Gay? Fine by me.

Thanks to all the students and staff who came out to our "Gay? Fine by me" event last week! And very special thanks to ResLife for generously donating the t-shirts!

-GSA Executive Board

Gay Adolescents in the NYTimes

Hey GSAers,

This isn't an official update, just a brief mention. There was an encouraging article about gay middle school kids in the NYtimes today. It's a little lengthy, but well worth the read:

Excerpt:

"

As a response to anti-gay bullying and harassment, at least 120 middle schools across the country have formed gay-straight alliance (G.S.A.) groups, where gay and lesbian students — and their straight peers — meet to brainstorm strategies for making their campus safer. Other schools are letting students be part of the national Day of Silence each April (participants take a vow of silence for a day to symbolize the silencing effect of anti-gay harassment), which last year was held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old gay junior-high student in Oxnard, Calif., who was shot and killed at school by a 14-year-old classmate.

Both G.S.A.’s and the Day of Silence have been controversial in places, as some parents and faculty members object to what they see as the promotion of homosexuality in public schools and the “premature sexualization of the students,” as a lawyer for a school in central Florida that was fighting the creation of a G.S.A. put it. But there is a growing consensus among parents and middle-school educators that something needs to be done to curb anti-gay bullying, which a 2008 study at an all-male school by researchers at the University of Nebraska and Harvard Medical School found to be the most psychologically harmful type of bullying. "

On a side note

Hey GSAers,

On a side note, I know that large portions of the website are nonfunctional right now. The server was updated, and some of the syntax I was using needed to be changed to reflect the new increases in security. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out what I need to change that syntax to, even if it wasn't laborious and tedious, so it's going to be awhile until I can figure it out, or find a work-around.

-Emily

EDIT: Except for the feedback form, I fixed it.

New Semester!

Hey GSAers,

So, it's a new semester, and we're ready to get moving! The current GSA Exec Board had a meeting this weekend to hammer out our agenda for the year, as well as schedule a first meeting for elections. We're working a few things out with Kim Taylor for our first event (Gay? Fine by Me. T-shirts), so we don't have great details yet. We do know, however, that we will be attempting to institute a committee-structure for major events so that everyone can be more involved. Some of the committees and events we will be voting on this year include:

1. Day of Silence
2. Gayla
3. Coming Out Day
4. Outfest
5. Students for Equality Day
6. Transgendered Awareness Day
7. Wellness Fair

There will be an e-mail, more info at the activities fair, and of course- we'll be posting big news here as always.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

-Emily, Webmaster

Point Foundation Scholarship

Hey everyone!
I would like to tell you about the Point Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship offers financial support, mentoring, and training to individuals with high academic achievement and leadership in the LGBT community, especially to members of this community that have been marginalized due to gender expression, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The scholarship often provides financial support to undergraduate and graduate students that have families that either cannot or will not support the individual’s higher education costs. The application to apply is available online beginning in December 2009 through February 2010. More information, the application, and the inspiring stories of current and previous Point Foundation Scholars can be found here http://www.pointfoundation.org/ .

Enjoy your summer!
-Michelle (GSA Secretary)

Jennifer Boylan

Hey GSAers,

For those of you who don't read the New York Times compulsively, Jennifer Boylan wrote an Op-Ed this week that is worth checking out. You can read it here.

I hope everyone's finals are going well!

-Emily Webmaster/Treasurer

COSA

Hey GSAers,

Just a quick update because it's the end of the year: AFAC, Finals, Research Papers, Oh my!

The GSA presented at COSA today on "Implied Hate Speech: Fear of 'Others' in Our Space." If you missed out, you can download it here. It's a fairly accurate outline of our discussion which we filled in with personal experiences about implicit discrimination, both towards us as members of the LGBTQA community or other minority group, friends, etc. At the end of the presentation we opened it up for discussion about the following things:

What can faculty and staff do to foster tolerance?
What value does expressions of pride in the form of chalkings have, in the context of the negative reactions that are consistently induced?
How can we reach out and have good dialogue with those people we don't agree with?

