Before I get to my take on the “real” definition, the political scientist in me feels a need to define some commonly misunderstood terms of which socialism is a great example. Like many people here in the US, I have always been very uncomfortable with the word socialism, and in my case, I realize it is because that one word has many very different meanings.

Back in the mid-80s my friends and I were at the only gay bar within 100 miles in any direction and one of the only five in the entire state of Tennessee. It was the middle of summer and everyone had Saturday Night Fever. Being the only gay bar around it was always crowded on the weekends and everyone was in their groups. The lesbians were hanging out by the pool table. The preppies were in the corner booth. The punk and new wave crowd were in the darkest corner.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes at Health IT News about health disparities faced by the LGBT community in America.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, has an over-arching goal to improve the health, safety, and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. The CDC points out that LGBT individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of civil and human rights. These challenges have been associated, in clinical peer-reviewed literature, with higher rates of psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, and suicide.

Experiences of violence are frequent for LGBT individuals

--CDC

About to take my adult son over to get tested for "Drugs." It's part of a on the job training program he was accepted into for people with severe neurological disabilities. He only takes gummy vitamin D and marijuana tincture that helps his anxieties due to autism.