World X-Men and Homosexuality: The Connection

[cyclonesfury]

lol im gay and i dont have anything that is madonna... not even a single

 

[newwaveboy87]

but if i asked you to sing one, you could.

anyway, you should stick around and talk more. instead of you know...just posting once or twice and then disappearing.

 

[TKing]

I don't have anything of Madonna's. I don't even like her.

(No offense to all you Madonna fans). I just think she has passed her sell-by date.

 

[newwaveboy87]

she truly should hang it up pretty soon.
at 50 one really shouldn't be dancing around singing "Like a Virgin"

 

[Psionic Force]

So is this a thread about X-Men or Madonna?

 

[newwaveboy87]

it's about the gays

 

[newwaveboy87]

it's Banned Books week!

here's an article about it:

The Last Gay Word:
The Gay Teen Book Author's Tale
by Brent Hartinger, September 25, 2006

Twelve years ago, I had an argument with my partner Michael (the editor of this website) about the Margaret Atwood book, A Handmaid's Tale. The novel is a grim look into a totalitarian future where fundamentalist Christian theocrats have taken control of the government, turning women back into reproductive slaves and censoring information from the public.

Michael found the book to be a chilling cautionary tale that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance -- a reminder that the wall between church and state must be inviolate, and that fascism and fanaticism can never truly be vanquished.

I thought A Handmaid's Tale was hysterical, far-left, liberal paranoia.

Theocracy? In the United States? Ha! And blatant censorship? That couldn't happen here! America has too strong a tradition of pluralism, too much of a love for freedom and open debate. And while we definitely have our Puritanistic streak, the religious extremists could never really take control, because the “reasonable” majority wouldn't let them.

I'd majored in political science in college, and I'd read de Tocqueville, so I knew this to be true.

Flash forward ten years, and into Republican-Land 2006. “Christian” extremists like Robertson, Falwell, and Dobson have full access to the president, who himself claims to be on a “mission from God”, and all three branches of government are controlled by people who openly advocate some degree of a Christian theocracy. Government secrecy and cronyism are way, way up, and government agencies and corporate news media have been harassed, bullied, or bribed into creating blatant propaganda in support of the Republican theocrats.

And don't get me started on the lies one-third of our schools now tell our nations teenagers – that “condoms don't work,” for example -- in the name of “sex education.”

In other words, Michael was right, and I was really, really, really wrong.

Censorship can happen here. In fact, it is happening here, even though you'd never know from the truly pathetic excuse for “news” piped into our homes on the cable channels.

Why bring this up now? Partly because it's Banned Books Week, a national celebration of “the freedom to read” and an effort to call attention to efforts at censorship and intellectual suppression.

But partly because I see censorship first-hand. In my day job, I write gay teen novels like Geography Club and its sequel The Order of the Poison Oak (and, in fact, Geography Club, was just voted number two on this year's Banned Books Book Sense Top Ten Picks, to coincide with Banned Books Week).

And my books, and other gay teen books written by my friends Alex Sanchez (the Rainbow Boys series), David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy, and the daring new Wide Awake), and David LaRochelle (Absolutely Positively Not), are frequently challenged and, yes, censored at libraries and schools all across America.

Oh, please! you might be thinking. Censorship is the government suppression of ideas it deems “dangerous”; just because a public library or classroom pulls your book from the shelf or reading list, that doesn't mean it's censorship! Am I saying that schools and libraries can never remove any book from its shelves? What about editorial judgement? And why shouldn't parents have some say in the books their kids are studying and reading?

But the fact is, my books and these other books are frequently among the most popular in a classroom or library. Most library and educational professionals agree they're age-appropriate.

In short, teenagers desperately want this information, and many of their parents want them to have it. But Christian conservatives – and I'm sorry to say that today's would-be book censors are almost all Christian conservatives – have taken it upon themselves to try to restrict this information. They've created a whole, interconnected network of activists who comb the country's libraries and classrooms, determined to remove or restrict any hint of anything that portrays homosexuality in an accurate – they say “positive” – light.

All too often, school administrators and politicians collapse in the face of these unrelenting attacks. In fact, last spring, the Oklahoma legislature voted to require that all gay-themed books, even gay-themed picture books, be put in an “adults-only” section of the public libraries. Librarians themselves are usually very vigilant in their defense of gay teen books, but even they must withstand incredible pressure.

Maybe you think that I'm over-reacting, that there is no slippery slope, and that gay teen book bannings are not the first (or second or third) step toward another Kristallnacht .

But here's the way it usually works.

A month ago, some parents in Webster Central School District in upstate New York complained because Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys was included on a high school summer reading list. School admistrators responded by immeditately de-listing the book, which has won all kinds of great reviews and important honors.

Librarians in the area strongly warned the administrators that they were making a mistake: that if parents were allowed to have this one book yanked from the summer reading list without discussion or review, then other parents would soon want other books removed.

And what do you know? Right after the district acquiesced, another parent submitted a long list of books for removal (including many classics and award winners, as well as another book of mine, The Last Chance Texaco). About half the books were gay-themed.
And this was in a solidly “blue” state!

This is what happens when administrators try to compromise with people who know no compromise.

If allowed, many of these people would remove every gay book from that reading list, and from the area's public and school libraries. Removing all trace of homosexuality from the public sphere is pretty much part of the stated mission of groups like Concerned Women for America, Parents Against Bad Books, and Plan2Succeed.org.

