Christmas day is the perennial day in history where Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus the Nazarene.  I was raised in this tradition and celebrate it today, a day in which we are reminded of the great promise and possibility of peace and good will towards all. We celebrate with family and friends and the sharing of gifts.  The world seems to stop for this one day.

I hold fond memories of Christmas day with all its traditions--decorating the tree, hanging the Christmas stockings, attending midnight Mass, anticipating a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve, sharing time with family and friends, the exchanging of gifts and enjoying the true holiday spirit. For me, this is truly the one family holiday I never wish to miss.  But for far too many people, this day is a day filled with loneliness and sadness, especially our queer homeless youth.

According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, "of the estimated 1.6 million homeless American youth, between 20 and 40 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender."  That's up to 640,000 queer homeless youth roaming the streets of America.  In one study, "26 percent of gay teens who came out to their parents/guardians were told they must leave home."

Imagine 166,400 kids being kick out just because they are queer! What kind of parents would throw a child out onto the street?

These numbers, disproportionate to the overall percentage of queers in the United States population, show the severe vulnerability queer youth are to the plight of homelessness.

According to the Safe Schools Coalition's (SSC) "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Homeless Youth Fact Sheet," homeless youth is typically defined as unaccompanied youth aged 12 to 24 years and include four major categories: runaway (fleeing youth), transitory or episodic (couch surfing youth), unaccompanied homeless youth (shelter hoppers), and street dependent youth (squatters and travelers). Youth consistently report severe family conflicts as the primary reason for their homelessness and queer youth report double the rates of sexual abuse before age 12.

In addition, the SSC studies indicate that "once homeless, LGBTQ youth are at higher risk for victimization and suffer higher incidents of mental health problems and unsafe sexual behavior than (heterosexual) homeless youth. They experience an average of 7.4 more acts of sexual violence toward them than their heterosexual peers and are more likely to attempt suicide (62 percent) than their heterosexual homeless peers (29 percent)."

As we all enjoy our holiday season with loved ones, let us be mindful of these children who so need peace, and good will.  On this particular Christmas day let us be conscience of all the work that lies ahead to end such homelessness and all the needs that must be met to achieve that end and how we as individuals and as a community might express our kindness, outreach and support.

Since it's the holiday season, then let me give myself a present--James Franco. Years ago, the young, unknown actor played in a bio-pic on queer/bisexual, well, let's just say, "troubled" and gifted actor James Dean. It might have been a made-for-TV movie of the week, it's that long ago, and, frankly, old enough that I have my very own VHS copy of the title. While I'm far from even a faux casting director, there was just something about Franco in that early screen experience for me that alerted me to the fact that he had "it."  That "it" factor is sometimes so apparent and catchy yet elusive clearly to define or pinpoint.  Once the brilliant queer director Gus Van Sant ("My Private Idaho," "Drugstore Cowboy," "Elephant") cast Franco as Scott Smith, the long time partner/companion, opposite the award-winning actor Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in "Milk,' the rest, as they say, has all become big news to Hollywood and history to the rest of us. Now Franco will appear in the much-anticipated, "Howl" about the queer modern-day Walt Whitman, playing queer poet Allen Ginsberg during his obscenity trial over his controversial masterpiece prose poem, "Howl." to premiere at Sundance 2010 next month. The ever-handsome Franco who graced the cover of OUT (December 2008) recounted what it was like being part of "Milk" long before it won all its accolades and awards. "I was blown away by how meticulous Sean [Penn] is about the look of the character and the voice and the sound--just all the care he took . . . Here I am in a Gus [Van Sant] movie . . . so I'll do whatever. Not a tone is shown in the movie, but there's a scene when I'm naked in the pool and everybody else is dressed and there's such something uncomfortable about that. I felt like the girl in all those teen movies that pops out of the hot tub topless."

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It was inevitable that someone would write about a writer who has been described as "secretive as an oyster."  Especially, when one of her novels, perhaps her best, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was updated on the big screen, starring a very handsome, seductive and convincing Matt Damon in the lead. That the author Patricia Highsmith was lesbian but closeted in the 1950s, an era when "homosexuality was classified as a disease and a disorder" makes her secret and coded life understandable. Just out, biographer Jane Schenkar penned "The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith" (St. Martin's Press, 2009) makes fascinating reading. I found myself ever curious about Highsmith as both a woman and a writer. And I find her a "curiosity," too!  While she admitted to "always being in love," the only person reported to be at her deathbed was her accountant. Listen to the appraisal and review of her love life: "There has been so many lovers, usually women, but men, too . . . Men never fired her imagination, except in her fiction, where her males, especially Tom Ripley, are versions of herself. It was women she wanted, and she found them in bars, on boats, at parties and, best of all, in settled relationships with other people. Highsmith loved a triangle, and she liked to destroy it, axing the part of the couple she didn't want, but usually sleeping with her first. Hers was a life jammed with encounters, and it is not by change that her novels obsessively use the unexpected life-changing/life-threatening encounter as the drive into the narrative--think 'Strangers on a Train' or any of the Ripley series."

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Queer actor, the pop iconic, Neil Patrick Harris recounted to interviewer Vanessa Grigoriadis (Rolling Stone, September 17, 2009) about his process of coming out. A poster boy for American family values as the "bland and well-adjusted Doogie Howser, M.D." and a long and impressive but squeaky-clean career, the multi-talented actor, singer, dancer, and performer of magic, as in magician, he was inspired while touring "Rent" in 1997. He came out to his family as a gay man. "In 'Rent,' I really got to witness people embracing their entirety with boundless joy, and I had never seen that as a possibility. When I stopped inhibiting myself by dwelling in the crazy scrutiny of my TV past, I was able to express who I felt I was."  Later, in 2006, he came out to the public as a gay man. He embraced gay rights, in public, to the public, at the same time. He now doesn't regret a moment of having done so. "Some of the people who say that about me put an asterisk by my name, saying that I was already an established actor," he said, "But that being said, I've been pleasantly surprised by the lack of professional reverberations." In fact, his career is better than ever and he never looks back.

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