Michaelangelo’s Dream Boy Comes to Life

More on this classic love story can be found in The Telegraph newspaper here.


The Dream collection is being exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery in London until 16 May.

Ganymede: Gay Men’s Quarterly # 6 OUT Now!

Issue 6 can be purchased or downloaded here.



Jason Shaw, Brighton, England!
The Seafront Diaries

Tabatha Coffey Lets Her Hair Down

Courtesy of The Advocate:

She’s tough, she’s talented, and she might be taking over a salon — or a gay nightclub — near you. Winner of the “fan favorite” award on season 1 of Shear Genius, Tabatha Coffey now gives business makeovers to struggling salon owners as host of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover on Bravo, which airs the show’s second season finale on Tuesday, January 12. Preparing for a special appearance at New York’s Splash on Thursday, January 7, the Australia-born Coffey called from her own salon, Industrie Hair Gurus in Ridgewood, N.J., to cut up with Advocate.com about stereotypical gay stylists, unsolicited sperm donors, and the Boystown salon that brought out her militant lesbian claws.

Read the interview by clicking here!

Gay Native Americans Reclaim Two-Spirit Culture

The Navajo used the word “nádleehí” to describe people who embodied both masculine and feminine traits. They were among the hundreds of Native communities that celebrated and revered tribe members who lived outside binary male/female restrictions. As today’s Native communities fight to revitalize the culture that was beaten out of them, gay and transgender Natives are reclaiming this aspect of their ancestry by identifying as two-spirit –- a unifying term that serves as a catch-all for the many variations of sexuality and gender identity.

Two-spirit people were seen as a gift in Native American culture, viewed as a third gender with a heightened spiritual connectedness and a significant role to play. However, the forced Western colonization injected tribal communities with strong anti-gay attitudes that, for the most part, continue to reign supreme today. As two-spirits try to reclaim their historical culture, it is vital for the LGBT community to start paying attention to history as well.

More at: Gay Rights – Change.org!

A Letter to the Editor – Are We All NOT Equal?

I’m not sure of the true value of this medium, yet my activist nature compels me, and after some thought, I decided I too had something to contribute.

In many ways, I know am deficient in the use of this media, technical and otherwise. But my hunger and thirst for news, and information about the state of the LGBTQ communities led me to the blogosphere, and has led me here, attempting to somehow make a difference. For what I did find in my journey, here left me cold, and a bit mortified.  You see, I found so many of them (LGBT sites) lacking in content.  I found many of them self-serving, elitist and more concerned with the technology and gadgetry than with the people, the stories, and the state of The LGBTQ’s pursuit of equality.  In the end, I found a great deal of the discrimination we face comes from within the community itself.

Other sites are what I call “the desktop activist”.  They calculate my worth, and yours, based on how many causes have been contributed to, awarding points, and inclusion to their country club site by how many degrees you had all the while ignoring your concerns or questions if you hadn’t met the unwritten, yet, quite apparent, membership requirements.

Some sites are of the blogger-activist variety only engaging you, basing your worth on you being a fellow blogger and or participating in the same news/blog feeds. What did all of this tell me? That many of the sites never stopped to consider the lesser advantaged of our community.   They never stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, they should try being activist bloggers first, stopping to think, and notice, they were setting themselves apart, creating more divisions and alienating others based on credentials, money, and equipment.

Many sites obviously disregard the fact many under this grand, old umbrella of the LGBTQ community do not have the means, opportunity, or the time to get, have, use, or immerse themselves in this great new medium which is their established criteria.

There are many, like myself, who have hit hard economic times. For many of us, use of the internet only happens if we can get to a public library to file on-line applications to set-up e-mail accounts so we can respond to our inquiries.  We too care about the state of our communities however, and we care to be a part of the community on as many levels as we can.

Many of us can’t access Twitter, or use our phone to become a part of the herd of bloggers who design special codes to signify we are of the right crowd to pay attention to. Many of us have cell phones that are pay-as-you-go, and the minutes are precious as they look for work, or care for sick or dying partners, family and loved ones. Many of us definitely do not have the means to pay for internet and/or text messaging services. I find it lacking at best, and sickening at worst.

