Last November, I posted about Brian Burke, the gruff president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who very publicly supported his gay son Brendan, a hockey player for Miami University. Today I just learned of the sad news that Brendan was killed in a weather-related two-car accident in Indiana Friday afternoon.

My deepest condolences to Brendan's family, who loved him unconditionally.

After the jump, Brian Burke's statement about his son's coming out, and about gay hockey players in general.

Continue reading "In Memoriam: Brendan Burke" »

Above all else, I always try to be a practical woman. Maybe it's my Hoosier upbringing; maybe it's my family's small-business, by-the-bootstraps mentality; or maybe it's just my interactions with money in a time of recession; but I have always thought of things in terms of practicality over all else. Abstract concepts are nice, but there's something about the down, the dirty, and the practical that always catches my attention.

I've seen a lot of brouhaha about the recent tax court decision to make transition-related expenses tax deductible, and to be honest I don't get the uproar. Namely, I read one article in particular here on Bilerico that springboards from the tax court decision into a call to move the transgender treatment and identity from a disease model to an identity model. My primary contention with the position is the assertion that transgender people should be seen as a salient identity instead of a medical condition; thus the tax court decision is a bad precedent that codifies GID as a medical condition, complete with all the issues that come with being labeled as diseased. I disagree with this position; the very foundation of a trans identity - at least in the classical, medical-model sense - is that of a disorder that needs correction.

What's so bad about needing medical help?

Continue reading "All eyes on disordered taxes" »

Each night at midnight, we round up all of the day's posts and send them out to subscribers as the Bilerico Project Report. We only include the front page portion of the post (same as our RSS feed) to keep the e-mail shorter and allow readers to decide faster whether or not they'd like to read the entire article.

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Often we cross paths with someone we never expected to meet who profoundly changes our life. Today was one of those days for me.

Recently we had been contacted by the marketing executive for writer Barbara Benjamin Marcus who developed the book Inside Out; a tapestry of photographs and interviews of drag queens from Key West, New York City, Tampa, Provincetown and Los Angeles. When I first skimmed through the book, I wasn't terribly impressed. I thought the pictures were amazing, but none of the drag queens were extremely stunning and honestly, I didn't delve into the words written between the photographs; until today.

Barbara called me for our interview and at first I was taken back by her impressive quality of storytelling and her deep love for her characters. "You have to understand these are all people on the fringe", she explained, "There is something beautiful in each of them. They feel beautiful. Getting dressed in drag is a big deal. It's expensive. And above all else, it's very personal. This book became a project of love."

Continue reading "A Project of Love" »

The concept of marriage equality has not had it easy in the past few months. Washington DC passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and Washington kept their domestic partner registration, but other states haven't fared as well.

Maine lost at the ballot box after the legislature and governor approved marriage equality. New York's Senate threw a monkey wrench into the works by bucking the House chamber and the Governor to stop marriage equality in its tracks. Same-sex marriage suffered a similar fate in New Jersey.

Last week, a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions passed the Indiana state Senate, but it's expected to die in the House. In Hawaii, lawmakers passed civil unions legislation with a veto-proof majority in the state Senate, but was left to die in the House.

It's like we've gone through the looking glass and weird parodies of real life and fantasy are left swirling around each other. We know the characters but the storylines are so damned nonsensible.

We've got a special treat for Projectors today... Contributor Jeff Sheng has been previewing photos from his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" series on TBP, but now his first book has been released. To help Jeff celebrate the new book, we're going to give a copy to 5 lucky readers.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Volume 1 is the first book from Jeff's DADT series. I've seen an advance copy and it is visually stunning. Since servicemembers photographed for the series could be dismissed for coming out, none of the photos show the soldiers' faces. The names and locations are faked to protect their privacy too.

The photos of the darkened soldiers serving in quiet pain is one of the most disturbing and heartwrenching things you'll ever lay eyes on. You. Want. This. Book.

To win, just leave a comment below. You can only enter once and the contest will close Sunday, January 31 at midnight Eastern time. Retail value is $30, but if you just can't wait a week to see if you've won, the first 500 copies ordered through his site will save $5. (And if you donate some extra coins to the project, he'll autograph your book!)

Photos from the book after the jump.

Continue reading "Contest: Enter to win Jeff Sheng's new photobook" »

Several Bilerico contributors and staff will be at the NGLTF Creating Change conference next week and we'll be featuring our yearly coverage chock full of interviews, reports and gossip - and we're sponsoring six sessions on internet activism. In fact, we love seeing y'all so much, we're hosting a blogger/Twitter reception on Friday night at 8:30 too!

I know many of you are excited about the opportunity to win a free autographed copy of Jeff Sheng's new photobook, Don't Ask, Don't Tell Volume 1, but we had a lot more awesome content like this:

Sunday

Olympics and the coming gender inquisition Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren
The Rector-Rotor Filed by: Gloria Brame Ph.D.

Monday

Orientation labels peel away Filed by: Cassandra Keenan
How did the "Lady Gaga is a hermaphrodite/has a penis" rumor start? Filed by: Alex Blaze

Tuesday

What about the rest of us? Filed by: Sean Kosofsky
A John Edwards sex tape? Filed by: Bil Browning

Wednesday

The Accidental Vegan Filed by: David Castillo
State of the Union on LGBT Issues Filed by: Michelle Marzullo

Thursday

Building Blocks Filed by: Antonia D'orsay
Will faith-based agencies help Haiti's gay community? Filed by: Rev Irene Monroe

Friday

What the DC Agenda Story on ENDA Really Means Filed by: Dr. Jillian T. Weiss
iPad, Menses, and Sexism. Oh My! Filed by: Jason Tseng

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I love this comic.

