Queer Art - OutWrite Newsmagazine (Spring 2010)

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A lly N e w s m a g a z i n e

QUEER ART

and

SPRING 2010

U C L A’ s Q u e e r

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CONTENTS FEATURE 10-11

THE ART OF BEING QUEER what makes queer art queer?

By: Lina Houston

VISUAL ART.....................4-6 Erotic Art and Why It Matters

By: Rich Yap Queering the Comic

By: Aithi Hong and Mikhail Popov

PERFORMANCE ART.........7-9 The Queerest Art: Genderf*ck Sexuality: Our Performance Art

By: Austin Rose In Defense of Cabaret

By: Dan Meyer

MUSIC............................12-14 Our Bad Romance with Lady Gaga: An Evaluation of Gay Icons and What It Reveals About Us

By: Roky Coria Rock & Roll and Butt Pirates:

Gay Musicians and Coming Out

By: Robbie Marlin

FILM...................................13 UCLA’s Queer Film Legacy

By: Kaya Foster

GAY MECCA.......................15 Experiences in centers of Queer Culture Dinah Unplugged

By: Anna Patton

LITERATURE.......................16 Did a Publisher Just Prove Love Exists (Poorly)?

By: Dan Meyer

ASK DR. Q..........................16 CREATIVE WRITING............17 Auditions, Oysters, and a Dimple

By: Anna Patton

BLOGS...............................18 GLOGS: Gay blogs and their affect on the community By: Katie Schowengerdt

SILLINESS..........................19 Queer Horoscopes

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Letter from the Editor Queer: deviant; all identities outside of the heteronormative.

Sexofand We must’ve freaked out all the other publications Art: the use the relationships. aesthetic to convey deeper meaning.

OutWrite

in Student Media planning this issue, talking about dental dams and BDSM. One staff Lifemeeting is art. while we were planning out the “ideal booty call” for the visual for Onpage the way Joe’s, some of the staff and Iintense. passed by a sign, saying 18 to theTrader discussion became shockingly Many of the “Elevator.” Upon seeing the sign, our design chief mentioned what a pretty type set the suggestions were with “That turn me pass on!” or expressions word was written in. met A hundred otherwould peoplenot could easily that sign by and of not think shock and horror. anything of it, of the time and detail someone put into it.

Although thisreally issue is mostly about the angles differenton traditional queer We worked hard to find fresh a topic art so mediums often covered. people express themselves, art is not limited to had these.

I hopeuse youtohave as much fun reading this as we writing it.

Art is everywhere. It’s in the architecture of the buildings we pass through everyday, in the clothes we choose to wear, in the time and thought we put into buying Tell usinwhat you think this issue! quick survey at we accent and them, the stories aboutofourselves weComplete choose to a tell, in the qualities outwritenewsmag.org to give us feedback and help us improve future issues. the ones we hide, in the subconscious mannerisms we enact based on the way we see ourselves, in the way we say “hi” to the people that mean something to us, in the way we express our gender lack thereof), in the life we choose to build ourselves… do you This is UCLA’s queer(or students’ (and allies!) resource and outlet, sofor feel free to submit stop and think about the self you’re painting? articles, creative writing, coming out stories, artwork, etc. to outwritebruins@gmail.com or join our staff!

www.outwritenewsmag.org outwrite@media.ucla.edu Ed i to r- i n - C h i ef Vanessa West Applications are available at the beginning of every quarter at apply.studentmedia.ucla. edu/recruiting/outwrite/

Tell us what you think of this issue! Complete a quick survey at outwritenewsmag.org to give us feedback and help us improve future issues.

This is UCLA’s queer students’ (and allies!) resource and outlet, so feel free to submit articles, creative writing, coming out stories, artwork, etc. to outwritebruins@gmail.com or join our staff!

SAY WHAT?!

“Thanks for the votes, gentlemen. I don’t quite know how to respond - it’s always fun to be on the top of a pile of hot dudes?”

-Neil Patrick Harris in his acceptance speech for AfterElton. c o m ’s h o t t e s t 1 0 0 m e n o n t h e p l a n e t

“I wish people could have a conversation with me without being completely distracted by my gender.”

“I love the rumor that I have a penis. I’m fascinated by it. In fact, it makes me love my fans even more that this rumor is in the world because 17,000 of them come to an arena every night and they don’t care if I’m a man, a woman, a hermaphrodite, gay, straight, transgendered, or transsexual. They don’t care!

They are there for the music and the freedom. This has been the greatest accomplishment of my life- to get young people to throw away what society has taught them is wrong. Gay culture is at the very essence of who I am and I will fight for women and for the gay community until I die.”

-Lady Gaga

NEWS UPDATES The House voted to pass “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” a bill that would repeal the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” law preventing gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

President Obama provided a written statement on the vote, saying, “I have long advocated that we repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, and I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight…This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity.”

Portuguese President Ratifies Same-Sex Marriage Last week, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe to allow same-sex couples to wed. Portugal’s conservative president Anibal Cavaco Silva announced that he was reluctantly ratifying the law and would not move to veto because the liberal majority would simply overturn his decision. The president justified his action by asserting that the government needed to focus on repairing the crippled Portuguese economy that has led to increased unemployment and poverty. “Given that fact, I feel I should not contribute to a pointless extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the divisions between the Portuguese and divert the attention of politicians away from the grave problems affecting us,” Cavaco Silva said.

“Personally I’m bored with all the little sexual identities we’ve been offered, whether by the advocates of maleness/womanliness, or by the advocates of gayness, lesbianness, pedophileness or whatever. I recall the ‘genderfuck’ movement of the 70s with fondness; I’m sorry we lost our nerve.”

-Hakim Bey Media Petitions to Allow Broadcasting of Prop 8 Closing Arguments

Several Media organizations have petitioned a federal judge to allow the closing arguments of the Proposition 8 trial to be broadcast to the public. The media groups argue that a broadcast would “enhance the public’s ability to witness the parties’ respective closing arguments in this historic case.”

The groups stated that “earlier objections by defendants that broadcast of the proceedings could make them vulnerable to criticism or harassment from people who disagree with them are not at issue in the closing arguments since only attorneys will be speaking in court.”

Softball Players Deemed “Not Gay Enough” to Play in Gay League Three members of San Francisco’s amateur gay softball team have been suspended for “not being gay enough.” Instead of competing at the Gay Softball World Series, they were interrogated by a panel of 25 officials and asked about their “private sexual attractions and desires.” Their team was denied their second-place finish after the three men were determined to be “non-gay.” The alliance placed the league on probation, “with the consequence that if a San Francisco team is found to have too many ‘non-gay’ players on its roster again,” the league will be expelled. Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ quickly filed a discrimination lawsuit against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance which sponsors the softball leagues.

M a n a g i n g Ed i to r Connor Fitzpatrick D e s i g n C h i ef L. Andy Hernandez Wr i te rs Roky Coria Marcos Delgadillo Kaya Foster Stephanie Gilbert Aithi Hong Lina Houston Robbie Marlin Marcus McRae Daniel Meyer Kela Mori Anna Patton Austin Rose Katie Schowengerdt Rich Yap P h oto g ra p h e rs L. Andy Hernandez Daniel Meyer Anna Patton Rich Yap Artists Roky Coria Jessica Hatrak Mikhail Popov M e d i a D i re c to r Arvli Ward M e d i a Ad v i s o r Amy Emmert S p e c i a l t h a n ks to : Campus Progress

OutWrite is UCLA’s queer and ally newsmagazine. OutWrite, formerly called TenPercent, was established in 1979 and was the first LGBT collegiate newsmagazine in the nation.

OutWrite is the queer community’s voice at UCLA. OutWrite aims to cover the queer experience on a college campus with depth by providing students with something to relate to - stories that reflect their own, as well as stories of diversity that broaden horizons. As writer Carlos Fuentes said, “Writing is a struggle against silence.”

The UCLA Communications Board has a media grievance procedure for resolving grievances against any of its media. For a copy of the complete procedure, contact UCLA Student Media at 310. 825. 2787.

Copyright 2010 ASUCLA Communications Board

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VISUAL ART

EROTIC ART

AND WHY IT

MATTERS

by: Rich Yap

At the last Queer Studies Conference, held here on campus, I attended a workshop on preserving queer history.

One of the main points of the presentations was the Tom of Finland Foundation, and with them the presenters brought a giant book of Tom of Finland’s work titled Tom of Finland XXL. As I glanced through the pages of the book, I was brought back to memories of my adolescence. Tom’s drawings served as reminders of my earliest memories of my queer awakening—before I discovered video porn I used to masturbate to his sexually charged artwork.

Meanwhile, the presenters emphasized that the foundation was always looking for volunteers, and is conveniently based here in Los Angeles.

In spite of the foundation’s convenient proximity, it took me months before I made my way out there. The experience would forever change my understanding of art and its role in queer history.

On my first visit, I felt like I had walked into another dimension. The foundation is located in the actual house that Tom lived in when he moved to LA. Situated in Echo Park atop a hill with a fantastic view of the downtown skyline, the house itself is a piece of art. The lawn surrounding the house is decorated with interesting and unique ornaments, including a cage and some contraptions that suggest an S&M purpose. There is even a dungeon in the basement that I was not allowed to see because I hadn’t “earned the right.”

The inhabitants of the house inspire the same awe and amazement as the house itself. On my first visit there I was

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish,

1920 – 1991), Daddy’s Day, 1982, Graphite on paper, ToFF, © 1982, 2010 Tom of Finland Foundation

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invited to stay for dinner with Durk Dehner, the president and cofounder of the foundation, Sharp, the curator and vice-president of the foundation and the other volunteers that were there that day. While I was somewhat familiar with Tom’s work, I didn’t know too much about the man other than the fact that he was from Finland. Sharp and Durk were more than happy to enlighten me on the man and his impact on queer American history.

