Gay teens: It gets better.

Oh my gosh!

This video doesn't even come from Austin. But it DOES come from Fort Worth.

I am just so happy this comes from Texas.

When you look around, it's pretty clear that gay rights are the civil rights of our generation. Marriage. Tax breaks.  Don't Ask Don't Tell.  These are the big gay rights issues, the kind you hear about in the media, from both sides of the political spectrum.

But when he talks about being a gay teen, and the bullying he faced back then, Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns addresses something that all of those hot button political issues don't touch.

How much it sucks, as a kid, to have people hate you for no reason.


Isn't that the most moving thing you've ever seen?

Can I tell you guys something?

This is hard to admit.

When I was a Christian in high school, a girl asked me if I thought homosexuality was a sin. And I said yes.

And then, I outlined why.

I wish I could go back in time, and shake my stupid 16-year-old self, and knock some sense into her. I wish I could tell her: "Hey. Guess what. In a few years, half your friends will be gay."

It didn't take long for me to revise my opinion on that whole thing. Christianity and homosexuality, I mean.

But I think those subtle "tsk tsk" attitudes, those under-the-breath comments of disapproval about gay people, those calm, rational arguments from Christians (or, any religion for that matter) against homosexuality -- are far more dangerous than any "GOD HATES FAGS" sign-wielder.

Because we all know those people are clowns. But a supposedly smart 16-year-old, gently telling her friend why gay people are sinners? What if a gay guy or girl at my school overheard me saying that?

That's the kind of thing that'll drive you crazy at night if you're young and gay. "What if she's right? What if I'm evil?"

I'm not a Christian anymore, but I have the utmost respect in the world for straight Christian allies, who rally for gay rights. Oh my God, do we need more of those out there.

If you are one of them, I love you.  I am serious. I think you are about the coolest person in the world, for being something I never could be: A Christian, and a gay rights supporter/activist, simultaneously.

And I love you too, Joel Burns. I love you so much! Thank you for your brave speech, thank you for being from TEXAS and being so vocal about this, thank you for your loving and heartfelt message to gay teenagers. I am so proud of my state right now because of you.

PS. Austinites, here is an awesome list of local resources on this issue, if you'd like to get involved.

A post from GARY!: Happy Pride, Austin.

This post, lovelies, comes courtesy of Austin Eavesdropper's very own music editor GARY!

I hope you find his simple reflections on this song as touching as I did. GARY! and I were having a conversation earlier about the nature of love, and about shame. In our hip, ironic, post-everything world, it is things like Pride Week that remind me how good it feels to genuinely emote. And to say so - without qualification or apologetic quotation marks - when something moves you.

Here's GARY!:


This one goes out to all the gays, queers, lesbos, fags, drag queens, dykes, moes, and everyone out there that gets us and, more importantly, supports us.

I just stumbled onto the remix of an older Chemical Brothers track called “Saturate” that the Stanton Warriors reworked recently. Instead of converting the song into another breakbeat track, they actually included some samples of Martin Luther King quotes. I have no idea why, but the effect is simply astounding.

I gotta say that 50 years later, his words still resonate with anyone that has been witness to any kind of social injustice. And I can’t help getting a little emotional when I listen to this track, because as far as we have come, we still have so far to go.

The only thing I know is that his message is so strong and positive, that one can only hope that eventually everyone will come around and realize that hate has no place in humanity.

You can download the track here.

Happy Pride, Austin.

--Gary

“Remember we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters and not die apart as fools. And so for this to be done, what should we do next? Keep working. Keep struggling. And keep marching. And don’t you surrender.

We are doing something brand new here today. Trying to stop a war before it starts. Trying to slow down the strong to protect the innocent children. Don’t you give up, and don’t you surrender.

Your spirit and faith will be tested. The war machine will give us fierce opposition, but faith can move mountains. And YOU are the light of the world. It’s hope time. Its healing time. Give peace a chance.”

It's Ok To Be Me (Even if I'm a Drag Queen)! - QueerBomb.

It's hard to write this post without getting gossipy.  Because there's an (awesome-sounding) party tonight that is, in fact, born out of a very real controversy. A controversy here in Austin.

