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Queer Eye (originally Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) is an Emmy award-winning American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003. The series was created by openly gay executive producer David Collins and his straight producing partner David Metzler, and produced by their production company, Scout Productions.
The show is premised on (and plays with) the stereotype that gay men are superior in matters of fashion, style, personal grooming, interior design and culture. In each episode, a team of five gay men—known collectively as the "Fab Five"—perform a makeover (in the parlance of the show, a "make-better") on a subject, usually a straight man, revamping his wardrobe, redecorating his home and offering advice on grooming, lifestyle and food.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuted in 2003 and quickly became both a surprise hit and one of the most talked-about television programs of 2003. The success of the show led to merchandising, franchising of the concept internationally, and a woman-oriented spin-off, Queer Eye for the Straight Girl. The show's name was shortened to Queer Eye at the beginning of its third season to reflect the show's change in direction from making over only straight men to including women and gay people. Queer Eye ended production in June 2006 and the final 10 episodes aired in October 2007. The series ended October 30. (MORE...)
Conversion therapy (also called reparative therapy or sexual reorientation therapy) refers to methods aimed at changing gay, lesbian, and bisexual people's sexual orientations to heterosexual, or at eliminating or diminishing same-sex desires and behaviors. Many techniques have been tried, including behavior modification, aversion therapy, psychoanalysis, prayer, and religious counseling. Conversion therapy is closely associated with the "ex-gay" movement, which is more explicitly religious. Ex-gay groups tend to focus primarily on avoiding same-sex sexual activity, and secondarily (or sometimes not at all) on changing the underlying orientation.
The medical and mental health consensus in the United States is that there is little or no scientific evidence that conversion therapies are effective at changing sexual orientation and some evidence that these therapies are potentially harmful. No mainstream U.S. medical organization endorses conversion therapy and some have expressed concerns over some of the ethics and assumptions surrounding its practice. The mainstream view is that sexual orientation cannot be changed by therapy, and that attempts to do so may be damaging to the person's well-being. The label conversion is often preferred over reparative, as the latter suggests that same-sex desire is something which can or should be "repaired." The American Psychological Association has issued several cautionary statements against sexual conversion therapy, but has never condemned it. As a result of the medical view, conversion therapy is a largely marginalized practice. Today's conversion therapists characterize the movement as offering the possibility of a choice to gay men and women who are unhappy with their sexuality. (MORE...)Strawberry Panic! (ストロベリー・パニック! Sutoroberī Panikku!?) is the title of illustrated Japanese fictional short stories and related media works written by Japanese author Sakurako Kimino which focus on a group of teenage girls attending three affiliated all-girl schools atop Astrea Hill. A common theme throughout the stories is the intimate lesbian relationships between the characters. The original artist was Chitose Maki who was succeeded by Namuchi Takumi when production of the manga and light novels began.
When Strawberry Panic! first ran in Dengeki G's Magazine, it took six months into the process before results started to appear that the series was a success and that fans of the series were growing in number. The manga and light novels that followed were the effect of this popularity. The series became popular enough that Los Angeles-based company Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga series and light novels for English language distribution. Strawberry Panic! is one of the debut titles on the company's Light Novel and Strawberry (for yuri manga) production lines.
There is a slight difference in the title of the series between media and national affiliation. The original short stories, manga, light novels, and video game used the exclamation mark in the title; the anime excluded it. When the manga and light novel series were licensed for English language distribution, Seven Seas Entertainment did not use the exclamation mark in the title. The appearance of the logo for Strawberry Panic! has changed four times. The subtitle "Girls' School in Fullbloom" was added during the short stories stage which later appeared on the video game version, but was excluded from other adaptations including the manga, light novels, and anime. (MORE...)
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a best-selling work of nonfiction written by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts published in 1987. It chronicles the discovery and spread of HIV and AIDS with a special emphasis on government indifference and political infighting to what was initially perceived as a "gay disease," that has impacted the United States and the world for decades after. The book is an extensive work of investigative journalism, written in the form of an extended time line, the events that shaped the epidemic presented as sequential matter-of-fact summaries. Shilts describes the impact and the politics involved in battling the disease on particular individuals in the gay, medical, and political communities. It begins in the late 1970s in Africa, with the then first confirmed case of AIDS, that of Grethe Rask, a Danish doctor, and it ends with the announcement by Rock Hudson in 1985 that he was dying of AIDS, when international attention on AIDS exploded.