Durk saw his first Tom of Finland drawing at a bar in New York and was so struck by the image that he tracked down Tom’s address and wrote him a fan letter. The two kept in touch, and a year after Durk relocated to LA, Tom had his first exhibition in America right here in LA where the two finally met in person.

“So he stayed at the house where I was living then and he was here for 3 weeks and we got to know each other,” he recalled. Durk learned that Tom was having some issues with making money from his work and having his art protected. One of the major problems Tom encountered in his early days was piracy.

“It was poor piracy because the quality was so bad— they were taking his magazines from Europe which he was getting paid for and they just reproduced them on copy machines and they were just poorly done,” Durk explained.

“So I first started to take care of issues like PR and booking him into other galleries.” In addition to booking gigs for Tom, Durk would on occasion model for Tom and he set up the Tom of Finland Company to protect and license Tom’s artwork.

“We became business partners and so I was his confidante and his liaison and his best friend. I started a lot of American things for him even though he was actually already in America extremely deep.”

At the time, Tom was already gaining notoriety in the gay community because he was contracted by Athletic Model Guild (AMG) to do the covers for their quarterly magazine, Physique Pictorial. “They did 4 magazines a year and he always did covers or he did different little scenarios inside the little Physique Pictorials and he was doing that on a regular basis,” recalls Durk. “He gave the magazine obviously great art but what he also gave over decades was a kind of sensibility about being homosexual and how important he felt it was to feel proud about being whoever you were. He didn’t like the shame that society had given and he wanted to make a difference with all the younger kids growing up who were homosexual to give them something that they could be proud about.”

To understand the profound impact of Tom, there needs to be an understanding of what it meant to be queer during his time, and what the depictions of queerness were back in the day. In America we had just come out of an age of Victorian repression, and prior to World War II people did not have open discussions about sex and sexuality. American society was very homophobic and most gay men remained closeted. Anything that dealt with sex and sexuality in general had to be done creatively through innuendo. This is most evident in the early days of American motion pictures and the Hollywood Code, where gay men were portrayed as effeminate men who

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TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish,

1920 – 1991), Untitled (Portrait of Durk Dehner), 1978, Graphite on paper, ToFF# 78.04, © 1978, 2010 Tom of Finland Foundation

often participated in an artistic endeavor of some sort. This code resulted in negative depictions of homosexuals right from the get go. The years of derogative gay stereotypes in film produced such terms as “sissy”, “pansy” and “pouf” to describe gay men. Other regulations also forbade the sale of pornography, which led to the establishment of magazines like Physique Pictorial. These magazines contained photographs of male models in g-strings demonstrating exercise, and they were marketed as pieces to promote exercise and good health. Since law prohibited explicitly nude images, these magazines provided the closest alternative. With erotic art, however, there was more freedom to show what photographs couldn’t, and the arrival of Tom’s artwork was an act of liberation for gay men.

“I got to see very soon after I started to work with Tom that he was not just an artist—I mean, he was an amazing artist—but he had done something that was very noticeable and I noticed it immediately when fellows started talking to him,” Durk explained. “They were telling him that he was so important in their development—that he gave them a kind of image of who they could be and who they were and that was so encouraging for them.” Durk would hear this story time after time from men across the country when he traveled with Tom across the nation for art exhibitions. It dawned on Durk that Tom’s artwork was very profound, and so in 1984, the two friends established the Tom of Finland Foundation to archive Tom’s artwork. But what began as a means of documenting and archiving pieces in Tom’s repertoire evolved into a project to protect and archive all forms of erotic art. According to Durk, “right at the same time [the foundation was established] AIDS hit and we had not one but dozens of artists coming to us and asking us if we would actually take their art work or take their archives and protect them and make sure that they didn’t just fall into just nothingness. And so, we felt like we had to open up our doors and we were happy to open up our doors even though we didn’t really know how to do it. But we knew how to do Tom so we just started doing that same process with other artists and it just sort of blossomed.”

It was through this kind of exchange that Sharp came into contact with Durk and the foundation. Sharp happened

VISUAL ART to be bringing by some things to donate to the archive that had been left behind after one of his friends had passed away. As a fellow artist himself (he worked in the film industry as a costume designer for over 20 years), Sharp was immediately drawn to the foundation and what it represented so he started to work there and is currently serving as the vice-president of the foundation. The foundation continues to this day to archive erotic art and publicize the work erotic artists, either living or dead and regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The efforts of the foundation have been instrumental in giving erotic art the recognition and acclaim it deserves, because it was not always recognized as a valid art form in its early days. In this regard, Tom of Finland is also significant because his contributions to homoerotic art spearheaded the erotic art movement in the 20th Century, paving the way for erotic art’s current status as a recognized, though sometimes controversial, art form. But his influence stretches beyond visual art. As Durk explained to me, Tom’s influence also touched musicians, apparel designers and it even infiltrated mainstream heterosexual culture.

“He’s sort of held as being the one who was responsible for actually getting the homosexuals reputation of being a limp wrist queen sort of taken down some notches.” Durk also claims that it was through Tom’s influence on queer culture that brought gym culture to the rest of America. “I mean, we’re the ones that were going to the gyms in such high numbers that the rest of the society sort of just woke up to it. And that’s the beauty of it is that they should pay attention because we

actually are not selfish; we’re really generous in how we give out things that we think are beneficial. So there you have it, and you have him [Tom] actually right there in the grassroots of the gay culture and at the same time he’s sort of being. He was very cool about it [though], he loved the idea of it and yet he was not high brow.”

In spite of all the recognition that Tom’s artwork has received and the legacy it has left behind, I worry that all these achievements are lost among the majority of my generation of queers. This concern is further exacerbated by the fact that I am always the youngest person at the house during my visits to the foundation. I find this to be a travesty, especially among my fellow queer Angelenos given that our city played such a significant role in Tom’s rise to fame and recognition. But Durk disagrees with me.

“I don’t actually see it receding completely away,” he reassures. “Tom was an exception and still is—and why he was an exception is this: he was an expert artist and there was something magical about the man in his ability to actually speak through his drawings in that you could feel things coming through his drawings. And young men would feel like that drawing was talking to them specifically.”

Those drawings definitely spoke to me, and I won’t lie—Tom’s drawings can still give me a hard on. And maybe Durk is right—so long as guys are still getting erections from Tom’s pictures, his legacy lives on.

TOM OF FINLAND® is a registered trademark of Tom of Finland Foundation, Inc. and protected under international copyright law, Geneva Convention, 1982.

Tom of Finland® Foundation, Inc., Los Angeles, California USA TomOfFinlandFoundation.org, Administration@TomOfFinlandFoundation.org TOM OF FINLAND

(Finnish, 1920 – 1991), Untitled, 1989, Graphite on paper, ToFF# 89.10, © 1989, 2010 Tom of Finland Foundation

The Man Who Became Tom loved art, literature and music. But he loved those outdoorsmen even more.

In 1939, Touko went to art school in by: Valentine Hooven III Helsinki to study advertising. His fascination Author of the full-length biography “Tom of Finland - His Life and Times” published by expanded to include the sexy city types he found St. Martin’s Press in 1993 (source for biographical photographs). This short biography is taken from the Taschen monograph “Tom of Finland” published in 1992. in that cosmopolitan port - construction workers, sailors, Tom of Finland’s real name is Touko - because policemen - but he never dared proposition them. It was he was born on 8 May 1920, on the south coast of Finland, not until Stalin invaded Finland and Tom was drafted into a and May in Finnish is “Toukokuu”. His homeland had been lieutenant’s uniform that he found nirvana in the blackouts independent for just three years when Touko was born, and of World War II. At last, in the streets of the pitch-black outside its few cities the country was still rough and wild. city, he began to have the sex he had dreamed of with the The men who worked in the fields and woods, the farmers uniformed men he lusted after, especially once the German and loggers, were true frontiersmen, every bit as rough and soldiers had arrived in their irresistible jackboots. After the wild as the countryside. war, Touko went back to studying art and also took piano Touko grew up among those men but was not a classes at the famed Sibelius Institute. Peace put an end to part of their world. Both his parents were schoolteachers, blackout sex and uniforms became rare again, so Touko and they raised Touko indoors in an atmosphere of art, returned to his teenage practice of locking himself in his literature and music. Obviously talented, by the time he was room, stripping naked, and stroking himself with one hand five he was playing the piano and drawing comic strips. He while the other hand created on paper what he could seldom find on the streets.

By day, he did freelance artwork advertising, window displays, fashion design. In the evenings, he played the piano at parties and cafes, becoming a popular member of Helsinki’s post-war bohemian set. He avoided the fledgling gay scene, because what were then called “artistic” bars were dominated by the flamboyant effeminacy typical of the time. He traveled frequently, becoming very familiar with the gay cruising areas found in every major city.

Still, in 1953, when he met Veli, the man with whom he would live for the next 28 years, it was on a street corner a few blocks from home.

At the end of 1956, at the urging of a friend, Touko sent his secret artwork to a popular American muscle magazine, but, being cautious in those paranoid times, and anyway thinking that “Touko Laaksonen” was too tough a name for American tongues, he signed them,”Tom”. The editor loved them. The cover of the Spring 1957 issue of “Physique Pictorial” features a laughing lumberjack, drawn by “Tom of Finland”. It was a sensation. Touko became Tom of Finland. The rest is history.

