Tag Archives: Gay Is Good

It's Okay To Be "LGBT" and Not "Queer"

It’s Okay To Be “Gay” and “Lesbian” and Not “Queer”.

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Yesterday someone said to me that if I wasn’t “queer” then I was “transphobic. That’s not the way it works.

There has been much bashing in our community from “Queer ” activists on social media who have gone into hyperdrive shaming people and labeling them transphobes and racists for not embracing the identity of “queer” and instead identifying as LGBT. “Queer” is a personal choice, and different individuals may have different reasons for using one term over the other. However, there are some potential problems with identifying as queer instead of LGBT, which include:

  1. Lack of clarity: While LGBT is an acronym that describes a specific group of people, the term “queer” can be ambiguous and mean different things to different people. This can lead to confusion and miscommunication when discussing issues related to sexuality and gender identity.
  2. Exclusion: Some people within the LGBT community may feel excluded or offended by the use of the term “queer,” which has historically been used as a slur against many older LGBT individuals who were severely scarred by it. While a very small minority (less than 1%) have reclaimed Queer, the term as a way of expressing their non-conformity to traditional gender and sexual norms, many others may feel uncomfortable with it.
  3. Generational divide: There is a generational divide in the LGBTQ+ community regarding the use of the term “queer.” Older generations may associate it with negative experiences of discrimination and violence, while younger generations may see it as a more inclusive and empowering term. This can create tension and division within the community.
  4. Lack of specificity: While the term “queer” can be a useful umbrella term to describe a wide range of non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities, it may not provide enough specificity for individuals who want to express a more specific aspect of their identity.
  5. EVERY different group under the “umbrella” have different issues.
  6. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL YOU WHAT TO IDENTIFY AS AND WHO TO BE.

Ultimately, in the end, the choice of whether to identify as queer or LGBT is a personal one, and individuals should use the term that feels most comfortable and authentic to them. However, it is important to be aware of the potential issues and limitations of both terms when discussing issues related to sexuality and gender identity and that not everyone identifies as |queer” and it should not be used as a general label. Something which the LGBT/Queer media has been pushing upon us.

Gay is Good.

So it’s okay to be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender without being “Queer”.

In the end its all about you.

The Bizarre Story Behind Gay Rights Hero Frank Kameny’s Headstone and Heir Timothy Lamont Clark

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Kameny grave

 

Yesterday a newly installed memorial headstone for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny  was installed as part of the annual LGBT Veterans Day ceremony sponsored by the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community that is held each year at Congressional Cemetery.

The Kameny headstone along with a footstone bearing the slogan, “Gay is Good,” which Kameny coined in 1968, have been placed at a cemetery plot just behind the Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich grave. The plot was purchased by the LGBT charitable group Helping Our Brothers and Sisters because of the Kameny estates lacking funds four years ago after the death of the gay rights legend

This comes after years of fighting between the Kamney family, friends, and his legal heir  Timothy Clark, a man of dubious reputation who has held the remains of Frank Kameny, one of the greatest gay activists hostage and  interned  in a storeroom of a Washington, D.C. cemetery over a three years after his death. Clark would  not allow the interment of the ashes to take place until HOBS signs over ownership of the cemetery plot to the estate.

But that never happened and while Clark at one time agreed to allowing half of Kameny’s ashes to be interned at the memorial,  in the end Timothy Clark broke his word and decided to inter all the ashes at an undisclosed location and asking the community to respect “his wishes and his privacy”.

No.

 I just can’t do that because this is not Clark’s first disruption of sharing Kameny’s legacy.  Clark filed separate lawsuits against four of Kameny’s longtime friends and fellow activists, charging that they “wrongfully” removed property from Kameny’s house shortly after his death last October.  (The suits were later dropped) These charges were brought against the same men who helped Kameny financially to pay his bills and keep his house in the last years of his life as he was destitute.  While Clark contributed nothing to help

Clark had even gone as far as to have Kameny’s nationally recognized “Gay is Good” slogan trademarked as to make money off it.

Clark, and his lawyer Glen Ackerman recently ordered D.C. gay activist Christopher Dyer to stop using Kameny’s nationally recognized “Gay is Good” slogan as part of the name of an LGBT rights website that Dyer launched on and demanded its removal even though Dyer explained to the estate that he would not be using the “Gay is Good” phrase for commercial profit and gain that made no difference.

“The executor of the estate has not made a decision regarding how to best utilize the trademark,” Ackerman replied in an email to Dyer. “As such, it is imperative that you cease using the phrase immediately. It is not relevant that you are not using the phrase for commercial profit or gain. The estate will enforce its trademark rights.”

Replied Dyer, the former head of the city’s Office of GLBT Affairs, “Ok. I will cease from this point forward… On a personal note, I am frankly disgusted that the estate took this action. It wasn’t the intent of Frank to have this phrase trademarked.”

