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Bi Summit Audio Highlights Broadcast Online
Highlights from the National Summit on Putting the "B" in LGBT in April at the NYC LGBT Center were broadcast Mon June 15 by the Out FM program on WBAI. You can listen to excerpts from the "Exploding the Myths About Bisexuality" panel with Ron Suresha, Dennis Slade, and Ignacio Rivera by clicking here: http://archive.wbai.org/files/xml/outfm.xml then click on June 15th. The bisexual segment starts about halfway through the broadcast. More segments will be broadcast on following Mondays 11am.
More pix and info here at: http://biwriters.livejournal.com/81598.html. Thanks to Brad Taylor of Out FM and Barbara Fortune who took the photos.
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Posted By Ron Suresha on June 16, 2009 Ron had a great time last month as a guest on The TALL (Transitioning and Loving Life) Group Metrocast cable access show, and will be on again tonight at 8:00pm to talk about the Lammies, and Trans and Bi Lit! Check out the previous show: http://thetallgroup.org/archives/76. We welcome local author, activist, and anthologist of books centering on gay and bisexual men’s subcultures, Ron Suresha, to the show. We talk about bear identity, gay and bisexual stereotypes, the Kinsey scale, and how Ron met his husbear, Rocco. Ron has been twice [sic] nominated for Lambda Literary Awards for Bisexual Literature including his forthcoming book Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey.
http://ronsuresha.com/
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I called at the end of the 1st hour of Lionel about DADT: "We train our soldiers to be killers in war, but they can't tolerate another man looking at them with desire: this is a true perversion of masculinity." http://snurl.com/jreb4
The Lionel Show
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Obama: Free the Gays Dear President Obama,
According to some GLBTIQ historians, President Abraham Lincoln had a male companion, Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed for several years. Doubtless this extended male contact informed Lincoln’s understanding of the essential humanity of those persons whose only fault is to be hated by everyone. You so greatly honored Lincoln during your inauguration by taking your oath holding his Bible. Consider what it would mean for your legacy as the first black President of the USA to repay the favor for his abolishing slavery of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, by enacting a nondiscrimination bill that would protect gender and sexual minorities and grant them full status as American taxpayers? The full version of this letter to the whitehouse.gov comment line went out this afternoon. Thanks to Dr Jeff ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jnshaumeyer for his insightful comments on an early draft!
This letter was sent to President BHO, care of Whitehouse.gov. Join the Facebook group OBAMA, FREE THE GAYS at: http://snurl.com/k6020
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Ron at Lammies, Bi Lines reading, NYC Lambda Literary Awards Roc and I had a grand time at the Lambda Literary Awards on Thursday in NYC. We rode in on Amtrak and stayed for a long weekend at the Lammies host hotel, the W Tuscany. Just minutes before the ceremony, I was informed that a grant I’d applied for researching male triads went to someone else. So that was a disappointment going in. At the cocktail hour before the event, while hanging out with Felice Picano and his sister, one of the judges in the Anthology category whom I happened to meet totally brightened my evening, telling me that she loved and had nominated Bi Perspectives on Kinsey as a finalist (presumably she was the only one of the four judges in that category who did so) and that she was keeping it for her personal library, rather than selling or donating as she planned to do for most of the other books. We were supposedly assigned seats somewhere in the Proshansky Auditorium at CUNY, but wandered around looking for the chair signs until almost the start of the ceremony until Charles Flowers pointed to two seats and we sat down. And the Lammy went to . . . not my book. It went to Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage, written by Jenny Block (whom I finally met at the Bi Lines reading). Oh well, third time wasn’t the charm in my case this time around, but let me just add my response to another finalist who asked me as we chatted after the ceremony, What do we do now after not winning the Lammy? “Go home and write a better book than the last one.”
National Bi Media Summit In advance of the National Bi Media Summit held at the LGBT Center on Saturday, for which I served as a panelist, TimeOutNY asked several folks to debunk some bi myths. My response seems at this point somewhat off-topic as per the headline/myth they ended up using. Oh well.
Still, my parts on the panels on Bi Myths and Bi Community went quite well, and I got very positive feedback on my comments.  
