queerinnature:

knowhomo:

LGBTQ* Spoken Word You Should Hear

“The Nutritionist” — Andrea Gibson

Andrea Gibson’s response to suicide, mental health, physical health, and what it means to breathe in each day.

The nutritionist said I should eat root vegetables. 
Said if I could get down thirteen turnips a day 
I would be grounded, rooted. 
Said my head would not keep flying away 
to where the darkness lives. 

The psychic told me my heart carries too much weight. 
Said for twenty dollars she’d tell me what to do. 
I handed her the twenty. She said, “Stop worrying, darling. 
You will find a good man soon.” 

The first psycho therapist told me to spend 
three hours each day sitting in a dark closet 
with my eyes closed and ears plugged. 
I tried it once but couldn’t stop thinking 
about how gay it was to be sitting in the closet. 

The yogi told me to stretch everything but the truth. 
Said to focus on the out breath. Said everyone finds happiness 
when they care more about what they give 
than what they get. 

The pharmacist said, “Lexapro, Lamicatl, Lithium, Xanax.” 

The doctor said an anti-psychotic might help me 
forget what the trauma said. 

The trauma said, “Don’t write this poem. 
Nobody wants to hear you cry 
about the grief inside your bones.” 

But my bones said, “Tyler Clementi dove
into the Hudson River convinced 
he was entirely alone.” 

My bones said, “Write the poem.” 

The lamplight. Considering the river bed. 
To the chandelier of your fate hanging by a thread.
To everyday you could not get out of bed.
To the bulls eye of your wrist
To anyone who has ever wanted to die.

I have been told, sometimes, the most healing thing to do-
Is remind ourselves over and over and over:
“Other people feel this too.”

The tomorrow that is coming, gone
And it has not gotten better
When you are half finished writing that letter 
to your mother that says “I swear to God I tried
But when I thought I hit bottom, it started hitting back”
There is no bruise like the bruise of loneliness kicks into the spine

So let me tell you I know there are days 
it looks like the whole world is dancing in the streets 
when you break down like the doors of the looted buildings

You are not alone 
and wondering who will be convicted of the crime 
of insisting you keep loading your grief into the chamber of your shame

You are not weak just because your heart feels so heavy
I have never met a heavy heart 
that wasn’t a phone booth with a red cape inside
Some people will never understand 
the kind of superpower it takes for some people to just walk outside
Some days I know my smile looks like the gutter of a falling house

But my hands are always holding tight to the ripchord of believing
A life can be rich like the soil
Can make food of decay
Can turn wound into highway
Pick me up in a truck with that bumper sticker that says 
“It is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society.”

I have never trusted anyone 
with the pulled back bow of my spine 
the way I trusted ones who come undone at the throat
Screaming for their pulses to find the fight to pound

Four nights before Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge 
I was sitting in a hotel room in my own town
Calculating exactly what I had to swallow 
to keep a bottle of sleeping pills down

What I know about living is the pain is never just ours
Every time I hurt I know the wound is an echo
So I keep a listening to the moment the grief becomes a window
When I can see what I couldn’t see before,
through the glass of my most battered dream

I watched a dandelion lose its mind in the wind
and when it did, it scattered a thousand seeds.

So the next time I tell you how easily I come out of my skin, 
don’t try to put me back in,
just say “Here we are together at the window aching for it to all get better
but knowing as bad as it hurts our hearts, made of only just skin, 
knowing there is a chance the worst day might still be coming —
let me say right now for the record, I’m still gonna be here
asking this world to dance, even if it keeps stepping on my holy feet
you — you stay here with me, okay?
You stay here with me.
Raising your bright against the bitter dark
Your bright longing
Your brilliant fists of loss”

Friends, if the only thing we have to gain in staying is each other,
my God that’s plenty
my God that’s enough
my God that is so so much for the light to give

each of us at each other’s backs whispering over and over and over

“Live”

“Live”

“Live”

(thank you Emm in Sem for supplying the lyrics)

This is my life right now. To a T.

stonedromantic:

uhyouredumb:

On the National Day of Silence hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools. 

April 15, 2011 is the National Day of Silence, a student-led action sponsored by Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education 

Network’s (GLSEN) in which thousands of students around the country will remain silent for all or part of the school day to call attention to the harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. 

(Source: dayofsilence.org, via naomisayshi)

Just watched it. Cried. lol
[Documentary] Tying The Knot

sociolab:

knowhomo:

LBGTQ* Maps and Charts

OkCupid’s Chart of “Gay Curious USA”

**OkCupid.com is a free online dating/meeting site. It recognizes sexuality as “gay/lesbian/bi/straight” and gender as “male/female.” It can be assumed that the data from the map above was collected from the series of survey questions members of the website fill out in order to find a more compatible match. Graph from 2011.

I don’t know why this image is so funny to me.

…come in different shapes and sizes, and I do mean come… ;] ;] ;]

(via queerinnature)

gayffiti:

SHOCKING, SAD, AND VERY CLOSE TO HOME.

Less than a month ago, Barie Shortell, a gay Brooklynite was brutally attacked on North 4th and Wythe. His attackers broke his nose, jaw and eye socket in what would seem like a robbery attampt….only thing is they didn’t steal anything. Before the attack they were taunting him with derogatory anti-gay comments. The sole purpose of attack was hate. 

After the attack, Barie endured 9.5 hours of surgery to reconstruct his face. He is healing now, but like many Americans he was uninsured and was left with a HUGE hospital bill. To contribute there is a benefit account set up to assist with Barie’s hospital bills, after care such as physical therapy, legal fees and other expenses related to the crime, please send donations to:

The Barie Shortell Benefit Account

Minnco Credit Union

311 Credit Union Drive

Isanti, MN 55040  

Here is a link to the website set up for info on the event:http://bariebenefit.com/default.aspx

Duly posted. For what it is worth I heard about this disgusting act at last week’s Community Board meeting. It was described as being “pretty bad”. This is an understatement (he was in surgery for over nine hours to have his face reconstructed). Please be a good neighbor and help spread the word about what happened to Mr. Shortell. Those who are able, please tender a donation to help defray medical bills and/or attend the previously mentioned fundraiser at Blackout:

Below is info on a benefit to raise money for Barie’s hospital bills.

Gay Bash: A Benefit For Barie Shortell
Wednesday, March 23 2011 starting at 7:00 p.m.
Blackout Bar
916 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Cost of admission: $35.00 (includes three hour open bar)

Let’s show ‘em that we north Brooklynites take care of our own!

Additionally, a Facebook page has been created.

(via satanonsunday-deactivated201105)