Gay Teens are the cover story of Entertainment Weekly

Attention Gleeks! (and non-Gleeks),

Looks like this week's Entertainment Weekly is worth a gander. Here is how the EW staff describes the cover story:

Gay teens are suddenly popping up in major roles all over television, with Glee’s popular pairing of Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) leading the way. How did gay teens go from marginalized outcasts and goofy sidekicks to some of the highest profile — and most beloved — characters on the likes of 90210, Pretty Little Liars, and Skins? And more importantly, how is this affecting real-life teens still facing the daily high-school realities of bullying, discrimination, and ignorance? The new issue of Entertainment Weekly investigates the history of gay teens on TV — from the angsty Rickie on My So-Called Life to sensitive-soul Jack on Dawson’s Creek to the slew of groundbreaking characters on Degrassi. We talk to the producers who fought for such progress, the actors who held the career-defining roles, and the activists who cheer recent advances — but are still pushing for more.

Check it out, and report back with your thoughts!

Oasis celebrates its 15th year!

Wow, it started as a monthly "magazine" style site, is now a community site, and at some point in 2011 should morph into a full-blown social network, but on December 1, Oasis turns 15 years old.

I launched the site in 1995 and am amazed by what it has become, as the site has always been driven, created, and supported by the people who share their lives here.

Some of our biggest assets were accidents that I now take credit for, such as not creating a girls forum and a boys forum, which has led to people realizing the problems are universal and the support is welcome from everyone willing to help. This is also useful more recently as our trans membership increases, saving my inbox from messages about reinforcing gender binaries, etc., etc.

I've been a bit absent lately as I've been at a the tail end of one job that was sort of spiraling out of control, and instead of the unemployment I expected, I actually have a 3-day weekend right into a new job with an even longer commute. The upside is that I will be earning enough now to hire a developer and get this site (and my vegan social network) developed in parallel.

So, thanks to everyone who comes here to share their lives, welcome others, and let people who need compassion and concern feel virtually what they might not feel in their offline lives.

I may have created this thing, but everyone reading this is the reason it has become such a special place online.

Andy South: Interview

By Jeff Walsh

Andy South was the youngest gay contestant on Project Runway this season, and made it into the final three contestants who got to show an entire collection at Fashion Week. He may look familiar on the site because he wrote an article for Oasis about his thoughts on fellow contestant Mondo Guerra revealing he was HIV-positive on the show a few weeks back.

Sadly, Andy didn't end up winning the show, but he seems very aware that Project Runway is an opportunity to build on, and from now, it is up to him to succeed.

We spoke last weekend, two days after the finale aired, and the first day he remembers sleeping in for a very long time, as he transitions from being a reality show contestant back to being a full-time fashion designer.

Here's what we said:

Latest journal entries.

andy816's picture

help

im gay and i have been hideing it for a long time... irecently have told my sister and mother about it and i was gonna ask them for help... bc i dont want to be gay anymore- its un-christan like... anyway they fliped out...and i feel that i have let mother down... i feel that she has no trust for me anymore...i like women along with men...i dont want that!! ive found two things that help me get through this and theyare writing dow all my feelings and most importantly talking to god. if anyone has anything else that helped them plese tell me. imhurting and i cant do this on my own..

Sam2000's picture

Me, One Year Later

Happy Easter, for those who celebrate this day!

Today is a special day for me, no only because it's Easter Sunday, but it's also my one year anniversary of writing my first journal on here. So much has changed in the last year that it's hard for me to believe at times.

ElsaGabor's picture

Marlboro No. 27

It feels so wrong not filling my voids with the touch of another man. It was always my first instinct. Replace pain, anguish with tactile sensation. The smooth skin of another man as he made love to me was so gratifying, so emptily yet perfectly satisfying. I miss the touch, I miss the adventure, I miss the excitement. But now all I'm left with is nicotine and fleeting satisfaction. I'm trying to find my way back to the higher road, but I can't help but feeling I belong on the lower path. Why do I desire such greatness, yet aspire to destroy my own prospects?

MaddieJoy's picture

Lezzie

You know, girls loving girls makes so much more sense to me. I don't know why. It seems pure somehow. Holy or something. Corny right? But it's true.
I've been working on a poem. I don't usually do that--work on writing. But I'm putting together these phrases into a letter to Girl. Girl is the one I'm waiting for. Now I sound schizo, but oh well.
Is it weird that I kind of like boys but I also feel like a lesbian? There's something nice about the word when I say it out loud. "I'm a lesbian." I'm terribly confused.

angel syndrome's picture

the dream of horses

i had a dream of ponies running up and down
your arms again, making new bruises
in the same places that you've
found them in the past
year.

(oh, all i can ask
is that you do
not go where
i can no
longer
follow)

http://youtu.be/ohYVsdSAhhs ☆=

Mike07's picture

I really do not want to be gay!!!

So im 14 years old im a boy and i think i am a bisexual.I have more non sexual feelings for women and more sexual feelings for men. For example i would love nothing more than a big house and a wife and kids!But then i have these fantasies about men.ive never actually been in a relationship with a man because to be honest the thought knocks me sick but ive had a few relationships with girls but nothing serious at all.

Riley-X's picture

Life Happens #2

I was real upset when I was writing my last journal, which I why I stopped midway through what I wanted to write. I'm a bit better now, but what I've gone through the last few weeks isn't something that just goes away I suppose?

When I went to see my grandparents the day after mom and I went back to Minnesota the cold hard reality of my grandfather's condition just hit me as had as the cold winter wind.

He had always been a healthy and active guy, and now he was this emaciated person who bore little resemblance to the man who used to take me fishing and play catch for hours on end.


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