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!
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.
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:

I just wrote, costumed, casted, filmed, and edited a movie in 72 hours. And that's over the course of three school nights.
Why, you might ask? I'll tell you why. Because my Mythological Figures composition presentation is going to be the standard by which all Mythological Figures composition presentation Mythological Figures composition presentations are graded. It is going to be the presentation that Mr. fucking Richards is going to talk about for the rest of his life. And it is going to get an indisputable A.
Hello everyone *waves enthusiastically*
(^_^ I just spelled enthusiastically correctly!!)
Anyway I haven't been to this site in a long time, I used to go by Meldiseus but this is a new account, and a lot of things have changed since then.
I'm in college, studying to be an actor, and have a wonderful bunch of friends. I'm out to my mom, 6 people, and I know that if I want to I could come out to my friends cause they're mostly people who know about the LGBT to some extent and get pissed at people who aren't understanding.

This gay teen's very moving story of initial family rejection and ultimate salvation appears in today's Reno News & Review. His is just one of many other personal stories contributed by teens for the full article; but his is the only one telling of his family's rejection... but followed with love and acceptance expressed by an understanding grandparent!:
http://www.newsreview.com/reno/teen-issue/content?oid=9359026
I have taken the liberty of extracting his story below...

Today is March 20th and today is also the day that my boyfriend has left for rehab for the next four and something months. I am not sure how to feel right now, because I miss him dearly already, I miss his hands and his mouth and his voice that says 'I love you' and 'You are the world to me'. I am sad that he is missing from me. But he is safe, and love is winning, and for this, I am blessed. The last words he said to me as he left were 'you saved my life'.
I had my thirteenth birthday last week, but now that I'm "officially" a teenager I don't feel any different. Except that I'm no longer able to call myself a 'tween, and I'm thankful that's over! In some cultures I'd be considered a man now but I don't belong to one of those cultures : (
My Dads threw a really cool birthday party for me, but it was a bittersweet occasion for me. It will be the last time that my best friend Austin and I will get to be together for what may be a long time, and it was hard for me to hold my emotions back so I didn't.
I've discovered my new favorite visual artist! He's called David Burdeny, and these are some great examples of his work:




I've been getting a lot of extra hours at work lately, which is good. Twenty-three hours this past week, nineteen of which were during the weekend. I like to gripe about it but really it's good for me. When I'm working my mind is only focused on the tasks at hand. It's a distraction. A greasy way to kill time, if you will. Plus the money is nice to have, although I don't particularly yearn for tons of cash. Good news is I can buy books and put more in my pathetically small savings account.