Wednesday, June 26, 2013

#Doma #Prop8 #SCOTUS

Yup those were the three most popular tags on twitter at least at one point this morning. And for the first time there was not a "tell your (insert politician here) to tell the supreme court to rule on....."

That to me was so exciting. I now know that in my lifetime I will be able to get married. I now know that I am valued to the country I live in.

Now I know these decisions will not have that many immediate effects. What it does is say that any state that has approved or will approve same sex marriages can't take it back, ever. And yes DOMA is officially dead. We have the desicion around PROP 8 to thank for this, and in a weird way we must thank prop 8 itself. If prop 8 had never happened, (as horrible as it was), the constitutional debate over same sex marriage would have never entered the legal arena to the scale that it did. However, in today's decision, there is nothing given down that says that the fed govt or the states that don't have SS marriages, have to have them. There is not going to be a law (yet) that forces them too. I feel that the video below definitely explains it right in saying that it sets a moral standard for the entire country that are marriages should be allowed and recognized, but does not technically force any legal change in states that don't have it.

That leads me to the other decision. People in states that do not have ss marriages are going to continue the fight to have there state laws change, and although the moral example the supreme court has set will help their cases, that alone sadly will not win them. However what I believe will help them win the cases is the Tax Desicion. In the next one or two year, or however much time is legally needed to change it, same sex couples who are married in states that allow their marriages will now be allowed to file joint tax returns and receive all equal federal benefits as a hetero couple. In short, the federal govt has to recognize all same sex marriages. The question lies is it fair/constitutional to deny those tax benefits to couples (although unmarried) in other states? (obviously I believe its wrong, but I alone am not going to change the governor of Mississippi's mind).

So that my shpeal/opinion/explanation. I am happy. I am ecstatic. But there is of course still more work to be done. However I believe it will get done a lot faster than previously anticipated because of these decisions. So enjoy NBC's analysis that I have found I believe does it justice and explains it in a way that is understandable. Peace -Sam



Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Friday, June 21, 2013

OUTSpoken: a call for LGBTQ voices

Hello Lovelies! Not that this reaches much of an audience, but I'm still going to talk about what I want to talk about, and that is OUTSpoken, an event about mental health and the LGBTQ community. But before I get to my awkward promo, I want to take a moment to tell you why this is especially so important to me.

1. I'm queer, we aaaaaalllll know that. (<3 all, but esp women)
2. I deal with mental health issues and have been surrounded by others who deal with mental health issues almost my entire life. I have OCD (heavy on the anxiety) and a probable case of Bipolar disorder (if you don't know, I was diagnosed when I was 10) where after 12 years I still have days where I don't believe it, and other days where I'm like "oh yeah, definitely bipolar" (or some variation).

These two things are only a part of my life, they don't define my entire self. However whats important to know is that I saw these as two completely separate until well into my sophomore year of college. Whether I like it or not, in small ways one effects the other and vise versa, and it makes my situation even more unique. for instance:

My psychiatrist is a 75 year old, very old school kind of guy. Not someone I especially like opening up to. He is nice and all, I got stuck with him after my last hospitalization a few years back, and he listens to what I say if I need a dosage change in my meds, which is a major PLUS. Would it be helpful if he knew about my my personal life more? Maybe! I don't know because I've never had the chance to figure that one out. (obviously I know it would be more important for say a therapist to know, of which currently I am not seeing anyone because my insurance SUCKS. with a capitol S. and I'm brooooooookkkkeee).

And that is just one reason why mental health among the LGBTQ population needs to be talked about more, so that mental health professionals can be informed and educated, and there can be more options for us, and we can be comfortable talking to any professional.


On a slightly different note YOUR STORY can help change someones life. When I entered college, I very quickly had a great support system for the gay/queer part of my life. But with the mental health stuff, I felt trapped, like I could talk to no one, except the counselor at counseling services who I saw religiously every week my freshmen year. Even though eventually I found some people I could talk to, I still felt separated from my pride friends because I couldn't tell them, even though I knew they would probably super understanding. All it took was for one girl from pride to share her struggle with depression with m, after she sensed that something was off with me ( I was having a bad week at the time). Seriously just one person saying I know what your going through, I went through something similar is so important and life changing.

