Last year, we filled a 10 foot U-Haul of clothes, coats, shoes and accessories for the Ali Forney Center, who is still distributing those items this winter. For 2010, we are hoping to repeat that success for MCCNY’s Sylvia’s Place. Free catering will be provided and there will be a raffle of some incredible prizes to raise money for transporting the donations to the LGBTQ youth emergency shelter and drop-in. You can also follow the event and RSVP on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=199127447129

Hope to see you all at some of the FANTASTIC events NYU has lined up for Trans Awareness Week. For more information, check out Trans Awareness Week at NYU.

HULK RUN INTO ONE OF FEMINIST HULK FOLLOWERS AT POLLS. HULK IN AWE OF THE BEAUTY AND SMALLNESS OF THE WORLD SOMETIMES. 5:33 PM Nov 2nd via web

HULK DRESS UP AS “REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE COMPLICITY BETWEEN PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION.” SCARIEST THING HULK CAN THINK OF.  8:02 PM Oct 31st via web

HULK SMASH “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” INTO BITS! SUGGEST POLICY OF “PROUDLY TELL, NICELY ASK, + SMASH BULLSHIT HOMOPHOBIA!” 11:40 AM Oct 21st via web

HULK DOWN WITH GENDER PERFORMATIVITY, LONG AS IT CONSCIOUS OF CONSTRUCTION. ESSENTIALIZING IT, HOWEVER, COMPEL SMASH! 10:29 AM Sep 14th via web

ROUNDNESS OF BRUSSELS SPROUTS CHALLENGE PHALLOCENTRIC PARADIGM THAT PRIVILEGE LINEARITY? REGARDLESS, GREEN AND TASTY! Mon Sep 6 12:08:36 2010 via web

You can also read Feminist Hulk’s “SMASH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW” with Ms. Magazine here. (Feminist Hulk also makes me wish all queer theorists and activists could be awesomely concise. If you’re going to use twenty-character words, better make the remaining 120 count!)

Edward Winkleman (of Winkleman Gallery on 621 West 27th St.) writes a “Note to Disenfranchised Gay Democrats” in his awesome, quite popular blog. 

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has issued a new mandate : only five senior officials can expel someone from the military for being gay; all five of these individuals are civilians.

BBC article (potentially problematic?) on forced marriage and its LGBT victims

Attacks in uganda following the publication of names/photos of “outed” individuals

http://www.whitehouse.gov/itgetsbetter Yep, Obama has contributed to the project

along with Margaret Cho, and Google.

To give another example, I offered that same-sex marriage is an issue that is treated as a policy issue. My professor said, “Right, that’s something that currently isn’t given the elevated position of a principle matter” (paraphrased).

That got me thinking. Same-sex marriage is indeed something that is seen on both sides of the line as a state issue since marital determination as a whole lies within the realm of state sovereign power. We fight for it state by state. We talk about it state by state. But given what was discussed in my class, it feels as though policy issues connote lesser importance than principle issues. What do you guys think? Can the problem be approached, or at least discussed, with the lens of a principle issue? Is there no problem with the way we discuss it now?

A (ridiculous) anti-Obama billboard in Grand Junction depicts the president as a gay man, a communist, a Nazi, and a Mexican bandit. The owner of the billboard has not revealed hir’s identity, but the artist who helped create the billboard did state, “We wanted to get people to think a little deeper.” (I would heatedly comment on this if I wasn’t afraid to let my subjectivity get the best of me.)

US Defense Secretary warns that an abrupt halt to DADT would have enormous consequences: “I feel strongly this is an action that needs to be taken by the Congress and that it is an action that requires careful preparation, and a lot of training.”

Slate Mag’s “How does the military prove that someone is gay?” Just in case all of you don’t know. Please scroll down to read the comments (always the best part of Slate articles). My favorite is: “”Drill sergeant, sir! You have the piercing blue eyes of a young Paul Newman, sir!” :D

Photographer and lesbian-identified Alix Smith just finished an exhibition at the Morgan Lehman Gallery of “States of Union,” a series of portraits of long-term gay and lesbian couples and families in an effort to counter stereotypes and shed light on diversity in the LGBT community (check out these photos online if you didn’t catch the exhibition).

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns reaches out during a city council meeting: “It gets better.”

James Franco in drag for the cover of Candy? Oh my? Yes please?

A new national sex survey published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine is available for download through this link–just answer a couple questions and you’ll be able to download it to access articles like “Looking at Sexual Behavior 60 Years after Kinsey.”

(And here is Slate’s response to that survey^: “The Ass Man Cometh: Experimentation, Orgasms, and the Rise of Anal Sex”)

Human Right’s Campaign New Yorkers for Marriage Equality–sign the petition and watch Julianne Moore give her reasons + Mayor Bloomberg’s short and to the point argument.

Pride Parade in Serbia attacked by far-right protestors; violence erupts. Last year, the parade was cancelled because of potential violence.

Oh, and God hates ugly skirts.

Oh, and here’s something to keep you going :D Brick Stone v. Westboro Baptists

How does same-sex marriage reflect a narrow model of gay citizenship based on consumption, private domesticity, and homonormativity?

How can we gain legal recognition of a wider range of relationships, households, and families?

How can we separate benefits from martial status to provide access to vital government support programs for all people?

Join us for a panel discussion with the organization “Against Equality,” a queer collective that dissects the logic of the national campaigns for gay marriage and begs us to question what our queerest futures might look like.

This event is free and open to the public. Venue is wheelchair accessible. If you need sign language interpretation services or other accommodations, please let us know as soon as possible.

For more information on all Pride Month events: www.nyu.edu/clubs/pride (or take another look at the gorgeous pride month calendar)

Against Equality
Wednesday, October 6: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Kimmel 602 (60 Washington Square South)

This October 20th is going to be Spirit Day, and to honor the gay boys who’ve lost their lives all you have to do is show solidarity by wearing purple (The color purple from the rainbow flag). This small action doesn’t require any effort or detract from your schedule. And considering we attend NYU, it should be pretty easy to dig up from the bottom of your drawer that NYU Athletics T-shirt your parents bought you after you got accepted to college but have never worn since.

RIP Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Luca