I'd like to put more words behind that statement, but that sentence is what it really boils down to. Sure, it's not the most artistically astounding webcomic I've featured on this column, and it's not as polished as some other webcomics out there, but that's not what makes this comic charming. In fact, it's the lack of polish that makes this comic so wonderful: it's not pretentious; doesn't attempt to be more than a personal project by the author; and it is very consistent as far as schedules are concerned. (The author, Evelyn Poor, even managed to post comics while recovering from major surgery, which impressed me greatly.) For some reason, seeing the transgender coming-out story fictionalized in such a personal way just never gets old, and Poor does a fantastic job of turning trans stories into a fun-to-read webcomic.

Trans Girl Diaries mostly focuses on Adrian, a young trans girl in college. She lived with her parents until she was thrown out of the house for being trans. She has a group of supportive trans friends at college, as well as a trans girl named Namor who has taken her in while she gets back onto her feet. (Before you ask: yes, the cast is mostly transgender.) The comic then deals with the "how we got here" of their lives, and how they deal with the reactions of family, friends, and strangers. That's it; there's no merchandise page, no calls for donations, no "buy my book" inclinations. It's candid and almost naked in its presentation, which makes it all the more interesting to read.

There's just no better way to put it: it's simple, straightforward, interesting drama. Even better, it updates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - sometimes even more often! - and keeps driving the narrative at a good clip. The comic is still in its infancy, which means you can probably dig through the archives in a half-hour flat. If you have the time, it's well worth a look!

A few samples appear under the cut:

Continue reading "Transgender Comics: Trans Girl Diaries" »

Indianapolis resident Trevor Yager, an openly gay business owner, has been picked by the White House to be the First Lady's guest at tomorrow's State of the Union address. Yager co-owns TrendyMinds, an Indianapolis advertising agency celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.

In 2009 the agency grew by more than 200%, doubled the number of employees and gained 15 new accounts. None of this would have been possible had it not been for President Obama's welcoming climate for small businesses, including the many initiatives under the Recovery Act. The business is an National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce certified gay-owned business.

"I'm very honored to be a part of this. It's a groundbreaking time in our country and I'm proud to be part of that," Yager told me. "This is all possible because we some awesome clients who allow us to be successful. It is very honoring and emotional to be chosen."

The NGLCC submitted Yager's name to the White House as a potential guest. Yager found out Friday evening that he had been picked to the White House guest, but had to keep mum until the formal announcement this morning.

"It was a nerve wracking experience. I wanted to tell everyone," he said.

When it was announced that Indianapolis would be hosting the 2012 Super Bowl, my post about it quickly became the most popular Bilerico-Indiana entry. For obviously intellectual reasons, of course, it still ranks in the top ten each and every single month since it was published.

To celebrate the Indianapolis Colts going to Super Bowl XLIV, I thought I'd celebrate in a similar gay manner.

Ah - that's the sporty spirit. I'm not sure whether I'd call it "hometown pride" or not, but if they actually played football without their shirts on, the Colts would be a lot more interesting. Another more casual shirtless Peyton Manning picture after the jump and a hot Gatorade Rain commercial that features the quarterback climbing out of a football.

Pictures of Peyton Manning with his shirt off are surprisingly hard to find. If you have more, please send them in so I can post them.

Continue reading "Super (Bowl) 2: Peyton Manning edition" »

UPDATE: Senator Merritt just tweeted: "My bill, SB 224 Sexting by Minors just passed committee unanimously."

It's not often that I give kudos to a Republican - especially Indiana state legislators who tend to trend toward the anti-sex religious fundamentalist flavor. My own state senator, Jim Merritt, is trying to lead the state forward into the new era, but so far hasn't seen much traction. Merritt is trying to define "sexting" and find a punishment more "appropriate" for teens busted sending dirty pics to each other. The bill has been tabled in committee "for further study."

SB0224 - Electronic dissemination of indecent material. Provides that a child commits a delinquent act if the child creates, transmits, or possesses a photograph, video, or other material that shows a minor in a state of nudity. Creates a defense to child exploitation, possession of child pornography, and dissemination of material harmful to minors if the defendant is a child, the offense constitutes a delinquent act, and: (1) the photograph, video, or other material does not show a child less than thirteen (13) years of age; or (2) the defendant did not knowingly or intentionally transmit the photograph, video, or other material to ten or more persons.

Continue reading "Sexting: Indiana looks at new law aimed at teens" »

Nethack, like politics, is a humbling game.

Originally released in 1985, Nethack is still among the most uniquely complex games that I have ever had the pleasure to play. It is also the single hardest game I've played; even after a year of bashing my head against its ASCII-drawn walls I can only barely beat the first branch of the Mazes of Menace. It's not entirely uncommon to play the game for years on end without ever beating it - it is just that hard.

Anyone who wants to taste a true exercise in futility should try this game at least once. Starting a game requires memorizing a long list of commands - from (f)ight to (Q)uiver to #pray to #rub - and learning to discern @ from ) from c on the map. (From left to right: your character, weapon, cockatrice.) Once you get those basics down, the game proceeds to drop weapons, potions, scrolls, and other items without telling you how to identify them as blessed, cursed, good, or deadly. And in the ever-likely case that you do die there are no save points in Nethack: death is permanent and swift.

Continue reading "(Net)hacking through the anti-LGBT political climate" »