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My beloved husband Isaac and me on our wedding day
File:Joy.jpg
A video tribute to Isaäc

There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

LGBT WikiProject Newsletter (July 2008)

The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter

The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue XVI: July 23, 2008

Hello, members and friends of WP:LGBT! Updates about our latest happenings in the gayest corner of Misplaced Pages.

Project News
Homosexuality at Good Article Review!

An unfortunate effect of a group less active than in the past is that our articles lose integrity. This one is at Good Article Review for that reason. The talk page is quite active as a result. You have the opportunity to help. This is the corest of our core articles, and it needs some attention because it gets a lot of controversial input from many sides. If you can spare any time to edit the article, please do what you can.

Paragraph 175 is at Featured Article Review!

Soon after we were informed that Homosexuality is being scrutinized, we heard the same for one of our few Featured Articles. As a participant of the Featured Article process, I think this is actually a good thing. The standards for Featured Articles are getting higher with time. But as a member of this project, that means that a few of ours may be de-listed unless someone can swoop in and save them. This one has to do with the designation of homosexuality as a crime in Germany. Most of this article's sources are in German. If anyone has any particular skill in this area, please lend a hand!

Gay bathhouse is at Good Article Review! Wtf is going on?

I know you folks think I have much experience in a gay bathhouse, and I hate to disappoint you, but I actually do not. I seem like the sort of person who likes to stroll about in a towel. Shocking, no? It appears that Ashleyvh is single-handedly addressing all the problems with this article at its GA Review. While that's pretty impressive, it's also no doubt exhausting. Can anyone help out there?

Two GAs and a nominee!

In what I hope will counter the jolt of re-evaluating three Good or Featured Articles, José Sarria and Janet Jackson as gay icon passed as Good Articles, and Black Cat Bar (famous San Francisco oft-raided gay bar) is nominated, all by Otto4711. Rock on, man. You're a machine. Good luck with your nominations. What is it about women that make them gay icons? And are there lesbian icons that aren't lesbians? How about bisexual icons? Am I the only lesbian who reacts with soul-trembling fear at the sight of Angelina Jolie?

LGBT articles for deletion

New WP:LGBT studies member Pinkkeith has done this cool thing. If you click on that link, you'll see all the articles, categories, templates, and miscellany up for deletion. They're usually there because they're not considered to be not notable. That can be a relative concept, and sometimes it has to be argued that topics pertaining to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues are notable.


Completely naked women!

Ha! Made you look! Even the guys are looking. Gay pioneers Kay Lahusen's and Barbara Gittings' collection of photographs are up at the New York Public Library. Want to see images of the first Pride march in 1970 in New York City? How about Sylvia Rivera, drag queen extraordinaire, and Stonewall Riots participant? Or the contact sheet for The Ladder that showed full-face lesbians in print for the first time in US history? Ok I did mention naked women, and it's true. I found naked pictures of Barbara Gittings. But I scrolled through all of them and you'll have to as well. I'm not that mean, though. Here she is in the shower. How cute is she?

Tagging articles

It seems a recurring issue which articles to tag, and what to say about a topic that's tagged. Certainly, because an article falls under our scope doesn't necessarily make the person gay. Florida Governor Charlie Crist has been rumored to be gay in some newspaper accounts. Although we all know Fred Phelps is supergay, he won't admit it so instead he does the absolutely awfulest anti-gay things on the planet to deflect suspicion. NAMBLA, the red headed stepchild of the LGBT world, is tagged with an explanation we have yet to decide if we'll keep.


Member Spotlight: Benjiboi

In the lurking I do around and about on Wiki, I've long been astounded at the forbearance Benjiboi has for the utterly insane. Perhaps not so much, since the message on Benji's talk page notes frequent absences due to homophobia and transphobia. But it takes some kind of ... something that I don't have to face the constant anti-gay POV Benji does.

