![The real question, according to Ryan Conrad and the members of Against Equality, a group of queers at that opposes gay marriage, is “whether we fight for a seat at a table we don’t really want to sit at, or [whether] we say fuck the table—let’s go eat somewhere else.”
- From “Working Against Equality: A Closer Look at Queers Who Oppose Equality” for The Good Men Project (Photo Cooper Fleishman and Andreanna Moya Photography)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lknmv3A3Do1qgdnpeo1_400.jpg)
The real question, according to Ryan Conrad and the members of Against Equality, a group of queers at that opposes gay marriage, is “whether we fight for a seat at a table we don’t really want to sit at, or [whether] we say fuck the table—let’s go eat somewhere else.”
- From “Working Against Equality: A Closer Look at Queers Who Oppose Equality” for The Good Men Project (Photo Cooper Fleishman and Andreanna Moya Photography)
“In many parts of the United States, two men can hold hands without attracting much attention, a rainbow bumper sticker won’t earn any car vandalism and a local public figure makes an “In Gets Better” video every other week. But in much of the country, the situation for members of the LGBT community is far different. On a legislative level, same-sex marriage is just one item on a long list of rights not yet afforded to sexual minorities—a list that foremost includes the right to job security. In 29 states, employers who disapprove of employees’ sexual orientation can fire employees without legal ramifications. Culturally, the intolerance is less concrete but more pervasive. Many gays and lesbians feel that coming out to family or community members could open the floodgates of prejudice and vitriol, expose a lack of any support system and, in extreme cases, jeopardize their lives. This is the plight of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the deeply conservative parts of the United States—namely, the Southern “Bible Belt” and the Midwest, regions highly influenced by religion.”
- From “LGBT in the Red States” for Buzzsaw magazine, featuring multimedia Vuvox presentation with 5 audio stories, including the voices of Nathan Manske of “I’m From Driftwood,” Abbie Kopf of Change.org, Randi Romo of Center for Artistic Revolution, Joney Harper of NWA Pride and Stephanie Perkins of PROMO.
“I think that the lesson plans are important—if we learn about the civil rights movement or women’s suffrage, then why are we not also formally learning about the LGBT rights movement? And if we learn about how communists were targeted in the Red Scare, why not also learn about the simultaneous Lavender Scare, where gays were targeted as threats to national security? And, while less essential, educational institutions could certainly use references to gay people where appropriate, in the same way that story-form scenarios and word problems should include references to blacks, Asians, or women where appropriate.
But I think the approach that Schools Out, Leno, and some bloggers are using is the wrong way to pitch this idea of teaching more about the LGBT rights movement. The role of textbooks and lesson plans is not to advocate for an end to bullying, and it’s not the responsibility of a math class to teach tolerance to a high schooler. That isn’t the argument that should accompany California’s bill or the U.K. initiative.
Instead we should be arguing that education should be an “objective” look at global history, and as most history classes stand now, they are curtailing crucial elements of history featuring LGBT people (or, in more cases, treating them as so inconsequential so as not to merit any academic lessons). Textbook writers shouldn’t be required to portray gay people in a positive way. But they should be required to disseminate truth and contain full, factual histories. That includes informing grade-school students about the gay rights movement. So why don’t LGBT supporters drop the argument that these plans would reduce bullying and just let the logic of raising well-informed children speak for itself?”
- Read the Full Post at The Good Men Project, linked to on Towleroad.com
In “The Big, Gay Elephant in the Room,” Buzzsaw magazine explores how the Republican party is rehabilitating its image by coming out for gay rights. Published in the October 2010 issue of Buzzsaw magazine at Ithaca College, featuring interviews with Casey Pick of the Log Cabin Republicans, Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud, Adam Bink of OpenLeft.com and Bil Browning of The Bilerico Project. (Art by Jess Hock, Ithaca College ‘12)
For Aden, being transgender at an all-women’s college “really helped me to become a different kind of man. I think if I were at a co-ed institution, I would have tried harder to fit into the mold of what a man should be, stereotypically. And I think there wasn’t that pressure—I could be whoever I wanted to be because I was one of the few boys there. I definitely think it pushed me to go beyond what people expect a man to be.”
- From “The Man in the Women’s College” for The Good Men Project
