We always have something, perhaps just one thing, in common with others. That thought struck me as one of our neighbors invited us to stop by and see his Christmas flamingos. Who would have guessed that this perfectly straight guy, married to a woman, always puttering in his workroom, not only collected flamingo paraphernalia, but…
One reason I’ve been writing all these years has to do with helping us feel good about ourselves. I’d like to think the cultural work that’s proliferated from the latter half of the twentieth century through today has contributed to building our strength so we could accomplish all we have. If the pendulum of history…
Right this minute, friends are traveling through France. I am excited for them—the vacation of a lifetime. They post photos of their adventures on Facebook so I’m following them across France: Paris, Cassis, Marseilles, geocaching in Aix-en-Provence! I’m not much of a traveler myself. When my sweetheart asked where I’d like to go for my…
Near where I live, closeted lesbians built and installed a bench on a mostly hidden concrete path between grassy sand dunes, out of sight of any casual observer. The bench was created in the mid-1990s to pay respect to members of the group who had died. These women did not dare to name their…
No, I never switched boxcars on the Southern Pacific Railroad, I never strip mined mountaintops with pick and shovel—my worst job ever wasn’t even wrapping meat in a supermarket, a job I really did. I awoke from a dream this morning in which I was a vocational counseling supervisor in a work incentive program. Strangely,…
WASHINGTON – Today, in light of a national outcry about a deeply transphobic column published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on June 4th, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Director of Research and Public Education Jay Brown, himself a former Pittsburgh resident of 6 years and a transgender man, wrote to the paper’s executive editor David Shribman…
Editor’s note: Welcome to The Amazon Trail, a monthly lesbian column by award-winning author Lee Lynch. My body is telling me to slow down. Has been for quite a while. When was the last time I climbed a tree, a favorite younger pastime? Now I simply admire them and the birds that flit from…
Setting the record straight on ‘Gary Holt and the Chorus’ (issue 137, Jan. 2) Dear Editor, Nicole Murray Ramirez has it wrong concerning Gary Holt as director of San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus. Gary Holt was not the director who took the San Diego Men’s Chorus (Not GMCSD) to the White House at Christmas in…
Massive global interest in the passing and memorializing of Nelson Mandela last week illustrated again that people of color were humanity’s conscience during the 20th century. My question is will LGBT people be the conscience of the 21st century? If the systematic oppression, torture and denial of the basic human rights of a minority class…
Last week was the 10th Annual Christmas Wreath Auction at the award winning restaurant/nightclub, Martinis above Fourth in Hillcrest. For ten years, the owners and outstanding staff have been putting on this holiday charity event which has resulted in more than $180,000 being raised for the Queen Eddie Conlon Youth Fund administrated by our GLBT…