1973 was also the year of Tom’s first art exhibition, in Hamburg, Germany, but that experience TOM was so negative (all but one of the drawings were excerpts from

Tom of Finland: A Short Biography

OF FINLAND

(Finnish, 1920 – 1991), Untitled, 1982, Graphite on paper, ToFF# 82.20, © 1982, 2010 Tom of Finland Foundation

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stolen) that it would be 1978 before he would agree to another exhibit, in Los Angeles, for which he made his first trip to America. Over the next couple of years, a series of exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, with trips to America for each one, turned the shy Helsinki artist into an international gay celebrity with friends the like of Etienne and Robert Mapplethorpe. The business end of his career was taken up by a Canadian American, Durk Dehner, and under his capable management Tom at last had financial security. In 1981, Tom’s lover, Veli, died of throat cancer; at the same time, the AIDS epidemic began to hit hard the very cities and circles of friends he had so recently come to love in America. Still, throughout the Eighties, the trips to America continued to increase until Tom was spending six months in L.A. with Durk Dehner for every six he spent back in Helsinki. After emphysema was diagnosed in 1988, Tom was forced to curtail his beloved traveling but continued to draw.

When the disease, and the medication, made his hand tremble too much for him to execute the finely detailed work for which he had become famous, Tom switched back to a childhood favourite, pastel, executing a richly coloured series of nudes in that medium almost up until his death from an emphysema-induced stroke on 7 November 1991. In spite of his own affectionate term, Tom’s work must be considered more than just “dirty drawings”, and given some of the credit for the change in the gay world’s self-image. When Tom’s work was first published, homosexuals thought they had to be imitation women, and spent their lives hiding in the shadows. Thirty-five years later, gays were much more likely to be hard-bodied sun-lovers in boots and leather, masculinity personified. Tom’s influence in that direction was no accidental byproduct of his art. From the beginning, he consciously strove to instill in his work a positive, up-beat openness. When asked if he was not a little embarrassed that all his art showed men having sex, he disagreed emphatically: “I work very hard to make sure that the men I draw having sex are proud men having happy sex!”

Portrait of Tom of Finland Photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, 1978 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, 1978

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VISUAL ART

Queering the Comic

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by: Aithi Hong and Mikhail Popov staff writer and contributor

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PERFORMANCE ART

THE QUEEREST ART:

E D R N E G C K * F

Genderfuck: n. (also v.)

Deliberately sending mixed messages about one’s gender, usually through one’s attire, for the purpose of challenging traditional gender expectations.

“I want to live in a world where the words male and female are flexible and subjective, even redundant. A world of perpetual transformation, where sexuality and gender become

I WANT TO LIVE ...

obsolete as people begin to question why they should be the same person, day in, day out. A world where the overriding ethos is to question and explore your sexuality and gender without the restrictions prevalent in ‘normal’ society. Questioning what is masculine and what is feminine is about redrawing the boundaries (or removing them altogether) surrounding activities that are

seen as inherently male or female. I long for a world where the old oppositions of male/female, masculine/feminine, heterosexual/homosexual have dissolved. I want to live in a world where I am free to be whoever I want to be, whenever I want to be, male, female, other or neither.”

“The mustache that I had tried desperately to hide all my life was in fact hot. It’s a measure of masculinity that I was so lucky to be born with. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. ‘Reclaim it, JD, love it! Take what other people said was ugly your whole life and make it beautiful.’ Sometimes I think of my mustache as my armor.” -JD Sampson

“[Genderfuck] has at least 2 meanings for me--the first, more obvious, is fucking with gender--distorting, twisting, inverting, playing with, challenging--but still (potentially) retaining and honoring the beauty in any expression of gender/ sexuality, etc... But the other is fucking gender: making love to gender... it is as much a source of inspiration, joy, anguish, beauty, and entrapment as any other aspect of human existence and human culture.”

“I want to fuck gender. What does that mean? It means taking gender, a beautiful, wonderful thing and rockin it just right. Most cisfolk, they’re stuck holding hands. And that’s not to say no cisfolk fuck gender, or that hand holding isn’t its own amazing thing. A relationship consisting entirely of hand holding (for physical contact) sounds quite rockin to me. But so often they don’t realize there’s more out there. They don’t know that you can do a million things, that there is always a new position, new toy, new game to play. And some transfolks get trapped in

I WANT TO FUCK GENDER.

this thinking too. But forget that.

I want to fuck gender. I want to giggle while I romp in the sheets. I want this fucking to always be exciting and new. I want to grow and challenge my view of what it means to fuck

gender. I want that every time someone tells me that gender and I can’t do something, we fuck in that person’s face just to show em how it’s done. Ya see, gender and I have had this funky relationship for a while now and fucking is definitely a part of it.

And it’s the most caring kind of fucking around. A lot of people say “gender fuck” as in to mean “fuck gender,” as in “fuck the concept of gender.” But I don’t follow that thinking

one smidge. I got a lot of love in my heart for my gender. (Trans)gender is an important part of my life and I wouldn’t give that up for the world. We fit together so perfectly. We grow together.

Sometimes ze goes places I’m not quite sure how to name yet but it’s all good. We learn from each other that way. We explore boundaries and sometimes push past them. Who could have

guessed that after being straight-up boy for a good 2-3 weeks I would move to “glitterfag?” Only a year ago, glitter was way off in the out-of-bounds region. And who knows what to call what I was doing before that! But, like I said, it’s all good when you’re gigglin.

So, give Gender a good Fuck, in whatever way feels right. Hold hands, laugh, giggle, get down with the messy.”

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PERFORMANCE ART

SEXUALITY:

Our Performance Art by: Austin Rose

staff writer

Have you ever been criticized for being “too flamboyant” or even “not gay enough?”

As queer people, our behavior is often seen as a reflection of our sexuality or a sign of how “masculine” or “feminine” we are. We must constantly navigate “how gay” we act around people and in which situations we will come out to others. Even after we come out, others may still expect us to conform to gender roles or to stereotypes about how gays or lesbians are “supposed” to look or act. Here’s a glimpse into how a few UCLA students “perform” their sexuality as they carry out their daily lives.

Jenny-identifies as a fluid lesbian

I met Jenny on a weeknight before she had to begin a night shift at a coffee shop. She was wearing her black work uniform and her medium-length dark hair was in a ponytail. As she explained, “I can pass as straight because I look girly.”

Jenny went on to describe how she usually waits to “out” herself or discuss LGBT topics until she is certain that an individual is accepting of queer people. “I sometimes try to talk about queer topics to see how the person reacts,” she explained, “and I only come out to them if I am sure that they are accepting.” When she is around other queer people, she feels much freer to talk about “cute girls.”

Jenny recalled, “When I first came out, I perceived my feelings for other girls as a sign that I was meant to be a boy.” She therefore began acting in a more masculine manner by sitting like a guy and cutting her hair to a very short length. She added, “My mom didn’t approve; she said I was not being ‘ladylike.’”

Jenny now considers herself to be somewhere between butch and femme. She concluded, “I find it more socially acceptable to appear feminine and I do consider myself to be somewhat femme but I am actually somewhere in the middle [of the gender spectrum].”

Matt-identifies as gay

I interviewed Matt in his dorm room, which is decorated with movie posters, postcards from around the world, and a Jewish kiddush fountain (an intricate wine dispenser). He was wearing glasses, a white collared button-down shirt, and jeans. As his appearance might suggest, Matt does not want his sexuality to be the first thing people know about him. As he told me, “Even though I have a rainbow flag in my room, I wouldn’t run around campus waving one.”

He feels a need to assume an unnatural air of masculinity when he is home with his family even though he is “out” to them. He rationalizes their behavior with his belief that “their perception of gay males is based on the media, which makes them think that all gay guys are all hypersexual and completely feminine.” He complained, “My mom doesn’t even let me wear certain types of clothing because she is scared about how it will reflect upon my family.” He essentially shapes the way he performs his sexuality at home to please his family, and does so not entirely by choice.

But Matt feels that he can be himself at UCLA. He is even comfortable dressing in drag, which he considers to be performing a sexuality which is not his own. He added, “I like how drag challenges people’s ideas of who I am and how a man is supposed to act.” Matt said he enjoys the feeling of gender fluidity he experiences when in drag.

Angela-identifies as a straight ally

I interviewed Angela in a hallway outside her dorm room. She was wearing a t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans. She was not wearing any makeup or feminine accessories. Angela describes herself as a straight ally who is openly supportive of the queer community. She does not conform to gender roles; she said, “I do not like dressing ‘girly,’ wearing makeup, or going shopping.” She tends to internalize her emotions. She added, “I have never cried during a movie and never plan to.”

Angela likes it when her male friends consider her “one of the guys” because she sees it as an opportunity for them to be their true selves around her. She added, “I like that I can be vulgar around guys and that I don’t have to have the ‘deep’ conversations girls always want to have.” Angela only discusses her crushes and reveals herself as being straight once she gets to know people well and she doesn’t consider her sexuality to be the most important thing about her.

She describes herself as a “tomboy” and concluded, “Since I am so supportive of gay rights and fighting homophobia, I don’t care if people think I am a lesbian.”

Our Performance Art As these individuals show, sexuality is a performance art. All three consciously navigate how they will perform their sexual orientation through their conformity or non-conformity to gender roles alongside their constant struggle with deciding how open to be about their sexuality.

Each new person or situation leads to the dilemna of whether to “come out” or not and how to go about it.

While it is good that we have the freedom to choose when to “out” ourselves, it would be ideal for people of all sexual orientations to feel free to act how they want to act without having to worry about repercussions or judgment from the people around them. While we do not live in a world that is completely accepting of minority sexual orientations or gender nonconformity, it is important to identify safe spaces in which we can express ourselves and perform our sexuality in whichever way feels natural to us.

