Ex-gay-o-rama

There's some very interesting stuff about ex-gays and ex-ex-gays over at Pam's House Blend. If you want a good laugh, trust me--you must watch the video clip from Fish don't Fly.

Reading this post put me in mind of an experience one of my college friends had back in, oh, this would've been around 1980. This friend--let's call him Dick, whose hatband he equaled in gayness--had gotten a job in the mailroom at CBS headquarters in New York. The job made him nervous. It was a hotbed of guy culture, and what's more macho than mocking anyone who's different? Dick lived in fear that his queerness would be discovered and he'd be the next target of his coworkers' jokes.

One evening, though, Dick called me, breathless with excitement. For once, he told me, he was enjoying the tendency of the mailroom boys to stereotype and pigeonhole people. That day, they came into the mailroom from lunch laughing their heads off and talking about all the "faggots" outside the building. Why? It seems 60 Minutes had run a story on the possibility of changing one's sexual orientation which included an interview with a psychologist (or psychiatrist--sue me, I don't remember, it was over 20 years ago) who said essentially you are what you are, it's a waste of time to try to change homo- to heterosexual or vice versa. This got the panties of the ex-gay folks in a bunch, and they (I believe it was Exodus) organized a demonstration outside Black Rock to proclaim their success in converting to heterosexuality. As my friend described it, a line of men marched past the building, limp-wristedly holding picket signs and lisping the chant: "I changed! I changed!" Well, he had a tendency to exaggerate. Still, the point is, these so-called ex-gays weren't fooling anyone but themselves.

And of course, the minute anyone mentions Exodus and similar organizations, I think of Overcome, and this brilliant bit from Mr. Show:

Fat hatred: the game

I just read about a new game called Fatworld over at Wired. The "obesity epidemic"--it's fun for the whole family!

I'm sure the creator of this game thinks it's all about "healthy choices." I appreciate the acknowledgment that high-quality food and fancy gyms are more readily available to the wealthy, but we all know (or I hope we do by now) there are people who eat healthy food and work out and yet--hold onto your hats, folks!--are still fat.

Besides, if you're gonna have characters named things like "Gordita," it's pretty clear where you're coming from.

This blog is rated NC-17

... at least according to a silly test over at Mingle²


This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

* queer (12x)
* gay (3x)
* vagina (2x)
* dead (1x)

Among other things, the word bisexual is apparently not as "adult" as gay or queer. Well, either that, or it doesn't exist at all for this test's purposes.

Hey, I just realized it mentioned vagina, but not penis or dick, both of which I've used. For that matter, what about lesbian and dyke? You know, if they expanded their list a bit, I might make it all the way to an X! (Does that even exist any more?)


Via Pandagon

Unconscious Mutterings, week 229

The old free association game. She gives the starter word, you give the response.

1. Compulsion :: Sexual


2. Spiritual :: Journal


3. Spray :: Water


4. Compatibility :: Test


5. Pursuit :: Happiness


6. Fake :: Tan


7. Mobile :: Home


8. Ceremony :: Wedding


9. Ribbons :: Streamers


10. Mozart :: Salieri

You can play too, if you wish. Just be sure to comment or track back at Luna Niña.

Attack of the smooching baby dykes continues in the PNW

Two fourteen-year-old girls,
Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal, were kicked off a bus in Portland, Oregon for kissing. Radical Russ has the story at Pam's House Blend.

The good news is the driver will be punished for violating the bus company policies against a) putting minors off a bus,and b) ejecting anyone from a bus without providing other means of transport. What the punishment will be is not clear yet.

The real question is: what the heck is going on in the Pacific Northwest with the extreme reaction to kissing teen lesbians? First, that incident in Gig Harbor, Washington when the school released the videotaped kiss to the parents of one of the kids, and now this. I've never been up that way, so I don't have a clue. Anyone?

Update from Fight OUT Loud via Russ at the Blend:

Fight OUT Loud has been in contact with the girls and their families. We have been guiding and assisting them in getting some sort of resolution. We have also issued an "action email alert" to our over 1000 members, which has resulted in flooding the offices of Trimet, the mayor's office, and the tourism board.

I have been in constant contact with the Portland Mayor's office as well, which has no direct control over TriMet or discipling the bus driver. While they cannot directly affect TriMet, I feel they have a duty and obligation to pressure the bus company to do the right thing and (a) fire the driver, (b) at the very least remove the driver from the route so the GLBT youth will not have to come in contact with him on the way to the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center, a safe haven for gay youth, and (c) make the punishment of the driver public to help put to rest the concerns of the girls and the community as a whole.

