Everybody loves a good banger. But, some songs just hit differently for the LGBTQ community. Click on any song to listen to it in Spotify. Here is the LGBTQ AF Top 10 Best Gay Anthems:
How can you have a gay anthem list without YMCA? It's on every dance party playlist in the world. Come on. You all know the motions. Y! M! C! A!
If you're anywhere around my age, you probably think "Mo Money Mo Problems" when this song first comes on the radio. But, before Puff and Biggie got their hands on it, I'm Coming Out was a huge anthem for Diana Ross, and continues to be a gay favorite to this day.
Hellelujah! Ever been to a gay bar and NOT heard this song at some point? Me neither. This banger cuts straight to the point.
Unless you've been living under a rock at the bottom of the ocean on a planet not-yet-discovered, you know how to Vogue. This iconic song, video, and dance was all the rage through the 90s. You'll still catch people breaking out a drunken Vogue at the end of the night.
Am I the only person who pictures Melissa Etheridge in a Dawson's Creek scene climbing up to someone's bedroom window every time I hear this song? Yes? Ok, then.
This song rocks. Gay anthem or not, this is a song that deserves a spot in your rotation. It's catchy. It's well-written. It's truly a great song. If you're looking for a new song to add to you gay songs playlist, this should be it.
This is another song that might not be as well known as others on this list, but it should be. I first heard this song way back when Josiah Leming did it on American Idol. I fell in love with the song immediately and have been blasting it ever since.
If you don't get hyped when the chorus of this song comes on, are you even alive? This hit has a positive message and and undeniably catchy melody.
Born This Way is possibly the most iconic LGBTQ anthem of the 2010s. Queen Gaga has always been deeply entrenched in the LGBTQ community, and we love her for that.
Have you ever really taken the time to genuinely listen to the lyrics of this song? It is unbelievably powerful and wonderful. Macklemore, as a straight man, does an amazing job of showing how he understood at a young age that equality is important and a fundament right for all.
There you have it. LGBTQ AF's top 10 favorite gay songs. Hopefully, you found a new song or two to check out, or remembered a great hit that you haven't listened to for years.
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Sigmund Freud popularized the term, pansexual, and used it to describe behavior based on sexual attraction without any specific labels.
]]>A person who identifies as a pangender has an identity that is not limited to just one gender. We all know the basic two: male and female, but did you know there are well over fifty different identity genders? Pangender is sort of a “multi-gender” in the sense that there is no maximum limit on the number of genders to which a person can identify. It can also stretch across an entire lifetime. A pangender person may experience gender fluctuation over the course of a lifetime and this may include genders that are not even established yet.
What is Pansexual?
Pansexual means that you are attracted to any person of any gender. This doesn’t mean you want just anybody, such as all men are not attracted to all women and vice versa. Simply stated this means you are attracted to someone based on looks, personality, attitude, or anything else you find of interest. Better yet, you are free to love anyone you please simply because you feel like it.
Sigmund Freud popularized the term, pansexual, and used it to describe behavior based on sexual attraction without any specific labels. Even though most behavioral scientists today don’t believe everything has a sexual aspect to it, Freud’s work brought about important questions, and it gave us a word that is widely recognized and helps people better understand.
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It’s no secret that the holiday season can be a stressful time for all of us. Add in the last 9 months and current conditions of pandemic-mania, and it can feel downright hopeless. Now, throw in an extra layer of anxiety that many of our LGBTQ+ humans may experience; whether it be from specific family actions, or perceived fear of dreaded “what ifs”... it’s enough to be thankful for mandatory stay-at-home orders!
But fear not. Below are some tips and tricks to help you, or anyone else struggling this year, face this holiday season with PRIDE.
DON’T. Or, try really hard not to. If you love watching Home Alone on a rainy December evening by yourself - do that. If you find peace in wrapping gifts in rainbow unicorn wrapping paper, with all the bells and whistles - do that. If zooming with friends or taking a walk for some fresh air calms your soul - do that. Whatever it is that fills you up, and makes your heart sing - DO ALL OF THAT. Your joy is yours, and should be protected.
