This Friday I did something very interesting, a short social experiment if you will. I decided to be “gay for a day.” My name was Morgan and my “girlfriend’s” name was Madeline. We went to the coast and pretended to be a couple. I really wanted to see if I was treated any differently as a “gay” woman than I am treated every day as a straight woman. The game was simple- hold hands, buy her drinks, an arm around the shoulder, disapproving looks at any guy that gave her an approving one, and a peck on the cheek here and there. I was actually shocked at the varying reactions that we received. In one night we got everything from curiosity to disbelief to support. The looks that we received when walking from place to place holding hands or with my arm around her waist or shoulder were very interesting ones. Some people stared or raised their eyebrows, others shook their heads, some looked quizzical, and others gave approving nods. One man actually said that we were “too pretty to be gay.” This statement shocked me because I realized how distorted his perception was. He seemed to think it was impossible that pretty girls could be gay. Another man asked her to dance and when she said that she was with me, he replied that he was not scared of me being jealous and that she should come dance anyway. I thought this reaction was interesting because if I had been a man he may have been intimidated enough to not try to take my date. A third man approached us and said that he had “tons of gay friends” and that we should “do our thing and be strong.” I was surprised that we were approached by several men but not by any women and I’m not sure if this means that women are more reserved or more respectful. Overall, the night was very interesting and I think it is something that everyone should try just to see what struggles can be faced.

Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi on their wedding day

The rainbow flag has become a symbol of the gay community and the quest for equality world-wide. Before the inception of the rainbow flag in 1978, the symbol of homosexuality was an inverted pink triangle. The pink triangle comes directly from WWII concentration camps. Hitler designated prisoners by their crimes, for example political prisoners had red triangles, Jewish prisoners had yellow triangles, and homosexual prisoners had pink triangles. Due to the negative history behind the pink triangle, Gilbert Baker decided to do something revolutionary. He was pushed by his close friend Harvey Milk to use his artistic talents for activism.  When Milk was assassinated, Baker felt like the gay community needed a much more positive symbol than the pink triangle. The idea behind the rainbow flag has ties to Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” because the Stonewall riots occurred at the time of her funeral on June 28, 1969. Stonewall is associated directly with the birth of Pride because the Stonewall riots were the first time that the gay community stood against a government institution. The riots directly mark the beginning of the gay rights movement. Despite the fact that Baker created the rainbow flag, he does not own it, it is not a brand of any kind, and there are no royalties for him as creator of it. Baker told GCN magazine, “A true flag should never be copyrighted. A true flag is torn from the soul of the people, beyond just the tangible cloth.”

GCN magazine, Ireland issue 259 2011 page 43

This year for the Video Music Awards (VMA), Lady Gaga went in drag and in character as her own ex-boyfriend, “Jo Calderone.” Over the course of the night, she performed and answered all interview questions in drag and in character. I thought that this was a very interesting performance and have personally never seen anything quite like it. I think that her performance is just another form of her activism and crusade for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender (LGBT) rights. Lady Gaga is not the first woman to appear at the VMAs dressed as a man, Madonna (of course) has done it twice, but Madonna’s performances were far more sexual than Lady Gaga’s. In Madonna’s first “drag” performance she was wearing a tuxedo and a top hat and danced with women who were wearing corsets. In her second performance she dressed as a groom and kissed Britney Spears. Despite the fact that Lady Gaga is not the first woman to appear on the VMAs dressed as a man, she is the first to do it completely in character as a man and not just for one song performance. According to the International Business Times’ website  the LGBT community is praising Lady Gaga for her performance. 

