"Why parents are afraid to talk to their kids about sexual orientation: They’re either religious (in which case they should get over themselves about the whole thing) or stupid (in which case their wishes regarding the education of their children should be ignored). Why parents are afraid to talk to their kids about sex: They follow an absurd system of morality that claims that being human should be a source of shame. Advice to all of the above: Get over it. You live in a society that is moving forward, and you’re stuck in the 1950s. Re-examine your morality, because if you seriously think that two consenting adults being in love is somehow wrong, you are the problem. And if you’re the kind of person who thinks that it’s better to have abstinence-only education or none at all, thereby causing massive teen pregnancy rates, then you’re not the kind of genetic line that should be continued."
— New York Times writer John Schwartz’s Son, Joe, on Growing Up Gay in 2013
![An Amazing 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising
The conflict over the next six days played out as a very gay variant of a classic New York street rebellion. It would see: fire hoses turned on people in the street, thrown barricades, gay cheerleaders chanting bawdy variants of New York City schoolgirl songs, Rockette-style kick lines in front of the police, the throwing of a firebomb into the bar, a police officer throwing his gun at the mob, cries of “occupy — take over, take over,” “Fag power,” “Liberate the bar!”, and “We’re the pink panthers!”, smashed windows, uprooted parking meters, thrown pennies, frightened policemen, angry policemen, arrested mafiosi, thrown cobblestones, thrown bottles, the singing of “We Shall Overcome” in high camp fashion, and a drag queen hitting a police officer on the head with her purse.
Read more. [Image: Joseph Ambrosini/The New York Daily News]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/9a6e1bc30b8385e2b2ffde30d92850ae/tumblr_mh5bv3sphp1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Malaysia Declares V-Necks Gay
The Malaysian government has begun organizing seminars aimed at helping parents and teachers identify latent homosexuality in children, according to Singapore news outlet AsiaOne. One of the principal warning signs? V-neck T-shirts. It’d be sort of funny if it weren’t rooted in a wildly un-self aware bigotry.
Read more. [Images: American Apparel/Reuters]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mai927HvFr1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![How ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Ended Up at a South African Arts Festival
When President Obama ditched “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last September, ripples went global. One crossed the Atlantic and found its way to a dance studio in South Africa. There, it reached a young choreographer struggling, at that very same moment, to decide how—and if—he wanted to do a show about his own country’s troubled, long-repressed relationship with gay men in the military. This bit of news from America helped him decide, giving him not just the confidence to proceed with the project, but also proof of something he’d already suspected: that this was an issue that transcended national borders.
The resulting show, Moffie, debuted in Grahamstown at the National Arts Festival last month, to equal parts anticipation and controversy—and not just because the full-page ad in the front of the festival program featured a very naked, hard-muscled man with a rifle dangling over his privates.
Read more. [Image: CuePix/Chris de Beer]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8hqyzjDzw1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![The Touching Story Behind Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos’ $2.5 Million Gift in Support of Gay Marriage
This morning, Washington United for Marriage announced a gift of “historic” proportions: $2.5 million from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, of Amazon fame and fortune, to go toward efforts to pass Referendum 74, which would legalize same-sex marriage in Washington, where the online retailer is based. With that one gift, the Bezoses have joined the ranks of the top financial backers of gay marriage in the country.
Why the sudden large check? The New York Times reports that the gift came as the result of a request from one of Amazon’s earliest employees, Jennifer Cast, a volunteer for Washington United for Marriage and a mother of four children she is raising with her longtime partner.
Read more. [Image: AP]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7twftF7ha1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Gay Marriage Has Made $259 Million for New York City
If New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s figures that same-sex marriages brought in some $259 million in economic benefits to the city are correct—that means gay marriages earned the city around $30,000 per hour since they were legalized one year ago. Or put another way, that’s an extra $31 for each 8,245,000 New Yorkers.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7ofcmYWOV1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
![Facebook Rolls Out New Icons for Same-Sex Marriages
Mazel tov! If you are married to your same-sex partner, and share these types of things on Facebook, no more second-class iconography for you. Facebook has rolled out little icons — in, of course, that distinct Facebook-blue — that will appear in timelines to mark the weddings of same-sex couples.
Read more. [Image: Facebook]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6jqorTSEC1qcokc4o1_250.jpg)