So Austin Pride is this weekend, hosted by The Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. It is a two-day event with some MONEY and some extremely well-selected entertainment (Mario Cantone, haaay!) behind it.  This is the 8th year of the festival, and may I just say that after living north of the Bay Area for two years in California, and losing my "Pride virginity" in Los Angeles of all places roughly four years ago with my gay besties, I was thrilled to move back to Austin and see that it HAD a Pride. My little Austin!

However, the official line from Austin Pride is that it is "family-friendly." I.e., no assless chaps. And the subversive, carnivalian, perhaps shocking forms of dress and behavior that come with an assless-chaps-embracing community.

The goal of Austin Pride - again, from organizers - is to be educational, to not alienate, to not scare anybody.

Which I can understand ... sort of. Ross and I were talking about this in the car the other day, and he said: "Well I see their point. They want to be taken seriously."

But that's just the thing. The standards that define "serious" and "silly" in our culture are shaped by heteronormative rules.

(And friends, at SF and Los Angeles Pride, you witness those rules being gleefully broken.  Even though I'm not gay, or a man - though I've sometimes wondered if I might be a sweet gay man inside a woman's body? - that wild anything-goes spirit gives way to some exhilarating celebration. I enjoyed the longest dance party of my entire life at a Paramount Studios back lot that year in LA, a vast sea of shirtless and sweaty pectorals, with me, blond Tolly, happily bobbing away in the center of it.)

"But I know several serious drag queens!" I retorted, to Ross. Which is a lie. All the drag queens I've ever seen, in my life, are hysterical broads. They want to make you laugh.

You're laughing because you begin to see what a made-up thing gender is, where hormones and nature-bequeathed DNA strands stop, and social constructions take over.

Anyway, without getting too off-topic here, a group of queer activists in Austin have organized a "counter-Pride" march and party for tonight: QueerBomb. The idea is to celebrate queer culture in ALL its diverse, eye-popping glory, which I think is AWESOME. 

For context, I give you some Pride background by the Austin Chronicle's Kate Getty, in an analysis she wrote back in 2008:

"The concept of Pride originated out of a riot in Greenwich Village, New York City, June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn to be exact, a speakeasy gay bar. After the events of that fateful evening, Stonewall became known as the place where, for the first time, gays, lesbians, drag queens, and those deemed "different" stood up to the oppression they regularly faced. In 1969, even the simple acts of same-sex dancing and canoodling were enough for search, seizure, and a nice beat-down. Police would raid gay bars on the regular. Queers were sick and disgusting and an easy target. But on that June night, after a day of laying beloved icon Judy Garland to rest, those angry Stonewall patrons pushed back in revolt. The event is cited as the beginning of the modern American LGBT movement. In honor of Stonewall, most communities celebrate Gay Pride in June with locally sanctioned celebrations without the threat of being beaten bloody, thrown into jail or a mental institution, or just plain killed dead."

Kate Messer's also has an article in this week's Chronicle, about QueerBomb, here.

Republic of Austin's Chris Apollo Lynn's insightful, personal post about QueerBomb is here.

And now, I give you tonight's QueerBomb details!:

MARCH: Friday, June 4, 8:30pm (details below)

PARTY: Immediately following march at Independent Studios (501 Studios)

FEATURING: Little Stolen Moments, Christeene, Kings & Things, DJ Jay Jay Booya and DJ Chelsea Starr (of Hot Pants Party fame)

FREE

The march will leave from The Independent and march down 6th, looping back up 7th for the party. Outrageous, gender-bending dress is encouraged.

In the words of one of my buddies (and a QueerBomb ring leader), "let's all look like Xanadu vomited on Sid & Nancy, mmkay?"

(PS: What are YOUR thoughts on Austin Pride and QueerBomb? Would love to hear how you all feel about any and all of it, no matter where you stand. Truly I am trying to take a nuanced viewpoint myself).

Tonight: Drag Queen Bingo

Now seriously - how am I just now hearing about this.

This poster says "Beer and Bingo" - innocuous enough - but trust me, Saffire T. Stone (oh yes, spelled with "ff's!") is emceeing.

Awesome.

Bingo cards = $1 each
Beers = $3 each
7:00pm / Jo's downtown
More details here.