askthegaylatino

The earth won’t stand still May 26, a tremor set off by the roars and footsteps of LGBT activists is on the horizon in California.
In Long Beach, is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the corner of Broadway and Alamitos Avenues, when the California Supreme Court decides whether to uphold same-sex couple’s right to wed in the state or take away that right and dissolve about 18,000 same-sex marriages in the state.
Herds of men, women and children also plan to take to the streets, from San Francisco and Sacramento to San Diego and Los Angeles, and meet in the middle the Saturday after the decision day.
“Meet in the Middle is a statewide reaction to Proposition 8 (a 2008 voter measure opposing the marriages of same-sex couples) verdict, —win or lose,” said Robin McGehee, lead organizer for Meet in the Middle 4 Equality. “We are asking people to journey from across the Western region to Fresno, Calif. … come stand with us and create a rally base for equality.”
The event will include materials on voter canvassing, personal story telling techniques, a children’s garden area, nonviolence and civil disobedience training. Speakers such as former Harvey Milk aid Cleve Jones and activist Robin Tyler, also will be part of the event.
Since February, planners have worked with the city to have a rolling permit that allows for this rally on a week to week basis until the court decides on the case.
“I have certainly not seen an event of this proportion,” said Nii-Quartelai Quartey, a spokesman and organizer for the progressive network Courage Campaign. “We are going to gather and say in one voice, ‘Give us our liberty.’”
Event organizers expect attendance to be in the thousands.
“I cannot imagine committed activists across the state staying at home knowing that this historic event is taking place and will likely mark the beginning of a more inclusive movement,” said Quartey, a Los Angeles resident.
Pouring the LGBT and ally flocks to Fresno is quite significant in the struggle toward equal rights in California, organizers said. Opponents of Prop. 8 neglected to campaign heavily against the measure in Central California, which is largely conservative and votes that tilted the scale for the measure came from constituents in that area.
“We were left out of the No on 8 Campaign,” McGehee, 35, said. “There are LGBT people (living) in this area. The reality is that, for the most part, (we are) very much living in a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ community.”
McGehee, who together with her wife has two children, speaks from experience. She said she and her spouse were harassed and kicked out of their 6-year-old son’s Parent Teacher Association. Thus, her experiences have brought her to the conclusion that even if the state Supreme Court rejects Prop. 8, work toward achieving fair treatment for LGBT people must continue. Teen suicide, hate crimes, gays in the military and transgender rights are equally chief issues that must be tackled.
“Marriage is just the cornerstone issue,” said McGehee, a human communication professor at the local community college. “Even if we have the symbolism of equality through rights that we gain, it doesn’t mean we will be treated as equals by individuals. We know that we have to change hearts and minds and it’s not just something that can change with a ballot initiative.”
To do so, organizers say they are taking a page out of history, basing the event on the Montgomery, Ala. Civil Rights March and the Freedom Summers of the 1960s.
Organizers say they also seeking to make the event a diverse platform, where people from the labor, Latino, black, straight, faith base and LGBT communities join forces.
Quartey, who never imagined he would involved in organizing such events, said the arguments against same-sex marriage are the same as the arguments that were used to keep interracial couples from marrying. Such arguments, which assume gay people have a diminished capacity to love, pushed him onto the activist arena.
“For communities of color in particular that don’t see the importance of them to get involved in this issue I say that marriage equality is an extension of equality and full equality under the law, period,” said Quartey, who is a black man. “I understand that among communities of color our faiths appear to complicate things and our leaderships … uses our discomfort to drive a wedge on this issue. But what we are saying, under the law, we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Quartey’s call to action wasn’t lonesome, said McGehee.
“(Prop.8) was a wake up call on how quickly your rights can be denied and how quickly you can be bullied into silence,” she said. “We need to reach into communities that don’t really understand us and No. 2 we can’t just stop our work if we gain a little bit of semblance of equality.”
Long Beach Equality organizer Tom Crowe agrees.
“For those people who think we should weigh it out, take one hand, open your palm and smack yourself silly,” he said
For more details about the event and events in your city visit: www.meetinthemiddle4equality.com

By June 3, the California Supreme Court will vote on the right of same-sex couples to say “I do” legally. In the meanwhile, Long Beach and the rest of the state are celebrating their sexuality.
The 2009 Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade, which took place Sunday May 17, was themed “Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights.”
That title shined through its grand marshals Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, one of the first same-sex couples to marry and litigate against Proposition 8, the voter-approved ballot measure that seeks to limit legal marriages to heterosexual couples.
“We can no longer use a slingshot while our enemies use a sledgehammer,” Tyler, 67, said. “Win or loose our community should never be invisible … If we lose, then for the first time in American history, a protected minority will be taken OUT of a constitution … There is no making peace until we get our civil rights.”
San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom, who in 2004 directed his city’s county clerk to issue marriages licenses to gay and lesbian couples. The dashing mayor, who recently announced his candidacy for governor in 2010, was modest and approachable; thanking the community for their support, engaging in conversations and taking photos prior to the parade.
Local honorees also stood out at the parade. Latina spiritual leader Rev. Sunshine Daye and AIDS activist was chosen as this year’s community grand marshal.
Only about 6 people, among the thousands that showed up for the event, protested the event.
Daye, who ministers the science of the mind philosophy, said religion itself is not to blame for the ignorance of the few.

