On Campus - Monday, November 16, 2009 13:40 - 4 Comments
NYU Trans Week Celebrates Joys of Gender Bending
NYU’s LGBT office never runs out of things to celebrate. After NYU’s Pride Month festivities in October, the LGBT Office is dubbing November 16th-21st Trans Week, dedicated to “Gender Benders, Breakers, Revolutionaries, Non-Conformists, and Awesome People.”
There are a mix of midday and evening events to enjoy. Note that many, if not all, of the programs are open to the public and include free food (sometimes even Twister!). Check out the full list on the Trans Week facebook page, but here are some highlights with the event descriptions:
Gender Fabulous! Trans Week Kick-Off Performance!
7pm – 10pm Monday 11/16, E&L Kimmel 4th Floor
“Come start the week off right with GENDER FABULOUS, a group featuring the World Famous *BOB*, Glenn Marla and Dave End! This performance promises to be a hysterical and heartbreaking journey through the minds of three of NYC’s most endearing performers.”
Unpacking Gender: Intersections of Gender & Mental Health
7pm Tuesday 11/17, Kimmel 905
“Co-sponsored by Campus Icarus Project: Thinking about gender a little too much? Come talk about how mental health and gender intersect in a workshop that is all about YOU! Attend this workshop to explore what gender is and how it affects everyone daily. FREE FOOD!”
Continue…
Featured, On Campus - Monday, October 26, 2009 12:20 - 2 Comments
How I Survived the NYU “Tantric Sex” Workshop
The first thing announced at the tantric sex workshop hosted by NYU’s LGBT center last Thursday was that it was not, in fact, as “hands on” as the posting had promised. One person walked out. The 39 or so students left had an hour and a half of suggestive dialogue, body exploration, and heavy breathing to look forward to. Basically, the soft-core porn of on-campus events.
The workshop was led by visiting “sexuality educator” Amy Jo Goddard who said she had been teaching sexuality for the last 15 years. I don’t know what happened before then, but I guess students just found a way of teaching themselves. Goddard started off with us all going around, and saying the one thing that makes us feel “juicy.” A student before me said “uncircumcised penises,” I said “Betty Crocker Warm Delights,” and things only got steamier from there.
After we were all feeling properly juiced, Goddard treated us to some relationship advice. Guilt is a useless emotion, she said. It’s one of the many things, along with work and dealing with our parents, that inhibits our personal pleasure. At this point, I felt pretty far ahead of the rest of the class as I’d learned most of this from reading Cathy comics. Goddard then drew an imaginary line on the ground and described the fear many of us have of stepping over that “line” in our relationships. Instead, we engage in the usual “dance” around it. Somehow we had gone from Cathy to A Chorus Line, but I was still pretty sure I was following her.
Continue…
National - Friday, April 24, 2009 7:30 - 1 Comment
Connecticut Gov. Signs Gay Marriage Bill
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell signed a bill yesterday reclassifying marriage as “the legal union of two people,” aligning the state’s Supreme Court decision with the legislative language. The previous law defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Although civil unions have been legal in Connecticut since last November, following an October Supreme Court decision that called denying gay marriage unconstitutional, the passage of the bill in Congress was another victory for gay rights.
The bill removed discriminatory language from previous legislation and adapted the law to conform to the judicial decision.
Photo by Flickr user laverrue.
National - Thursday, April 16, 2009 14:16 - 7 Comments
Gov. Paterson Introduces Gay Marriage Legislation
After hinting about it over the last week, today Gov. David Paterson introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage in New York. The NY Daily News reports that there was “raucous applause from lawmakers and advocates.” Paterson’s bill is the same one that Elliot Spitzer tried to push through the legislature; it passed in the Assembly but died in the Senate.
While this seems great at first glance, there is a fear that the bill still might not have enough support to pass the Senate. There is a large amount of momentum behind gay rights right now (after Iowa and Vermont), but another defeat in a big state like New York could take the wind out of the sails. But Paterson knows this – City Room notes that “he thinks the bill should be debated on the Senate floor, senators should be forced to take a public position on it, and they should vote it up or down.” Continue…
National - Tuesday, April 7, 2009 11:12 - 4 Comments
Vermont Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Following closely in the footsteps of Iowa, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. Although its passage in one of the most liberal states in the country may not carry the kind of weight that Iowa’s did, it is still an important milestone in the move towards gay rights.
