Tops & Bottoms

Mary Gonzalez

The whole impending Mayan doom thing got me thinking a lot about how I would never experience a high speed Wi-Fi Internet connection in my Texas State University-owned apartment, or get to find out what Nazis, aliens and Catholicism have in common on the TV series American Horror Story.

Kidding aside, I’m glad the world didn’t end. It gave me time to reflect on my past. Like, when I went first went to England in 2009 and was solicited for a fag by a bloke I called Mumbles. (How could a word mean both cigarette and what Urban Dictionary defines as an acronym for the term “Freaky Alien Genotype”?) Since that chance encounter, I’ve been curious about the term’s etymology, and because I’m currently unemployed for the month-long holiday break, I had time to go all Nancy Drew and do a little Merriam-Webster Dictionary investigation. Much like the term’s original 18th century “to work hard,” to its 20th century makeunder, 2012 was a year of contradictions and what seemed to be a smidgen of devolution worldwide (cough, Mark Regnerus; double cough, North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris). But 2012 was also a year of promise, and quite magical, if I may add: 12-12-’12 was the last repeating-digit date of the century.

Top National Gay of 2012

1) With the election of Representatives Mark Takano and Kyrsten Sinema, LGB representatives in the chamber jumped from four to seven lawmakers.

2) Mary Gonzalez became the first openly pansexual lawmaker in the nation. The El Paso representative said in an interview with the Dallas Voice that pansexuals don’t believe in “gender binaries,” meaning that their feelings of attraction are gender-blind.

3) AGLIFF becomes Polari, named after a form of British slang, in celebration of the non-profit organization’s 25th anniversary and progress of the LGBTQIA community.

4) President Obama affirmed his support for marriage equality on national television.

5) U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that employers which discriminate against an employee or potential employee based on their gender identity is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.

6) Anderson Cooper aka the Silver Haired Fox and Texans Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons say they’re gay.

7) Maine, Maryland and Wisconsin legalize same-sex marriage.

8) California’s Proposition 8, a push to ban same-sex marriage, is deemed unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.

9) The American Psychiatric Association no longer lists being transgender as a mental disorder.

Bottom National Gay 2012

1) The Summer of Chick-fil-A was not quite as easygoing as the summer of ’69, but it did show the power and ingenuity (check out these chicken sandwich recipes) of the people, with even Jay Leno joining the cause by throwing snowballs at the fast food chain. But Chick-fil-A may suddenly give a cluck. The Civil Rights Agenda, an LGBT advocacy group in Illinois, came out in September and said the company has agreed to stop donating to groups who oppose same-sex marriage.

2) Boy Scouts of America is going through a rough patch (I wonder how many years it took to earn that?) after the national icon reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays from membership. UPS has since pulled funding from the organization for its anti-gay policies.

3) It’s a gay eat gay world, Pope Benedict XVI’s just living in it. His holiness declared that same-sex marriage threatens “the future of humanity itself.” Oh, and “justice and peace” too.

4) Maryland’s Discover Annapolis Tours, made famous for its old-fashioned trolley rides, will no longer offer wedding services because its owner opposes same-sex marriage, riding the Christian coattails of a Vermont country inn and Colorado bakery.

5) The extraordinary powers of the gays continue with several Christian leaders and pastors, including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, blaming the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings on God’s revenge for a growing acceptance of gay rights. Really?

6) North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris gives parents the okay from God to “punch” and “crack” the “limp wrists” of children who exhibit gender-variant behavior.

7) Trailblazer Richard Adams dies at 65. Adams, who nearly four decades ago legally married his male partner in Colorado, tried unsuccessfully to have their union recognized by the federal government, the first lawsuit of its kind. The couple was one of a half-dozen gay couples granted marriage licenses by the Boulder County clerk’s office.

8) Wonder what King Henry VIII would have to say about England’s most populous faith, the Church of England, being forbidden by a new law from marrying same-sex couples?

9) In an ironic twist of fate, Israel awarded the country’s first divorce to a gay couple, while same-sex marriage remains illegal in the Jewish state.

10) UT sociologist Mark Regnerus, who previously claimed that children of gay parents are worse off than those of straight parents, says that straight men who watch porn are more likely to support same-sex marriage. Can we thank porn for the recent increase in support for marriage equality?