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PERFORMANCE ART

In Defense of Cabaret...

by: Dan Meyer staff writer

People constantly make fun of me for going to the theatre alone but they never seem to realize that I laugh harder at them for ignoring the beauty of performing arts. Theatre is like oxygen and if you feel the same way then you probably already know that Cabaret is being performed at the end of this quarter—so breathe deep!

Yes, ladies and gents, my favorite musical is coming to campus! In fact, it’s being produced here by the Theatre department at UCLA. I tracked down Jeremy Mann, the director of UCLA’s production to discuss the defense of theatre, Cabaret, and Rob Marshall (director of musical hits such as Chicago and Nine).

DM: What sort of LGBT issues come into play during the musical?

JM: Like I said, Cliff and the Master of Ceremonies are gay, but there’s no direct “lesson” regarding LGBT issues. It’s more about self-expression and not needing an identity. During the Weimar Republic, Berlin was gayer than West Hollywood. (laughs) It really was. There is this subculture community that existed. Gays and lesbians were everywhere, it was really out there- in a good way. Of course, there’s the gay following that exists too. Whenever someone says Cabaret they go “LIZA!” and that name is just so engrained in gay culture, she instantly brings Cabaret into the mix with her.

Dan Meyer: How do you interpret the script to make it your own?

DM: Do you think Sam or Rob might show up?

Jeremy Mann: (Laughs) Haha we’re not changing the script. There are three versions: the Original Broadway production, the movie, and the 1998 Revival. We’re doing the last one; it was directed and choreographed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall and I can’t wait to see how it all works out. I know it’s going to be amazing.

JM: Oh my god! Thanks for reminding me. I have to call Rob and invite him!

DM: You know Rob Marshall?! I was just kidding…

DM: What is so special about Cabaret? How is it an art form?

JM: Well Cabaret is the most raw of performing arts. Self-expression is what it’s all about so that itself makes it an art form.

JM: (Laughs) Yes, we went to school together at Carnegie Mellon. He’s such a great guy, I called him while he was finishing up the editing of Nine to ask permission and he gave me his blessing. I’m sure he’ll come one night, he lives around here.

DM: What’s your favorite scene/song in Cabaret?

DM: What defense do you have for those who say musical theatre is not art?

JM: I’d have to say I understand it. There’s a lot of bad musical theatre out there. You need to find the right play and identify with it; until that point you’re not going see it as an art or enjoy it. But a lot of people diss [musical theatre] because they don’t get it. Anything that is produced has to be plugged into now on some level so it has resonance, and if that’s not there it’s hard to get new audiences to understand.

DM: Do you think it’s more important to rope in a new audience for the show or to

give Cabaret fans a new take on the musical?

JM: I don’t think I’m targeting any type of audience, but I do think our audience will be split.

Many will be avid fans and many will be newcomers. It will be very intriguing to see what the new and the old have to say.

DM: What sort of LGBT characters exist in Cabaret?

JM: People who have followed the production history know that Cliff has gone from straight to bisexual to gay over the three major productions. It’s weird because in all of them he still ends up sleeping with Sally and she gets pregnant. It’s all very fluid, and I love how society has progressed to allow us to show how interesting Berlin was during the Golden Era before Nazi Germany. The Master of Ceremonies has always been a gay character. You can see him with a pink triangle towards the end of the production, and he’s the one who sort of stands up to these Nazi’s and says “I dare you to stop me”. The sad part is that we all know the ending to that story…

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JM: Right now, I’d have to say it’s the kick-line with the Master of Ceremonies and his ladies dressed up as Nazi soldiers. It’s very powerful; these people have been able to act any way they want and now they’re being oppressed, of course they’re going to act out. There were two parties: the socialists and the Nazis. Hitler used to be cartoonized because people thought he was just crazy and laughable. I think that’s why the Master of Ceremonies is so willing to satirize the Nazi party; he just doesn’t know how much power they’re going to hold in the future. Once he takes it there, there’s not going back.

DM: Who’s your favorite character in the musical?

JM: That’s like trying to ask me to pick one of my favorite kids!

DM: I don’t mind, think about it. Get back to me JM: Ok, ok. I guess I’d have to say Sally (Bowles). I really hated her at first. She gets to be so fabulous and nonchalant, but she’s not really a good performer. Then I realized I share a lot of similarities with her, so I gained a new perspective. I like her now. There’s also another character that’s not in the movie and he’s been sort of invisible lately. He comes with Cliff to Berlin but it turns out that he’s a smuggler for the Nazi’s!

DM: Thank you so much for taking time out of your rehearsal schedule to talk with me!

Anything you’d like to share with our readers? Any performers we should keep an eye out for JM: (Laughs) All my performers are amazing! I can’t wait to see them opening night Cabaret runs from May 26th-June 5th at the Little Macgowan Theatre. Student Tickets are $7 at CTO.

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If you type “queer art” into a Google image varied and, for lack of a better term, quite queer: you’ and lots of c*ck (oh my!) This is odd because these it themselves; in fact, the average straight man goes out his penis is not remotely homosexual. So what gives? in any way deviates from the norm and/or portrays ho even a person represented queerly—constitutes mode queer art been defined throughout history?

Greek art notoriously featured homoerotic c of homosexual acts. According to Dan Priore, a classi Marymount University whose area of interest is gend antiquity, “Classical Homoerotic art reached its heigh Symposium: an exclusively all-male drinking party at from wine-cups elaborately painted with scenes of sex imagery.” Many of these vases illustrate nude boys, e fondled by older men. These images capture the comm or relationships in which an older man engages a boy that involves sexual initiation. Greek god Zeus and hi companion Ganymede had a pederastic relationship, a of their attraction and union can be found on artifacts BCE. Priore explains that in later eras, it became the “ as an Eagle, thereby masking the elements of homose themes.” So now if you see Greek art portraying an ea boy, there may be much more to the scene than meets Romans, although usually considered as for in representing homosexual desire, very infrequently interaction in their artwork. They did, however, adapt with hermaphroditism and ambiguity from the Greeks Hermaphraditus statue, a Roman copy of a Greek ori example of this interest. The statue depicts a life-size repose on a couch. Meant to be approached from behi

The Art ng Queer

by: Lina Houston

staff writer

What Makes Queer Art Queer?

e search, the result will be ’ll get clowns, costumes, tems are not queer in t of his way to prove that ? It seems that content that omosexual activity—or ern queer art. But how has

content and depictions ics major at Loyola der and sexuality in ht with the Greek t which men would drink xual and mythological either alone or being mon culture of pederasty, y in a mentoring relationship is young servant and and artistic representations s dating back to around 450 “fashion to portray Zeus exuality through classical agle and a beautiful young s the eye. rward as the Greeks included homosexual t a fascination s. The Borghese iginal, is an excellent figure lying naked in ind, the figure’s shapely

figure and delicately beautiful face indicate a female identity. When the viewer walks around the statue, however, the figure has breasts and a penis. But the Greek and Roman fascination did not translate into acceptance; according to GLBT Inc., stories about torturing and murdering hermaphrodites were fairly common. Unfortunately, intolerance is nothing new.

And what of the ladies? Male homoeroticism has been represented much more frequently than lesbian desire, especially in the ancient times.

While artistically and technologically impressive, the Greeks and Romans were incredibly chauvinistic and macho. This is not to say that Sapphic love and/or queerly represented women have not appeared in works of art along the way.

Greek goddesses Artemis (Diana) and Athena are often portrayed as relatively masculine in appearance. First butches perhaps…?

Religious art often has subtle—or not so subtle—homoerotic content.

Paintings of St. Sebastian are considered notoriously queer. He is almost always nude from the waist up with merely a sheet draped over his nether region.

His head may be thrown back in what is presumably agony but can also be interpreted as ecstasy as arrows pierce his flesh, the homoeroticism of which does not go unnoticed… Art historians are quick to point out a phallic symbol when they see one. Because of these attributes, his popularity among artists such as Il Sodoma (who happened to fancy men) and of course his unmistakable boyish good looks, Saint Sebastian has historically had quite a gay following.

While more attention is generally paid to “classical” works of European art, Greeks and Romans weren’t the only ones gettin’ freaky with same sex partners and capturing the play in art. The Kama Sutra, while not fully accepting of same-sex interaction, references not only male and female homosexual couples, but also includes people of a third gender. Chinese silk screens have depicted male-male homosexual sex since ancient times.

Representations of same-sex desire or images that would now be interpreted as somehow queer can be found in African art as well; an ancient Egyptian relief shows two males, Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, gazing deeply into one another’s eyes and wrapped in an intimate embrace. Interestingly, these men

were manicurists…apparently the beauty business has been attracting gays since the beginning of time.

Fast forward to a more modern era. Tastes, language, and perceptions change but homosexual images and homoeroticism continue to exist in painting, drawing, and sculpture. In the 19th century, artists moved away from overtly sexual subjects and focused on the emotional connections of androgynouslooking men, as displayed in Simeon Solomon’s Bridegroom and Sad Love. In the early and mid-twentieth century, Paul Cadmus produced numerous works, including The Fleet’s In! (1934) and The Bath (1951), that portrayed queer content.

This history is informative (and slightly impressive if I do say so myself), but we’re left in a bit of a conundrum. If classical works of art that depict overtly homoerotic content are not always considered queer or viewed with a queer lens, what exactly is queer art? Emmanuel Cooper, author of Queer Spectacles among other works on the topic, describes queer art as a paradox, saying that “what it is and what forms it takes virtually defy definition.”

