October 24th, 2011
Actor Zachary Quinto comes out in honor of bullied teen
Source: CNN
October 16, 2011 — Updated 2138 GMT (0538 HKT)
Actor Zachary Quinto acknowledged his homosexuality Sunday, saying the action comes after a gay teen killed himself.
(CNN) — Actor Zachary Quinto, known for playing Spock in the 2009 “Star Trek” remake and his role as Sylar on the television show “Heroes,” acknowledged his homosexuality in a post on his website Sunday, saying the action comes after the suicide of a 14-year-old who killed himself after apparently being harassed over his sexuality.
“When I found out that Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself — I felt deeply troubled,” Quinto posted. “But when I found out that Jamey Rodemeyer had made an ‘It Gets Better’ video only months before taking his own life — I felt indescribable despair.
“I also made an ‘It Gets Better’ video last year in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time,” Quinto wrote. “But in light of Jamey’s death, it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality.”
Rodemeyer was found dead September 18 outside his parents’ home in Buffalo, New York. His parents said he had experienced years of bullying over his sexual orientation. His suicide has attracted the attention of such stars as Lady Gaga, who dedicated a song to him at a recent concert.
The “It Gets Better” campaign is aimed at gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered youth who may experience bullying.
“Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country,” Quinto said. “Gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. Parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance. We are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. I believe in the power of intention to change the landscape of our society — and it is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.”
Rodemeyer’s life has changed his, the 34-year-old Quinto wrote. “While his death only makes me wish that I had done this sooner, I am eternally grateful to him for being the catalyst for change within me. Now I can only hope to serve as the same catalyst for even one person in this world. That — I believe — is all that we can ask of ourselves and of each other.”
June 6th, 2011
Coming out stories – New York Times Interactive
Check out some great coming out stories here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/23/us/20110523-coming-out.html
Bullying and suicides of gay and lesbian teenagers are in the headlines, the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has been repealed, and the debate over same-sex marriage continues to divide the country. Against this backdrop, many L.G.B.T. youth wonder how accepting society will be.
June 6th, 2011
Coming Out: Gay Teenagers, in Their Own Words
Source: NY Times
By SARAH KRAMER
Published: May 20, 2011
The suicide of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman who jumped from the George Washington Bridge last year after discovering that his roommate had secretly streamed his romantic interlude with another man on the Internet, captured worldwide attention. In the wake of his death, stories of gay youths being bullied and taking their own lives proliferated.
The subsequent outpouring of concern from parents, educators and those who had survived bullying themselves inspired “It Gets Better,” a campaign led by the columnist and author Dan Savage in which thousands of lesbian and gay adults shared their stories to assure all teenagers that society has a place for them.
Popular culture has reinforced this message of acceptance. For example, the hit TV show “Glee” has had three storylines involving gay teenagers this season, including the matter-of-fact courtship, with rare onscreen same-sex kissing, of characters played by Chris Colfer and Darren Criss. Lady Gaga has countered the antigay rhetoric that many young people hear in their churches and communities with the song “Born This Way,” increasing her already large fan base among gay and lesbian teenagers.
“The amount of attention that has been given to debates over L.G.B.T. issues in the last year is another sign of how deeply American society remains divided over L.G.B.T. issues,” said George Chauncey, a Yale University professor of 20th-century United States history and lesbian and gay history, referring to lesbians, gay men and bisexual and transgender people. “And it has made it clear to young people just how much opposition remains.”
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.
The Trevor Project, which provides counseling to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths in crisis, among other services, posted a call for teenagers to tell their stories to The Times, resulting in nearly 250 responses. At times, young people led The Times to others.
The youths who participated were in different phases of coming out: some had come out only to themselves, some to people in certain realms of their lives, some to only one trusted friend or family member. Some had come out to their family or community, and then, realizing they lacked the support they needed, rescinded the declaration — and came out again a couple of years later. Others spoke of hating themselves in the process of accepting who they are.