I would greatly appreciate if you could help spread the word about our efforts. To see how exactly what our efforts are and the services we provide, go to our webpage (www.fightoutloud.org) and check out our "action alerts". We really need to lend our voices to these girls and express our outrage at the whole situation.

-Waymon Hudson
President of Fight OUT Loud
www.fightoutloud.org

Please stand by for more bloggy goodness

I've had no access to teh innarwebs at home for a few days now. I hope it will be fixed by tomorrow night. I hope.

What have we learned today, class?

Trace Adkins doesn't do it for the money, the glory or the free whiskey. He does it for the badonkadonk.

Inspirational verse: "Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on?"

Unconscious Mutterings, Week 226

The old free association game. She gives the starter word, you give the response.

1. Savage :: Breast


2. Warrior :: Spear


3. Daisy :: Fresh


4. Schedule :: Calendar


5. Rock, paper, scissors :: Shoot


6. Medical :: Examination


7. Jade :: Pendant


8. Elevator :: Button


9. Drain :: Board


10. Goldfish :: Cracker

Can you play? Certainly, it's lots of fun. Just be sure to comment or track back at Luna Niña.

Once again, it's all about the dick

I've been following the story of Shumail Raj and Shahzina Tariq in various online news sources. The short version: the Pakistan married couple was sentenced to three years in jail for perjury because the husband, Raj, who is transgendered, was deemed female by the court. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Pakistan, as is sex reassignment surgery, but what they were convicted of was lying about the gender of Raj.

When I first read the story, it said that Tariq claimed she married Raj so she wouldn't be forced into a marriage with someone else, apparently a man to whom her uncle owed money. Since then, the couple have recanted that story, and say they married for love.

In a country where SRS is illegal, what happens with a person who's had it? How does does one decide this person's gender? At first I thought it was gonna be the old "you popped out of the womb looking female, therefore you're a woman.*" Nope, that wasn't it. I read story after story before it dawned on me how the court came to decision. What I discovered was that Shumail Raj doesn't have breasts or a uterus (they were surgically removed) or a vagina (sewn up), and does have--I'm sure this wasn't taken into account at all--a male self-identity. Sounds like a guy, don't you think? Well, no.

A couple of the stories I read referred to "problems with the surgery." And then it hit me--Raj doesn't have a penis! After all, what girlie parts you have or don't have is pretty meaningless in this world. How many times have we heard the difference between men's and women's genitalia explained as what men have and women don't? Yup, when you come down to it, the almighty 3-piece set (or lack thereof) determines all.

To demonstrate just how unimportant other (non-phallic) body parts are in the grand scheme of things, a doctor said Raj is a woman because, although it would take some special medical procedures, he could conceive and give birth to a child. This wasn't just any doctor, folks--this is the guy who removed Raj's uterus in the first place. Hmm, so maybe the surgeon didn't remove the ovaries when he did the hysterectomy, and I guess the vagina could be opened up to allow birth, and there's always the oh-so-popular C-section, but where exactly is this alleged fetus supposed to hang out while it's coming to term?

When is SRS not SRS? When you're the doctor who did it and you're under investigation, apparently.

The couple has been sent to jail in seperate women's prisons, but say the three-year sentence is no matter, because they are in love, and will be together eventually. Their lawyers plan to appeal is. The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission is involved, along with other human rights organizations. There is information on how to take action, and to offer moral and financial support at the IGLHRC website.

*This approach is the one taken by American writer Debra Dickerson, who wrote her reaction to the story at the time the press was still working the forced marriage angle.

OK, being jailed for being transsexual is, like, bad, but half a planet full of women who so fear marriage that they leap to marry transsexuals (i.e. women) to escape their fate also seems relevant.

So not only is this transsexual man a woman, says Ms. Dickerson, but objecting to being forced to marry against one's will to settle a debt--and not even one's own debt, mind you--means one fears marriage? I don't even know what to say to that.

I hope you're sitting down for this one, folks

David Hyde Pierce is gay.


via Joe.My.God.

And the third thing I said was...

Not only did they put a wrong letter, they also transposed two of them. After all that effort making my big funny joke, it said "Lipinska." I can't pick up those glasses too soon, can I?