It Could Happen To You

Thomas Lee Bridegroom left his Indiana home to travel to LA in 2004 hoping to realize his dreams. He quickly gained popularity hosting MTV’s The X Effect in 2007 and starred in a number of commercials. Tom was also lucky enough to find himself in a long term relationship with Shane Bitney Crone, an actor and social media consultant. The couple started a business together in 2006 and also held a joint mortgage, but they never married or got around to writing their living wills. After all, the pair, in their mid-twenties, planned on having a long future together. But cruel fate had other ideas. On May 7, 2011, Tom tragically fell from a four story roof while photographing a model for a project. He subsequently died. Their failure to protect themselves would cost Tom’s partner Shane dearly.

Here is Shane and Tom’s story:

According to this memorial page Tom and Shane’s closest friends did, a month after Tom’s death, hold their own memorial service where Shane was able to participate and talk about his partner Tom and all the memories they made together.

Obama supports gay marriage !

Barack Obama

President Obama made history by boldly stating that gay and lesbian Americans deserve full marriage equality.

Fired for being lesbian, fired for being gay.Is this the Boy Scouts morality and ethics?

Jennifer Tyrrell

Jennifer Tyrrell, the den leader who was "fired" by her local Cub Scout troop for being gay, said that her 7-year-old son Cruz will not remain in the national organization because of its discrimination against gay leaders and scouts.

In March, the Boy Scouts of America removed Tyrrell from her position, telling her that her sexual orientation "did not meet the high standards" of conduct set by the Boy Scouts of America
"We can no longer support an organization that has these policies and we hope to get them changed," said Tyrrell. "That is our main goal."
"But Cruz is a little sad," Tyrrell added. "We loved scouting."
The boy told ABCNews.com that he had enjoyed camping and earning badges with his local Tiger Cub troop 109 since September.
The troop asked his mother to step down as leader after they told her "it was known you are gay," said Tyrrell, 32.

The Bridgeport, Ohio, mother of four has waged a campaign to bring awareness to the Boy Scout policy on Change.org. Ultimately, she said she wants the organization to accept gay leaders and scouts.
Already, the petition has garnered 140,000 signatures, plus the endorsement of celebrities such as "Hunger Games" star Josh Hutcherson and Jesse Tyler Ferguson from television's "Modern Family" and Max Adler from "Glee."
"I had no idea this would take off like it has," said Tyrell, who lives with her partner of five years. Ohio does not recognize gay marriage.

"It's humbling and very exciting that so many people are finally agreeing with us."
Saturday, Tyrrell and her family appeared at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, where they were honored for taking a stand. Today, she is in New York City, making the media rounds with Cruz.
"We want to get the word out" said Tyrrell, a former hardware store sales person who was laid off. Her partner, Alicia, is a registered nurse.
Tyrrell said the Boy Scouts of America had not "officially" notified her. "I have heard nothing from them," she said.

The Boy Scouts of America emailed ABCNews.com a prepared statement that said its focus is on "delivering a program of character development and leadership training."
"Scouting, and the majority of parents it serves, does not believe it is the right forum for children to become aware of the issue of sexual orientation, or engage in discussions about being gay," it said. "Rather, such complex matters should be discussed with parents, caregivers, or spiritual advisers, at the appropriate time and in the right setting."

The Boy Scouts acknowledged their policy was controversial, but added, "To disagree does not mean to disrespect and we respect everyone's right to have and express a different opinion. Scouting will continue to teach our members to treat everyone with courtesy and respect."
The organization also said that in Tyrrell's case the policy had not been followed by local leaders, but when another pack leader complained, it was enforced.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Boy Scouts of America and ruled 5-4 that the organization is exempt from state laws that bar anti-gay discrimination.
The court overturned a ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court to require a troop to readmit a longtime gay scoutmaster who had been dismissed.
The Girl Scouts of America has had a diversity policy and non-discrimination clause since 1980.
Tyrrell decided to lead Cruz's first-grade Cub Scout troop last fall. "It was a very community-oriented group of kids," she said. "They made me treasurer to get the books in order ... I found some discrepancies -- things that didn't add up."

