Teen’s Transgender Body
I don’t like linking to anything in the Huffington Post because they are known to publish some pieces from authors without compensation. It’s perfectly legal. The idea is that if you write something for Huff Po and get it published it will help promote you as a writer. I usually go blank on Huff Po for that reason, entirely. It’s not because of the writers, it’s because Huff Po can well afford to pay contributors at least something.
In any event, sometimes I come across an article in Huff Po that’s too good and relevant not to share, and I think this is one of them. It talks about the insulting questions transgender teens…and people…are often asked that are so personal it’s cringe-worthy. Every time I hear someone ask a transgender person a question like this I want to punch something.
The bodies of all my children are off limits, of course. But since my youngest came out as transgender, I’ve observed an unsettling phenomenon: Trans people are treated as though being trans carries with it an obligation to accept intrusive, highly personal questions about their bodies — questions that are never posed to or asked about cisgender folk (that is, those whose gender identity aligns with the sex assigned to them at birth). The sense of entitlement with which these questions are asked implies that anyone and everyone has the right to know what is going on underneath a transgender person’s clothing, and this includes transgender teenagers and children. Pretty messed up, right?
Side note: In all fairness, Huff Po is not the only publication that does this with writers. It seems to be a trend these days…work for nothing and get kicked in the ass.
Alexander O’Neal and Perez Hilton
I posted about Celebrity Big Brother in the UK the other day, and mentioned Perez Hilton who is one of the house guests this season. Well, as with all former posts about Big Brother in the US and UK, here’s another one about homophobia and homophobic slurs against a gay man. I’m not going into detail about this right now, but I don’t blame the show. It’s actually a fairly good indicator of how people really think…sad as this may be.
Last night, viewers saw O’Neal call Hilton a ‘faggot.’
‘You’re going to sit there with that silly ass faggot look on your face!’ said O’Neal, after Hilton blew him kisses and followed him around the house.
‘I know exactly what you’re doing, you know exactly what you’d get in America. You’re taunting me.
‘You are coming over here, you following me. How could Big Brother let you do this? Oh wait, you are Big Brother. You are not going to say one word?’
Hilton later broke down in tears saying he did not feel safe in the house with O’Neal and other housemate Katie Hopkins, who he is clashed with too.
Unfortunately, it’s Perez Hilton and I can’t think of anything worse in the world than being locked up in a house, hidden from all outside communication, with Hilton for three fucking months. But just because he’s annoying and a pain in the ass doesn’t give anyone the right to fling homophobic slurs in his face. When they do it to him they do it to all of us.
Stay tuned for more. I’m sure this won’t end soon. The rest is here.
Colin Farrell on Same Sex Marriage in Ireland
I like almost anything Colin Farrell is in, but I think one of my all time favorite Colin Farrell films was A Home At the End of the World. I love the novel, too. If you haven’t read it, I highly suggest you get the book as fast as you can. It’s one of the classics on my personal list.
Even though, as far as I know, Farrell is straight, he’s embarking on a campaign in his native country of Ireland to help make gay marriage legal.
Hollywood actor Colin Farrell is slated to persuade his country to support same-sex marriage by discussing the issue in a TV interview with Claire Byrne to be aired on Monday night, reports Goss.ie.
Ireland is set to decide whether it will recognize same-sex marriage in a referendum to be held in early May.
The actor, who stars in the upcoming second season of HBO’s True Detective series, said last year that it’s ‘insane’ his gay brother couldn’t wed his husband Steven Mannion in Ireland. The pair married in Canada six years ago.
Check out the rest here. And if you aren’t interested in reading the book, see the film, A Home At the End of the World. It’s not a romance. It’s a romantic drama. There’s a difference.
