Going gay

Gay Bars 101: What You Should Know Before Going to a Gay Bar

So, there you are:

It’s a Friday night.
The weather is warm.
You’ve finished a distant work week.
You’re just itching to get out and have a bit of fun, mix it up, and have a rare drinks to transition you gracefully into the weekend.

There’s this bar downtown you’ve heard about, and you decide to give it a shot. You shave, shower, brush your teeth, throw together the cutest outfit you can discover, and hop in an Uber on your way to this new life that has your heart beating just a bit faster.

You walk through the doors, a smile spreads across your face, and you tell yourself, “This is going to be an interesting night.”

A safe space for us all

The bar is filled with people:

Older men with bright gold rings adorning most of their fingers and chain necklaces slowly swaying across their chests.
Young twinks—that group of young men in their earlier 20s who watch like they could model for GQ—are bubbly, chit-chatting with each other and making eyes at every single man walking by.
A few women dot the room, drinking casually and engaging in witty conversation.

Let’s not forget the 75-year-old man who

International Travel

Travelers can face singular challenges abroad based on their real or perceived sexual orientation. Laws and attitudes in some countries may affect safety and ease of travel.

More than 60 countries consider consensual same-sex relations a crime. In some of these countries, people who participate in consensual same-sex relations may face severe punishment. Many countries do not identify same-sex marriage.

Research your destination before you travel 

Review the move advisory and destination knowledge page of the place you plan to call on. Check the Local Laws & Customs section.  This has information specific to travelers who may be targeted by discrimination or violence on the basis of sexual orientation.

Many countries only recognize male and female sex markers in passports. They perform not have IT systems at ports of entry that can accept other sex markers, including valid U.S. passports with an X sex marker. If traveling with a valid U.S. passport with an X sex marker, review the immigration regulations for your destination as acceptance can vary by country.

Bring important documents 

Bring copies of important documents. This is es

by Fred Penzel, PhD

This article was initially published in the Winter 2007 edition of the OCD Newsletter.

OCD, as we know, is largely about experiencing grave and unrelenting doubt. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself – even your sexual orientation. A 1998 analyze published in the Journal of Sex Research start that among a team of 171 college students, 84% reported the occurrence of sexual intrusive thoughts (Byers, et al. 1998). In order to own doubts about one’s sexual identity, a sufferer require not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. I have observed this symptom in adolescent children, adolescents, and adults as well. Interestingly Swedo, et al., 1989, found that approximately 4% of children with OCD experience obsessions concerned with forbidden offensive or perverse sexual thoughts.

Although doubts about one’s possess sexual identity might appear pretty straightforward as a symptom, there are actually a number of variations. The most obvious develop is where a sufferer experiences the thought that they might be of a different sexual orientation than they formerly believed. If the su

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material earth, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I stay in this blog. You might say I contain multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of understanding, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t consciousness talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they include been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are disguised, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.