“Religion is not the root of all evil,” Daye said. “Hatred promotes separation and discontent amongst all people … A lot of religious communities may frown upon it because we’ve been socialized to have a hierarchy when it comes to sexual expression.”

Song, costumes and dance adorned Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach for the 26th year. The fun poured onto the city’s Shoreline Drive for an all-day continued celebration with vendors, food, drinks, and Urban, Country and Latino dance tents.
Kat Deluna, Jazmine Sullivan, Sara Bareilles, Smash Mouth and Laura León and son Yaxkin were among the festival’s headlining celebrities.
A 4.7 earthquake was a preamble to the diva of Mexican cumbia Laura León and telenovelas (soap operas) said she considers that everyone has the right to do with their bodies as they please and that not only her country, but the world could learn something from the event and each other.
“The only thing I have received from gay people is love,” said Leon, cigarette in hand before her performance. “Gays have great writers. They create my dresses, my makeup, my songs, my scripts. I have great gay friends who are my life and my adoration.”
Leon, whose fans often call her “La Tesorito” (Little Treasure) and whose popularity is comparable to Cher in Latino America, made her stage entrance with a rainbow colored dress and her hit song, “El Premio Mayor,” (The Major Prize).
“Have you seen my dress; what it symbolizes?” said León, who closed the night Sunday at the Latino festivities tent. “It’s (rainbow) colored with lots of love.”

OK, so here is my take on the whole Perez Hilton, Miss California, Miss USA Pageant controversy: Who give a fly f…k?
If you ask a person a question, expect an answer. Whether you like it or not it is her opinion, and freedom of speech is what makes this a great country. Sure the woman is a dumb blonde (not all blonde’s are dumb, but she fits the stereotype).
Video blogger illdoc said it best.
She was reared to look at religious marriage as a legal marriage, but so have most of the religious nuts out there. The problem with badgering a woman who decides to be honest about where she stands on issues is that we have not changed her opinion.
Not a good attitude Perez. Everyone does not have to agree with you.
See, we can’t continue to conform ourselves with tolerance for our rights. If things are to change we need acceptance. And, for that, we need dialogue, not stooping to the levels of ignorance. When we meet a dumb person, who may not understand anything more than what they are taught zealot church, we need to take the time to educate them on the issues, not blast them with insults.

Celebrate Long Beach Pride early at the Long Beach Q Film Festival. Lovers of the autonomous queer movie genre can satiate their visual palates, May 8 – 10 at the Art Theatre.
The festival includes features, shorts and documentary films of, by and for the LGBT community, providing a chance to meet filmmakers, commune with other movie enthusiast and watch queer films. The show schedule comprises everything from comedy to thrills and real-life drama.
Some of the features include:
• Don’t Go, a new TV series filmed in Long Beach, described as “Melrose Place” meets “L Word.” The cast and crew will be guests at May 8 opening screening.
• Tru Loved, centered on a 16-year-old girl reared by lesbian mothers, who relocate from San Francisco to a conservative community in Southern California.
• Bi the Way, a documentary followed by a panel discussion.
• Saving the Boom, as story about a man who struggles to save the oldest gay bar in Laguna Beach.
• Other documentaries and films For My Wife, The Constant Princess, A Place to Live: The Story of Triangle Square and Showgirls, Provincetown, MA also are among the Q Festival’s line-ups.

Details and tickets: visit www.centerlb.org.

An article on Medical News Today is tackling a subject few people have taken notice of: the importance of being out at the doctor’s office.
The article describes how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients often question whether they should tell their doctors about their sexual preference when they meet a doctor for the first time, fearing homophobia and insensitivity on the part of their heterosexual physician.
A group of four Stanford medical students recently organized their own on-campus research group, called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Medical Education Research Group.
The group plans to survey the deans of medical education at several schools in United States and Canada to determine what is being taught. Thereafter, the group plans to forward recommendations toward improvements.

The survey questions, which will be sent out this spring, will include: “When learning how to conduct a sexual history, are students at your institution taught to obtain information about same-sex relations, e.g. asking ‘do you have sex with men, women, or both?” and “Is there a clinical clerkship site that is specifically designed to facilitate LGBT patient care?”

The survey also provides a glossary of terms such as, “Sex reassignment surgery: the genital alteration surgery that transgender individuals sometimes undergo.

