All Posts Tagged as 'LGBTQ'

“Why do words cause such a visceral reaction that will lead to someone trying to attack, villainize, demonize, crucify, condemn and like, that shit is like, now you bullying,” he continued. “We all stood up on behalf of gays and lesbians and people in the gay community because we thought it was some bullshit for y’all to have to be bullied. … But I don’t think any of us did that to feel like you would now have the authority to come and bully us.”

I need some help gaining perspective on my 15-year-old child’s whiplash approach to gender and sexuality. For the last three years, they have been on a journey with regard to their sexuality, declaring and changing identities one every few weeks or months, even when those identities have been both contradictory (how can one be both asexual and polyamorous?) and hypothetical (my kid isn’t dating and hasn’t dated). They are committed to being anything but cisgender and hetero, and that identity—whatever it turns out to be—appears from their actions and words to be the central part of their sense of self. They spent a lot of time on queer wikis, looking up new possible identities. They avidly “ship” fictional characters into same-sex couples, express anger/disappointment when shows/books have hetero couples, and talk constantly about LGBTQIA issues, representation, etc.

I have been, and want to be, supportive. My kid deserves to be loved and celebrated for who they are, and however their identity settles out is fine with me. But I am also struggling with these rapid changes. In the last two weeks, my kid has changed their name once and pronouns twice, colored their hair, worn exaggeratedly feminine eye makeup, pinned their hair up to look masculine, purchased a bikini and a dress and then asked me to buy them a binder (because they think it would be “fun” to look like a boy sometimes). At this point, it feels like they’re trying on identities like costumes, and that makes me very uncomfortable. None of it feels authentic—it seems more like a bid to stand out in a crowd or perhaps to find the limits of my acceptance.

I have worked so hard to make sure my kids know they are loved unconditionally, but if this kid is looking for a boundary, maybe I should set one? I literally squirmed when I wrote that sentence; setting a random limit on acceptance goes against everything I believe. But at the same time, I am so, so tired of hearing about their identity day after day after day and of trying to keep up with the changes. They’re a great, smart, interesting kid for a dozen different reasons; their gender/sexuality is just one aspect of their personality. Would it be wrong of me to say, in essence, “I love you, and will never not love you. When you figure out your identity let me know, and in the meantime can we maybe stop talking about it all the time?” Also, as the world opens up and my kid spends more time outside of our home, can I/should I ask them to be more thoughtful in how they present themselves? It seems to me that trans and nonbinary people cannot simply change their identities and expression for “fun,” so my kid’s behavior feels a little bit like cosplaying in a way that could be hurtful. Or do I just keep keeping my mouth shut, do my best to remember this week’s identity, and pray that this phase ends soon?

—Tired and Confused

Just one week after Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out, the NFL itself made a statement in support of LGBTQ rights on Monday.

Trinity Bethune, 21, was excited to buy her first car with the money she earned as a personal care assistant at a nursing home, according to WTVD.

But after she purchased the vehicle from Lumberton Honda, the dealership posted a photo of her in front of her new car with the caption: 'Congratulations to Bon Quisha on her 2016 Toyota Camry.'

While the UK supermarket is famed among the LGBT+ community for its yumnuts and LGBT sandwiches, one Marks and Spencer store has become especially well-loved by cruisers.

According to the Irish Examiner, the toilets at the Marks and Spencer on Mary Street, Dublin, have become known in the local gay community as a go-to spot for public sex acts, a court heard on Monday (19 July).

So well-known in fact, that they had to be put under police surveillance.

The bullying led to a shocking attack on May 20 when a boy at the school followed Emily into a classroom, according to their mother Natasha-Jayne Wilkinson, 34.

She said that the bully pushed Emily to the ground and poured hand sanitizer on their face and clothes and called them a “fucking tranny.”

A teacher then told Emily to “go and wash their face” and then come back to class. Their mother found out about the attack from another parent and tried to get the school to address it.

A retired teacher will spend 20 days in jail after he was busted “littering” on a neighbor’s yard. The man, dubbed “the mad shitter” by the gay couple who live in the home, has been defecating and urinating on their yard for years.

Professors at America's top medical schools are being bullied into teaching students that biological sex is a construct and are apologizing for using the terms 'male' and 'female', students say.

The couple’s attorney said in a court filing that Boyd Householder, 72, has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and Beth Householder, 56, has a serious blood clot disorder that might cause her to lose her foot.

Attorney Adam Woody said the couple needs medical care that county jails cannot provide.

Four lawsuits filed by former students against the school have been settled. The girls alleged in the lawsuits that they were raped, thrown against walls, forced to eat until they vomited and starved by the Householders.

In a new political low in Texas, the Republican-dominated state Senate has passed a bill to eliminate a requirement that public schools teach that the Ku Klux Klan and its white supremacist campaign of terror are “morally wrong.”

The cut is among some two dozen curriculum requirements dropped in the measure, along with studying Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the works of United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony’s writings about the women’s suffragist movement, and Native American history.

Critics say the state is promoting an “anti-civics” education.

SurvivorsUK, a charity that supports men and non-binary people who have experienced sexual assault, asked 505 gay and bisexual men if they have ever experienced “something you would describe as a sexual assault”.

Some 45 per cent of respondents said they had been sexually assaulted, with those in the 18-34 age bracket most likely to have experienced sexual abuse.

My husband and I are at crossroads about how to confront our sons about a discovery we made while visiting their shared flat. They are stepbrothers technically—note the word “technically.” My husband and I are both widowers who met and bonded at a support group for single parents surviving after cancer.

My son was 10 when I met my husband and 12 when we married. My stepson is 9 months younger, so they are very close in age. After a somewhat rocky start (both boys were grieving and trying to adjust to a new family norm), they became the best of friends, inseparable from about age 13. They even took the same classes together in high school so they could spend more time together, and made sure to go to the same university.

They are both adults now (25 and 26), live a state over, and rent a flat together. We went to visit them once COVID restrictions had eased, and my husband accidentally walked into the second bedroom (in a two-bedroom flat) thinking it was the bathroom, and discovered it was set up as an office. My husband’s curiosity got the better of him and he snuck around, discovering one king-sized bed in the only other bedroom that contained both of their stuff.

The phrase goes, 'no shirt, no shoes, no service,' but perhaps it doesn't apply to movie stars.

Sophie is the child that sparked the #StandWithSophie online campaign last year after she was filmed in a viral video screaming for help at a custody handover on August 14. The video showed Sophie desperately clinging to the seats of her father's car and accusing her mother's fiancé, who the children call Mr Jake, of sexual abuse.

After posting the video online, Long started a GoFundMe that received $200,000 in donations so he could help pay his legal fees in the custody battle with Sophie's mother and his ex-wife, Kelly Long.

Kelly, who was granted full custody of Sophie and her two other children a month after the video went viral, has denied the claims that her daughter was sexually abused in her care.

Using data from 2015-2019, the study found that among smokers 18 and older, 54 percent of bisexual women and 50 percent of lesbian/gay women preferred menthol cigarettes, compared to 39% of smokers in the general population.