Wednesday, September 14, 2011

New Music: Nakia Henry

Hey,

Check out this sister's video and page. Her name is Nakia Henry and she's FIRE!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q2oPL2os4M

Here's her site.
http://www.nakiahenry.com


And follow her on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/NakiaSaid

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Marriage Equality in New York




I'm feeling a range of emotion as I sit here and write this blog on this Gay Pride morning. It takes me back to a time many moons ago when I was this skinny little girl from the Bronx who dared to loc her hair,wear ripped jeans and combat boots while riding the subways of New York City, wanting to clutch her more dominant looking female lovers hand to taunts of "go wash your hair," or "what's up with your jeans?" It was about as daring as we could get for fears that we would be "figured out" and what one might perceive to be an innocent 'taunting' would turn into a full-fledged gay bashing. Despite these perceived threats, I remember not wavering from some form of righteous self-expression that in my eyes and my partners eyes, fell short of actually publicly coming out.

Fast forward some twenty years later. Times are changing. This week, we've witnessed another milestone for LGBTQ rights - New York has legalized gay marriage. It is a monumental occasion and an important one. That we've received the basic human right to marry the person that we love. Although many of us will be 'dancing in the streets' this afternoon in celebration, although many will be proposing to their partners, and a plethora of wedding announcements will begin to invade our in-boxes and snail mail and will become a way of life for us, we also know the fight for civil rights for our community still continues.

Regarding marriage, the protection of same sex couples and families is tremendously important. However, many are not aware that state passage of same sex marriage is limited and that DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act is what we truly need for our relationships and families to be recognized on a federal level. For many, to marry is a symbolic act but their are financial/economic implications one should be aware of. I suggest you google Tara Siegel Bernard's NYTimes piece entitled "How Gay Marriage will Change Couples Financial Lives" published June 24th for the details. You will discover that the fight for same sex marriage still has a distance to go for "Full equality."

But it's progress. My partner and I will most certainly "walk down the aisle," to prove our loving bond to each other. And we will take solace that our relationship will be recognized as one baring little difference to the relationships of our married, heterosexual friends. Our son, our family will be protected in ways they weren't before. This doesn't reduce the significance of living wills and trusts everyone. Remember Terry Schiavo. One can never have too much (legal) protection.

However, let's not rest on this victory when there is so much work to be done. As New York fought hard to push marriage equality through, there was a major push back from religious organizations actually fighting for the right to continue discriminating against us. This is beyond priceless when the Catholic Church continues to suppress a legacy of priests practicing pedophilia within ranks. Temples and synagogues attempts to police itself on similar allegations and the tithes of black churches are going to pay the victims of closeted preachers of mega churches. So its tantamount that faith-based communities join forces with LGBTQ organizations to meet some of these challenges head-on in an open and honest dialog. Because their refusal to acknowledge and deny our existence within and outside their organizations is at the height of hypo-criticism.

Challenges within the Workplace, International Rights and Immigration, the Military, Parenting, Hate Crimes, Coming Out, Youth, Aging, Health, Trans-gender issues remain big ticket issues for us, not to mention the sometimes illusive presence/inclusion of people of color within the framework.

So, let's celebrate with love in our hearts and minds. But let's also remember our struggle for civil rights continue. And a huge victory such as what New York has achieved this week will give us incentive that achieving our collective goals can happen. It also reminds us that our dreams are indeed possible in our lifetime.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Opening up 2011 on the "Wide Open" Seas






I started the New Year with a vacation. There were a few reasons for the timing but one of the biggest reasons was that I found a remarkable deal on a 10-day cruise leaving from New York City.

I’ve traveled quite a bit but this would be my second cruise. The first was some fifteen years ago and one word to describe it would be forgettable. But this time would be different. My research was exhaustive. There is a plethora of information available online about cruising to the point it was almost overwhelming; however, I found a site that was not only comprehensive but it also had a message board for a variety of communities, including a fairly active board for its LGBT members. So the spoiler here is – this blog posting is NOT about my marvelous Caribbean adventure but more about a posting I responded to on this LGBT message board.

This board was incredibly resourceful. And for someone fairly new to the “cruise world,” it was beyond helpful with respect to all the areas it covered – from what to take and how to pack, to which cruise lines were more gay friendly, the difference between gay/lesbian cruise lines versus the alternative to what destinations to consider. Things were fine until the destination question popped up and there was considerable discussion about the island of Jamaica.

We all know that the world is not free from homophobia. And Jamaica has had its share of the spotlight due to its roster of reggae artists whose lyrics are rift with homophobic sentiment to a rash of violence inflicted upon its own alleged LBGT citizens. So I was not surprised to see the topic was raised on this message board regarding how unsafe the island was to LGBT tourists. Many spoke of their uncomfortable experiences while at port – everything from taunting and verbal humiliation to one poster suggesting that “a female prostitute grabbed his crotch.” While I agree that Jamaica is not the friendliest destination to those of us in the LGBT community but I was taken aback by the vitriol of some of the postings - for example, one poster made an off-color comment about Rastafarians and their “scent” and dare someone mention that their own experiences on this Island nation were far more pleasant than others. Clearly, Jamaica is not alone in its sheer ignorance with it's continued legacy of discrimination that seems to go unchallenged. And I felt that I had to post my own personal feelings on the subject:

With respect to the deep seated discrimination and homophobia within Jamaica specifically and what was suggested in other regions of the Caribbean - I am in complete agreement that these areas should be avoided and these countries should not benefit from "gay $$$" until some high level corrective action is taken in safeguarding LGBT tourists but also, measures should be taken and enforced to protect the rights of their own LGBT citizens. The taunting and harassment experienced by LGBT tourists is not as severe as the treatment experienced by the natives/citizens of these countries - treatment that often ends in the violent rape of lesbians and trans-gender individuals but also the murder of LGBT citizens - crimes that are rarely investigated/rarely prosecuted. Although this fact is obvious to some of us - it only serves to remind as that as US citizens - the fight to eradicate this type of persistent behavior through the years has been largely successful in this country with quite a distance to go I may add - however, the war to do so in other areas of the world, specifically in developing nations, is in its infancy (code word here: 'developing') and dare I mention the word “colonized” nations.

Sadly, discrimination is not something easily fought/eradicated and is something rather complex. I remember "coming out" back in the eighties and although I understood then that the great US of A wasn't necessarily the most accepting place for many, women and blacks specifically along with other groups who continue to fight for basic human rights. The homophobia I would face within my own community was another daunting issue inside of a community that was having its own growing pains just a couple of decades after the civil rights movement. But what I wasn't prepared for was the discrimination within the LGBT community itself and when I say discrimination I am speaking distinctively about racial discrimination. That was something I will never forget whether it was something as superficial as an awkward visit to a gay/lesbian bar to not seeing myself reflected in gay publications, literature, media, art etc. These days when the 'community' speaks of diversity, it is referring to Bears versus Chelsea/Muscle Queens versus Drag Queens versus economic/class differences versus political preferences, etc - often not necessarily referring to racial or gender diversity. Apologies for being long-winded but in other words, what I'm trying to say is no group is exempt from prejudice/discriminating/discrimination - and this is a somewhat vicious reality. What's going on in Jamaica needs to stop - without question - and threatening this nation by not giving them the “gay dollar” is not nearly enough because trust me, they wouldn’t miss it. But it’s been over twenty years since my coming out and although some things have improved for many within the LGBT community - to me it's obvious that some things remain the same for others.