The title of the book is a reference to the story about the dance band in the first-class lounge of the Titanic, which kept playing as the ship was sinking, an allusion to the multiple agencies and communities who neglected to prioritize a swift medical response to the crisis. Judith Eannarino of the Library Journal called it "one of the most important books of the year," upon its release. Randy Shilts described his motivation to undertake the writing of the book in an interview after its release, saying, "Any good reporter could have done this story, but I think the reason I did it, and no one else did, is because I am gay. It was happening to people I cared about and loved." (MORE...)Fun Home (subtitled A Family Tragicomic) is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, USA, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide and the role of literature in understanding oneself and one's family. Writing and illustrating Fun Home took seven years, in part because of Bechdel's laborious artistic process, which includes photographing herself in poses for each human figure.
Fun Home has been both a popular and critical success, and spent two weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In The New York Times Sunday Book Review, Sean Wilsey called it "a pioneering work, pushing two genres (comics and memoir) in multiple new directions." Several publications named Fun Home as one of the best books of 2006; it was also nominated for several awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and three Eisner Awards (one of which it won). A French translation of Fun Home was serialized in the newspaper Libération; the book was an official selection of the Angoulême International Comics Festival and has been the subject of an academic conference in France. (MORE...)But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 satirical romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, an apparently happily heterosexual high school cheerleader. Her friends and family are convinced she's gay and arrange an intervention, sending her to a reparative therapy camp to cure her lesbianism. At camp, Megan soon realizes that she is indeed a lesbian and, despite the therapy, gradually comes to embrace this fact. The supporting cast features Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul, Mink Stole and Bud Cort.
But I'm a Cheerleader was Babbit's first feature film. It was inspired by an article about conversion therapy and her childhood familiarity with rehabilitation programs. She used the story of a young woman finding her sexual identity to explore the social construction of gender roles and heteronormativity. The costume and set design of the film highlighted these themes using artificial textures in intense blues and pinks. The film was not well received by critics who compared it unfavorably to the films of John Waters and criticized the colorful production design. The lead actors were praised for their performances but some of the characters were described as stereotypical. (MORE...)
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the largest youth organization in the United States, has policies which prohibit atheists, agnostics, and "known or avowed" homosexuals from membership in its Scouting program; both youths and adults have had their memberships revoked as a result. The BSA contends that these policies are essential in its mission to instill in young people the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The BSA also prohibits girls from participating in Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting. These policies are controversial and are considered by some to be unfair.
The organization's legal right to have these policies has been upheld repeatedly by both state and federal courts. The Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed that as a private organization, the BSA can set its own membership standards. In recent years, the policy disputes have led to litigation over the terms under which the BSA can access governmental resources including public lands. (MORE...)
GayFest is the annual gay pride festival of Bucharest, Romania, which first took place in 2004 and now occurs in May-June of each year, lasting for nearly a week. It is organised by the non-profit organisation ACCEPT, the country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organisation. The festival also receives funding from the Romanian Ministry of Health and the National Council for Combating Discrimination, as well as a number of private organisations, such as the Open Society Institute and the British Council in Romania.
GayFest features various LGBT cultural events, such as film screenings, art exhibitions, theatre and parties, as well as seminars and debates concerning LGBT social issues; since 2005 the festival has also included a gay pride parade. (MORE...)
Same-sex marriage was legalized across Canada by the Civil Marriage Act enacted on July 20, 2005. Court decisions, starting in 2003, had already legalized same-sex marriage in eight out of ten provinces and one of three territories, whose residents comprised about 90% of Canada's population. Before passage of the Act, more than 3,000 same-sex couples had already married in these areas. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been extended to cohabiting same-sex couples since 1999.
The Civil Marriage Act was introduced by Paul Martin's Liberal government in the Canadian House of Commons on February 1, 2005 as Bill C-38. It was passed by the House of Commons on June 28, 2005, by the Senate on July 19, 2005, and it received Royal Assent the following day. (MORE...)
Lesbian American history is the history of women who are attracted to other women, or lesbians, in the United States. This is a relatively new field of historical inquiry, but has advanced significantly since the beginning of the gay and lesbian rights movement. Primary historical resources for Lesbian American history are scant and hence this is a fledgling discipline ripe for investigation.
