Chinese Expressions of Queer Identities

Photo by API Equality-LA “May God have mercy on this falling land!” proclaimed Chinese actress Lu Li Ping in 2011, “We have to prevent this from happening in China.” Ping was reacting to New York state’s passing of legislation that…

My Struggle for Identification

Photo by ToastyKen/Creative Commons I’ve identified as queer for about five years. After a process of reckoning much the same as many other coming out stories of the kind—though in my own fortunate case, my own terror was a far…

Seeing With A New Spectrum: A Conversation About UCLA’s Vital LGBTQ Space

Co-written by Dylan Chouinard and Kim Lau “There are three kinds of gays. Party gays like to have fun and get drunk. Political gays are activist-y and fight for rights and stuff. Normal gays fall in the middle.” If that…

A Minute of Your Time: Notes from the Canvassing Trail

The door standing in front of me is worn with age. It may have once been a pleasant shade of blue, but its extended life has stripped it of color. This weary door is my most daunting enemy. All I…

I

Like many in our community, I’ve been following the Republican presidential primary process with an ever-increasing amount of pure, unadulterated glee. As many have argued, the longer this circus goes on, and the zanier it gets, the better things look…

Gay and Pro-Life?

Huxley forecasted the ethical issues of human genetics, almost prophetically, in his 1931 novel Brave New World. In his future world, humans were selected before birth based on certain traits that were more socially ‘desirable’ in the dumbed-down dystopia he…

Prop 8 Ruling: Now What?

It’s kind of a strange day for the queer community. Yes, a California federal appeals court ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional this morning. But we all know this isn”t the end of the story. As we speak, the law”s backers, ProtectMarriage, are likely filing yet another appeal – this time, the case will be heard by the US Supreme Court, assuming the high court decides to take up the case.

Happily Ever After

It’s obvious, right away—though he wears a suit in the middle of a party of suits-wearing men, he cannot quite hide the length of the sleeves, which come up just a bit too far past his wrist, or that little stain almost tucked away on the inside of his collar. His posture is rigid, but unpracticed, and time and time again he has to force himself upright. It isn’t much, really—just a miniscule straightening of his shoulders, an upward jerk of his chin every few minutes. It might’ve been less noticeable if everyone else in the room hadn’t been doing that since midway through their terrible twos.

Movie Review: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Last weekend, Twihards gathered in theaters across the country to watch Edward and Bella get married and consummate their romance, and I am slightly ashamed to say that I did the same. I have no desire to read the books, but I guess my quest for being culturally relevant gets the best of me, and for the past three movies, I have found myself in the theater, watching the teenage romance unveil, and desperately hoping no one I know will see me as I park myself in the last row of the theater.