THE OPPRESSION OF SEXUAL MINORITIES WARPS LIVES: ¨...older gay men and lesbians came of age at a time when homophobia and discrimination were much more toxic and pervasive...¨

NYC - West Village: Christopher Park - Gay Liberation*

¨Older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in California are more likely to suffer from chronic physical and mental health problems than their heterosexual counterparts, a new analysis has found. They also are less likely to have live-in partners or adult children who can help care for them.¨ HERE

Older Gays and Lesbians More Likely to Live Alone, More Likely to Have Health Problems

Now maybe the problem is that "gay culture tends to be youth-driven," as one of the researchers theorizes, because you know gay men are crazy for hot college boys. Or it could be that older gay men and lesbians came of age at a time when homophobia and discrimination were much more toxic and pervasive, when there was no support whatsoever—no marriage rights, no domestic partnership benefits—for same-sex couples, when our families-of-origin were much more likely to be extremely hostile, and when it was much more difficult for out gay men and lesbians to start their own families (we couldn't adopt, undergo artificial insemination, hire surrogates, etc.). And childless gay men and lesbians who were cast out or cut off by families-of-origin decades ago are less likely to know, much less have relationships with, the same nieces, nephews, and cousins that their older, single, childless straight relatives rely on for support. And in the case of gay men over 50, it could be that they lost many of their peers, friends, lovers, and partners to a deadly epidemic.

In short, there are a lot of reasons why the first generation of gays and lesbians to live openly might not have the same kind of support in old age that their straight peers do. Blaming the fact that gay people, like straight people, find the young and hot to be young and hot shifts the blame.

The oppression of sexual minorities warps lives.¨ HERE

* In 1979, pop sculptor George Segal was commissioned by the Mildred Andrews Fund, a private Cleveland-based foundation that supports public art, to create a work that would commemorate New York City's Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 riot that marks the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement. The result was the first piece of public art commemorating the struggle of GLBTG people for equality, predating Amsterdam's "Homomonument" by some seven years. HERE

·  Thanks to Dan Savage
·  Thanks to SLOG, sidebar
·  Thanks to The Stranger, sidebar
·  Thanks to The New York Times, sidebar
·  Thanks to Roni Caryn Rabin
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing, Wally Gobetz
·  Thanks to George Segal
·  Thanks to Mildred Andrews Fund, Cleveland

CULTURE WAR WARRIORS: ¨paranoid and illogical and bereft of the normal functioning of all of their mental faculties...

...that the condition justifies inclusion in Psychiatry textbooks, medical taxonomies, classified as a formal psychiatric disease¨

Martyn Minns of Nigerias CANA Division with +Peter Akinola/Nigeria

PARANOIA: The fuel of the Culture War

¨I have harboured the idea contained in the title for a while now and subjectively it has been proven correct time after time. It is uncanny when one has a grasp on the raison d’être of a social phenomenon and impertinently watch from the sidelines. There is a certain magical realism to it. One is both connected and unconnected, both objective observer and subjective participant. It might sound mutually exclusive but alas it is not.

Intent: the one word which makes the world’s difference. Intent is questioned ad nauseam by a great variety of demagogues, religious and other social conservatives, extremists of every hue, even some moderates and the Pink community sometimes – in a self-reflective way I guess.

After intent has been questioned, more than often being misinterpreted as offensive, contrary to family values, and/or against nature, some will inevitably conjure up outlandish conjecture and delusive interpretations. Those who feign a sense of credibility and scientific aptitude often distort, contort and miscontextualise valid scientific thought to create the illusion that there is factual basis for their conjecture and misrepresentations.

The Culture War thus became a war of words, a battleground of propaganda and counterpropaganda, limitless in its scope of malice and wanton abuse of rhetoric, concept and the lives of the real people caught in the crossfire.

The Pink community has along the way gained a modicum of true equality (only though in some countries). Activists for Pink community equality have been campaigning without respite for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and the hotly contested term “marriage equality” – the right of same sex couples to marry to gain all the rights heterosexual couples enjoy which many take for granted. Think of visitation rights in hospital etc.

For each right fought for and granted in some cases the religious zealots have had a knee jerk reaction of note. Mass hysteria is oft spread through congregations and hysterically, mostly factious and fallacious chain emails: the most pedestrian of methods.

The fight for the decriminalisation of homosexuality was met with a crass counter reaction by the Culture War Warriors. It is contrary to the natural order they say. I wonder if some penguins attack the gay ones... It seems not, these stately birds do not have discriminating tendencies. It is unbiblical they say. They forget that the seminal text is often mistranslated and misinterpreted and contradicts itself quite a couple of times. Many court records confirm the Culture War Warriors’ unhealthy preoccupation with sex; it seems if they imagine gay people they conjure up images of decadent orgies. No darlings, we do not nookie all day long. It is not about sex, it is about being decriminalised, about not being a de facto criminal. It is about attaining basic dignity and equality. Being gay cannot be a crime like being left handed cannot be a crime. And no, it is not a sinful lifestyle choice. Nobody chooses a lifelong risk of defamation, hate speech, harassment, intimidation, intolerance, discrimination, abuse, assault, and possible premature death by violent attack.

Protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity brought along a toxic backlash by the bigots of this world. Those queers want “special rights” they claimed. No special rights just equal rights we answered. Is it too much to ask for to ask not to be fired from your job or kicked out of your apartment just because of your sexual orientation or gender identity?¨ read it all, HERE

· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Cobus Fourie