GAYLETTER

The ignorant, arrogant, moronic, privileged, attention-whore Lucian Wintrich is taking his #daddywillsaveus #twinksfortrump “art” show bullshit to BK this weekend — they are even having an after-party/pro-Trump celebration. I mean, where the fuck are the parents of this kid? Of course we can all chose to ignore this event, but it’s a bit hard to ignore it when it has become such a talked about thing. I mean Trump might not hate gay people, but the party he is a head of is clearly anti-LGBT. Some of you might think it’s best to not even discuss this and ignore the stupid kid, but I think it might be also nice to show up there and protest and hopefully close down the event. We also heard that the kid is exhibiting some images of these “twinks-for-Trump” without their consent, so that also means that he’s pretending that all of these kids are pro-Trump, when I know that many of them are not.

Pablo Torres posted this on Facebook about the protest: “I think any action is valid. I find it difficult to accept staying at home while they are partying and celebrating what they call art. I work on myself to accept any form of expression, but it all changes when one of the leaders of the exhibition publicly attacks people of color and uses our vulnerabilities to turn LGBTQI people against each other.” The artist Gio Black Peter has a different, but equally valid point: “these talentless hacks feed on attention — best fuck you is to ignore them and their event — a better protest is to spend your time making anti-fascist art that promotes queers, women, people of color, trans lives…” Another boy Damon Stang, also had a good point: “shaming the venue online might be a very interesting strategy though…” I’d say we can take some action and stop or interrupt this event, maybe just bringing a few anti-Trumps signs, just avoid any physical altercations. …

Last night, my date at Rosie’s in the East Village shared his appreciation for the restaurant’s copious amount of unisex bathrooms. I think he said something like, “it makes sense, especially in New York.” He was hinting at downtown’s inability to function within the gender binary, but little did we both know that in New York it is required that single stall bathrooms be unisex! Which, if you drink like me, is amazing, because that line always looks daunting… but it hustles!

Kristin Russo at Everyone Is Gay, an LGBTQ youth organization, says, “taking those gender markers off of single-stall restrooms creates more comfortable and safer spaces for transgender and gender nonconforming people, as well as more accessibility for caretakers,” which is why her campaign with musician Allison Weiss called OUR Restroom (One Unisex Restroom) is incredibly necessary.

When someone’s got to go, they got to go. That’s what that old people bladder commercial says. It’s not right that some essentially lose that option completely when out in public, when they’re probably just trying to have a grand old time with their friends.

OUR Restroom “is working to help educate businesses as to the importance of taking gender markers off  of single-stall restrooms.” Of course some people will not have such an easy time completely losing the strict binary society has set up, but campaigns like OUR Restroom are so, so important to support, as they’re the ones doing the heavy lifting and educating those who have reserves or false information. …

I’m just so upset. My hashtags on Facebook feel stupid, but they help with combating any other bullshit that wants to be on my feed today. It is important that black lives matter drowns out everything else on the Internet, especially today. People of color are literally dying while in the process of trying to be heard. A man was murdered in front of his four year old daughter and girlfriend. This is irreversible. This is not right.

I have several links open on Chrome, each one reporting the same atrocities America calls familiar. “I think he was just black in the wrong place,” Philando Castile’s mother said. This is the basic, terrible truth. What else is left to be said, really? It’s not safe to be black in America. These stories — Alton Sterling, Philando Castile — prove this yet again.

But some people still want to rebuttal this fact. They want to partake in some kind of shallow defensive where the dead are criminalized and placed on the offensive, placed in the wrong. If these men who die in savage ways are so wrong, then why is this officer who shot Philando Castile “four or five times” while he reached for his wallet not? Tell me: what is right in that sentence? Why am I watching a man get murdered in a parking lot? Why are some people still not seeing things fucking clearly?

Until black men stop dying, there will be “no justice, no sleep,” as activists in Minnesota have taken to chanting. …

Gay bars are important to the queer community. One in particular, The Stonewall Inn, is where the modern gay rights movement started. Please enjoy our 360 visit to the Inn, with commentary from Tree, who has worked there, on and off, for 47 years. He was there in 1969, on the night the bar was raided, and the patrons decided to finally fight back.

