Earlier this week, Megan Rauscher reported the findings of a recent study on race/ethnicity among MSMs, or men who have sex with men, in San Francisco: http://in.reuters.com/article/health/idINTRE5654MK20090706  In the study, published in the June 2009 issue of AIDS Behavior, a scholarly journal devoted to research on AIDS, researchers Raymond and McFarland seek to explore a paradox found in recent research on AIDS among MSMs: HIV/AIDS rates are much higher among Black men who have sex with men, but they are no more likely to engage in “risky” sexual practices (e.g., sex without condoms, sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol). 

Like previous research, they found that Black MSMs are more likely to have partners of the same race.  It’s the rest of the research that turns this seemingly innocent same-race preference into something much more disgusting: among their Asian, Latino, and white participants, Black men were consistently rated as the least desirable among these four racial/ethnic groups and perceived as the greatest risk for HIV/AIDS infection.  Even among their Black participants, they found that Black men were not their top...

On Monday, June 22 the National Sexuality Resource Center sponsored a panel discussion of the film Still Black:A Portrait of Black Transmen after the film’s Frameline debut as a part of the NSRC’s Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality. Panelists included JayR Rosemon from Dimensions Clinic; Zion Johnson founding member of the Lou Sullivan Society; Shawn Demmons, an MPH Candidate San Francisco State University and a Point Foundation Scholar; and Amy Sueyoshi, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University.

Amy Sueyoshi agreed to share her comments from that panel in my blog. Her comments are a valuable resource for sexuality educators interested using Still Black in the classroom as a tool for teaching about sexuality, gender, and race.

I know what you are thinking. Cocktales? WTF is Cocktales? Please let me explain. Cocktales is not some new gay club opening in the Castro that centers on men’s cocks with hella cheap happy hour specials. There will be no Black Supermen or Asian Hotties being served at the bar—if you never had one, please speak with your bartender IMMEDIATELY cause you missing out. Cocktales, my friends is something completely not alcohol related. KEEP READING! Cocktales is really apart of a new men’s social campaign, The Men’s Story Project, that provides a forum for men to share their personal stories about social ideas of masculinity, gender socialization, and how they navigate their journey to manhood. In a society where men are constantly inundated with ideas and values that suggest the only way to be a man is to fuck bitches and get money, the Men’s Story Project says NO. For all my academics out there let me spit it to you like this- Cocktales is a social project that provides a forum for all men to share stories that highlight the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, religion, and class. It questions hegemonic notions of masculinity while simultaneously agitating normative and hetero-normative beliefs and ideologies that have been strategically created and deployed to police...

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) and immigrant rights are two hotly contested areas of policy advocacy and community organizing in the United States today. Millions of immigrants marched on streets of large and small cities of the US in spring of 2006 in their opposition to draconian immigration bills, and demanding legalization for all immigrants. While Gay marriage, Employment Non-Discrimination, equal treatment in the US military, and Hate Crime legislation has been the clarion call of the LGBTQ movement in the recent years.  LGBTQ immigrants find themselves uniquely positioned on the boundaries of both these movements. Voices of LGBTQ immigrants have often been on the margins of these movements.

There is little discussion of how immigration is also an issue for LGBTQ people, and even less analysis of the structural similarities between queer and immigrant struggles. LGBTQ immigrants are marginalized or invisible at the intersection of two identities. As a whole, more complex family structures -- such as those of binational...

I drive to campus daily. On my commute, I have noticed a growing number of “sex can wait” messages on billboards carried by the communications company Clear Channel. In each of the ads, we see young brown people prominently featured. These “sex [act] can wait” billboard messages support messages that are clearly promoting what Dr. Gil Herdt calls “sexual ignorance” in our society. We know there is a powerfully aggressive resistance in American culture towards any real attempts put forth to demystify sexuality, especially when considering the youth of the nation. This resistance to endowing the young with sexual literacy stems from multiple locations of power (education system, political system, religion, the institution of family) and permeates the social structure on every conceivable level. This being such, the billboards eventually lead me to wonder what a counter-message would say.

Would it speak about the beauty and power of human sexuality? Or would it invite commuters to find out about how satisfying sex can be when you have a sound background in sexual education regardless of ones, age, sexual orientation or level of income? Simply thinking about a billboard sponsored by the National Sexuality Resource Center for example, made me wonder, how do...