The Final Frontier.

Zachary Quinto, known as Spock in the Star Trek movie, Sylar in Hereos, and for his amazing eyebrows, has come out as a gay man. He credits the recent death of Jamey Rodemeyer as the catalyst to his public acknowledgment of his life as a gay man.

As Quinto puts it, "in light of Jamey's death - it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it - is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality. Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country."

Since his casual announcement (he referred to himself in an interview as a gay man and then made the statement on his website), every news source has been buzzing with his announcement. He himself has stated that he didn't know it would be global news. Hopefully we'll get to a place when someone's sexuality isn't cause for headlines, but until then, I'm glad that his announcement is being met with positive reactions -- too often, an announcement like that is met with antagonism.

I've had a crush on Zachary Quinto since his evil Sylar days, and his homosexuality is not going to put a stop to that. It's the eyebrows, really. I'm a sucker for a good set of eyebrows.

Coming Out Day.

Today is National Coming Out Day, a day for support and awareness for those who are out or are coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. It is also observed to celebrate coming out and used to raise awareness for LGBT issues.

I am a very strong supporter of coming out -- you can't live your life to the fullest if you're hiding part of yourself away from the world and pretending to be something you're not. However, I am not a supporter of outing others. Deciding to come out is a very personal and emotional decision, and it is no one's job to out someone else (here's looking at you, Perez Hilton).

One of my close friends is the secretary for an assistant principal at a local high school and she was telling me about a boy who had been called into the office to be disciplined for being drunk at a football game. The student had always been a good kid and this was his first offense of any kind. It turns out that the student had been dating an openly gay boy on the sly, and when the relationship ended, the open student told everyone that the student was gay. He was miserable, because that's not how he chose to come out.

It was no one's right to out anyone but themselves, and shame on anyone who says that they're "helping" by forcing people to come out. As our society evolves and it becomes less dangerous to be openly gay, I hope that everyone will be able to embrace themselves fully and be open with the people in their lives. But as long as people are being fired for being gay or being bullied in school for being gay, people have legitimate reasons for remaining closeted. Some people have emotional reasons, such as unaccepting parents, that keep them in the closet. There are a depressingly large number of homeless LGBT youth because they were thrown out of the house by their parents when they came out. Staying in the closet is their right, whether you agree with it or not.

After all, not everyone has Cher or Barbra as parents. If only.

Ladies Night

It is absolutely amazing to me how many lesbians are attending my school.

I guess it isn't amazing that there are so many, but it's amazing that they are so open. There are girls walking down the hallways holding hands, cuddling in the cafeteria, and wearing shirts and accessories proclaiming that they love boobies. So far, I haven't seen or heard anything derogatory towards these ladies. Probably because a lot of them look like if you say something to them, they'll punch you in the face.

What is it that is different between gay men and gay women? Why is there such a stigma against gay men but nothing against lesbians? Are straight guys really that into watching lesbians make out?

It baffles the mind. Part of me thinks that society is a bit to blame, with the media portrayal of the sexy lesbian and the effeminate gay man. It's completely acceptable for a straight man to be excited and turned on by sexy women kissing each other, where it is the masculine thing to do to insult and hurt sexy men kissing each other. Is that the reason for the seeming acceptance of gay teenage girls versus boys? Of course, these are the same straight teenage boys who draw penises on every surface that stands still for five seconds and giggle about fart and "that's what she said" jokes, so I may be giving them more credit than they're due.

Perhaps it's just that Beyonce is right, and girls do truly run the world.

No Strings Attached

Well. Now I have done it.

Long story short -- two of my friends (we'll call them A and B for brevity's sake) were going to attend the out of state wedding of a college friend of B. B had said at a dinner (that A was not attending), "I really wish that I could have a college boy weekend without A." A few weeks later, A said to me, "I don't really feel like going out of state and hanging with B's frat boy friends."

And an evil Geppetto complex was born.

"If only they knew!" I thought to myself. "If only they would talk to each other, they'd realize they have the same ideas!"

So I tried to make little hints and suggestions about, "oh, you never know, he may understand if you don't want to go," and "you don't know, maybe he doesn't want to go, you should talk to him."

They talked to each other, figured it out, and all was right with the world.

Until. They talked to each other, discovered my evil Geppetto complex, and I got called the hell out for my secrets and lies.

It turns out people don't like being a personal Pinocchio. And they especially don't like when they try to have a heart-to-heart talk with each other and the other person already knows what they're going to say.....because they heard it from me.