More on this later! Sometime this summer, I swear, some content will get developed. Also, I'll put up the minutes for the last meeting on Friday.

Treasurer/Webmaster,

Emily

GLBTQA Youth websites

http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/RG-glbtyouth.html

http://www.youthresource.com/index.htm
This talks about all sorts of issues which face GLBTQA teens, like safe sex, dealing with your family, coming out, faith and spirituality, and political issues that are in the news right now!

http://www.lesbian.com/youth/youth_intro.html
Lots of links to other websites for Lesbian teenagers

http://www.ambientejoven.org/
Spanish-language site for GLBTQA youth.

http://www.outproud.org/
The National Organization for GLBT youth runs this website. It's sort of cheesy looking, but the content is good.


Happy Surfing!

GLBTQA Issues in the News!

Vermont legalizes Gay Marriage!
On Tuesday, April 7th, the state legislature of Vermont officially legalized Gay Marriage. "The Senate voted 23-5 to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto" (CNN). The action makes Vermont the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriages. The others are Massachusetts, Connecticut and, as of last week, Iowa. This is the first time that such a measure has been passed in legislature, rather than by court ruling (NYTimes.com).
The week before, the state of Iowa struck down its 1998 law which limited the definition of a marriage to the union of a heterosexual couple. The court declared the ruling unconstitutional.
"On the same day that Vermont's House and Senate voted to override the Governor's veto of the bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, the Washington, D.C. City Council voted 12-0 Tuesday in favor of allowing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be recognized in the nation's capital" (CNN). Because Washington, D.C. is not an official state, it must be ratified by the council and by congress.

GLBTQA books disappear from Amazon's listings
Last weekend, hundreds of GLBTQA themed books disappeared from Amazon's list of sales rankings. Publically, Amazon has blamed a computer glitch, but it seems that the fault lies not with the company, but with a hacker, named Weev, who used Amazon's Adult Content blocker to hide the books from view. Books with GLBTQA themes and authors had their sales rankings stripped, which can hide them from view in a search, and can hurt the books' sales, because potential buyers often look at sales rankings to make their decisions. Titles like "Heather Has Two Mommies" by Leslea Newman, "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winters and others all disappeared, but seem to have been restored. Look out for more information later about GLBTQA books in future posts!
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid78891.asp

Tennessee Schools Censor Gay Websites
More than 100 Tennessee schools have firewalled the sites of prominant gay rights organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, GLSEN, PFLAG and others. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has demanded that the school districts amend their firewall policies before April 29th, or they will face lawsuits. Access to the content is protected under the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, religion, and press, as well as Tennessee law.

California Natives allowed to change sex on birth certificates
A new ruling passed by the California state legislature allows all those born in California to change the sex written on their birth certificates. This goes to benefit those transgendered people who are no longer comfortable or no longer identify with the sex written on their birth certificates. The ruling was passed based on the case of Gigi Marie Somers, 67, who was born in California but now resides in Kansas. She has lived as a woman for a decade and underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 2005. She tried to change her birth certificate in Kansas, but was not able to, so she tried the case in California. "We discern no compelling state interest in treating California-born transgender individuals who reside out of state differently from California-born transgender individuals who reside in California when either class seeks issuance of a new California birth certificate," wrote presiding judge James Marchiano.

Gayla and Gay Marriage

Hey GSAers!

The Gayla was an amazing success! A big thanks to everyone who put in the time and money to throw such a gay-positive event. More on that later when I can get some pictures out of Robert & Co.

We also have some pretty encouraging news on the gay marriage front. Vermont's Legislature has voted in gay marriage. This is the first instance of legislature-initiated, as opposed to court-initiated, institution of gay marriage. Woo hoo! More about that here. Iowa's Supreme Court also overturned their ban on gay marriage. While we could still lose this to a referendum, in the meantime, the Iowan LGBTQA community can enjoy some semblance of equality under the law.