Please congratulate the bar on it’s designation by our President Barack Obama as the first National Monument to LGBTQ rights.

Check out the 360 video we made with a Samsung Gear 360 camera.  …

My own personal mantra is: language does everything. It will heal, it will inspire, it can hurt, it can mold.  Poet Claudia Rankine writes, “[S]omeone asked the philosopher Judith Butler what made language hurtful. I could feel everyone lean forward. Our very being exposes us to the address of another, she said. We suffer from the condition of being addressable, by which she meant, I believe, there is no avoiding the word-filled sticks and stones of others.” This addressability is at the center of each of us, and though we are so physically different, our ability to assess and feel language, which can delineate any space, is what helps, in times like these, spread empathy and compassion throughout communities. Words, be they spoken in French, Spanish, Creole, Mandarin or English, carry weight that must be respected. Our ability to understand language will never go away. Language in any form will always be able to bring people together in times of need. Words mean things.

Today, when the LGBTQIA+ community’s collective heart is tender to the touch, it’s essential that we come together as one; to remember, uplift, soothe, and above all else, love each other. Today in the lovely Sheep’s Meadow, poets from all over the world are coming together to bring the magic of a nightclub into their vigil space for our brothers and sisters lost in Orlando. Including some of our GAYLETTER friends, Erin Markey, Slava Mogutin, Justin Syre, Joseph Keckler, Geraldine Visco, Xena Stanislavovna Semjonová, Stephen Boyer and many more hope to share their words with you. …

At times like these it’s easy to lose hope. Yesterday’s attack was astounding in it’s brutality. However when I feel myself falling into despair I always remind myself of this stupid, yet insightful scene from Terminator 3 (bear with me). In this particular scene the Terminator has come to rescue a young John Connor, as he is chocking on tear gas. John tells the Terminator to just leave him. He has given up. He hasn’t accepted what his mother had told him his whole life, that he is “the one,” the leader of the resistance who will save them all from the robot army. The terminator, registering his state of despair, grabs John by the neck, and lifts him off the ground:

John Connor: Just leave me here. I’m not the one you want. You’re wasting your time.

Terminator: Incorrect. John Connor leads the resistance to victory.

John Connor: How? Why? Why me?

Terminator: You are John Connor.

John Connor: Christ! My mom fed me that bullshit since the cradle! Look at me! I’m no leader! I never was! I’m never gonna…

John Connor: [is choked by Terminator]

John Connor: Let go!

Terminator: You’re right. You’re not the one I want. I’m wasting my time.

John Connor: Fuck you, you fucking machine!

Terminator: [releases John] Better.

John Connor: What, you were just dicking with me? …

My favorite thing about the African anti-gay movement: getting to hear Nigerian President and full-time bigot Goodluck Jonathon’s name. Amazing, I want to be called Goodluck. My least favorite thing: everything he has to say. Seriously, the situation is dire and only getting worse, particularly in places like Uganda where Anti-Homosexuality legislation has been signed into law by President Museveni. LGBT organizations are being raided, gay men and women are being forced out of schools and hospitals, tabloids are shaming “known homosexuals,” and simply being gay now carries a 14-year jail sentence. For all this, queer Ugandans can thank US religious groups, who were apparently not content with simply fucking up their own country.

Roeben Beddeleem, a Belgian artist working out of Montreal, is speaking out on the issue. Along with Jason Cantoro, he’s transformed the striped flag of Uganda into the LGBT rainbow flag, and has silkscreen printed 50 copies. Actually — make that 49, after they sent one to Ugandan President Museveni. BURN.

You can purchase one of the remaining prints, with all proceeds going to Amnesty International Canada who work with LGBT organizations in Africa who need direct support. It’s just a small gesture, but it could mean a lot for our Ugandan friends.

To learn more about the project and purchase a print, visit aflagforuganda.com …