June 2009 Archives

Forty years ago, LGBT people rioted at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City to protest harassment by the police.

During the LGBT Pride March on Sunday, June 28, I was among the million or so people cheering on the LGBT employee police group. That's a tangible measure of how far we have progressed.

We all know that there's much more to be done to attain full civil rights for LGBT people, but for this moment I want to focus on the upside. There was much to celebrate on this 40th anniversary. Even HIV/AIDS had an upside during the event.

There was the traditional somber moment of silence for those who have died from HIV/AIDS, but the floats sponsored by amfAR and Bailey House (pics attached of both, including my finger in the Bailey House pic) gave the crowds a message of hope.

They also provided much needed visibility for a disease that too many LGBT people think is over.

In commemoration of National HIV Testing Day on June 27, the Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA) relaunched latinoaids.org, its main website. It's a great improvement from their old website.

"Latinos are accessing the Internet in record numbers and our new website is a powerful tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Dennis de Leon, LCOA president, in a statement. "We invite everyone to visit our beautiful new website and share this resource with your entire network and contacts."

New features include: a more robust search engine; a monthly column by Dennis de Leon; an "Ask the Expert" section for medical questions; daily news updates from kaisernetwork.org; data and statistics on Latinos and HIV; and weekly polls.

Launching the redesigned website is the first step for LCOA to increase its online presence. The second step will be the launch of a Spanish-language website in August 2009.

I was asked quite unexpectedly last week to be a guest on "Talk of the Nation" on National Public Radio (NPR) to discuss coming out as gay and HIV positive. One of their researchers liked the article ("Coming Out Again") that I had written for POZ about my story and contacted me to participate.

I was on vacation in Maine with my boyfriend, but they needed me to get to an NPR affiliate station for a professional sound (i.e., no cell phone). Although we drove over an hour each way to get there, interrupting my vacation was a small price for the opportunity to share my story with a general audience.

The local NPR affiliate was close to what I expected it to be--humble yet impressive. The studio had no bells and whistles, but it didn't matter much after the headphones and microphone were in place. Before I knew it, the segment was over.

During the segment, Neal Conan, the host, also interviewed the Rev. Irene Monroe, coordinator of the African American Roundtable at the Pacific School of Religion and a syndicated religion columnist. It was an honor to share the spotlight with her, the callers and the people who sent emails. I hope sharing all of our experiences made an impact.

Most of the listener comments on the NPR website were supportive, but not unexpectedly there are comments from people who have issues with LGBT people. Here's one that raised my blood pressure:

"This is largely lavender propaganda from the so called 'balanced' and tax funded NPR. It's unrebutted, unchallenged and unbalanced. The opposing side of the ideological debate hasn't been given equal time and won't be afforded an opportunity in the future for their perspective. So much for tolerance. NPR is simply trying to normalize homosexual behavior."

NPR is a news organization and its editorial coverage is decided by its editors. NPR editors it seems in this instance determined that "the opposing side of the ideological debate" is not an opposing side but instead a side that society increasingly does not consider valid. Under those circumstances, "equal time" is not merited.

Click here to listen to the NPR interview and read listener comments.

Advocacy works, even in journalism. Chris Crain, a well-known former editor of LGBT publications and the founding author of the Citizen Crain blog, provides fresh evidence.

He took a months-long break from his blog, but has since returned. Here's an excerpt of a recent post by Crain:

"I had to smile when I read a post welcoming me back to blogging from a somewhat unlikely source: Michael Petrelis. It was something of an understatement for Michael, a longtime gay, AIDS and human rights activist, to write that we have had 'a sometimes adversarial acquaintance over the years.'

"I still differ with him on his methods at times, as well as on substance occasionally, but then and now Michael was at times spot-on in his criticism. I particularly took to heart his complaint that we should never do a story about HIV/AIDS without at least one quote from someone living with the disease, and I worked with the reporters to make it something of a rule for our coverage."

If Petrelis hadn't applied pressure on Crain, then the result arguably could've been less fair and accurate coverage of HIV/AIDS in the LGBT media.

I encourage us media types to use that advocacy tool on our own publications. For example, I don't see anything unethical with reporters making a case to their editors for more inclusive HIV/AIDS stories.

Journalists aren't activists, but I don't believe there's anything wrong with us advocating for better journalism.

President Obama on Monday, June 1, released a statement proclaiming June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It's an inspiring proclamation for LGBT civil rights, including "supporting civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples" but not marriage.

He sidestepped the marriage debate, but Obama did include HIV/AIDS in his proclamation:

"LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic ... We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States."

This proclamation makes up a little bit for his removal from WhiteHouse.gov of promises made to the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities. In this document, Obama yet again makes sweeping promises to the LGBT community and one major promise to the HIV/AIDS community, which is to reduce the number of HIV infections ("providing care and support services" is already arguably being done, even if most likely there will be less funding for that care and support).

It's up to all of us to make sure that he delivers.

The Bi Writers Association (BWA) on Saturday, May 30, hosted the inaugural National Summit on Putting the "B" in LGBT at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City.

The all-day event was an impressive gathering of bisexual people and allies. Bi people from all walks of life were represented in the audience and on the panels, including activists, authors, journalists and politicians.

Sheela Lambert--founder of BWA and the event organizer--invited the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) to send a representative for the closing plenary. As VP of print and new media for NLGJA, I gladly volunteered. I have always believed that all of us under the LGBT rainbow should be each others allies.

The event consisted of the following five panels:
Opening Plenary - Putting the "B" in LGBT
Bisexuality: Exploding the Myths
Community Panel: Telling Our Stories
Crafting the Message: How to Put the "B" in LGBT
Closing Plenary - Putting the "B" in LGBT: How Can We Do a Better Job?

The last two panels tackled the subject of fair and accurate coverage of bisexual people.

Joshua Lynsen of the Washington Blade led the Crafting the Message panel. He went through examples of good and not-so-good coverage. He also took us through the BWA media guide, which included interesting tips that would be more inclusive and accurate.

Tips included the suggestion of using "LGBT rights" versus "gay rights"; "same-sex marriage" versus "gay marriage"; "same-sex couples" versus "gay couples"; and other things such as not assuming someone's sexual orientation based on the gender of his or her current partner.

Lynsen also called NLGJA out on the issue of our name not being as inclusive as it could be. Representatives from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) also shared in getting that criticism. It's a legitimate critique, which should be considered.

A running theme throughout the day was countering the myth that bisexual people fuel the spread of HIV (i.e., the so-called "down low" phenomenon). As part of my talk during the closing plenary, I made sure to add my two cents to further dispel this myth. It's one of the few instances that bisexual people are mentioned in the mainstream media, so it's an important issue.

By the end of the event, I was genuinely moved. The personal stories that were shared throughout the day of the struggles of bisexual people sensitized me not just intellectually, but emotionally. I consider myself a progressive. But if I have room to grow on my understanding of bisexual people, then I suspect many of us have work to do on this front.