LGBTQ* Petitions Currently Circulating

(From We The People Petition)

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Recognize non-binary genders.

Legal documents in the United States only recognize “male” and “female” as genders, leaving anyone who does not identify as one of these two genders with no option. Australia and New Zealand both allow an X in place of an M or an F on passports for this purpose, and the UK recognizes ‘Mx’ (pronounced “Mix”) as a gender-neutral title.

This petition asks the Obama administration to legally recognize genders outside of the male-female binary, and provide an option for these genders on all legal documents and records.

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As of March 18th, 2013, 79,000+ signatures are still needed.

Should you wish to add your signature to this petition, click HERE.

LGBTQ* Comics and Graphic Artists You Should Know

Tim Barela’s Leonard and Larry 

LGBTQ* Bans and Health Codes 

Since 1983, during the advancing years of HIV/AIDS scare, the FAC (Federal Advisory Committee) has placed a ban on gay* men donating blood. When filling out the blood donation questionnaire provided, donors are asked (if male) if they have slept with another male since 1977. If they answer yes, they are then told they cannot donate.

The FAC will be reviewing the policy again in the next few years (it failed to overturn the ban in 2010). 

LGBTQ* Books To Keep On Your Radar

A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White

A Boy’s Own Story is the first of Edmund White’s highly acclaimed trilogy of autobiographical novels that brilliantly evoke a young man’s coming of age and document American gay life through the last forty years. 

The nameless narrator in this deeply affecting work reminisces about growing up in the 1950s with emotionally aloof, divorced parents, an unrelenting sister, and the schoolmates who taunt him. 

He finds consolation in literature and his fantastic imagination. Eager to cultivate intimate, enduring friendships, he becomes aware of his yearning to be loved by men, and struggles with the guilt and shame of accepting who he is. (text from GoodReads) 

LGBTQ* Labels (Or Lack There Of)

LGBTQ* Literature History You Should Know

Alexis by Marguerite Yourcenar 

-One of the FIRST novels about male homosexuality to be written by a woman

- Story revolves around Alexis, who through a series of letters reveals to his wife that he is homosexual

LGBTQ* Gender, Definition, and Irony

This Is Not Code For My Identity 

LGBTQ* Books To Keep On Your Radar

Remembrance of Things I Forgot -Bob Smith

*Named one of Amazon’s Top LGBT Novels of 2011

“It’s safe to say your relationship is in trouble if the only way you can imagine solving your problems is by borrowing a time machine.”

In 2006 comic book dealer John Sherkston has decided to break up with his physicist boyfriend, Taylor Esgard, on the very day Taylor announces he’s finally perfected a time machine for the U.S government. John travels back to 1986, where he encounters “Junior,” his younger, more innocent self. When Junior starts to flirt, John wonders how to reveal his identity: “I’m you, only with less hair and problems you can’t imagine.” He also meets up with the younger Taylor, and this unlikely trio teams up to plot a course around their future relationship troubles, prevent John’s sister from making a tragic decision, and stop George W. Bush from becoming president.

In this wickedly comic, cross-country, time-bending journey, John confronts his own—and the nation’s—blunders, learning that a second chance at changing things for the better also brings new opportunities to screw them up. Through edgy humor, time travel, and droll one-liners, Bob Smith examines family dysfunction, suicide, New York City, and recent American history while effortlessly blending domestic comedy with science fiction. Part acidic political satire, part wild comedy, and part poignant social scrutiny, Remembrance of Things I Forgot is an uproarious adventure filled with sharp observations about our recent past. (from Amazon.com)

LGBTQ* Vintage

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  ~Albert Schweitzer

image: subjects/photographer unknown,
via varones/flickr

taken from WoolfandWilde.com