“Smexy Times” for Summer Lovers: A Playlist for Women-Loving Women

Pride events are still popping off all around the world—no doubt your iTunes playlist is filled to brimming, but there’s always room for one more great song, yes?

You could rock this playlist on the ride to Pride, use it to woo that office cutie you’ve had your eye on, make a little old school digital mixtape for your Honey, or keep them in your arsenal for that special someone on that next “smexy” night together.

Ready? Let’s go!

Love Songs for Lesbians

– MeShell Ndegeocello “Let Me Have You” – As a standout track from the movie “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” home girl’s heart is hurting, her mind is racing, and she just wants a little loving. Your loving. “You’re the only one,” she coos with all the swagger of a rapper. Only she ain’t rappin’, she is singing, wooing, and wanting. Highly recommended for the romantic studs in the bunch who aren’t “too grown to cry,” and “ain’t too proud to beg.”

– The Ditty Bops – When’s She Coming Home –  Delightfully “twee,” charming and delicious, real-life couple and dynamic duo The Ditty Bops deliver sweetness and light on this particular track. Guitars strum melodically as they sing in tandem, “Afraid of the time on my hands…without her, I don’t have a plan.” Bonus for lesbian roomies hung up and crushing out on a roommate or friend, finally wanting to take things to the next level.

– Lady Gaga – “So Happy I Could Die” –  It’s debatable: some folks think this song is about Lady Gaga, referring to one of her many alter egos. And the point is…? Women who love women are a walking metaphor. As for this cut, Gaga goes all Euro-Electro (duh), swooning, “I love that lavender blonde…the way she moves, the way she walks…just give up, Baby. Open up your heart and your mind to me.”

– Peaches – “Boys Wanna Be Her.” –  Play it cool: act like you don’t care. You’re a rock star, right? So you don’t care. “Boys Wanna Be Her” is about you, isn’t it? Yup—that’s what we thought. This song’s full-on glam rock. With an easy, anthemic chorus and knife-edge vocals, “The way you rock nonstop, girl you got the chops…”  see there? You’ll get your lady dancing, you’re moving along in time, you start a mosh pit, party of two…and the rest is up to the both of you. Godspeed.

The Strap Step by The Lost Bois   – Totally NSFW lyrics regarding…well look at the title and make your guesses. This is an advanced track—let’s just say it’s not a first date selection. Strictly for adults only—you feel us? Side tangent, the Lost Bois’ flow on this track is amazing, and they’re not afraid to have a little giggle along the way (chicks dig humor!). Fully confident, fully queer, a tad bit cheeky, ultimately hot.

Namoli Brennet – Stars  – Dreamy, romantic bliss. “Maybe you were somebody’s unfinished symphony,” Namoli sings, pensive and endearing. “What if we, what if we are stars?” Nice pre-party or after-party track. Heck, just take it to the cocktail party. Gorgeous lyrics—Namoli always delivers as much. So chill. Just hold her hand, Mama. Let’s contemplate all this.

Ani Di Franco – Sunday Morning – This song’s vibe streams through mindscapes of a loving couple so very familiar with one another—but still able to appreciate life’s quirks and love’s gifts. She sings it to a lover departed, but it’s tricky, because she sings it in the present tense. Isn’t that always the way? | “Sunday morning, you’re doing your thing, and I am doing mine,” she sings so kindly. “Speaking words more a formality, ’cause we can feel we are of one mind. Sunday morning, sheets still warm and kitty’s swarming ’round our feet. Life comes easy. Your sweet company making it so complete.”Loving this: blast this track on a Sunday Morning and your Love will be so pleasantly surprised.

There you have it—it’s a start, anyhow. To hear all the songs on this playlist, visit this link.

Surely this playlist—with an emphasis on “play”—-is not yet complete. What’s missing? Let a sister know.

Success Fit For a Queen: Queen Latifah’s New Talk Show & LGBT-Ally Strides

RT ‏@FlavorUnitEnt | Are you ready?? “@IAMQUEENLATIFAH-“I really think there’s space in daytime TV for a whole bunch of fun, some amazing music, and some heart.”

