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S/he said: Massa, Africa and half-dykes

Compiled by Howard Israel

"There hasn't been a lot of research in this area … specifically on cyberbullying and the LGBT youth population. One of the things we found is that the LGBT students really want to make a difference. They want their stories told. They want people to know what they're going through, but they don't want the repercussions of being bullied. More than half (of the respondents) report being afraid to tell their parents about being bullied because their parents might restrict online access, which – ironically – is often the lifeline to the outside world for many young LGBT students who have been ostracized by their peers at school. Moreover, 40 percent of the non-heterosexual respondents say their parents wouldn't believe they were being cyberbullied, while 55 percent report that their parents couldn't do anything to stop it and 57 percent said they didn't think a school official could help either."
– Warren Blumenfeld and Robyn Cooper, researchers and authors of a new national study, conducted by the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University, about the impact of cyberbullying on LGBT and allied youths, http://www.hs.iastate.edu, March 4.

"While it is great to see increased visibility of gay men's stories, it cannot be ignored that HIV and AIDS still plague this community. Gay men bear the greatest burden of HIV infection in this country. Well over half of all new infections occurred among gay and bisexual men. Over the last few years, the HIV infection rates in New York City among gay men have rapidly increased. Particularly heartbreaking is that younger gay men are experiencing even higher rates of HIV infection. Race, poverty and homophobia drive this epidemic. Too often, gay men's lives are marked as dispensable. Their stories – even in the face of adversity and HIV – are worthy to be told in our theaters. We cannot forget the 30,000 gay men newly infected in the United States each year and more than 500,000 in the United States who are living with AIDS."
– Marjorie J. Hill, chief executive of Gay Men's Health Crisis, in a letter to the editor, responding to an article about the new season of Broadway plays and musicals presenting gay characters in love stories, http://www.nytimes.com, March 3.

"It's funny, and often fascinating, how so much can change in such a short time – and yet change so little. When our family arrived back home on Tuesday evening, we were the same family we were when we left home that afternoon. Yet, as a family we experienced an important change when my husband and I – after being married in all but the legal sense for 10 years – were legally married to each other Tuesday afternoon. The ceremony was brief. It was a change from our family routine. The boys (briefly) exchanged their play clothes for the suits they wore for the ceremony. And instead of our usual family dinner at home, we celebrated with a dinner at a favorite restaurant. Still, we were the same family upon returning home as we were when the day began, except for one important difference. When we left home, we had few of the same benefits and protections as the other families on our street – despite having happily assumed the same responsibilities. Thanks to D.C.'s City Council and Maryland's state attorney general, when we returned home, we at least had equal rights and protections in Maryland – and in the community where we live. It was just like any other day, and unlike any other day."
– Terrance Heath, self-described Buddhist black, gay father of two, in his blog titled "Transformational Tie – Marriage may not change our relationship, but it changes our relationship to our community," http://www.republicoft.com, March 11.

"In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity. It is time to stand up against another wrong. GLBT people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned. Men have been jailed and humiliated for expressing their partnerships with other men. Mobs have attacked men they suspected of being gay. Uganda's parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment. These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa."
– Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, in an editorial titled "In Africa, a step backward on human rights," http://www.washingtonpost.com, March 12.

"Word of the Gay: 'Half Dyke.' A 'half-dyke' is a bisexual woman who has more interest in women than men."
– Word of the Gay, blog entry, http://queersunited.blogspot.com, March 14.

"(The sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Eric Massa) have provided quite a bit of fodder for late-night comics and water-cooler snickerers. So much so that it can be easy to lose sight of the serious subject at the heart of this case: sexual harassment, and, in particular, male-to-male sexual harassment, an area in which claims have grown dramatically. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the percentage of its sexual harassment filings that are made by men has doubled over the last two decades. And, although the agency does not compile data on the gender of those being accused, anecdotal evidence suggests that most of those filings are for male-to-male harassment. While it is heartening to realize that more men seem to be comfortable speaking up, the Massa case illustrates to what degree their attempts at disclosure can be squeezed between two seemingly oppositional pillars of American masculinity: homoerotic ritualizing and homophobic trivializing."
– Charles M. Blow, in his column titled "Don't Tickle Me, Bro!," about the issues underlying the sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.), http://www.nytimes.com, March 13.

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