Welcome to Fabulous Friday, a review of the week's news for the LGBT Kos Community. We'll be highlighting some interesting news stories, as well as providing a list of some notable LGBT diaries here at Daily Kos. If you ever run across stories/blog posts/diaries that should be included here, please send a Kosmail to LGBT Kos.
Please note: This is supposed to be a safe space to discuss our issues, so please, keep your piefights where they belong, which is not here. That applies to the meta food fight of the day, the Obama Wars, what have you. It's not that we don't like debate or that we don't have opinions on those issues. There are places for these debates and they are not here at LGBT Kos. We are more interested in the diversity of our life experiences, our cultures, and our dreams of a better tomorrow. We believe that we can create a space to discuss these differences without engaging in the political debates that have often divided our community. If you can't abide by this rule, you'll be asked to leave.
LGBT News - Youth/Education
The New York Times has launched an interesting project to tell the stories of LGBT youth in America.
‘Coming Out’: Gay Teenagers, in Their Own Words
The New York Times embarked on the project “Coming Out” as an effort to better understand this generation’s realities and expectations, and to give teenagers their own voice in the conversation.
The Times spoke with or e-mailed nearly 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender teenagers from all of parts of the country — from rural areas to urban centers, from supportive environments to hostile ones. The newspaper contacted them through various advocacy groups, as well as through social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
You can read more of the stories here. Here is a snip from a story about transman from New York.
“My entire family trans-bashes me on a daily basis.”
I come out everyday. A lot of the time, it happens in public bathrooms or clothing stores. Some days, I pass better than others. Unfortunately, my voice always gives me away. I am a transgender man.
When puberty hit around age 13, I was a mess. I couldn’t deal with the changes that were happening to my body; they were absolutely heartbreaking. From the outside, I appeared to be a typical blond haired girl who played tennis and piano like a maniac. On the inside, I was scared out of my mind.
When I was 18, I came out as a lesbian, who could never actually call herself a lesbian. I went to a very selective liberal arts college in New York state, and didn’t face many problems being a lesbian. Unfortunately, I never felt right. I started hurting myself. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t happy being a lesbian. I knew I wasn’t attracted to guys, but I felt like I was lying to myself everyday. Being Catholic, I learned that life is God’s most precious gift. Being in this turmoil made me try very hard to take that gift away.
LGBT News - Health
Hospitals in New York City are set to launch a cultural sensitivity program for all NYC hospital employees to improve the quality of care for LGBT patients.
Hospitals focus on gay, lesbian and transgender health issues to better serve N.Y. community
City hospitals plan to show 38,000 staffers a video of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender health horror stories to help them better serve the community.
"We renew our promise to treat LGBT New Yorkers with dignity and respect," said Alan Aviles, president of the Health and Hospital Corporation.
The 10-minute video, "To Treat Me, You Have to Know Who I Am," could wind up a national model for how hospitals should deal with LGBT patients.
LGBT News - Sports
ABC News has an interesting story about what seems to be a sea change in attitudes toward the LGBT community by the professional sports community.
Gay Sports Community Buoyed by Unprecedented Support
Indeed, 2011 might turn out to be a watershed year for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in athletics, some sports experts and leaders of gay organizations say. Even so, not one active gay male in any of the four major U.S. leagues has publicly come out.
Some say that could change after the San Francisco Giants -- the World Series champions -- complete their video spot for the "It Gets Better" campaign, a movement compiling more than 10,000 videos of those who overcame bullying and social isolation because they were gay, lesbian or transgender.
And Chuck Dima, a pioneer in the gay athletic community, passed away this week.
Chuck Dima, the grandfather of gay softball, dies at the age of 81
The gay sports world lost a true legend last weekend when Chuck Dima, known as the “grandfather of gay softball,” passed away on Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 81. Sam Lehman, commissioner of the Southern New England Friendship Softball League, was one of the first to hear the news:
Chuck was often called the grandfather of gay softball; he was widely credited for being one of the founders of gay softball in the US. Chuck owned a bar in New York City and was constantly being asked to play softball with a group of gay friends; this led to the Big Apple Softball League. Chuck was born in 1929 and was a pioneer in the world of gay sports, we all have him to thank for our Sunday afternoon games.
LGBT News - International
We had a setback for the sexual minority community in Russia this week with Moscow city officials rejecting an application for a gay pride parade. The official excuse is that the parade carries a risk of public disorder, but no mention is made of the fact that past violence was caused by the officials themselves.
The Moscow LGBT community is unbowed and plans to march anyway! Unfortunately, the religious, anti-gay hate groups also plan to make an appearance. Any bets on which group gets the violent police crackdown?
In Brazil, the president has suspended a planned anti-homophobia campaign for schools after a meeting with religious leaders. Pink News reports that the president didn't like the materials, which some critics said could turn children gay. Interesting side note: The BBC headline for this story reads:
Brazil sex education material suspended by President
From India, we get some brighter news.
LGBT film festival kick starts second edition in Mumbai
India’s first mainstream LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) film festival just kick-started its second edition in the city yesterday. Kashish — Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2011— is screening 125 films, from across 22 countries, from May 25-29, at Alliance Francaise and a city multiplex.
Spotted on the red carpet for its opening ceremony were filmmakers Pooja Bhatt and Onir, theatre veteran Alyque Padamsee, actors Kapil Sharma, Samir and Neelam Soni, and Achint Kaur, among others. While Bollywood has stood up in support of the fest, filmmakers across the world are also descending here to show solidarity.
Notable Diaries
LGBT-related diaries from the previous week (Friday, May 20th through Thursday, May 26th) that did not make the recommended diaries list and were not rescued.
LGBT Kos News
Next weeks Wednesday evening diary will be moved to 8pm (ET) to avoid a direct conflict with Criminal InJustice Kos, which posts at 7pm (ET). If you are interested in writing a Wednesday evening diary or hosting a Sunday afternoon open thread, please send a Kosmail to the LGBT Kos group.
A closing thought...
The LGBT Kos Community would like to offer our regrets for the poll that appeared in Wednesday night's diary.
Needless to say, we are utterly convinced that our baroquely hedonistic sex lives are just so much more awesome than those of our straight friends. Take our word for it. But we didn't mean to imply that yours are 'zeroes'. Maybe Alfred Kinsey did, but certainly not us. We would never think such a thing. Ever. We promise.