Joan Rivers is a Piece of Work...

Joan Rivers told The Advocate that gay male celebrities shouldn’t come out, for fear of breaking 16-year-old girls’ hearts.  “If you’re going to be a romantic idol and try to get every teenage girl to love you, then you’d be an ass to come out and say you’re gay. That’s why Ricky Martin was so smart — he did what he did, he made his millions, and then he said, ‘Guess what, everybody? I’m gay, I’m having this life, and here are my children.’ It didn’t matter anymore because he didn’t have to bring in 16-year-old girls,” she said.

“If you’re looking at someone who’s your idol, thinking that maybe one day they’ll come ring your doorbell, you don’t want to hear, ‘There’s no chance in hell, honey, but still buy a ticket to the movie.’”

Source: 365gay.com

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Homeless and Gay...

Oftentimes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people find themselves homeless after coming out because their family is unable to accept them...

The Center for American Progress estimates in a new study that gay and transgender youth account for 20-40 percent of homeless youth in the US, while only about 5-10 percent of the general youth population is LGBT.The report comes just before the Obama administration is scheduled to release the first-ever national strategy to prevent and end homelessness.  The federal government’s budget for homeless-assistance programs is $4.2 billion, plus the $1.5 billion that President Obama included in the stimulus package last year. Out of that initial budget, only  $195 million is allocated to address youth homelessness, and an even smaller percentage of that goes specifically toward homeless youth who are on the streets without parents or other guardians.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that approximately 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year in the US, about half of them being youth.  The Center for American Progress study examines not only the numbers of youth that are on the streets or in shelters each night, but also what that means for these individuals. The report offers statistics about how domestic abuse and violence leads to homelessness and how homelessness can lead to involvement in drug and alcohol abuse and sex work for survival.  The report also suggests that there is a disproportionate number of homeless LGBT youth because families are banishing their gay and transgender children as they come out younger and younger. In New York, the report finds, the average age that a gay or lesbian youth becomes homeless is 14.4 years old.  The White House has not indicated whether the new national strategy to end homelessness will address the disproportionate number of LGBT homeless youth.

Source: 365gay.com

Follow me on Twitter:@therealcstewart

Peace of Mind...

Lauryn Hill said it best, "Fantasy is what people want, reality is what they need..."

For whatever reason, we all believe at some point it’s easier to hide in the closet. Life would somehow be simpler if we manufacture a life others would deem acceptable; straight. To live a life that doesn’t belong to you because your focus becomes hiding your authentic self (by masking who you were created to be) for the purpose of pleasing people that will always have criticism whether you’re gay or straight, isn’t living at all.

Coming out doesn’t require a bold statement to the world. It doesn’t mean flamboyance, and it doesn’t mean becoming less of a man. It means freedom to be who you are, as you are without care or concern for what others think. A friend of mine once told me coming out relieves the pressure from family asking when we’ll be married or have children (in the traditional sense). It gives the world a truer sense of who we are. When we conceal that piece of ourselves, we cut important people out in a way that they never truly know us. There’s something special about coming out and your mother accepting you. When your mother accepts you, you can live fearlessly against the world and what “people” think.

After I told my mom I was gay, I made a quick visit home to Maryland for a holiday, but I missed some of my family members on that visit. A few days after I returned to Atlanta I received a piece of mail from my aunt Coretha. I had no idea what she could be sending me. I had never received mail from her prior to that. It was a floral envelope with a matching piece of stationery. I had just walked through the door of my apartment. I was standing in the middle of the living room as I opened it, still pondering what she had to say to me in a letter. Seemed pretty formal, I remember thinking. “Why didn’t she just call?”

It was dated. It was simple and to the point. She said she tried to call to catch me before I made it back to “Hotlanta”. She continued with,

“We as a family love you, inspite of what some may not understand. To hell with the others.”
Love,
Aunt Coretha

I smiled and said, “Wow…”

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