Photographer documents watershed period in gay history with The Gay Men Project

By Adam Polaski
Jan 21, 2014 at 05:30 pm

For more than two years, New York City-based photographer Kevin Truong has been traveling the globe, curating what he calls "the visual catalog of gay men around the world" - The Gay Men Project.
"This project is simple," Kevin (pictured, right) writes on his blog. "Basically I’m trying to photograph as many gay men as I can. My goal is to create a platform, a visibility on some level, and a resource for others who may not be as openly gay."

As support for the freedom to marry across the United States - and, increasingly, internationally - has grown in the past few years, it's become clearer than ever that one of the best ways to encourage support is by sharing the stories and images of same-sex couples and their families. In the same way, The Gay Men Project presents a diverse array of gay men, sharing their portraits and stories and capturing how gay men live in every city, every country, and come from every different cultural background out there.
Kevin has amassed a collection of photographs featuring more than 350 gay men - and it's a wonderful testament to the power of story-sharing. Below, Freedom to Marry caught up with Kevin this year to chat specifically about his photographs of gay men in committed relationships - why he's inspired to work on this project, and how it works in tandem with the global momentum to win the freedom to marry.

Aunsha & Michael • New York, NY

 

What motivated you to begin this project?

The project really stemmed from my own coming out to my mom. I was sitting across the table from her, and I told her I was gay, and she just looked really confused.

I asked her a year later what that look was - and she said she was trying to visualize if I would look different or seem different now that she knew I was gay. She explained that she didn't have any reference point to what gay people are like. She was just this 56-year-old Vietnamese woman relying on these stereotypes that aren't always accurate. So this project is about photographing a wide range of men from many cities and many different backgrounds. It's about showing that there is no 'gay look,' no singular gay experience.

Andy & Mark • Baltimore, MD

 

The Gay Men Project isn't specifically couples-focused - but what is the benefit of including couples in your project?

I think it's important to see visual representations of gay couples and families. It helps the viewer, whoever that is - people from around the world, people like my mom - who had never seen these visual representations of what a couple could be, what a marriage could be. It's important to include these because they could change people's views.

One of the first couples I photographed was a friend of a friend in Baltimore (above). I went out to Baltimore, where they have the most beautiful, idyllic home with an adopted son from Vietnam. The father of one of the men lived in the same house with them, too, so there were three generations of men living there. And for me personally, even as a gay man living in New York City, it was the first time in my life that I had seen a gay family firsthand. I had never been able to conceptualize it before - and this was at the age of 29. After meeting Mark and Andy, I left thinking for myself, 'Maybe I could have a family like that. Maybe this is something I could have.' I want to help further that dialogue and give more and more visual reference points for the community.

Dustin & Alan • Vashon Island, WA

We're seeing such amazing momentum for the freedom to marry nationwide - how does the Gay Men Project fit in?

We're witnessing something very historic right now - when we look back 30, 50, 60 years from now at LGBT rights in the United States, I do feel like there's this period of time right now that will be in history books. It's one of those watershed moments that we will remember, and I want to do my part in documenting the many stories that are out there.

I don't want to just document these court cases and news articles about famous couples and openly gay celebrities - I want there to be documentation of the stories of people like Dustin and Alan, who live in Washington state and plan to marry there soon. It's important to have these people's histories recorded. I think that through The Gay Men Project, I'm working to document these stories. I photograph couples and then urge them to write their story in their own words. I like that I'm able to record and document these stories, and that they're coinciding with this historic, awesome moment for LGBT individuals and the people who love them.

Carlos & Ivan • Los Angeles, CA

I hope someday stories like these will stand side by side with the Jason Collins and Edie Windsors of the world - I want these everyday stories to be remembered, and I want to photograph as many people as I can.
You've said that you feel like the more men you photograph, the more impact the project has. Will you elaborate on this?
By this point, I've profiled around 350 guys - and that's a cool collection of stories and images. I think there's something about having them stand together in one collection that provides a particular kind of reference point to look back on this historic time.

Ron & Ben • Vancouver, Canada

What do you hope people take away from the photos?

