The hardest people to come out to were my fellow military members. I originally enlisted into the most hyper-masculine program possible, the Naval Special Warfare Program. I enlisted in 2014 to serve a purpose greater than myself. There, instructors and fellow trainees constantly threw homophobic slurs around. I distinctly remember one day when an instructor said, "Oh look at those faggots," and then turned to us saying, "Wait, it's OK to be gay, YOU just can't be gay." Debate rages. Age fetish deserves inclusion on this list for the sheer purpose that it shows how fetishes can cross from the playfully erotic into more culturally profound and impactful subjects. The whole concept of fetish reveals that anything in the world, from pool floats to ice cream, can become sexual objects if someone responds to them that way, and as such they unleash our sexual desires from the narrow confines that our culture tends to place them in. New York Jets wide receiver Jeremy Kerley (11) makes a catch during the second quarter against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium. (Photo by: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE) When students face these issues—whether in isolation or together—the school can become a difficult or hostile environment. In addition to physical and psychological injury, students described how bullying, discrimination, and exclusion caused them to lose concentration, skip class, or seek to transfer schools—all impairing their right to education. For the right to education to have meaning for all students—including LGBT students—teachers, administrators, and lawmakers need to work together with LGBT advocates to ensure that schools become safer and more inclusive places for LGBT children to learn. Key Recommendations To the Congress of the Philippines

The gender identity of people whose sex assigned at birth conforms to their identified or lived gender. Identifying as a gay man was never explicitly criminalized in Germany. However, the Nazi campaign against homosexuality and the regime’s zealous enforcement of Paragraph 175 made life in Nazi Germany dangerous for gay men. It was in the relatively freeing atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay communities and networks grew and developed in unprecedented ways. More German men chose to live openly as gay. Some joined “friendship leagues” ( Freundschaftsverbände ), groups that politically and socially organized gay men, lesbian women, and others. Gay men gathered together at meeting places, such as bars, that catered to a gay clientele. The most famous of these was the Eldorado in Berlin. As with the Child Protection Policy, the implementation and monitoring of the Anti-Bullying Law has proven difficult. A United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report observed that only 38 percent of schools submitted child protection or anti-bullying policies in 2013, and the “low rate of submission has been attributed to a low level of awareness of requirements of the Act and weak monitoring of compliance.” [30] Comprehensive Sexuality EducationGay men in Germany were not a monolithic group, nor did the Nazi regime view them as such. Being gay could and often did result in persecution. However, other factors also shaped gay men’s lives during the Nazi era. Among them were supposed racial identity, political attitudes, social class, and cultural expectations about how men and women should behave (i.e., gender norms). This diversity meant that gay men had a wide range of experiences in Nazi Germany. For example, gay men active in anti-Nazi political movements risked being arrested as political opponents. And gay Jewish men faced Nazi persecution and mass murder as Jews. Gay Men in Germany, circa 1900

Stonewall, a British LGBT rights pressure group, spearheaded the movement to rescind British military prohibitions against openly LGBT servicemembers. It began in 1986, when Robert Ely, who had served in the British Army for seventeen years, approached Stonewall. The discovery of a letter had led to his sexual orientation being disclosed and he was subjected to an investigation and thrown out of the army. In 1968, with the support of the Japanese government, Mishima created his own paramilitary, the Tatenokai (or “Shield Society,” whose English abbreviation just happened to be SS). Its purpose was to restore an appreciation for the militarism and emperor worship that were discredited after leading Japan into the hellfire of World War II. “Mishima dreamed of a better world,” Donovan writes admiringly, “a world where the Emperor was a god on Earth protected by Mishima’s own spiritual army, the Tatenokai.” The rainbow metaphor is about reflecting the spectrum of queer experiences—not reducing ourselves to a flat set of predetermined, elementary colors that everyone can agree are very nice. Being queer is not always nice. Being queer is complicated. Being queer—and appearing queer—requires a rich and varied palette so you can signal to the right parties that you’re down to clown, while still also prioritizing keeping yourself safe. You don’t have to be wearing seven-color, primary-hued rainbows head to toe to be visibly queer. And you’re not required to identify yourself to all in such a way that might compromise your safety. In the Philippines, as elsewhere, violence and discrimination place LGBT youth at heightened risk of adverse physical and mental health outcomeAlso called chronophilia (and sometimes ageism), the fetishization of age is a hotly debated topic in gay culture. The term swings both ways: this fetish applies when someone older fetishizes the specific age of someone younger, and when someone younger fetishizes the specific age of someone older. The fetish doesn’t require a significant age difference — just the fact that someone’s age itself is a turn-on.