Category Archives: LGBTQ
[SHORT FILM] Love is All You Need?
Love is All You Need? tells the story of Ashley, a young teen who is raised in the picture perfect all-American family with two moms, two grandpas, two uncles, and a little brother. But Ashley has a problem, she has a crush on a boy at school, which is against everything this world has ever taught her. This undeniable attraction to the opposite sex causes her to be the constant target of verbal and physical abuse until she is driven to a tragic end. This film hopes to shed light onto the highly controversial issue of human and equal rights in the LGBT Community, and also raise awareness to our current world as to the obstacles that this community faces.
[HEALTH/LGBTQ] Organs Donated by Gay Man Rejected, Called ‘High Risk’
Hi folks! It isn’t too often that we get personal on TMA, but please take a moment to visit RUNFORROCKY.COM – a charity set up in honour of our dear friend Rocky Campana, who left us far too soon. The charity continues Rocky’s work as an advocate for Gay/Straight alliances, acceptance, and equal rights. If you have enjoyed the music, entertainment, and photos on Lavish TMA, Eddy and I would very much appreciate if you would consider making a donation to such a fantastic cause. In related news, the article below explains the ridiculous situation which arose at the time of Rocky’s death… As in life, Rocky wanted to give back, this time in the form of organ donation. As an extremely healthy individual, Rocky seemed like a prime candidate to help save multiple lives with his organs. Unfortunately, once he was identified as a gay man, his organs were no longer seen as “desirable”. Near the bottom of this post, you will find a link to a petition demanding a change to Canada’s organ and blood donation policy. All healthy Canadians should be able to donate. ~Jordan
With your support and the help of the Windsor Pride Community Resource and Education Centre, the Run for Rocky – Charity Run will help raise awareness and funds to support programs and Gay Straight Alliances, throughout Windsor-Essex County, in our communities, schools, and in our homes.
Your donation will be processed via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, your gift will be charged to your credit card. Receipts for tax purposes will be sent by mail. Please provide your correct mailing information.
MAKE A MONETARY DONATION HERE
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Article:
Organs donated by gay man rejected, called ‘high risk’
A Windsor woman believes her late son’s organs were rejected for donation because he was gay.
Nancy Campana’s son Rocky was an organ donor, but none were used after his death.
“I was asked if he was a gay male and I said, ‘yes.’ And I was asked if he was a sexually active gay male or if he had a partner and I said, ‘yes,’” Campana said of a conversation she had with Trillium Gift of Life following Rocky’s death.
She said the tone of the conversation changed, and the family was later told they could not donate Rocky’s organs.
“When I got off the phone to relay that to both [Rocky's father] Rob and a lot of Rocky’s friends … many of them broke down,” she said. “The gay ones said, ‘Nancy, we can’t donate blood; they’re not going to take our organs.’”
Organ donation
According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, there are approximately 1,500 people waiting for an organ transplant in Ontario right now.
So far this year, 129 people have have donated in this province, which is down from 132 during the same period last year.
Health Canada changed the rules for organ donation in late 2007. The changes mean sexually active gay men, injection drug users and other groups considered high risk will no longer be accepted as organ donors.
The rules are similar to the regulations for determining who can donate blood. Those rules exclude groups that are at high risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C and B.
Under Health Canada policy:
- A gay man who had practised abstinence for five years prior to organ donation would be considered an acceptable donor.
- A heterosexual man who has had a single sexual encounter with a male within the past five years would not be considered an acceptable donor.
The Campanas are currently working with staff at the office of Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse to table a petition that would asked the House of Commons to change the rules governing organ donation. They want it to be easier for a gay man’s organs to be donated.
A Masse spokesperson said the petition’s language has been vetted by the Petitions Branch in the House of Commons.
The Campanas and others will soon start gathering signatures.
Trillium CEO Ronnie Gavsie said that while a donor’s sexuality is not a deciding factor, it does make a difference.
“According to the Health Canada legislation, a man or woman who is gay would fall into the high-risk category. But that fact alone would not preclude them from being a donor,” she said. “That is just one of the many factors that go into being in the high-risk category.”
Other factors include whether a donor uses injection drugs, has had a recent tattoo or piercing, is an inmate of a correctional facility or has haemophilia and has received donated blood.
“And then, someone who is high risk, that information will be carried forward to the potential recipient,” said Gavsie.
The Campanas say the explanation given to them was that trace amounts of drugs were found in Rocky’s system.
But they say doctors at the hospital told them the results could be a false positive, because of the drugs used to try to save his life. Rocky Campana attempted suicide and was taken off life support shortly after in August of last year.
His family believes this is about sexual orientation, and now they’re taking on the system that categorizes gay donors as high risk.
“That was Rocky. Injustices were big to him, so I think that we are really determined to try to get the word out to everyone,” said Rob Campana.
Get your family and friends to sign the petition to change the government’s policy on blood and organ donation in Canada
DOWNLOAD THE PETITION HERE
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With your support and the help of the Windsor Pride Community Resource and Education Centre, the Run for Rocky – Charity Run will help raise awareness and funds to support programs and Gay Straight Alliances, throughout Windsor-Essex County, in our communities, schools, and in our homes.
Your donation will be processed via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, your gift will be charged to your credit card. Receipts for tax purposes will be sent by mail. Please provide your correct mailing information.
DONATE HERE
[LGBTQ] Boston Fraternity Raises Money for Trans Brother
Traditionally, college Greeks are an archetypally masculine institution—about as butch as the Boy Scouts. Pledging a fraternity and being inducted as a brother is often an arduous process, one that is meant to separate the men from the boys. But where does the LGBTQ community fit into this macho niche?