Although very vague, Cooper’s explanation makes a lot of sense. Perhaps an analysis of terms would prove useful. As we know, queer has many definitions: unusual, unconventional, quirky, odd, as well as relating to LGBT people.

And art…well, art can be anything and anything can be art; is that paradoxical enough for you? While art snobs try to create a limited, limiting definition of art, artists can certainly attest to the inherent fluidity of art. Priore personally understands queer art to be “any form of artistic expression that does not deal with ‘traditional’ or exclusively heterosexual male and female identity. This can range from gender deviation to any spectrum of homo, bi, or trans, sexuality.”

With these two explanations in mind, queer art, then, can be understood as any unconventional artistic expression and/or representation of non-normative subjects or material. If art can be anything and anything can be art, queer art is only limited by the imaginations of the artists and the viewers.

MUSIC

Our Bad Romance With Lady Gaga:

An Evaluation of Gay Icons and What It Reveals About Us by: Roky Coria staff writer

Drawing by: Roky Coria

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DEAR QUEERS, Before you burn this magazine or gather into an angry mob please hear me out…

For me life has been full of difficult “coming out” moments: coming out as an agnostic to the family church, coming out as gay to my devoutly catholic mother, but perhaps the one met with the most ostracism was when I come out to the queers as a Lady Gaga hater.

When I announced the topic of my piece to Outwrite, I was met with gasps of horror and looks of disgust.

But ‘hate’ is such a strong word and the truth is that I don’t hate Lady Gaga; I dislike what she tries to represent - namely us, the queer community. At first, I honestly gave her a chance and tried to like her. I even actually pretended that I was a fan when I was with the queers…but I just couldn’t keep it up. I simply do not find her that compelling or original. Frankly, Lady Gaga can suck my disco stick. She is basically a derivative of everything that came before her. It is still the same manufactured pop garbage, but this time it comes with a pretty new package prepared for consumer consumption. My dislike grew stronger as she grew more popular and her gay fans became more annoying. I grind my teeth every time I am barraged by some WeHo faggity fag that has memorized the choreography to one of her videos and proclaims her to be the greatest thing ever (You know who you are!).

C’mon gays! Are we really that easy to win over? Is that all it takes: some club beats, glitter and an over-sexed blonde in decent shoes?

Even though I roll my eyes in disgust, I must admit that Lady Gaga is the epitome of the modern gay icon, and is the definite successor to past icons like Britney Spears and Madonna. But what makes someone a gay icon and why do we so readily embrace them?

If you’re a friend of Dorothy then you must love Judy Garland, Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Streisand. These gay icons from the past are all not only strong and glamorous, but have faced tremendous adversity and personal struggles. Judy Garland struggled with her own personal demons of insecurity and struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. Bette Davis, Barbara Streisand, Joan Crawford were constantly told that they could never succeed because they were not beautiful, thin, or young enough according to Hollywood’s standards (or in Streisand’s case: anyone’s standards).

Yet, these women were able to overcome the prejudices and stereotypes that were assigned to them. These icons of the past resonate with so many gay men because gay men have also faced similar adversities. It could be homophobia, drugs and alcohol, body image, or the habit of always choosing the wrong men, but every gay man has their own personal struggles.

However, today there has been less emphasis on adversity and more emphasis on glamour and fabulousness. Gay culture has become hyper-sexualized and incredibly

MUSIC commercialized. The gay rights movement itself has gone from activism to Absolute vodka. Our cultural shift has been reflected in our modern day icons like Britney Spears, Sarah Jessica Parker, Adam Lambert and of course Lady Gaga. It’s all the same crap with these people: fashion, sex, superficiality, materialism…oh yeah and fashion. Today being gay has become synonymous with having designer clothes, high-end consumer products, and overly styled hair. But is that all there is to being gay?

Its okay to want nice things, but you’ve lost yourself when you let those things define who you are and what your worth is. That is why Lady Gaga can suck it, because it’s not about a dozen costume changes or outrageous gimmicks, it’s about the music. The message that these icons and the media send is that if you are a gay man, you can only find happiness if you buy a new pair of shoes and designer wardrobe, have copious amounts of sex, and are rail thin. And unfortunately, so many gay men buy into that message and suffer for it. I see it everyday when I meet gays who are extremely obsessed and insecure with their appearance, or feel like they need to be a bitch and put others down for selfimportance, or use sex in order to feel wanted, not to mention the severe drug and alcohol problems that afflict our community. These are all symptoms of the fact that the soul of our community is dying, and that is because we are not really being honest with ourselves anymore. We need to wake up and become individuals again, as opposed to just being consumers. “Style over Substance” is so…out of style.

Looking at American gay icons also reveals an issue that is all too familiar in America and especially queer America: the huge lack of diversity. I really have a hard time thinking of any major gay icons that are not white. Umm lets see there’s: Cher, Elton John, Liza Minelli, Madonna, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga…oooh Beyonce? But I’m not sure how much of a “gay icon” she is, besides she belongs to the world now (she even sang in

Spanish to get the Latinos for goodness sake). Oh yeah there’s Rupaul…you better work!

Gay culture/identity in general has been dominated and defined solely by upper-class white men.

Our icons reflect the fact that Queer people of color continue to be marginalized and largely ignored in the greater queer identity. When we are mentioned in the greater queer dialogue it is only briefly, or we are “otherized” as in, “yeah lets consider those ‘other’ people.” As a result queer people of color sometimes feel that they need to form their own communities and find their own icons due to the lack of interest and representation in white dominated gay culture. How can we represent the gay flag if we don’t have any color in it?

Furthermore, almost all gay icons are in the entertainment industry. Again, what does this say about gay culture? Why can’t scientists, engineers, political leaders, and business people be icons? There is a developing stereotype of the vain and vacuous gay man that can name a thousand clothing brands, but would be lucky if he could count that high. While I have nothing against the arts, gays can do more than just pursue fashion, acting, dance, hair styling or flower arrangement (seriously). I would love to see more queers tackle the hardest fields of science, mathematics and engineering; as well as take center stage in politics, law, and business.

Fellow gays, I think more consideration should be given to who we call a gay icon and how that reflects on us. So far the message being sent is that we are a bunch of over sexualized, superficial dimwits that must get rid of all their disposable income by shopping all day and clubbing to a Lady Gaga soundtrack at night. It is time that we do away with these stereotypes and find ourselves some serious icons.

FILM

UCLA’s Queer Film Legacy

by: Kaya Foster

staff writer

Many Angelenos have at least heard of the Outfest film festival; certainly almost all LGBT filmmakers are familiar with it. As one of the largest and most well known LGBT film festivals in the world, Outfest has spent almost three decades protecting and showcasing queer films of both past and present. What most Angeleno’s and UCLA students may not be aware of however, is that Outfest has been tied to UCLA from its inception. The film festival was originally used to screen films stored in the UCLA film and television archive, which is the second largest collection of moving images in the world (second only to the Library of Congress). In 2005 Outfest and the UCLA film and television archive created a special program devoted to LGBT film, the Outfest Legacy Project, which currently houses over 13,000 items, including many that aren’t available anywhere else.

The Outfest Legacy Project was created because preservation of LGBT work is especially significant. LGBT moving images, whether positive or defamatory, are incredibly important because they convey how dominant heterosexual culture and queer filmmakers portrayed LGBT life at given times in history. LGBT films, which are typically independent films, are also vulnerable and in need of preservation. Independent films often have limited distribution, if any, which means the filmmaker may keep the only copies of that film. They are therefore often lost forever when the filmmakers die, and may deteriorate due to lack of proper care. That is why the Outfest Legacy Project is committed to the preservation and restoration of LGBT moving images. The Project is responsible for the restoration of some very important LGBT material, including the groundbreaking documentary “Word is Out” (1978), which, thanks to restoration has now been released on DVD, and “The Times of Harvey Milk” (1984) by Robert Epstein, a documentary which provides a glimpse into the life of a fallen LGBT hero, and a film that inspired the recent critically acclaimed picture “Milk”, starring Sean Penn.

In addition to restoring films that have deteriorated, and providing a safe place to house LGBT moving images, the Outfest Legacy Project at UCLA is committed to providing more access to these films than they might otherwise receive. At no charge, students, or anyone else who wishes to view items in any of UCLA’s numerous collections, may do so by visiting the Film and Television Archives Research and Study Center (ARSC) in Powell Library. Outfest also makes films from the archives available through monthly screenings at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood Village. The most recent Outfest Legacy screening in April focused on lezsploitation, a subgenre of exploitation films from the 60’s and 70’s that featured lesbian content geared towards a heterosexual male audience. Filmmaker Michelle Johnson was there to introduce and discuss her film “Triple X

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Photo by: Artisan

Selects—The Best Of Lezsploitation”, a humorous and mildly scandalous documentary which both mocks and celebrates some of the best lezsploitation moments, claiming them for a queer audience by stringing together all of the “positive” lesbian scenes. Her film was followed by “Just the Two of Us”, a 70’s melodrama about two women who begin a lesbian affair while their husbands are away on business. Watching the films was both entertaining and educational because they illuminated a period of filmmaking in which certain images of lesbian sexuality were considered marketable and therefore exploited for male entertainment, which makes them historically important and unintentionally hilarious.

Without the Outfest Legacy Project, audiences would have no access to films like these, which shed much-needed light on lives and experiences that remain underrepresented or invisible in mainstream media outlets, even today. LGBT filmmakers have the power to create images that can resist and redefine homophobic representations and sentiments and for that reason it is incredibly important that both the LGBT and UCLA communities recognize and support this one-of-a-kind project.