Longstanding denial of the very existence of lesbianism frustrates the exploration of lesbian American history. As much of early American sensibilities were fashioned by Victorian English colonization, it is no coincidence that for a great while lesbianism was denied, and fringe discussion of the very possibility of lesbianism was tabled in both legislatures and academic circles. Hence, few resources exist making more detailed study of certain eras impossible. The study of lesbian American history might thus be described as embryonic. (MORE...)Homosexuality is a sexual orientation and it is defined as romantic attraction and/or sexual interaction between individuals of the same sex. In modern use, the adjective homosexual is used for intimate relationships and/or sexual relations between people of the same sex, who may or may not identify themselves as gay or lesbian.
Erotic love and sexual expression between individuals of the same sex has been a feature of most known cultures since earliest history. However, it was not until the 19th century that such acts and relationships were seen as indicative of a type of person with a defined and relatively stable sexual orientation. The first recorded use of the word Homosexual was in 1869 by Karl-Maria Kertbeny, with Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 book Psychopathia Sexualis popularizing the concept. (MORE...)Gay bathhouses, also known as (gay) saunas or steam baths (and sometimes called, in gay slang in some regions, "the baths" or "the tubs"), are places where men can go to have sex with other men. Not all men who visit such bathhouses consider themselves gay. Bathhouses for women are much rarer, though some men's bathhouses will occasionally have "lesbian" or "women-only" nights.
Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities — from small establishments with ten or twenty rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-storey saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, jacuzzi tubs and sometimes even swimming pools — but nearly all have at least one steam room (or wet sauna), as well as showers, lockers and small private rooms. Unlike at brothels, customers pay only for the use of the facilities; sexual activity, if it occurs, is not provided as a service by staff of the establishment, but is between customers, and no money is exchanged. Many gay bathhouses explicitly prohibit or discourage prostitution and ban known prostitutes. (MORE...)
"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other" (1981) is, "the famous gay cowboy song" by Latin country musician Ned Sublette, whose music features a, "lilting West Texas waltz (3/4 time at about 60–90 beats per minute) feel" and whose lyrics satirize the stereotypes associated with cowboys and gay men. For example, the lyrics relating western wear to the leather subculture with the line, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" Country musician Willie Nelson's cover (iTunes single February 14, 2006) is the first gay-themed mainstream country song by a major artist. (MORE...)
The Republic of Ireland does not recognize civil unions or same-sex marriages and there is very little provision for unmarried cohabiting couples, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Since 2005, the only other state among the original 15 European Union members with a complete lack of any recognition of same-sex couples is Greece.
The situation has been under investigation by various Government bodies since 2002. In January 2006, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern endorsed the report of an Oireachtas committee which recommended registered Civil Partnerships. A Government working group recommended in November 2006 that full civil partnership would address the majority of issues. (MORE...)Latter Days is a gay romantic drama set in Los Angeles, released in 2003. It portrays the seduction of Aaron, a Mormon missionary, by Christian, an LA party animal who falls in love with him. Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on 10 July 2003. It was released across America over the next 12 months, and was released, mostly at gay film festivals, in a few other countries. It was the first film to openly show the clash between the principles of the Mormon church and homosexuality, and its exhibition in some states was polemic. Various religious groups demanded the movie to be retired from theatres and DVD stores under boycott threats. (MORE...)
Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, who wanted to compare Orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew. The film won several awards, including Best Documentary Film at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, the 2001 Chicago International Film Festival, and the 2003 GLAAD Media Awards.
Trembling Before G-d is filmed in the style of cinéma vérité. This style of filmmaking aims for extreme naturalism using non-intrusive filming techniques, genuine locations instead of sound stages, and little post-production mixing or voiceovers. (MORE...)
"Homer's Phobia" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, which originally aired on the Fox network on February 16, 1997. It was the first episode written by Ron Hauge and was directed by Mike B. Anderson. John Waters guest-starred, providing the voice of the new character John.[1]
In the episode, Homer disassociates from new family friend John after discovering that John is gay. Homer fears that John will have a negative influence on his son, Bart. "Homer's Phobia" was the first episode to revolve entirely around homosexual themes, with the title being a pun on the word homophobia. Originally, due to the controversial subject, the Fox censors found the episode unsuitable for broadcast, but this decision was reversed after a turnover in the Fox staff. It won four awards, including an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) and a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV - Individual Episode". (MORE...)
References
- ^ Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 228. ISBN 0-00-638898-1.
Andrew Van De Kamp is a fictional character in the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Shawn Pyfrom plays the sociopathic,[1] atheist, bisexual teenage son of Bree Van De Kamp Hodge and the late Rex Van De Kamp.