After that, I decided that enough was enough, and I wasn't going to hide anything anymore. I wasn't going to compartmentalize my life anymore, which is what many people who face the double stigma do.

So mental health issues need to be talked about. GLBTQ rights need to be talked about. They also need to be talked about together. So come to OUTSpoken; a call for LGBTQ voices, and come share your story!

OUTSpoken
Performance and Workshop
Monday 6/24
6pm, Center on Halsted, (Theater, 3rd floor)
Free or pay what you can, register here (or just come)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VXkhzhmhUzk

Facebook event here https://www.facebook.com/events/390523301053780/?fref=ts

Sponsored by Erasing the Distance, watch the video to learn what ETD does:


Peace -Sam




Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Song of the Week

Song of the week, just a short post keeping it true with everyone. Love is love its all the same. Enough said.
Peace -Sam


Monday, June 3, 2013

Lesbian Films

So I have realized lately that I am semi short on friends who I can talk to regarding certain subjects. We all have those friends, the foodie who is the first person you think of when you find a great recipe or want to go to a new restaurant. Or the friend that you go to when you need advice, because they love to give advice. I mean yes we hang out with these people at other times and for other reasons too, but you know what I mean. Anyways so I feel like (well I know) I used to have one or two friends that I would talk to about lesbian culture, or at least conversations surrounding "that girls hot" and the other person would completely understand, because they were um lesbians, lezbe honest. :) I mean I actually have a good number of gay guy friends, of which I can talk about a whole range of general GLBTQ topics and they'll be happy to chat lightly. However as soon as I bring up a girl (except for the one bi guy), girl problems, lesbians, women, vaginas or anything related to any of those there all like "ew gross, peace out, I got other people to talk to"

Anywho, I've lost touch with a few people over the last year, year and a half, and I watch this film tonight, about lesbians, and I am racking my brain. I gots no lesbian whose gonna wanna listen to me talk about it, or that I am close enough to to tell about it or have that type of conversation without it being akward. So here I am telling you all instead, and if any les or bi girl reads this, feel free to comment ;)

So back to the film, it's called Molly's Girl, came out back in 2011, nothing mainstream, just something I came across under Netflix's Gay and Lesbian Movies section. To be honest, I really was in the mood to watch like a sappy romantic lesbian love story, albeit there are not very many to choose from on netflix, and this film was not really that at all, but I took a gamble. I recognized one of the actresses names, Kristina Valada-Viars but couldn't figure out where I knew it from. it took me a good seven minutes at least of watching this girl before I figured it out. I met her! I could not believe I had met her. Back in early 2012, I went and saw her in a play at the Steppenwolf (for which I truly appreciated her role, it was very good! Play "Time Stands Still") and then I got to meet her when she came and talked to my arts seminar class. Now mind you, there were 5 total students in the class, so I was not staring at a guest lecturer, no we had actual conversations simply about life. I'm a theater girl myself and I don't know why it was so hard for me to make the connection simply because it crossed the line from theater to film. I had only known her in the theater context, and I believe she is pretty successful there, so it didn't cross my mind. I'm glad I did remember though, because it only made me like her acting and her as an actress more. The film, I'd say its cute, its somewhere between okay and good in my book, but thats mostly related to the plot being ehhh. maybe its because it wasn't satisfying what I was in the mood for, and I would have enjoyed it more otherwise. However, I really did like her acting and she made it funny and more enjoyable the way her and the other main character played off each other.

So it wasn't even really that I wanted to gush about her or her acting in a lesbian way I guess. She is very pretty, but in the same way I think many other celebrities and actresses are pretty. It's more that I got stupidly excited over the fact that I had met an actress in a movie I was watching, a professional movie. I mean wouldn't anyone get excited about that? and on top of that it was a lesbian film which just makes it all the more exciting, at least to me. So there's my gush. If you go see any shows in Chicago and happen to catch this girl on stage, your lucky and in for a treat.

Peace - Sam