Gay Marriage

Nepal is set to stage same-sex weddings on Mount Everest as part of a bid to promote the country as the homosexual tourism capital of Asia.

By Dean Nelson [Telegraph]

Nepal's homosexual community, which is led by Asia's only openly gay member of parliament, will next month host a tourism conference to explore how to attract wealthy gay visitors to boost the country's war-ravaged economy.

The country's new constitution will legalise homosexual marriage in May this year, when "Pink Mountain" will begin offering luxury honeymoon and wedding packages.

Sunil Babu Pant, a Communist legislator and leader of the country's homosexual rights movement, has launched a travel company dedicated to promoting the former Hindu kingdom to gay tourists in an effort to tap the so-called "Pink Pound" and dollar.

Christi van der Westhuizen interviews MELISSA STEYN, author and professor of diversity studies

CAPE TOWN, Jan 16, 2010 (IPS) - "The Prize and The Price - Shaping Sexualities in South Africa" is the first book of its kind in South Africa to unpack the ideology behind the enforcement of "acceptable" versions of sex, gender and sexuality.

The book's editors, Melissa Steyn and activist Mikki van Zyl, take aim at the system of "hetero-normativity": the institutions and norms that enforce exclusive heterosexuality.

Christi van der Westhuizen spoke to Steyn, who is the director of Intercultural and Diversity Studies of South Africa at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Q: Why study hetero-normativity?

A: Because hetero-normativity is so powerful in the way it structures social behaviour, expectations and our identities. It is invisible, so we tend not to be conscious of the extent to which it shapes our society.

This is true for most dominant ideologies. But hetero-normativity is even less within our conscious understanding day-to-day than, for example, how whiteness operates to shape the racial order.

One week.  One unified voice.  Let’s take over America’s local newspapers.

What to do:

Write an Opinion Piece to your local newspaper in support of same-sex marriage.  All across the nation, others will be doing the same.

Articles are to be printed at any point during the week of Sunday, January 3rd - Saturday, January 9th.

Note: Please email your article to ltonewspapers@gmail.com so we can post it up on our blog (http://lovetakesover.tumblr.com)

Things you might discuss in your article:

- Why this issue matters to you (your personal story)
- Why Civil Marriage is a Civil Rights issue
- Rights and protections granted through marriage
- Why Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships are not equal to marriage
- How inequality affects the families and children of same-sex couples

- A suggestion from Jude Stevens and blogger SecondClassCitizens: Consider writing a letter to your hometown about your experiences growing up LGBT or being a straight ally.  How does inequality affect LGBT youth?  How will marriage equality help them?

- College Students: If your college is on winter break during this event - please write an Opinion Piece to your hometown newspaper. You may then submit the article to your school newspaper upon returning to campus. You might also consider writing about any responses or reactions you receive and sharing them with your campus.

Please also alert your local newspaper of the fact that your piece is part of a nationwide effort.  This will enhance the chances of your piece being published.

By Dave Opiyo [Daily Nation]

Shelly Goldstein sings a comic parody about gay marriage equality.

Lyric by Shelly Goldstein, Piano: Gil Leib. Videographer: David Shine, Graphics by Rob Fiedler. Bark by Bella Lyczkowski.

ALL RESPECT TO THE ORIGINAL GORGEOUS SONG by RMS and RBS. No insult or infringement intended

Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/groovyshelly

Hello!

We have assembled the following survey intended for donor conceived youth and adults who have one or more LGBTQ identified parents.  Over the years the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) has gathered information from a myriad of families, but we believe predominantly more heterosexual.  We think the issues for LGBTQ families are both similar and quite different. The results of this survey will be used to both better understand and to begin to construct resources that are designed to meet the needs of our families.  Our goal is to provide an accurate reflection of experiences and to assist families in having meaningful dialogue related to the challenges specific to our community.

Please note that this survey tool was designed by members of the DSR who are also identified as LGBTQ.  Two are also licensed therapists.

A NOTE TO PARENTS: This survey is designed for mature school aged youth and above. Please review the questions to make sure that they are age appropriate for your child. Some of the questions deal with potentially difficult topics for families. Again, our goal is to understand our children’s experiences so that we can design and provide better resources for families as we go forward.

If you only have one parent, please answer questions for Parent B (bio parent).

PLEASE NOTE: Many questions will allow more than one answer.

We appreciate your time (should take no more than 15 minutes).

Thank you!

The Donor Sibling Registry

Take the Survey Here.

Wendy Kramer

www.donorsiblingregistry.com

303-258-0902

I was at a party recently and stumbled into a conversation where someone was stating their opposition to gay marriage rights. I have to admit, this doesn't happen to me often; I live in a big city, and the overwhelming majority of people with whom I personally associate take the desirability of gay rights for granted. So I pulled out all the arguments that I usually save for the proverbial choir, and asked this fellow why he opposes gay marriage. To be fair, neither of us were sober for this debate, but he didn't claim to have any rational arguments, and he didn't cite religion.

All of his arguments came down to re-wording, "Being gay is wrong because anal sex is gross. Ewww."

Which he said with taken-for-granted conviction, like he assumed that just because I'm a straight woman I've never fucked a man's ass before. Actually, I highly recommend it. I've also watched every episode of Queer as Folk, which I mostly find melodramatic, except that it's man-on-man sex scenes are some of the hottest soft-core porn scenes ever to air on television. And I'm not the first straight woman to think so. So I can answer that particular homophobia with enthusiastic conviction: "You don't know what you're missing." To which he gaped incredulously and repeated, "Ewww." Which is hard to debate, really, because what makes people horny is always individualistic and irrational. And then I realized: This fellow's opinions on anal sex may be a lot like my opinions on eating pickles.

Here is a great discussion on why heterosexuals can be threatened by the idea of gay marriage.  It is presented by Dr. Michael Schmitt, Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University and Director of the Self in Social Context Lab (SISC).

This video has some background info, so if you're impatient or don't like academic presentations - skip to 30 minutes in and dig the phat tracks he lays down.

Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage: The Role of Heterosexual Identity

h/t to LGBT Latest Science