As counter-intuitive as it sounds, straight people get the raw end of homophobia too. For LGBT people, one of the hardest things is to make straight people care, but it’s the only thing that will effect proper change, writes author and freelance writer Benjamin Law.
Homosexuality
My secret life as a gay soldier
With the US now this close to scrapping its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, an anonymous Lt Col. on deployment in Afghanistan explains what life is like in the camouflage closet.
Crikey Says: Staying in the closet a mystery in these enlightened times
Why do they do it? Why do so many men keep their homosexuality a secret, lying to wives and family, friends and colleagues, living miserable double lives skulking in the closet?
You idiot: Akermanis’ homosexuality football clanger
In today’s Herald Sun, AFL player Jason Akermanis argues that a current player admitting they were gay would be “international news and could break the fabric of a club.” It’s time to enter the 21st century, Aker, writes Kim Crow.
Is Elena Kagan gay? Who cares?
The endless media speculation over the sexuality of new Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan is just thinly veiled misogyny, says Stephanie Mencimer. So she plays poker and smokes cigars? Get over it.
Undercover at a Christian gay-to-straight conversion camp
Singing, sharing, snuggling, shame and secret erections: straight, atheist journalist Ted Cox goes undercover in the Christian “ex-gay” movement.
Archie gets a gay
Classic comic Archie may be over 60 years old, but it’s keeping up with the times: introducing an openly gay character to the series. No word on Jughead yet, though…
Do gay animals exist?
Albatrosses are known for being the most monogamous birds in the animal kingdom, but don’t assume they’re all male and female couples. Jon Mooallem explores the taboo topic of homosexuality in the animal kingdom.
Rudd, Abbott and special rights for the religious Right
It’s time for the Commonwealth to lift the bar and provide effective coverage to gay people with anti-discrimination provisions, writes former Democrats senator Brian Greig
Wordwatch: gay, or ssam and ssaf?
Apparently young folk don’t use the word “gay” anymore — it’s “same sex attracted males” and “same sex attracted females”. Should we now saw SSAM and SSAF? asks W.H. Chong. And will they have ssaf sex?
When children’s books go gay
It’s been 20 years since Heather Has Two Mommies was first published. Expert on children’s literature, Ellen Handler Spitz looks at how the genre of gay kids’ books has progressed (or not) over the past two decades.
Discrimination goes beyond Centrelink’s entitlement ‘pink list’
The reforms to Centrelink’s entitlements for same-sex relationships takes money from gay people on low incomes and gives it to richer couples, writes Daniel Stubbs.
How I stopped being gay
Patrick Muirhead doesn’t want to be gay any more, so he’s giving heterosexuality a whirl. He explains why he’s no longer “a fully fledged homo”. No, really.
Beenie man is a product of entrenched homophobia in Jamaica
Beenie, the Jamaican DJ just dropped from the Big Day Out, may be a phenomenal talent. But he has, at various times, been openly, flagrantly — almost murderously — homophobic.
Is America’s gay press dead?
Window Media, publisher of the Washington Blade, Southern Voice and other big US LGBT newspapers has filed for bankruptcy, and will cease publishing immediately.
Gay marriage: an issue of both the legal and the spiritual
If there is a God, surely she wouldn’t have intended for Australia to let gay and lesbian people and their families to feel so ostracised from the church, writes Steve Dow.
VIDEO: Obama vows to end “don’t ask, don’t tell”
Barack Obama delivered a passionate speech to America’s largest gay civil rights group on the weekend, pledging to end the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals. Watch the full speech here.
Guy Rundle: You want dangerous ideas? These are dangerous ideas
The topics discussed at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas are either completely safe or totally ridiculous. Here are some thoughts that might really offend some Darlinghurst secular-liberals’ sensibilities.
Coming out: how young is too young?
They’re here, they’re queer… they’re still in primary school. Kids are coming out of the closet at younger and younger ages. Is it a sign society is becoming more open to homosexuality, or too much to deal with at such a young age?
Social networks used to entrap homosexuals in Ghana
In Ghana, where homosexuality is a crime, one of the only ways gay people can connect is through social networking. But now people — with the help of the police — are also using this as an avenue for blackmail.
British Government apologises to Alan Turing
Following a high-profile public campaign, British PM Gordon Brown has apologised posthumously for Britain’s treatment of WWII master code-breaker Alan Turing, who was prosecuted for being a homosexual in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration.
Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream is totally gay
American ice-cream makers Ben & Jerry’s are the kings of seizing the zeitgeist to sell their products. For Obama’s presidency they created “Yes Pecan” flavour. Now it’s “Hubby Hubby” for Vermont’s legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Brits call for government apology to Alan Turing
Alan Turing, a master code-breaker in WWII and the father of modern computer science, was also prosecuted for being gay, and was subsequently chemically castrated. Thousands of Brits are now petitioning the British government to offer him a posthumous apology.
Gay news anchor: Why I committed career suicide
Until recently, Charles Perez was a TV news anchor for an ABC affiliate station in Miami. A gay TV news anchor. But when public knowledge of his sexuality became widespread, he claims, the network started not-so-subtly nudging him out the door.
Legalising homosexuality in India: the big picture
India recently overturned its 148-year-old law that criminalised homosexuality. But has it made it any easier to be gay in Goa or bisexual in Bihar? Human rights activist Arvind Narrain weighs in.
