If you feel comfortable sucking down seven-dollar Hofbrau Dunkels in the shade of an “Old-School Neighborhood Gastropub” more likely to serve Archie Bunker than Archibald MacLeish (or Glenn Beck than… Beck,) drink on: just make sure the bouncer doesn’t have to ask twice for your citizenship papers. If you’re keen on sticking it to DC’s hottest young Teabagger bar, then criticize loudly, criticize often, and take your business elsewhere: the Black Squirrel deserves our two queer cents – and not a penny more.

For better or worse (usually worse) the issue of public and/or shared bathrooms seems to come up a lot in the discourse of gay rights and culture. The idea that straight military personnel would have to (gasp!) shower and share a restroom with their openly queer colleagues was an argument that came up repeatedly during the debate over the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. And who can forget the much-publicized potty-related shenanigans of figures as varied as George Michael and Senator Larry Craig? Even when not robed in sensationalism and scandal, however, the issues surrounding shared spaces as simultaneously intimate and public as restrooms and sexuality rarely fail to spark controversy.

The latest site of this uproar is Brazil. A few of the country’s extensive networks of samba schools, popular clubs or academies dedicated to teaching and performing the African-Brazilian dance, have recently instituted a policy setting aside bathrooms expressly for use by homosexuals and transvestites. The policy has incited protests and outcry on both sides of the issue.

In the aftermath of this holiday season I want to take a moment of your time to reflect on all the wonderful gifts we’ve received. Last spring I had the opportunity to go to Rwanda as part of a study program and was privileged so witness how people continue to rebuild 16 years after unimaginable violence.

How this is perhaps also a queer issue is the larger addresses of wage gap for queer kids of color. Compounded with the notion of thinness is a positive attribute in our larger society, the ability for queer kids of color and their access to nutrition inhibits their sense of happiness and self-esteem and one more fold to how food affects queer kids and queer people of color. Living within this paradigm of thinness equals happiness, queer people of color at times reject foods particular to their heritage because of their perceived “unhealthy” standards upheld within American culture.

It seems as though the potential for a new, energetic international LGBTQ movement is becoming more of a reality. While pride parades are most definitely not the cornerstone of a “movement” they undoubtedly break the silence, that more often than not, condemns so many of our brothers and sisters to death. More and more LGBTQ people (especially LGBTQ youth) are beginning to fight back, use their voice, and proclaim their identities and loved ones with pride even in the most unwelcoming environments. It is especially important for us to stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters abroad when groups like Focus on the Family continue to send “ex-gay” experts in the name of the United States to countries like Trinidad and Tobago while also sponsoring anti-gay groups who are seeking to execute gay and queer people in Uganda. Although there is obviously much work to be done, unfortunately for Focus on the Family, it seems that all their work still cannot set us “straight.”

Fatness is so conflated in the queer community that uttering its name is as hurtful as dropping the “f bomb”. Pathologically avoided and socially damaging, society and the queer community places a notion of fatness equated with degradation of the body. But why is such a damaging connotation placed on the human body when every human being posses this quality of fatness?

From an individual to an entire nation, homophobia is still strong. Many people have claimed that, due to the recent increase in violence (or it’s just getting reported more), homophobia is in its death throes. There is little comfort in that thought when a bishop must wear a bulletproof best beneath his consecration vestments. I wish I could come up with some kind of solution to homophobia, on any scale, but it’s beyond me. We must, above all, though, accept our differences and work together.

The Board of the Latino History Project invites you to the 4th Annual DC Latino Pride this Friday. Join them for Latin appetizers and refreshments, a panel discussion with Latino GLBTQ Leaders, and entertainment from local performers.

This Saturday is the Pride & Heritage Celebration, the annual awards dinner that celebrates the DC area’s API LGBTQs in honor of Asian-Pacific American Heritage month. This event is open to everyone. This year’s honoree is longtime community activist Ben de Guzman.

Pride & Heritage presents Getting it All OUT: Building Our Asian Pacific Islander LGBTQ Community, a day-long retreat focusing on building relationships among members of local API LGBTQ community, this Saturday.