TimeOutNY RJS bi myth quote Bi Lines 
My “intriguing” reading on Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey at the Bi Lines performance on Saturday evening was kindly mentioned by the handsome & charming Father Tony of Bilerico blog.
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Where's Gramma? I've been squeezing in time between projects this past year for research on all sides of my family roots. Ancestry.com was quite helpful, I admit, up to a point. They alerted me in January of a Social Security Death Index listing for my paternal grandmother, Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, whom I never met, and who apparently just died the month before in December. The SSDI listed her birth date as 31 May 1915 in Detroit, and death on 20 Dec 2008 in New Hampshire. The 1920 US census from Detroit has Roberta Gunsaulus at 4 years and three months (born 1915 in Michigan). My father's birth certificate states her residence as Houston and her birthplace as Detroit, Mich. Roberta was 19 as of 1/6/35, making her birth year 1915. But Detroit Vital Statistics doesn't have her listed in their 1915 records, nor in their 10-year index, and suggested I try the state vital statistics bureau in Lansing.
They do have my birth certificate, however.
( The message I put on the ancestry.com board for Gunsaulus )
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Several of my books, including Bears on Bears, Bearotica, and Bear Lust, have been de-ranked on Amazon.
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com This was posted on LJ (http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html) I hope something good comes out of this. This has been all very confusing and sad. Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions is nonfiction – not erotica – but could easily be screened as adult material. + Update 4/14/09 7am EST: The books are re-ranked. It’s majick! Bears on Bears #85,481 in Books Popular in these categories:
#24 in Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Ethnic Minorities
#29 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Gay Men
#64 in Books > Nonfiction > Education > Multicultural Bearotica #1,608,388 in Books Bear Lust #334,911 in Books #47 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica > Gay & Lesbian > Anthologies
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Is Michael Musto for Real? What is this nonsense about Michael Musto saying he doesn't believe in bisexuals, based on his frustrated attempts at relationships with married men on Manhunt or Craig's List or wherever he meets these closet cases? I know the Village Voice columnist, Michael Musto, or at least I thought I knew the dude. But how could it possibly be Michael Musto saying those horrible, ignorant, misleading things about bi men? OK, I've seen Michael Musto on TV and read his column in the Voice, so I think I should know Michael Musto. But it couldn't really be the same Michael Musto I met at the Lammies two years ago. The kinda cute clean-shaven short Jewish guy to whom I introduced myself that evening? I thought I met the real Michael Musto there, but apparently it was someone else who looked and talked a whole lot like him. Either that, or I made zero impression on the guy. Because the guy I chatted with was wearing a badge saying "Michael Musto," and he asked about my work, and I told him I was the editor of two books named as finalists for the first ever Lambda Literary Award given for Bisexual Literature. I know I was there, for sure — I still have my name badge from the event. Because how could the smart, charming person I chatted with that memorable evening write such a thoughtless and hurtful diatribe against married bi men under Michael Musto's imprimateur? I can only surmise that Michael Musto is not real. He's a fake. This so-called Michael Musto has somehow replaced the real Michael Musto, and whoever is impersonating Michael Musto is doing an amazing job. Perhaps the real Michael Musto was kidnapped by the Russian mafia, and replaced by an undercover operative who's a ringer, pretending to be a brilliant journalist. Otherwise, I just can't believe that the real Michael Musto would know absolutely nothing about the existence of actual bisexual men, being a supporter of the Lambda Literary Foundation, which for the third year in a row now is presenting an award for excellence in the area of bisexual literature. Or maybe more likely, aliens abducted the real Michael Musto, cloned him, and took the original back to their planet for further "research" (and he went willingly, anticipating one if not many of those thrilling anal probes he's heard so much about), leaving the duplicate in the real Michael Musto's place. Let's set aside the conspiracy theories and the point that he offers no explanation for the existence of bi women and consider this serious matter for a moment. Because you would think that the real Michael Musto would have the common sense to do some sort of actual research about the topic before he declared the complete nonexistence of bisexuals and bisexuality, based on his assertion to have never personally met a real bisexual man. Wasn't that Michael Musto I met, who was at the awards ceremony in May 2007 in NYC? Because if the real Michael Musto had actually been there, he surely would have seen Mike Szymanski (who is a real bisexual man) and Nicole Kristal (a real bi woman) accept the Lammy for their delightful book, The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe. I guess he could have gone out for a smoke or a drink or something and have missed that part of the awards ceremony, but what about the two years since then? Was Michael Musto living in a complete intellectual vacuum that whole time? I find it impossible to believe that, given his exposure to bisexuality as part of the accepted fabric of queer literature, the genuine Michael Musto would question the existence of bisexuality. I can't possibly accept that Michael Musto would be so shallow and stupid, and so that inevitably leads me to this conclusion: Michael Musto, or whoever wrote that column and signed it Michael Musto, can't be real. And if Michael Musto isn't real, he cannot said to exist. Michael Musto must be, therefore, a nonbeing. Not only that, anyone named Michael Musto probably never is or ever has been for "real."
