The Genderless alien revolution, NYC’s middle finger to Trump administration, LGBT smokers and gay man’s letter to his ‘wicked step mother’: the biggest international LGBT stories in today’s Cuppán Gay

• NYC counters Trump’s anti-trans bathroom guidance with their own guidelines. New New York City guidelines call for trans students to be addressed by the pronoun which matches their gender identity. The guidelines also highlight the risk of trans and gender-nonconforming students being bullied. (Pink News)

• This 22-year-old wants to have their genitals removed so that they can become a genderless alien. Vine Ohh from LA has already invested $50,000 in cosmetic procedures to make themselves look like an alien plans to remove their genitals to become “a sexless alien being.” (GSN)

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• Despite the percentage of adults smoking dropping from 21% to 17%, LGBT smokers account for 31% of the LGBT demographic. Those who quit smoking are 50% less likely to develop lung cancer, stroke or heart disease within one year, while HIV-positive nonsmokers live 12.5 years longer on average than their smoker counterparts. (LGBTQ Nation)

• A film has been banned in India for ‘glorifying’ gay relationships. Ka Bodyscapes has been banned by the Indian Central Board of Film Certification (GBFC) because of the way it portrays same-sex relationships, portrays Hinduism in a “derogatory manner”. Filmmaker Jayan Cherian said: “This is the death-knell of independent cinema and artistic expression in India.” (GSN)

•  A gay man wrote an open letter on Facebook to his extremely conservative ‘Wicked Step Mother’. The step mother, a staunch Catholic and Trump supporter, posted some homophobic content on her Facebook page which sparked the ire of Christopher Turner. Read Turner’s post in full below. (Facebook)
  

Dear “Wicked Step Mother”,

Faith does not tell people of different races they can’t marry. That’s hatred.

Faith doesn’t tell a little child in an orphanage who hasn’t been adopted that she will never have parents, because the same-sex couple who wants to love her and give her a good life is not good enough. That’s hatred.

If we were speaking 50 year ago, and I had an African American wife, you would be preaching anti-miscegenation under the guise of faith. Would you just expect me to stand by and understand your racist beliefs? You would have been on the wrong side of history then, and you’re on the wrong side of history now.

When you began the affair with my father, and took him away from my mother and his 3 year old daughter, did you believe that little girl deserved a mother and a father?

I accepted you because I realized you were better for my father than my mother was. My parents just weren’t good together. I never thought what you did was right, but I’ve accepted you and your relationship nonetheless.

Now that you’ve let your true beliefs be known, I’m no longer going to put up any pretense that we love and accept each other. You’ve shown that your “love” was just a social formality.

If you ever let go of the hatred you’ve been taught, I’m here. In the meantime, I’m not willing to be anybody’s second-class citizen. I’m not ashamed of myself, but maybe you should be of yourself. I’ll continue fighting for my rights and for love in the world… and against the hatred that you’ve been taught. I know that you didn’t invent this kind of hatred, but it makes me heartsick that you’ve known me for thirty years and can’t accept that I deserve the dignity and the rights of any other human: To love whom I truly love and to have that love recognized and acknowledged by my society and by my government.

I had a psychology teacher in college tell my class once to believe what people tell you about themselves. If someone says “I’m a nice person”, believe it. If someone tells you they are not nice, believe that too. I should have believed you years ago when you started calling yourself “Wicked Step Mother”.

Confronting you doesn’t make me feel good, or proud, or self-righteous. It just makes me feel sad that someone that I thought I knew well is actively fighting against my rights. I know our politics are on different ends of the spectrum, but seeing you publicly fighting against my personal rights truly hurts.

By the way, there are members of our family that are afraid to come out to you for good reason. One is a teenager who’s very vulnerable. LGBTQ teens are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens. The reason: intolerance like yours. I hope he has the strength to look past people like you. I want him to realize that he is a better person than anyone preaching against him and that he is perfect just the way he is. I can’t say the same about you, knowing what I know now about the darkness in your heart.

Signed,
A good son… and thankfully not yours.

That’s it for today’s Cuppán Gay.