"My Family" - Video Compilation of LGBTQ Families

The Power of Queer Opposition

One day after the results of the likely marriage ban in California queers and allies flooded the state with peaceful protests.



Above is a picture found on Joe My God of 5,000 protesters at the San Francisco city hall. I re-posted this because it demonstrates the strength of our community to stand united and to stand strong in fierce opposition to bigotry.

LGBTQIA Social Networking Sites

It's Sunday and a slow news day so I decided to list some (FREE) LGBT social networking sites I have come across that I like. The following sites are good for dating, making friends, sharing a common interest, and business networking. They are sort of like the queer myspaces of the world.

I know there are many communities specific to individual orientations/identities but I figured I would just list the ones that are most inclusive.

Feel free to list any social networking/dating sites you are part of and like...

http://www.glee.com - Gay, Lesbian, and Everyone Else (GLEE) is a great resource for finding your love, friends, or a new job! The website has forums, videos, music and more... (Another thing I like about (GLEE) is it is asexual & trans friendly).

http://www.gayster.com - Gayster is a new queer take on myspace and has just launched, it seeks to unite the LGBT community and offers member search, videos, groups, photo's, blogs, event listings and more.

http://www.connexion.org - Connexion lets you find dates and friends, get LGBT news, and find the latest party near you.

http://www.downelink.com - Downelink was created as a play on the word down low "DL" and caters mostly to African American and Latino LGBTQ populations, but is open to everyone. DowneLink offers an array of features, such as social networking, blogs, internal emails, bulletins, forums, video/audio chat and instant messaging, and video profile.

http://mogenic.com/ - Mogenic is for queer youth to connect. It offers articles, news, blogs, people search, and so much more.

http://www.thingbox.com - Mostly U.K. centered but open to the planet at large Thingbox offers popular forums, chat, groups, events, people search and more.

The Gay Yellow Pages

The Gay Yellow Pages has been serving the LGBTQ community since 1973, offering a comprehensive listing of resources and services owned or operated for the community. Available are a online national book listing or one for your particular state.

http://www.glyp.com

Open Forum: Is the Notion of a "Queer Community" a Fairytale?

We often hear the terms "Gay community" or "LGBT community" to refer to sexual and gender minorities who have banded together under an umbrella term. Is there really such a community? The notion of whether we are a community is subject to debate in Queer theory circles.

Each subgroup has a different struggle and a different agenda, we all have overlapping similarities. We all have overlapping political aspirations. Does this make us a community? We also have divisions amongt us. Do Gay men really care about Lesbian rights and having a women centered and feminist empowering movement. Do Lesbians really accept Trans-women as female? Are Homos and Hetero's throwing out the Bisexuals as just a confused bunch? Do Transgender people really care about LGB rights once they have transitioned and are "passable"? Do Asexual people really want to be labeled with a bunch of Queers who are "defined" by their sexuality? and finally do Intersex people want to be lumped into the umbrella with those who have "GID"?

Even amidst our so called respective populations we have divisions. Gay men are divided into categories Bears, Twinks, Fetish practitioners, etc. Lesbians divide themselves up by Butch, Femme, and Trans. Transgender people are divided by classifications of M2F, F2M, Andogyne, Genderqueer, Pre-op, Post-op, etc.

There is a lot of inner debate and struggle within our so called "community" and there is misunderstanding and even downright hatred. So often we hear arguments about which letter comes first in the acronym LGBT and we hear other debates that acronym is not all inclusive. We also often hear that the B or the T is being left out.

That being said there are some unifying themes that we all share. We all have the struggle of being closeted, and embracing and coming to terms with our identities, and we all share an opposition that hates us and wants to deny us rights.

There are other indications that maybe the "community" part of the debate is valid. During the 1980's at the height of the AIDS crisis, Lesbians were at the hospital beds of dying gay men. Many people don't know that some of the greatest leaders in ACT-UP (an organization set to fight HIV/AIDS discrimination) were lesbian women.

Stonewall was started by the acts of many brave and angry Transgender people which paved the way for the rights and empowerment of Gays and Lesbians.

The Gays who have a substantially larger population have accepted the Trans community and brought their issues and legislation to the forefront. Had it just been Trans people alone, their movement would not have advanced as quickly or at all.

So that being said there are divisions but there is also love and unity.

How do YOU define community and do Queers fit that mold?