I feel sad for Michael Musto. He seemed like someone whom I could believe.
Or then again, maybe not so much. Blogged on my site here.
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Congratulations to Jim and Nick!
Last month, I conducted a same-sex marriage ceremony for Jim M and Nick A of Washington DC. We held it out on Ocean Beach boardwalk, bounding out from the parking lot with their two dogs to perform the ceremony in view of Long Island Sound and the mouth of Thames (pronounced thaymz) River.
Yesterday the DC Council voted unanimously to offer benefits to same-sex couples with marriage licenses from other states.
The measure is not yet law - the mayor has to sign the bill and Congress has to pass it - but this will certainly affect couples such as these newlyweds, who have been together for more than 25 years.
Please join me in offering your blessings for their union.
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Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey
has been named a finalist in the Bisexual Literature category of the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards!
Congrats to all the wonderful contributors to the Kinsey retrospective, and all the excellent nominees!
See the entire list of finalists: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_finalists.html#bisexual
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| » Nasruddin Turns 800 |
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The following piece was published in a somewhat different form in the Winter 2008-9 issue of Hearsay, the Connecticut Storytelling Center quarterly newsletter. Reprinted on the new ronblog here.
THE IMMORTAL MULLAH NASRUDDIN TURNS 800
by Ron Jackson Suresha 
When the wise old fool Mullah Nasruddin was a child, he had the habit of distracting his classmates with antics, jokes, and stories, much to the dismay of his teacher. Once, when the young Nasruddin was being particularly troublesome, his irate teacher uttered a curse: “Wherever you go, people will laugh at you.” Now, eight centuries later, people everywhere are still laughing at Nasruddin, one of the world’s most beloved folk characters. Mullah (teacher, learned man) Nasruddin (”MULL-ah nas-rrh-DEEN”), whose hundreds of tales, anecdotes, and jokes are often told in the tradition of wisdom stories, may or may not be an actual historical figure born in the town of Ak-sehir, Turkey, but some sources believe Nasruddin’s birth year is 1208, which made 2008 his 800th birthday. Regardless of origin or age, Nasruddin is known throughout the Middle East, indeed throughout the world, as a comic figure of endless exploits and a sage fool who always has some pearl of wisdom to teach everyone — even if the lesson is not to act like Nasruddin. While many countries lay claim to Nasruddin, few go as far as the city of Ak-sehir in south-central Turkey, which boasts his gravesite and holds an annual Nasruddin festival in July, where folks dress in costumes and reenact the many exploits of the character. This year the town plans a Nasruddin symposium and many other events to celebrate his 800th birthday. The oldest Nasruddin manuscript dates from 1571 CE. While Nasruddin is known mostly as a character through pithy anecdotes, whole novels and stories have been written about him, and an animated feature film in Turkish was almost made. In the 1980s, Sufi writer, Idries Shah, published three collections of Nasruddin stories by Octagon Press (now out of print), which have proved the most popular English-language editions. The themes in Nasruddin anecdotes are woven into the oral tradition and folklore of a number of nations and express the national imaginations of a variety of cultures. While there are dozens of published collections of the many jokes attributed to him, today most people encounter his tales in the context of their daily lives. In many regions across the Far and Middle East and the Turkish diaspora, the tales of Nasruddin are told and retold endlessly in the teahouses and caravanserais, can be heard in every home and on the radio, and are still quoted or alluded to frequently in daily conversation, whenever a quick injection of humor and/or wisdom is necessary. In Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel of modern Afghani life, The Kite Runner, we find two allusions to Nasruddin. “There wasn’t an Afghan in the world who didn’t know a few jokes about the bumbling mullah,” the main character observes. Then a tale is told: Did you hear about the time the Mullah had placed a heavy bag on his shoulders and was riding his donkey? Someone on the street said, “Why don’t you put the bag on the donkey?” And he said, “That would be cruel, I’m heavy enough already for the poor thing.”
