God and the Superbowl

God has his chance. It is now. It is tonight.

As many of us know, humans have very little impact on the outcome of sporting events. Rather, God and his heavenly angels divinely determine who shall win by siding with one team or the other.

So tonight, God has his chance. His opportunity to lay to rest the debate of marriage equality and the rights of GSM (gender and sexual minority) people. You see, we have the 49ers, from San Francisco of all places, with Chris Culliver, who is, in a word, homophobic. And we have the Baltimore Ravens with Brendon Ayanbadejo, a very vocal proponent of LGBT equality.

I’m rooting for the Ravens. Well really, I’m rooting for Brendon Ayanbadejo. And if God is rooting for the gays (and the lesbians, the bisexuals, the transgender persons, the genderqueers, pansexuals, 2-spirits…and so on), he’s rooting for the Ravens, too. Right?

XO

~J

“GSM”

So I’m working on switching everything over, but I’ve decided to make an important decision here at GayNewsSource.

We are no longer “GayNewsSource,” as many of you have probably noticed on twitter. I replaced “gay” with “GSM.” So what does it mean?

Simple. “GSM” stands for “gender and sexual minority,” a shorter and more inclusive way of saying LGBT, GLBTQIA, or any other iterations of the alphabet soup you’ve probably seen. Although I chose the name Gay News Source, it didn’t take me long to realize that “gay” didn’t really cover it, because I didn’t want to tweet about just gay issues. Instead, I look for information about all gender and sexual minorities- including lesbian and transgender news.

GSM makes more sense. I also chose it because it really does include everything.

Let me know what you think! Do you love it as much as I do? Hate it?

XO ~J

The Alphabet Soup

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the “I” in LGBTQIAP.  So this time, I’m going to write about the P, which stands for pansexuality.  

No, pansexuality is not a sexual attraction to pans.  Let’s get that cleared up.

Pansexuality is similar to bisexuality, but different.  Bisexuality is a male or female who is attracted to both males and females.  Pansexuality, however, is a person who is attracted to people regardless of their sex.  A pansexual person may be attracted to someone who is genderqueer, for example, or a transgender person.  A better definition may be this: a pansexual person is someone who is attracted to people on an individual basis.

I happen to think that all people are probably pansexual, because we are all attracted to different people for inexplicable reasons (yes, I know, science says we’re all attracted to people because of facial symmetry and they remind us of our parents…but for me, my attractions are all completely and totally inexplicable.)  

Short post.  But that’s about it for today.  What are your thoughts on pansexuality?  Do you identify as pansexual?  What does it mean to you/what do you think of my definition? Agree? Disagree?  Let me know & COMMENT!!!

XO ~J 

The “I” in LGBTQIA

In 1993, Anne Fausto–Sterling wrote an essay entitled “The Five Sexes,” in which she suggested that instead of two sexes, there are actually as many as five.

Where do these other sexes come from?  They come from the “I” in LGBTQIA, which stands for intersex.  According to Fausto-Sterling, there are three types of intersex people: herms, or true hermaphrodites who are equal parts male and female, merms, or hermaphrodites who are more male than female, and ferms, or hermaphrodites who are more female than male.

What is intersexuality?  Someone who is intersex is a hermaphrodite; someone who is born with both male and female genitalia.  Aside from genitalia, the person may also develop both male and female secondary-sex traits, such as breasts or facial hair.

Intersexuality has many causes.  One common cause has to do with chromosomes: every human has 23 sets of chromosomes.  The 23rd chromosome is the sex chromosome because it determines what sex we are.  If the 23rd chromosome is XY (or comprised of an X chromosome and a Y chromosome), the person is a male; if the 23rd chromosome is XX (or comprised of two X chromosomes), the person is a female.  However, some genetic conditions cause a person’s sex chromosome to be XXY- in other words, both female (XX) and male (XY).  Still another genetic condition can cause a person to be XXXY- a full set of both male and female chromosomes.

There are many other causes for intersexuality, too; for example.  It can caused by hormone receptors that don’t, well, receive hormones.  NOVA’s website outlines the many, many causes of intersexuality here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/intersex-spectrum.html

What does this all mean?

One of the main issues the intersex community is confronted with is whether or not they fit into a neat-and-tidy definition of sex.  Many parents, upon finding out their child is intersex, opt for corrective surgery so that the child is physically either female or male.  Because parents find out their child is intersex when the child is born, corrective surgery often happens within days of the child being born.  Many people in the intersex community feel this is unethical for many reasons: for one, being intersex is not the same as being a female with some male genitalia (or the opposite); rather, it means the person is literally both male and female.  Many intersex people whose parents have opted for corrective surgery, upon finding out about their intersexuality, wish their parents had not chosen to surgically alter the genitalia.  While their parents certainly have the right intentions- they want only to protect their child- is this really ethical?  After all, being intersex is not the same as being a female with male genitalia.

