silas-says:

offonarocketship:

thecsph:

An Exciting New iPhone App for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Folks!

Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes’ LGBT Health and Wellness Project, Out for Health, is pleased to present their Pee in Peace App!  This app is designed to help transgender, gender non-conforming, and other individuals who do not readily fit into expected and conventional norms of gender presentation, easily locate single stall or gender neutral bathrooms in Ithaca, New York!

The idea for this app came about after a survey conducted by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that nearly 50% of respondents reported having been harassed or assaulted in a public bathroom. Because of this, many transgender people avoid public bathrooms altogether and can develop health problems as a result. It has become Out for Health’s commitment to work toward removing the barriers to accessing safe bathrooms.

About the app:
Pee in Peace is the premiere interactive map of MOST single stall and gender neutral restrooms in Ithaca, New York.  Because public restrooms can pose some risks (from cleanliness to safety), Out for Health has done the work for you so you can pee in peace! For anyone who needs quick and easy access to a private bathroom -  from caregivers for people of a different sex, to anyone who just prefers a private place, and especially for transgender and gender non-conforming people who may have a specific need for safe and private restrooms.  Everyone deserves a place to pee in peace, right here in Ithaca, New York.

Features:

• Interactive map of nearby single stall and gender neutral restrooms.
• GPS ‘near me’ search for the closest bathroom.
• Quick access to walking or driving directions to get you there fast!
• List includes when restrooms are open and key features, including if the restroom is accessible.
• Notes section provides special directions for restrooms at local college campus locations.

Out for Health is also working toward adding more locations!
If you know of a restroom that should be included please use the feedback button in the app to alert them!

Requirements:

• Location data is used to provide walking and driving directions to restrooms and is not collected or stored by the app
• Network connection is required to update locations and availability
• Network connection is required to provide driving and walking directions

About Out for Health:
Out for Health is Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes’ LGBT Health & Wellness Project, providing outreach, education, and information to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people, their health care providers, and the community at-large about the importance of inclusive, welcoming, and respectful care for LGBT people. Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes takes pride in assuring that their diverse patients and communities have access to the sexual health, wellness services, and information they need. They proudly stand side-by-side with their LGBT communities as fellow activists, allies, and people committed to health, wellness, and social change.

I was arguing with someone today about conservative Christians and homosexuality - I  did my whole spiel about how they aren’t being decent or even rational Christians by picking-and-choosing some bullshit claim in Leviticus to make a huge stink about, but completely ignoring the dozens upon dozens of other crazy rules in Leviticus and elsewhere.  

She was like, “Well, it’s silly to talk about stoning women or whatever now because in modern Christianity, homosexuality is the thing the church decides to condemn - no one is actually saying we should stone women or kill children now.”

So the whole point of Christianity is just to plod along with whatever is in vogue with the hierarchical institution?  

She also thought I was hypocritical for telling Christians what to do (ie, telling them not to selectively read the Bible just to be bigoted assholes instead of, y’know, following the teachings of Jesus) because I want THEM to stop telling people what to do (ie, condemning gay people to hell).

I am bigoted against bigots. Whoopz 

did u know 

homofactory:

that it’s possible to write stories about queer characters

that are not 

A) coming out stories

B) something unspeakable happens to a poor queer person and all the cis, straight people learn a sad lesson about tolerance (aka CIS TRAGEDY PORN)

C) yaoi

i know this is pretty revolutionary

just, pass this along to the mainstream media

and the semi-mainstream media

Some people think this has been accomplished with Modern Family, but not reeeally? I like Modern Family, but as devonbanks has pointed out, 90% of Mitchell and Cameron’s story lines involve them bickering with each other. It’s always some horrible stereotypical version of what straight guys might think two femme women living together would act like, being snippy and petty and uppity all the time. Sometimes I wonder how the show expects us to believe that these are two people who are actually IN LOVE. And they plan on adopting another baby? K.

dishabillic:

“Nebraska” by Miles Walser

For years you hid your tampons between mattresses, cut your hair short, lowered your voice, collected ace bandages and baggy clothes. Small town talk stuck to your shoulders, you nervously shuffled around gas stations, never looked men in the eyes. We share unwanted wombs. While mine collects cobwebs, yours lies in a coffin in Nebraska.

This is the state that made you famous, handed movie scripts to Hilary Swank. Your murder was Oscar worthy. We are walking obituaries. Your hate crime headline already carved across my forehead, people look at me and see your delicate hands and absent adam’s apple.

Brother, I’m afraid to use the bathroom… (Walk in, head down, don’t look at another guy.) I’m afraid I’ll be discovered… (Don’t talk, dont stare, don’t piss too quickly.) Some thick armed man will call me a queer, tell me to show him my tits. Suddenly I’m thrown against faucets, spit in my face, workboot gutting my stomach. I see you on the movie screen and wonder if it’s my reflection. I watch them push you into the dirt and drag me into their car as they break our bodies in between our thighs.