Although most Nasruddin stories depict an early small-village setting, the tales (like Aesop’s Fables) deal with timeless concepts of the human condition. They purvey a pithy folk wisdom that triumphs over all trials and tribulations. The anecdotes attributed to Nasruddin reveal a satirical personality with a sharp tongue that spared no one, not even the most tyrannical Sultan of his time. He is the symbol of Middle-Eastern satirical comedy and the rebellious feelings of people against the dynasties that once ruled that part of the world. Superficially, many Nasruddin tales are presented as jokes or humorous anecdotes told by one party when another party makes the kind of boneheaded error that Nasruddin parodies. Inherent in a Nasruddin story, however, is its purpose of pointing out the way not to act, the way not to think and behave and treat others. Its moral, played out in literary form, could be portrayed as a man riding his little gray donkey only facing his donkey’s rear end, literally ass-backwards. One should, of course, know better than to ride backwards, or to do the many foolish things that Nasruddin does, but in real life often one does not always “know better.” While it is true that most people who tell Nasruddin stories in bazaars and around dinner tables use them for the pleasure of an enjoyable tale, many Nasruddin jokes and anecdotes are also used as teaching stories in the Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern and Western mystic traditions. Often the humor of a Nasruddin tale contains a paradox or conundrum whose illogic occupies the rational mind with its surface meaning while more spiritual concepts – the intuitive, gestalt mentality that the mystic is attempting to engage – are awakened in the subconscious. Contemplation of the enigma propels the consciousness of the student, and the mystic, a little further along the long, dusty road to spiritual realization. And by opening the listener’s heart with laughter, the tales create a space for a wise thought to enter. Because of his teacher’s “curse,” tradition dictates that at least seven Nasruddin tales be told at one sitting so that his humor can infect one properly, thus allowing the listeners enough time to relax and see the humor even in an otherwise extremely stressful situation. Thus paradox, unexpectedness, and unconventional wisdom are all expressed in the irrepressible humor and inspirational humanity of the immortal Mullah Nasruddin, who at the venerable age of 800, proves himself a timeless literary character.
Ron Suresha, author or editor of seven books, is a new member of the CSC, and lives in New London. www.suresha.com 
Feb. 16th, 2009 @ 07:21 am
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| » Kinsey Zero though Sixty nominated for Lammies |
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The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the nominees for their 21st annual awards "for excellence in literature" — commonly known as the Lammies. Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey, edited by Ron Jackson Suresha, published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Journals, was nominated in two categories: Bisexual Literature, and GLBTQ Anthologies. According to the LLF website, "A shortlist of finalists will be chosen for their achievement," most likely by the end of March. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in NYC in May.
Jan. 26th, 2009 @ 01:16 am
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| » Journal of Bisexuality (8:3-4): Kinsey Zero through Sixty |
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 Cover for Kinsey Zero through Sixty
You might be interested in checking out my written contributions to the Journal of Bisexuality special Kinsey retrospective, now available individually from Informaworld:
| | Authors: Jonathan Alexander; Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501488 | | | Authors: Ron Jackson Suresha; Jonathan Alexander DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501496 | | | Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501520 |
Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501983 |
Jan. 13th, 2009 @ 05:20 pm
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| » Bear of the Year |
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Jan. 6th, 2009 @ 09:06 am
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| » IU researchers revisit male bisexuality |
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The Journal of Bisexuality edition of Kinsey Zero through Sixty is out and available online.