– A recent tweet from Queen Latifah’s promotions crew

When Queen Latifah walks, she’s always walking on the red carpet. Cheerful, elegant and reflective, she can also turn on a Hip Hop Head “mean mug” glance in a heartbeat. She’s a strong, gorgeous, proud—and many say Same Gender Loving—woman of color making great moves in this world.

Queen Latifah’s been spotted out and about over time with  rumored girlfriends (http://www.eurweb.com/2012/05/queen-latifah-lesbian-girlfriend-photo-galler), is often noticed partying in lesbian clubs, and made her first high-profile public appearance at last year’s  Long Beach Pride (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/queen-latifah-did-not-come-out-pride_n_1529566.html).

She’s making the press rounds to share fantastic professional news: “The Queen’s” new daytime TV talk show will begin airing on Sept. 16 and is co-produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who recently made headlines yet again for their frankness regarding open relationships.

In this world, when you’re an entertainer, news bytes such as these make front page news hand-in-hand. Still, unlike Will and Jada, Queen Latifah isn’t fazed: she’s keeping her personal life out of the spotlight, no matter what we think we know about it.

During a recent press junket, Latifah told THR, “I don’t feel the need to discuss my private life on this show or on any show. There’s the part of my life that the public and I share together. And there’s the part that’s mine to keep for myself. And that’s mine. For me.”

Encouraging self-love, self-acceptance, optimal nutrition (with her Jenny Craig low-pressure “Ideal Size” campaigns), and self-care with a stylish flair, Latifah’s less of a guru and more of a “Can-Do.” (“She did it, I can too.”

One thing’s for sure: her private life is private, and to know there’s an ally in our midst who got her start in Hip Hop (whatever her sexual orientation and preference) and builds a bridge across many cultures in such a way is definitely a good thing.

Find out more about Queen Latifah’s new show how at http://queenlatifah.com, and click here to watch her chat with THR at YouTube. ()

All hail the Queen! Send your congrats and big-ups to Queen Latifah @IAMQUEENLATIFAH.

He Said, She Said, They Sang: The Bi Pride Playlist

Bi Pride (http://gayagenda.com/first-u-s-bisexual-pride-day/) is important to think about, to embrace and to celebrate. Centrally important to the issue of Bi Pride is the need to make oneself visible in a particular way—a way that’s very hard to articulate, and a way that should be celebrated.

So many music artists are granted the leeway to be—at the very least—quietly bi, because selling sex, sexuality and even sexual ambiguity is the name of the game in the entertainment business.

Many music artists and entertainers—among them Ani DiFranco, MeShell Ndegeocello, David Bowie, Margaret Cho and countless others—have helped to write the soundtracks to our lives. Because life is ambiguous and we harbor so many secret (and not so secret!) desires, musical expression provides a pleasurable reflecting pool and point of contact for checking in with every color of our feelings.

That said, here are a few recommended tunes—a playlist created to celebrate the beauty of bisexual culture. The following songs allude to or straight up embrace bisexual culture—though being bi isn’t the same thing as being polyamorous, some of these tunes play with those dynamics and ideas, and/or gender ambiguity.

Listen up to:

Joan Jett (Orig. The Replacements) – Androgynous – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bs6QT82Tu4

Wale – Bad – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TIIu9CERgI

Common and Kanye West – Go – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCe1gC5VaW4

Ani DiFranco – Shameless – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjizt4Ixt6E

Prince: If I was Your Girlfriend – (find on iTunes)

Meshell Ndegeocello: Who Is He And What Is He to You – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giVuQ0TEi5w

Blur – Girls and Boys – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDswiT87oo8

Girlyman: Young James Dean – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue_ia7Dikq0

Cyndi Lauper: She Bop – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFq4E9XTueY

Lady Gaga: Poker Face – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo

Meshell: If That’s Your Boyfriend, He Wasn’t Last Night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpdzEpGIqtY

Katy Perry: I Kissed A Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs

Ani DiFranco: If He Tries Anything – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRBIc6gfzLk

Blue Aeroplanes: You Are Loved – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e97y_aBS1Sg

Breaking Benjamin – Polyamrous – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fniQYGAzabU

David Bowie –  Rebel Rebel – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6bI_95G9I

Want to hear the whole set  in one go? Click here.(http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBRcoGrPV–bdOqsfNliO5CuBuZJEHkDs)

RuPaul – Free 2 Be – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvnwGJnq1E

Lady Gaga – Born This Way – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw

Madonna – Sanctuary – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67IUheyPQ7w

Surely this playlist is lacking that “one, next perfect song.” Got any suggestions?