Another interesting question is: how to intersex people define their sexual orientation?  Can we even hold them to our gender-binary sexual orientations?  Let me explain: if an intersex person with both male and female chromosomes and genitalia is sexually attracted to a female, is that intersex person a lesbian woman or a straight male?  This is a question I cannot answer; the best I can do is say this depends on the individual.

The deeper question, as I mentioned above, is can we hold intersex people to sexual orientations that rely on people being either male or female?  As mentioned above, intersex people are not truly male or female (though they may feel more drawn to one sex and surgically modify their genitalia to reflect that and live as such- in my opinion, should an intersex person choose to choose a gender and stick with it, then I think it right to consider this person a member of whatever gender ze [s/he] has chosen- but I digress).

Intersexuality has not been addressed very thoroughly or publicly in the LGBT movement.  This post is not meant, in any way, to dehumanize or humiliate intersexuality.  I wish only to present the topic and explain it a little further- please comment if you feel I have been offensive to the intersex community and I would be happy to change my language so that it is not perceived as such.

Thoughts? Discuss.  It’s a lot to take in but it really is a topic that we as a society need to explore.

XO ~J

PS: I also wanted to note that sometimes, countries or states (in the USA) have laws that define gender. My knowledge on this is not extensive but I do recall that an intersex person who was considered a man in Scotland and a woman in the US because Scotland defined this person’s gender by levels of testosterone in the brain, whereas in the US it had to do with genitalia [if I remember correctly.  Feel free to comment].

Proposition 8: an overview

Today at 10AM California time, we are expecting to hear the (latest) results of the Prop 8 trial.  I recommend you don’t hold your breath- I won’t believe the decision’s out until I see it- but here’s a quick refresher course on the history of the course.

Before there was Prop 8, there was marriage equality.  In May of 2008, the California supreme court ruled that laws barring same-sex couples from marrying was illegal, and marriage equality became legal in the state.

In an effort to counter this ruling, opponents of same-sex marriage equality petitioned to get Prop 8 on the election ballot in November 2008.  With over a million signatures, marriage equality went up for a vote in California.  Proposition 8, the official title of the clause on the ballot, defined marriage in California as between a man and a woman.  Supporters of the proposition tried to change the wording of the initiative, stating it was prejudicial and argumentative.  The case, Jansson v. Bowen, was thrown out of the courts.  (Prop 8 supporters continued trying to get the wording changed.  The official wording up read that Prop 8 “eliminated the right” for same-sex couples to marry).  Ultimately, Prop 8 passed with 52% of the votes on yes.  There was a (very small) upside: same-sex couples that were already married would remain so. 

The next step was to take it back to the courts so Prop 8 could be repealed.  And along came the much-talked-about case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, in which the two lawyers who went to the Supreme Court in 2000 in Bush v. Gore went head-to-head again.  Interestingly enough, Bush’s lawyer, Theodore Olson, was arguing that Prop 8 needed to be struck down and marriage equality restored in CA.

On August 4, 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled to overturn Prop 8; we won!  But not quite…less than a month after the decision, there was a hasty motion for a ‘stay’ on the decision, or a indefinite suspension on the court’s decision.  The motion was heard by a 3-judge panel (proponents tried to get the most liberal of the judges kicked off the panel; this was denied).  In December 2010, arguments for the stay were heard and now…we wait.  

What’s been happening since December 2010?  Well, the ninth circuit court, (the court with the 3-judge panel), certified a question the the CA supreme court: “Because California officials had declined to defend the law, the federal court asked the state court to decide whether the backers of a challenged initiative had “a particularized interest in the initiative’s validity or the authority to assert the State’s interest in the initiative’s validity” that would permit them to defend the law when state officials refuse to do so.” (Source: Wikipedia).

The Supreme Court then heard oral arguments on the case and ruled that non-governmental proponents are allowed to defend it. 

The Ninth Circuit Court is expected to release an opinion today. 

Closed Closet

Anyone ever notice how the word ‘closet’ has the word ‘close’ in it? And I’m not talking about close as opposed to far. I mean close like closed, shut off.
Well we all know that the reason people use the word closet because it indicates you’re hiding, but they also say it’s dark, it’s scary, and it’s lonely in the closet.

Being a word lover, I looked up the etymology of the word ‘closet’ today, and here’s what I dug up: “late 14c., from O.Fr. closet ‘small enclosure, private room,’ dim. of clos, from L. clausum ‘closed space,’ from neut. pp. of claudere ‘to shut'” (Source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=closet&searchmode=none)
I can’t say I know how reputable etymonline.com is, but let’s roll with it.

Well, curious monkey I am, I looked up close: late 14c., “strictly confined,” also “secret,” from O.Fr. clos “confined; concealed, secret; taciturn” (again, from etymonline.com).

Why is it that kids and adults alike are living in strictly confined, secret, shut up, closed places? It’s sort of like the eternal question of the LGBT rights movement, and of course, countless campaigns and organizations have been started to try and open the closet doors so we don’t have to be so alone. But where is the responsibility of the individual?