In April, a bill called the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act (FAIR) passed in California’s Senate. FAIR is all about including historical contributions of the LGBT community to public school textbooks. Mark Leno, a San Francisco democrat says, “How can you deny, pretend, or censor this history? It’s fact. You may not like it, but that’s not the point.” I think this statement is very true. The gay community is a group of people who have been fighting for their rights just like women fought for the right to vote and black people fought to have segregation outlawed. Gay people deserve to have their story told just as much as anyone else in history. Once the new school curriculum is instated, textbooks will include figures like Harvey Milk and Elaine Noble and events like the 1979 march on Washington and Stonewall. If the bill becomes law it will be a long process of textbook editing and curriculum changes that could take four to five years. Mark Leno poses the question, “Do we provide or deny information to students so that they better understand the broad diversity of the human experience?” I think that this bill is an excellent idea. I hope that it gets put into law in California and hope that other states will follow suit.

  This article is from The Advocate August 2011 page 8

Southern Decadence or simply, “Decadence” is a Labor Day tradition that began in 1972 by a small group of friends who chose to dress up as their favorite “Southern decadent character” from a book, movie, or history and parade through the French Quarter. Now it has become a celebration of gay pride that is completely “New Orleans” in nature- characterized by parades with Grand Marshals and over the top costumes. The festival this year boasted around 110,000 participants and ranked as one of New Orleans’ top five tourist events grossing approximately 125 million dollars. This year the festival is not only focused on pride but on rights as well. The Human Rights Organization and the NOH8 campaign both made appearances at the festival this Labor Day weekend. NOH8 is a silent photographic protest against Proposition 8, gay bullying and laws against gay marriage.

This article was written by columnist Danny Wallace and I thought it was a good spin on a straight man’s perspective and how things can get misinterpreted even with the best of intentions. In the article, Danny talks about a man that he followed on twitter and thought very highly of. Danny’s wife continually makes fun of him and says that he has a “man crush” on someone that he has never met. She eventually convinces Danny to ask the man out for a beer after acting jealous that the man on twitter is getting more of Danny’s attention than she is. This is where the real debate begins. Danny mentions that the man will probably think it is “creepy” if he asks him to hang out, but his wife keeps pushing him to meet the man in person. Danny eventually sends the man a message asking him to go out for a drink, but the man replies with no mention of going out at all. Danny is crushed and embarrassed and says, “I start to feel weird. I’ve essentially just asked another man out on a date.” His wife then pushes him to send the man another message which the man replies that he thought Danny was joking about going out for a beer. When Danny clarifies that he was not joking, the man completely ignores him and does not respond again. This article gave me a look at how a straight man can want to make friends, but is afraid to make a move for fear of misinterpretation. I thought how Danny described his feelings was interesting since he chose descriptions like “feeling weird” and “creepy.” I also found it sad that the man completely ignored him and that Danny lost a potential friend just by asking to go out for a drink. It is sad that the world has so many stigmas attached to being gay that cannot even approach another man for a friendly drink without a homophobic reaction.

In Troy, Virginia a women’s prison segregated women based on their physical appearances. Women with short hair, loose fitting clothing, or a “more masculine appearance” were often put into what was called the “butch wing” of Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. The warden and many of the guards deny that physical appearances were the reason that the women were put into this separate area of the prison, but many of the prisoners say otherwise. The prison defends the movement of the women to a separate wing claiming that it was done to split up sexual relationships between the inmates. Advocates for civil rights say that the movement of the women based on appearance was unconstitutional and discrimination against “looking gay.” This piece of news was very interesting for me to read because I honestly am not sure if I support this or not. In Virginia, sex in prisons is completely forbidden even if it is consensual to prevent the spread of diseases and violent outbreaks. I think that separating women who are gay to prevent sex in the prison and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is feasible and health conscious, but I do not think that they should be segregated based on looks alone. I think that the women should not be moved to a different area of the prison unless they are caught being promiscuous or causing problems. If the women are not causing any disturbances, but “look gay” or are more masculine in their actions and appearances, they should not be segregated if they have not done anything wrong. I also thought it was very interesting that the article made the statement that separation of gay men in prison had been upheld by the courts. It seems even more discriminatory that the same issue was supported in the case of gay men, but not with gay women. I was slightly surprised to find this piece of news on Fox News since they are traditionally more “right wing” in what they present to the audience.

Photo from Gay Pride France 2011