Brother, did it hurt when you kissed her goodbye? Did you know you were breaking your promise when you told her you’d come back? Did your parents panic? Buy you a prom dress? Struggle over pronouns at family gatherings? And how long did it take your girlfriend to run her hands along your skin, soft as hers? Did she leave her eyes open?

We are carcasses. Untouched boxes of condoms. We are public secrets, playground jokes, and horror films. We are costumes, stuffing, binding and makeup. We aren’t real men to them. Invisible til we’re screaming. They don’t remember our names until they read them on our tombstones.

They exposed you. Decided you’re better off as splattered ink on newspaper. Used you as a warning for the rest of us. And there are days when it works. Sometimes I forget that sidewalks can be safe. Sometimes I confuse their shooting eyes for the bullet that met yours. Sometimes I imagine the phone call my mother would get. Can almost hear my sobbing friends. Smell the lillies on my casket. Touch my girlfriend’s black dress. But brother, I am trying to be brave.

hmsanchez87:

“I’ve had enough of being a gay icon! I’ve had enough of all this hard work, because, since I came out, I keep getting all these parts, and my career’s taken off. I want a quiet life. I’m going back into the closet. But I can’t get back into the closet, because it’s absolutely jam-packed full of other actors.”

-Ian McKellen-

My American Studies professor seems to think EVERYTHING is a social construct. 

When we read an article in class on transgender men at women’s colleges, my professor made a comment that was basically like “if women’s roles weren’t so restrictive in today’s society, less of them would become transgender men.”

Then TODAY, we were talking about gay men and fairies in 1930s New York - how a lot of them would dress in feminine clothing and makeup in order to attract other men. And my professor was like, the men are attracted to the FEMININE qualities, and penises don’t have anything to do with it.

And whenever I tried to say gender roles =/= gender, he would say in some convoluted way we were actually trying to make the same point and I wasn’t getting it, and/or he would be like, “I know you just like FIGHTING me on things, but…”

Ugh. And I keep wanting to talk to him about it but he’s really really smart and intimidating and I really HATE disagreeing with professors.

I know he’s a social scientist, but don’t social scientists have some responsibility to represent COMPREHENSIVE truths??

ariybitez:

High School Students Crowned America’s First Lesbian Homecoming Couple

Two California high school students became one of the first lesbian couples crowned homecoming king and queen in the nation this weekend.

Rebeca Arellano, a senior at Patrick Henry High School, was made the school’s first female homecoming king when her name was announced Friday at a pep rally.

“They were chanting my name and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had,” said Arellano.

Arellano’s girlfriend, Haileigh Adams, who also attends Patrick Henry High School, was made homecoming queen at Saturday night’s dance.

“I was happier than when I won, my little Haileigh has just been announced Homecoming queen and I couldn’t feel happier! Thanks to every single one of you! You guys made this happen and we are all part of something huge. I can’t fully express how grateful I am. I am in completely shocked that this happen. My girl looks absolutely flawless,” wrote Arellano on Facebook Saturday night.

The two girls told ABC News that they’re thankful for the abundance of support they’ve received from family, friends, and students and staff at the school.

Arellano said one of her teachers told her, “Today school is a bit better because of you girls.”

Arellano’s Facebook wall is covered with congratulatory notes from her friends.

“Thank you all for allowing this change to happen,” Arellano posted on Facebook.

Adams said they have received negative feedback as well.

“We have a lot of support, but there are also a lot of people who are angry about it,” she said. “Anonymous Patrick Henry students are saying they’re embarrassed and that it’s wrong for a girl to take the spot of king. But there’s no other way for us to run as a couple. It’s not really fair for us not to have the right to run as a couple.”

Arellano posted a statement to those who opposed her on her Facebook wall that read: “For all the girls who think tradition should be continued, go back to the kitchen, stop having sex before you’re married, get out of school and job system, don’t have an opinion, don’t own any property, give up the right to marry who you love, don’t vote, and allow your husband to do whatever he pleases to you. Think about the meaning of tradition when you use it in your argument against us.”

Adams and Arellano both came out their freshman year of high school, and they began dating in February of their sophomore year. They say their parents were supportive both when they came out and when they started dating.

"I said, this is a napkin. This is a napkin. A napkin is what a napkin is. It isn’t a paper towel. It isn’t a car. You can call a napkin a car, but it doesn’t make it a car. You can call a paper towel a chair, but it doesn’t make it a chair. Marriage is what marriage is."

— Rick Santorum making some nice analogies which make a lot of sense

lgbtlaughs:

(Submitted by itsyourwords)

lol I am really annoying. But can being gay stop being an insult please & thanks. 

I shouldn’t be appalled, but I am. 

Under a facebook post with this picture:

Were some comments like these:

I’m sickened. 

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) today introduced legislation to reduce youth homelessness. The Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act would improve training, educational opportunities, and permanency planning for older foster youth. It also strengthens programs to reduce poverty and keep families together.

“As a father, it’s a punch in the gut to imagine children living on the streets, but this year alone, one in fifty American kids will be homeless,” Senator Kerry said. “There are common sense reforms we can implement to help make things better.”

The legislation includes an important provision that provides support for programs that improve family relationships and reduce homelessness among youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.