She said she met with local representatives over the financial matters, but afterwards, the scout master called her and said, "We have to ask you to resign."
"Everyone locally knew I was gay," said Tyrell. "I was devastated. I cried for two days. Those kids were my family. All my parents were devastated."
Patty Morgan, 35, whose 7-year-old son Jordan was in Troop 109 told ABCNews.com, "I was not even aware they had a gay policy. It was very emotional for me."

Morgan also helped Tyrrell with troop activities: field trips and community service work at a soup kitchen and with the Salvation Army.
"I was very upset -- she was my friend and for me, this is personal," said Morgan, who with other troop parents had participated in local protests. "I hope that it ends up changing the policy for the Boy Scouts. That's what we're all hoping for."

Tyrrell said she told her troop parents that she wasn't "abandoning" their children. "It was not my choice," she said. "I didn't want them to think I left them. I had made them a promise to follow these kids to Eagle Scout. Now I can't."

Anthony Wong, Gay and Proud

Anthony Wong

Hong Kong pop star Anthony Wong kept his revelation for the end of the concert. Then, before thousands of fans, lit by a single pool of spotlight, Mr. Wong put an end to years of public speculation. “People don’t need to guess whether or not I’m a tongzhi [Chinese slang for homosexual] anymore,” he said on the last night of his concert series at the Hong Kong Coliseum earlier this week. “I’m saying, I’m gay. I’m a homosexual. G-A-Y.”

Whoops and cheers from the crowd greeted the announcement by the singer and producer, who followed his announcement with a roguish jab at the city’s paparazzi. “I’m sorry, members of the media. For the next 20 years, I’ll keep singing songs, but you don’t need to ask me this question any longer” he declared.

Mr. Wong’s announcement might not have shocked Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, which has long speculated about the singer’s sexual orientation, but the boldness of his announcement was still unusual. Mr. Wong, who first gained popularity in the 80s as a music icon as part of the duo Tat Ming Pair, is only the second high-profile Hong Kong performer to publicly come out, says Waiwai Yeo of the Women Coalition of Hong Kong, a nonprofit gay-rights organization. The first, says Ms. Yeo, was Cantopop giant Leslie Cheung, the beloved singer who featured in hit films such as Farewell My Concubine but struggled with depression for years. In 2003, Mr. Cheung jumped to his death from the 24^th floor of Hong Kong’s Mandarin Hotel.

“It’s been nine years we’ve seen a singer announce publicly that he’s openly gay or openly bisexual,” says Ms. Yeo. “So Mr. Wong’s announcement is a good sign.”
The pop star’s latest move is especially encouraging, says Ms. Yeo, given how shuttered the city’s attitudes have traditionally been toward gays and lesbians. In 2005, for example, a government survey of over 2,000 telephone respondents found that 39% believed homosexuality “contradicts the morals of the community.” When the WCHK was founded nearly a decade ago, at the time, she says, “We didn’t even have the courage to support a Pride Parade.”

Hong Kong’s first Pride Parade was held in 2008, with about 1,000 participants, says Ms. Yeo. Last year’s attracted 2,500, but still a far cry from the millions who flock to the annual pride parades in Brazil and elsewhere. Hong Kongers are gradually growing more comfortable with publicly sharing their sexual orientation, Ms. Yeo says.  Still, she adds, artists have been discouraged by their recording companies from participating in the Pride Parade, for fear of how doing so may impact their public image.

Even as the city’s attitudes slowly improve, she says, gays and lesbians in Hong Kong remain incredibly vulnerable. For one thing, as she notes, the Chinese territory hasn’t yet passed a law to prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians.
“So especially for people who are not Mr. Wong, you can see how hard it is for the community to come out” she says.

Across the border, news of Mr. Wong’s announcement out grabbed the attention of legions of Chinese Internet users. As of this afternoon, Mr. Wong’s stadium-style coming out was the sixth most searched-for item on Weibo. Many were admiring of Mr. Wong’s bravery, though some were apprehensive.

“I hope he won’t come to the same tragic end as Leslie Cheung,” wrote one user.
Still others were more concerned about how this might affect Mr. Wong’s female fan base. As one Shandong-based user wrote, “How many girls’ hearts will this news break?”