With this project, I feel like any change that I can effect is at the micro level - I'm not a policy maker, and a photo alone doesn't make a grand change. But a photo can leave a big impact on individuals - and that's more of the goal with this project.

For example, it's really changed my mom. When I came out to her, she was supportive and said everything she was supposed to say, but we didn't really ever talk about it. More recently, my mom and I traveled to Vietnam, where I had set up a bunch of times to photograph gay men in Ho Chi Minh City. She went with me to every shoot - and since I don't speak Vietnamese, she was my translator.

Christian & Angel • London, England

When we got back to the United States, I sent her some of the paragraphs I asked these guys to write for the project, and she replied to me in an email, explaining that she checked out The Gay Men Project for the first time. She specifically referred to this guy we met in Ho Chi Minh City, saying, "I remember that guy. I enjoyed meeting him. It was brave of him to tell his story.'

At the end of the email she wrote, 'I hope you make these photographs into a book and share it with the world.' That was the first time in my life where she was really celebrating me being gay - that that was something she was proud of.

That's a change happening in my own life - and I hope that's the kind of change happening in other people's lives. I hope that's the kind of change The Gay Men Project can bring about.

Learn more about The Gay Men Project.

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 29, 2014

Imagination

I don’t think we have an imagination apart from the environment . . . . And I don’t think we have an existence apart from the environment either. And if the imagination isn’t about our existence, I don’t know what it’s about.

- W. S. Merwin, "The Garden & The Sword"

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Via AmericaBlog: Buddhist student harrassed, ridiculed, told to accept it, leave school or convert

Buddhist student harrassed, ridiculed, told to accept it, leave school or convert

 

So here's a fascinating -- and by fascinating, I mean appalling -- case that the ACLU is filing on behalf of a local family, against a Louisiana school district and several officials/teachers. The family suffered a tremendous litany of unconstitutional behaviors directed against them, but they are perhaps best represented by the words of plaintiff Scott Lane, husband of plaintiff Sharon Lane, father of plaintiffs S.L and M.L, and stepfather of plaintiff C.C. He gives examples of some of the issues his Buddhist stepson encountered, and the disregard for constitutional separation of church and state is simply staggering:

   On a science test, their teacher had included a fill-in-the-blank question: "ISN'T IT AMAZING WHAT THE _____ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" When my stepson didn't know the answer ("Lord"), she belittled him in front of the entire class. When he wrote in "Lord Buddha" on another exam, she marked it wrong. As she was returning that exam to students, one student proclaimed aloud that "people are stupid if they think God is not real." In response, my stepson's teacher agreed, telling the class, "Yes! That is right! I had a student miss that on his test." The entire class broke out in laughter at my stepson.
    The same teacher also told our children that the Bible is "100 percent true," that the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago, and that evolution is "impossible" and a "stupid theory made up by stupid people who don't want to believe in God." She's also told the class that Buddhism is "stupid." (emphasis added)

While this particular teacher, Rita Roark, was especially problematic, Lane gives a number of other examples of the general atmosphere of the school, including that of defendant and school superintendent Sara Ebarb:

       When we went to the school to meet with the principal, we saw a large picture of Jesus over the school's main doors, a Bible verse on the school's electronic marquee, and numerous religious posters and pictures on the walls. Religious images and messages are displayed throughout the school, in fact.
        We learned from our children that official prayers, typically led by the principal or teachers, are routinely incorporated into class and school events like assemblies, and sporting events. The school even requires students to attend "See You at the Pole" each year, where they must take part in prayer and worship.
        We discovered that school officials were distributing religious literature to students. For example, one of our other son's teachers passed out copies of a book from the "Truth For Youth" program, a revivalist ministry. The book included the entire New Testament of the Bible as well as cartoons that denounce evolution and trumpet the evils of birth control, premarital sex, rock music, alcohol, pornography, homosexuality, sorcery, and witchcraft. (emphasis added)