I'll try to find better stories/information when I get some free time later.

Until next time,

Emily, Webmaster/Treasurer

Fundraising for Gay Prom!

Hey GSAers,

So, the lovely Kathryn Wanner has come up with an awesome way to fundraise for our gay prom, support a local LGBTQA author and help us continue in that thing we're supposed to be doing at college (learning!), all at once: you can buy the book The 100th Human by Chris Fenwick.

If you're interested in learning more about the book, check out the myspace page for it. It's $10, and 50% of the proceeds come back to GSA. If you're interested, send Kathryn an e-mail at her Ursinus address, and she'll sign you up or answer any questions you have.

Until next time- enjoy your spring break!

-Emily, Treasurer/Webmaster

P.S. Series Finale of the L Word is Sunday. If anyone is interested in having an event when we come back from Spring Break, let me know!

Movies!

Okay, so I stole the password to the blog from Emily, Webmaster Extraordinaire. Procrastination lends itself to a variety of awesome things, like YouTube and finding movies that are of interest to the LGBTQ community. For those with too much free time, or not enough motivation, searching through trailers to LGBTQ movies, and then watching the good ones is a really fun way of wasting 4-12 hours of your life. C.S. Lewis, of "Narnia" fame said that we read to "know that we are not alone." I think that movies can do the same thing, opening us up to new options, or ways of thinking, as well as providing us in the Community with role models, both historical and fictional.

So: The ones that I've found and enjoyed (and some I didn't, but which people say are awesome, so I include):

Milk: Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person ever to be elected to public office, which he was in San Francisco in 1977. Harvey Milk was one of the first leaders of the gay movement, and was often called the Mayor of Castro Street. He was active in the gay community until his assassination, along with the mayor of San Francisco, by fellow supervisor Dan White. Milk won two Academy awards: Best Actor (Sean Penn, for his brilliant performance) and Best Screen play (written by Dustin Lance Black, who also writes for the show Big Love and looks a lot like our own Robert). Milk also stars Emile Hirsch, as activist Cleve Jones, James Franco, Diego Luna and Josh Brolin as Dan White. See also the documentary about Harvey Milk's life, available on hulu.com.

Brokeback Mountain: Brokeback Mountain won Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Soundtrack in the 2005 Academy Awards. BBM, as it is lovingly called on the internet, is about two cowboys in the 1960's who meet while herding sheep one summer on Brokeback Mountian. They fall in love, but duty and societal pressures separate them, although once every few years they meet up again in Wyoming. The film is sad and slow to start, but beautifully done. BBM stars Heath Ledger as the repressed Enis Del Mar, and Jake Gyllenhaal, as the rodeo riding Jack Twist. Also featured are Michelle Williams, who plays Enis' wife, and Anne Hathaway, who plays Jack's.

Okay, so those are two that won major awards. I'm sure that bigger movies will come to me, but for now, a brief survey of more independent films:

Get Real: Who here hasn't ever fallen for someone completeyl inappropriate? Get Real is about a very sexually active gay teen named Steven, who, while trolling the public lavatory for a trick, meets John Dixon, head of the school's track team, and the most popular boy in school. They begin a relationship, but John's insistance that he keep it a secret tears them apart, especially as Steven tries to come out. Get Real is cute, and is set in the UK, so expect boys in uniforms with lovely accents.

Beautiful Thing: More English boys, but this time they are in working class London. Jamie is the son of a single mother, and Ste comes from an abusive family. They are neighbors and one night, after Ste gets beaten up by his drunk father and brother, he crashes at Jamie's house. they realize that there is sexual chemistry, and begin a relationship. Beautiful Thing deals with Jamie's mother's acceptance of her son's relationship with another boy, and with Jamie and Ste's exploration of the gay scene.