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

 

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Doret's Law Nolte

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Be buddies, Not bullies. RIP Kenneth

Kenneth Weishuhn

Iowa, this 14-years-old boy allegedy killed himself after his classmates made him the subject of a Facebook hate group and sent him death threats when he told them he was gay.

Family and friends of Kenneth Weishuhn said he was a happy teen until he came out to friends at School, last month.
His mother, Jeannie Chambers, said her son, who recently exclaimed: "Mom, you don't know how it feels to be hated," committed sucide on April 15.

Kenneth's sister, Kaila, said it was not only her classmates that began bullying her brother, but also his friends. ‘People that were originally his friends, they kind of turned on him,’ she told KTIV. ‘A lot of people, they either joined in or they were too scared to say anything.’

The bullying allegedly began online when Kenneth's classmates created an anti-gay Facebook group, adding the teen’s friends as members.

Bullied to death. Again. The family of this boy is deeply saddened by the death, an unbridgeable pain. The culprits, if they have awareness of their responsibilities, can not assuage the guilt over the Kenneth suicide.

This society that despises the other continues to claim victims.

Things can and must change, it is up to each of us find the right way to do it and implement it in their own little. Talking, saying NO to injustice, to violence. Just rispect.Kenneth’s favorite quote was “be buddies, not bullies.”

Leave your comment, your thoughts. Thank you.

April 20, Day Of Silence

 

 

A number of rightwing groups plan to combat a youth-run lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) event held in schools across the country with a series of conservative protests this week.

Organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the national "Day of Silence" aims to draw attention to anti-gay bullying, harassment and name-calling in schools. In an effort to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior in middle schools, high schools and college campuses, students will take a "vow of silence" on April 20 to illustrate "the silencing effect of bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT," according to GLSEN's website.
As a counterpart, Focus on the Family has organized the so-called "Day of Dialogue" (formerly "Day of Truth"), set for April 19, which encourages students "to express their Biblical viewpoint in a loving and Christ-centered way -- especially when sensitive issues, like bullying and sexual identity, are addressed in their schools," HuffPost Gay Voices reported in February. 

A number of high-profile, rightwing pundits also felt similarly, with some even calling the event "a cover for the promotion of homosexuality."
"It’s something where they are basically taking a legitimate concern, which is that of bullying, and they are using that serious problem that does happen as an opportunity by which they will then promote and essentially indoctrinate children and expose children to the acceptability of the homosexual lifestyle," Truth in Action Ministries' Jerry Newcombe is quoted by Right Wing Watch as saying earlier this week. "Now bullying is wrong, but so also is indoctrination into a deadly lifestyle."

Mission America President Linda Harvey also expressed similar sentiments in a WND column, writing, "The goal is to exploit the tender sympathies of kids to promote homosexuality and gender confusion. The agenda is everything; Judeo-Christian morality is the enemy; and sadly, kids are the tools." Barb Anderson of the Minnesota Family Council went even further, likening the "Day of Silence" to acceptance of Nazis and slavery.

How is this possible ? What do you think about it ? Where is progress ?

Stop all the clocks

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden

I'm gonna marry you - Valentine's day

 
It does not make sense to discriminate love.

It has been published today, this nice video reffers to the italian situation about same sex marriage. 
Very touching, especially for boys and girls who can not live those scenes, including civil marriage.

Directed by: Luca Cerlini, Secret Wood
Screenplay: David Parrotta
Manufactured by: Orlando, Brescia Provincial Committee Arcigay
Zebra A Pois - Youth Group Arcigay Orlando Brescia
With the support of:
Arcigay - Italian Association of Lesbian and Gay
Agedo - Association of Parents and friends of gays
National Committee Bologna Pride 2012

Andrej Pejic

Model Andrej Pejic is getting lots of attention for his androgynous look: long hair, long legs and pillowy lips. But there's more to the rising star: A childhood spent being noticeably "different" in his small village in Serbia. After the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, Pejic's mother felt unsafe and decided to initiate immigration process for Australia. In 2000, the family moved to Melbourne, Australia as political refugees when Pejic was eight years old.
From around the age of 14 this australian model became aware of gender barriers, and began experimenting with his look.
He ranks no. 18 on the models.com Top 50 Male Models list, and he was ranked no. 98 in FHM magazine's 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011.
 

