The Epimic of Gay Lonels - The Huffgton Post

Contents:

• HERE'S WHY HUFFPOST GAY VOIC JT CHANGED ITS NAME TO HUFFPOST QUEER VOIC
• HUFFPOST GAY VOIC DEBUTS
• HUFFPOST GAY VOIC IS NOW QUEER VOIC
• HUFFPOST GAY VOIC REBRANDS TO MORE INCLIVE HUFFPOST QUEER VOIC
• GAY VOIC
• IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

HERE'S WHY HUFFPOST GAY VOIC JT CHANGED ITS NAME TO HUFFPOST QUEER VOIC

Today, for the very first time, we're thrilled to wele you to HuffPost Queer name change four-and-a-half years after we origally buted as HuffPost Gay Voic -- and after untls nversatns wh untls people, both si and outsi of the HuffPost I've had my own love affair wh the word "queer" for as long as I n remember (more on that a mute), at the time of our lnch 2011 some people felt that the term was too ntroversial, too divisive and, bee of s history as a slur, perhaps jt too paful to e. Instead, we settled on HuffPost Gay Voic (you n read more about how that cisn was reached here). "Queer" functns as an umbrella term that clus not only the lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr people of "LGBT, " but also those whose inti fall between, outsi of or stretch beyond those tegori, cludg genrqueer people, tersex people, asexual people, pansexual people, polyamoro people and those qutng their sexualy or genr, to name jt a few.

HUFFPOST GAY VOIC DEBUTS

An Open Letter To Boys Like O'Shae SibleyAs we as queer Black people llectively grieve, we mt turn our grief to our power by Country's Tyler Chilrs Shar Why He Wanted His New Vio To Be A Gay Love StoryReleased last week, Chilrs' “In Your Love” has been emed a heartfelt unterpot to “Try That a Small Town, ” Jason Alan's cendiary Former 'Bachelorette' Gabby Wy Debuts Girliend On Social Media"Told you I'm a girls girl! " the realy TV star wrote an Instagram post sharg pics of her and edian Robby Kentucky’s Ban On Genr-Affirmg Care For Mors Can Stand For Now, Feral Court RulTrans youth the state will experience immediate “trimental effects” to their physil and mental well-beg, advot Beyoncé Honors Fan Fatally Stabbed In Spected Homophobic AttackDancer O’Shae Sibley was reportedly dancg to Beyoncé wh iends before two men began hurlg sults at Anti-Trans Polici Are Csg Chaos Ahead Of The New School YearSchool districts are cidg whether to adopt Republin Gov. The Huffgton Post has lnched Gay Voic, another “vertil” (their term for a specific sectn of the se) their seemgly ever-growg list (Black Voic, Lato Voic, etc.

) servg ntent by er his gural post welg rears, Gay Voic edor Noah Michelson addrs the ratnale for the se and s name:While the Huffgton Post has done an credible job of verg queer stori the past, Gay Voic will provi a place for all of those stori to “live” together, thereby makg much easier for rears to fd, share and discs queer topics... Brgs to the term “gay” and why we chose the name Gay Voic...

While most often scrib a “male homosexual, ” “gay” has been and n be ed by (and to refer to) those wh other margalized sexual inti.

HUFFPOST GAY VOIC IS NOW QUEER VOIC

I fully nce the term may not be one everyone feels fortable claimg or wants to be associated wh (pecially when to issu of genr rather than sexualy), but after realizg that there was never gog to be the perfect term for to e, we felt that “gay” packs the most stantaneo punch and immediately intifi the ntent on this vertil as alg wh the typ of issu and argument that “gay” is still the clost we have to a universally acceptable word to scribe LGBT people is not new.

The qutn I have om the above ratnale is: Has the word “gay” really e full circle? Not sure if that will ntue, but the ma article today on the Gay Voic homepage about HIV gave me some hope. For years I’ve noticed the divergence between my straight iends and my gay iends.

HUFFPOST GAY VOIC REBRANDS TO MORE INCLIVE HUFFPOST QUEER VOIC

In our lifetime, the gay muny has ma more progrs on legal and social acceptance than any other mographic group history. As recently as my own adolcence, gay marriage was a distant aspiratn, somethg newspapers still put sre quot.

Public support for gay marriage has climbed om 27 percent 1996 to 61 percent 2016.

” Gay characters the days are so monplace they’re even allowed to have flaws. Still, even as we celebrate the sle and speed of this change, the rat of prsn, lonels and substance abe the gay muny rema stuck the same place they’ve been for s. Gay people are now, pendg on the study, between 2 and 10 tim more likely than straight people to take their own liv.

GAY VOIC

In a survey of gay men who recently arrived New York Cy, three-quarters suffered om anxiety or prsn, abed dgs or alhol or were havg risky sex—or some batn of the three. Dpe all the talk of our “chosen fai, ” gay men have fewer close iends than straight people or gay women.

I’m a perpetually sgle gay guy who was raised a bright blue cy by PFLAG parents. “Marriage equaly and the chang legal stat were an improvement for some gay men, ” says Christopher Stults, a rearcher at New York Universy who studi the differenc mental health between gay and straight men.

IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

In the Netherlands, where gay marriage has been legal sce 2001, gay men rema three tim more likely to suffer om a mood disorr than straight men, and 10 tim more likely to engage “suicidal self-harm. TTravis Salway, a rearcher wh the BC Centre for Disease Control Vanuver, has spent the last five years tryg to figure out why gay men keep killg themselv.

“The fg feature of gay men ed to be the lonels of the closet, ” he says. “But now you’ve got lns of gay men who have e out of the closet and they still feel the same isolatn.

By the late 2000s, he was a social worker and epimlogist and, like me, was stck by the growg distance between his straight and gay iends. He started to wonr if the story he had always heard about gay men and mental health was plete.

When the dispary first me to light the ’50s and ’60s, doctors thought was a symptom of homosexualy self, jt one of many maniftatns of what was, at the time, known as “sexual versn. ” As the gay rights movement gaed steam, though, homosexualy disappeared om the DSM and the explanatn shifted to trma. Gay men were beg kicked out of their own fai, their love liv were illegal.