A similar survey will next be sent out to all medical students.

The four students - Elizabeth Goldsmith, Leslie Stewart, Juno Obedin-Maliver and Lunn - decided to form their research group after attending the 25th annual conference of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, or GLMA, in 2007 and learning of the lack of research regarding LGBT content in medical schools on a national level. The four received a small grant from Stanford to help launch their study.

The knowledge shortage might explain health disparities, such as increased risk factors for breast cancer among lesbians, higher rates of depression and anxiety due to homophobia that plague the LGBT community.

Kudos to these fantastic four, whose effort may help combat the ignorance in the medical profession and improve access to appropriate healthcare for a poorly served community, nationwide.

Details: http://med.stanford.edu/lgbt or http://mednews.stanford.edu.

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City officials and community groups are presenting “King,” a document narrated by Tom Brokaw, at 6 p.m. March 19, at the Art Theatre in Long Beach.
The showing commemorates A Season of Nonviolence, Jan. 30 through April 4, a campaign seeking to demonstrate that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal and transform our communities, —inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
The event is celebrated by the United Nations and 200 cities in the United States and abroad.

What: “King.”
When: 6 p.m. March 19.
Where: The Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. in Long Beach.
Details: call 562-570-6684 or visit http://www.agnt.org/snv02.htm.

Catalyst Community, a community collaborative is hosting a mixer party from 5 to 10 p.m. March 21 at Hank’s Place, 2625 E. 1st St. in Long Beach.
Local individuals and groups are invited to connect with community-friendly businesses, organizers and volunteers to inform and improve community relations in the area.
The participants will enjoy authentic Mexican Tacos, the live music of Wings for the Queen and prizes. Partakers are encouraged to bring beverages to share with the group.
Details: visit www.gocatalyst.org, e-mail eric.leocadio@gocatalyst.org or call (562) 208-2737

People with HIV-AIDS, friends and family are invited to a free healing and transformational workshop April 18 through 19 in Pasadena.
The seminar is designed to offer a place where HIV positive men, women, youths and family members can receive support in their effort to learn how to live a long, healthy, productive life and overcome the fears associated with the disease.
Presenter will touch on topics such as drug treatment options, disclosure, relationships, understanding lab reports insurance and public benefits, sex and intimacy, nutrition and HIV, key elements to HIV treatment success, music and art therapy and support groups.
Presenters, volunteers and staff will reach out to men, women, people of color, gay men and heterosexual HIV individuals. Breakout or concurrent sessions will address a specific demographic majority.
Participants will be asked about their specific concerns and goals. The interactive workshop’s presenters welcome questions and comments.
Details: visit www.TheLifeGroupLA.org or call 888-208-8081.

If every country in the world used “civil union,” marriage needn’t be an issue for gays and lesbians around the world who seek equal status in the eyes of the law. The problem is that marriage, as a legal and secular terminology, has the weight and promise of equality.
Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that two Pepperdine law professors proposed civil unions as a compromise to all citizens of California while the state Supreme Court debated same-sex marriage.
When Justice Ming Chin asked Dean Kenneth Starr, the lawyer for Proposition 8’s sponsors former Clinton impeachment prosecutor if he’d consider the compromise, Starr responded that it was not a bad idea except that Prop. 8 already treats gays and lesbians equally - apart from not letting them marry.
Michael Maroko, the challenging lawyer had a different view.
“If you’re in the marriage business, do it equally,” Maroko told Chin, including granting everyone or no one the right to marry.
KPCC’s Pat Morrison reported on something similar: Two college students want to put on the ballot an initiative to change the word ”marriage” to ”civil union” in California’s laws.
The students have to collect more than 640,000 signatures to get that measure on the ballot.
The problem with the word “civil unions” is that it is not a universal term, national or international, and therefore continues to be a pseudo Jim Crow stance. Marriage is recognized internationally.
If a same-sex couple hopes to someday file joint taxes federally or a person wants to sponsor their same-sex partner from another country, the word “marriage” is requirement. Moreover, if a couple hopes to be granted equal rights in another country “some day” the word “marriage” also is required.
The word, in and of itself, provides legal rights and responsibilities to couples. If gays and lesbians ever are to achieve global equality this word must stand in the books. What many have not considered, maybe is restricting legal-civil marriages to government and separating religious marriage only for religious purposes as is the case in countries, such as Mexico, where a couple has the option of a civil and religious marriage.
The result may also carry an economic benefit to municipalities that issue licenses and churches that perform ceremonies.

A Youth March for Equality is planned at noon March 22 at Spring and College Streets in downtown Los Angeles.
The rally is for high school LGBTQ youth and supporters seeking an end homophobia, discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, abuse, forced homelessness of queer youth and for marriage equality.
Details: e-mail info@equalaction.org or visit www.equalaction.org

Adults who want to volunteer contact volunteer@equalaction.org