MetaFilter posts tagged with lesbian and sexuality

Beyond the Vault

Artw — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 10:52:09 -0800

Gaming made me - RPS writer Patricia Hernandez on how Fallout 2 shaped her world view, her politics and her sexuality.

The Bully Pulpit

zarq — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:54:30 -0800

Late last month, after vocally anti-gay evangelical author and blogger Jonathan Merritt's essay defending Chick-Fil-A appeared in The Atlantic, Azariah Southworth outed Merritt on his blog. An interview with Merritt about his sexual orientation. Follow-up column from Southworth: Why I outed a Christian star. Southworth is the former host and producer of The Remix, a once-popular Christian reality TV show, which was pulled from the airwaves back in 2008 after he came out. Jonathan Merritt is the son of Dr. James Merritt, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. "Outing" public figures as gay or lesbian (who hide their sexual orientation, typically out of fear of homophobia) without their permission is not a new practice, but it remains controversial. The term "outing" gained prominence in March 1990 after Michaelangelo "Mike" Signorile wrote a cover story for the now-defunct magazine Outweek: "The Secret Gay Life of Malcolm Forbes." (pdf of that issue here, archive of Outweek's entire run, here.) Profile of Signorile from June 1990. In 2007, he wrote about the Forbes story. Throughout his career, Signorile has outed many celebrities and public figures, and was likely one of the first to do so as a form of pro-gay political activism, by outing those whose rhetoric or political policies were anti-LGBT. In 2009, a documentary by Kirby Dick called Outrage was released. (Previously.) It's available in its entirety on YouTube in nine parts. English, with Portuguese subtitles. The movie outed a number of closeted gay politicians who create or vote for discriminatory, anti-LGBT legislation. NPR's review of the film was censored prior to press, to remove the names of three politicians. For American media, there is no industry-wide standard regarding the ethics of outing. Back in 2010, a panel discussion about outing public figures was held during the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association's 20th annual national convention in San Francisco. Signorile was one of the panel members.

"We know it's a little clichéd – but here's what we want to tell the census: We're here. We're queer. And we want you to ask us about it."

ocherdraco — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:36:41 -0800

The 2010 United States Census will be able to count gay marriages and partnerships. George Takei and his husband tell you how. Even with the restrictions placed on that data by the Defense of Marriage Act, that's good news for the LGB part of the spectrum, but what about T? If you're transgender, despite what the Census might tell you, it's not so simple to be counted. (hat tip to nadawi) And for those of you who are queer but single, the Equal Roots coalition encourages you to use the "some other race" option to declare your sexual identity along with whatever other race identification you may choose. Queer the Census is pushing for an LGBT-inclusive question on the Census.

Gay and Lesbian Europe in the 30s and 40s

serazin — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:58:17 -0800

A multimedia exhibit on the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, Wikipedia on gays under the Nazis, Paragraph 175 - a documentary profiling gay survivors of Nazi era policies, and memorials of the gay Holocaust. A few Nazi-era gay and lesbian figures of note:

- A Berlin intellectual and pioneer in sexuality research, and an early advocate for gay rights, (controversial in part for his early support of outing) Magnus Herschfeld died in exile after Nazis destroyed his Institute of Sexual Science.
- The butch orchestra conductor Frieda Belinfante and gay artist William Arondeus were part of the same resistance group that first falsified papers for Dutch Jews, and then when Nazi's began to compare these falsified papers with city records, set fire to the Amsterdam Registry building.
- Lily Wust, the wife of a German soldier, fell for a Jewish woman at the wrong time. Their story became the subject of a book and film.

Dear Mary:

archimago — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 06:23:44 -0800

Mary Cheney: "The next time you walk into a gay public place, be prepared for a chorus calling you everything from a quisling and a betrayer to a selfish, fiendish, nasty example of a human being." Michelangelo Signorile's open letter to the VP's gay daughter.

Everybody Loves Boobies

NortonDC — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 08:49:30 -0800

Women are sexually aroused by women regardless of which gender they have sex with. "Researchers measured the psychological and physiological sexual arousal in homosexual and heterosexual men and women as they watched erotic films. There were three types of erotic films: those featuring only men, those featuring only women and those featuring male and female couples. As with previous research, the researchers found that men responded consistent with their sexual orientations. In contrast, both homosexual and heterosexual women showed a bisexual pattern of psychological as well as genital arousal. That is, heterosexual women were just as sexually aroused by watching female stimuli as by watching male stimuli, even though they prefer having sex with men rather than women."