Benjiboi is a a bit of a WikiFaerie, a WikiGnome and also a member of the Article Rescue Squadron in addition to being a LGBT project member. A few of Benjiboi's favorite links for making the wikiverse more fab are:

  1. Manual of style, a must for anyone redecorating an article.
  2. Reliable sources in content review processes, a wonderful and fully linked essay about sourcing and why we need more and better sources.
  3. Google scholar, which also searches Google books, is a great help in finding reliable sources.
Member Spotlight: Becksguy

Becksguy didn’t start actively editing until May 2007. His most frequent tasks on Wiki include reverting vandalism to LGBT articles and creating new project-related articles. He comes from New York state, and to prove not all of us are teenagers (ha! I am so totally 15!) he's in his 60s and retired.

Becksguy considers his biggest triumph on Misplaced Pages so far was a DYK in December 2007 for the first-ever newspaper report on what became AIDS, in the New York Native. He's also helped save several project-related articles from deletion. His lowest moment here was getting involved in the discussion on a particular terrorism related article, thinking he could help calm the roiled waters on an extremely contentious subject with multiple edit wars and passionate editors.

Here at WP:LGBT, he creates and improves articles that present notable LGBT related subjects in a fair and balanced way, and tries to include more of the significant alternative sexuality related subjects without being an activist, and works to better source project-related articles.

On Misplaced Pages as a whole, he says, "I think we need to learn better what processes work for a massive collaborative project. Some of what worked well for a more informal small project doesn’t scale up well. Process is not as important when the participants know each other. We need to get more of the current members to be more active. If more members were energized, the project would be able to accomplish more. We should be, in effect, the smaller and included Misplaced Pages for LGBT related subjects. Overall, I wish we could focus more on content creation and improvement, and less on vandal fighting."

Fresh faces to brighten our pages

Welcome to all of our new members!: Balin42632003, supposedlydisposable, Axiomdragon, antcjone, Jamesgregg76, Taulapapa, Mushii, Pinkkeith, Gr8lyknow, EricV89, Varnent, Ged_UK, Richie wright1980, Auriel If you have a question about anything, drop your question on our talk page. We'll do our best to answer.

"A Supreme Court decision in 1958 reversed a 1956 ruling by a federal district court that U.S. postal authorities were correct in prohibiting the mailing of the Mattachine Society's ONE magazine. The lower court had ruled that ONE was not protected by the First Amendment because the magazine's contents 'may be vulgar, offensive, and indecent even though not regarded as such by a particular group ... because their own social or moral standards are far below those of the general community ... Social standards are fixed by and for the great majority and not by and for a hardened or weakened minority.'" - Michael Bronski in Pulp Friction, 2003

Thanks for being weak and having lowered standards with me. --Moni3 (talk) 00:10, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Moni3 know.

Thanks

Thanks for your note, I too was shocked by that comment. However, I have no intention of allowing this individual to choreograph his own demise. I will act when it suits me, and through proper channels, not any Mickey Mouse scheme. Haiduc (talk) 12:01, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Miss Julie's Whizbang Welcome Wagon and Curiosity Shop

I'm hoping Miss Julie might come out of semi-retirement to sing a few tunes and possibly sell cosmetics door-to-door, I mean, head up the welcoming of new recruits! I've boldly redecorated the {{LGBT Welcome}} template but unsure if the peer review and jump-a-class stuff makes sense to have there if they aren't active. They may just be in a lull - I'm not active in those areas so I just don't know. Feel free to update as needed and make things more clear, re-prioritize etc. as I was simply spiffying up a bit. Banjeboi 19:31, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

p.s. at User:Moni3/Sandbox1 we have a draft of the LGBT tag inclusion statement to help spell out its use to assist in conflicts over the tag. I think it's getting close to acceptable and my impression is we'll end up linking the statement on the template to assist the more "reasonable" editors out there to see it's use as - just a project tag. Banjeboi 19:31, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Judaism Newsletter

The Judaism Newsletter

Issue II -- Tammuz, 5768
WikiProject Judaism (/to do) Star of David WikiProject Jewish History (/to do) Star of David WikiProject Kabbalah (/to do)

Worship of the Golden Calf
Worship of the Golden Calf

Now with 200% more Jewishness!
Yes, folks, we're moving on up. This newsletter is now the newsletter for both WikiProject Judaism, WikiProject Jewish History, and WikiProject Kabbalah. In the future, I may split them, but for now I think we'll be just fine with one. As always, any questions or comments should be directed to me, L'Aquatique.

