Radiolab profiles the US's first openly transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen. He became the nation's first openly transgender mayor when he was elected as the mayor of Silverton, Oregon in November 2008.
This episode we return Oregon where choice has challenged destiny to see what's changed and what has become deeply normal for a small conservative town. Listen via Radiolab
The defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) represents one of the ugliest moments in the LGBT rights movement since Proposition 8 in California. Except that this time the target was transgender people, and it was far, far nastier.
Opponents went out of their way to misrepresent the actual contents of the bill, which was to provide legal protections in jobs, housing, and in places of public accommodations for people regardless of things like sex, race, veteran status, sexual orientation and gender identity.
It also happens that Houston is to be the site of the 2017 Super Bowl. In the past, the NFL punished the city of Phoenix by moving the 1990 Super Bowl out of the state when Arizona voters did not approve a state wide holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King. The NFL wanted to send a message that they would not tolerate even the appearance of supporting racism.
Similarly, the NFL hinted in 2014 that they would move the Super Bowl if Arizona passed a "License to Discriminate" bill allowing people to refuse to serve LGBT people on religious grounds. While the bill ultimately was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer (a Republican), it is believed by many that the NFL's threat was a factor in her decision to make such a politically unpopular move. Yet here we stand today. Read more via OutSports
The Queer Collective, a new organization in Kampala, Uganda with the goal of creating a space for queer artists working in east Africa to come together and share their work, is fundraising to support its first major project. I am Other will document the stories of LGBTQ people across Uganda.
I am other
"I Am Other" is a multi-media research and documentation project with the goal of recording the lives and stories of LGBTQ Ugandans across the country.
When a donor made a $100,000 gift to the Girl Scouts’ Western Washington Council last March, it was time to break out the hand-shaped clappers. One hundred thousand dollars was a big donation for the council, which represents about 25,500 girls in 17 counties in the western part of Washington State.
But in late April, after the funds were in hand, Ms. Ferland received a letter from the donor. "They wanted assurance that their funds would not help support transgender girls participating and if I couldn’t give that assurance they wanted the money returned.” Before she even finished reading the letter, “I thought to myself, ‘The money’s going back.’”
After the money was returned, Ms. Ferland says, a staff member suggested the organization start a crowd-funded campaign to replace the lost donation.
“Help us raise back the $100,000 a donor asked us to return because we welcome transgender girls." In a little over five hours, the site had already received over $100,000 in donations. By the end of that first day, the number was up to $243,958 from 4,760 donors. By the time the fund-raising effort was concluded a month later, the organization had raised $365,573.
Members of the LGBTI community must first get their internal selves right to achieve happiness and success according to the 2016 Queensland Australian of the Year.
Group Captain Catherine (Cate) McGregor is the world’s highest-ranked trans* military officer and was named Queenslander of the Year by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at a ceremony in Brisbane on Friday night.
McGregor, 59, won the award for her work as a diversity champion and national leader in trans* issues, which “as a result Australians have gained a greater understanding and acceptance of the transgender community”, according to the National Australia Day Council.
Formerly known as Malcolm, McGregor transitioned in 2012 and has been a public spokesperson for trans* issues ever since. She credits her career success in the Australian Defence Force not with hard work and ambition but as a desperate attempt to fit in “as a man” and would trade in her success to have transitioned at the age of 20.
British musician Labi Siffre has revealed that he wrote famous Anti-Apartheid anthem ‘Something Inside So Strong’ about his experiences as a gay man. The singer rose to fame in the 1970s, and is known for penning ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’ while apartheid was in effect in South Africa.
The song was adopted by the anti-apartheid movement as a rallying anthem, for its lyrics including: “The farther you take my rights away the faster I will run/ You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away.”
However, the singer revealed to the Radio 4’s Today Show that the song was actually inspired by his experiences as a gay men. He was asked: “That particular song is seen very much as an Anti-Apartheid anthem – is that the way we should see it?”
Siffre, 70, responded: “As soon as I’d written the first two lines, ‘the higher you build your barriers the taller I become’, I realised with a shock that I was writing about my life as a homosexual.
“From knowing I was gay when I was four, long before I’d even heard the words homophobia and homosexuality, and then went through the societal abuse of being told that as a black man and as a homosexual, I was a wicked evil disgusting pervert. Read more
“I’m just not that into male monsters.”
For 33 year-old photographer Kevin Truong, what began as an art school project has become a global series. The Gay Men Project documents the life and culture of gay men across the globe—with more than 700 subjects to date covering six continents.
Through his work, Truong has tapped into the global diversity of the gay male experience, giving men a platform to tell and share their stories with the world. He has gained international acclaim through his vivid photography and intimate interviews, garnering the attention of political figures and even royalty. Read more
An image of woman wearing a strap on and a picture of five people having sex with each other are among the scenes depicted in a Swedish book designed to offer stimulation for blind and visually impaired people.
The publication includes both braille text and tactile illustrations of sexual encounters, which readers can trace with their fingertips. Created by Swedish artist Nina Linde, 33, it features pictures of gay and lesbian sex acts as well as those between men and women.
"The book is about sexual stimulation, I don’t think 'porn' is the right word. And sexual stimulation is for everyone," she told The Local. The artist said she had come up with the idea for the publication after visiting the Braille Library in Stockholm.
"I discovered that there is no porn or dirty stuff at all for the visually impaired. Everyone needs some sexual stimulation." Read more
A Whangarei anti-bullying project has launched a series of videos made by local youth, including one which looks at homophobic bullying. The films were produced by the Tu Toa Whangarei anti-bullying project, which is linked to the Whangarei Youth Space.
TurnAround takes a situation where a young man is bullied for possibly being gay, and turns it on its head, showing the power of standing up for yourself and others. See more at Gay NZ
During his visit to Africa this summer, the US president, Barack Obama, addressed legal discrimination against LGBT individuals. Meeting the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama said: “When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode.”
Unfortunately, the response from Kenyatta was that “there are some things that we must admit we don’t share [with the US]. Our culture, our societies don’t accept.”
When I was appointed by Berlin’s Humboldt University this year to teach the course “Pre- and post-colonial sexual orientation and sexual identity in Africa”, I knew I had a huge task before me. I had to teach students about a history that is mostly unwritten. In digging up facts I found that, while many Africans say that homosexuality is un-African, African culture is no stranger to homosexual behaviours and acts.
For example, in my local language (Yoruba), the word for “homosexual” is adofuro, a colloquialism for someone who has anal sex. It might sound insulting and derogatory, however, the point is there is a word for the behaviour. Moreover, this is not a new word; it is as old as the Yoruba culture itself. Read More via the Guardian
Activists angered by the banning of a documentary about same-sex parenting in schools have staged a protest outside the offices of Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Around 150 people reportedly attended the rally, which was sparked by the controversial banning of the Gayby Baby film and the surrounding media coverage. Members of the group Community Action Against Homophobia have held a rally outside the newspaper’s Surry Hills office today to declare "homophobia has no place in schools".
The documentary was prohibited by NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli from being shown during class time, unless it directly relates to students' curriculum. Burwood Girls High School planned to screen the film, directed by former student Maya Newell, but was forced to cancel. A number of teachers also attended and spoke at the rally in support of the cause. Read more via 9news