Hello Class!  This is the first official blog for our new class blog.  You will be expected to blog every other week for a total of five blog entries over the semester.  You can reflect on anything of interest to you as long as it is related to LGBT issues in society.  For example, you can reflect on our readings, films we watch in class, topics that are brought up for discussion, current events, or personal experiences.  Blogging is a casaual style of writing so keep it personal, write your opinions, and have fun!  I look forward to reading and commenting on your entries over the semester. 

When I was home in the DC area for winter break, I met up with a good friend who had recently moved there from Indiana.  The first thing he told me was that a professor in his department had been murdered.  "Whoa, that's crazy!" I said, not sure what else to say, and then turning back to look at the books in the "lesbian interest" section of the queer bookstore we were browsing.  I had no idea how tragic the story really was, nor that it would quickly become national (to some degree, even international) news.  On December 28th, Indiana University Professor Don Belton was stabbed to death by Michael J. Griffin.  Griffin used a 10-inch-long knife to stab Belton five to six times, later telling police that he had done so because Belton had sexually assaulted him twice and showed no remorse.  Belton's department, IU Department of English, has expressed their

On The Root, Cord Jefferson raised the commonly asked question: if lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people want to gain the acceptance of the heterosexual majority, why do they dress and behave in ways considered unacceptable, far-fetched, and hypersexual?  http://theroot.com/views/where-s-pride-pride-parades  This question holds considerable weight, whereas LGBT and queer people continue to fight the stereotypes of being consumed by sex, as well as more damaging stereotypes (e.g., pedophilia).  Jefferson makes allusions to the images of Black Civil Rights activists wearing suits and skirts, making clear their message that Blacks, just like any other race of people, are good, moral, upstanding people who deserve the same shot at success and happiness. 

What Jefferson probably doesn’t know is that gay activists have taken on that approach before – Homophile activists in the 1950s.  Recall the activists in front of the White House, dressing...

Proposition 8 passed in California on November 4th, 2008 and The Advocate released its issue #1021 in December 2008, featuring the text "Gay is the New Black" on its cover ... and I'm just now blogging about this all on February 16, 2009.  The issue remains: race and racism must be addressed among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communalities, sexuality and heterosexism must be addressed among communities of color, and the relationship between LGBTQ and communities of color must be assessed and improved.

I'm sure most people know the story by now: immediately following the November 4th election in the US, statistics were released indicating the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state of California.  Included in these numbers were breakdowns by a variety of sociodemographic variables.  The number that caused quite a stir: an overwhelming majority of Black voters in CA approved the proposition.  These numbers were taken out of context, leading to an explicit blame for the proposition's passage on Black Americans.  Although later reports, including one from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, report a much lower percentage of Black voters who supported the proposition, the issue remains: racial hostility among LGBTQ people reared its ugly head.  Even today, with a much lower number of Blacks favoring the proposition's passage, critiques of...

The 21st National Conference on LGBT Equality—Creating Change—convenes next week in Denver, Colorado (January 28-February 1) and NSRC once again plans to be there in support of placing sexual literacy at the very heart of the movement where it has been conspicuously downplayed or disappeared altogether in recent years.

So what does sexuality literacy have to do with achieving LGBT equality?

Everything. And the grassroots LGBT movement is now beginning to recognize and act on it.

This year, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s commitment to...

According the the U.S. Department of State Dec. 10, 2008 press statement, "Today is the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that affirms the inherent rights of people everywhere and enshrines basic freedoms of thought, expression, peaceful assembly, religion, and association." The statement goes further to say, "The United States stands in solidarity with the brave men and women around the globe who work to defend human dignity and advance the cause of freedom."

Really? Most of us gay Americans would argue that the U.S. Department of State has a very long way to go within its own borders in standing in solidarity with us to affirm our human rights.

This is why today is also the perfect day to let America experience a National Day Without Gay.

In the year 2008, 60 years after Article 7 of the Universal Declaration said, "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection under the law....and the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State", the State of...