Here a Photo Album of Andrej by Thomas Lohr

STOP Homophobia

William Santos

Photos and commentary by Danny Bittencourt:

A few days ago I photographed the Walk Youth Thematic Social Forum, there are many gay and photographed supporters who waved the flag and screaming looking for equality, respect and peace. I photographed one of the boys, happy, jumping and dancing named William Santos was beated in the last five days by a group of homophobes, in Porto Alegre, Brasil.
This fact made me think, first at how ignorant can become a human being who can not understand a reality that is not yours, and it has a name, called etnofobia, includes not only gay but any culture that is not its. And what benefit this "citizen" had to coerce a person who flees from the standards he considers "right".
Ignorance and violence are characteristic of people stupid and limited.

Leave a comment, share your idea! Fight  Homophobia

Same-Sex Marriage Ban is Unconstitutional

 

A federal appeals court has declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, paving the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the voter-approved law.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 Tuesday that a lower court judge interpreted the U.S. Constitution correctly in 2010 when he declared the ban, known as Proposition 8, to be a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

The measure, which passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008, outlawed same-sex unions just five months after they became legal in the state.

Lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors and for two couples who sued to overturn the ban have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court if they did not receive a favorable ruling from the 9th Circuit.

 

The circumstances in California are unprecedented. The state supreme court found marriage equality to be a right of the highest order under the state Constitution, and thousands of couples actually exercised that right before a discriminatory initiative took it away," Wolff said. "The federal courts would do well to focus their attention on those unique circumstances, which would support a ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional while leaving the situation in other States for another day.  

University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Tobias Barrington Wolff

No free speech for gays

Tunisia’s human rights minister has attacked an online gay magazine while being interviewed by homophobic TV presenter Samir El-Wafi.

Minister Samir Dilou said ‘freedom of expression has its limits’ and agreed homosexuality was a ‘perversion’ which needed to be ‘treated medically’.

The Gayday magazine's editor has faced religiously inspired hatred and death threats.

Dilou: ‘This country has its own history, heritage, religion and customs and we need to deal with everything on such a basis.’

El-Wafi: ‘We can’t deny that this phenomenon of sexual perversion exists but shall we deny these people from expression mediums?’

Dilou: ‘Yes, freedom of expression has limits.’

‘They live as citizens but they must respect the red lines set up by our religion, heritage and civilization.’

‘I have no knowledge if this magazine have applied for a permit or not but I’m against it even though I’m a minister of human rights.’

They concluded laughing that sexual orientation is not a human right.

But there has been a long build-up to the current situation, it comes after a month of scandals which has brought gay issues to the fore in Tunisia. The first was the release of the brother of the Tunisian Minister of Justice, after an allegation that he raped a young boy. The second, occurring just a few days later was a video posted on the internet by a left wing activist allegedly featuring the current Home Office minister, Ali Laarayedh in an erotic homosexual act with a fellow cellmate during the 1990s.

Samir El-Wafi, a journalist and celebrity TV presenter known for his tabloid, ranting interview techniques joined the homophobic bandwagon, posted the cover of the magazine on his Facebook page (with over 75,500 fans) followed by the following description: ‘In the chaos of freedom of expression and freeing the media, a first Tunisian magazine for fags was issued!

‘In the name of freedom and in a conservative country whose people are facing a struggle between modernity and tradition; a magazine for fags dares to come out and challenge all the circumstances, rules, morals, ethics and customs.

‘Do we need a further strife because a very small minority expresses its perversion… not caring about the feelings and the sacred beliefs of a majority?

‘Today a magazine, tomorrow a pride march, then gay marriage… and after that who knows?’

The post got 381 likes, 124 comments and 165 shares.

The next day Fadi, received hateful messages and death threats.

One from someone identifying themselves as ‘Emna’ said: ‘You are a zero. We don’t give a fuck about you. You ought to be out assisting in building the country. This is so immoral, calling to protect dirty people. God will never forgive you. This is very haraam [forbidden], we are Muslims and we can never be proud of your gay shit. You need to go and see psychiatrists and not start a magazine. Shame on you.’