Vermont is the first state to approve gay marriage through a legislative vote. The other three states (Iowa, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) all legalized it through the judicial branch.
The best news is that the VT legislature overrode a veto of the bill by GOP Gov. Jim Douglas. Both the House and Senate needed a two-thirds majority to do so. The Senate easily surpassed that, voting 23-5 in support of the bill. The House just eked it out: they voted 100-49 in favor of gay marriage.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user paul+photos=moody.
National - Friday, April 3, 2009 9:23 - 10 Comments
Iowa To Allow Gay Marriage
Early this morning, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a district court decision allowing six gay couples to marry. The Court wrote in their summary, “The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.”
Iowa is the fourth state to allow gay marriage, but its importance goes beyond that of other states. It is the first Midwestern state (the first state in “real America,” as Sarah Palin might say) to approve same-sex marriage.
Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Clinton on gay rights, said, “I think it’s significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest state in the mainstream of American thought. Unlike states on the coasts, there’s nothing more American than Iowa. As they say during the presidential caucuses, ‘As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.’”
I actually think the coastal states are quite American too, but he has a point. This decision could help push other states to pass similar laws, either through the legislative or judicial branch. This looks to me like a huge gay rights victory and one more step towards equality.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user danny.hammontree.
City - Friday, February 6, 2009 15:21 - 0 Comments
LGBT Bookstore To Close
The Oscar Wilde Bookshop, considered to be the oldest LGBT bookstore in the city, will be closing on March 29. Opening in 1967, the store was significant in improving the image of gays and lesbians across the country, because its earliest owners sought out and promoted gay and lesbian literature, as opposed to the pornography that seemed to characterize the gay community at the time.
According to a message on its website, the store’s owners “do not have the resources to weather the current economic crisis.” Sad.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user leah the librarian – used under CC license.
Opinion - Friday, September 19, 2008 0:00 - 0 Comments
Brad Pitt flexes his checkbook for the gays
Remember when Brad Pitt said that he and Angelina Jolie would “consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able”? Yeah, that was super sweet. Well, the square-jawed sex-symbol has done it again! On Wednesday Pitt announced that he would be donating $100,000 to fight Proposition 8, an option on the ballot in California in November that could ban the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Says Pitt, “Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.” Brad, you’re a doll. Next time you come to New York let me take you out to dinner to show how much I appreciate this. No, really. I want to.
Photo by Flickr user wvs used under a Creative Commons license.
Opinion - Thursday, September 11, 2008 0:00 - 0 Comments
Floridians Progressing?
A proposed amendment to Florida’s State Constitution effectively banning same-sex marriages is likely to fail on the ballot this November. According to a new poll, the ban is only receiving 55% support from likely voters, short of the 60% it needs to pass into law. It’s interesting to me that in this instance progress is being made by inaction rather than action. It’s not necessarily the work of the HRC or GLAAD, but the technicality of having too few votes. I guess if this is the way that progress is being made at this point, I’ll take it. That’s not to say I’m happy about it, however. I don’t know how many times I can say this, but in the year 2008 I feel it’s time that America starts to embrace marriage equality for everyone. I mean, they did it in Canada. Are we really going to allow ourselves to be upstaged by Canada?
Opinion - Thursday, September 4, 2008 10:14 - 0 Comments
McCain didn’t know what ‘LGBT’ meant
This won’t be long. I just want to plant a little seed of thought into the minds of you politically-aware NYU kiddies in anticipation of John McCain’s acceptance speech tonight. It’s no secret to anyone who sets foot near Washington Square Park that NYU prides itself on being an LGBT-friendly university. Because of that, you can expect regular updates on the progress (hopefully) being made by the LGBT community from me throughout the year. One of my favorite John McCain moments happened exactly a year ago today when he was touring the country on the campaign trail and a high school student asked him what he planned to do on LGBT issues and workers’ rights. The septuagenarian did not know what “LGBT” stood for. It wasn’t some spin by a Washington talking head, he actually said, “I had not heard that phrase before.” Awesome! This just goes to show everyone the severe gaps in relevance between the two candidates. Enjoy the speech tonight!
