Matt [Bomer] just looked at Andrew [Rannels] and me and said, ‘It’s so amazing that we’ve gotten to a point where we can have a major TV show that’s centered on an openly gay couple, and that I can take part in it. It’s moments like that which make me proud that we’re able to add another drop in the bucket.
—  Justin Bartha — with Huffington Post Gay Voices on ‘The New Normal’. Click here for more.

5 months ago · 18 notes · Source

One Million Moms: The New Normal Is All Around You, So Get Used to Us

By Liz Owen, Director of Communications, PFLAG National

The One Million Moms are at it again.

Apparently they have nothing better to do — because every child in America is fully insured, has a belly full of food, goes to a great school, and has a warm, safe place to come home to at night, with parents who have no financial worries at all — than call for a boycott of The New Normal. You’ve heard of it, right? It’s the new show on NBC, from Glee creator Ryan Murphy, which, according to OMM, will surely shred the very fabric of our decent society like an angry kitten’s claws through a catnip-infused gauze pad.

As mothers, you would think OMM would be more responsible in how they talk about other people’s kids, and in how their comments resonate with the millions more of us: parents, families, and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people — and LGBT people themselves — who are already living the “new normal,” or, as we at PFLAG like to call it, family.

Nothing about this show attacks “traditional” families. What it does is expand the general public’s understanding of the many different types of families that already exist in their own communities: families with two dads, families with two moms, single-parent families, multigenerational families, multiracial families… you name the type of committed, loving, family, and it probably exists.

So here’s our message to OMM: There is a new normal. Look around. Our families, these families, your families are here. They exist. And calling for a boycott of a show that works to expand horizons as it entertains is the social equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing “la, la, la!” at the top of your lungs: It doesn’t make these families nonexistent; it just makes all of us work harder to be heard.

And to the creators and cast of The New Normal: We have your back… and you have our viewership.

Piece originally appeared on The Huffington Post Blogs. Click here for the original page.

9 months ago · 27 notes · Source

We Need More Than Glee

By Huffington Post Blogger Amelia

All the Disney princesses marry princes. Pixar movies have married people, moms and dads, all over the place. Even the robots are matched up in obviously opposite-gender pairs. All the preteen sitcoms have girls chasing after boys and vice versa. If there is a character who has stereotypically “gay” mannerisms, that character is used for a laugh and not a lot else.

Those cartoons that actually should have gay characters have been effectively “straight-washed.” The popular comic X-Men has had gay characters for quite a while, but when it’s adapted to television, none of the characters is anything but heterosexual. When Mystique and Destiny are included, they are no longer long-term lovers but “best friends.” Northstar isn’t portrayed as gay, even though he was one of the first out LGBT characters in American comics.

Even the cartoons brought over from Japan and marketed to children have been “straight-washed” for Western audiences. In Dragon Ball any mention of the orientation of the gay character, General Blue, is censored. And Sailor Moon, which has no less than seven LGBT characters in the original version, has none in Western version. Some characters’ genders have actually been changed, and the lesbian couples are now “cousins,” and old classic. The only LGBT character I could find that made it through was a minor character in Dragon Ball Z.

As a mother, this concerns me. I have heard many gay and lesbian adults talk about what it was like to grow up with no media representation. It created feelings of isolation. It reinforced the notion that they were “other.” And many thought that because they weren’t mentioned, they must have been something secret, something bad. While my own child might be an extreme example, children are coming out younger and younger. It’s increasingly common for children to come out at 12 or 13 years old. And what does TV present them? Only Glee.

Click on the link to read more. This is great.

9 months ago · 48 notes

What's So Funny About Being Gay?

By Dr. Peggy Drexler | Huffington Post
Author, ‘Our Fathers, Ourselves. Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family’

From the article:

…much of the general public’s “education” about the lives of gay Americans has come at the hands of television comedy. But by making gay characters something to laugh at, does it also risk making gay humor the only form of gay we can take?

When it comes to sex — gay or straight — laughter is often the best medicine. In large part that’s because, if you think about it, sex often is laughable. But one challenge we’ve had in achieving the full acceptance of people who are gay is that the very nature of what we’re “accepting” forces us to think about — and talk about — someone else’s sexual activity. As a family psychologist and gender expert, I’ve worked with many gay couples and individuals. One mother of a lesbian I knew told me that what disturbed her most about her daughter’s sexual orientation was the thought of her having sex with another woman. But what parent wants to imagine a child of whatever inclination having sex? Conversely, what child wants to imagine his or her parent doing the same? So when we do, or when we’re forced to, talk about or think about sex, it’s often for laughs. That’s okay.

Still, it’s a good idea to watch out for the type of humor we’re using, and whether we’re using it more to talk about gay sex than straight sex. The television network TLC recently pulled an episode of its popular Cake Boss reality series, before it aired, once it was revealed (to considerable public uproar) that the show planned to depict a transgender woman as the punch line to a prank setup. That decision came in time. But what if others don’t? And what of the messages we’re sending about gay love when we make a big deal out of same sex relationships on TV? On most networks, it’s still considered somewhat provocative to show two men kissing — less so, for some reason, for two women. But either way, episodes that feature same sex kissing often come with parental warnings, even when programs that feature the same level of passion between a man and a woman do not.

Click the link above or click here to read the full article.

12 months ago · 9 notes

Where Are the Pro-LGBT Religious Voices in Mainstream Media?

The media needs to stop promoting the false notion that being religious is synonymous with being anti-LGBT. By contrasting anti-LGBT religious voices against pro-LGBT voices with no identified religion, the media has reinforced a misleading and dangerous ‘religion versus gay’ frame. This frame is misleading because it gives media consumers the false impression that to be religious, particularly Christian, is to be inherently anti-LGBT.

- Submitted by dizzy-noise 

1 year ago · 14 notes

gaywrites:

Katie Couric joins the campaign to stop bullying through the Bully Project, affiliated with the upcoming documentary Bully. More.

1 year ago · 33 notes · Reblogged from gaywrites

gaywrites:

Watch as Rachel Maddow addresses how Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has ties to ex-gay organizations, just like his hyper-conservative past opponent Michele Bachmann: Romney’s foundation donated $10,000 to an organization that backs ex-gay therapy and paid for a campaign showing trans* people as sexual predators. 

This is important. Journalism is important. LGBT media figures are important. Who else has talked about this? Not many people. 

1 year ago · 197 notes · Reblogged from gaywrites

gaywrites:

California College of the Arts is the first arts college in the U.S. to submit an official video to the It Gets Better project. Woohoo! 

1 year ago · 86 notes · Reblogged from gaywrites

1 year ago · 352 notes · Reblogged from gaywrites

The year's best moments in LGBT parenting

gaywrites:

A New England LGBT paper called Bay Windows has put together a list of moments in 2011 when LGBT parents and their kids “raised visibility and equality” for themselves and their families.

The list includes both personal and political examples. You all saw the video of Zach Wahls, the college student who testified in Iowa in favor of same-sex marriage on behalf of his moms. There’s also a shout-out for legislation like Washington’s Uniform Parentage Act and the release of comprehensive information, like that in the All Children Matter report detailing the situations of LGBT families across the country. 

Read through this list for a boost. This year was a pretty good one for LGBT families, and it’s only going to get better. 

1 year ago · 40 notes · Reblogged from gaywrites