Month: March 2018

I chose to focus my infographic on the LGBTQ+ individuals within the prison system.

I chose to focus on people who are UndocuQueer and their struggles with health care and workforce discrimination.

In recent years, numerous commentators have claimed that being transgender is a “fad” or a “trend.” Others say that it is a recent phenomenon, despite centuries of evidence to the contrary. And still others conflate documented cases of women cross-dressing in order to access opportunities the patriarchy denied them with trans men just trying to be themselves.

Dr. Alan L. Hart was a pioneer in the field of tuberculosis research and treatment, an author, and a transgender man. He was born in 1890, and medically transitioned in the late 1910’s, before the advent of any cohesive transgender rights movement or culture like anything we see today. Transgender people have always existed, whether they’ve received their dues in the annals of history or not.

#LGBTQexperiencesUSA #transhistory #medicalhistory

This week I decided to focus on the film “Prayers for Bobby” that is based on the book of the same name written by Leroy F. Aarons. The film is based on a true story about Bobby Griffith, a gay man that killed himself in 1983 because of his own mother’s homophobia. The story follows how Bobby’s mother starts to question her beliefs after Bobby commits suicide and ultimately delivers a speech that ends with “before you echo amen in your home and place of worship, think, think and remember a child is listening” as a reminder that bigotry and hate towards people can have dire consequences.
#LGBTQExperiencesUSA #LGBTQExperiencesWithFaith #LGBTQandReligion

Gay bath houses were places that men could meet and hookup, in an environment that permitted such activity. That is not to say that bath houses were safe from police raids, because such instances were known to occur. Bath houses were also places that STD transmission was common, due to frequent unprotected sex. This particular ad from The Empty Closet advertises a bath house in Rochester that offers different amenities, including a sauna, private rooms, and refreshments and movies. I chose this image because I thought it was interesting how the bath houses were alternative meeting spots for gay men, as opposed to just bars.

#LGBTQexperiencesUSA #Bathhouse #Gay #STDS #Hookup

Source: The Empty Closet, January 1976

-ML

21-year-old Marvia Malik, a national news reporter from Pakistan, has just made headlines of her own as she became the first ever transgender person to hold her current position.

Pakistan is known for quite a bit of discrimination and violence towards queer people, and Malik was sadly no exception. In her own words:

“I was thrown out after [10th grade] after which I joined a beauty salon, earned just about enough to put myself through college, but it was not easy. My story is no different from that of a [H]ijra on the street you see begging.”

Since her broadcasts began, Malik has received a number of offers to become a model, all of which she turned down, saying:

“I want to strengthen my people. Everywhere we go, a transgender person is looked down upon.”

Information and quotes from:

Glass, Jess. “Pakistan’s First Transgender Newsreader Says She’s ‘Overwhelmed’ with Support after Debut Broadcast.” PinkNews, 27 Mar. 2018

 

—AG

 

 

This is my submission for the infographic assignment. My topic is the organization and presentation of labels in the queer community.

—AG

This image is a broadway poster for the musical RENT which first played on broadway in 1996. RENT tells the story of a group of friends, most of whom are living with AIDS,  in New York at the end of the 1980’s. This image is interesting to me because I watched the movie adaptation of RENT several years ago and it was the first time that I had heard about AIDS. RENT showed me that AIDS can be contracted by anyone, not just gay men. It also showed me the effects of AIDS, both for those who have it and for the people who surround those people.