Dwyer who used the phrase to make “Gay is Good, Make LGBT Great” for a newly created Facebook page to serve as “a page that highlights individuals who are doing work to make the lives of LGBT people great.”

Ackerman told the Washington Blade (and it must be noted that Mr. Ackerman is also The Washington Blade’s attorney) that the estate declares in its application for the trademark that the objective of the trademark is to ensure that the slogan is always used as intended by Kameny – to promote LGBT equality in a dignified and respectful manner but also added “This slogan that Frank Kameny coined in 1968 is his intellectual property,” Ackerman said. “Frank owns it. It is historical. We are protecting it so that it will always remain connected to Frank, not Christopher Dyer, not other people, but to Frank.”

This is just some in a long line of incidents that have occurred between Kameny’s executor Timothy Lamont Clark and the gay community since Franks passing. And  while we finally have a memorial to one the greatest gay rights leader ever we will never know, the whereabouts of his ashes lay will not be because of pettiness and greed.

To read more on this subject:

Click HERE – HERE  and HERE

 

 

 

DISGUSTING – Frank Kameny’s Estate Trademarks “Gay Is Good”, Stops LGBT Publics General Use

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In a move that would make late great gay activist Frank Kameny roll over in his grave, if he actually had one since it is now a year after his death and his ashes have still have not been buried because fights and lawsuits between Kameny’s estate handler and Washington D.C. gay insiders. Timothy Lamont Clark, the Personal Representative of the Estate of Dr. Franklin E. Kameny,  has had Kameny’s nationally recognized “Gay is Good” slogan trademarked.

Clark, and his lawyer Glen Ackerman recently ordered D.C. gay activist Christopher Dyer to stop using Kameny’s nationally recognized “Gay is Good” slogan as part of the name of an LGBT rights website that Dyer launched on Oct. 11th and demanded its removal.  And even though Dyer explained to the estate that he would not be using the “Gay is Good” phrase for commercial profit and gain that made no difference.

“The executor of the estate has not made a decision regarding how to best utilize the trademark,” Ackerman replied in an email to Dyer. “As such, it is imperative that you cease using the phrase immediately. It is not relevant that you are not using the phrase for commercial profit or gain. The estate will enforce its trademark rights.”

Replied Dyer, the former head of the city’s Office of GLBT Affairs, “Ok. I will cease from this point forward… On a personal note, I am frankly disgusted that the estate took this action. It wasn’t the intent of Frank to have this phrase trademarked.”

Dwyer who used the phrase to make “Gay is Good, Make LGBT Great” for a newly created Facebook page to serve as “a page that highlights individuals who are doing work to make the lives of LGBT people great.”

But Ackerman told the Washington Blade (and it must be noted that Mr. Ackerman is also The Washington Blades attorney) that the estate declares in its application for the trademark that the objective of the trademark is to ensure that the slogan is always used as intended by Kameny – to promote LGBT equality in a dignified and respectful manner but also added “This slogan that Frank Kameny coined in 1968 is his intellectual property,” Ackerman said. “Frank owns it. It is historical. We are protecting it so that it will always remain connected to Frank, not Christopher Dyer, not other people, but to Frank.”

Which also means that wanting to use “Gay is Good” seeks having to ask permission and  possibly paying the estate to use it.

This is just the latest incident of the disgusting greed and pettiness that has occurred between Franks executor Timothy Lamont Clark, his lawyer Ackerman and the Washington, D,C. gay community over Kameny’s legacy and also his remains.

Clark filed separate lawsuits against four of Kameny’s longtime friends and fellow activists, charging that they “wrongfully” removed property from Kameny’s house shortly after his death last October.  (The suits were later dropped) These are the same men who helped Kameny financially to pay bills and keep his house in the last years of his life as he was destitute.  While Clark contributed little to no help.

But the most upsetting thing is that the remains of Frank Kameny, one of the greatest gay activists ever ashes remain interned and sitting  in a storeroom of a Washington, D.C. cemetery over a year after his death because a Washington, D.C. group named “Helping Our Brothers and Sisters” bought Kameny a burial plot after his death because of Kameny’s lack of funds and the estate will not allow the interment of the ashes to take place until HOBS signs over ownership of the cemetery plot to the estate.

This is an insult and injustice to the legacy and memory of Frank Kameny and reeks of nothing more than petty behavior and an outright attempt to make as much money for Mr. Clark and Mr. Ackerman in the guise of “protecting” Dr. Kameny’s legacy while doing nothing more than spitting on it.

This is nothing less than a gay travesty and a disservice to the memory and the great works of Dr, Frank Kameny and  Timothy Lamont Clark and Glen Ackerman should be ashamed.