"Rightwing Christians have us on the defensive, scrambling to prove how nice and normal, how patriotic and churchgoing, we are. But we'll never convince our enemies we're just like them -- and not because many of us aren't. That's true, but irrelevant. Homophobes don't hate us because we're different; they call us different because they hate us. When we romanticized promiscuity, they condemned us for not forming long-term, monogamous relationships; when we romanticize long-term monogamous relationships, they condemn us for "mocking" and "destroying" marriage. We're their scapegoats. They need to call us guilty to feel innocent. They need to call us dirty to feel clean."

I forget sometimes that this is not okay.
I forget that we are looked upon with fear.
In this safe space, we are allowed to be gay.

On campus there are signs that boldly say,
“Gays and lesbians are accepted here!”
I forget sometimes that this is not okay,

That deviance is not the American way.
I’m spoiled by this open atmosphere,
This safe space where we’re allowed to be gay.

TELL ME A STORY!

i am looking for interesting stories about your life to include in my upcoming collaboration, a book about interconnecting lives and how each life unfolds.

email:
yourlifestory@hotmail.com

Flat. All the world flat as glass when I chance to raise my eyes. Our eyes meet and she looks so miserable, her eyes dark holes of sadness. It hollers and scrapes at my insides, at the base of my throat. But I can't speak, I've shut down all pathways of communication between us. My solution is to pretend she doesn't exist, stare straight ahead as though I am paralyzed. It is no disguise.

She looks at me, but what should I do? It only sends a volt of electric blue to my heart. Nothing. I am a Frankenstein monster who does not respond to your Gothic electricity.

Kathleen Hanna (from riot-grrl bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre)has a solo project I recently learned about called Julie Ruin and it rocks. here are the lyrics to 'i wanna know what love is' (which, incidentally, is featured in the awesome lesbian film 'better than chocolate')
She is so grrl power.

Intro: Do you remember when we were young and
impressionable and taught to believe everything

i'm back from wherever i was all this time.

it's hard to be sure.

i recognize a few people from when i was an oasis regular. i have missed this website and now that i have lost my girlfriend and most of my gay friends, i need this place again. i need it really bad and hopefully i will be accepted here again, for acceptance on a computer screen is at least some consolation. i'm terribly lonely and desperate for friends, i'm not afraid to admit that. so c'mon, talk to me. say hi. i don't bite...

This is part of my story and I hope it helps anyone who is going through a rough time, especially if it is similar to my experiences. You will need more strength than you know.

As I walk the oak-lined pathways of Southwestern University's beautiful campus, I know that next year, I could very well be one of the fortunate students here, carrying books and cups of coffee from building to gorgeous stone building. As I attend sessions in each of the main academic departments- especially literature, social sciences, and modern languages- I am thrilled to the core, practically salivating at the opportunity to access the vast store of knowledge available from the professors. I listen raptly as I attend a seminar on Latin American studies, in which I hope to major with a possible minor in Feminist Studies. My dream is to serve as a Spanish-English translator, especially at women’s clinics in poverty-stricken areas of Latin America, and with over fifty percent of Southwestern students traveling abroad as undergraduates, this dream is approaching reality for me.

It's a depressing thought that only devoted veterans of Oasis will even recognize the name "stars and nothing." It's me, Emily, your old friend!

I feel like an outsider here now. Creepy, isn't it? Like visiting your old hometown to see it overrun with strange faces. Not that I don't welcome new people- in fact, Niks and ACCGirl and I used to be sort of an Oasis welcome wagon. Whenever a new kid came in, we'd comment on their first post and say how glad we were, etc. I used to post like everyday... check out some of my old journal entries. I used to be cool, I swear.

It occurs to me
That I can't go back

I stand here
Blade poised
Thoughts bloom
Like bright flowers of blood

I should talk
To Chelsea
Or Heather, or Minkus
I should talk
To Nikki
Or Matthew, or Emrys
To my mom, to my counselor,
to my favorite teacher.
So many people know me.

(Y tu, Walt Whitman,
me conoces bien. Rezo a ti como rezaba a Dios--
espero
que me entiendas
Cuando te hablo sin cortarme.

Come on, Oasis, where are we on this?

Do you want to lose your rights?
Do you want to let the government make us second-class citizens?
With every step, the control will get stronger, so let's stop them now while we still can.

Write to your Congresspersons. If you're not sure of how to do that,
WE WILL HELP YOU HERE!!!
Email me at anytime, HLA83@aol.com, and I'll respond ASAP.
I want our community to rally behind this cause.

Hey everyone-- I have something very important that I'd really like to set in motion, and I need as much as help as I can get.

I've written a petition against the constitutional amendment to BAN GAY MARRIAGE now being pushed by conservatives. I want to get this out into the public-- across the country, across the world-- and Oasis was an obvious arena to start an underground movement among gay youth.

:what
:could i
:possibly
:have to say?
nothingnothing painfully nothingnothing

miss you honey, miss you Muse
miss you baby(poetry)baby

i treated you good
oh didn't i Muse?
i never gave you
too much to do

why other poets
overload their Muses
we'd worked out a nice mutual respect, i thought.

love, don't be silly
lady, come down
i swear by this poem

"Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?"- Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

I think it's great that so many of you want to work for change, and I really do think we can change the unjust laws with which we are faced. I also think it's a great idea to write to our representation in Congress.

But don't forget--we are representing the youth of the gay community.

“I’m sorry for all that it isn’t,