Researchers collaborate with last living member of the original Kinsey team, 92-year-old Paul Gebhard, to revisit The Kinsey Report and studies of bisexuality 60 years later. Gebhard: "'Overall, Kinsey would be disappointed.'...Gebhard said Kinsey and his research team avoided looking for causes for sexual orientation out of concern that the findings could be used against people. Through sexual history interviews, they instead sought to capture snapshots of human sexual experience, which proved to be fluid, according to their research, with individual sexual preferences or orientation often moving along the heterosexual-homosexual scale during one's lifetime."
Dec. 18th, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
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| » NL People's Forum Holiday Soiree! |
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Please join the New London Peoples Forum for a Holiday Potluck Party!
With special guest, local author and editor, Ron Suresha, who will speak about his latest article in the Journal of Bisexuality honoring the sexagennial (60th) of the publication of the Kinsey Report.
For book details: http://suresha.com/writing/books/kinsey/index.php
Monday, December 15, 2008
6:00 - 8:00pm
All Souls Unitarian Church
19 Jay Street
New London, CT
(http://www.allsoulsnewlondon.org)
Please bring your favorite dish, dessert, or beverage.
http://newlondonpf.blogspot.com/2008/12/nl-peoples-forum-holiday-soiree.html
Dec. 11th, 2008 @ 06:13 am
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| » Kinsey Sexagennial Release Party! |
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Kinsey Sexagennial Release Party!
Sunday, December 21, 2008 2:00pm - 3:30pm Golden Street GalleryNew London, CT 06320 8604440659 goldenst@goldenstreetgallery.com
Join us for a literary reception to celebrate the Kinsey Sexagennial - the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Kinsey Report! Presenting a special double issue of the J ournal of Bisexuality:
Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on KinseyRon Jackson Suresha, guest editor In honor of Alfred C. Kinsey's monumental scientific publishing achievement, the Journal of Bisexuality is presenting a double issue focusing on Alfred C. Kinsey's work, life, and legacy, and his effect on and relationship with bisexuality and all aspects of bisexual culture. Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey is scheduled for December 15, 2008 publication by Taylor & Francis Journals. Contributors to this stellar collection of outstanding writing include the last surviving member of Kinsey's original research team, Dr Paul H. Gebhard, as well as leading names in the fields of sex research, GLBTIQA activism, and bisexual writing. This double issue of Journal of Bisexuality (8:3-4), Jonathan Alexander, editor, is being published with the independent sponsorship of the American Institute of Bisexuality, a nonprofit organization unaffiliated with The Kinsey Institute or Indiana University. Complete book details at: http://suresha.com/writing/books/kinsey/index.phpComplete event details at: http://suresha.com/events/events.php
Dec. 7th, 2008 @ 02:55 am
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| » RJS nominated for "Bear of the Year" |
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No sash, no stuffed toy, no engraved plaque, no acceptance speech, no sexual favors — just glory and honor everlasting?
Guess I could live with that.
Thanks to the ever-delightful Jeff of Bearcastle Blog for nominating me in the "Bear of da Year" category of the Best of da Bears' contest conducted (three years now?) by the fine folks at The Complete Bear, who recently interviewed me here.
There's no Best Bear Book category this year, as in past, and it seems that musicians and visual artists have been clumped together.
So trip on over right now to the 2008 Best of the Bears nomination pages, and don't forget while you're there voting for your own Wolfbear to also cast your votes for:
Voting will run through 12/31/08. Send your votes to info@thecompletebear.com
And thanks for voting — early and often!
Nov. 17th, 2008 @ 05:45 am
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| » New Yorker cartoon caption also-ran |
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New Yorker cartoon caption also-ran:
http://www.newyorker.com/images/2008/10/27/p233/081027_contest_p233.jpg
"Honey, I don't think this is what Bill O'Reilly means by saying 'Preserve traditional marriage'."
Nov. 16th, 2008 @ 04:21 pm
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