Equality Press

By Jim Splaine

How can you tell whether a candidate is a Republican or a Democrat just by talking with them about issues of concern to gays? The answer in a moment.

There was a time not too long ago when being “homosexual” was considered an illness. When you see an older gay man or woman, you might pay just a little extra respect to the fact that he or she had to live through those times. We still have a long way to go toward equality, but we’re light-years from where American society was just three decades ago.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, much changed, but politics has still been slow to catch up, and many politicians are even slower. People running for political office often aren’t on the cutting edge of much—they want to see the polls (“polls” are the political equivalent of “show me the money”). Nor are many willing to stand out in front of any parade that doesn’t have lots of voters and the red, white, and blue marching along up front. (more…)

By Lisa Beelle

Ah, summer—travel, camping, anniversaries, and patriotic festivities. For my wife, Barbara, and I the summer is usually packed with trying to fit in golf, celebrating our anniversary and birthdays, squeaking by on paying our largest set of bills, and just enjoying the warm weather. This year we’re going to our nephew’s wedding in Florida and we decided to take an extended vacation and do some visiting with friends, golfing, and camping. To save money we’re driving down and mooching off of friends and relatives on the way and then we’ll be camping just outside of Orlando for five days. We are quite excited about the trip and seeing old friends.

As we began to plan what we’d take, I remembered to take copies of our legal documents with us. Whenever I think about this I’m always reminded of the movie Hunt for Red October and the scene where the second in command, now shot and obviously not going to make it, asks his captain if it’s true that you don’t have to carry papers from one state to the next. His captain replies that it is true, “No papers.” It’s also true that life doesn’t imitate fiction. Oh sure, we could leave our papers home but we won’t for the same reason we broke down a bought one of those addictive cell phones—what if? What if we’re in an accident, what if one of us gets eaten by an alligator, what if some maniac decides to shoot the two lesbians camping in the next site. What if? For the same reason most of us get insurance if we can afford it—what if. (more…)

by Joelle Ruby Ryan

There is a great diversity of gender expression within the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. I am always amazed at GLBT bars or events just how many different ways we can and do express our genders. Unfortunately, some in the community tend to accept and validate only certain forms of gender due to biases and ignorance.

Before Stonewall, there were many drag queens and stone butches who filled the gay bars. After Stonewall, there was a radical movement for queer liberation that sought to liberate sex and gender for all people. This movement soon switched to a minority model that sought civil rights for a discrete category of gay men and lesbians. The bar culture changed in the 1970s and the macho gay clone emerged. In lesbian feminism of that time, there was a critique of butch-femme roles in the dyke community. While many gay men eschewed drag and femininity, many lesbians criticized butch-femme for aping and replicating traditional heterosexual roles. (more…)