Mano a Mano - Gay Latinos

Check out this report from the BBC about the double stereotypes facing gay Latinos in the Americas.

An excerpt:

"Just as mainstream gay media stereotype Latinos, so the US media has mischaracterised Latin America and not picked up on the greater acceptance of gay people in the region."

The article also describes the organization Mano a Mano, a community outreach project based in New York that aims to increase the well-being, visibility and political power of the Latino LGBTQ community.

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And They Finally Kiss Again - Noah and Luke, As The World Turns

After 211 days, 14 hours, 45 minutes, and 45 seconds, Luke and Noah finally kiss again on As The World Turns. From YouTube is this video showing the first, second, and third kissing sessions throughout the past year.



Like sunshine.

And all this without CBS being fined for promoting gay lifestyles, an unfortunate and recent situation that befell a television station in Singapore for depciting a gay couple.

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Some Local Pride Across The Universe - Rufus Wainwright

Montrealer Rufus Wainwright won his second Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Award for his role in fighting homophobia in the entertainment industry.



Congrats Rufus!

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The World is Watching - Obama in 30 Seconds

Here is one outstanding entry, entitled The World is Watching, in MoveOn.org's Obama in 30 Seconds contest.


by Edward Minjarez

Important Dates
April 21st: 1st Round Voting Begins
April 27th: 1st Round Voting Ends
April 29th: Finalists Announced
April 29th: Judging Panel Begins
TBD: Winners Announced

Click here to vote for your favourite Obama ads.

Hockey Unites Montreal - Happy Persons Of All Colors

It seems that everyone, including me, is a hockey fan in this city when the Montreal Canadiens are in the playoffs, and despite the violence that erupted after the team's 5-0 win that eliminated the Boston Bruins, it was inspiring to see how, even if just for a passing moment, boys, girls, men, and women of all sexual identities and cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds came together to celebrate as one city united.

My chance encounter the next day with forward Chris Higgins, who was kind enough to let me congratulate and take a picture of him, was excellent!



Thanks Chris. GO HABS GO!

Happy Birthday Earth Day - 22 April 2008

Earth Day was born in 1970 as the brainchild of Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. It's already Earth Day 2008 in some parts of the world, and the event brings together hundreds of millions of people addressing both global and local environmental issues, one of which is the necessity of trees on our planet.

Learn more.

Hot Chip - Colours

From Hot Chip's 2006 album The Warning.

Brazil's unprecedented action plan to combat HIV/AIDS

On 25 March 2008, the Brazilian Ministry of Health launched an unprecedented action plan aimed at containing the incidence of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, men who have sex with men (MSM), and transvestites. The plan, which prioritizes issues, such as the reduction of the vulnerabilities associated with sexual orientation, guaranteed access to AIDS prevention, increased information regarding GLBT communities, and guaranteed action by all three levels of government has the stamp of approval from several organizations, including the National Association of Transvestites (ANTRA) and the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transsexual Association (ABGLT).



Posters, like the one above, read "Do whatever you want, but do it with a condom" and will be distributed in gay bars, nightclubs, parties, other places frequented by gay men, and in related civil society organizations.

Progress.

Learn more.

Proud Heritage site to be launched this Friday 18 April

After three years of research and development, Proud Heritage, a new online British national museum for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history and cultural ancestry will go live this Friday 18 April 2008.

Another creative example of how the Internet is helping to unite and educate people across the globe.

Bookmark the Proud Heritage online museum here.

Classic Claire - Six Feet Under

Thank you Pilar!

Check out this hilarious clip of a stoned Claire on Six Feet Under channeling wisdom at the dinner table.



"Now it's just the women and the people of color who are clearing."

Funny, and deep.

A Lack of Color - Death Cab for Cutie

From Death Cab for Cutie's 2003 album Transatlanticism.

Signature - Amnesty International

Hat Tip to A.H.!



Signature from 2007 won a Gold Lions Prize in Cannes and illustrates how signing petitions can provide real help to victims of torture, abuse, arbitrary imprisonment, and other human rights violations.