I then tried to make a joke about it with A (via text.....WILL I NEVER LEARN), and it was waaaay too soon for that. I got put in my place yet again. My place a few spaces below people who use bad grammar and don't use their turn signals in heavy traffic.

So I am properly A, embarrassed that I was so thoroughly busted, and B, genuinely apologetic and contrite that I betrayed their respective confidences. I honestly was trying to help, but all I did was make an awful mess of things. From now on, my hair will remain big because it is full of secrets that I will not be telling.

But for now, I feel like I wore sweatpants on Monday.

Transamerica

I have never been a fan of Dancing with the Stars. I always felt that the word "stars" was used very loosely and if I wanted to see good dancing, I'd watch So You Think You Can Dance.

However, I'm watching this season. Not just to see Nancy Grace's wardrobe malfunction, but for the appearance of Carson Kressley and Chaz Bono.

There has been a lot of rumblings, both positive and negative, about the inclusion of Chaz Bono. Chaz, if anyone has been avoiding any and all forms of media, is transgender, meaning that he was born female and transitioned to male. More importantly, he was born Chastity Bono, the daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono. Chaz has written a book and made a documentary on Oprah's OWN Channel chronicling his journey from female to male.

Transgender is a very confusing and puzzling topic for most people. It's very misunderstood in our society and, as with most things that people don't understand, feared to the point of revulsion and hatred. Gender identity and gender dysphoria are real issues -- it's not a matter of being "tomboyish" or "girly", it's a matter of being comfortable in your body and knowing who you truly are. In a society that espouses that "beauty is only skin deep" and that "it's not what you look like but who are are on the inside that counts," there is a lot of prejudice to those who say that inside a female body is a male identity.

Gender identity issues have been discovered in children as young as three, according to a CNN article that follows two children and their struggle for the proper identity. Those stories to me are the most fascinating -- I took a language and gender class in college and learned the difference between "sex" and "gender." The fact that these children know themselves so well and are willing to fight for it is so amazing. They should be applauded and not persecuted.

Glitter and be gay.

I got a new job recently. I went from teaching at an alternative high school to a traditional campus. So far I have been there for a month and I love it. It is very refreshing to have students who have more going on in their lives than pot.

One of my students in my first period class is cute as a button. He's a freshman and he has an adorable baby face that is fond of wearing Glee t-shirts and scarves. He also apparently makes several trips to the powder room during the day, because by the time I see him in the halls at the end of the day, he has added enough glitter to his face to choke a drag queen.

The first time I saw him all glitzy, I was sure it was just a trick of the light. But upon further inspection, no.....that was definitely glitter eyeshadow. The next day, I stopped by his locker to say hi, and when he looked up, he had green glitter lipstick on. We are talking full-on Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. And Hallways.

One of my less exciting duties at my new job is coaching. As I was walking back from the gym one day, I passed the PE coach's office. There was a snickering crowd of boys around and that is never a good sign. There was a distinct yelling sound and, ever the eavesdropper, I paused in my journey back to civilization to listen.

"What are you.....get out of here looking like that! Get! What is that on your face, get out!"

Sure enough, my little Glitter Boy exited the office with glitter on his eyelids and jewels on his lips. How he got jewels to stick to his lips, I still don't know, but that is not the point.

He had gone into the office because he lost his gym locker combination. I told him that he looked fine and that he could come to my room if anyone ever talked to him like that, even an adult, because that is not okay.

I can't believe an adult, one who is dedicated to educating children, had that audacity to speak to a student like that. He is a freshman in high school. That boy is fourteen and you're belittling him? And in front of other students? I don't kick out athletes when they're wearing football jerseys, so how dare you target him?

The day after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, making it possible for gay men and women to serve openly in our military, a 14 year old committed suicide after being bullied at school. He had even participated in a "It Gets Better" video, but in the end, the bullying was overwhelming.

So shine on, my little Glitter Boys. We'll be here for you. My door is always open. Unless I'm coaching, in which case the gym door will be open and I'll be the one trying to avoid sweating.

The Not-so-Gay Panic.

Boys, boy, boys. When will you learn that you can keep nothing from me? The truth always comes out in the end. Take this conversation, for example:

Him: I just didn't get that much sleep last night.

Me: Oh, why not?

Him: I sort of had a panic attack.

Me: What!? What happened, what about?

Him: Oh......nothing.

Me: .......................I'm sorry, what?

It turns out that his neighbors had a party while He was imbibing just as heartily as the miscreants next door. The cops came to shut the neighbor's party down and He thought that he was being busted as well. When someone knocked on the door, He ran to the bathroom and spent an hour and a half pretending to take a shower. An hour and a half.

Nothing, my Aunt Fanny.