Latter Days: Oh the mess that comes when you mix religion and sex. Tsk tsk. Aaron is a naive mormon missionary who goes to Los Angeles for his Mission. He meets Christian, an openly gay, party-animal man-whore, who is dared by his friends to seduce one of the missionaries. He is successful, which leads to a major crisis of faith for Aaron. He goes through rejection, de-gayification and other problems, and Christian realizes he's a bad person and has to changed to get the man of his dreams. Yes it's cliched, but it's cute, and you should watch it because it's happy, and the supporting characters sing, give us wise gobbits for living our lives, and cheeky one liners. Oh and it has Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it, and he's just that good looking.

Shelter: Zach is a talented artist from a poor neighborhood in Southern California (I think it's San Diego, but I can't remember). He sidelines his art school dreams to help his family (his alcoholic sister hasa 5 year old son). He meets and falls in love with his best friend's older brother Shaun. Expect surfing and Southern California machismo, and then lovely surfing/prolongued morning sex montage. Angst and happy endings. More cliches, but it's happy, so shut up.


I don't like sad movies, or ones where everyone dies because they can't be together (although Milk and BBM do end in death and misery, sort of) so I won't talk about them. If you want movies where everyone dies, watch West Side Story.

Juste une question d'amour (Just a Question of Love): French gay movie FTW? Hugely adorable. Laurent is an agriculture student in his last year at university. he's out to his friends, but not his homophobic family. He helps a fellow agricultural scientist, Cedric, with an experiment, and they fall in love. Cedric tries to rush Laurent out of the closet, their mothers get involved, and it becomes a little messy, but it all works itself out in the end.

There are other movies, but we've had 7 movies with male leads, so lets see some lesbians up in here.

D.E.B.S: A spoof on the whole action flick/boarding school romance genre, but with a lesbian twist. Amy is a top-secret operative in a paramilitary organization called DEBS. Lucy is the heiress of a major organized crime fighting ring. Fromt every movie you've ever seen, you know that they are bound to fall in love and live happily ever after. Still, there is drama, declarations of love at prom, and a few chases and bang-'em-up-shoot-'em-up scenes.

But I'm a Cheerleader: Poor Megan! One day, she's a cheerleader, has a boyfriend (and yeah, he's a bad kisser, but...) and a family. The next, she's been told she's a lesbian, and has been shipped off to a weird de-gayification place, where the attendees are taught how to conform to their gender stereotypes. She meets Graham, a daring and exciting lesbian who challenges Megan, and encourages her to discover who she really is for herself. Also features RuPaul as one of the ex-gay camp counselors.

IF these walls could talk 2: This HBO movie tells the stories of three sets of lesbians in 1961, 1972 and 2000 who all lived in the same house. The first couple are the deeply devoted older couple Abbey and Edith. Abbey dies, and her family comes to collect her things. My favorite section, set in 1972, features a group of hippie feminist college-age lesbians who share the house. We are especially interested in the character played by Michelle Williams, who meets and is immediately attracted to Chloe Sevigny's character, who dresses like a man, drives a motor-cycle, and is too butch to be accepted by Williams' friends. The final segment features Ellen Degeneres and Sharon Stone, who are a commited couple who wish to have a baby that is exclusively theirs. This segment contemplates how far we've come, and shows some of the strides the gay and lesbian community has made.

Imagine Me and You: At Rachel's wedding to her long-time boyfriend, Heck, she meets Luce, the florist. Rachel becomes infatuated with Luce, and their friendship grows into something more. Rachel's feelings are complicated by her feelings of obligation to Heck, who is adored by her family, and who she loves, although not as much as she loves Luce.

Gray Matters: Gray and Sam are best friends, perfect room-mates, dance partners, and everyone assumes they're the perfect couple. Only hitch is that they're brother and sister. In order to avoid confusion, they decide to search for each other's perfect mate. When Sam finds Charlie, a beautiful, sexy, smart woman, Gray is over-joyed, but one drunken night in Las Vegas, Gray and Charlie kiss, sending Gray into a confusing search for her sexual identity. Can the dynamic duo survive? (yeah, we're working it here in Arielle's house of fun!)