Supporting evidence is provided. But the embrace of religiosity and disregard for constitutional protections goes much higher than teachers and event coordinators. When the Lanes took their complaints to the school superintendent, she told them

   that “[t]his is the Bible Belt” and that they would simply have to accept that teachers would proselytize students. She also asked whether C.C. had to be raised as a Buddhist and whether he could “change” his faith, and she suggested that C.C. transfer to another district school – more than 25 miles away where, in her words, “there are more Asians.” The day after meeting with the Lanes, the Superintendent sent a letter to Negreet Principal Gene Wright stating that she approved of Negreet’s official religious practices. Wright read the letter to the entire Negreet student body over the school’s public address system. (emphasis added)

The superintendent's complete lack of comprehension of religious freedom is made more clear in the complaint, which details how she told the Lanes

   that “[t]eachers have religious freedom.” She further stated that “if they were in a different country,” Plaintiffs would see “that country’s religion everywhere,” and that, therefore, they “shouldn’t be offended” to “see God here.” Purporting to illustrate her point further, she noted that, because she did not find it offensive that “the lady who cuts [her] toenails has a statue of Buddha,” Plaintiffs should not be bothered by Roark’s in-class proselytization.

In her mind, "freedom" is not a freedom to hold a belief, but a freedom to force others to hold that belief. The illogicality of such a position is made apparent when one considers what happens when you have people who hold different beliefs exercising this "freedom". Furthermore, Erbarb's response to the family -- that C.C. should go elsewhere, because he was in the Bible belt -- illustrates that her view of religious freedom is entirely one sided. It is not freedom, and it extends only to Christians. It is worth noting that, while C.C. did transfer, he is still subject to much of the same religious harassment. Even if that were not the case, it should go without saying that no child, and no family, should have to go half an hour out of their way each morning simply to avoid being harassed and intimidated -- much less by authority figures -- for praying to Lord Buddha (or not praying at all) rather than Lord Jesus.
And while C.C.'s troubles are not over, neither are those of his siblings (one of whom is a Christian):

   Plaintiffs S.L. and M.L. are minor children and brothers to C.C. They are both enrolled at Negreet High School, where they are subject to the customs, policies, and practices of Defendants Sabine Parish School Board, Superintendent Ebarb, and Principal Wright. Although M.L. attends church, he believes that faith is a personal matter. He believes that he should be able to decide, with the guidance of his parents and religious leaders, which beliefs he will follow and when, as well as how to express those beliefs, without pressure from his teachers and school officials. S.L. is a non-believer who does not subscribe to the religious beliefs promoted by schools officials.

It's simply mind boggling that adults would think that doing this to children was in any way appropriate, much less legal. 

Originally posted at Rachel's Hobbit Hole

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Tricycle Daily Dharma January 28, 2014

Attention.

The Zen master Ikkyu was once asked to write a distillation of the highest wisdom. He wrote only one word: Attention. The visitor was displeased. “Is that all?” So Ikkyu obliged him. Two words now. Attention. Attention.

- Jenny Offill, "Bit of Poetry that Stick Like Burrs"

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JMG Quote Of The Day - Queen Latifah

“I look forward to the day when presiding over a historic wedding ceremony like this is just the norm. To me, it was special to all the couples we married today and I look forward to dashing off to go sign their marriage certificates. It’s awesome. I had to get sworn in as a commissioner for the state of California, so I’m not an ordained minister like I said, but I’m a commissioner. So you can call me to commish – Queen Commish!" - Queen Latifah, telling reporters had her authority to officiate expired at midnight last night. When asked if she would ever get married on national television, she returned to her stock position: "That would probably be something I would keep for me."

