copracat:

squiddishly:

This one should be shared far and wide: the House of Representatives has a very short, very simple survey about marriage equality, ie, should we have it? Word is that it’s so far been spammed by naysayers, so it would be cool if that could be turned around. The survey is here.

Note

Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2012 is basically:”Amends the Marriage Act 1961 to: remove discriminatory references based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and allow marriage regardless of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Marriage Amendment Bill 2012 is basically: “Amends the Marriage Act 1961 to: enable same-sex marriages to be recognised; and place no obligation on a minister of religion to solemnise a same-sex marriage.”

(Quoted text from House of Reps website.)

As ministers of religion are not currently under obligation to perform ANY marriage the second bill is one of those offensive bills that should be laughed out of parliament. The first bill removes discrimination, the second bill underlines.

I can’t believe they’re using survey monkey. Shouldn’t the Australian Parliament have at least paid for something they can embed? 

fuckyeahchinesemyths:

Guys, if I posted a picture for this entry I would totally have to make this blog NSFW, and you’ll kinda see why. Since it’s February, the month of loooove, we’re gonna talk about all kinds of love and relationships, including homosexual ones. (This is so I can introduce a god to you later.)

Homosexuality in China (Sharing the Peach and Cutting the Sleeve)

So we’re gonna talk about the first figure of speech, and this totally happened wayyy back, during the Three Kingdoms era. See, there was this dude, called Duke Ling of Wei, and he and this official, Mizi Xia were obviously having the sexytiemz with each other, and apparently Mizi Xia had a face that was “as pretty as that of a blossoming maiden.” (Oooooh.) So anyways, they were like, walking and holding hands in the Duke’s Eastern Garden, and Mizi Xia picked up a peach and started nomming, and after he was done, he pushed the leftovers into Duke Ling’s mouth. Errbody who saw that like, totally gasped, ‘cause it was so damned rude! But All Duke Ling did was say, “This tastes good ‘cause it was in yo’ mouth,” so that’s how this scandal started, and that’s how ‘sharing the peach’ meant that two men were totally gettin’ it on.

Now for the second figure of speech. See, Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty also had it goin’ on with Dong Xian, who was like, also one of his court officials. And they were pretty cute, too, ‘cause one day, they took a nap together (awwwww) and like, Emperor Ai was called to do some shit, ‘cause Emperors never really rest. And the thing is, Emperor Ai totally didn’t wanna disturb his beau, so he cut the part of the sleeve which Dong Xian was lying on, and went to do his official duties. Hence, the term ‘cutting the sleeve’ also meant that two people were in a homosexual relationship. 

Homosexual Relationships (Manchu Style!)

So we’re gonna fastforward stuff a little, towards the end of the Ming Dynasty and the start of the Qing, yo. Aaaanyways, durin’ this period of time many scholars and poets were like, totally havin’ sexytiemz with boys, and these boys were called “shu tong” （书童）, or book carryin’ boys. And y’know, since these poets and scholars had no wimminz when they went on long journeys, guess who ‘accompanied’ them - yes, that’s right. These boys.

Homosexuality was also like, totally allowed in the Qing court. Why? ‘Cause the Manchus were like, rulin’, yo, and if a Manchu married a Han Chinese it was like, a super no-no ‘cause they wanted their blood to be pure, and so sodomy was allowed between two Manchu males.

Emperor Xianfeng also liked them boys, and durin’ that period of time, Peking Opera was like, the trend, and all the women’s parts were like, played by boys who were kinda effeminate. Hmmm… Backstage, these boys totally had to please the court officials if they totally wanted their careers. Emperor Xianfeng liked this man, Chu Lianfeng (not too sure about the spelling). This man really looked like a woman on stage, and of course Emperor Xianfeng took a fancy to him. But the thing is, Chu Lianfeng already had a bf, called Lu Maozhong (again with the spelling!) and so when Lu learned that his bf was like, having the sexytiemz with the Emperor, he was so upset that he said, “His Majesty should totally concentrate on rulin’ and not having so much sexytiemz, yo.” Of course the Emperor was like, real pissed and banished Lu. Chu was so upset he committed suicide (he was suffering from TB anyways) and had to renounce his association with his now ex-bf.

Sigh.

Emperor Tongzhi, the son of Xianfeng, also loved them males, too. The thing is, this happened when the Emperor was like, a teenager, and after he got married, he was like, “Oh man, women are boring. Imma go look for men,” and that’s what he did. See, he pretended to be a son of a rich merchant, and met this young scholar in a restaurant. So the thing is, they had an affair for quite some time, and then Prince Kung heard about it, and so errbody went on this search for him. The totally found the Emperor and the scholar making out in some wine shop. So like, the general found him and said, “Uh, your majesty, you kinda needa go home now.” The scholar heard, flipped his shit, and went back to Hunan and totally didn’t bother to sit for the Imperial exams, LOL.

Thing is, there were like, many male prostitutes around, too, and yes, many court officials loved them ‘personal attendants’ and took them errwhere, hint hint, and some generals even had ‘personal aides’ wearin’ make-up. Hmmm. But yes, gays did exist, and the Han Chinese didn’t like them, and so called them ‘mock women’ or ‘rabbits,’ which was like, super derogatory ‘cause it meant that they had a lower status compared to female sex workers. 