Loving Annabelle: Annabelle is a rambunctious teenager, new to the exclusive Catholic girls school where she meets Simone Bradley, her dorm head and English teacher. Annabelle's rebellious ways frighten Simone, but she is drawn to Annabelle's magnetism and passion. I hear this is a beautiful movie, and it comes recommended, but let me know what you think...

The Truth about Jane: Usually, in movies, parents are either perfectly accepting from the beginning, or they are the bad guy. Seldom are parents seen as being complicated or having any kind of depth. In the Truth about Jane, Jane is a 15 year old girl who is realizing her sexuality, and beginning to come out. Her mother, played by Stockard Channing, has gay male friends, but is surprisingly harsh and unaccepting of her daughter's sexuality. Surprisingly, her father is much more accepting, which goes against the general stereotype that mothers are understanding and fathers are harsh with their homosexual offspring.

Transgendered and Transsexual people are not entirely accepted in our society yet, so there are not that many movies that portray transexuals in a positive way. Nonetheless, I have included two that I enjoyed.

Transamerica: Felicity Huffman stars as Bree, a Female-to-Male transsexual who is just about to go under the knife for sexual re-assignment surgery. One week before her scheduled surgery, she gets a phone call from a boy who says he is her son, from a one night stand in college with Bree's college girlfriend. Bree goes from LA to New York to get the kid, intending to dump him off in Indiana, where he came from, but circumstances intervened, and Bree meets many fascinating people on the way home.

Beautiful Boxer: If one were to walk down the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, you'll see transsexuals and cross-dressers and every other kind of gender and sexual expression. these "in-between people" are called Khathouies, and Bangkok has become a hot-spot for sexual reassignment surgery. Beautiful Boxer tells the true story of Parinya Charoenphol, or Nong Toom, a young boy from Chiang Mai, in the north, who feels a desperate need to become a woman. To support his family and to raise money for his surgery, he becomes a professional muai Thai kick-boxer. His coach learns that Nong Toom is a transsexual, and encourages him to wear make-up and take hormones. Nong Toom gains international fame, but at what price? It's mostly in Thai, but most versions I've found have English subtitles, and the translation isn't awful.

Happy Watching!!!

--Arielle, Movie Freak, and GSA Member

Meeting Update

Hey GSAers!

We had a meeting tonight. A quick summary:

-There will be a bake sale in the library tomorrow to raise funds for the Gay Gala to be held sometime in the future.
-The party to be held with Rising Suns is in a holding pattern, but we'll be posting details as soon as we have them.
-The possibility of Airband has come up. If you're interested, please contact Ryan because we want to put on a serious performance if we're going to do one. We're thinking about ten people, at least.
-Anyone interested in an L Word Series Finale study break? Maybe a Milk showing?
-National Day of Silence is coming! We're thinking of charging $2 for tshirts. Any objections? In addition to a table outside of the future after Spring Break, we'll have a sign-up sheet at fundraising events for the gala.
-Greg Weight is really encouraging us to participate in COSA. We welcome any suggestions. Maybe a collaborative piece of art? Short book of literature/articles, etc? Flash mob? Maybe....working on the website?
-Last but not least, Robert has decided he is going to help out with the news blogging. Woo hoo for Robert! Look for a post from him soon.


And before I forget, the GSA would like to send an as-of-yet informal thank you for Dr. Volkmer and Jennifer Boylan for an inspiring and entertaining talk on February13th. If you missed it, you should be disappointed. Jennifer Boylan is a transgendered author, speaker and professor who lent us some of her wisdom and experience on Friday. We infinitely appreciate the time she took to speak to us, and Dr. Volkmer for having her- it is not very often that we not only get an excellent speaker on her own merits, but also a positive LGBTQA role model. Thank you very much!

More news when pledging is over, as this webmaster is currently consumed by NME educator activities as part of her quest to promote gay-friendly life on campus, especially in the Greek community. Every little bit helps, right?

