Good Vibrations Magazine

by Judi B.

Happy Pride month, everyone!! Do you feel oh-so-happy and queer? I do!

Wow, it’s been a month of ups and downs for the LGBT community, so I thought I’d try to capture it all in one little article in honor of Pride Month. It’s funny to think that a certain sexuality that is so very normal to so many people ends up being such a fuss, isn’t it? I mean, really!… after marching in the San Francisco Pride Parade all of it seems so …ridiculous.

If only everyone could experience the joy of walking down a main street in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, surrounded by people of all colors, creeds, shapes and backgrounds, knowing that you’re all there for one reason — to celebrate just being. If only.

I don’t mean to sound hokey, but when you’re made to feel different and bad about something that is just part of you… it can be pretty emotional to experience the exact opposite. Gosh, I love San Francisco!

But, I digress. Anyhow, here goes… June 2006 in my eyes. Hang on, it’s a bumpy ride.

Good News! Holy Cunnilingus… Batwoman likes having sex with women!

Oh yes! Socialite by night, lesbian by late-night (or is it the other way around?), Batwoman returns, carrying her sexuality on her (leather-clad I hope) sleeve.

“We decided to give her a different point of view,” explained Dan DiDio, vice president and executive editor at DC. “We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family. That’s one of the reasons we went in this direction.”

Nice work DC! Between this and the introduction of Callisto and Arclight in the latest X-Men, I now have nerdy super-hero fantasies. Great.

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Bad News! Macy’s in Boston Pulls Gay Pride Display — Boo!

Hey, who gave a small group of conservatives who are known to campaign against sex education and the “homosexual agenda” a degree in window design? Um, that would be nobody. However, when this group complained about the Gay Pride display at the Boston Macy’s, Macy’s crumbled and removed the “offensive” imagery:

“They were male mannequins with enlarged breasts, and one was wearing a skirt,” said MassResistance president Brian Camenker, referring to the gay pride flag wrapped around one figure, cinched with a white belt. “It was really disgusting.”

Oh, Brian! What do you know about fashion, much less the concept of diversity, freedom, equal rights and tolerance?

Macy’s statement: “We believe in diversity, and our customers are very important to us. But (the display) did offend a few of our customers, and we had to reexamine it.”

Imagine me snorting in disgust right here, because I am. Snort! How lame. Oh, and Macy’s… you may want to reexamine your reexamining, because I don’t know if I need to tell you this, but I will: homosexuals buy clothes too. Think about it.

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Good News! U.S. Senate Rejects Gay Marriage Ban!

You’ve got to love the way the New Zealand Press put it: Anti-gay law fell on its face, as expected.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, dealing an embarrassing defeat to President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters Election Day.

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But wait…

Bad News! Conservatives won’t give up the issue!

“We’re not going to stop until marriage between a man and a woman is protected,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

And like my 74 year-old mother says, “Doesn’t this country have other things to worry about? They act like the world is going to end if they allow gay marriage. People need to concentrate on their own marriages. The divorce rate is terrible.”

Amen, mom.

[source] Good News! Kathy Griffin queers up TV and basically makes us laugh our asses off.

Seriously, have you heard her bit about Clay Aiken?

“You guys have to trust me on this one… I don’t care if you don’t like Clay Aiken, I don’t care if you don’t like pop music or American Idol, but when Clay Aiken comes to your town, GO. Go, I am telling you, it is such a spectacle… It is the gayest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m not kidding, the people at Pride Fest down in San Francisco are like ‘We’re f*cked’”.

I love this woman, and love that the gays (she calls them “her gays”) love to love her. So much love!

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Bad News! Homophobia and Intolerance in Poland (and elsewhere)

Last week Poland’s State Prosecutor instructed local prosecutors in five municipalities to launch sweeping investigations into the conduct of “homosexuals” on unspecified allegations of “paedophilia” and gay bars and organizations across the country have recently been closed down.

My mother just got back from Poland a few weeks ago, on a trip to see where her mother was born and where her brother was during the war. It makes me sad that her country, with its tumultuous history, still houses intolerance — in this case, homophobia.

Gay campaigners marching for tolerance and diversity in Romania were hit with violence and protests last weekend in Bucharest and activists in Moscow were attacked at the end of last month after the Russian gay pride was banned.

Bad news, indeed.

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Good News! Westchester County Andrew Spano orders marriage recognition

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano has issued an executive order making the New York county the first in the state to officially recognize gay marriages legally performed in other locales (Massachusetts, Canada, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands). The rest of the NY counties don’t recognize gay marriage because, of course, of its new haircut.

Baby steps, everyone, baby steps… but every little bit helps! And hey, I happen to know someone whose parents hail from Westchester County! So, when I go there to shake the hand of Mr. Spano, maybe they’ll put me up![source]