Labels: gay weddings, Grammys, pop music, Queen Latifah

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: RUSSIA: Gay-Basher In Custody After Being Deported By Cuban Authorities

Infamous gay-basher Maxim Martsinkevich is today in the custody of Russian police after fleeing to Cuba, where local authorities promptly deported him on the basis of fugitive warrants filed with Interpol by Russia and Ukraine. Via LGBTQ Nation:

A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Security services told LGBTQ Nation that Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich, also known by his street nickname “Tesak” (or, the “Cleaver”) arrived at the Russian capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport after a direct flight from Havana, and was immediately detained by Russian law enforcement. Martsinkevich had been formally charged and arrested in absentia on Dec. 13, 2013, by Moscow’s Kuntsevskiy court. He is being held on charges of committing a crime under Art. 282 of the Russian Criminal Code – incitement of hatred or enmity and human dignity with violence – in connection with videos that his anti-gay Russian group “Occupy Pedophilia” had posted online. Martsinkevich fled Russia in November to the Ukraine, where he allegedly attacked and physically abused a former contestant of the Ukrainian franchise of the British talent competition, “The X Factor.” Yuvlena Frolyak, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Sevastopol, told LGBTQ Nation that her office had also issued an arrest warrant based on the criminal complaint filed by the victim.

Martsinkevich reportedly faces only three to five years in prison.

Labels: Cuba, gay bashing, Maxim Martsenkevich, Russia

Reposted from Joe Jervis

From my friend Nikos: On The Shortness of Life: An Introduction to Seneca

Samurai and Seneca agreed: comfort with death brings better living. (Photo: Kalandrakas) "We don’t beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper 

"There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn. Of the other arts there are many teachers everywhere; some of them we have seen that mere boys have mastered so thoroughly that they could even play the master. It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and—what will perhaps make you wonder more—it takes the whole of life to learn how to die."

 http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/24/on-the-shortness-of-life-an-introduction-to-seneca/?utm_content=bufferd7a5f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Via JMG: From Queer Nation

 

Activists are continuing to hijack the social media campaigns of major Sochi Olympics marketing partners. #CheersToSochi is the hashtag.

Labels: activism, advertising, LGBT rights, Procter And Gamble, Queer Nation, Russia, Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin

Reposted fom Joe Jervis

Wedding fever at the Grammys: Couples say ‘I do’ to song ‘Same Love’

Visit our "Community Connection" Business Directory, connecting LGBT-friendly businesses with LGBT consumers!  Click here →

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Wedding fever at the Grammys: Couples say ‘I do’ to song ‘Same Love’

Associated Press

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

 

LOS ANGELES — Couples exchanged rings in the aisle at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed their gay rights anthem “Same Love.”
Watch: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/01/wedding-fever-at-the-grammys-couples-say-i-do-to-song-same-love/

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mary Lambert & Madonna performing "Same Love" at The Grammy's 2014 HD

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Tricycle Daily Dharma January 27, 2014

Reality Itself

Not limited / By language, / It is ceaselessly expressed; / So, too, the way of letters / Can display but not exhaust it.

- Zen Master Dogen, "Non-lying"

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Via JMG: Marriage Equality Lawsuits Map

JMG reader Jeff took a stab at creating a map that includes the states with active marriage equality lawsuits. Embiggen the image or see it at his site.

Labels: LGBT rights, maps, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe Jervis

British Headline Of The Day

British Headline Of The Day

 

When Margaret Thatcher died last year, a social media campaign succeeded in pushing Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead to #2 on the British single charts. This week there's a similar campaign after a now-suspended member of Britain's far-right UKIP party declared that God was sending floods because of gay marriage.

A Facebook campaign has been launched to get 80s classic ‘It’s Raining Men’ to number one in the UK charts after a UKIP councillor claimed the recent floods were a result of legalising same-sex marriage. Thousands of people have joined the social media campaign following UKIP party member David Silvester’s controversial remarks. "We believe that that show of strength to get a song to Number 1 will create a huge spotlight on our campaign for equality as a whole," explains the Facebook group. For decades now, this song has been used as a gay anthem, we thought it fitted all the better based on UKIP’s comments regarding storms and floods being caused by LGBT people and gay marriage. Let’s get It’s Raining Men to Number 1 to show the power and community of gay people pulling together is stronger than his idiotic views of us, as well as also celebrating the new laws being passed on equal marriage in the UK very soon."