Powerful, artful.

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Gay Persons of Color vs. Gay Persons of Colour

When I started this blog in 2006, I made the choice to call it Gay Persons of Color instead of Gay Persons of Colour. I opted for the American, rather than the Canadian or British spelling of the word color. As an editor and writer, I wondered about breaking Canadian grammatical standards to offer increased access to the more populous nation to the south.

I am content that I chose color. Why? Not because I feel more American than Canadian (whatever that means), but because color simply is more economical. Fewer letters mean less printable text, which means less paper. Not that I am fanatical enough about this to want to shorten all words that in my opinion contain too many letters, but think about how much paper we could really save if we did reduce words like colour, honour, and favour to their bare essentials. In any case, at a time in history when we should all be making efforts to save the planet, why not try to use less when we don't really have to use more to be understood?

IN THE LIFE - Challenging Convention - April 2008

From the controversial children's book And Tango Makes Three to coming out in Poland, the segments of this month's IN THE LIFE celebrate LGBT communities that challenge convention.

Check out IN THE LIFE here.

Pangea Day - 10 May 2008

Pangea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras roughly 250 million years ago, before each of the component continents were separated into their current configuration.

On Pangea Day, 10 May 2008, Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked to produce a 4-hour program of films, music, and speakers, which will be broadcast live across the globe. Pangea Day aims to use the power of film to bring the world closer together.

Here is one of the anthems for Pangea Day in which a Japanese troupe performs the Turkish National Anthem:



Outstanding.

Learn, hear, and see more.

Beautiful Otherness - Bent

From Bent's 2003 album The Everlasting Blink.

Homophobia, Gay Sex, Jay Leno, Ryan Phillippe

In response to Jay Leno's recent awkward, unfunny, and homophobic over-sexualization of Ryan Phillippe's early career gay role on soap opera One Life to Live comes this article at SFGate which debunks the myth of nasty rampant gay sex in the homosexual community and cites a study that actually suggests that homophobes are turned on by homoerotocism.

An excerpt:

"Or, according to a 1996 study by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology that was unearthed online this week, homophobic behaviors are just the schoolyard bully's more obvious version of a hanky code. As it turns out, homophobes are proving that they are indeed turned on by homoeroticism. Which, we like, totally already knew, but still, as Ed Brayton sums up in his post at ScienceBlogs, the study 'found that those who are homophobic are much more likely to be aroused by male homoerotic imagery than those who are not.'"

Now, I wonder if gay heterophobes are aroused by heteroerotocism...

Read more.

Gary Younge on Geraldine Ferraro

Sorry, this post is a bit long, but please bear with me on this one. I concur with Gary Younge's take last week on Geraldine Ferraro's defense of her racist comments against Barack Obama.

Ferraro's initial comments:
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Ferraro's retort to critics of her initial comments:
"Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist. I will not be discriminated against because I'm white. If they think they're going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don't know me."

Gary Younge, on Alternet:
"There are many problems with her retort, but for now let's just deal with two. First, no one from Obama's campaign actually called her a racist. Obama called her comments 'divisive' and 'patently absurd.' His chief strategist, David Axelrod, called her 'divisive' and 'polarizing.'

Second, the comments are patently racist. Indeed, they are taken straight from the playbook of late-twentieth-century racism. Before the civil rights era the accusation used to be that black people could not succeed because they were black. Once affirmative action was introduced the emphasis shifted to suggest that they succeeded only because they were black. Either way the point is clear: black people are genetically ill equipped to succeed on their own merits...There is a word for people who consistently deny the existence and effects of racism while denigrating black achievement. It's called racist. It is not a word that should be used casually, and it is a word that has at times been misused. But it is not a word that we should refrain from using simply because some people might be offended. Ferraro is a racist. That's not all she is. And that's not all she has to be. But that is what she has consistently chosen to be in her response to black men in politics."

Brilliant analysis? I think so, and very post-worthy.

Read more.