...Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper is planning on opening a shelter for homeless LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgenders) in New York City. She plans on naming it "True Colors" after Lauper's hit single from the 1980's. Construction of the facility begins Thursday at West 154th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Manhattan. According to Zap2It 40 percent of the homeless are LGBT people. Lauper says the residents of the shelter will pay rent based on income and have access to job assistance as well as social programs to help get them back on their feet. Many young LGBTs even lose support of their loved ones at home, winding up on the streets only to then be subjected to mistreatment and violent acts against them. I remember watching a documentary on "bridge kids". This is the term given to gay teens who hung out on the bridge, I do not remember what bridge it was, in New York City. At night these kids would usually have sex for food or money or temporary shelter with whomever was willing to pay. Kids as young as 12 were out there doing this. They did it to survive. Their families disowned them ad kicked them out because of their sexuality and they were left to fend for themselves. As we know young LGBT men and women are easy targets for many people, whether they know it or not. I hope that this is successful and spawns off into many more shelters across the nation. I applaud Cydni for this and I am going to give her 2 Digits Up. Good Luck.

...Homosexuality in the Middle Eastern

In America we are free to do pretty much anything we want, good or bad in the eyes of other. In America many homosexual men and women fight for the right to marry, but they rarely have to fight for the right to be with one another in anyway they see fit. In the Middle East most of the countries there are run by a government that abides by Islamic and laws. This means that homosexuality is not allowed, to the point where many leaders swear that is does not exist int heir country and that it is only Western way of life. I would also like to note that in a lot of these countries alcohol is not allowed but it still slips in. As we know Gadhalfi's compound was taken over by rebel fighters earlier this week. In the compound they found many things that we would expect a billionaire ruler to have; a BMW, an Audi, a white Lamborghini and a Toyota, which were all driven off during the ransacking. Lots of gilded gold furniture and things. You can see more in the video below. One thing that was written was this, "In an office area in the villa, reporters saw large piles of catalogues for yachts and cars. A catalog by the firm Benetti had a yellow handwritten post-it note attached listing the price for a 30-meter-long yacht as 7 million euros. A DVD with gay porn entitled "Boyz Tracks" slipped out of the stack of documents." A gay porn DVD? Not just that but gay porn in a Middle Eastern ruler's home? I do not doubt that this is rue. I have read in the past that a large population of the Middle East has had some sort of homosexual activity, willingly, up to 75% is what I read. I read about how gay porn star and escort Malachi Marx was "bought" by a powerful Middle Eastern prince and was almost turned into his sex slave, but he escaped form the limo on the way to the airport. There is also a very common use for young boys as sex slaves, I saw the documentary, known as Bacha Bereech(Beardless Boys) and Bacha Bazi(Boy Play) in which boys, younger than 13, dance and dress up for men, much much older men, and inevitably are used for sex. Though rarely talked about in public it is widely known about, in secret of course. Consider it to be their version of "Down Low". It is very odd. In our societies even the most conservative Christians us know and understand, willingly or not, that people are going to have sex outside of marriage. Over their they are very strict, very very strict, and abide by their ultra harsh laws. Hands can still be cut off if you steal, women are stoned to death for any reason, etc. Men and women are not allowed to sleep together before marriage, though we all know this does not always happen. So what do they do? They sleep with boys... But they are not gay! They do it a lot, often times even after they are married. If they are found out to be homosexual however hey could be hung, stoned to death, beat to death, shot...any way you can think of dying it could happen to them. So although we understand why they keep it a secret, it is a somewhat badly kept secret. It reminds me of the prohibition era in America. People knew where to go to get a drink or two, but no one told anyone because it was against the law... Though some Middle Eastern countries are slightly more liberal than the others, to the point where you will not die for being homosexual, they are still not "free". Even with the gay porn being found in Gadhafi's compound it is not being talked about, which is understandable there are much more important things to talk about. I do hope that it does eventually get talked about though. Until then I am giving this subject matter a Digit Down.

...Jennas Lyons

A J. Crew catalogue has caused a lot of controversy without even trying. J. Crew's president and creative director Jenna Lyons is featured in a piece called "Saturday with Jenna". The ad shows her and her son. Sounds Innocent so far. The "issue" is that her son has neon link toe nails. Under the picture is the caption, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." Conservative news outlets and conservative family groups have been attacking this add a lot! Dr. Keith Ablow wrote in a Fox News op-ed, "Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid—and maybe a little for others who'll be affected by your 'innocent' pleasure. If you have no problem with the J. Crew ad, how about one in which a little boy models a sundress? What could possibly be the problem with that?" Erin Brown of the Media Research Center said, "liberal, transgendered identity politics." This sounds a little extreme, but this is how they feel. I know for a fact that a lot of little boys, before they think girls have cuddies, play with dolls and sometimes dress up in girl's clothing and even put on make up. This does not make them gay or mean they will become gay or transgendered in the future. The outrage over this ad seems to be because the mother is painting her son's toes and they see that as encouraging him to become...a homosexual. This is not true as well. If he turns out to be gay then it is whatever and he will have a very supportive family, if he is not then he will have a lot of funny pictures and stories to tell his future girlfriend. Either way people are taking this way too far. He is 5 years old and he does not know or care about anything we have to say about this. I am going to give Jenna Lyons a Digit Up though for not caring what the world has to say and for raising her son with love and happiness, something that a lot of families rich and poor are lacking these days.

...Uganda

While we are somewhat celebrating the possible dismissal of Don't ask, Don't tell but still struggling to help gay kids get through being bullied there is a country in Africa that is going through something much more than a purple shirt can solve. The nation of Uganda introduced a bill a year ago that would have made it legal to sentence homosexuals to death for some homosexual acts and prison for others. This was brought on a some Christian ministry visited the country claiming they could turn homosexuals into heterosexuals. Many Christian groups around the world have dismissed the claims and the bill that Uganda introduced. After many other nations and organizations condemned the bill it was shelved. Well it is a year later and although the bill never became a law many homosexuals are living in fear. A magazine printed an article with the names and pictures of Uganda's "Top 100 Homosexuals" and told it's readers to hang them. A year after the bill was introduced 20 homosexuals have been attacked and 17 have been put in prison. Uganda is a conservative nation of about 32 million people. Homosexual acts are considered illegal there as well. The magazine that printed the issue was told to stop publishing, but not because of the issue, because it did not have a license to print, shame. In the magazine it spread a lot of propaganda such as homosexuals had a deadly disease and it could not be stop and the one that we all have heard, that the homosexuals were going into schools and recruiting young kids, so far they recruited 1 million. So far 4 men from the list have been attacked, no deaths yet though. Many Ugandans are living in fear of being outed and put in prison or beaten or killed. This is a sad truth but many nations in Africa are like this. It may be 2010 here but that has yet to reach that Continent. Here in America we worry about gays in the military and gay marriage, but around the world they cannot even live a life without possibly being killed! The same goes for the Middle East as well, the Muslim countries that is. I cannot fathom this life, but I will try. I am thankful that I live here in a nation that may not be perfect but it is light years ahead of some other countries. We can only do so much here because we have our own problems, many, and we are no longer the superpower we used to be. Hopefully int he future someone or some organization will take action and put an end to this not only in Uganda but other nations like them. I am giving Uganda 2 Digits Down.