From Rabbit to Prime Minister, yo

One ‘rabbit’ was also lucky enough to be like, Prime Minister ‘cause he was basically sexing up the Emperor Qianlong, yo. His name was He Shen, and basically, well, when the Emperor saw that He Shen looked like a very beautiful woman, and he was like, “Oh my god! This totally reminded me of my dad’s concubine, which I totally tried to seduce when I was a kid.” So he also found out that He Shen was born on the day his the concubine was executed, he was like, “Yeah, this is the concubine I tried to seduce!” (Funny, wikipedia states otherwise.) So anyway, He Shen thought the Emperor had a few screws loose, but whatevs, ‘cause he was in the Emperor’s favour, which was awesome.

So basically, He Shen would go to the Emperor’s chamber to talk about ‘state affairs,’ and pretty soon he was like, promoted to handle all state funds, which he took a lot of. Anyway, to pretend that they were totally not sexing each other, the Emperor made He Shen get married, and He Shen’s son was like, totally betrothed to the Emperor’s youngest and fave daughter. Too bad his luck ran out, ‘cause Qianlong abdicated and Jiaqing took over, ready to suss him out, ‘cause they knew he totally embezzled state funds. So, after Emperor Jiaqing tried him in court, he realized that He Shen’s accumulated funds was worth more than the state treasury. And the thing is, since Chinese people were all about face, he made He Shen hang himself.

Nearly all of this info is from the book, The Dragon and the Phoenix by Eric Chou, which is very educational but also super smutty!

And now, since we know all of this, Imma introduce you to the god of homosexuality, so hang tight!

An evening of contemporary Australian poets presenting new, recent and developing works.

Our poets include acclaimed and multi-published poet and author Peter Rose, also editor of Australian Book Review; Margaret Vandeleur, a master of the short piece, and author of the novel The Catch; the superb young poet Lia Incognita; the multi-award-winning Maria Zajkowski; queer crip activist and occasional poet, Kath Duncan; award-winning West Indian-Australian political writer and poetry slam champion, Maxine Clarke; the prolific and much published Tony Page, who has carved a reputation as a poet in Asia over the past decades; and the unforgettable young poet Rhys Rodgers, recently returned from performing in Europe and the USA.

Where: Hares & Hyenas
Date: Monday 30 January
Time: 7:30pm
Price: Full $15; Concession $10

coffeebrat:

Secret Side of a City//The Age

“…it takes a certain sensitivity - and some imagination - to discern the true nature of a particular story, or to guess what went on at a certain building, or to suspect the ulterior purpose of a public lavatory. ”People see a place differently if they have a particular interest,” he says. ”So you can be walking down Swanston Street in 1950, 1960 or 1970 and see things that other people don’t see at all - or see them but have no idea what they mean. Or you can see them with what might be described as a ‘queer eye’, a gay sensibility.”

Such places might be the vegetarian restaurant in Swanston Street that was once Val’s coffee shop - a much-loved bohemia frequented by artists, theatrical types, activists and camp men and women (as they were then known). Or what is considered Melbourne’s oldest gay pick-up spot, a urinal outside the Queen Victoria Hospital, known as such since the 1860s (it was removed in the 1990s).

Because homosexuality was criminalised for so long in Victoria, it was pushed underground into such places. ”For camp women and men, social disapproval made it difficult for romantic or sexual relationships to emerge in the ordinary ways available to heterosexuals - through family, church, clubs and at work,” Wayne Murdoch writes in Secret Histories.

The walks that Willett conducts range about the CBD and inner suburbs. This year’s walk, as part of the Midsumma festival, will focus on the ’50s, an era when suspicion, oppression and police entrapment of gay men were at their height.

The Midsumma history walk is on January 22. Bookings at midsumma.org.au, alga.org.au

lia-incognita:

a performance night featuring people of colour

spoken word, music and more

THURSDAY 26 JAN 2012

doors at 7pm

part of Midsumma & ‘They’re a Queer Mob’ at

BLAK DOT GALLERY 413 Lygon St, East Brunswick

wheelchair accessible - blakdot.com.au

$3 self-identified POC / $5 solidarity

pocthemic@gmail.com

poster by Arlene Texta Queen

super super sad to be missing this

lgbtlaughs:

[image from ‘Sometimes the Spoon Runs Away With Another Spoon’ colouring book by Jacinta Bunnell & Nat Kusinitz. A princess is leaning down about to kiss a frog with her eyes closed, she has a thought bubble that says: “I hope it’s another princess, I hope it’s another princess…”]

If you’re going to colour this image please do not remove the author & illustrator names from the top, and please buy this book - it’s well worth it for yourself or a child in your life.

fuckyeahlesbians:

[Image: extremely colorful art of two long-haired mermaids intertwined and kissing by a coral reef; one is pale, the other darker-skinned.]

(via Underwater by ~ramon-andrade on deviantART)

wallace wells: drunk homosexual

woooooo