Get Your Superpowers On: It’s Liverpool Pride’s Fab, New Superhero Theme

Superheroes, Represent: Liverpool Pride’s Workin’ It With A Fab, New Superhero Theme

Liverpool Pride is coming! (But doesn’t “Superheroes Ball” have an awesome ring to it?)

So tell us, superheroes: will you be flying to the Superheroes Ball in Liverpool, or teleporting?

As the second largest LGBTQI pride event in the UK (with London as the first), Liverpool Pride is happening on August 3 this year, and they’re calling all  “Family” and friends with magical rainbow powers (and those who love them)  to convene for this special superhero-themed queer fete.

Expecting record attendance numbers, the Liverpool Pride organization committee anticipates 50,000-plus caped crusaders and Super-Friends are expected to make their way to Liverpool this year to participate.

James Davies, Festival Manager for Liverpool Pride, told Liverpool Life:  “Every year brings new challenges and often it’s our community that comes up with the most creative ideas – that’s why we’ve always asked the public to choose their theme.”

He continued, “Last year’s Nautical But Nice theme was taken to heart by the community with thousands dressing up as sailors, pirates and all kinds of sea creatures and at least two boats. With Bonnie Tyler as this year’s UK Eurovision contender I’m delighted that our Pride community will bring her over 50,000 heroes this August.”

Time to get your super-gay superhero playlists ready—whether you can make it there or you’ll be there in spirit—here are a few sweet ideas. How about you plop these on over into your iPod?

We Don’t Need Another Hero – Tina Turner

Born This Way – Lady Gaga

I’m Not Your Superwoman – Karyn White

Holding Out for A Hero – Bonnie Tyler

Hero – Chad Kroeger

Spider Man – The Ramones

Flash Gordon Theme – Queen

Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie

Young James Dean – Girlyman

Supermodel of the World – RuPaul

Batdance – Prince

Blade – KRS-One

Superhero – Ani Difranco

Singer Shine Your Light – Namoli Brennet –

Jimmy Olsen’s Blues (Pocketful of Kryptonite) – Spin Doctors

Any other suggestions? Well, we do have a couple…

If you can make it there, don’t take the superhero theme so literally. That way, we’ll see suited-up and costumed versions of folks like Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Marsha P. Johnson and much, much more.

Every hero counts.

Kick all y’alls secret identities to the curb, get out there and save some lives with gear and glam, glitter and grease. Why? ‘Cause this is what Pride looks like: it takes a superhero to be live their life with pride.

Find out more about the event at the official website:  http://www.liverpoolpride.co.uk

If you can make your way there, what superhero will you arrive as? And avec cape, or au naturel?

 

 

Not Separate But Not Equal? Bisexuality Explained (At Least 13 Times)

Demonized, ostracized, unrecognized, and sexualized…what gives?  Though the “bi” in “bisexual” brings to mind either/or dualities, true-to-life bi experience is entirely unique.

Every year, Bi Visibility Day is observed on September 23.  (http://september23.bi.org).  Still, when it comes to bi visibility and/or invisibility, myths and misconceptions abound.

Dr. J.R. Little has identified 13 prevailing types of bisexuality.  On the face of it, these discoveries seek to classify bi experience as seen through a control group study.  At the very least, this reveals the fluidity of sexuality in general.  Predominant bisexual traits Dr. Little found are the following:

1. Alternating:  May be with a man, then after a   relationship ends, may choose a female partner for a subsequent relationship, continuing to alternate.

2. Circumstantial:  Primarily heterosexual, but will choose same sex partners only if they have no access to other-sex partners, like in gender-segregated circumstances.

3. Concurrent Relationships:  Have primary relationship with one gender only, but other casual or secondary relationships with people of another gender concurrently.