So, in a fit and burst of anger and enlightenment, I decided to write this, for if I did not have the right credentials, the right technical/media communications experience, or equipment, I knew that I had the right vision and the experience of a layman, bred and weaned on the values of others first, and self second.  Remember from whence you came, and remember that there are others less fortunate who need your help.

The cultural values of my grandparents and parent’s native land of Mexico are very different from what you may find today.  I look to my grandmother told me how as a small child, a horseman came to her town to deliver food, money, clothing. At the age of 87, that was the memory that stood out in her mind.  She often recalled the day the man on the horse handed her her first pair of patent leather shoes. This was especially memorable as prior, she had no shoes at all. That man, as she learned later, was Pancho Villa. I also look to my Mexican born step-father, taking us to the fields to plant, water, weed, and pick the food that many of you eat every day.  He reminded us every time we eat, we should think of the people that got paid next to nothing as they searched and struggled for a better life.  I also pay homage to the meccas to see Cesar Chavez, and Dolores Huerta out of honor and obligation, showing these heroes our respect.  Watching them come in, not to big halls, or conference centers, but to barns, union halls, and farm camps. Sometimes even getting to sit down and share the feast of tortillas, beans, rice…and if lucky, meat.  Meals made with those same hands that picked the food you eat.  I remember them boycotting our schools in hopes they would implement migrant, and bilingual/multicultural education.

I remember those who served on my local school boards’ Bi-lingual/Multi-cultural Advisory Board, as I, was the first student, to ever serve, as a student, on any of the many school boards’ advisory committees.  I also recall serving on the districts’ Get Out the Vote committees as the only student.  I remember calling, polling, and encouraging residents to pass local millage requests, and all the while, doing so as a sexually confused teenager. I felt scared and lost.  I Suffered ‘beat downs’ from the boy I loved at times, because he could not handle what we did together after he made touchdowns on those cold autumn nights, or scored points in that hot, overflowing gymnasium.  Things we had been doing since early middle school.

But, I persisted. I’ve led and organized local city council campaigns, including one of my own that I lost by a mere 100 votes against one of the wealthier families in town. I have sat on a COMING OUT PANEL at the small, private liberal arts college as a community representative and as a non-degreed employee. I have served on boards, and subcommittees, and spoken locally for youth groups, worked on different county commissioners’ campaigns, even though I never graduated from college, failing miserably for so many reasons, cultural, and otherwise.  All the while, I was keeping my sexuality secret, and I eventually gave in to alcoholism, in a slow quest to kill myself.  I wanted to rid myself of the miserable lie I lived.   I was unable to reconcile my homosexuality with the macho aspects of my culture, yet through it all, I never stopped forgetting there were always those more in peril, more in need, than myself.

Of course I am “out” now, but still struggle.  I have one sister who has ultimately disowned me.  Because of that I have three beautiful nephews that I cannot visit, call, or talk to. Other than her, the rest accept me, even though they still do not know how to talk openly about it. Those in my small town, accept me…maybe not as a gay man, but as a man. The man they know as the person who at times, was the only one out front fighting for them, and their cause.  This is their attempt at inclusion I suppose.  Yet today, in many ways, I am still that man that my community got to know before I came out. For when it is all said and done, I am a man, who happens to be gay.

Today, as I write this, I am still hoping I too can make a difference, from a common man’s perspective. From the perspective of someone who learned the complexities, subtleties, and the nuances of issues, as well as the rough and tumble tactics it takes to be seen, heard, acknowledged and dealt with.  I write this as a person who learned early the politics and the realities of life.  I learned to make sure the ideals pursued never get lost as I continue to question push and speak out.

Yet, I find myself still trying to see the significance of things, and they apply to life.  I still attempt to keep an open mind of how it works, and if it does what it says it supposed to do. Breaking it down per se, testing life’s mettle, in practical and concrete ways.  I will, push you, question you and challenge you. I will ask that you see things in multi-dimensional terms and that you question yourself. I also ask you do the same to me.   I come to you as gay man, asking you to help me keep things REAL.

Sincerely,

Stephen Tabarez  – st.keepinitreal@gmail.com

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