A Special Dispatch
Just a note, not aimed at anyone in particular. By order of the administrative cabal, it is officially not cool (and possibly dickish) to call someone an anti-semite when they aren't being anti-semitic. Anti-semitic is a very charged word, and it's important only to use it when you're absolutely sure it applies, lest it become the subject of a Godwin-esque law. Remember Hanlon's Razor: never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
In the News

  • A new class on the importance scale has been added- C Class- which covers articles better than start but not quite to B Class yet. It is up to the WikiProjects to decide whether to adopt them or not. Currently, there has been little discussion within our Projects, so if you feel strongly either way be sure to note so at your Project.
  • There is a proposal to reword the section on NPOV regarding religious articles. Please see Wikipedia_talk:NPOV#Religion section - Disputes between historians or scientists and religious_views to weigh in.
  • Thanks largely to the efforts of Xyz7890, a new navbox has come into being featuring Halakha topics. See: Template talk:Halakha to join in the conversation about how it can best be improved.

To Do

  • The Simple English Misplaced Pages is beginning a project of creating and improving articles related to religion, including Judaism. At the present time, volunteers are needed to propose our most important subjects for articles to be created. The official working list is here and a more extended list is here. If you are unsure of proper topics, you might try checking our lists of top importance level articles: Judaism and Jewish History. (WikiProject Kabbalah currently doesn't have such a list)
  • WikiProject Christianity is considering running a monthly drive wherein two or three top importance articles from English Misplaced Pages are simplified and moved over to S.E. They have extended an offer to work with us in creating a similar project for Judaism related articles. For questions or volunteer opportunities, please contact User:John Carter.
  • WikiProject Kabbalah is in dire need of an article rating system for quality and importance. If you are familiar with that system and have some time on your hands, please create one. It could also use some infoboxes...

New Members

New Articles

  • Habib ben Elisha Faturechi (Thanks PhatJew!)
  • There are some 40 odd standing requests for Judaism related articles. Please make them! I would, but I'm too busy writing this. Grin.
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tit for tat

OK, I'm sure you'll be justifiably horrified but I find this ... ahem ... passage from fart lighting pure poetry of the people -

“ A major drawback of this popular practice is that it usually involves the hazardous coupling of fire, combustible gases and inebriated participants. Reports of serious burns to body parts are not uncommon but clothing helps to protect one's skin. ”

Sorry, you can now return to your regular reading. Banjeboi 22:59, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Now that gave me a laugh! Thanks for brightening my day.
I haven't managed to summon my courage for the gloryhole pics (recent widow, ya know? :-S), but will soon be up to the task, if today's mood is any indication.
And I am back at AA/NA, so I have a good support system in place now to allow me to manage my emotions in a constructive manner, rather than destructive one. Life is slowly improving. A snail's pace, to be sure, but I see improvement nonetheless. One day at a time and live in the moment.
I can't yet do the welcome wagon thing, as I am afraid about making a commitment I may not be able to honor, but you'll notice it's not erased from my p[age.
Hugs and kisses from the Widow Julie. Jeffpw (talk) 07:15, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
No worries. Even a short term help is better than no one. I'm a bit too "terse" one person said to me. I think overly direct might be what they meant but yes, I often have a loss of patience - so someone like yourself who seems to be full of kindness and such for newbies, in particular would be much better I think. Good luck with AA?NA remember 12-steppers are just two steppers who are size queens. Banjeboi 08:28, 4 August 2008 (UTC)