Andrew first appeared in the pilot of Desperate Housewives and had a recurring role throughout Season 1 as Bree's increasingly delinquent son. Expelled from school and eventually sent to juvenile boot camp, Andrew is removed when he told his mother he was gay. Although he later admitted that he is bisexual, stating that he liked "both vanilla and chocolate", claiming he had originally said he was gay to get out of the camp. While Andrew has specified that technically he is bisexual, he refers to himself as gay in almost every instance. Nevertheless, he had seen how his mother reacted and believed that she would never accept him for who and what he was. This hurt Andrew so much he believed the only way to deal with it was to stop loving Bree first, so when she rejected him, it would not hurt so much. (MORE...)
The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as Institute of Sex Research, Institute for Sexology or Institute for the Science of Sexuality. The infamous Nazi book-burnings (Bücherverbrennung) in Berlin included the archives of the Institute. The Institute was a non-profit foundation situated in the Tiergarten in Berlin's In den Zelten. It was headed by Jewish doctor Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). Since 1897 he had run the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (Scientific-Humanitarian Committee), which campaigned on conservative and rational grounds for gay legal reform and tolerance. The Committee published the long-running journal Jahrbuch fur sexuelle Zwischenstufen. Hirschfeld was also a researcher; he collected questionnaires from 10,000 people, informing his book Die Homosexualität des Mannes und des Weibes (1914). He built a unique library on same-sex love and eroticism. After the Nazis gained control of Germany in the 1930s, the institute and its libraries were destroyed as part of a government censorship program. (MORE...)
Same-sex marriage was legalized in Spain in 2005. In 2004 the new Socialist government, led by President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, began a campaign for its legalization, which would also include adoption by same-sex couples. After much debate, a law permitting same-sex marriage was passed by the Cortes Generales (Spain's bicameral parliament composed of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies) on 30 June 2005 and published on 2 July 2005. Same-sex marriage officially became legal in Spain on Sunday, 3 July 2005.
The ratification of this law has not been devoid of conflict, despite strong support from Spaniards. Catholic authorities in particular were adamantly opposed to it. Demonstrations for and against the law drew thousands of people from all parts of Spain. After its approval, the conservative People's Party challenged the law in Constitutional Court.
Unlike what happens in Canada, foreigners cannot marry in Spain while visiting. At least one partner must be Spanish to marry, although two foreigners may marry if they both reside in Spain. (MORE...)
History of homosexual people in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust: Before the beginning of World War II, homosexuals in Germany, especially in Berlin, enjoyed more freedom and acceptance than anywhere else in the world. However, upon the rise of Adolf Hitler, gay men and, to a lesser extent, lesbians, were two of several groups targeted by the Nazi party. Beginning in 1933, gay organizations were banned, scholarly books about homosexuality, and sexuality in general, were burned, and homosexuals within the Nazi party itself were murdered. The Gestapo compiled lists of homosexuals, and they were compelled to sexually conform to the German norm. More than one million homosexuals were targeted, and at least 100,000 were imprisoned. Estimated deaths of gay men imprisoned in concentration camps vary from 15,000 to 600,000. Homosexuals in camps were treated in an unusually cruel manner by their captors, and were also persecuted by their fellow inmates. This was a factor in the relatively high death rate for homosexuals, compared to other "anti-social groups".
After the war, the treatment of homosexuals in concentration camps went unacknowledged by most countries, and some men were even re-arrested and imprisoned based on evidence found during the Nazi years. It was not until the 1980s that governments acknowledged this episode, and not until 2002 that the German government apologized to the gay community. This period still provokes controversy, however; and in 2005, when the European Parliament drafted a resolution regarding the Holocaust, mention of the persecution of homosexuals was excised after debate. (MORE...)
The Stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between New York City police officers and groups of gay and transgendered people that began on 28 June 1969, and lasted several days. Also called the Stonewall Rebellion or simply Stonewall, the clash was a watershed for the worldwide gay rights movement, as gay and transgendered people had never before acted together in such large numbers to forcibly resist police harassment directed towards their community.
The forces that were simmering before the riots were now no longer beneath the surface. The community created by the homophile organizations of the previous two decades had created the perfect environment for the creation of the Gay Liberation Movement. By the end of July the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in New York and by the end of the year the GLF could be seen in cities and universities around the country. Similar organizations were soon created around the world including Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
The actual Stonewall Inn was vacant and closed for most of the 1970s and '80s. It reopened after its first renovation in the early '90s. A second renovation in the late '90s brought in new crowds to its new multi-floor layout. The club remained popular until management lost its lease in 2006. New management expect to reopen the latest version of The Stonewall in February 2007.(MORE...)
