It’s sad when it takes a spate of teenage suicides to wake people up to the reality of the negative impact bullying has on gay teens' lives.

By September 2010, at least six gay youth — all of whom endured relentless taunting by their classmates — ended their own lives.

But it was the suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, that made headline news around the world. Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on Sept 22 after his roommate posted a video of him making out with another guy.

The last known communication from Clementi was on his Facebook page. His status update read, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

Clementi’s death raised the alarm, and queers, parents and educators stepped forward to address bullying.

Dan Savage, a sex educator and columnist, started the It Gets Better campaign. Savage and his partner sat down in front of a video camera and talked about being bullied when they were teenagers. Savage hoped to capture the attention of a few people; instead, he captured the attention of thousands.

Every day, videos are uploaded to the project from all corners of the globe. The videos, whether of one person speaking or a group of people singing, all deliver the same message — that it’s okay to be gay.

Pop culture has also done its bit to spread the word. Gay characters are popping up in TV shows like Glee, and Lady Gaga is becoming the world’s most fab gay icon.

This week The New York Times released a series of articles on gay teens. Reporters contacted nearly 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender teenagers from all parts of the United States. The teens came from rural areas and urban centres, some from supportive environments and others from hostile ones, but they all tell stories of where they are now in life and where they want to be in the future.

“Coming Out” is a multimedia project, with a different story each day of the week. The New York Times articles say that the project is an “effort to better understand this generation’s realities and expectations, and to give teenagers their own voice in the conversation.”

 

  

Everyone knows that condoms offer the best protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS.

Condoms are also easy to find — at your local pharmacy, in grocery stores, at your doctor's, in public washrooms, and from any gay man.

But what about female condoms?

 

In theory, the female condom should also protect against STIs, including HIV/AIDS (although some say more research is needed), and they should also be easy to find.

But they are not, and in the United States they have not been readily available in drug stores — until now.

American pharmacy chain Walgreens has announced that a new female condom will be stocked at 400 locations across the country.

In a press release issued by Chicago Female Condom Campaign, founder Jessica Terlikowski says, "Limited access to female condoms has long been a barrier to use. The Chicago Female Condom Campaign commends Walgreens for making a business decision that will help women and men across the US access the prevention tools they need to stay healthy. HIV prevention educators, advocates and service providers are proud to have a private-sector partner like Walgreens prioritize the public's health. We urge other commercial pharmacies to follow Walgreens' commitment to reduce new HIV and STI infections and make the new female condom available in their stores."

The news has piqued my interest — I wonder if female condoms can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart?

Toronto Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti says he's sorry if he offends any drag queens, but he'd rather not get "lipstick all over his office."

At city council on May 18, Mammoliti lamented that "For the first time ever, there are more people that go through the mayor's door than we've ever seen before, and I'm saying this in an unbiased way.

"You may not want to admit it, but it's happening every day. People are coming in from the street, knocking on the door, and he is bringing them in to talk to them without an appointment or any of that."

When he finished speaking, Councillor Mike Layton asked Mammoliti about the trio of drag queens that popped into city hall on May 12.

"What drag queens?" Mammoliti asked.

"Did the drag queens come to my office, Councillor Davis?" Mammoliti asked. Councillor Janet Davis said softly into a microphone, "They should have."

"Did they come to my office? I'm glad I wasn't there," he said as snickers and laughter rippled throughout council chambers. "There would have been lipstick everywhere."

At this, other councillors reacted with gasps.

"What? Oh, did I offend the drag queens? I'm sorry if I offended the drag queens," he said.

City-hall watcher Matt Elliott, who captured the clip, says the comments were made during the debate on the advisory committee item. Mammoliti had just moved to refer several motions to the mayor's office and Councillor Gord Perks was questioning him on the wisdom of such a move.

On May 12 drag artists Amber Ellert, Stephanie Stephens and Michelle DuBarry spent the afternoon inviting councillors to the Proud of Toronto International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia event that took place at city hall on May 16.

When they asked to speak to Mayor Rob Ford, the queens were turned away from Ford's office by his assistant, Tom Beyer, who claimed the mayor was "in a meeting."
 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Talk to any gay man about Halifax and the conversation is bound to steer toward sailor watching and strolling in the harbour to check what ships have docked. 

From today there will be no stopping the boys: for the next five months they will be able to view the shenanigans of gay sailors in a new exhibition opening in Halifax.

Hello Sailor! Gay Life on the Ocean Wave makes its North American debut at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in the Halifax harbour.

The exhibition – like its subjects – has been shipped across the sea from the Merseyside Museum in Liverpool, England. It was inspired by a book, Hello Sailor!: Gay Life for Seamen, which was co-authored by Jo Stanley in 2003. After Halifax, the exhibition will return to its permanent home in Liverpool.

In a Canadian Press article, Stanley, who is in Halifax for the opening of the exhibition, extols the “sense of freedom” felt by the sailors who crossed the seas in the 1950s.

Homosexuality was illegal in England, but once on the decks the English sailors transformed into drag queens draped in feather boas, high heels and jewellery. Drag shows, musicals and gay debauchery became part of the ocean voyage’s mystique.

Although being out and proudly gay was embraced by the stewards, it was not the same for all sailors. Captains, deck officers and other high-ranking mates remained in the closet for fear of losing their jobs.

It does seem odd that such a flamboyant gay subculture was allowed to flourish onboard ships when homosexuality was taboo everywhere else.

In the United States, gays in the navy and the military have been banned up until President Obama's lifting of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law earlier this year.

But for some sailors things are about to change. On May 9, it was reported by The Advocate that US sailors will be allowed to be married. Navy chaplains were given the go-ahead to marry gay couples on the navy base – as long they are in a state that allows same- sex marriages.

Does that mean that if a couple is relocated to another base in a state where same-sex marriages are illegal, their marriage will be null and void?

 

   

Raunchy adverts always cause some controversy, but it is a sad state of affairs when innocuous ads have the same effect.

In April, Fox News went apoplectic over the J Crew advert that featured the company’s president and creative director, Jenna Lyons, painting the toenails of her son Beckett.

I am not sure whether the problem was that she was painting his toenails or that they were painted pink — Beckett’s favourite colour — but for the conservative nuts, the advert’s hidden agenda was to convert kids to being either gay or transgender.

Yep, that’s right. That little guy in the ad is going to grow up “gender confused” because his mother subjected him to pink nail varnish.

Fox News was not alone in its horror at such an “outrageous” advert.

Media Research Center’s Erin Brown wrote in his opinion page, “Not only is Beckett likely to change his favorite color as early as tomorrow, Jenna's indulgence (or encouragement) could make life hard for the boy in the future. J Crew, known for its tasteful and modest clothing, apparently does not mind exploiting Beckett behind the façade of liberal, transgendered identity politics. One has to wonder what young boys in pink nail polish has to do with selling women's clothing.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, the latest ad to be banned is one of an androgynous male model on the cover of fashion magazine Dossier Journal.

The United States mega bookstore Borders refuses to sell the magazine because the 19-year-old model, Andrej Pejic, appears shirtless on the cover, looking "too much like a woman."

Dossier’s co-founder and creative director, Skye Parrott, told The Huffington Post that “it's not a coincidence that it's only the giant US chain stores that are asking us to do this... It's only the American copies that are being censored."

I wonder how fab’s covers would go down?