For more information about the Outfest Legacy Project visit outfest.com/legacy To view items in the UCLA film and television collection, and for a list of upcoming screenings visit cinema.ucla.edu

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MUSIC Rock & Roll and Butt Pirates

Foam gushes from the mouth of a rabid tween girl as she fervently plasters a poster of her favorite boy band onto her garishly pink wall. She uses her scissors to cut out pictures of her head to interject alongside images of the Jonas Brothers and a life-size cardboard cutout of Justin Bieber. Elsewhere, a scantily clad pop diva gyrates her hips and sings of seduction and sex and all things sinful. At the same time a neo-glam rocker dons an outfit covered in sequins and rubs makeup on his face, preparing to sing some falsetto laden song. The pretty boy band that the rabid tween girl worships, the gyrating diva, and the glam rocker lure in their audiences with a tool that’s had its power amplified by the rise of our mass media culture: the public persona.

But the characters our favorite musicians play are often nothing more than lies. What the tweens of the 90’s didn’t realize was that one of those NSYNC guys they worshiped didn’t like girls, he liked boys. And that dreamy guy with the leather pants that sings about la vida loca is a sure fire butt pirate. The adoration of many music fans, not just those tween girls, relies not only on the music they create but also the façades they manufacture. Where does this leave homosexual musicians in a heteronormative environment? Do homosexual musicians have to put up a heterosexual façade to win the adoration of fans?

The analysis of successful homosexual musicians requires some time travel back into the era of sexual liberation that saw such acts as David Bowie and Elton John. These performers became known not only for their music but also for their flamboyant styles. Bowie dressed himself androgynously, performed glamorously, but maintained a strong mainstream sexual appeal, blurring the lines between sexes while maintaining a magnetic charisma. Elton John also bathed in extravagance with flamboyant outfits and performances. The two infused sexuality into their images, which was acceptable amidst the free love and sexual awakening of the 70s at the time their edgy sexual public images were vogue.

Another icon of the glam rock era was Freddie Mercury. Where Bowie and Elton John laced their performances with allusions and merely flirted with sexual queerness, Mercury was a brusque outpour of visceral sexual energy. Like Elton John and David Bowie, he was known for his flamboyant, glamorous performances and sexual attitude, but Freddie was much more upfront with his sexuality. The name of Freddie’s band “Queen” was partially derived from its homosexual connotations.

When asked by a reporter if he was gay, Mercury, a man known to have frequent samesex partners, responded tongue-in-cheek, “I am as gay as a daffodil, my dear.” Despite his candid attitude, Freddie hid certain facets of his personal life. He maintained a long term female partner for some time and after leaving her would distance himself from his gay partner in public events. He hid his HIV status from the public up until twenty-four hours before it killed him. Mercury himself admitted “When I’m performing I’m an extrovert, yet inside I’m a completely different man.” Even more so than the Elton John and David Bowie before him, Mercury made his sexuality a performance, but was unable to reveal the more personal aspects of his sexuality to the public.

Unfortunately for queer musicians, their audiences are not always looking for flamboyant queen-ish glam rockers in near drag. Sometimes all they want is a simple,

heteronormative heartthrob. The late nineties saw the rise of several boy bands to appease such an exploitable infatuation.

With these boy bands came NSYNC, and with NSYNC came Lance Bass, a closeted gay man. Unlike the glamorous rockers of the 70s and 80s, Lance Bass and these boy bands weren’t trying to push the boundaries of gender definition. No, their job was to simply be sexual objects to the hoard of tween fans that drove their record sales. Lance Bass engaged in performance art like Elton John and David Bowie before him to capture his audience.

However, while Elton John and Bowie channeled their own eroticism to create by: Robbie Marllin their sexually ambiguous personas, Bass completely repressed his so that he could

staff writer remain the “dreamy heartthrob” in the eyes of his tween girl audience.

The same was true with Ricky Martin. Torn over making the genre of music he wanted but having to create a false façade to be appreciated by his audience, Martin chose the façade and became a steamy Latino lover that hetero girls could fawn over. Once he created that image, he was stuck with it. If he changed it, he would lose his audience. The adoration of his fans relied on the image they had of him, it relied on their love, and it relied on his lie. It wasn’t until after the sun had set on Bass and Martin’s careers, after there was no more immense fame or audience to lose, that the two finally came out.

Adopting a middle ground between the closeted tween girl heartthrobs of the 90s and the flamboyance of the 70s glam rockers is the American Idol Contestant, Adam Lambert. Before American Idol, Adam Lambert was openly gay and performing in underground clubs and venues. But once Idol began he disguised his sexual orientation and dodged inquiring questions. Lambert also allegedly stripped his Facebook and MySpace profiles of any pictures that could identify him as gay.

He still preformed his sexuality adorned in eyeliner and sequined outfits and belted out loud falsettos in a way that would have made Elton John, Bowie, and Mercury proud, but his true sexual orientation remained hidden. American Idol commands a broad mainstream audience that spans the country and pressured Lambert to keep his orientation under wraps to appease its viewers.

Rock, pop, and modern music has become an expression of identity. It has become performance art. Musicians have devised and marketed the unique personas they have created not only to gain attention, but also to allow their art to proliferate out of the song sheet and into the way they act, dress, and talk. So do homosexual artists have to hide their sexuality to gain a mainstream appeal? The answer is not Illustration by: Jessica Hatrak so simple. All of these artists have faced a dilemma. They could stay true to their identities and find acceptance as a mere niche artist, or sequester their souls from the world and hide behind the sexual caricatures they have created. Perhaps far into the future when queers are a fully accepted fixture of society and a marketed-to demographic we’ll have gay musicians that can fully express themselves and still be mainstream. Just don’t hold your breath.

Gay Musicians and Coming Out

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GAY MECCA

DINAH

UNPLUGGED by: Anna Patton staff writer

Photo by: Anna Patton

Dinah Shore. Two words that lesbians everywhere know, love, and dream about.

They probably have no idea who the woman herself was (a heterosexual actress/singer who was big in the ’50’s and had a famous relationship with Burt Reynolds), and they probably could care less about the golf tournament roots. Rather, the Dinah Shore weekend in Palm Springs is famous to lesbians because of the resorts, epic pool parties, night shin-digs, comedy shows, celesbian meet and greets, and concerts, all of which are packed with hot women. In fact it is estimated that about 20,000 women flock from around the world to this April event, which begins on a Wednesday and ends with a closing celebration Sunday night. This has caused Dinah Shore to be dubbed the “lesbian spring break.”

While the focus for many is non-stop partying, the amazing concerts that take place cannot be ignored. Last year’s Dinah performances included Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. This year proved to pack the dance floors as well.

Club Skirts, the “Official Dinah” had headliners Ke$ha at Friday’s White Diamonds Party and the reunited Salt-n-Pepa for Saturday’s Hollywood Party. Ke$ha’s performance received mixed reviews: loved by some and lukewarm to others. However, there is no argument that she turned up the volume and really got the party going. Clad in a zebra print unitard, she and her back-up dancers/singers put on a great show, taking dancing to a different level. The light show was mesmerizing and the crowd favorites were the hit singles “Tik Tok” and “Blah Blah Blah” from her album “Animal.” While Ke$ha’s music could never be accused of being deep, it definitely sets the mood for a fantastic--if not boozey--time.

Her dancers later even joined the throngs on the floor, gyrating with wild abandon. Before Ke$ha’s final song she took a moment to thank everyone and shout out her love for the GLBT community, stating that, “Everyone should be able to be f***ing married! Equality!”

Generally it can be expected that the concerts at Dinah are gay friendly, and often the artists themselves are part of the GLBT community. Ke$ha had previously

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told Out Magazine, “I like people, I wouldn’t say I’m gay or straight,” and that she doesn’t like “labeling anything.” The only blip on the radar came during Saturday’s Salt-n-Pepa performance. Everyone was revved up to hear old favorites and see the duo together again.

However it was awkward, if not slightly insulting when Salt (a.k.a. Cheryl Wray) brought her husband on stage and began speaking about how amazing it is to be married and have a wonderful man in her life. She shouted “I know y’all don’t hate men!” before going into the famous song “Whatta Man.” Not everyone was offended but it definitely brought the celebration down a notch. Considering this is a massive, twenty-year-old lesbian event, it seemed fairly insensitive to taut the joys of marriage, but the gayelles rolled with the punches.

DJ MC Lyte brought things back up with a mix of favorite Top 40 songs, mixing tunes from favorites such as Michael Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, and Lady Gaga. Salt-n-Pepa completed the show with crowd favorite “Let’s Talk About Sex.” The weekend also included Saturday’s LOGO sponsored Cabana Girl Pool party with performances by the Paradiso Girls (hit single “Patron Tequila”), and lesbian hip-hop artists God-Des and She (as seen on The L Word). Sunday Lov’n Pool Party had performances by Martha Davis & The Motels (“Only the Lonely,” “Suddenly last Summer”) and Lolene (“Sexy People”). Across the pond at the Girl Bar Events Kelis (famed for hit song “Milkshake”) and Kelly Rowland (formerly of Destiny’s Child) each had concerts and celebrity lesbian DJ Samantha Ronson spun (and according to attendees was “way hotter in person!”). No sign of Lindsay unfortunately.

Ultimately the weekend is not truly about the music--the music becomes a backdrop to the parties, fun, drama, and debauchery that takes place in one short weekend in Palm Springs. For lesbians this is an amazing rite of passage not to be missed. Besides you will hear it repeated throughout the weekend: “What happens at Dinah, stays at Dinah.”

