QC Affirming Diversity

Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves!

01.April, 2009

Lesbian love is nothing new; Sappho was an Ancient Greek poetess who was born on the island of Lesbos. Many of her love poems were addressed to other women and the female narrators in many of her works speak of infatuations and love for various women. The word “lesbian” derives from the island on which she lived and her name is the origin of the word “sapphic”. However, until recently, the idea of one woman loving another, let alone sleeping with another female has been perceived as something either very unusual and rare, or just downright strange. Over the last few years, there’s been a gradual sea-change in regard to the general perception of what being ‘lesbian’ really means. The traditional image of the cropped haired, rather aggressive looking, butch dyke might still apply to some gay women, but now we’re coming out of the closet in our millions and the world can see that actually, in most cases, we look just like the girl next door.

This mass ‘coming out’ is partly due to the proliferation of lesbian-centric resources on the internet; type in the word ‘lesbian’ into any of the search engines and you’ll see a plethora of heavily populated chat rooms, directories, forums and dating sites like PlanetSappho.com which are the exclusive territory of sapphic women. It is this availability of male-free communities that has coaxed so many gay, bisexual and even bi-curious ladies out of their closets and into the open. Also, we now see major cultural icons like Madonna kissing Britney Spears kissing each other full on the lips in front of a television audience of millions which is exactly the right heterosexual seal of ‘cool’ that we lesbians have waited such a long time to see. Over the years, there have been a great many famous lesbians in both film and music but, unfortunately, they were just too frightened to come out and publicly admit it. Now we have Ellen DeGeneres and KD Lang - both of whom have an army of straight, non-judgmental fans.

The outcome of all this is that there is no longer a social stigma attached to the concept of women dating women or straight women experimenting with their sexuality by taking a same sex partner. Gay guys have been doing it for years but now there’s no reason for any woman to feel repressed or uncertain about dating or sleeping with someone of their own sex. Being who we are or want to be is no longer just a possibility, it’s a right and it’s also something that’s now accepted by our straight counterparts.

Whilst the word ‘lesbian’ is an all encompassing description for a gay woman, it doesn’t do justice to the many different types of female who embrace the lifestyle. There are the traditional dykes as well as femmes/lipstsick lesbians whose ultra-feminine appearance would give no clue as to their sexual inclinations and bi-sexual and bi-curious women who occasionally indulge the lesbian side of their sexual and emotional psyches. Just because you don’t have the shaved head and the tattoos doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself sexually with another woman if that’s what you want to do. So sisters…there’s never been a better time to be a lesbian and now is the time to come out of the closet and be loud and proud about joys of lesbian loving!

Sarah Harris
http://www.articlesbase.com/sexuality-articles/sisters-are-doin-it-for-themselves-58337.html

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The Amazing Race Nominated for a Glaad Media Award

25.March, 2009

The gay and lesbian community has come a very long way in terms of gaining proper, equal and significant representation in the entertainment industry, and one of this yearâs shining example is the hit reality series, The Amazing Race.

Among the previous participants in the reality competition was the openly gay tandem of New York natives Tom and Terry, and the showâs foremost lesbian competitor, Lauren Marococcio. Tom, a College Admissions Director and graduate of Columbia University, and Terry, a Special Events Director, first met at a singles event and decided to join the tenth season of the Amazing Race in the hopes of not only winning one million dollars, but also finishing the game as a stronger and tougher couple. Lauren, a Speech and Language Pathologist from Rhode Island, joined the competition with her father, Duke, after the truth about her sexuality surfaced and created a tear in their once very tight bond. Both father and daughter went into the game hoping that they could rebuild their relationship.

Indeed, The Amazing Race (among many other shows) has proven to be an integral factor in helping address homosexual issues, most especially with regard to human relationships. Having provided a venue for people like Tom, Terry and Lauren to shine despite what some of the public may have to say about their lifestyle is certainly commendable, and the Media Award nomination they received from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for is certainly well-deserved.

GLAAD is an organization that was created in 1985 in New York. In its official website, their mission is clearly stated as their dedication to “promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.” The organization decided to nominate The Amazing Race for having successfully and willingly actualized their mission statement.

For more resources about The Amazing Race or especially about The Amazing Race Nominated for a GLAAD Media Award please visit http://www.buddytv.com

Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/the-amazing-race-nominated-for-a-glaad-media-award-126610.html

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Lesbian Lifestyle and Lesbian Rights in Australia

01.March, 2009

Lesbian is a woman who loves and has sexual relationship with women. Lesbian sex is a homosexual carry out that like all same sex activity has been there since centuries and is here to stay and prosperous.

Internet dating service offers free lesbian personals seeking women for sex apart for love and relationship. There free dating service for lesbian or dykes as they are often referred to known as lesbian dating sites. Lesbian sex is a very popular activity among lesbian woman and bisexual women.

Like all homosexuals face unfairness in Australia. The supporters of lesbian rights in Australia have a hard-hitting time and support lesbian sex rights. There is as discrimination against same sex families especially in parenting and acceptance laws where equal rights to all families have become a bane of contention. Same sex couples in Australia just want the regular rights afforded to heterosexual couples every day.

Significant law improvement is required for same sex dating in Australia to change things for lesbians and gays. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) have been confrontation for equal opportunity in the work place. Recently a report was published which claimed that a fairly large number of lesbians faced experienced some form of ridicule or unfair treatment in the workplace. Although many countries are opening up to gay lifestyle but a significant amount of legislative change and a perspective devoid of bias is required to deliver equality to homosexuals.

Lesbians face widespread discrimination on the basis of their sexual identity. Australiaâs international human rights compulsion require governments to take all necessary actions to remove sexuality discrimination, however current centralized, state and territory laws provide only limited protection against discrimination and also lack uniformity.

Same sex marriage for lesbians is not allowed in Australia. Hence, the state does accord marital status to lesbian couples. Other questions include refutation of promotions, unfair removal from office, pestering, breaches of privacy and refusal of overtime and higher duties. Lesbians have been refused treatment and hospital visitations due their sexuality. Vilification â Lesbian face verbal and physical abuse on many instance in Australia.

The discrimination in case of lesbian and gays is homophobic and large-scale public awareness campaign and education is required to increase toleration for homosexuals.

Alina Farace
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/lesbian-lifestyle-and-lesbian-rights-in-australia-134539.html