According to the Facebook group, online oddsmakers are giving It's Raining Men a 5/1 shot at being number one in Britain next week. Former Weather Girls vocalist Martha Wash finds the flap rather amusing. From an email passed along by JMG reader Wayne:

First of all I don't know anything about David Silvester, but I did read the article about him and his comments and concluded that as a straight woman who supports the LGBT community, he is totally Daft (as the British would say). While he is entitled to his opinion, I feel he is out of touch with reality. To say that "storms and floods were caused by LGBT people and gay marriage".....Really? He sounds like someone living in the 80's when it was said HIV/Aids was caused by "gay people". I think some people need to buy a clue and realize that everything wrong or bad or catastrophic is not caused by gay people. I support same-sex unions or marriages (depending on where you live) and feel it should be equality for ALL!!! BTW I'm a Christian also and the God I serve is ALL LOVE for ALL People. HE knows who he created. In regards to using It's Raining Men to support this campaign, I have no problem with it. I'm flattered that after all these years, the song is still relevant (even if it is for "storms and floods")!! Lol XO Martha Wash

Labels: Britain, crackpots, dance music, marriage equality, Martha Wash, pop music, religion, UKIP

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Chad Griffin of Human Rights Campaign on Goldie Hawn

#CheersToSochi Coca-Cola ad for #LGBT Russians

HRC Head Chad Griffin On Nigeria Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin joined HuffPost Live today to talk about the situation in Nigeria and Goldie Hawn, who yesterday issued a mortified apology after posting a photo of Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan with the caption, "Met the wonderful president of Nigeria." In the clip below, Griffin blasts NOM's Brian Brown and other American Christians for exporting their hate around the world.

Labels: activism, Africa, Chad Griffin, Goodluck Jonathan, HRC, LGBT rights, Nigeria

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: VIRGINIA: Olson & Boies Tell Court To Immediately Rule In Favor Of Marriage

Via press release from AFER:

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the sole sponsor of Bostic v. Rainey, the federal constitutional challenge to Virginia’s discriminatory Marriage Amendment, issued the following statement regarding U.S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen’s order seeking Status Reports from all parties in the case regarding whether oral argument on the issues presented is warranted or whether the Court should rule promptly on the briefs without a hearing: “Every day these discriminatory laws remain in effect is another day gay and lesbian Virginians and their families are harmed and treated as second-class citizens,” said AFER Executive Director Adam Umhoefer. “We urge Judge Allen to proceed immediately to judgment and find Virginia’s laws banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples unconstitutional." The Judge’s order was issued following the compelling Notice from the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia that the Attorney General concluded that Virginia's laws denying the right to marry to same-sex couples violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. If a hearing is deemed necessary, oral argument will be heard at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 30, 2014.

Bolding is mine. Zoom, zoom, zoom?

Labels: AFER, David Boies, lawsuits, LGBT rights, Mark Herring, marriage equality, Ted Olson, Virginia

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 26, 2014

The Three Marks

Rather than seeking a sense of peaceful satisfaction with the unfolding of experience, the goal of [preliminary] practice is to produce a state of mind that is highly judgmental, indeed judging this world to be like a prison. This sense of dissatisfaction is regarded as an essential prerequisite for progress on the Buddhist path. Far from seeking to become somehow 'nonjudgmental,' the meditator is instructed to judge all the objects of ordinary experience as scarred by three marks: impermanence, suffering, and no self.

- Donald S. Lopez, "The Scientific Buddha"

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Tricycle Daily Dharma January 25, 2014

Life is Precious

Life is precious, for it is only life—particularly the condition of human life—in which one can attain enlightenment.

- Allan Hunt Badiner, “Is the Buddha Winking at Extinction?”

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Tricycle Daily Dharma January 24, 2014

The Price of Dignity

Poverty still persists today because we have lost the moral perspective as the polestar of public policy. Instead we follow the law of the jungle, content to abandon the poor to their own devices, demanding that they marshal resources they simply do not possess. And the reason we have moved in this direction, drifting away from the high ideals of the Great Society era, is because the vision and values of corporate capitalism have gained ascendency over those of human solidarity and mutual responsibility. To eliminate poverty, this trend must be reversed. The individualistic vision must give way to one that stresses our essential unity; competition must be balanced by mutual assistance and respect.

- Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Price of Dignity"

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