Sad to read of the passing of historian Alan Bérubé. The author of Coming Out Under Fire, that was also made into an inspiring and award-winning documentary, died last Tuesday.
The NY Times obit is here.
Sad to read of the passing of historian Alan Bérubé. The author of Coming Out Under Fire, that was also made into an inspiring and award-winning documentary, died last Tuesday.
The NY Times obit is here.
From our friend and partner, Jerry Buie:
Recently I announced the birth of Queer Spirit as a reflection of a prayer and vision of bringing queer men together in community to explore the essence and nature of who we are in relationship to Spirit, stepping into new stories and creations of vibrant and magical living. During the birthing of Queer Spirit and with each month I am impressed how amazing and in what manner this vision has unfolded. It touches me deeply and moves me in a profound way that I want to share with you what has taken place.
We have a beautiful website that is growing and expanding with new articles and information: and a slick short video (with music by Moby) that is getting a lot of attention.
Three retreats have been held with another one scheduled in January 2008, and a strong possibility of a documentary/reality story about the retreats. We have monthly activities averaging about 12 men, with many new interested people at each event.
We are delighted to be in partnership with White Crane Institute which has been supportive in many ways, including making it possible for us to bring the Fellow Travelers Exhibit to Salt Lake, with photos by Mark Thompson. This exhibit is a celebration of gay history and the magic makers of today and yesterday. As a bonus thirty men attended a "Gay Soul Making" workshop with Mark Thompson.
This essence and spirit of Queer Spirit here in Utah is becoming a community movement and shift in community processing. It is nothing short of amazing, considering the social and political climate here. It really has been a process of turning it over to Spirit and following that intuition.
It is my continued prayer that this process and movement will continue to grow. That my queer brothers will show up hungry to embrace balance, spirit and community in a loving and intimate manner.
I don’t think this needs any set-up at all…
OK…this is probably yesterday’s news in the Bear community (because, well, it’s yesterday’s news), but I thought it was pretty cool.
This is director (Clerks) Kevin Smith on the David Letterman Show the end of September.
OK. I’m not quite sure…this might not be SUBJECT-subject, and it might stray just a tad into the "sexual objectification" area…perhaps when Ms. Jackie Beat deep throats the Oscar statue.
In any event, I laughed my ass off…and this is Gay culture on so many levels I lose count. Good taste? Bad Taste? Joker’s wild…
White Crane Institute has been presenting Mark Thompson’s Fellow Travelers photography exhibit for the past few months at the New York LGBT Community Center. In October it will move to the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia. While it was here, Out At The Center, the LGBT Center video project, interviewed Mark and Bo about the show. Ok…so they misspelled Kilheffner, Monette and Ram Dass…the photos are stunning and the history is deep.
In November, Fellow Travelers will move to Salt Lake City in support of the Queer Spirit Retreat work Jerry Buie is doing. If you are interested in Fellow Travelers coming to your city, contact us at editors@gaywisdom.org .
OK…I almost forgot about this, and it was so cool, it’s something that needs to be shared. Earlier this week, Dan and I posted our thinking about the Larry Craig debacle [see below]. Or at least some of the thinking, there’s a lot to this story (not all of it negative: entrapment, the perils of the closet, the importance of not thinking in simplistic binary terms, "public" sex, MSM, "down low" — and why is that usually only applied to African American men…isn’t Larry Craig "down low"? — and bisexuality among the more interesting ideas).
Anyway, as I sit working at the computer every day, I am, invariably, listening to New York Public Radio Station, WNYC-FM, and one of my favorite shows is the Brian Lehrer Show. Next to Terry Gross, on Fresh Air, I think Lehrer is one of the best interviewers in the business.
So I was perturbed, when Brian was discussing the Craig story, that both he and his guest commentators, continued to refer to Craig as "Gay" and talking about "other Gay men" in the same breath as though just because at some point in time some men share a physical attraction to, and seek out sexual contact with other men, that all men who do so are ipso facto "Gay." So I wrote a letter. This is what it said:
Dear Mr. Lehrer, I am a huge fan of your show, listen daily and support WNYC on a monthly basis. I beg you, please please please stop referring to Larry Craig as "Gay" as though this was the problem.
He is sexually confused. At best, Larry Craig is bisexual or homosexual. But the problem with Craig is, plain and simple, his hypocrisy and the effect that has on innocent people’s lives. It is the issue with his constituency; it is the issue with his colleagues and it is the issue with the LGBT community. The LGBT community, and Gay men specifically, have worked long and hard to establish the term "Gay" as opposed to the medically derived "homosexual." This was to distinguish it as a sexual orientation as opposed to a medical diagnosis. "Gay" specifically has connotations of pride, self-worth, self-respect and integration of one’s sexuality with one’s life. It is a difficult thing to achieve…coming out to one’s self, as well as to one’s family and loved ones. It is harrowing. And those of us who identify as "Gay" deserve to make a distinction between us, and closeted, dishonest, confused, homosexuals who have real psychological issues.
It is extremely disheartening to be lumped into the same category as this man. And it confuses the issue. Homosexual hypocrisy is the issue here. Self-loathing is the issue. I hope you can finally come to understand…and share with your listeners, that there is a world of difference.
And as for the behavior in the bathroom, it is classic closet behavior. Bathrooms aren’t being plagued with prowling, predatory "Gay" men. But they are probably frequently filled with closeted men looking to connect with other closeted men. It’s what almost every closeted homosexual man I ever knew did before he discovered he was not the only one, not sick, and could live a healthy, happy and fulfilling life…as a Gay man.
Sincerely,
Bo Young
Publisher
White Crane Journal
The Journal of Gay Wisdom, Spirit and Culture.
Well…imagine my surprise on Friday, when the show does a segment they call "Follow Up Fridays" on stories of the week that continue to call for comment, Brian Lehrer starts talking about the difference between "Gay" and "homosexual" and asking listeners to call in! I just about fell out of my chair when he gets to the segment, and without identifying me personally (or more importantly, alas, White Crane), proceeds to read my letter…verbatim. I was kvelling.
Mostly people responded positively. A woman called in and said she hadn’t been able to put her finger on why the story had been bothering her until she heard this. One gentleman called in and accused me of trying to "hijack the language for political purposes"…well duh! A "professor" (of …I don’t know what) called in and quibbled with my description of "homosexual" as a "medical term" averring, correctly, that homosexuality is no longer a diagnosis in the DSM. Again…well duh! But it was, at one time. It was only taken out of the DSM as a diagnosis in 1973, thanks to the tireless efforts of Barbara Gittings, Judd Marmor, Franklin Kameny and "Dr. H Anonymous" who later turned out to be Psychiatrist John E. Fryer, and the origins of the term are, in fact, from the medical community, and the origins of same-sex sexuality being pathologized. Knowing history is important. Claiming it is imperative.