Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow

The definition of feel-good. On at least two levels.

 A quick stories round-up from last week at Gay Star News.

This one is particularly heartwarming and was most-read on the GSN website for a day or two:

Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/parents-leave-joy-gay-sex-book-sons-pillow170113 

Winning at the unspoken 'best sign at the protest' competition

I also got sent to report on the anti-transphobia protest that took place outside the Observer in the aftermath of Burchill-gate. Having got some brilliant quotes from people who were there, I wrote it up in feature form:

Trans Brits demand to be freed from a hate-filled media 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-brits-demand-be-freed-hate-filled-media180113
 
There is also a lovely and brave video campaign being run by LGBTQ Jamaicans.

Gay Jamaicans go on video to show the world who they are
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-jamaicans-go-video-show-world-who-they-are180113

Also, I foray gently and tentatively into the murky world of crime reporting:

Lesbian claims partner tortured, murdered bus driver for his PIN  
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-claims-partner-tortured-murdered-bus-driver-his-pin170113

And there is more news about cervical cancer, in that the BMA say young gay men should be given the vaccine as well as the school-age girls who currently receive it.

Vaccine must be given to gay men to prevent anal cancer, says BMA 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/vaccine-must-be-given-gay-men-prevent-anal-cancer-says-bma170113 

Finally, in a case of interns being given the most important news of the day, some bloke from Glee did an interview with the Metro newspaper. I was at the scene (of being able to read the Metro and rewrite what was said):

Chris Colfer: 'I'd love to do a Glee meets Downton special'
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/chris-colfer-id-love-do-glee-meets-downton-special180113

Jodie Foster's six greatest moments

All Jodie, all lesbian, all of the time

Today it was literally my job to watch clips of Jodie Foster movies on Youtube. I mean, I may not be being paid, but I'm certainly being allowed to sit in an office and assess the merits of (now openly) lesbian film stars. Who else knew that Jodie Foster was Lindsey Lohan in the original version of Parent Trap? Not me. This important morning's work became the literary tour de force, 'Jodie Foster's six greatest moments':

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jodie-fosters-six-greatest-moments160113

I also wrote a news piece about the 'Protest Transphobia @ the Observer' demo, taking place tomorrow afternoon. Do I need to mention Julie Burchill again?

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/anti-transphobia-protests-scheduled-following-withdrawal-burchill-hate-rant160113

Also, it turns out that queer women have to go for cervical screenings because lesbian sex is real, just like other sex. I think that the speculum may be irrelevant to smear tests, really. They do it just to punish women:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-and-bisexual-women-risk-cervical-cancer160113


As I didn't blog yesterday, you can also read up on a couple of pieces I did then. First, a Stonewall walk against homophobic bullying:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/want-stamp-out-anti-gay-bullying150113

Second and finally, there's a big gala being held to celebrate the Teddy queer film awards in Berlin:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/soir%C3%A9e-diversit%C3%A9-awards-ceremony-launches-berlin-film-festival150113

You can't smash patriarchy with transphobia

You should totally check out Bornstein's book Gender Outlaw. It's awesome. 

I spent a lot of time thinking about radical feminist transphobia whilst writing my undergrad dissertation (on whether trans theoretical and radical feminist ideologies are fundamentally at odds). When writing it, I treated the conflict as feminist history that had really been put to bed by writers like Sandy Stone, Patrick Califia and Kate Bornstein (above). It's strange and upsetting, but then perhaps not so surprising, to see that feminist transphobia is alive and well outside of the ivory tower.

You will be pleased to find that this article is marginally less wanky than my dissertation: http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2011/09/radical_feminism_transphobia.