-Emily, Treasurer/Webmaster

Courage Campaign, Take II

Hey GSAers,

More discouraging news coming out of California: On December 18th, Ken Starr filed a petition to invalidate the marriages of over 32,000 people who were married before Proposition 8. The Courage Campaign that led the fight against Proposition 8 is spearheading the fight against this petition. You can check it out here, including a poignant video from the people it will effect the most: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce

-Emily, Treasurer/Webmaster

P.S. Want to blog? Send me an e-mail.

News: Gay Marriage Isn't Our Only Front Line

Hey GSAers,

During my downtime at work, I stumbled on a disturbing news article out of California that upheld the right of a private educational institution (Christian high school) to discriminate against and expel students on the basis of their sexual identity.

From the LAtimes:

"After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of intimacy" that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship," the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.

In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating. A lawyer for the girls said Tuesday that he would ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.

The appeals court called its decision "narrow," but lawyers on both sides of the case said it would protect private religious schools across California from such discrimination suits.

Kirk D. Hanson, who represented the girls, said the "very troubling" ruling would permit private schools to discriminate against anyone, as long as the schools used their religious beliefs as justification. {...}

In addition to their discrimination claim, the girls complained that the school invaded their privacy and detained them unlawfully. The girls complained the principal sat "very close" to them and asked them if they were bisexual, if they had kissed each other, and whether they had done anything "inappropriate," the court said. {...}"

In case we weren't shocked out of complacency by Proposition 8 and the other state referendums that limited the rights of LGBTQA students, this should serve as a strong reminder that not only is gay marriage not our only frontline, but that discrimination still legally persists. As fortunate as we are to have the inclusion of sexual identity in ENDA now, discrmination against an individual for their gender identity is is still legal in at least 23 states that do not include gender identity in their state-level anti-discimination laws, if they have them. Moreover, this case highlights the precarious balance the LGBTQA must strike between preserving freedom of religion and establishing our right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as equal citizens under the law.

We will march on,

-Emily, Treasurer and Webmaster

Meeting Update

Hey GSAers,

For those of you who missed our poorly publicized first meeting, we did a lot of brainstorming and planning that generally accompanies the beginning of the semester. Several people suggested that we use the Itty Bitty Titty Committee as our inspiration for this semester, but you'll have to decide for yourself how seriously we intend to take that suggestion. If you haven't seen the movie and don't what I'm talking about- do it. When you're done, you can write a movie review for the site!

On more serious matters, we will be participating in National Day of Silence this semester, but our funding situation does not lend itself to a massive distribution of free official t-shirts, so we will either have to go the make-your-own route again or have participators partially subsidize the cost up front. We would appreciate your input on the matter. Also, we are still working on a LGBTQA-angle speaker to suggest to the administration or find funding for independently, so feel free to leave a comment or e-mail one of the Exec Board members with your ideas. We've gotten several great ones so far- we just need the funding.

Also, so minor changes and updates have happened with the website. We still need content developers or people interested in newsblogging...

See you at our next meeting!

-Emily, Treasurer/Webmaster

New Semester, More Progress

Hey GSAers,

Sorry about the sporadic updating, but getting this website off the ground was more work than I anticipated. We're still looking for people to develop content for the website- feel free to pick up any of the undeveloped topics that are currently linked on the website, or come up with one on your own. E-mailing me with your idea and/or your content is all you have to do to get yourself published.

In other news, Jamie, Ryan and I (Michelle had lab) had a very successful meeting with President Strassburger and Dean Nolan before the semester was out. The absence of LGBTQA information and resources in Wellness was going to be addressed immediately, so look for new pamphlets, dental dams and extra-strength condoms in the office soon. Less immediately resolvable problems that are being addressed are the issues of training for nurses and counsellors for our community, an advocate equivalent to what SUN and ALMA have, and a gay-angle speaker. We can look forward to these things within the next semester or two, and will be updating you on our progress. Dean Nolan and President Strassburger were pleasantly receptive and eager to resolve these problems, so we have little doubt that they will follow through.

We will be announcing the next meeting when we get back on campus.

-Emily, Treasurer and Webmaster.