Big Queer Blog - Entries from May 2006 - Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (LGBT)

Thursday, May 25. 2006

Masturbate-A-Thon- Have fun raising money

A friend of mine just sent me a link for the 5th annual Maturbate-A-Thon being held May 27 2006. It's all part of The Center for Sex and Culture's Masturbation Month.

Last year's event raised over $5,000 for the Center for Sex and Culture and there were winners and trophies for longest masturbation (7.5 hours), most orgasims, and most funds raised.

Participants come (pun intended) from around the world and organizers are quick to tout that you can particpate from anywhere! No running, jogging, walking, phoning, necesary unless of course that's the way you like tomaturbate.

Posted by Sascha at 15:36 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: center for sex and culture, fund raiser, masturbate-a-thon, masturbation

Friday, May 19. 2006

Hot Celluloid!!!

Summer blockbusters are kicking off to a yawn, and they don't look like they're gonna get much better. I'm holding out for Gore's docudrama, An Inconvenient Truth, and XMEN.

For real film pleasure that will more than make up for the Hollywood's Crapfest 2006, check out NEWFEST's 18th annual New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival by going to Newfest.org. It's only in New York City, only from June 1st through the 11th, 2006.

The festival opens with the movie based on the television series of the same name, Strangers With Candy, starring Amy Sedaris, the politically charged Stephen Colbert, and a bunch of recognizables: Allison Janney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Kristen Johnston, Sir Ian Holm, Matthew Broderick, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Closing the festival will be 20 Centimeters, by Ramon Salazar, about a narcoleptic, pre-op MTF named Marieta. When Marieta falls asleep, she has show-stopping dreams swirling with choreography and music. More than just fluff, though, the film gives Marieta a big dilemma: to cut or not to cut. Sounds simple, but she's in love with a guy who likes chicks with dicks and going full female might mean more than just losing 20 centimeters of penile flesh. This raises lots of interesting questions, like: are one's genitals the source of one's happiness (and success) in love? I haven't seen the movie yet, but definitely will.

The best this about this festival is that it is truly international. Most features are accompanied by a short, so you get plenty of perspectives on issues of gender, identity, sex(uality), on and on.

Check it out. There's more to see than you could possibly have time for.

Posted by Alex Barreto in Arts & Culture at 15:25 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: cinema, film, gay film festival

A Political Zoo

Pandas. Everyone one of them political, pandering pandas. As Big Mouth said previously, "Let's stop kidding ourselves that any Republican will support queer people with their actions in office instead of throwing us to their party when they need to shore up their base."

From Mitt Romney, I expect this whole sacrifice-the-queers behavior. And Bloomberg has always found economic prosperity and the almighty dollar (and its Republican allies) more imporant than social justice. Even John McCain, while appearing liberal in the press, has always voted conservatively in the Senate and even went all weird during the '04 election, so this Falwell business wasn't that surprising. But for all you hopeful folks out there who thought former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani really was the kind social heart inside the Republican money/spin machine (despite the way he censored artists and suppressed free speech during his time in office), get a load of this:

In a Southern Foray, Giuliani Helps a Friend but Skirts an Issue

He's a panda, they are pandas; wouldn't you like to be a panda, too?

Continue reading "A Political Zoo"

Posted by Bigmouth in News at 11:34 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: 2006 elections, 2008 presidential election, homophobia, ralph reed, religious right, rudy giuliani

Calling all Queer Gay Lesbian Bi Trans Writers!

The Windy City Times is now accepting submissions for the third annual Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement Edited by Owen Keehnen and Kathie Bergquist.

This year’s theme is Personal Best: Pushing Boundaries

Submit up to three of your best pieces of poetry or prose to: WCTPride@gmail.com
Features (up to 500 words) will be paid $25. Short form poetry: $15

The fine print: 500 word maximum for poetry or prose submissions. Electronic submissions only. Send all submissions as MS Word attachment. Double-spaced 12 pt. standard font required.

Deadline: Monday, June 4th, 2006!

Posted by Sascha in News at 00:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: queer writing, windy city times

Thursday, May 18. 2006

Gay Marriage Survey

Thanks to Brandy from University of Memphis for this tip about a a GLBT marraige study.