Much like the world of professional sports, the world of campus Greek life is not often heralded as the epitome of acceptance. Locker room antics are an insidious fact of the frat house. No doubt about it.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, which is what makes this story out of Emerson College particularly heartwarming: brothers in Emerson’s Alpha Chapter of Phi Alpha Tau have come together to raise funds for a new brother’s FTM top surgery (full disclosure: I’m a member of the PAT fraternity and currently a junior at Emerson).
Earlier this year, Visual & Media Arts sophomore Donnie Collins pledged as a prospective brother to Phi Alpha Tau, the nation’s oldest professional communicative arts fraternity. An Alexandria, Virginia native, Collins didn’t come out as transgender until age 17 while attending a boarding school in Windsor, Conn. Of his time in an all-girls dorm, he says in a recent interview, “They were really nice, but it was all horrible.”
Thus far, Collins has been taking his gender transition one step at a time. Barred from using his mother’s insurance to cover any physical transitions, he has singlehandedly covered the bulk of his hormone therapy since December 2011.
“I’d go to the endocrinologist and pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket, because, of course, I didn’t have insurance of my own,” he explains.
Collins now has a college health insurance policy through Emerson, a policy, like so many others, that is trans-exclusionary. It is common practice for insurance companies to deem female-to-male breast augmentation—or top surgery—as a cosmetic plastic surgery rather than a necessity. So Collins has been raising money for the procedure for months, but it seemed that one door after another would close in his face. His petition for a trans-inclusive policy was recently denied by the college’s insurance plan, and his personalChipin fund will cease when the crowd-funding site shuts down next month.
[ARTICLE] Why Everyone Hates Couples (via @Oar_Lawn_Doe of Hommemaker)
Why Everyone Hates Couples
ORLANDO SORIA: HOMMEMAKER
Dear Couples,
The other day I looked at my boyfriend and asked him what he wanted to do for Valentines Day. “Nothing, I’m not big into Valentines Day,” he replied. At which point I burst into tears and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind me. Just kidding. No I didn’t. Because I also hate Valentines Day. Because I have been single for my whole life, this holiday conjures up images of me sitting alone on my bed watching The Great Mouse Detective and drinking Diet Coke out of a liter container, thinking about the fact that if I died at that very moment, I would not be found for days.
I know this must make me sound super bitter about Valentines Day. Which makes sense because I’m super bitter about Valentines Day. But it’s a stupid holiday, right? Why do we really need a day to celebrate couples? Aren’t they celebrated enough on a daily basis? Like in every television show, movie, and song that exists? What are single people supposed to do? Sit at adjacent tables and watch the couples sharing bowls of pasta, laughing out loud, looking longingly into each other’s eyes? Gross.
This is a rough time of the year to be single, when everything around you is telling you you’re lame for not having a partner. But I’m here to tell you the opposite. You’re lame if you have a partner. Couples are annoying. I know this because I am part of a couple and I am annoying.
You see evidence of the obnoxiousness of couples everywhere you look. The other night my boyfriend and I joined some friends for dinner at their lovely, mid-century home in the Hollywood Hills. These are the kind of guys that sort of make you gag because they’re so perfect. They’re handsome, well-educated, successful, and friendly. They invited me and my boyfriend and one other couple to dinner. To our shock, delight, and terror, the third couple that showed up turned out to be totally smarmy. They practically made out at the table and called each other pet names the whole time. They nuzzled noses and gave each other congratulatory kisses after every sentence, as if it were the most brilliant thing ever uttered. This is when I came to a realization about relationships: couples are annoying. I am annoying. I hate couples. I hate myself.
This is not to say that I don’t love my boyfriend. I very much do. In fact, every day I wake up expecting to get dumped because he puts up with so many of my shenanegins. Most of his time is spent listening to me whining about the fact that I look like a sea cucumber in Mr. Potato Head costume and that I have nothing to wear. And then he has to tell me I don’t look like a sea cucumber wearing a Mr. Potato Head costume and that I’m lucky to even have clothes. It’s a vicious daily cycle. I’d venture to guess we are just as annoying as that couple that made out at the dinner table. Or perhaps worse. It’s probable that we are the most annoying couple in the whole world.
So singles, if you are reading this, revel in the fact that you are cooler than couples. There are so many things that make couples more obnoxious than the average single person. Here is a short list of annoying things couples do: CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
[COMEDY] Willam, Detox & Vicky Vox – Boy is a Bottom
Produced by Markaholic (www.markaholic.com)
Directed by Shawn Adeli (www.shawnadeli.com)
Prod. Ass’t Mike Aguilera
Video Hoes: Miles Davis Moody, Sam Ortiz, Mike Munich
Makeup by OCC
LAVISH THE MORNING AFTER [ELECTROBEACH]
THEME: ELECTROBEACH
DATE: Friday, January 18th, 2013
DJ: Eddy
Our DJ booth renovation & speaker repositioning made it just in time for the launch of our new monthly ‘ELECTRO’ series at LAVISH. The premiere theme was ELECTROBEACH, with a dance floor full of sand and palm leaves hanging from the ceiling. It literally felt like an outdoor night rave on the beach.
We didn’t anticipate such a massive turn out and were understaffed. But the entire night went by ever-so-smoothly! There was so much love in the air and the people were so respectful. House music is harmonious in connecting people together and we were thrilled to be able hone the perfect atmosphere for all you beautiful people to party in.
Peace & Love – Eddy
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th 2013 The circus freaks come out to play for ELECTROCIRCUS! DJ Eddy is behind the decks serving a melodic mix of house & electronic spiced up with your favourite LAVISH anthems! [CLICK TO JOIN FACEBOOK EVENT]
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OFFICIAL HASHTAG #CLUBLAVISH