4. Conditional:  Either straight or gay/lesbian, but switches to a relationship with another gender for a specific purpose, like young straight males who prostitute with men for money or lesbians who marry men for social acceptance,  or to have children.

5. Emotional:  Have intimate emotional relationships with men and women, but only have sexual relationships with one gender.

6. Integrated:  Have more than one primary relationship at the same time, one with a man and one with a woman.

7. Exploratory:  Either straight or gay/lesbian, but have sex with another gender just to satisfy curiosity or “see what it’s like.”  (Bi-curious.)

8. Hedonistic:  Primarily straight or gay/lesbian but will sometimes have recreational sex with a different gender purely for sex.

9. Recreational:  Primarily heterosexual, but engage in gay or lesbian sex only when under the influence of substances.  (Party-sexual.)

10. Isolated:  100% straight or gay/lesbian now but has had at one or more sexual experience with another gender in the past.

11. Latent:  Completely straight or gay lesbian in behavior, but has strong desire for sex with another gender (having never acted on it).

12. Motivational:  Example – straight women who have sex with other women to please their male partner who requests it for his own arousal.

13. Transitional:  Temporarily identify as bisexual while in the process of moving from being straight to being gay or lesbian, or going from being gay or lesbian to being heterosexual.

No matter what your orientation is, sexual discovery is a process.  Whether or not you agree with Dr. Little—or bisexuality in general—if you seek to understand bisexuality, do your best to meet bi folks where they are, without trying to marginalize them or  inflict a sense of “wrongness” on them for having their own experience.

Nirvana wrote a song saying, “Everyone is gay.”  Did they get that right, or is everybody really bi?  What does bisexual consciousness mean to you?  Let us know below.

 

#ProudToLove: Rainbow-Hearted Reflections on YouTube’s First LGBT Pride Celebration

Loving Equality: Making Summer of Love More #ProudToLove

England’s marriage equality law becomes official in a matter of days.  Marriage Equality and DOMA decisions in the United States continue to send a positive beacon of hope to LGBTQ folks everywhere.

“Set those precedents,” the Litigating Angels seem to be telling us, blowing their glittery faery dust around the world.

Okay, sure…“faery dust” is a bit much—but c’mon: this is the queer “Interwebs” we’re talkin’ about!

With the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court (lifting the same-sex marriage ban) and California following suit, the launch of YouTube’s official LGBTQ-themed #ProudToLove channel rides the waves of change that continue to ripple worldwide.

Continuing its yearly site-wide support of gay rights, parent company Google Inc. created YouTube’s #ProudToLove channel http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpi6ZahtOH6Ep59vnHOZ0KBngOp-XiUP) and video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDm0zsw9vjY) on June 27.

In like fashion, Google relaunched its customary Rainbow Colored search results just in time for the summer of pride.  This yearly Easter Egg that revealed itself when visitors typed  LGBTQ-focused keywords like “gay,” “lesbian,” “transgender,” “marriage equality,” LGBT” or “bisexual”  (Google’s rainbow search results have been a tradition since 2008—or eons, in Internet years).

Graced with the soundtrack of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love,” YouTube’s #ProudToLove video featured military “coming out” confessionals, Ellen DeGeneres, teenaged hero Jonah Mowry, Davey Wavey, Latrice Royale, Chaz Bono & Cher, Dan Savage, George Takei, Barack Obama at the White House LGBT Pride Month Reception, Willam Belli, and several uber-romantic LGBTQ-themed marriage proposals, all culminating in emphatic yeses.

Prominent and renowned LGBTQ advocacy organizations–if they weren’t already

partnered with the campaign–quickly posted #ProudToLove content in solidarity, chiming in with words, images, videos and sentiments of their own.

Other #ProudToLove ripple effects and highlights include:

Detractors have tried to troll this hashtag and idea, finding little success so far.  Such is the beauty of hashtags: creating instantaneous solidarity and community-building becomes easy-to-understand and propagate.

Pride Month’s really happening all summer long.  Isn’t that always the way?  Kudos to all for making Pride newsworthy every single day.

Being #ProudToLove is an international thing—how do you show your pride?  Who or what are you #ProudToLove? Share your thoughts, videos and tweets with us.  Make sure to include the hashtag, so your peeps can find you!