Researchers from PRISMresearch.org at the University of Kentucky and University of Memphis are looking for participants for a new online gay marriage survey about experiences related to the debate over the recognition of civil marriage rights for same-sex couples.

This is a study of the attitudes and experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, same-gender loving, and same-sex partnered persons regarding the debate over recognition of civil marriage for same-sex couples. The purpose of this study is to document attitudes and experiences at several points in time in all states. Our hope is that the findings from this research project will contribute to an understanding of the experiences of GLB and same-sex partnered individuals in the United States during these times. The survey is open to those that identify as GLB, same-gender loving, or same-sex partnered, are 18 or older and a U.S. citizen or living in the U.S.

The deadline to complete the survey in order to enter a drawing for gift certificates is June 15, 2006.

Lear more at the PRISM Research survey website.

Posted by Sascha at 14:45 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: civil unions, gay marriage, research study

Tuesday, May 2. 2006

Dude, Jay Sucks!

It shot all over the blogosphere, made it's way up to e-mail forwarding, and is now probably being broadcast on Al Jazeera: yup, that Open Letter to Jay Leno from Jeff Whitty. If you managed not to read this thing, check out this post on Queerty. I actually got it sent to me by a buh-jillion different people; no need for me to wonder what my friends think of when they hear the words "angry queer."

Equally as notorious, at this point, is Jackie Beat's response and Mr. Whitty's and Ms. Beat's subsequent peace-making - not that they were at war, but you know how us gay bitches can be.

So what's my beef with Mr. Whitty (because you know I have one, or I wouldn't be posting)? Before I start, let's all cheer on and commend Mr. Whitty for actually speaking up when something upset him. How many itmes have we just gotten upset and sucked it up? Too many. So, hooray!

And now the beef...

First, let's start with: Jay Leno sucks. He's not funny, so how can you tell he's making jokes at the expesnse of gay people? I don't even know when he's making jokes.

Second, Mr. Whitty why are you biting back at Mr. Leno while simultaneously making all queers look like the weakest, most pathetic and most unable-to-defend-themselves-able people on earth? Isn't it ironic, doncha think?

Continue reading "Dude, Jay Sucks!"

Posted by Bigmouth in Entertainment at 16:50 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: avenue q, broadway, jackie beat, jay leno, jeff whitty, the tonight show, theater, theatre, tony awards, tv

Monday, May 1. 2006

What is the trouble with transgender studies?

Judith Butler

I recently got dragged into a flame war on a listserve for LGBT academics by calling Judith Butler a bad writer. For those of you unfamilar with Butler, she is the doyenne of gender studies and certainly the dominant figure in the study of transgender. A professor of comparative literature and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, Butler is best known for her 1990 book, Gender Trouble, which is arguably one of the most influential books in LGBT studies and queer theory. Gender Trouble is required reading for the queer theory crowd, but it is also, like most of Butler's work, virtually undecipherable to the non-academic. Even to those schooled in French post-structuralist theory (including the work of French theorist Michel Foucault), Butler's writing can be extraordinarily difficult; and to the non-academic transgendered person, her writing is all but incomprehensible.

The trouble with Gender Trouble is that Butler's writing need not be so impenetrable. Call me a Philistine, but clarity of expression is a value in my aesthetic. The very notion that 'impossible to understand' means 'profound' is one that is simply not borne out by even a cursory glance at the literature. Foucault's "Discipline and Punish," for example, is eminently readable. The argument that Butler's writing is so difficult because she is using 'technical' language simply does not withstand scrutiny. Consider, for example, Charles Rosen's "The Classical Style," which uses a good deal of technical language; but it is also accessible to a general audience and not merely to musicologists with extensive background in the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The notion purveyed by Butler's defenders that the turgidity of her writing is an indication of the profoundity of her thought is based on a false dichotomy, as anyone who has read Thoreau (just to cite one thinker) can attest. In my view, there is simply no excuse for bad writing, and Butler is a bad writer by any reasonable standard.

Continue reading "What is the trouble with transgender studies?"

Posted by Pauline Park at 15:55 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: gender studies, judith butler, transgender, transgender studies

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