And Aymen posted on the Gayday magazine Facebook page: ‘You’re dead; don’t come to Tunisia you faggot. Even hell is disgusted to have you!’

How is this possible ? How is it possible that someone's right isn't a human right ? 
Boys and girls receive death threats that says they deserve to be hanged or burnt in public. The situation for LGBT people, also in Tunisia, remains hostile.

Michelle Obama, please become my idol !

Michelle Obama

According to Obama gay freedoms include being able to put your life on the line in the military, to die for the country, (even dragging out enacting that change), but not the right to have a legal marriage.

During her early months as First Lady, Michelle Obama visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service. On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
She has begun advocating on behalf of military families. Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings. ALL WELL DONE
But there is something missing Mrs. to become my idol !

Mrs. Obama has never made any public statements about same-sex marriage.

President Obama and his wife have said that they believes marriage is between a man and woman but not same-sex couples. Here in Holding Trevor we don't think so and we hope,  that sooner or later, they could change their point of view.

Emily Dickinson

Was He afraid - or tranquil -
Might He know
How Conscious Consciousness - could grow -
Till Love that was - and Love too best to be -
Meet - and the Junction be Eternity

F688 (1863) / J622 (1862)

Sabina Guzzanti

Identity is given by the courage of being who you are and by the deep respect for your own life; by the real value that we give to it. 

At the same time, identity is the only true source of power of human beings.  

Only if you have an identity you can change the world, enjoying life and understanding what it is.

Jay Brannan: new video, new album ! Rob Me Blind

New York Magazine premieres today the new video of this great singer: Jay Brannan.

He is a talented american actor and singer-songwriter, an awsome boy that we well remember acting in Shortbus (2006) and Holding Trevor (2007), singing songs like "Housewife", "Can't have it all", "Lower my gun" and also doing wonderfully cover like "Leaving on a jet plane".

The song of the video is "Beautifully", that you can download from iTunes, where you can also pre-order the full Album "Rob Me Blind", set to be released later this year.

Anyone who pre-orders Rob Me Blind from jaybrannanstore.com will be entered to win a 15-minute Skype call with me!! we can chat, just stare at each other, or I can even play you a song from my repertoire!

the limited-edition CD with live album download should be up on Amazon for pre-sale soon as well, for all you Amazon-addicts like myself.

official album street date is March 27, and i really need your help to get the eyes & ears of music fans & the music industry to really perk up :)  

Check out Jay's Euro tour dates, with more dates on the way in the coming weeks.

We hope that we'll come back soon to Italy, and you ? Where are you from ? 

Tell us in a comment where would you like to see a concert of Jay !

And be sure to have in your own home this album:

Identity change without becoming permanently infertile

Vladimir Luxuria

If you are a transgender person in Sweden wanting to change your legal gender, you are forced to undergo surgery that will render you permanently infertile and unable to have children in the future. That's right: in 2012, Swedish law still mandates forced sterilization in order to do something as simple as changing the gender on your driver's license.

Despite a massive push to repeal the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party to block the change.

Right now a reform of the law is being debated in Sweden. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock. Will you take one minute to sign our urgent letter? RFSL, the Swedish federation for LGBT rights, will publicly deliver our signatures directly to the Prime Minister and demand that he intervene right now:

allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization

Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain "undesirable" traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called sterilization law a "dark chapter in Swedish history".

Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the conservative KRISTDEMOKRATERNA party will use its seat in the government to block the change.

We know he is on our side: whether you are straight, gay, lesbian, bi or trans, will you take a moment to raise your voice and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights?

Our friends at RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver your signatures directly to the Prime Minister's office.

I've received this e-mail today, at 9.02 AM, from "All Out", a remarkable Movement for the full equality of rights: www.allout.org
This is not just a swedish problem, it's also an italian question, and I think almost totally a european issue of debate.
Why should a person change physically to have the right of be what he or she is ?

Could you imagine the embarassment if you would look like a woman and show an identity card with the mark "male" ?

It's really so important what you have there ? 