If a book is truly not "age-appropriate," there are almost always mechanisms in place to deal with the work in question. But if the book challenge is merely a case where one parent wants to decide not just what his or her children are reading, but what everyone else's kids are reading too, well, that parent needs to learn that public libraries and public schools exist to serve the entire community, and cater to lots of diverse beliefs. Basically, we all pay the taxes that support these libraries and schools, and every young person is required to attend school; resources should exist to serve all their needs.

This is America, after all, where we're supposed to err on the side of freedom, and letting parents, individuals, and, individual families decide these things for themselves.

But these bannings and challenges are really just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally huge swaths of this country right now in 2006 where public officials -- school and public librarians -- are not allowed, or feel that they're not allowed, to even consider buying a gay teen book. This is de-facto censorship of a different sort: a self-imposed kind.

I used to believe that something like A Handmaid's Tale could never happen in America.

Between the Republican theocrats and these gay book bannings, I now know that it is happening. And we better do something about it, or this really will be the last gay word.

 

[cyclonesfury]

wonder how long it would take for society to be desensitised

but if i asked you to sing one, you could.

anyway, you should stick around and talk more. instead of you know...just posting once or twice and then disappearing.

usually when i post no one replies soon enough

if you really want to talk to me you can chat to me through msn

 

[Sloth7d]

Actually, X-men was based on the civilrights movement with african americans.
Replacing the word N*ggr with mutie/mutant.
The kkk is now friends of Humanity
And using Prof X as Martain Luther King and Magneto to represent Malcom X

 

[newwaveboy87]

wonder how long it would take for society to be desensitised



usually when i post no one replies soon enough

if you really want to talk to me you can chat to me through msn

my msn name is on my profile. add me. stalk me.

 

[cyclonesfury]

will do

 

[Generation Lee]

Actually, X-men was based on the civilrights movement with african americans.
Replacing the word N*ggr with mutie/mutant.
The kkk is now friends of Humanity
And using Prof X as Martain Luther King and Magneto to represent Malcom X

That's always been the case as far as I know the history of the book. Anyway quick question is it true that most buyers are either Black, Gay or Jews or should this be taken lightly as it maybe marvel stating how wonderfull their book is at reach demographies. Also I wonder in this time we are living in how many Muslims are turning to the book and relating.

 

[squeekness]

I don't think so, Lee. My best guess would be the average buyer is 14-17, white, male and not too terribly religious. That's the standard I see most often in the store. I would be curious to see a demographics pole if anyone was to do one.

 

[Sloth7d]

It depends on the area really. I see a good amount of black and white guys buying comics at the comic shop I go to. Though most of them purchase Dc comics.

 

[newwaveboy87]

I don't think so, Lee. My best guess would be the average buyer is 14-17, white, male and not too terribly religious. That's the standard I see most often in the store. I would be curious to see a demographics pole if anyone was to do one.

at your comic shop maybe, but comics are also in Borders and Barnes & Nobles. i see a lot of non-white, non-straight people buying comics there. it really just depends on where you go.

 

[Valechan]

I think most people just like the X-Men because of who they are and not what the represent, not everyone comprehends the metaphor behind the X-Men or even feels represented by them, some just like the fights, or the characters.

Oh, and btw, I happen to have several Madonna CDs.... guess we're al the same all over the world ( I also have Barbra, Bette and several musical comedy cds and dvds... I couldn't be queerer )

 

[Sloth7d]

Also, the x-men don't quite represent what they stood for in the beggining.
They now are basically heroes out to save the world, period. And if anything they more remind me of native americans now. With most of them being wiped out. And they now have a private reservation like native americans have.

 

[newwaveboy87]

the X-Men have always represented minorities. they started off as an allegory for one kind and then morphed into various different ones.

i think your Native American allegory is one of the levels of the storyline. i never thought of it like that before...it works. i love it. good job

 

[Generation Lee]

Thanks for the answers guys I asked because Ian McKillen say that was what he was told. This was just before X3 came out. BTW way if Jew offended sorry I did mean to write Jewish.

 

[newwaveboy87]

HAPPY NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY!!

National Coming Out Day
By Molly Stenhouse
Tue, October 11, 2005, 12:01 am PDT

Every day, many gay people struggle with a question: to come out or not to come out? October 11 marks National Coming Out Day, an occasion when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals (LGBT) are encouraged to speak about their sexual or gender orientation with loved ones. Created in 1988, NCOD commemorates the one-year anniversary of the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, when hundreds of thousands of activists converged on the nation's capital to demand civil rights legislation. This year's theme, "Talk About It," focuses on the importance of not just coming out, but discussing LGBT issues each day. HRC President Joe Solmonese says, "Every single time we talk about our lives as GLBT Americans, we are another step closer to equality." Many gay people find that teachers, gay-straight alliances, college campuses, and advocacy organizations like PFLAG and GLAAD can offer support to those who want to live openly.

Suggested Sites...

• OutProud Resources - resources for those trying to understand their sexuality or considering coming out to family members.
• Coming Out Stories - read about how others have stepped out of the closet.
• Becoming a Straight Ally - for people who aren't lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered, but support the equal rights and fair treatment of LGBT people.

 

[imaperson2]

stop it ***!

 

[newwaveboy87]

just because i said i wouldn't have sex with you doesn't mean you can trash talk me.

 

[imaperson2]

ooh SURE.

 

[newwaveboy87]

:meow: pass = revoked

 

[imaperson2]

youre the one that always tries to sex the talk up. youre always *********ing when i talk to you