Some flaunted their sexuality, while others adhered to traditional gender norms. In English, Ind., one boy said that when he first came out, he wore eyeliner and skinny jeans. “But then when I stopped it and decided to be myself, it was like I no longer fit the stereotypes,” he said.
In the face of competing messages, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths just want to be teenagers. While they envision a world where they can get married and have doors open to them, they do not want to be defined by their sexuality, regardless of how they are received by their community. It is just one part of their identity.
As Kailey Jeanne Cox, 15, said in her story: “I don’t want to have myself being seen by people as ‘Oh, she’s — she’s gay.’ I want them to see me as ‘Wow, she loves God, who cares what kind of people she likes? She is a Christian, she leads by example and she’s a wonderful person.’ That’s what I want people to think when they see me.”
Or Joel Brimmerman, 17, who cannot wait for the day he can begin the physical transition to male from female, summed it up this way: “I’d rather just get done with it and get on with my life. I mean, I have stuff to do besides transition.”
January 4th, 2011
Look At Vietnam: I’m Gay
Source: LookAtVietnam.com
Coming out party on Valentine’s Day will increase Vietnamese society’s tolerance, homosexuals hope
Gays and transgenders at a beauty contest in Ho Chi Minh City. The gay community is looking for more tolerance.
Nguyen Van Trung, 35, is as excited as a teenager going to his or her first party.
But the excitement is tinged with some nervous bravado, because Trung’s coming out party seeks to increase public tolerance toward the gay community in Vietnam.
A group of 100 gay activists is planning to raise awareness and visibility by wearing pink T-shirts proclaiming, “I am gay.” They will walk together on the sidewalks in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, probably on the upcoming Valentine’s Day, Trung said.
“This will be the first time such an activity has been organized by the gay community in Vietnam,” said Trung, member of a HCMC voluntary group that seeks to advise men who have sex with men (MSM) on safe sex and HIV-related knowledge.
“I only hope that by doing so, the public will be more tolerant of people like us since we do no harm to the society.”
Trung said the fact that society has become more open to gay people has inspired him and his peers to come out. They had originally planned to take to the streets last Tuesday to mark World AIDS Day (December 1), but canceled it at the last minute as the shirts were not printed on schedule.
Very few gay people publicly come out in Vietnam. Homosexuality is still a taboo subject in the traditionally patriarchal society long ruled by Confucian social mores and Buddhist beliefs.
“Most gay people are very afraid to say that they are gay. [But] most of them find out when they eventually do reveal it, it is more easily accepted than they thought it would be,” said Donn Colby, medical director of the Harvard Medical School’s AIDS Initiative in Vietnam.
“That’s a very positive sign,” said Khuat Thu Hong, co-director of the Hanoi-based Institute for Social Development Studies, a local non-governmental organization. “I hope this momentum continues so gay people in Vietnam enjoy the same rights as everyone else.”
Vietnam’s HIV epidemic is concentrated among people who inject drugs, sex workers and men who have sex with men. Across Vietnam, an estimated 243,000 people were living with the virus at the end of 2009.
But Colby acknowledged that there was still discrimination against MSM in Vietnam, particularly in rural areas, and most MSM still hide the fact, leaving them very vulnerable to contracting the HIV virus.
“If you look at how much money had been spent by the Vietnamese government and international donors on HIV prevention, the amount that goes to MSM is much less than that given to other high-risk groups. When it comes to HIV prevention, MSM get fewer resources.”
“They should increase the amount of research that is given to prevention for MSM,” Colby said.
Trung said gay men in rural Vietnam still suffer social stigma and discrimination.
“They are sneered at or have to bear worse insults wherever they go. “We are also human. We also have our own dreams.
