When I look back on my life, some of my most important moments of identity formation took place while I was reading books for English class. I had no concept of what it meant to be "gay" - let alone what the word itself meant. I fed on the subtle and more overt undertones of gay relationships found in books such as A Separate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. These books were assigned to the class for their literary merit - there was rarely a discussion in the class of the queer themes that I thought were so blatantly obvious. I saw myself reflected in these pages, their emotions, their confusion and struggle. As a frightened young boy, I can tell you there is nothing more magical than knowing you are not alone. I had no idea where to find books by queer authors - too afraid to go to the local library and search. How would I even know which ones I would enjoy and want to read over and over again? Once I entered college, my boyfriend told me about Christopher Rice, the gay son and author of Ann Rice (that woman we have to ...

Dharun Ravi took the stands today and pleaded "not guilty" to the 15 counts he stands accused of in the Tyler Clementi case. This particular case has received national attention regarding anti-bullying and anti-cyber bullying laws (Tyler Clementi's name was even given to New Jersey's aggressive anti-harrassment act) but just in case you are not familiar with things, let me bring you up to speed. Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student and violin lover, jumped off the George Washington Bridge and ended his life after learning his roommate, Davi, recorded him during an intimate moment with a man via webcam. Ravi watched the encounter with his friend Molly Wei on her computer, who now flipped and is testifying against Ravi to save her own ass. I don't blame her. Both parties are in the wrong, but only one of them took the time to orchestrate an elaborate recording session to humiliate their roommate. Both Wei and Ravi have withdrawn from Rutgers University and Ravi is currently out on $25,000-worth of bail (his tuition money, I'm sure). Tyler's father, Joseph Clementi released a statement after Ravi took the stand: "Today Mr. Ravi has been arraigned on multiple counts alleging criminal acts against our son Tyler. We are ...

We have a new addition to the ScandaList: Rhode Island Rep. Dan Gordon. I just recently stumbled across Gordon’s statements about the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at one of the public schools in his district, Tiverton High. This Republican (why am I not surprised?) publicly condemned the GSA and threatened to defund the school in order to shut the GSA down – a club that he so intelligently called a “sexual meet-up group” where students go to get “sexed up.” Because, clearly, that’s what a GSA is all about – providing a place for students to have sex on school property. It has nothing to do with creating a safe space for marginalized students who experience bullying. No, of course not. That’s just crazy talk. Besides, if bullying is SUCH a big issue in our education system (it’s not like Obama had a massive Anti-Bullying Summit at the White House on March 10th or anything), Gordon’s got an easy solution to solve a problem that there have been countless individuals working on. Gordon’s solution: “Perhaps if they weren’t flaunting their sexuality or advertising it, there might be less of that bullying," No, Gordy. There would be less bullying if "taboo" topics such as ...