I came across a news story that sounds like it's straight out of The Onion — the city of Canterbury, England, has just been ruled "sufficiently gay" after government inspectors were called in to investigate claims that the city did not do enough to promote homosexual culture.
So how did the panel of investigators come to this determination? By consulting a checklist of stereotypes of course! The city had to supply proof that it supports events "of interest to the LGBT community," such as "touring plays and musicals."
The two-month investigation kicked off after some members of the gay community expressed concern that the historically religious city was unwelcoming to gay people.
Since June is Gay Pride month, check out all of our other coverage of LGBT issues in the news.
I'm still in shock that Michael Jackson, an artist who contributed so much to popular culture, is no longer with us. Luckily for all his fans, his music lives on. Out of all his 13 number one songs and countless other hits, it's hard to pick my favorite MJ song. If I had to choose, my top three would be Do You Remember the Time for its amazing Egyptian-themed video, Black or White for its inclusive message, and I'll Be There for the power of young Michael's vocals.
As everyone remembers his legacy in their own way, tell me — what's your favorite Michael Jackson song?
Samantha and Lindsay. Ellen and Portia. Christine and Cynthia. Thanks to celebrities, the butch/femme dichotomy that is part of some lesbian couples' gender performance is visible even to mainstream Americans who may not think they even know a lesbian. (Samantha Ronson, Ellen DeGeneres, and even Christine Marioni are what the lesbian community would probably call "soft butch." They're more androgynous and tomboyish than they are "tough" and masculine in a macho way.)
As a denizen of San Francisco’s Mission District, for me the butch/femme thing is as much a part of the atmosphere here as Rice-A-Roni and foggy mornings. (OK, I actually don't know anyone who eats Rice-A-Roni, but I digress.) I remember being pretty psyched the first time I saw a very San Francisco lesbian couple walking together — one with a James Dean swagger and pompadour, the other Bettie Paged out with retro clothes and lipstick.
Not all lesbian couples have one person who is femme and one butch, but those who adopt the dress and/or the stereotypical gender roles that go with it — whether they're conscious of it or not — are performing gender, as queer theorist Judith Butler put it.
What does that mean, exactly? To find out, read more
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 3:20pm by Molly
Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon. It was confirmed by the LA Times. He was 50 years old and was rushed to the hospital today after suffering a heart attack at his LA home. He was a legend, famous almost all his life. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones, especially his children.
New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board has $600 million in state funding for stem cell studies. The only problem? It needs more stem cells! So the board has decided to let researchers pay women up to $10,000 for the discomfort, time, and expenses involved with donating their eggs for stem cell experiments.
Fans of the unprecedented plan say it removes a great obstacle to finding treatments for life threatening diseases. Researchers say that a lack of compensation made it nearly impossible to convince women to donate their eggs. That may be because the process is not simple. Women have to take hormone injections for weeks that stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs. Then they have to undergo a painful extraction procedure.
Fertility clinics are successful in getting women to undergo the process because they compensate them — so science says it just wants part of the action. Critics say that the practice amounts to human body-part trafficking and worry that underprivileged women will be pressured to donate their eggs for the money.
How much would it take for you to sell your eggs?
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