I jokingly say that I should wear a rainbow ‘A’ across myself to mean ‘Ally.’ I say that because I think we all have an individual responsibility to be out, visible allies to the LGBT community. Don’t just be out as a gay person, be out as someone who wants to help others. Someone who wants to help open the closet door or at least share some of that burden. Wear your pride on your sleeve, because you never know who’s watching.

If you’re the person that was never in the closet, well, that’s great. Actually, it’s awe-inspiring. Having the guts to uncompromisingly be yourself (even if you don’t choose that)…well, that’s amazing.

But it’s ok. Not all of us are free to live without the closet.

To both sides of the spectrum, though, I ask: what difference would an ally have made on your life? Whether you’ve never been ashamed or you’re still working on feeling proud of yourself, would an ally have hurt?

It’s my random Jenah thought of the day. Discuss with me? COMMENT!!!!!!

XO ~J

:)

:)

HEY GUYS

PLEASE BEAR WITH ME FOR ONE MINUTE AND READ THE FOLLOWING:

I’m SOOOOO excited to share my news with you, so please read because there is important information below:

I’m moving to Spain.  It is a temporary move, for 4 months, and then I’m back, but I’m incredibly busy sorting out all my affairs before I leave the country, and throughout most of August I will be busy packing, updating medical records, etc. etc. etc.  And I’m already completely pressed for time and have had trouble finding time to do everything including updating twitter.

Fortunately my AMAZING WONDERFUL AWESOME friend A offered to help me with twitter for the time being because I am basically out of commission for August, so for the most part she will be tweeting for me.  I will update while available but please give A a huge welcome & thank you!

I love you all, it’s been almost a year since I started the account and it’s been really amazing getting to know some of you.  I’m here to listen, support, talk, learn, and share, so I am sad that I’ll be away from twitter for most of August, but I’m so grateful to A for stepping up for me so please please please thank her.  She doesn’t use twitter so be patient, but she’s basically the coolest person ever.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! Have a wonderful day and remember to stay proud and keep fighting even when it’s the hardest thing you have to do.

XO ~J

Don’t Stop Believing

It’s June 30th. The end of Pride Month. This month, we’ve seen controversy erupt over Old Navy’s Pride shirts- conservatives didn’t like the fact that Old Navy was getting proud, while LGBTQIA rights activists didn’t like the fact that Old Navy wasn’t selling the shirts everywhere (so we’re clear, I was kind of in that camp. Just sayin’).

We’ve seen NY legalize marriage equality, RI legalize civil unions (and we’re seeing a fallout from LGBT rights groups who want more than just civil unions). We’ve seen countless pride parades, countless companies starting to crack open the closet door and begin revealing themselves as allies.  We’ve continued to watch Obama grapple with what to do about these issues.

What does it all mean?  As a general activists, watching Women’s Rights Month and Black History Month come and go every year, I’m left to wonder what it all means. It’s nice to see Google put up a rainbow flag and see banks and buildings fly a Pride flag- that sort of visible support is always appreciated and certainly can’t hurt, the fact that it is confined to a month is annoying.

There are plusses and minuses to everything.  I like making pro/con lists, it often helps me sort out my mind, so here’s the pro/con list on this one, as far as I know:

Cons:
-We’re stuck in one month

Pros:
-We have a month, which at least gives companies and newspapers a way to bring up the issue

It’s lame. I need your help!
Happy Pride. Even though the month is over, keep waving your flags. I’m right there with ya.
XO ~J

Congrats NY

LGBT 30-Day Challenge: Day 30

The end.

Final question: Anything LGBT you’d like to do to end this on.

I just finished reading the article about Voter IDs and how that may affect transgender voters (click here for the article)

Here’s what I want to end on.  From everything I’ve read and heard about the history of the LGBT-rights movement, it’s been a very shattered movement.  For a long time, lesbians fought for a place in the movement.  Then came bisexuals. And now, transgendered people (and other gender identities) are looking for their place within the GLBT community.  Although the acronym can only go so long, I want to remind everyone out there that we need to watch out for each other.

I can’t remember when first stumbled upon this quote, but it has stuck with me forever: “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

I am standing up and putting myself in the GLBT community (as an ally) because if not me, then who?  And if not now, then when?  But in order for us to keep down the path of equality, we need to stick together.  There is splintering still within the LGBT community: militant lesbians who disapprove of self-identified f*gs, bears who don’t like trannies…and we aren’t even all fighting for the same thing.  Some want marriage equality, some want liberty…it’s all very complicated.  Remember that we are all in this together.  I am here to support everyone, of all cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities, and other forms of diversity I can’t think of now.  But whatever it is, we can all relate, especially within the LGBT community.  So, remember to reach out to younger kids in pain and older members who remember what it was like during, say, the HIV/AIDS era.  Remember that though we all have diverse opinions on what should happen, we are all looking for some basic things, like legitimacy of our feelings.

This challenge has been fun, it’s given me a chance to think about things I haven’t thought about before and given me a slightly new perspective. I hope you guys enjoyed reading the things I’ve said, and I hope it has been thought-provoking for you too.

I still want to hear from you, let me know what you think. COMMENTS!
XO ~J