What comes to your mind when you hear the word honosexual? The same things that comes to your mind are probly the same things that came to my mind years ago. I remember when I was little you never heard much about homosexuals, they are just seem to keep to themselves. But in the late 80's and the earily 90's I remember my father talking about them. It was during the time that they were beganing to come out and and the army didn't allow gays in the army. I chose the essay "Burls'" By Bernard Cooper because it is about him as a young boy and his coming to the realization that he was gay. I can relate to it because in the past ten years I have became friends with many gays and I have realized that they are no different then you and me.
If you wish to find out anything about the world of a homosexual it is fairly easy. In todays day and age they are all kinds of information out their and people are not afraid to come out and say that they were gay. So I had no problem finding material on the subject of homosexuals.
When it came to chosing my gernes I did have a small problem in tring to pick which on to use. With the help of my classmates and Professor Darby I came up with the gernes of a flyer for a Drag Queen show, a journal entry.
I chose the the flyer because I wanted to show that they are places to go that that homosexuals show their true self. There was a part in the esaay where Cooper for the first time get to see a drag queen outside the cafe Burls'. Next I chose to write a jounral entry of Cooper's point of veiw when he was waiting for the bus and realizeed that he did like women.
For my connecting devices I went back though the essay and found quotes to use that went with what my gerne was about.
This is the first I have every done a paper like this. I enjoyed writing and doing this paper although at times I find it differcult to come up with things to write in the gernres but all in all I would prefer to do a paper like this over a regruel reaseach paper.

I am going to do a profile on a famous gay person. I have thought of going to a gay bar this weekend, like the stone wall, but I can't find anyone to go with me and I never go to bars alone. So I have found a list of famous people I am going to do research on. Here is some: Ru Paul, Matthew Sherpard, or Chastity Bono. Any Suggestions would be great.

Profile:
Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge is a singer of modern rock who has come out of the closet so to speak. She was born in Leavenworth, Kansas to John and Elizabeth Etheridge. Her father died before her coming out but her mother is still living. I went to ask her some questions about how she feels about the turns of events. Now that she is a mother and a strong female idle.
Melissa, you seem to be a strong woman figured today how you feel about people saying that you are a feminist. Do you think that you are one? ”Absolutely. When my first album came out in 1988 people would ask me, "Are you a feminist?" and I wouldn't know what it was. Feminism had gotten such a bad reputation. I'd say "Oh no, I'm just making music." I didn't understand what feminism was until 1992 when I read Susan Faludi's book, Backlash. I realized that what we were being fed about feminism, not feminism itself, was scaring away young women like myself who were just coming into their own. I believe in equality - professionally, politically, personally. That's feminism.”
When you came out at President Clinton's inaugural ball and told the world that hey I’m gay what made you do it. "I have a lot of reasons for it," she said of the turnabout. "If I'm willing to talk about it and be up front about it and truthful, the majority of the people actually respect that and leave me alone. I get more privacy.” How did your mother take it? “That was one of the first real discussions we ever had. She knew I was gay, but we hadn't really talked about it. I said, "Hey, I think we should talk about this a little bit," and that was when we had out first real conversation. She has been very supportive.” You and her didn't along to well there at first. Why was that? "I didn’t really get to know my mother until I was 25. After my father died and she retired, we got really close. She went through a big change. She discovered herself, and it made a big difference to her own personal journey. Right now she's one of my best friends.”
How do you feel about your values in life and how you have changed over the years? “Where my values come from is in recognizing intolerance, in myself and in others. I am a growing, learning human being. I've certainly changed from 10 years ago, from the 25-year-old who wrote the first album. The experiences now are different, what I draw on is different, and I want to be different. I want to get more into different places of my life for writing.
You spoke out about the proposition 22 in the March 7th ballot which would prohibit California from legally recognizing same-sex marriages that was legally done in other states. What are your views on that? "What Proposition 22 does is tell me, my partner, my children, that we are less than my neighbor."
On this last note what do think the future has in store for you. "It is new territory. It gets kind of scary. You just hope. You try to believe in the inherent goodness in human beings. We all have different opinions, and that's fine. But we all live and let live. It actually gives me a lot of hope about this world, and especially about our country. I don't know what ultimately will happen there. As long as I stay true to myself and honest in my work and create respectable, good work, then all that other stuff will eventually fade."
How true those words ring a bell it only people can stay true to themselves and judge people on their works and actions and not on their character and how the live or look we could all get head in life.

Web page: cybernietic.com/etheridge/home/idex.php
Quotes from: Maureen Littlejohn, “Modern Woman”, April 1996