The outside world seeps in. It’s unavoidable. But as a community, sometimes we surround ourselves with like-minded others, and heading back to our hometowns (pandemic-permitting), or virtually interacting with family we don’t see often, can have a dulling effect on who we really are. The opinions of family, nuclear or extended, do not define us, and are frankly none of our business. You know who you are, deep down. You know you are a loving, kind, giving, caring human, who deserves to live unapologetically as your unique, wonderful self, regardless of what anyone has to say about it.
Many of us are predisposed to believe that blood is thicker than water. And sometimes our families prove that to be true. But overwhelmingly, the LGBTQ+ community is forced to form our own versions of “family”. Instead of focusing on the negativity of this concept, think of how rad it is to have the courage to purposefully surround ourselves with humans that love, and accept us for everything that we are! You get to choose who is worthy of your time. Whether you’re choosing to spend your holidays with your family of origin or your family of choice, remember that unconditional love is what makes a family.
No matter if you are a spiritual person, or to which religion you or your family may belong, don’t let anyone use religion to belittle who you are as a human. Ignorance plagues religions of all kinds, but the truth is simple and will always prevail. You were created perfectly. You are loved. By God, a higher power, aliens, whomever!
2020 has definitely flipped the script. For some of us, it has brought the important things in life into laser focus. Big things seem smaller somehow, and the little things provide a warmth within us that maybe we couldn’t feel before the craziness. One way to fill ourselves, is to give. There are many charitable operations that could use a hand during these difficult times. If you are able to donate, that is a perfectly pandemic-safe way to provide support. If you live in a community that is allowing volunteer work at local shelters, or youth homes, they would welcome the help with open arms. It’s cliché’, but the amount of joy we get in return for participating in philanthropy far exceeds the effort. Hey, all of our psyches could use a boost!
If this year has taken an especially hard toll on you, and you just don’t feel the holiday spirit, allow yourself the grace to sit this one out. BUT, be sure you are isolating for all of the right reasons - rest, reset, reemerge. During your isolation, try to find ways to perk up your spirit. Being alone can be refreshing and restorative, but can also have devastating consequences to our mental health over a prolonged period of time. Remember… you are a deserving, worthy, human; which takes some effort on your part by checking in with yourself, and being honest with how you're feeling, why you’re feeling that way, and seeking help to improve your mental health. Always reach out if the lows feel too low. And check in with those we care about, too.
The holiday season can be rough, but it doesn’t have to be unbearable.
Be prepared, repeat your mantras, and BE YOU.
We love you!
Credit to HRC.org
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]]>November 20th is the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance or TDOR. This is an observance that honors transgender people who’ve lost their lives due to acts of anti-transgender violence. It was started over twenty years ago by Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998, and it has become a way to honor the loss of lives each year due to bigotry, hatred, and violence. Members of the transgender community, friends, allies, and advocates are welcome to participate in TDOR by attending vigils that normally involve reading a list of names of those lost during the year.
What is Transgender Awareness Week?
Transgender Awareness Week is celebrated November 13-19, the week before the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. People use this week to help raise the visibility of the issues that transgenders and members of their community face on a regular basis, just for being transgender. They do this by organizing meetings, sharing stories and experiences, and advocating against prejudice and discrimination toward transgender people.
Surprisingly, the majority of Americans believe they have never met someone who is transgender so it falls upon the media to inform, which has been poorly done for the last century. Transgender Awareness Week is a way for the transgender community to better educate and enlighten the general public on being human to other humans.
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The original eight colors representing the Pride flag date back to 1978 and were hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and violet. What do they stand for, you ask? Hot pink: sex, red: life, orange: healing, yellow: sunlight, green: nature, turquoise: magic/art, indigo: harmony/serenity, and violet: spirit.
Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag in 1978. He was urged by gay politician, Harvey Milk, to come up with a fitting symbol of pride for the LGBTQ community that would be loud and proud. He chose a flag because flags are visible and out there, two things he was trying to promote, and he chose a rainbow because it is a natural flag in the sky that everyone always notices.
As the demand for the flag grew, the colors were decreased down to seven, omitting the hot pink because the fabric was unavailable to keep up with production. In 1979 the flag was altered one more time down to six colors, this time omitting the turquoise stripe due to a visibility issue involving the lamp post from which it hung in San Francisco.
The final version that we see today has six glorious colors: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, AND VIOLET.
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Gay Pride week is celebrated in June of every year to commemorate the stance taken by these strong-willed individuals who were willing to stand up for liberties afforded to every human being. According to many sources, we give credit to Thom Higgins for crafting the term “Gay Pride” and to Brenda Howard for the idea of a week of LGBTQ-themed events every year.
]]>Gay Pride is like any other form of pride; It is the feeling and reflecting of self-affirmation, worth, equality, dignity, and a sense of overall goodness within oneself...except that you are gay or love someone who is gay. Gay pride celebrations such as parades, festivals, and other special events, promote these basic human rights along with aiding in visibility and acceptance for members of the LGBTQ community.
June 1970 - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco - this is where it all began folks! Demonstrations in these cities were born as a response to the police raids of gay and lesbian bars at the Stonewall Inn and others in Greenwich Village in 1969. Known as the Stonewall riots, Stonewall uprising, and the Stonewall rebellion, it was the first time people stood up against the violence and discrimination toward the gay and lesbian community.
As a result of this uprising, things finally began to change and members of the LGBTQ community were allowed to celebrate themselves and to fight for equal rights without being met with violence or torment. Again, these are fundamental rights that are yours for simply being born.
Gay Pride week is celebrated in June of every year to commemorate the stance taken by these strong-willed individuals who were willing to stand up for liberties afforded to every human being. According to many sources, we give credit to Thom Higgins for crafting the term “Gay Pride” and to Brenda Howard for the idea of a week of LGBTQ-themed events every year.
Now the word “pride” has widely become associated with all things LGBTQ and is recognized worldwide. It is worth celebrating every day, every week, every month, for every life.
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Not just the basic definition, which is pretty easy to understand, but more so what it means to actually be gender neutral, and/ or how do you explain gender neutral to others.
]]>Not just the basic definition, which is pretty easy to understand, but more so what it means to actually be gender neutral, and/or how do you explain gender neutral to others.
According to the dictionary, gender neutral means “suitable for, applicable to, or common to both male and female genders” or “denoting a word or expression that cannot be taken to refer to one gender only”. So let’s backtrack. Your biological sex is assigned at birth but that does not always go hand in hand with gender expression. You can easily look at a child’s body and determine the biological sex but you cannot look into their minds to see if that matches up.
Let’s be honest, sadly, some people do not even realize that there is such a thing as gender neutral and if they do, there’s a good chance they don’t understand it. So, let’s start with this: you may find that while you may look like a boy or a girl that you really feel like neither. That doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings, good grief!
I’ve reached out to people and learned that it isn’t a case at all of, say, looking like a boy and feeling like a girl, it’s a case of not really feeling like either, or better stated it’s a case of just feeling like yourself. It’s not a fair assumption that girls like girl things and boys like boy things. In life we want everyone to be happy with who they are, who they feel like they are in their hearts and souls so we need to stop this old agenda.
Trying to keep this short, but I want to quickly mention that gender neutral pronouns such as they/them are preferred when addressing a gender neutral person. Calling a gender neutral person he or she automatically sets behavior expectations and/or forces the person to act in a manner that makes them feel uncomfortable, stressed, or even guilty.
Happiness is for everyone so your only job is to allow each person to be themselves.
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