I think that your physical sex isn't the point, it couldn't make the difference.

And you ? What do you think ?

What's strange about it

What's strange about it:
Being not afraid
of what you feel.

What's strange about it:
looking for a way out,
stumbling on you
I fell in love with life.

What's strange about it,
everything, maybe nothing.

 S.V. 

Translation of a very short poem published by "Aletti" in the anthology "il Federiciano 2010" .

News republican debate: Mitt Romney on gay rights

He could be the President of the United Sates !

Could he be our President ?

"Mitt Romney, when asked about what he had done to advance gay rights, replied, “I don’t discriminate,” and recalled his appointment of a gay man to his cabinet as governor of Massachusetts.

His response about the appointment is accurate: Mr. Romney’s secretary of transportation, Dan Grabauskas, is gay.

The first half of his response (“I don’t discriminate”) is the subject of a spirited debate. Mr. Romney has long argued that marriage, in the eyes of the law, should be defined as a union between a man and a woman. He aggressively fought the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, and he opposes it nationally, by supporting the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Many gay rights advocates argue that any politician, like Mr. Romney (and President Obama), who opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage is practicing a form of discrimination against gay men and women. Many who oppose same-sex marriage argue that since there are alternatives in place, like domestic partnerships and civil unions, which grant rights to gay couples in some states, denying them “marriage” is not discrimination."

From The New York Times 

What do you think about this issue ?

Let's talk about "Sentiamoci qualche volta"

"And if you knew these persons less from <<newspaper>> and more from life, you would find that they are completely marked by their choice. In two versions, in my opinion, equally sad: the apathy and melancholy and unbridled and chatty vitality.

[...]

 I know, Andrea: reductions, simplifications, literature. But also desire of being on my own side. And finally understand which is it. And not being too afraid if it doen't fall into the categories of classics majorities and minorities, and even in those of the new liberations and new ghettos for neoliberals. We are not expected? Does it matter? The cowardice, the error, is believing that patterns and ratings are more important than one's life. That nobody will live it taking our place. For which no one will fight if not us... "

These phrases are taken from a beautiful book by Gilberto Severini, titled "Sentiamoci qualche volta" published in 1984 and now difficult to find. It's an epistolary novel in which two protagonists, after many years from their common youth experiences, found a sensitive communication  about their past, about divorce and illness, about feelings and personal fulfillment. Very pleasant to be read, the text offers many breathing spaces, as in the fragment shown above: the stereotype of self-centered homosexual, chatty and frivolous, it's well known, but how many know the other side of being gay? we mean the difficulty in relating to a disrespectful society, intolerant, sometimes even homophobic. It's for this problem that many boys and girls fall into depression, of which apathy is one of the symptoms. The melancholy of these persons cannot be hidden and unspoken. Severini doesn't do that. He emphasizes the issue in a few lines, underlining the importance of the problem, well awaring that a group of people can't be lined up on a table under two adjectives, but in the intention of stressing two important and opposite aspects. 
What do you think?  
There is a degree of realism in the classification of gay being that Severini does?

Same Sex Navy Kiss

Petty Officer Marissa Gaeta from Placerville shared a kiss with partner Petty Officer Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles on Wednesday as Gaeta's ship, the amphibious landing ship Oak Hill, returned to base at Virginia Beach, Va., after an 80-day deployment to Central America.
It's something new, that's for sure," Gaeta, 23, told reporters after the kiss. "It's nice to be able to be myself. It's been a long time coming."
The two met while training to maintain and operate weapons systems aboard ship. They've been dating for two years.
"We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning," said Snell, 22, in an Associated Press story. "A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I'm happy."
Gaeta was chosen to have the honor of the "first kiss" as part of a raffle in which sailors bought $1 tickets to raise funds for a Christmas party for military children. Gaeta said she bought $50 worth of tickets.
Navy officials said it was the first time a same-sex couple was chosen to have the first kiss. The first kiss is a Navy tradition for ships returning to port.
In San Diego, the premier Navy town on the West Coast, the televised image of the kiss was widely applauded.

The snap of this kiss on the 22 December 2011 was felt all over America and now it's sound is propagating in the rest of the world. Do you like it?