to them through artificial insemination or acquired through the adoption process. The Gayby Boom came about after the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when there came a sharp increase in the number of gay parents having children (abcnews.go.com). Today, there are 270,000 children living with same-sex parents, and about twenty percent of same-sex couples are raising their gaybies.

"Critics of same-sex marriage say [gaybies] will grown up shunned and sexually confused" (CNN.com). Dale O'Leary, author of "One Man, One Woman: A Catholic's Guide to Defending Marriage," says "A baby is not a trophy -- the child's welfare has to be considered. These children are more likely to experiment with same-sex relationships. They're more likely to be confused and hurt." Ironically enough, O'Leary admits that he does not personally know any same-sex parents or children of same-sex parents. The misunderstanding seems to lie in the fact that too many people are talking about the Gayby Boomers-not enough people are talking to them.

I served as a flower girl for the first time at the age of eight, at the wedding of my mother's best friends Jane and Bonnie. At the time, I had no idea that Bonnie's three children were actually gaybies; I simply thought it was neat that they had two mommies. Today, I know a handful of gaybies at UWF, and I can attest to the fact that they are no more or less screwed up than those of us who were raised by heterosexual parents.

Gaybies!!! - James Goodson