Some of my best friends are straight men

The thing about living in Montreal is that there are all kinds of lifestyles intersecting in this very diverse and cosmopolitan city. Whether or not this is the reason that some of my best friends are, in fact, straight men is still up in the air. In any case, I recently came across the book Max and Sven, created in the 1990s, by Tom Bouden, about two childhood mates who maintain their friendship into adulthood despite Sven's being straight and Max's being gay, and I started wondering or fantasizing about a world where the lines between straight and gay were so blurred that any kind of characterization based on sexuality would somehow be trivial to the point where the labels gay, bisexual, straight, queer, etc. would seem to ultimately serve only a superficial purpose, rather than a lifestyle.

Question - Have gay people surrounded themselves by other gay people too much at the expense of widening horizons and experiencing non-same-sex love?

Over the Feminist Rainbow

Thanks A Womyn's Ecdysis!
This is great.

Somewhere over the rainbow
where I can’t see
There's a place that I dream of
called feminist equality

Somewhere over the rainbow
womyn of color fly
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Some day I'll speak and be believed
And wake up where there is no rage inside me
Where oppression melts like lemondrops
and racism ends like lollipops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
womyn of color fly
I watch others fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

Some days I read hooks and Lorde
And dream of Anzaldua’s sword
My words come from harvest crops
and carries to the mountain tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Freedom flies
I need to fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If feminism says I can fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

-adapted from the original song Over the Rainbow by Yip Harburg, and originally posted at A Womyn's Ecdysis.

White American youths happier than non-white counterparts

Thanks Racialicious!

According to a poll conducted by The Associated Press and MTV and published in The New York Times, young white Americans ages 13-24 are happier than their non-white counterparts in all aspects of life.

Read more.

Question - Will there ever come a time when people of all ethnic backgrounds will be equally happy in America or in any other place in the world where they coexist?

The Gay Kiss on As The World Turns

The first gay male teen kiss on American daytime television occurred on the 17 August 2007 episode of As The World Turns between Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann). It may not stop hatred, but it does give a little bit of validation to a whole generation of young gay men.

National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), What is it like being black and gay?

"There are no special rights. We don't want special rights. What I want is what was mine before you took it away from me. That's what I want." Reverend Deborah L. Johnson

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) addresses the combined effects of racism and homophobia within black communities. Read more.

Alvaro Orozco in hiding

The CBC is reporting that Alvaro Orozco, 22, a Nicaraguan who fears being killed in his home country because of his sexual orientation has gone into hiding somewhere in Toronto after his latest bid to stay in Canada failed. Orozco fled Nicaragua apparently because of the laws against homosexuality. But because he wasn't sexually active as a teenager, the courts deemed it impossible to verify his sexuality.

Question - How does one prove their sexual orientation if one is not sexually active?

Read more.

What if?

What if the words "gay" and "lesbian" were adjectives only? What if gays and lesbians were called "gay human beings" and "lesbian human beings" instead of just gays and lesbians? What if Arabs, Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and Whites were called "Arab human beings," "Asian human beings," "Black human beings," "Latino human beings," and "White human beings"? I'm sure you get my point.

Florida Representative Bob Allen afraid of "stocky black guy" in restroom?

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that after his arrest on charges of solicitation last month, Bob Allen, the white Republican Florida state Representative who has voted against several gay rights measures, maintains his innocence and says he agreed to pay a "stocky black guy" $20 USD to perform oral sex because he was afraid of being assaulted.

The "stocky black guy" was undercover cop Danny Kavanaugh, who recalled entering the park restroom where the alleged solicitation took place. Kavanaugh apparently saw Allen twice peering over a toilet cubicle as the officer was drying his hands. The officer then entered the cubicle and the two negotiated the sex deal, after which Allen turned and motioned for Kavanaugh to follow him to his car. It was then that Kavanaugh revealed himself as an officer.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

"When Allen was being placed in a marked patrol car, he asked whether 'it would help' if he was a state legislator, according to a police report. The officer replied, 'No.'"

Strange reaction for someone who is afraid of a "stocky black guy."

Read more.

Me on CKUT 90.3 FM McGill Radio Montreal

For those of you who missed it on Friday, you can listen to me interviewed on CKUT 90.3 FM McGill Radio Montreal.

I discuss what it's like to be gay, Filipino, and Canadian all at the same time.

To listen, click here and:

1) Select the date "Fri Aug 3"
2) Select the start time "14:00"
3) Select the stop time "15:00"

The interview begins at around the 20 minute mark of the show, and the recording is archived for two months. Cheers!