Prodigal Sons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oz2BHFH4fc here is a link to the trailer of Kimberly Reed's movie Prodigal Sons. If you missed her ath talk last night I suggest watching this movie. We watched the first 1/2 hour last night and it was very interesting.

"Dallas Buyers Club"

There have been a lot of interesting responses from the online queer community to the upcoming movie "Dallas Buyers Club." Here's the trailer if you haven't heard of the movie: http://youtu.be/fvMPU0WaPcc

I encourage you to look at other responses, but here's one that I found particularly interesting: 

"Macklemore, Warped Queer Advocacy, and Why 'Dallas Buyers Club' is One of the Year's Worst Films"

This article raises for us once again the question of who can be an ally and how they can best fulfill that role. 

Marriage Equality Debate Within the Cheney Family

Given our discussion on marriage equality today, I thought this article about the public conflict between Liz and Mary Cheney (daughters of Dick Cheney) would be of some interest:
Liz Cheney's Sisterly Homophobia Ruins the Cheney Family Thanksgiving (Note: this is a Jezebel article, meaning it has a very liberal slant with some humor.)

For context, Liz Cheney is currently a Senate candidate and Mary Cheney is married to a woman named Heather Poe. In a recent Fox News interview, Liz said she does not support marriage equality, but, as an aside, said: "Listen, I love Mary very much. I love her family very much. This is just an issue on which we disagree."

Until reading this article, I hadn't realized that I subconsciously assumed that political families have generational disagreements about marriage equality (as in, parents conflicting with their children). I thought this was a compelling, though very upsetting, example of discord between siblings in the public eye.

Transitioning at the Claremont Colleges

The colleges have just released a set of Transitioning Plans for trans* students, designed in collaboration with the Queer Resource Center.  The guide includes information about Student Health Insurance, coming out to faculty and staff, and housing and name changes on each campus.

The LGBT Community in DC

The New York Times has an interesting video and related article on the presence and acceptance of the LGBT community in Washington, DC. According to polls, the capital has the highest percentage of LGBT adults (10%) compared to the rest of the nation (average 3.5%) and that LGBT life, particularly in terms of bars, is quite integrated which is interesting considering the history of the lavender scare and government suppression. It's suggested in the video that DC attracts the LGBT community because they have the opportunity to influence national issues in terms of LGBT rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/fashion/100000002554781/washington-comes-out.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/fashion/Washington-DC-has-thriving-gay-lesbian-and-transgender-population.html

"Facts" about Lesbians, circa 1963

Autostraddle posted an interesting list of 16 "facts" about lesbians from a book published in 1963. Although some of them are quite hilarious, you can also see how some of the "facts" published in the 60s perpetuated very negative lies about lesbians.

Whole list can be found here: http://www.autostraddle.com/16-hard-core-facts-about-lesbians-from-1963s-a-new-look-at-the-lesbian-205071/

Coast Guard enacts non-discrimination policy

This article is a great example of progress within the current gay movement, especially when compared to the military/government policies that we studied earlier in the semester.