“Our happiness is in being able to live our real lives. I hope that in the near future, gay people like me will have a space where we can relax without worrying about being arrested or chased away.”
| DOUBLE STIGMA |
| A study released last year by Hanoi’s STDs/HIV/AIDS Prevention Center confirmed the stigma against gays and listed the consequences for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam.
The study, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, was conducted in six cities/provinces including Hanoi and Thai Nguyen in the north, Da Nang and Nha Trang in the central region, and Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho in the south. The study team conducted structured interviews, using questionnaires with 813 MSM, 900 community members and family members of MSM, 600 key officials/staff from departments/organizations, 45 focus group discussions, and 196 in-depth interviews with the above-mentioned respondents. Generally, local people and officials considered MSM “unnatural” (68 percent) and almost half saw it as an “illness” (48 percent). Around 36 percent of respondents said that MSM was a “social evil” that should be eliminated, while 27 percent considered it a result of debauchery. “Stigma towards people living with HIV is similar to that faced by men who have sex with men and transgender people because it is often based on moral judgments,” said Khuat Thu Hong, co-director of the Hanoi-based Institute for Social Development Studies, a local nongovernmental organization. “Men who have sex with men and transgenders living with HIV face double stigma.” |
Reported by An Dien
November 24th, 2010
The Majority Report
It sounds like a joke, but it isn’t, and you get your choice of punch lines. So…these college students walk into a mom-and-pop bakery in Indianapolis with an order for rainbow-colored cupcakes and cookies. Seems they’re celebrating National Coming Out Day. The bakery owners turn down the job, saying it violates their moral principles.
Punch line 1: The students, though unhappy, take their order to another bakery and tell reporters that the incident shows the need for continued dialogue between gays and the community.
Punch line 2: The city opens a discrimination investigation against the bakery to determine whether it should be kicked out of the city-owned space it has occupied for two decades. “I’d hate to lose them,” says a local official, “but we can’t tolerate any kind of discrimination like that.”
In real life the story ends with both punch lines. And many gay folks would have no problem with that. Why tolerate discrimination?
For the gay equality movement, however, punch line 1 is the right answer—and punch line 2 is positively dangerous.
This is a new development. It stems from the fact that we—gay Americans and our straight allies—have won the central argument for gay rights. As a result, we must change. Much of what the gay rights movement has taken for granted until now, and much that has worked for us in the past, is now wrong and will hurt us. The turn we now need to execute will be the hardest maneuver the movement has ever had to make, because it will require us to deliberately leave room for homophobia in American society. We need to allow some discrimination and relinquish the “zero tolerance” mind-set. Paradoxical but true: We need to give our opponents the time and space they need to let us win.
Let me explain.
First, what I’m not saying: that the fight for equality is finished. It isn’t, of course. Most states prohibit gay marriage. The military ban on gays serving openly has proved frustratingly persistent. Gay kids still face routine harassment and bullying, as we’ve all painfully observed with multiple news reports of suicides this year.
But we all know momentum is on our side. And even more significant is the source of that momentum. In 2010 the most important gay rights story that you probably never read came from Gallup: “Americans’ support for the moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations crossed the symbolic 50% threshold in 2010. At the same time, the percentage calling these relations ‘morally wrong’ dropped to 43%, the lowest in Gallup’s decade-long trend.”
Since—well, since forever, the American majority regarded homosexuality as immoral, and the only question was whether to tolerate or repress it. In 2008, however, the lines converged, at 48% on each side. Today, same-sex relations are deemed morally acceptable by a margin of 52% to 43%. The “moral values” argument is on our side.
This is a watershed in gay Americans’ relations with our country. The belief that homosexuality is morally wrong undergirds all the other problems that homosexuals face. When the foundation of moral disapproval crumbles, so, in time, must all the superstructures of discrimination and stigma. To a majority of the public, the “morally deviant” shoe will be on the antigay foot.
So let’s pinch ourselves and say it: American homosexuals and our allies are entering a new and unprecedented phase. For the first time, we are emerging into majority status.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
