Month: February 2018

The ad that caught my attention right away was this one. The first thing that I noticed was that the ad was in Spanish. I found that very important, because Latinos make up around 27% of all HIV infections which is really high. It is also interesting that the setting of the ad is at a gym or sauna, which are the areas that are known for having mean cruise for sex with other men. It is also good that the men in the ad all seem to be from different races and ethnicities to show that AIDS does not only affect white gay men or gay men of color. The ad also promotes rough but safe sex through the description, because it says that the man sitting down is “a good player” and that “he always uses condoms.” Another thing is that this ad has at least three other ones that are exactly the same, but they are in English and all of them have three different men on each of the covers.

• http://aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/40821
• http://www.hudsonvalleycs.org/hiv-crisis-among-hispanic-msm/

For this post I decided to focus on African American LGBTQ+ publications. BLK Magazine was first published in 1988 with the intention of targeting and covering people, events and issues that were about African American LGBTQ+ audiences. It was originally issued for lesbian and gay men, but in time, the magazine became to attract the greater LGBTQ+ community.

This magazine demonstrates a significant milestone within western mass media due to the fact that it was focused and representation of queer individuals within minority communities. BLK magazine paved the way for a number of African-American specific media to spring up, including “Black Lace” a Black Lesbian targeted magazine and “Blackfire” a Black gay magazine. I feel like these magazines are significant to the class because they are prime examples of minority LGBTQ+ experiences and issues. Race and class are often two factors that are disregarded in the LGBTQ+ movement, but with more publications lines these it serves as representation of a marginalized community within a marginalized community.

#lgbtqmedia #lgbtqblacklivesmatter #blacklgbtqhistory #lgbtqexperiencesusa

-RF

Beyond the national administration’s blatant transgender discrimination over the past year, several state legislatures are currently working to impede transgender rights. Voters in Anchorage, Alaska will soon decide whether to pass Proposition 1 (http://sos.mt.gov/Portals/142/Elections/archives/2010s/2018/I-183.pdf?dt=1502668800034), which would amend an earlier nondiscrimination accordance and dictate bathroom according to sex rather than gender identity. Massachusetts, Montana, Iowa, and Kentucky are other states that may be facing similar legislation later this year (https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/02/transgender-rights-targeted-nationwide-ballot-measures-bathroom-bills/). #TransRightsAreHumanRights #BathroomBill #LGBTQdiscrimination #LGBTQexperiencesUSA

Memories of when I was working at Lincoln Center in NYC a year ago with my love, @oanabotez. “Bull in a China Shop” was inspired by Mary Woolley’s and Jeannette Marks’ letter and relationship. Mary Woolley was a woman’s suffragette supporter and served as the president of Mount Holyoke College. Nationally, she worked with President Hoover and F.D.R. on topics like women’s rights, pacifism, and the League of Nations. Most notably, she was appointed by Hoover to serve as one of the very few women (if not the only) at the Conference on Reduction and Limitation of Armaments to hopefully counteract Nazi Germany. During all of this time, there was an exchange of letters between her and her partner, Jeanette Marks, which are some of the most beautiful writings I’ve read (https://transcribe.mtholyoke.edu/collections/show/1). LGBTQ+ individuals have always been present in society, you just have to find them. (I also met Gloria Steinem so that was cool too.) #LGBTQexperiencesUSA #LGBT #suffrage #lincolncenter #bullinachinashop #theater #nyc #teamcostumes #feminism

 

It’s hard to believe that the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida took place less than two years ago on June 12, 2016. While this tragedy is most certainly a part of the LGBTQ+ movements recent history, it is no less important. This event shook the LGBTQ+ community with the 49 individuals that were shot and killed that night. This event took place during a Latino Night hosted by Pulse, further highlighting the increased difficulties for minority LGBTQ+ individuals. This event was truly heartbreaking and we remember the 49 individuals that lost their lives to hate.

Image retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/hours-body-camera-footage-orlando-nightclub-shooting-released/story?id=47753356

For my post this week, I decided to focus on the publication Out Magazine. Out Magazine is the highest circulating LGBT publication within the United States. It was created in 1992. I wanted to focus on the issue that came out in January 2017, which was titled “A Moonlight Revolution: The Black Queer Experience Comes of Age in America” and was about the experiences that Queer Black people face in the U.S. as well as correlating with the film Moonlight that is about a Gay Black man navigating his sexuality within the Black community. I believe that this magazine has published a lot of issues that help to show many of the topics that we have discussed in class and the many that we will discuss later on, which is why I chose it.

This sculpture (“untitled”) was on display at the Queering Space exhibition at Alfred University School of Art and Design. The exhibition displayed several pieces by queer artists and was centered on the question of “what is a queer perspective and how does queerness meet form?”

I was intrigued by the fact that the piece took something natural and revered as pure—a tree—and reconstructed it out of something at first thought of as #disgusting and #impure —fingernails. Of course, fingernails are not inherently disgusting, considering everyone has them, but there is a social taboo on them when not attached to the fingers themselves. This seemed very relevant to the #queer experience: like the fingernails, queer people are often cast aside as disgusting. But that doesn’t necessarily mean our #existence is any less beautiful, much like the resulting tree.

#lgbtqexperiencesusa

Pepe, Sheila. “Untitled.” 1998, hydrocal, wire, plastic finger nails. Queering Space at Alfred University. 2 Feb.–28 Mar. 2018, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, School of Art and Design, Alfred University, Alfred.

SB