SPECIAL CHALLENGE-ONLINE color PHOTO ESSAYS page 15: Russian LGBTs Stand Against Violence. page 18: "Life Is Better With You"
CHALLENGE
The Newsletter of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County – Serving New Jersey’s GLBTI Communities Continuously Since 1972
V o lu m e 3 9, I ssu e 9, No v e m be r 2 0 13
It’s a Small World by Andy Skurna We have heard for decades that the world is shrinking, yet how often do we sit down and consciously consider by how much or by what means? How does this impact our LGBT lives? Most active GAAMC members are from my generation, or older. That means we have been around for all of the modern gay rights movement, and then some. Back in the 1960s and 1970s there was a different level of acceptance. In those days, people were quiet and sexual orientation was rarely mentioned. Even when everyone knew the “spinsters” down the street weren’t really just roommates it was rarely mentioned in polite company and they were left alone…as long as they remained in the closet, or didn’t try to intermingle too much with “regular folk,” that is. Today, we aren’t silent any longer. Not only are those women not spinsters, they are WIVES. They are a FAMILY. They are great neighbors, proud of their homes and families. They are happy…and demand the right to be!
never had a passport. I have never traveled anywhere that I needed one.) 7 years ago, I could have counted my friends on my fingers. Today, I share LGBT news and activism initiatives all over the world. I play games with people who live in my house as well as in England, Spain, Australia, China, and Pakistan. These are people who see my political posts. These are people from whom I do not hide my identity, my sexual orientation, or my views on religious freedom. When I share something, they all see it. Borders such as the “Iron Curtain” and the Berlin Wall are gone. Barriers such as the Atlantic and Pacific and even different languages are all but eliminated. (I communicate in American English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Russian, even though I don’t know those languages.)
However, as Isaac Newton told us, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” As America’s LGBTIQA community has forged a greater and stronger demand for equal respect, the disciples of oppression have applied force elsewhere. In an age when anyone with airfare can get almost anywhere on the planet, and anyone with a computer or smartphone can connect to “social” media, there really are very few borders these days. No longer does the LGBTI community show up in mass demonstrations with cardboard signs. We take to the Internet, and connect with like-minded people anywhere in the universe.
The so-called National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was founded in Princeton, New Jersey. It was thinly veiled as a “proopposite-gender marriage” lobbying group. When they wore out their welcome and momentum in NJ, they moved to Washington, DC, and began raising funds from a nationwide pool of uneducated haters. As they lost battle after battle, and as the US population has learned that we no longer accept their whispers about spinsters or guys who are “light in the loafers” corrupting the morals of school children, that pool of money and venom continuously evaporated. We have become more visible and less scary in the US. Their political maneuvering has been exposed. Their campaign of corruption has been exposed — and is currently under Department of Justice investigation. Their race baiting has been exposed.
To illustrate my point, there is an app on Facebook that will pinpoint your “friends’” locations on a map and draw connections. When I run it on my Friends list, it shows I am connected to people on FIVE CONTINENTS. (Note: I have
So, what’s a hate group to do, you ask? ROADTRIP! NOM has begun transforming into an International Organization against LGBTIQA Equality. (continued on page 4)
Inside Challenge Challenge Information ...................................... page 2 GAAMC Events What's happening at our Monday meetings......... page 2 Bulletin Board Add these upcoming events to your calendar........page 3 This Month's Contributors................................. page 3 Getting Personal: Classified ads......................... page 3 2013 New Jersey Elections................................ page 3 The Little Box of Concerts: Get Out of the House!... page 3 Poetry: "Happy Pride Day Moscow"...................... page 4 SPECIAL ONLINE "Happy Pride Day Moscow" photos.... page 15
Gleanings: News you should know ...................... page 5 Q-munity Calendar.......................................... page 7 Dancing To Architecture™ Music news, views, and reviews for queer ears..... page 10 Media Outage™ Queer clippings from print and web sources...... page 11 HOT NEWS! NJ Marriage Rules!..........................page 12 Board Minutes for August................................. page 13 Poetry: "Enter" ............................................. page 13 GAAMC Information ........................................ page 14 SPECIAL ONLINE "Life Is Better With You" video scenes page 17