Difficult Love: Watch Zanele Muholi’s Powerful Documentary on the South African LGBTQ Experience

Directed by Muholi and Peter Golsmid, Difficult Love provides a glimpse into Muholi’s life and the lives, loves, and struggles of other black lesbians in South Africa. Muholi introduces us to a fraction of the stories and people that have moved her to create images that speak of something other than heterosexism, images that speak about us and the multitude of identities that a woman’s body can hold.

It is a powerful, at times difficult film to watch, but I’d recommend you watch the film soon, because Sistah Sinema and Elixher will be holding a live video chat about it with Muholi herself this Sunday, December 16th at 5pm PST/8pm EST. It’ll be broadcasting on YouTube, so keep an eye on Elixher’s Facebook page for the link to jump in. I know I’ll be doing a fair amount of Facebook watching that day.

More on Autostraddle.

Netherland: Homeless in New York, a Young Gay Woman Learns to Survive

According to some surveys, up to forty per cent of the nation’s homeless youth are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Many have run away from foster care, where they were abused or felt ostracized; others were rejected by their families for religious reasons. In New York, they cycle through the youth shelter system, which is decentralized and temporary, and turns away far more people than it houses. The reporter describes the experiences of several gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender homeless young people (Samantha, Ryan, Christina and others) as they try to survive in the shelters and on the streets.

Read more in the New Yorker.

Girl Gallery: 35 Ladies Who Came Out As LBTQ In 2012

For the past few years, the ladies have been coming out in droves, each new year bringing another list of big stars breaking through to the other side — Wanda Sykes, Cynthia Nixon, Amber Heard, Evan Rachel Wood, Meredith Baxter, Chely Wright — the list goes on and on. This year lacked a definitive female megastar Coming Out Moment (Megan Rapinoe, maybe), but it didn’t lack a plethora of really fantastic Coming Out Situations. Perhaps most exciting is how many women of color came out this year — half of the women pictured below, in fact!

Check out the gallery at Autostraddle.

Popularity of Tiny Dutch Caribbean Island Soars Following Gay Marriage

A speck of an island in the Dutch Caribbean has become increasingly popular with gay couples after legislators legalized same-sex marriages in a region still openly hostile to gays and lesbians.

Continue reading on the Washington Post.

Happy 20th Birthday Sage!

Today is Sage Smith’s 20th birthday. Unfortunately she’s still missing. We’d hoped that she’d be back home by now celebrating this day with her family and friends. And she should be.

More at TransGriot.

Category: Week in Review