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LITERATURE Did a Publisher Just Prove by: Dan Meyer Love Exists? staff writer Living in any major city is a dangerous minefield of relations. To get a job, you must network. To get around (in L.A.) you need to make friends with a car owner. However, finding the right boyfriend or girlfriend is about as easy as jumping off a 10-story building and trying to land on both feet without breaking a bone.

In Best Gay Love Stories: New York City, editor Brad Nichols searches all over the 5 boroughs to find love in places you would normally find it and places you wouldn’t. The situations are local, but the themes are universal. Past loves re-emerging, fate as a catalyst for love, love failing; all people have some experience with love and while details and feelings are infinite, it seems that the representations of love are limited.

In this collection of short stories, Nichols shows the reader that love exists in all forms of relationships: interracial, elderly, long-distance. In addition, he shows us why sometimes people are incompatible for each other, which is refreshing for those nay-sayers against “true love”.

The issue with the book is not its content, but rather its edit. The best stories are really in the first 125 pages and then they become mundane or repetitive. In addition, the grammatical and spelling errors are enough to make any professor at UCLA weep. The lack of any sort of female romance is also a tragic oversight.

But overall, the stories are cute and heart-warming.

It’s the ones that pack a punch in the final pages, however, that really make this collection stand out. “The Afternoon I Believed”, by Jay Starre is by far my favorite with its twist ending. Others like “The Subway Kiss” about desire and “Stroke of Luck” about old age and acceptance are great for their well developed characters, simple storylines and worthy life lessons.

Many people tell me love doesn’t really exist in our community, but I beg to differ.

I find it’s more an attitude of nonchalance that distances human connections in Los Angeles.

The sprawl of the city creates this. In a tight compact city like New York, personal relations with people you’ve never met occur every day. They may not all be about love, but with so many chances, as Brad Nichols proves, you just never know what happens next.

On that note, if you don’t know what I’m talking about stop everything you’re doing and buy a ticket to NYC. You can thank me later. *Brad Nichols also recently published Best Gay Love Stories, another short story compilation.

ASK DR. Q Dear Dr.Q,

My boyfriend is in the military, and we’ve been going out for over a year now. Recently he’s been asking me if I would want to be engaged with him and I don’t know what I should say since I’m only 20 and we haven’t really been that physical together. What should I do?

-Military Love

Dear Dr. Q,

I am a bi-polar, bisexual androgynous female. I think my girlfriend is cheating on me. She’s always at the Queer Student Center after-hours. She’s been spending a lot of time with Betsy lately, including a trip to the Pleasure Chest. I found a provocative picture of Betsy in her phone. But our sex life is as great as ever. Her and Betsy have been friends since they were eight years old. She keeps claiming that they are only friends. When I questioned her about the picture, all she said was, “I would never cheat on you. Why don’t you trust me?” Do you think she’s cheating on me? What should I do? Do you think that someone can ever be loyal again after they’ve cheated?

-Bi Chick Dear Bi Chick,

Dear Military Love,

You are right in not compulsively saying yes or no. The fact that you have yet to be physical speaks to your overall inexperience. At 20 years old, though you’re no longer a teenager, there is still much that you have yet to see and experience. The main thing that I want you to think about is if you guys are truly in love, then it makes no difference whether you get engaged now or later. There are many ways to take your relationship to the next level, especially since your relationship in particular is rather green. Perhaps explore each other a bit more. Dating someone in the military comes with the stigma of never truly knowing how long the relationship can literally last, with deployment being a huge source of stress for those stuck in the mainland. I would seriously suggest finishing your bachelors degree and if the relationship is still something you want to pursue, perhaps you should consider moving in together or something that would tell you if you really could stand to be married to each other til death do you part.

-Dr.Q 16

If you’d like to ask Dr. Q for advice, send your question to outwritebruins@gmail.edu. All submissions are kept confidential.

First of all, I think that your girlfriend brings up a very important question – do you trust her? Every relationship, no matter how big or small is constituted by the level of trust. However your final question worries me. Has your girlfriend ever cheated on you or have you cheated on her? Research shows, individuals who cheat on their partners have a very high risk of cheating again. If this is the case, I implore you to reconsider your relationship and ask yourself: “do you trust her?” If your girlfriend has had no history of cheating, then it may be a bad case of paranoia. The fact that you are bipolar is also a reason for concern. People diagnosed with bipolar disorder who are going through a depressed episode have a tendency to experience many forms of fear and anxiety, which in your case may be manifesting as a lack of trust. If you are not under any medication, it would be wise for you to consult a physician before you make a decision you may regret.

You want to make sure, you are in the right state of mind before making a possibly life altering decision.

-Dr.Q

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CREATIVE WRITING

Auditions,

Oysters, & a Dimple by: Anna Patton

staff writer

The sky was an infinite abyss of blue; an eerie stillness, free of clouds, stark against swaying palm trees. Tan happy generic people walked down the streets oblivious to the odd calm of the moment. Cars zoomed and braked, abrupt and smooth within the Sunset Strip’s pulsing heartbeats.

Oversized sunglasses covered my face, hiding wet blotchy cheeks and moist eyes.

I sat on the cracked marble steps of an art deco building in Hollywood, trying to pull myself together, long legs squished into a perfect right angle. A suit took the stairs three at a time, rushing past me, his lid-less Starbucks sloshing in the cup. Hot coffee hit my shoulder and he was gone before I could fully register what had happened. A new shower of tears poured out: the emptiness of invisibility.

Another botched audition and I still had not developed the thick skin required for the industry, and Los Angeles in general. My body felt achey and hollow beyond my years, the weight of my world crushing on narrow, boney, shoulders. LA had become the darkest sunny place I had ever experienced.

Heels clicked past my frozen form, more suits, thin designer clad legs, small children bouncing, all with stars in their eyes and hopes in their hearts, ignoring the me, lost in their own lives. Disgusted with my pathetic self at this point I dragged my seemingly lifeless limbs into standing and began walking towards my parked car. I passed a packed restaurant, windows open to sidewalk tables, bustling with energy and excitement. It was unmistakably French, with modern accents: black and white walls, red wine glasses holding flickering candles, shelves of ancient tomes on wine and expensive bottles of rare champagne.

My stomach growled, a groan I had been ignoring for a few days, existing off coffee and cigarettes--the healthiest of diets. Feeling it was futile to ignore at this point I decided that treating myself to a fabulous meal might be just the ticket.

I walked to the perky hostess in a black mini dress. She easily could have been on an episode of “The Hills” but was nonetheless welcoming. After confirming that it was indeed a table for one she escorted me through the crowded room to a corner table squished against a wall. I sat down in the post-modern chair, letting out a heavy sigh, looking forward to a large glass of sauvignon blanc and a comfortingly delicious meal.

Immediately after I was seated and served said glass of wine I noted a pair of motorcycle boots, skinny jeans tucked in, chains making a light metallic clink as the legs made their way towards me. She was seated at the table next to me. And when I say next to me, it was as if we were sharing a table--we were that close together. And she was alone. I ducked my head, letting long blonde strands of my hair fall in a curtain across my face as I peeked out of the corner of my eye. Her startling hazel eyes caught me and she grinned, as she ran a hand through tousled brunette hair. All of a sudden I felt like I was in a gay romantic comedy.

“Hey.” She smiled again, a dimple deepening in her left cheek.

“Hi,” I said shyly, taking a sip of my wine.

The waiter flounced over and plopped down between us the oysters I had ordered as an appetizer and practically skipped away. Did he think we were together? Did he not? Did he do it on purpose? He had given me the family wink when he sat the cute brunette next to me. What was he up to?

“Oysters. Mmm. Good Taste.” I am pretty sure she could not have been more seductive. I wordlessly pushed the icy plate towards her and watched as she

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Photo by: Lauren Breuning

squeezed a lemon over one of the shells and delicately slid it into her heart-shaped mouth.

“So. Let me guess. It is the middle of the day so you don’t have a normal job. You probably aren’t in school. You are eating at an expensive restaurant and have great style but something about you says starving artist. Actress?”

“And you must be a detective. Yeah.”

“So you must have just had either a really amazing audition...or a really horrific one.

Horrific,” I grimaced.

“Ah, it happens to the best of us. You can’t let it get you down.”

“You’re an actress too?”

“Mais oui.” She laughed, amused by something, which she let remain a mystery.

And so it continued. Through oysters, french bread, fromage, champagne, butter lettuce salad, duck confit, bœuf bourguignon, vintage bordeaux, apple tart with brown sugar ice cream, chocolat pot de crème, framboise, and espresso. In the end we sat back exhausted. I was filled to the brim with the most fantastic meal and the most intense conversation I had ever experienced.

When the waiter (who was very pleased with himself) finally brought the bill, she snatched it and threw down an Amex card. I tried to protest but she wasn’t having it. “You’ll just have to come out with me again. Maybe next time we’ll be celebrating an audition.”

As we made our way to exit the restaurant everything around me was a blur. I guess that is what it is like to fall and then walk on air.

Outside the sun was setting and the sky was a riot of magenta with navy clouds floating like lace through the fire. Before I meandered to my car I realized I hadn’t gotten her name or information. Suddenly she was shy, and scuffed her boot on the ground as she told me her name.

And then I felt like the biggest moron on the planet. While she told me her name I looked up at the massive billboard hanging over our heads. Her face smiled back at me.

This incredible, amazing, fantastic, mind-blowing lunch I had just finished was with one of the biggest “it” girl actresses in Hollywood - and in the world.

I stared at the famous dimple as she took a pen and wrote her phone number on the palm of my hand.

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BLOG footfetishes.com

facebook.com

glogs.com

Glogs Gay Blogs and Their Affect on the Community

Are you tired of spending Saturday nights home alone and crying yourself to sleep?

Follow your heart!

