Archive for the ‘coming out’ tag
Amber Heard: Staying in the closet in Hollywood is a “horribly detrimental lie”
Lesbian actress Amber Heard has said people in her profession are dissuaded from coming out in Hollywood and end up becoming part of a “detrimental lie”.The Rum Diary star told Women’s Health magazine: “You can’t respect yourself if you’re afraid to be who you are. It requires bravery to do something no one else around you is doing.“But the risk was outweighed by the possibility of playing into this horribly detrimental lie that some in Hollywood perpetuate.”
via Amber Heard: Staying in the closet in Hollywood is a “horribly detrimental lie” – PinkNews.co.uk.
Zachary Quinto is out
Quinto seems to see himself in transition. He asks if he can record our conversation, for, he explains, “archival purposes … I just find that there’s something about looking back on interviews, whether for purposes of remembering what I said about something or if it’s for posterity when I’m 75 … I find that communication as an actor and person is an important part of who I am … and I’m really drawn into the psychology of those dynamics.
For one thing, he’s willing to unambiguously talk about his sexual orientation. His eight-month role in Angels was both “the most challenging thing I’ve ever done as an actor and the most rewarding” he says. Having to inhabit that terrible lost world, if only in his mind, took a toll. “And at the same time, as a gay man, it made me feel like there’s still so much work to be done, and there’s still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed.”
via Zachary Quinto on His Latest Film, ‘Margin Call’ — New York Magazine.
And from his own blog:
when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself – i felt deeply troubled. but when i found out that jamey rodemeyer had made an it gets better video only months before taking his own life – i felt indescribable despair. i also made an it gets better video last year – in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time. but in light of jamey’s death – it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it – is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality. our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country. gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance. we are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. we are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government. i believe in the power of intention to change the landscape of our society – and it is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action. jamey rodemeyer’s life changed mine. and while his death only makes me wish that i had done this sooner – i am eternally grateful to him for being the catalyst for change within me. now i can only hope to serve as the same catalyst for even one other person in this world. that – i believe – is all that we can ask of ourselves and of each other.
Gay people are coming out younger
By 14, Matranga, didn’t want to pretend anymore. So she handed a note to a classmate at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Kenner, scrawled with the words, “Pass it on.”
Inside, she wrote: “My name is Jeannette Matranga. I am gay and I’m proud of it. If you have any questions or comments, meet me at the second tree during second lunch.”
Gay Resumes Get Fewer Calls
There’s a school of thought that it’s best for everyone to come out in every part of their lives since that’s the only way things will advance, although I’ve noticed that proponents of that tend to have jobs where being queer is an asset (like working in LGBT media). I remember going to a certain straight person’s lecture and being told that everyone should come out, and if they lose their job, well, don’t worry, you didn’t want that job anyway. She was married to an oil exec and never worked a day in her life.
Fascinating piece on a study that shows resumes with obviously LGBT affiliations get called 40% less than those without. And commentary on what it means to be out and why that’s a decision we need to make for ourselves.
I’m out at work (as are many people I work with) and it’s a real privilege to be able to be.
American soldier comes out to his mom and dad, on video
So Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is history. This is what that means:
The second video is considerably harder to watch than the first. His mom starts quoting the Bible.
Telling his Dad
Telling his Mom
Red Tape Day
This story was submitted to us online by Jesse.
Most people are born with none to very little baggage; I was born with a sack of it. I came out of the womb covered in red tape. June 4th 1992 is the day I like to call the “Red tape Day”, But you can just call it my Birthday. But this story starts before that, nine months to be exact.
My biological mother, “Robin” was a prostitute among many other things. Adopted when she was a baby she never knew her real parents. Her grandfather raped her when she was a child, so she continuously ran away from home. She ran away to a little town in South Carolina called Loris, but I’d prefer to call it Home. She met a boy there by name of Eddie. They started dating, and she became very good friends with his mom, Mary, The woman that I call my mother. Well she was found a few months later and token back home. Many years later my mother met a man in Boone NC, and he got her pregnant. The baby was promised to his mother, my biological grandmother. But one day my grandmother came home and caught her drinking while she was pregnant with me, and they got in to a fight and she left. She called up Mary (my mother) and told her she was pregnant and didn’t have anywhere to go. At this time Eddie was in jail for armed robbery and kidnapping.
American politician, Rashad Taylor, comes out
Georgia state Representative Rashad Taylor acknowledged he’s gay after a man accused him of sexual misconduct.“I’ve spent the last few days with my family and my friends and my pastor. I needed to sit down with them and tell them what I’ve come to tell you and my constituents. And that is that I’m a gay man,” Taylor told reporters on Friday at a news conference organized by the gay rights group Georgia Equality.
Half of me wants to comment that this should no longer be a press conference-worthy event. But the other half of me thinks it’s tragic it took this before he could tell his family and friends.
Jared Max, ESPN radio host, comes out
At age 37, Jared Max came out on his New York sports radio show yesterday. He came out to his mother 16 years ago, and has been out with close friends and family, but not professionally.
You can listen here. It’s 7 and a half minutes worth listening to as he talks about recent sports figures who’ve come out and given him the courage to do so too.
Are we ready to have our sports information delivered by someone who is gay? Well we are gonna find out. Because for the last 16 years, I’ve been living a free life among my close friends and family, and I’ve hidden behind what is a gargantuan sized secret here in the sports world. I am gay. Yeah. Jared Max. The sports guy who is one of the most familiar faces in New York sports isn’t quite like the majority. And while you already knew I was a little different, this might help make sense of it. But more so, I’m taking this courageous jump into the unknown having no idea how I will be perceived…
transcript via Towleroad
I’ve always known I was gay…
I’ve always known that I was gay. Well before I had even heard the word, or knew its full implications. I never believed it to be wrong, how could love be so? But growing up in a small country town in Australia with a combination of conservative Catholic parents and religious schooling, I knew it was a difference I had to keep secret. Back then, there were no openly gay people or role models to be seen. I felt very alone. Sometimes I wanted to tell people close to me what was going on, but I remained absolutely terrified, fearful of being rejected and losing them.
I was a shy kid, not naturally inclined or interested in sport. That was always going to be a problem at school. I was one of those kids who wanted to believe no one knew the truth, meanwhile I was pressed against the glass doors of my self-imposed closet like a big gay butterfly for all the world to see. Sensing that, they quickly closed in. Though I was generally a good student, my school years increasingly became something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Constant homophobic taunts rang in my ears. In the last few years of secondary school, the new AIDS epidemic hit the world. The initial highly homophobic backlash that came with it only pushed me even further into that closet, and raised my fears.
Coming Out on YouTube: Kevin Challender
He finally admitted to himself that he was gay. It left him lonely and depressed.
“I felt like I would never, ever be in love,” Challender said.He thought about suicide, and developed a stutter. He felt so awful and fearful in public restrooms, he’d cross the street to use a bathroom.
By his junior year, however, he was able to talk with friends about it, and they were supportive. He started to accept being gay and told his family.
Today as an 18-year-old senior, Challender has taken a bigger step, telling his story publicly in a video posted two weeks ago on YouTube as part of the national “It Gets Better” Project.
Out of the closet, onto YouTube – A gay Bozeman teen shares his struggles – The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: News.