Chase the man of your dreams!

Go to bearhunt.com right now! by: Katie Schowengerdt staff writer

Every morning, I open up my web browser to read some emails, check out my Facebook page, and read a few articles.

Today, “The Soundtrack of Your Sexuality” and “Battle of the Network Gays” are my first choices. Surprised? Don’t be.

As blogging continues to take over the World Wide Web, this trend has become the gay community’s new and widely popular resource. The gay blogging world allows for questioning teenagers to explore their sexuality, and adults to read commentary on issues that they may never see in a mainstream publication.

But like all trends, it is only a matter of time before gay blogs, with the rest of the blogging world, fade into oblivion.

Or will they? A blog’s relevance relies on its necessity; so as long as people are still questioning their sexuality and looking for more information, gay blogs may have a permanent home on the Internet, that is, if these blogs and news sources can keep their material informative rather than cheesy.

AfterEllen and AfterElton are two of the most prominent gay blogs and news sites for the gay community. They both cover news, entertainment, music, and commentary from a gay perspective.

AfterEllen focuses on lesbians and bisexual women, and AfterElton emphasizes gay and bisexual men.

Michael Jensen, editor of AfterElton says, “I think blogging and gay-themed

websites are important because they give our community a voice that might otherwise be shut out of the traditional media.”

He’s right. Looking at AfterElton’s home page, it looks vastly different than any newspaper you will pick up at the street corner. “Watch and Discuss Aaron and Jackson’s First Date”, “Olympic Swimmer Comes Out as Gay”, and “This Week in Gay TV” are all featured on AfterElton’s blog section.

This new frontier has created a new resource for the gay community. Like never before, people looking for answers about their sexuality need look no further than a Google search. You can read people’s coming out stories, respond to questions, and even find a date. A gay blog can become an online community for people all over the world, not just the inhabitants of West Hollywood, making LGBT blogs all the more important.

“I routinely hear from gay folks living in small towns, and even gay folks in more urban places who are still afraid to come out, and they frequently tell me the Internet is the one place they can be themselves and meet other gay people,” says Jensen. “I think it can literally be a lifesaver.”

This need for acceptance and support will keep gay blogs a permanent fixture in gay culture, and their necessity may even increase over time. Having a place to read others’ coming out stories, discuss sexual

immature and stereotypical reviews and articles. Gay blogs will either have to up their game, or face the eventual decline into a world of digital irrelevance.

“Since the barriers to entry are so low,” states Jensen, “almost anyone can blog and start a website”. These low entry levels can lead to sub-par work that might hinder the gay community, making people see the online gay community as more of a joke than a serious news source.

Yet I’m still reluctant to count gay blogs out so quickly. Blogs may be a dispensable trend for most people, but minority groups need these online resources the most.

“A gay website has the ability to put our voices out there in an unfiltered way,” says Jensen, “to tell our stories and give our thoughts on every thing from politics to entertainment to religion.”

Whereas other people might see blogs as a temporary source for entertainment or a hobby with no real influence, blogs that focus

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experiences, and ask and answer questions all make someone feel more at home in a community that may be daunting to someone who is trying to understand and embrace their sexuality. The resources and sense of belonging that blogging provides to its readers is important and beneficial to the LGBT community. In a world that can often be frightening and unfair, an online forum can help people come to terms with their sexuality, and offer them an environment of openness and support.

However, with this responsibility and desire to stay relevant, it is easy for the blogging world to become more stereotypical than helpful. “There’s more room for opinion-based writing, longer pieces, shorter pieces,” said AfterEllen’s editor Trish Bendix. With this collection of different styles of articles, AfterEllen’s headlines often focus on women that lesbians wish were gay, rather than real queer women who are making a difference for the community. “Jessica Capshaw and others get naked for ‘Allure,’” the lesbian blog writes, followed by more pictures, and the author’s somewhat pathetic comment.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear above the deafening din of women panting”, AfterEllen writes.

The notion that gays just want to look at pictures of naked women isn’t exactly helpful for promoting acceptance.

It may be fun right now, but eventually, people are going to get their fill of the

on specific minority groups, such as the LGBT community, serve a more important function. The video blog “Lesbian Love” discusses dilemmas and situations relevant to lesbians, and both AfterEllen and AfterElton make a point to address debates and controversies over gay storylines in TV and film, thereby enhancing realistic and relevant visibility.

Blogging is the current big thing in the world of the Internet, but like all fixtures of pop culture, it may eventually end its reign.

However, for the gay community, blogging may be a permanent fixture into the lives of questioning and out queer people.

Instantaneous information and answers at the touch of a button make gay blogs different from other web trends. Blogs such as AfterEllen and AfterElton provide an outlet that is not available for gay people in the non-virtual world. Gay blogs are here to stay; that is, if the gay bloggers can keep their focus on activism and awareness, and not just “The Gay Guy” of The Real World.

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“I think blogging and gay-themed websites are important because they give our community a voice that might otherwise be shut out of the traditional media.”

Catch the robot face to win a free ipod!

SILLINESS

QUEER HOROSCOPES Aries

You’re failing the class your friends suggested as “the easy A” class. Consider nipple-tweaking as a career option.

Taurus

You recently had a dirty dream about one of your closest friends. Skip the three months of pining, the “Oh-my-god,I’m-in-love-with-my-best-friend” epiphany, and the awkward conversations with mutual friends and buy a vibrator. They “care too much about the friendship”/ the thought of you naked does nothing for them.

Gemini

Your body will be discovered in a mass grave, mutilated and hacked to bits.

Cancer

After adding your crush on facebook and finding no sign of their orientation, proceed to do the following: 1) Check for homoerotic moments in tagged photos 2) Search for under the surface flirtation in wall posts between friends of the same-sex 3) Meticulously investigate their groups and fan pages 4) Create a fake facebook with a photo of someone really hot of your sex and have them hit on the person. If they reciprocate, have “Jesse Smith” turn out to be a total asshole. This leaves you to pick up the pieces of their broken virtual romance.

Make a move.

Virgo

You’ve recently gotten engaged to your jealous, possessive, vegan, psychic girlfriend because you’re afraid you can’t do any better. It’s two days after she’s moved in and the nine cats option is becoming more and more appealing.

Libra

You’re gorgeous.

Scorpio

Your significant other’s studying abroad. You’ll skype, run up your phone bill, send postcards, and mail extensive care packages complete with goodies, couple photos, and each other’s used underwear. It’s Europe, idiot, of course they’re going to cheat on you.

Sagittarius

Summer is here which can only mean one thing- ROAD TRIP! Forget your friends…everyone is sick of your complaining about how you failed at romance this year, anyhow. Go to someplace relaxing, but gay friendly so you can have plenty of one-night stands to get your groove back come fall.

Capricorn

There is a fine line between hot BDSM sex and partner abuse. Play with it.

Aquarius

A former lover will soon be in town and wants to see you! You want to see them too, but there’s a lack of communication: you want to rekindle the romance with snuggling and a long catch-up. They want to play slap and tickle. Go for the later, we all know it’s going to be a while ‘til the next romp comes around.

Pisces

You’ve recently asked the person you’re seeing if they want to be in a relationship with you. They replied “labels are caging” and “why don’t we just be what we are and see how this goes” while making hippiest hand gestures you’ve ever seen. It doesn’t matter how much of a tree-hugger they are, they’re saying they want to hook up with other people.

“ THE NEW FACE OF THE CAMPUS LEFT ... CAMPUS PROGRESS HAS PROVIDED PROGRESSIVE STUDENTS WITH TOOLS THEY'VE NEVER HAD BEFORE.” - THE NATION

“A SOCIALIST SMEAR GROUP. ” - YOUNG AMERICA’S FOUNDATION

FIND OUT WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT. PROGRESSIVE YOUTH ORGANIZING

ACTIVISM, JOURNALISM, EVENTS

Leo

A friend of yours just got the same androgynous Rihanna hair cut as you. Destroy them.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT, RIGHT NOW.

WWW.CAMPUSPROGRESS.ORG

A Quick Apology: Dan Meyer Last quarter, I whined about how invisible our community is on TV and Movies. Well, I seem to have been proven wrong (this seems to be a repeating pattern in my life, too). There hasn’t been a massive increase in a number of characters; but rather, storylines are being explored that have never been seen before. Are we having a creative gay resurgence? It’s possible.

Recently, on Brothers and Sisters, Kevin and Scotty got pregnant (through a surrogate)! Kurt, on Glee, got shafted by his Dad who clicks better with football-loving Finn. Oh, and B-T-W, Kurt is totally in love with Finn…ouch. Chuck kissed a guy on “Gossip Girl” to prove his love to Blair. Oh, and back to Glee: Santana and Brittany have admitted to doing the deed and frequently pinky-hold down the hallways. I also totally forgot about True Blood whose entire premise of Vampires “coming out” of the coffin is a satire on the gay rights movement. There’s more but this is supposed to be quick.

In movies, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried got it on in “Chloe”. In addition, Julianne Moore and Annette Benning will play loving lesbians with children who want to track down their sperm donor in “The Kids Are All Right”, coming out July 7th. Is Julianne trying to tell us something?

We still have some ways to go, but maybe my article hit a sore spot and all those producers finally started taking my incessant daily phone calls. As Jack, my personal hero, from “Will and Grace” said: “what about my constitutional right to watch two hotties get it on!”

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Goldrod

Harvey Milk

Adopted Baby Blue

Promiscuous Purple

Sugar Mamma Mimosa

Banana Mania

Suze Orman Green

Drag Blush

WEHO Pink

Vodka Cranberry

“Is-she-gay?” Gray

Leather Daddy Black